With "Through a Glass Darkly" ending with a discussion of how God is love, "Winter Light" further examines if understanding God is as simple as that. Bergman stated he abandoned the idea that love is proof of God because it was unsatisfactory to explain to a character who was suicidal over fear of nuclear war. The character Blom mocks the idea of God as love, attributing the words to Tomas but quoting the end of "Through a Glass Darkly" exactly. Tomas's loss of his wife, and his loss of his ability to love, is further proof to him that God has become silent. In contrast, the character Algot, presented as enlightened, equates Tomas's spiritual crisis with sayings of Jesus on the cross and God's "silence".