King Paimon is the demonic antagonist who
motivates all of the horrific events seen in Hereditary. But the entity’s origin goes back to 1577,
where he’s mentioned in Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, a Latin grimoire, or instructional
book on summoning supernatural entities. According to that text, Paimon started as
an angel where he had a great admiration for Lucifer and became one of his followers. When Lucifer was thrown out of Heaven for
his arrogance, his followers, including Paimon, were banished. The most detailed information about Paimon’s
lore comes from The Lesser Key of Solomon, a mid-17th century spellbook on demonology. The Lesser Key of Solomon contains info on
72 demons and how to summon them for personal gain. Each demon can be classified as a Duke, Prince,
Marquise, Knight, President, Earl or in this case: King. Each demon has a sigil, or magic symbol that
represents them, which according to Lesser Key of Solomon, are to be made of a specific
metal, based on their classification. For Kings, the sigil is to be made of gold. In Hereditary, the stand-in for the Lesser
Key of Solomon is a book found in Ellen’s possessions simply titled Invocations, and
in the text we can see bits and pieces of the same information found in Lesser Key. This book actually references earlier writings
from “The Goetia”. It’s talking about “Ars Goetia”, one
of the five books that make up The Lesser Key of Solomon. Diving into the quickly glossed over details
of this book tells us everything we need to know about King Paimon, and allows us to unlock
all of the secrets of Hereditary. To learn everything about King Paimon, stick
around to the end of this video. This video is sponsored by Audible. (Metal Intro Music) Welcome to Horror History. I always thought it would be funny if I ever
hit 1 million subscribers to do a collab with a channel with 100 subscribers. Well, I did do that, and this is that video. So today I am joined by my TA, Sarah from
the channel What The Horror. – Hello class, I’m Sarah and I’m so happy to be joining Professor CZ for today’s Horror
History. I’ve been a big fan of CZs World for a couple
of years now and it’s been so much fun working on this project. I was blown away by Hereditary and what a
well crafted masterpiece it is and I’m so excited to be talking about it today. – Obviously, I picked a horror channel that
I thought my audience would enjoy, so go ahead and subscribe to her channel. Before we continue on with Paimon’s history,
let’s explore the details about King Paimon in these ancient texts and how they show up
in Hereditary. – [Sarah] Paimon is most often depicted
as a male with an effeminate face riding atop a Dromedary. Being a male with a feminine face causes Paimon
to want to correct his form by inhabiting a male host. The in-movie Invocations book adds that “King
Paimon has become livid and vengeful when offered a female host”, which could explain
some of the horror seen in Hereditary. According to Lesser Key, wherever he goes,
he is preceded by a host of spirits and demons in the shape of men with trumpets and well
sounding cymbals. Paimon has a great voice and roars when he
arrives. – [Zac] I’m not an expert on identifying
musical instruments, but I believe all of these sounds are accounted for in the movie’s
soundtrack during the “Rebirth” scene. First comes the roaring Paimon vocals… (deep vocals) … then the cymbals… (cymbals) … and finally, the trumpets… (trumpets) Paimon knows and can teach science, art and
other secret things, such as the mysteries of Earth, water and mind. – [Joan] Give us your knowledge of all secret things
and all mysteries of the Earth. – The Invocations book also makes reference
to knowledge of physics and astrology, but we never see the rest of the page. Paimon can bestow upon the conjurer great
gifts of wealth, dignities, and good familiars and he can bind men to the conjurer’s will. He can also provide any answer to questions
posed by the Conjurer. – [Annie] You could always count on her to always
have the answer. And if she ever was mistaken… well, that was your opinion, and you were
wrong. – It is said though that if Paimon is summoned
alone then an offering or sacrifice must be made. (sobbing) He must be observed to the Northwest, for
that is where he is housed. – [Joan] We have looked to the Northwest and called
you in. – While we only see bits and pieces of Hereditary’s
Invocations book, there are a few takeaways, such as the idea that when calling upon Paimon,
one “should (and indeed must) be entirely without fear”, because Paimon will feed
on one’s fear. We kind of see this play out, because as the
Graham family starts to accept the idea of something demonic in their house, the paranormal
activity gets more and more pronounced. It also discusses the possibility of cementing
a working relationship between Paimon and the conjurer, where Paimon can influence parts
of the person’s life. Some examples are given: a difficult co-worker, – What? – [Zac] ...an uninterested object of affection, or an annoying habit are all problems that Paimon could theoretically help with. We don’t really see this in Hereditary,
but we do see an example of what might happen to someone that King Paimon deems to be an
obstacle. (scream) While these benefits all sound great, resurrecting
King Paimon is no easy task, as we see from the struggle of his most loyal servant. (spooky music) – [Sarah] In 1939 or 1940, Ellen Taper Leigh
