In this final chapter of the novel, Nemo delivers a soliloquy in which he laments the state of affairs in the world. He bemoans the fact that his creations are no longer able to protect him from the "great unknown" that surrounds them. He laments that he has lost his ability to protect his creations from the unknown by keeping them in his world, and he asks why he went so far to deceive him to kill his half-sister. Nemo says that he is free to do what he pleases.