Dr. Amfortas’ illness?

Not epilepsy, but likely a brain “legion” (sorry). Recall that Amfortas duplicates the symptoms of his own patients (the hand convulsion). His “twin” informs him that yes, he had a part in the murders. The haunting question is, can Amfortas, like Karras before him, be redeemed?

Also the name “Amfortas” is taken from the Grail myth. Amfortas was the Fisher King who chronically/eternally suffered from a debilitating wound. In fact, his wound (said to be in the thigh and symbolic of physical and spiritual impotence) is called “The Amfortas Wound”. Hence Blatty’s Dr. Amfortas also suffers from a chronic psychological (the problem of pain) wound – and a neurological (his lesion and the altered state it causes) wound.

So – yes, I’d say that Amfortas is the guilty party vis a vis the murdered priest in the confessional. He had access to the surgical shears and the succinocholine. But I don’t know if he can be termed a true catatonic – the brain lesion is probably classified as a different type of illness in neuropsychology.

Good pun-catches! I don’t recall what he wrote when Temple was knocking… Guess I’ll need to re-read it again…

The question unanswered is whether or not Temple’s stroke was an unhappy coincidence.