was born. We don’t know if she is the one who first
connected the family to King Paimon, or if it was one of her ancestors who simply passed
the association down to her, hence the title: Hereditary. What we do know is that she eventually becomes
the “Queen” to King Paimon, which essentially seems to mean that she is the cult leader
responsible for making sure he’s able to find a vessel. If she wasn’t born as a servant to Paimon,
I would assume that she took on the role before getting married. This would give her a reason to have kids:
so that she could create a perfect vessel for her demonic King. This, however, would not go according to plan. She met a man named Martin Leigh, who would
eventually become her husband. She most likely married and had her first
kid, Charles, in the mid to late 1960s, and then had her daughter Annie in the 1970s. When Annie was a baby, her father Martin had
psychotic depression and starved himself to death. Or at least, that became the official story. Not much else is known about this time period,
so I’m going to infer a little bit. Perhaps Ellen’s original plan was to use
her first child as a vessel for Paimon once he got a little bit older, but once he was
older, he was resistant to what she was trying to do. Instead, she decided to have a second child,
who turned out to be a girl, Annie. King Paimon did not want a female vessel,
so Ellen went back to trying to have Paimon possess the older sibling, but at this point,
Charles was very aware of his mother’s sinister plans for him. One of Ellen’s hobbies was embroidery, and
she created custom doormats for her kids. Annie’s contains a compass with the 8 cardinal
directions. The Northwest is highlighted in gold, a reference
to the requirement to summon King Paimon while facing Northwest. Charles’s mat is marked with the Paimon
sigil and 4/5s of a pentagram. When Charles realized that his mother was
trying to use him as a host for an evil entity, he was driven to suicide. – My older brother had schizophrenia and
when he was 16 he hanged himself in my mother's bedroom and of course the suicide note blamed
her accusing her of putting people inside him. – After losing her son, and primary target to
play host to King Paimon, the relationship between Ellen and Annie was strained. Annie likely moved out as soon as she was
able. Annie eventually got married to Steven Graham, – [Zac] She means Graham… – [Sarah] …a psychiatrist. One might assume that Annie was able to meet
Steven as a patient receiving psychiatric help on account of her tumultuous past. Annie and Steven’s first child was a boy
named Peter, so Ellen tried to get close to the family again, seeing him as another potential
landing spot for King Paimon, however, Annie didn’t let her mother get anywhere near
her or her son during this time. This led to a lot of arguing, and Steven instituting
a no-contact rule which lasted until 2003 or 2004, when Annie got pregnant once again. But this time, things would be different. – [Zac] Halloween season is upon us once again but decorations are not the only way to set the mood. One of the most effective ways to get in a spooky headspace is with Audible. You know that list of the best horror novels that you probably should have read by now? The Shining. Patient Zero. The Fear Street novels. With Audible, you can breeze on through them at whatever preferred reading speed you'd like. The Audible app makes it easy to listen, anytime, anywhere. Like while traveling to a haunted house. Or while in line for said haunted house. Audible offers an incredible selection of Audiobooks across every genre. From best-sellers and new releases to celebrity memoirs, mysteries, thrillers, motivations, wellness, business and more. You'll discover exclusive Audible originals from top celebrities, renowned experts and exciting new voices in audio. Members get a free title every month that you get to keep regardless of your membership status. If you happen to be an Amazon Prime member, you get a second title every month. This month, I'm continuing American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. To try out Audible Premium Plus free for 30 days, visit audible.com/czsworld or text 'czsworld' to 500-500. You'll find that link in the description, audible.com/czsworld (spooky music) – [Zac] In 2004 or 2005, Annie gave birth
to a second child, who would go by Charlie, a gender neutral name in honor of her deceased
Uncle Charles. This time Annie gave in, and let her mother
into the picture once again. – Which is why I gave her my daughter, who
she immediately stabbed her hooks into. – [Zac] There’s evidence to suggest that the real
Charlie was replaced with King Paimon as soon as she was born. Annie states that Charlie never cried as a
baby, even during her delivery. This probably alludes to the idea that Paimon
is a demon with no human emotions. Later we see a bird crash into Charlie’s
classroom window. (thump) Everyone in the class jumps, except for Charlie. She doesn’t even flinch. If you need further confirmation, director
Ari Aster confirmed in an interview with Variety; Charlie was possessed from the moment she
was born. As outlined in the demonology texts throughout
history, Paimon did not feel at home inside of a female body and this may explain why
she appears to have so many health issues. Her peanut allergy is the only affliction
mentioned in the movie, but a lot of fans have theorized that she may have elements
