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This is a very interesting topic.
Perhaps every demon’s flaw: Temptation? Pazuzu probably just could NOT RESIST the open invitation to take a soul – ESPECIALLY one of a priest!
I’m sure granville1 might provide a more theological response.
Captain, I think your ideas are very explanatory. Just as the demon attacked Merrin’s pride, so too the demon suffers from his own kind of “damned” (unrepentant) pride.
At first, the demon thinks that it is Merrin he needs to defeat. When Karras enters the scene before Merrin does, the demon cackles, “they sent YOU?!”, as if Karras was a mere unworthy “morsel” whose damnation was virtually certain vis a vis his loss of faith and treatment of his mother.
Yet as the exorcism proceeds, it becomes clear that for all the power of the ritual, and for all of Merrin’s saintliness, it’s not working. Only when Karras offers himself does the demon deign to put himself at real risk.
There is definitely something at stake when Karras offers himself. Plausibly part of what’s at stake is an issue of pride. Surely the demon can defeat this “faithless scum”, this mere morsel of a priest. Merrin died before the demon could defeat him. Karras was the only priest left for the demon to vanquish.
As you said, the temptation was just too much to resist, and plausibly Pazuzu’s pride led him to what turned out to be a fatal error: taking on this angry priest with the chipped boxer’s face.
I never thought of it that way. I always viewed the demon as a cautious/taunting being. Because througout the entire movie he reacted to tapwater and spoke reverse english to throw the church of his scent.
The demon is cautious/taunting… up to a point. When its pride is challenged, the demon is willing to put itself at risk (losing its cautiousness), and speaking objectively (modifying somewhat the effects of its tauntingness). Hence the demon tells Merrin without artifice, “This time you are going to lose.” And after Merrin dies before the demon can defeat him, the demon complains that he, the demon, _would_ have won had Merrin not dropped dead.
Throughout the story the demon has a habit of letting the witnesses come bit-by-bit closer to himself and his own truth. He would be nowhere without his audience. In order to keep them around – though he “mixes lies with the truth” to confuse them – he must dangle some hints about his power and his identity. Although the bait he offers them is, as you say, couched in taunts, there is a core authenticity in some of the taunts – they are the demon’s self-revelations. And part of its self-revelation is its hubris, its vaulting pride, which ultimately is its downfall.
I actually respectfully disagree with the above explanations.
Take the classic line:
Demon: “It will bring us closer”
Karras: “You and Regan?”
Demon: “You and us…”
I have always been under the impression that this was the demons’ plan all along. What else could this line mean? The demon taunted Karras in his dreams as well. As we learn later in Legion, a beautifully orchestrated plot to send scandal amidst the faithful was thrown into motion.
The demon was aware that Karras would sacrifice himself, and that this would be the only way it would end for the girl. That is, either the girl would die, or Karras would sacrifice his own physical body for her life.
What the demon didnt count on was the strength of Karras’ faith to overcome the demon in both The Exorcist and Legion.
iamnoone makes a very strong point with that post! In fact, I changed my mind about my first thoughts on this topic. I like the idea that it was Pazuzu’s plan to mess with Karras all along.
I cannot believe I completely forgot about the “you and us…” dialoge. That is one of my favorite exchanges in the entire film.
Iamnoone – some good thoughts there, but questions linger:
If this was the demon’s plan all along, why was the demon surprised when Karras, not Merrin, took up the case? Blatty clearly presents Merrin as the demon’s target, based on their past confrontation. He also presents the exorcism as the crucible of Karras’s redemption, but that is another matter.
Karras, in contrast to Merrin, is much lower on the demon’s “possibles” list – the demon is dimly aware of Karras’s faith-doubts and mother-guilt, but these don’t figure in the possession at all, and quite incidentally, until Karras actually enters the case. From the demon’s perspective, Karras is a tempting morsel, nothing more; from Blaty’s and implicitly “God’s” perspective, the exorcism itself will “bring us together” – not Karras and the demon, but Karras and God.
The demon’s motivation – and the explicative purpose of the whole Prologue in Iraq – is the luring Merrin into another fight – one that he may lose. This is why, when permission for an exorcism is given, the demon groans “Merrin…” not “Karras…” Naturally, the demon would be pleased to snare Karras – that’s his nature as a demon. But the target is Merrin.
