Cutter accompanies Angier to an abandoned building filled with tanks, and helps him store Tesla's machine. Cutter leaves, silently acknowledging the arrival of a very-much-alive Borden, who shoots Angier. As Angier lies dying, Borden reveals that he was actually two identical twins who lived as Fallon and Alfred, alternating between each role.

One twin (the one still alive) was the husband of Sarah and father to daughter Jess, and loved Sarah more than the magic; the other was in love with Olivia. They played one individual in life and in the illusions. Borden reminds Angier of a Chinese magician they saw together years ago who pretended to have a limp when ever he was in public so he could use this to conceal his methods on stage and that the way he lived his life was the actual illusion.

Borden tells Angier his devotion to the illusion was such that he and his twin were willing to live the same life in order to conceal their methods.

Angier's method is also revealed: During the illusion, the machine created a duplicate of Angier, with one falling through a trap door into a locked tank and drowning, and the other being teleported to the balcony. This was always Angier's intention to frame Borden for his murder as he knew sooner or later Borden would try and discover the secret to the trick by sneaking backstage to be caught watching Angier drowning.
Borden leaves Angier to die as a fire consumes the building. Afterwards, Cutter reunites Borden with his daughter. A final shot shows that each tank in the abandoned building contained a drowned Angier.