of Down syndrome or autism, and if this is the case, it’s easy to see how a disorder
could be triggered by an incongruence between Paimon and the female body he’s possessing. Obviously, Paimon did not want to be in a
female body in the first place, but Ellen realized she was getting older at this point
and she was running out of time to try to resurrect him, so she created a plan to use
Charlie as a temporary host until the cult had the opportunity to transfer the demon
to her older brother Peter. In the meantime, she gave Charlie preferential
treatment, took care of her, and even kept her from her mother. – [Annie] Even when you were a little baby. She wouldn’t let me feed you because she
needed to feed you. Feeding Charlie may have also allowed Ellen
to slip these black herbs into her meals. – [Sarah] He means herbs. The use of herbs in witchcraft or occult
rituals are said to make a subject more receptive to communication with the other side and ease
connection with spirits and demons. – [Zac] This photo was originally supposed
to be a part of Ellen’s photo album, which Annie discovers closer to the end of the movie,
but it seems that Aster moved it to the family’s fridge, where we see it earlier on in the
film’s runtime. But during the photo album scene in the script,
the picture is described: “Annie’s mother guides a baby bottle into BABY CHARLIE’s
mouth. The bottle’s milk is polluted with black
herbs.” We would see these herbs and oils come up
several times more, like for example, on the doormats she created for her kids. As you would expect, Ellen treated Charlie
like a boy, so as not to upset Paimon. – [Charlie] She wanted me to be a boy. – I find it interesting that Ellen gives Charles’s
doormat to Annie’s family, despite it clearly saying Charles, not Charlie. Almost like she’s trying to make King Paimon
feel more at home despite being in the wrong body. She also makes a doormat for her friend Joan,
who is a part of the cult as well. Hers is decorated with hexagrams. The hexagram is also known as The Seal of
Solomon, as in Solomon the King, after whom the grimoire, The Lesser Key of Solomon is
named. Solomon is said to be the first man to ever
use demonic spells to his own advantage. Joan’s doormat also contains the black herb
imagery seen on the others. Another gift Ellen gave to her daughter was
this necklace of Paimon’s sigil. Ellen can be seen wearing the same necklace. It’s possible that this creates a spiritual
connection between the two, allowing Annie to be a victim of Paimon’s manipulation,
based on what happens next. – Annie is a sleepwalker. When the kids were young enough to share a
room, she covered them and herself in flammable paint thinner in their sleep and lit a match,
only waking up just in time to put it out before setting everyone ablaze. It seems that Annie is subconsciously at King
Paimon’s will, but her conscious mind is strong enough to resist his manipulation. Perhaps going through so much family trauma
as a kid and being married to a psychiatrist as an adult made her waking mind tough, and
harder for the demon to penetrate. This may explain why she is vulnerable only
in her dreams and prone to sleepwalking. This mental toughness seems to keep Paimon
out of her head for the most part. It’s implied that psychological turmoil
makes it easier for him to possess a victim. Remember, it is only after breaking Peter
down with tragedy after tragedy that he becomes available as a vessel. The cult’s plan, broken down into simplest
terms, seems to have three steps. Step 1: Break down the family’s psyche using
tragic events. Step 2: Convince them to open themselves up
to demonic possession by performing a seance, which is secretly an ancient ritual. Step 3: Possess Peter so he can take his place
in front of the congregation. The sleepwalking incident with the paint thinner
is part of Step 1. It planted a seed of distrust in Peter towards
his mother from a young age, and he would never be fully convinced that she really was
sleepwalking. This would come back as an advantage for Paimon
later on. – [Zac] As Ellen got older, she continued
to keep her life as a cult leader a secret from her family. Her photo album documents some of the strange
rituals she engaged in with Paimon’s cult, including one where she is showered in gold
coins while wearing what looks similar to a wedding dress. I would identify this as a result of the promise
of riches detailed in the spellbook that teaches the summoning of King Paimon. There are also many photos of Joan, who seems
to be her right hand woman, the next highest ranking person in the cult. Ellen’s continued dedication to King Paimon
and the cult caused others to take notice, and they perceived her strange behaviors as
mental illness. – [Annie] She didn’t have an easy life. She had DID, which became extreme at the end. And dementia. – Obviously, this was just the way Annie interpreted
her mother’s communications with the spirit world. Everyone in the family tree with a blood relation
to Ellen is diagnosed with some kind of mental illness at one point or another. From the outside, it would appear that it
runs in the family; that it’s hereditary. But it seems very likely that each case was
actually a reaction to demonic activity that was interpreted as mental illness. Because of the guilt she felt about their
relationship, Annie took her mother in to live at the house with them near the end of
her life. She stayed in an extra bedroom at the end
