Hawkeye kills Magua

Hawkeye kills Magua at the climax of their long-running conflict, but the shot comes only after Magua has murdered Cora and Uncas and appears close to escaping. The pursuit ends on a mountain ledge: Magua’s final attempt to defy and elude his enemies becomes the moment in which Hawkeye brings him down.

The Final Confrontation

After reaching the scene, Hawkeye sees that the ledge holds only the dead. Magua emerges from a crevice and moves over the body of his last associate, then climbs toward a point beyond David Gamut’s reach. Above, Duncan Heyward calls for mercy, but Magua answers by taunting the pale faces and the Delawares and declaring that he will leave them on the rocks.

Hawkeye’s Shot

Magua first leaps for the cliff’s edge and falls short, catching a shrub with his hands. Rather than exhaust himself in fruitless efforts, he lowers his body until his feet find a fragment of rock, then makes another attempt. As he draws his knees onto the edge, Hawkeye steadies his rifle and fires. Magua’s grip loosens; after a brief gesture of defiance, he falls from the mountain to his death.

Consequence and Significance

The killing ends the immediate pursuit and the rivalry between Hawkeye and Magua, but it does not undo the deaths that preceded it. The scene turns on the narrow interval between escape and capture: Magua’s composure and physical resourcefulness bring him almost to safety, while Hawkeye’s single shot makes the final outcome irreversible. His death closes the novel’s central personal conflict in violence, after Magua’s own violence has claimed Cora and Uncas.