Hellbound's New Truth and Arrowhead Explained: How Are They Connected?

Hi, Min here. 🌿 If the names New Truth and Arrowhead are getting tangled together as you start Hellbound, here’s the distinction I’d keep beside me: one presents a religious explanation for the supernatural events; the other brings extremist devotion to that movement.

They are connected. Their roles, though, are worth separating, especially when you’re trying to follow who is making a claim and who is acting on it.

Scope and spoilers: This guide covers the early setup of Netflix’s Season 1, including the conflict outlined in its first three episode summaries. It does not reveal later Season 1 turns, an ending, or Season 2 developments. It is a premise explainer, rather than a personal viewing review.

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What is the New Truth?

The New Truth is the religious movement headed by Jung Jinsu in the drama’s opening setup. It tells people that the terrifying supernatural visits express divine will and judgment.

Netflix’s original casting announcement introduces the movement and its leader in those terms. The same announcement uses the spelling Jeong Jin-su; that is another romanization of the character’s name.

The distinction to hold onto is between an event happening and someone explaining why it happens. The New Truth supplies an answer to the second question. Its confidence does not make that answer a neutral account from outside the story.

For me, that’s the useful question to bring to these early scenes: what gives this speaker the authority to interpret something so frightening?

What is Arrowhead?

Arrowhead is the extremist following associated with the New Truth. In that same announcement, Netflix describes lawyer Min Hyejin as confronting both the religious movement and its extremist Arrowhead devotees.

So Arrowhead belongs in the picture when you think about how belief becomes pressure on other people. Violence and intimidation matter here, alongside the religious message itself.

That also helps explain why Hellbound can feel threatening even away from its supernatural beings. A human being doesn’t need supernatural powers to make another person’s life unsafe.

Are the New Truth and Arrowhead the same group?

They are linked, but using the names interchangeably loses a useful distinction. For the early Season 1 setup, think of them through these roles:

A quick distinction for the opening of Season 1

Group	Role to keep in mind
New Truth	The religious movement claiming to explain the supernatural events as divine judgment.
Arrowhead	The extremist devotees associated with that movement, bringing intimidation and violence into the conflict.

This is a guide to their narrative roles, rather than a formal chart of membership or commands. It doesn’t establish who ordered every action, or tell you to treat every believer as an Arrowhead member.

Both names refer to people and human groups. Keep them separate from the otherworldly beings carrying out the terrifying attacks.

How does their connection become visible early on?

The official Netflix episode summaries give a compact outline. Episode 1 introduces Jinsu’s claim that those sent to hell are sinners. Episode 2 places the New Truth around a planned public broadcast. Episode 3 names Arrowhead’s targeting of Min Hyejin.

Taken together, those early descriptions offer a helpful way to follow the drama: an explanation is voiced, an event becomes a spectacle, and people become targets. That’s a reading of the setup, rather than a claim that these three steps explain every later development.

When a scene feels overwhelming, try separating three questions: What happened? What does someone say it means? What are people doing because of that belief? The answers don’t have to be the same thing.

Why does this distinction matter?

The supernatural threat raises the question of what is happening. The two groups also make us ask what people do with uncertainty—and what happens to anyone placed under public suspicion.

In a 2021 interview with TIME, director Yeon Sang-ho discussed the contrast between reason and barbarity when asked about the story’s groups.

My reading of the early premise is that the horror operates on both levels. There is something frightening that people cannot explain, and there are human choices about blame, authority, and force. Keeping those levels distinct leaves room to question a confident explanation while still taking the danger seriously.

If you want one question to carry into the next episode, I’d choose this: who gains power when a frightening event is treated as proof of someone’s guilt?

For the creators, comic, and adaptation basics, return to the Hellbound introduction. To choose between the webtoon, English books, and Netflix seasons, use the reading and watch-order guide.