of the hall where she carved this triangle into the floor. It’s pointed diagonally, which made me wonder
if this was another sign to look to the Northwest. Looking for answers online brought me to the
movie’s script, which does indeed specify that the triangle is pointed Northwest. Triangles also seem to be an important part
of the spellbinding process. When we see the ritual in progress in Joan’s
apartment, a photo of Peter is placed inside a triangle that has been crudely carved into
the kitchen table. Long story short: Ellen had been performing
demonic rituals in her room while living at the house. Annie is a professional artist who makes miniatures
of many scenes from her and her family’s life. As far as we know, these are all real moments
that she’s recreating. One miniature we only see in passing is this
one, depicting Ellen standing in Steven and Annie’s doorway like a ghost in the middle
of the night. Does this mean Ellen was also a sleepwalker? Is this another trait that was passed down
to Annie? Or was Ellen attempting to do something to
them as they slept, perhaps something involving dark magic? If that’s the case, it would not be her
first time. Ellen’s photo album contains evidence that
she used a family photo of Steven, Annie, Peter and Charlie as part of some candlelight
ritual with the cult. This could explain the bizarre series of events
that seems to be aimed at the Graham family shortly after Ellen’s passing. (impact) (mysterious music) Before her mortal body fails her, Ellen writes
a note to her daughter which vaguely alludes to the benefits of resurrecting King Paimon;
though in order to make sure her plan goes off undisturbed, does not mention any of the
specifics, like her involvement in cult activity. The card reads: “My darling, dear, beautiful
Annie, Forgive me all the things I could not tell you. Please don’t hate me and try not to despair
your losses. You will see in the end that they were worth
it. Our sacrifice will pale next to the rewards. Love, Mommy.” As her health declined, she was moved to hospice
before her death on April 3rd, 2018. Her funeral was held at Spring Blossom Cemetery
on Saturday April 7th. That morning, Charlie sleeps outside in the
treehouse. Her father scolds her for this, saying she’ll
catch pneumonia, to which she responds… – That’s OK. – It seems Paimon could be aware that he’ll
soon be able to ditch this vessel. Later that morning, many of the cult members
showed up to mourn their Queen, unbeknownst to the family, who assumed they were Ellen’s
friends. During the viewing ceremony, one of the cult
members smears something on Ellen’s lips. In the movie it’s difficult to see what
exactly she’s smearing, but the script once again adds more clarification. “An older WOMAN arrives at the open casket. Her finger is dipped into a small bottle of
OIL. She quickly and covertly STREAKS the oil along
the corpse’s lips.” There are other instances in the script where
Annie discovers bottles of oils and herbs in the box of her mother’s old possessions,
so I think this oil serves a similar purpose as the herbs seen in Charlie’s botte, to
help make it easier to communicate with the spirits. – [Sarah] That night, while putting her
daughter to bed, Annie notices the word Satony written on Charlie’s wall. Satony is a word associated with invocation,
or the calling upon a demon or supernatural entity. Specifically, it seems to be used for necromancy
rituals. Necromancy is the act of communicating with
the dead. Shortly after Annie discovered the card left
by her mother, she turns the light off and sees her ghost standing in the dark. The inclusion of Satony on Charlie’s wall
may not just be for her to communicate with Ellen, but potentially all of the cult members
who are now staying close outside the house. At times you can hear what sounds like the
echoes of ritualistic chanting… (distant chanting) At night we see someone breathing outside
of Peter’s window and Charlie comes across a strange woman burning something in the field
outside their home. All of these forces are at play to ensure
that the entire ritual goes according to plan. – [Zac] The revival of Paimon at the expense
of the Graham family is analogous to the Heracles discussion in Peter’s English class. Heracles was a hero in Greek mythology. Peter’s classmate explains that Heracles’s
fatal flaw is arrogance. – Because he literally refuses to look at
all the signs that are literally being handed to him the entire play. – Throughout Hereditary, we see clues that the
family is being manipulated by this demonic cult, but most viewers won’t recognize them
on first watch, or before watching Things You Missed. However, the English teacher reminds the class
that the author, Sophocles, wrote the Oracle’s vision as absolute, meaning Heracles could
not have avoided his fate no matter what, so the discussion shifts to a debate about
if this is more or less tragic than a story where the characters have agency. – [Classmate] I think it’s more tragic because if
it’s all just inevitable then that means that the characters had no hope. They never had hope because they’re all
just like hopeless pawns in this horrible hopeless machine. – The Graham family was destined to go through
these tragedies, because their world is being manipulated by Paimon. The girl in Peter’s class calls The Oracle
characters “pawns”, and we could also apply the chess metaphor to Hereditary, where
