6,000 years ago, Inanna was in a relationship with Hastur.  They were 2 of the 4 gods.  When Hastur died (it’s not explained how), Inanna broke.  She grew lonely and desperate and mad.  She attempted to break into Hell itself and get Hastur’s soul back.  

Inanna’s sister, Ereshkigal, the lord of Hell, stopped her, and with the help of the disciples of the other gods, bound her to mortal form (The Dean).

Inanna/Dean lived her life for 6,000 years, constantly being monitored by the secret coven the other gods and their disciples had formed, given talismans to keep Inanna bound (almost like reverse Horcruxes).

Inanna begins recruiting disciples herself – these are vampires.  Inanna sees her chance to destroy the first talisman in 1698. Inanna finds a dead Mircalla being raped by Vordenberg, and brings her back to life – this leads to Carmilla’s slaughter of the Vordenbergs, something I’m sure Inanna found great pleasure in, as the Vordenbergs were keepers of one of the talismans.  Unfortunately, one Vordenberg escaped, and continued to pass on the talisman to further generations.

Inanna becomes The Dean of (and possibly creates) Silas University.  She’s found where the Gates of Hell are hidden, and sets up shop.

Inanna bides her time with the Anglerfish, appeasing it until she can figure out a way to kill it.  The Anglerfish is the watchdog of the First Gate, not unlike Fluffy in the Sorcerer’s Stone.  Luckily, Carmilla dispatches the Anglerfish for her, allowing Inanna to break the first seal. This is the storyline for season 1.

Season 2 shows Inanna possessing Perry in order to further move the chess pieces into play.  She manipulates the Scooby Gang into killing and/or getting rid of the coven of disciples that helped to bind her (the Board of Silas).

In season 3, no longer having to obey the Board (though still bound to mortal form), Inanna opens the rest of the Gates to once again attempt to break into Hell and rescue her dead lover Hastur.

Inanna’s sister, Ereshkigal (ruler of Hell), enlists Mattie to be her new disciple.  Over the last 6,000 years, since binding her sister to mortal form, Ereshkigal has had a change of heart.  She’s seen how twisted and hurt and lonely and broken her sister Inanna is over losing Hastur.  Is an eternity in prison a just punishment for wanting to be reunited with a loved one?  Ereshkigal doesn’t think so anymore.  So she decides to unbind her.

Ereshkigal wanted the Scooby Gang to free Inanna the entire time.  She never wanted her rebound.  She only played along with the plan until the pieces were in place so she could activate her trap card.  Pretty similar to Inanna’s plan in season 2.

Enki, the fourth god, has no idea Ereshkigal is doing this.  He’s legit trying to rebind Inanna.  His new disciple is JP.  Unlocking the Sixth Gate of Hell requires the death of a disciple – a “high priestess”. This is why JP dies.  Inanna realized that if she couldn’t sacrifice her disciple/priestess (Carmilla), the spell would actually still work if she sacrificed another god’s disciple/priestess.  Poor JP.

But back to Ereshkigal.

The spell to fully unbind Inanna from her mortal form requires a heart willingly given, not taken.  This is why, when the Dean steals Laura’s heart, nothing happens.

But Mattie made a deal with Laura the night previous.  Ereshkigal would make sure to keep all of her friends alive, no matter what happened, as long as Laura gave her heart to Inanna. And Laura accepts.

This what the hug meant. Laura sees Inanna, so desperate and lonely and insane with grief, and Laura realizes that Inanna is no different than she or Carmilla could have become given a bad turn (this was narratively the purpose for alt-Carm).

Laura understands Inanna. She empathizes with her.  She hugs her.  She willingly gives her her heart.

And Inanna is free. Unbound and a god again.

And Laura is dead (her physical heart is still ripped out…)

Becoming an omniscient being has cleansed Inanna’s soul.  No longer bound to human emotions, she sees the error of her ways.  While perhaps not good, she’s certainly no longer evil.

And seeing a dead Laura, and a grieving and desperate Carmilla, Inanna recognizes herself.  She recognizes the grief that started her descent into madness and her descent into Hell.  Immortality of loneliness would drive Carmilla mad.

So, while Inanna doesn’t have dominion over life and death, she can at least give Carmilla some semblance of peace – her mortality.  She will not have to live through the eons of desperation Inanna lived through.

But Carmilla isn’t through with the gods just yet.

She convinces Ereshkigal to play one more game, double or nothing.  Either both Laura and Carmilla live, or both of them die.  Carmilla also knows what she may become without Laura. She and Laura discussed it.  They won’t let each other become like The Dean.

Mattie smiles, and gives Carmilla an easy riddle.  Mattie admits that Ereshkigal has grown soft for Carmilla and Laura, and wants to thank them for helping free her sister.  So she basically loses on purpose.  With a wink and kiss on the cheek, Ereshkigal disappears.

And the ruler of the dead revives Laura (assumingly growing back or replacing her heart).

Both Laura and Carmilla are alive.

Both are humans.