George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) ends in an epic fashion with a final shot of Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and the surviving Wives (Riley Keogh, Zoe Kravitz, Abby Lee, Courtney Eaton) watching as Max (Tom Hardy) disappears into the crowd of rejoicing citizens. But the closing image is followed by a mysterious, fictitious quote that reads:

“Where must we go, we who wander this wasteland, in search of our better selves?” - The First History Man

The fictional quote was invented by Miller to underline Fury Road‘s central theme of the quest to be our best selves and regain our lost humanity — the core of the redemption journey. Its author, “the First History Man,” isn’t specified by name, but two Mad Max comic prequels co-written by Miller use a “History Man” character as the narrator. Called a “Wordburger,” the History Man acts as a living book, with names and whole stories tattood on his person. Fury Road co-writer and storyboard artist Mark Sexton told Comic Book Resources, “The History Man was actually a character that appeared in early drafts of the film when we were storyboarding it. This older man, desperate to remember the facts and figures of the past, the old learning—so desperate that in a world where paper barely exists any more, he’s tattooed all these facts onto his body—that’s a great character and a great visual.”

Presumably, the First History Man of the quote is someone who, once society hopefully returns to more stable times, begins to document the turbulent past and the key figures who helped to reshape life for the better. Since the History Man is designated as “first,” this title could possibly refer to Max himself, as viewed from a time in the future when society has improved. Mad Max employs common storytelling archetypes as characters, and, according to the director, Max himself is an archetype. As Miller said, “When you read Joseph Campbell, you realize what he is: He’s a character who predates cinema and is almost in all folklore, the wanderer in the wasteland searching for meaning.” Maybe, more than just one living, breathing person, Max is an idea to be handed down for generations to come.

When we first meet Max, he is haunted by the death of his loved ones and reduced to an antisocial loner, out only for survival, until he joins Furiosa’s fight to rescue a group of women who, despite the disastrous environmental conditions, can still bear children and have been kept as “breeders” by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Whiteley). After some resistance, Max helps Furiosa and the Wives evade Immortan Joe’s army of brainwashed, chrome-covered War Boys. Among them is Nux (Nicholas Hoult), who, like many of his peers, doesn’t have long to live and hopes to be remembered for doing something great within his short time on this planet. Furiosa holds out hope that they will reach the “green place” of her childhood and escape the barren wastelands where Immortan Joe hoards the water and forces all others to serve him. When Furiosa discovers with despair that the green place no longer exists, Max convinces her that redemption is still possible. They fight the villain Joe, return triumphant and restore the water Joe has hoarded to all citizens.

Max and his fellow travelers seek to absolve themselves of their regrettable pasts and leave the chaos of this broken world behind. In the end, their underlying goal is to reach a point where they can finally show the compassion and humanity that, until now, they have been forced to repress due to the ruthlessness of their environment. Whether it’s Max or Furiosa looking to escape their troubled pasts or the Wives longing to be free from the Immortan Joe, all are looking for a home where their humanity can thrive. Perhaps one day, when the structure of the V8 engine is seen for what is is, rather than a religious symbol, History Men will tell a story about Max Rockatansky and his fellow travelers, who stood against the evil Immortan Joe and searched for a better place.