characters are pawns to the desires of King Paimon and Queen Leigh. – [Sarah] That afternoon, Charlie collects
the bird that crashed into the window during her class, and cuts off the head for later
use in one of her crafts. This is the first example of decapitation,
which is the one aspect of King Paimon in the movie that doesn’t seem to be derived
from The Lesser Key of Solomon or any of the other grimoires or ancient texts that mention
him. It also foreshadows the ending, where Charlie’s
own head would be placed upon a mannequin to serve as a demonic idol. The Invocations book found in Ellen’s box
does contain a drawing of Paimon riding on the dromedary with three heads as cargo. This must be connected to the three generations
of women who are decapitated over the course of the story. Birds also seem to be a special symbol for
King Paimon, almost as if he associates himself with a great bird. Charlie draws a picture of a bird wearing
a king’s crown in her sketchbook, she has artwork of a bird beside her bed, her desk
is filled with sticks and nests, and the treehouse where she likes to spend most of her time
resembles a birdhouse. The cult moves swiftly after the burial to
recover Ellen’s body, because it would later play an important role in the evocation ceremony. For the time being, they stash it inside the
Grahams’ attic. – A week after her mother’s death,
Annie attends a support group. If this is exactly one week later, the date
is Tuesday April 10th, which means we are coming up on Friday the 13th. That seems fitting, considering that Friday
the 13th and occultism are both only observed by the superstitious. – Careful Zac you don’t want to
piss off the non-skeptics like last time. (angry chatter) – [Zac] When Charlie is working on her crafts,
she sees this light flare travel across the room and direct her attention to the window. Everyone is going to have their own interpretations
about what this is. Personally, I see it as the life energy of
an entity with no human vessel. And I believe we see multiple entities travel
in this form. In this case, it’s Ellen, who is trying
to point something out to King Paimon, who is still inside of Charlie. We see the light flare close in on the window,
and Charlie gets up to look out that window before going outside towards the treehouse. That night, Charlie goes with Peter to a school
party. On the way there, they drive past a telephone
pole with the Paimon insignia carved into it, suggesting it was always the cult’s
plan for Charlie to be killed at this spot. At the party, Peter goes into a private room
with friends, where two kids are watching a decapitation scene from an old movie. Like Heracles, Peter was being given many
signs about the impending tragedy, but was still powerless to prevent it. Charlie eats a cake with nuts… – …seemingly way too many nuts… – …I think any cake with nuts has
too many nuts, but in this case, the cake triggers her allergy, so Peter tries to rush
her to the hospital, but a deer in the road causes him to swerve out of the way while
she’s sticking her head out the window for air. The telephone pole cleanly knocks the head
off of her shoulders, and with that, the first part of the cult’s plan was all but complete. Paimon was now released from the confines
of Charlie’s female body, and this loss would send the family spiraling. To use Peter’s school lessons as an example
again, it was a “Great Crash” which led to a “Great Depression” in the family. Someone from the cult would go retrieve the
head at some point, for later use. The family’s reaction to Charlie’s death
is very different than the reaction to Ellen’s. Everyone in the family is completely destroyed,
which seems to also be part of the plan. As we mentioned before, it seems like you
have to be mentally deteriorated and broken before the demon can possess your soul. We’ve seen similar ideas expressed over
in the Conjuring franchise, which also deals with demons from The Lesser Key of Solomon. Usually, Ed and Lorraine Warren come to a
family to investigate the paranormal, but we also see them mend issues in the family’s
day to day life, boosting their morale and making them stronger in their fight against
the demonic entity. Hereditary lacks any psychic superheroes,
and there’s not really anyone to help the Grahams make it through their tragedies. After the funeral, Steven discovers the word
“zazas” written on the wall in their bedroom. This is another invocation term left by the
cult. Zazas is similar to Zaza or Zozo, which is
part of a supposed phenomenon among Ouija board users where, upon asking who they are
speaking to, the board would spell out Z-A-Z-A or Z-O-Z-O. This is essentially evidence that the cult
has been in the house to communicate with the other side. The family was right where the cult wanted
them, and their desperate hour would lead to the most disturbing set of circumstances
yet. (impact) (mysterious music) – [Sarah] Annie, desperate for some kind
of last connection to her late daughter, sleeps in the treehouse outside, and uses space heaters
to keep warm, which emit a red glow reminiscent of the fires of hell. Like everything we’ve seen so far, this
has a purpose, it foreshadows the use of the treehouse as a demonic chapel at the end of
the story. The next time Annie visits the support group,
Joan makes a move to get close to her and gain her trust, by introducing herself, and
making herself relatable by saying her son and grandson drowned a few months ago. Neither me or CZ are particularly convinced
