Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Tommy and Hawes dig up Jason's corpse intending to cremate it. During a thunderstorm, Tommy experiences a flashback and impales Jason's body with a metal fence post. Two lightning bolts strike the metal post simultaneously, and the electrical surge revives Jason as a revenant with superhuman strength. The lightning literally brings Jason back to life.

• lightning resurrection
• Tommy Jarvis
• Jason Voorhees revived
• how Jason comes back

Tommy brought the hockey mask to Jason's grave, likely as a trophy or to confront his trauma. After Jason kills Hawes and is revived with supernatural strength, he takes the mask from Tommy and wears it. This becomes his iconic look for the remainder of the film and establishes the visual that would define the franchise.

• hockey mask
• Jason mask
• where did Jason get the mask

When Jason arrives at Camp Forest Green, he kills counselors Sissy and Paula but deliberately spares the children. This follows the established pattern from earlier films where Jason's kill list excludes young children, though he has no problem murdering teenagers and adults.

• Jason doesn't kill kids
• camp children spared
• why Jason spares children

After finding the bodies of Cort and Nikki, along with the flipped RV, Sheriff Garris immediately assumes Tommy is responsible. He believes Tommy's claimed sightings of Jason are delusions that have driven him to commit murder. Garris refuses to consider that Jason could be real, even as evidence piles up.

• Sheriff Garris
• Tommy arrested
• wrongfully accused
• sheriff thinks Tommy is killer

Tommy chains a boulder around Jason's neck and drags him underwater. Jason destroys the boat and pulls Tommy beneath the surface. When Megan dives in to rescue Tommy, Jason grabs her leg. She uses the boat's outboard motor to push Jason off, sending him to the bottom of the lake. Megan then performs CPR on Tommy, reviving him.

• Tommy lives
• final showdown
• CPR
• how Tommy survives Jason
• Megan saves Tommy

Jason is not dead. He is chained to a boulder at the bottom of Crystal Lake, alive but powerless to free himself. The final shot shows Jason underwater, eyes open, still breathing. The ending is deliberately ambiguous, confirming Jason's survival while neutralizing the immediate threat.

• Jason alive
• ending explained
• Jason trapped
• is Jason dead final scene

When Jason is about to kill Megan, Tommy calls out to him from a boat on the lake. Jason recognizes Tommy as the person who killed him previously. Jason's programmed memory of his killer takes priority, so he abandons Megan to pursue Tommy instead.

• Jason chases Tommy
• why Jason picks Tommy
• Jason vs Megan
• final showdown motivation

Tommy Jarvis was institutionalized at a Hospital for the Criminally Insane following the events of the previous film, where he killed Jason Voorhees as a child. He was released before the events of this movie and still suffers from traumatic flashbacks of his encounter with Jason.

• Tommy Jarvis
• psychiatric hospital
• why Tommy was in hospital
• Tommy backstory

When Garris pulls Tommy and Megan over, she provides Tommy with an alibi by stating he has been with her for the past few hours. This proves Tommy could not have killed Cort and Nikki, since they were murdered during that timeframe. However, Garris still locks Tommy up initially.

• Megan alibi
• Tommy's innocence
• how Tommy is proven innocent
• Sheriff Garris realizes truth

Tommy returns to Crystal Lake (renamed Forest Green) specifically to confront his trauma. He is still haunted by nightmares and flashbacks of killing Jason years ago. He hopes that cremating Jason's body will finally end his psychological torment and give him closure.

• Tommy returns
• why Tommy comes back
• face fears
• confront trauma

Caretaker Martin covered up Jason's grave to avoid responsibility for the grave being robbed. When Tommy returns to find Jason's grave, he discovers that Hawes' body has been buried in Jason's place, making it appear that Jason's corpse was never actually moved or disturbed.

• grave switch
• Hawes body
• Martin caretaker
• Jason grave covered up

Jason steals a machete from the players at the corporate paintball game. After brutally murdering several participants, he takes the weapon, which becomes his primary tool for the remainder of his killing rampage through the film.

• machete
• Jason weapon
• paintball game
• where Jason gets machete