Ditto the demon’s fury over Merrin’s premature death – if the demon wanted Karras to act according to “plan” (i.e., sacrifice himself to the demon’s advantage), then Merrin’s death would be _good_ news for the demon – because it got rid of a useless pawn and left Karras as the last surviving priest to defeat. But on the contrary, the demon roars that it has been cheated by the death of Merrin, against whom he has an ancient grudge. The demon has no grudge against Karras. He despises Karras and wants him to “lose”, but as a secondary victim who more or less stumbled onto the scene. (Again, this is the demon’s point of view – he does not know that may see Karras’s entry into the case as a divine intrusion.)
You write, “as we learn later in Legion”… but a crucial question remains – namely, if Legion can really be considered anything but a tack-on to the original novel.
The huge inconsistencies between the Legion book and The Exorcist book – plus the inconsistencies between the Legion book and the Legion film, argue strongly for the tack-on theory. The Exorcist stands by itself as whole without the need for further explication or development.
Moreover, what we “learn” from Legion depends entirely on what version we follow: the novel or the film. In the Legion novel, Blatty – true to his intent in the original Exorcist novel – presents Karras as having deservedly passed on to glory. In the Legion book, it is only Karras’s re-animated _body_ that appears – his true self, spirit, soul, has gone to God. The glint of triumph Dyer sees in the dying Karras’s eyes is, in Legion, affirmed as a true and justifiable interpretation. Karras has saved Regan, cast out the demon, and merged with the God he has been seeking throughout the story.
In the Legion film, on the other hand, Blatty breaks faith with his own premise.
In the film, Karras has not deservedly passed on to glory. On the contrary, foul demons have seized him, taken him to hell, mercilessly tormenting him. He is not with his God. He has not been rewarded for his self-sacrifice. The beauty of his redemption has been trashed for schlock-filmmaking and studio capitulation. Therefore I believe that it is unhelpful to view The Exorcist in the light – or better, the shadow – of Legion.
If this was the demon’s plan all along, why was the demon surprised when Karras, not Merrin, took up the case?
His youth. I think the demon is simply displaying arrogance, like Goliath mocking David (to use a biblical metaphor)
Blatty clearly presents Merrin as the demon’s target, based on their past confrontation.
Ah, but here I disagree. I do not think Merrin is the “target” per se, but rather the entire church. Faith. People’s belief and desire to turn to God.
The demon and Merrin do indeed have a past, and because Merrin “got in the way” before, he is going to be killed. The exorcism will fail. When Karras arrives the demon may be surprised, but the demon also sees one thing any good demon wants; opportunity!
Think of the demon having this inner monologue; “Hmmm…I have Merrin right where I want him. These pathetic priests can’t beat me, but I can convince Karras to sacrifice his body. So in one fantastic night I can kill Merrin AND have a priest’s body!” (insert crazy demon laugh here)
from Blaty’s and implicitly “God’s†perspective, the exorcism itself will “bring us together†– not Karras and the demon, but Karras and God.
Again, I disagree. Karras asks the demon directly, “You and Regan?”, and the demon answers “You and us”. If it meant Karras and God he would have to be speaking from God’s persepctive.
What could be more heinous?
Think of what is going on; there is a police investigation going on about a murder that has happened here. If the demon can take over Karras’ body, he will force the priest to kill Regan (which he tried to do). Then, Kinderman will come up, see the priest, and a PRIEST will be blamed for killing both Burke and Regan. Faith is shamed!
Personally, I always thought this is why Blatty thought Legion was necessary, or at least a source of inspiration. Everyone seemed to forget the underlying police investigation and “mystery” that is going on from that perspective. It is that aspect of The Exorcist that is brought to the forefront in Legion.
In the Legion book, it is only Karras’s re-animated _body_ that appears – his true self, spirit, soul, has gone to God.
Yes, but to the public, who would find out about the crimes, they would see Karras, and the scandal would be alive.
I guess it’s all just a matter of perspective. For myself, it’s a battle for the demon against a much larger target; the church itself and people’s faith in general. The first action the demon takes inside Karras’ body is to attempt to kill the girl. This will leave Karras as the only suspect, and linked, then, to Burke.
Just out of curiosity why did Pazuzu/Captain Howdy comply when the preist asked him to take him instead?
Yes, you make some good points… I personally love that Blatty created more Exorcist material in Legion book/Legion novel.
Interesting, too, since in the film, Morning is mostly incapacitated, Kinderman takes on the role of exorcist – sort of. He has come to “faith” in believing in the demon’s reality, and in the end he sets Karras “free”. True, it’s Morning’s “fight him, Damien, fight!” That weakens the demon and strengthens Karras, but it is Kinderman’s bullets that kill Karras’s body at the key moment, liberating him from possession – in a loose sense, an exorcism…
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