that Joan ever even had a son and grandson, but we’ll get to that. Joan needs Annie to open her family up to
the occult by performing a ritual herself, so she positions herself as a friend in order
to eventually encourage her. A day later, one of the cult members slips
a flier about the open séance into the Grahams’ mail slot, but it gets ignored, so Joan switches
to Plan B: continue to try to freak Annie out. As she’s working on her miniatures, some
supernatural force knocks over one of her paint bottles. – [Zac] I guess we could call this a tiny
little air yeet. (not so dramatic horn) – The spill directs her attention
to the slip of paper with Joan’s number, so Annie finally decides to visit her. Joan makes her tea, and when Annie drinks
it, a black herb gets stuck to her lip, the same herbs seen before in Charlie’s bottle
meant to make the subject more receptive to necromancy. Joan is essentially buttering her up to be
possessed by an evil spirit, look how her eyes dart to the teacup when Annie puts it
down, checking to make sure she consumed what she was supposed to. – [Zac] During their next encounter, Joan
tells Annie that a medium came over and conjured her grandson. She demonstrates the ritual, where Annie sees
a glass slide on it’s own, something blows on Annie’s hair and some supernatural entity
writes the words “I luv yu granma” on a chalkboard. She tries to make Annie believe her grandson
is doing all of this, but I personally think there is no grandson and Paimon’s spirit
is responsible. I say this because most seven year olds probably
wouldn’t be THIS bad at spelling, maybe I’m wrong, but Ari Aster has also stated:
“it’s a piece of misdirection. It plays as a séance scene but really it’s
a much darker conjuring, and they need Annie to take part in it in order to bring it in
the house and in order to further this ritual along. When she invites it in, she escalates things.” So that’s exactly what happens. Joan explains how Annie might be able to talk
to her own daughter. – First
light the candle, then choose an item that belonged to your daughter. That will be your link. Mine was the chalkboard. That’s my link… It's alright. It's alright. It's OK. There you go. Then when you’re ready, read this out loud. Every syllable. – The inscription is in a different language. Joan acts like she doesn’t know what it
is, but again, she’s probably lying, and she mentions that every member of the family
needs to be in the house, probably to ensure that she can curse all of them. While driving home, Annie hears the *click*
sound that Charlie used to make, telling us that Paimon’s spirit is with her. She wakes everyone up to perform the séance. They see “Charlie” move the glass on the
table, open the cabinet door, and toggle the flame on the candle. Of course, this is not really Charlie, this
is King Paimon responding to the dark ritual that Annie is performing, and as a result,
he possesses the body of Annie, causing her to emit this creepy demonic sounding noise. (demonic growl) …before taking over her body and seemingly
speaking as Charlie. – Hello? Mom? Mom! Mom? – I’m not sure if this is Paimon taking a
moment to adjust to being in a new body, or if Paimon is acting like Charlie to deliberately
freak out Peter, but it doesn't really matter, because Peter absolutely gets freaked out. This does raise the question: if Paimon wants
to inhibit a male body, why does he first go for Annie, not Peter? I think it’s because Peter essentially wasn’t
ready yet. Annie had been driven to madness by that month’s
events. Peter was psychologically damaged, but hadn’t
quite completely lost his mind yet. Annie was also made more vulnerable by drinking
the herb spiked tea from Joan and being the one to physically perform the ritual because
she believed she could talk to Charlie again. By possessing Annie’s body, it would be
a lot easier for Paimon to continue to freak out Peter and drive him to the point where
he can also be possessed. – [Sarah] You could argue that Peter was
also buttered up to be possessed using the black herbs, because he’s shown to have
a bag of marijuana that he smokes with friends. You could certainly make the case that the
cult slipped something in there, but then again, when Peter starts seeing the light
in class, we never see his friend react. – It also appears that Paimon doesn’t
permanently possess Annie. She seems to go back to normal after Steven
pours a glass of water in her face. It seems that Paimon doesn’t use her again
until later. My thought is that maybe he goes dormant inside
of her until the time is right. At this point, the words Liftoach and Pandemonium
appear on the wall in the hallway. Liftoach appears to be a rough English spelling
of a Hebrew word, לפתוח , which means open, and pandemonium you probably know, it
means chaos or mayhem. When we put these together, the phrase describes
how the family has now opened themselves up to the chaos and mayhem of hell. – This idea was confirmed when in
his Reddit Ask Me Anything, Ari Aster said that Liftoach Pandemonium translates as ‘open
up to chaos’ – [Zac] I don’t know who runs the Hereditary
Subreddit, but huge missed opportunity not naming it He-Reddit-ary. – It’s Redditors, what do you
expect?! There also may be a dual meaning behind Pandemonium. The word was originally coined in 1667 by
English poet John Milton in his poem Paradise Lost. – [Milton] The Studio came to me with 'Stab'! – No, not that John Milton… The story references Lucifer’s rebellion
