in the legion book{Pazuzu}

Whether or not the demon in the original EXORCIST was actually Pazuzu to begin with is actually kinda debatable- as Merrin puts it, “The demon is a liar”. It’s *implied* that it was Pazuzu but, to pull another quote out, “Call me LEGION for we are many”- perhaps Pazuzu is just part of Legion. But I’m digressing here.

In William Peter Blatty’s LEGION, it’s implied that Pazuzu was responsible for putting the soul of the Gemini Killer into the dying body of Damien Karras. Karras’ soul was ascending into Heaven and the Gemini’s soul was entering Karras’ body.

As for where is the demon during LEGION, it’s left to the reader to decide what happened to Pazuzu. Perhaps Pazuzu *is* still inside Karras’ body, but in a subdued state, merely acting as a transmitter and aiding the Gemini in taking over the catatonics. I mean, why should we believe that James Venamun was endowed with demonic abilities? From strictly a logical standpoint, it could stand to reason that The Gemini was aided in his smear campaign against his father by Pazuzu, serving as a demonic proxy. Then again, it’s equally fun to believe that perhaps Satan took some sort of liking to The Gemini, finding his work to be pleasing, and endowed him with certain skills and abilities. Again- all up to the reader.

The only exception to all of this would be the cinematic adaptation of LEGION; of course I speak of THE EXORCIST III, in which it’s implied that Pazuzu returns to take over Damien Karras’ body when Father Paul Morning arrives and Pazuzu apparently panics- violently angry at its previous loss and presumably fearing another one, the demon takes full control of Damien’s body and proceeds to demonstrate what we can only surmise is “a vulgar display of power” by demonically disintegrating Morning’s copy of The Roman Ritual, partially flaying Morning’s head and body and leaving him all but slain.

Any additional thoughts? I think I covered all the major bases…