in heaven and subsequent banishing. At the suggestion of one of Lucifer’s followers,
the fallen angels built Pandemonium; a temple and the capital of hell. The word was crafted by joining pan, a Greek
word for ‘all’, and demonium, which is apparently Latin for ‘evil spirit’, creating
‘a place for all demons’. The word has evolved over the years with its
meaning ranging from ‘a place of disorder’ to ‘lawless confusion’. (gunshots, sirens and laughter) – Much like Los Angeles. – It’s probably also around this
time when Joan sets up a ritual in her kitchen with the intention of targeting Peter. The room is covered in candles and draped
in white sheets. Peter’s photograph is taped to an idol in
front of some kind of dish, as well as in the center of this triangle, as previously
mentioned. We also see a crude miniature version of the
treehouse chapel scene, foreshadowing the “rebirth” at the end of the movie. The bird that Charlie decapitated at her school
is mounted to one of the toys she used to tinker with. This represents the idol affixed to her own
head. The animals surrounding it represent her worshippers
bowing down to her in the treehouse. – It seems that Annie is not the only
one interested in creating miniature dioramas. This creates an interesting parallel. Annie loves to create and manipulate these
miniature scenes of moments from her and her family’s life. She believes she has control over these scenes,
but in reality, she is the one being controlled and manipulated by Paimon and the cult. We see this in the way that the exterior shots
of the house are photographed. Cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski uses a tilt-shift
lens for many of the establishing shots. This type of lens is known to make its subjects
look like miniatures. It’s a subtle suggestion that Annie and
her family are actually the ones being manipulated. The Lesser Key of Solomon mentions one of
the benefits of summoning Paimon is his knowledge in art. Just as Annie is an artist manipulating miniature
scenes, think of Ellen as an artist manipulating her family. The next day, Paimon would continue to torture
Peter in new inventive ways, one of which plays on another ancient superstition. (impact) (eerie music) – [Zac] During history class, Peter sees
the Paimon light flare, and it directs his attention to the cabinet next to him where
his own reflection stares back at him with an evil grin. – One interpretation of this is
that the grinning reflection that we see is in fact Paimon. For centuries mirrors and reflective surfaces
have been believed to be incredibly powerful objects. Because of their dual nature of being one
part in the real world and one part in the world of celestial reflections they are sometimes
considered to be a boundary between the material and supernatural world. Mirrors have been thought to harness a variety
of powers from being used as a tool to scry or see into the future, to trapping the soul
of the recently dead and being a portal, similar to those seen in Alice Through the Looking
Glass. There are plenty of examples of the power
of mirrors across films and literature; whether it’s vampires having no reflection or calling
on Candyman or Bloody Mary. Peter nearly has a heart attack after hearing
the Paimon clicking sound that he associates with his dead sister. (click) This weird experience gives him the idea that
he’s being haunted. – [Stephen on phone] Peter just called me, Annie, terrified,
crying in the halls, convinced he's being threatened by some vengeful spirit. – In the night, Annie finds Charlie’s
sketchbook drawing up pictures of Peter all on its own. Peter is awoken by the click sound and he
sees a horrifying vision of Charlie standing in his room and losing her head. The family dog seems to react to this, causing
him to growl and bark, an example of the trope of animals being able to see supernatural happenings
that humans cannot, which also came into play when I talked about The Conjuring. Just then, a phantom pair of hands grab Peter
by the head and try to yank it off. This was most likely just a tactic to scare
him and further turn him against his mother, who had rushed into the room because of the
commotion. In an attempt to put an end to all the paranormal
horrors, Annie throws Charlie’s sketchbook into the fire, because she believes it is
the item that connected her to the world of the dead, and opened the family up to communication
with some other spirit. However, her own sleeve simultaneously catches
fire, demonstrating that she is now linked to the evil in the house. Desperate for answers, she tries to visit
Joan the next day, but she isn’t there, probably because she’s at Peter’s school
trying to expel his own soul from his body to clear the way for King Paimon. – I expel you! Zantany! Dagdany! Aparagon! Peter! Get out! – Back in school, he continues to be distracted
by the wave of light, which must be Paimon pointing him in the direction of the classroom,
where he completely loses it. He hears Charlie’s clicking sound from all
directions before his body contorts and he involuntarily slams his face into the desk,
breaking his nose. – [Sarah] Meanwhile, Annie sorts through
her mother’s old possessions, leading her to discover Ellen’s involvement in the occult
and friendship with Joan. She also comes across her Mom’s body rotting
in the attic, decapitated and dressed in a gown with the Paimon sigil, very likely embroidered
by Ellen herself. The symbol is also painted on the roof of
the attic, and she finally makes the connection that this icon matches the necklace given
to her by her mother. She still believes that burning the sketchbook
is the key to stopping the demonic infestation, but when she tosses it in the fire, her husband
is the one to go up in flames. I see this as a statement from Paimon. He’s sending a message to the family that
they have no control over outcomes. They’re not going to win, so they may as
well give up and allow the possession to take place. And that’s exactly what happens, Paimon
travels to her in light flare form and we see her expression change from mortified to
blank, much like the blank expression that was always seen plastered on Charlie’s face. Using Annie, Paimon would pull out all the
stops to get to Peter. He awakens in the middle of the night to see
an orange glow coming from the treehouse. Perhaps orange is Paimon’s favorite color,
based on the fact that he always wore an orange sweater while possessing Charlie. His mother’s body swims through the air
in the background, defying gravity, an example of the hints from the Invocations book that
Paimon’s abilities include manipulation of physics. Peter comes down to find the house totally
disheveled and his dad burnt to a crisp in front of the fireplace. Meanwhile, his mom is lurking on the ceiling
behind him, and the creepy smiling man from the funeral is naked in the closet doorway
with the sinister grin still not erased from his face. He turns back at a noise and his mom is gone,
having climbed over to the other corner. She roars and runs toward him, causing him
to run away into the open attic and lock himself in. Annie climbs onto the ceiling and repeatedly
bashes her head into the door. The whole attic is illuminated in candles
and the spot where Joan’s body had been kept now contains the photo of Peter, this
time with his eyes burned out, just like the photos that appeared in Charlie’s sketchbook. – Rumor has it that the original ending
involved Peter losing his eyes, which probably ties into the old saying, “eyes are the
windows to the soul”. Even though Peter doesn’t end up losing
them in the movie, I think this imagery still works on a symbolic level. After hearing a fleshy noise, Peter looks
up to find his mother floating above him, sawing her own head off with a thread. She stares intently at him. More unclothed cult members suddenly populate
the attic, and this seems to be the exact point where Peter loses it and he jumps out
the window. As he’s lying there, the beam of light floats
over and lands on him. It seems to be absorbed into him, which I
think is the most convincing evidence that the light flares we’ve been seeing are spirits
without a body to reside in; in this case, King Paimon. Annie floats into the treehouse and Peter
makes the clicking noise, confirming that at long last, the King has finally managed
to possess his male host. He climbs into the treehouse where there is
a ritual in progress. Rows of people are bowing down. He sees the mannequin at the altar. Charlie’s head wears a strange crown and
behind that, is a sunburst pattern, the same one seen on the cover of the Invocations book. Seeing this now brings to mind the Sun Gate
from Ari Aster’s second film, Midsommar. Which also had a triangle shaped temple, not
unlike the triangle we saw in Ellen’s room and throughout the movie. The mannequin is embossed with the Paimon
sigil and stands beside a birdcage containing a live bird. We already discussed the significance of birds
for King Paimon. Joan places the crown on Peter’s head and
assures him that everything is alright, now that he’s taken on his proper male form. – [Joan] You are Paimon, one of the eight kings
of Hell. In the Lesser Key of Solomon, Paimon is described
as one of the nine kings of hell. I wonder if this change was made to give more
meaning to the requirement to face the Northwest when calling upon King Paimon. That way each King is in charge of one cardinal
direction. – [Joan] We reject the Trinity and pray devoutly
to you, great Paimon. Give us your knowledge of all secret things. Bring us honor, wealth, and good familiars. Bind all men to our will, as we have bound
ourselves for now and ever to yours. With all three steps complete, the cult has
completed the transfer of vessels, and Paimon can lead from his desired male body. As for the Graham family, they really were
just pawns in a horrible hopeless machine. Which brings me to the same question posed
by Peter’s English teacher. Does the locked fate of the family, and inevitable
triumph of King Paimon make this story more tragic or less tragic? I want to give a huge shoutout to Sarah from
What The Horror! Without her research and analysis, this video
would not have been possible at all. What The Horror is one of the best up and
coming horror movie channels. She does reviews, rankings, and my personal
favorite: Truly Horror Chewsdays, where she goes over the behind-the-scenes stuff that
is sometimes stranger and scarier than the movies themselves. She just released her own video on Hereditary
vs Midsommar, a comparison of Ari Aster’s first two films, which you can check out by
clicking that video on the left. Be sure to drop her a sub, ring the deathbell
and select all notifications and we will see you in the next video. Assuming we both survive. (Jazz music with creepy undertones)
