In case there is any doubt…

This is a scene at the battlefield. And…

…this is one of the faces that graces the facades of Hatra. I will say that Hatra was a city of the 1rst and 2nd Centuries AD, being part of the Parthian empire, the traditional foe of Imperial Rome. The two empires fought each other constantly, with the Kingdom of Armenia caught between them. But the Kingdom of Araba was another such front-line, and the Kingdom of Araba was controlled from Hatra. The focal point of the city was the temple complex in the center of the city, surrounded by a sacred temenos. The city was a melting pot for influences from Greek, Mesopotamian, Canaanite, Arabic and Aramean religion. To name a few. I proposed that the artifacts on the table in the archaeologist’s office were not possible because they are not Assyrian. Except one…

That is one of the artifacts and is clearly Assyrian. The others do not show the characteristics of the Neo-Assyrian empire. But I was tricked, by myself of course, because of the Pazuzu head that Merrin found. I was thinking ca. 700 BC, i.e. the approximate time of Pazuzu. But now that I know that Merrin was excavating at Hatra, the other odd artifacts in the archaeologist’s office ARE REALISTIC. So I was wrong…and I like being wrong because it takes me one step closer to be right! Though I’ll admit…I have a long way to go.

I like the face to the right. Lots of faces were found at Hatra…

And:

Faces! Lots and lots of faces…

Looking at the shot above, the second face on the right…he actually looks like some guy in 1970s hard rock band! Alas, he is not. Knowing that the location is Hatra, and given the extremely eclectic religions known to exist there, the artifacts that I said aren’t Neo-Assyrian, are nonetheless clearly what would be found in Hatra. The city contained various cults, but the sun god Shamash was at the center of the complex. The name is that of the Sun God in ancient Canaan, related to the Hebrew word shemesh (sun). And here’s something really cool…at Hatra, Shamash was also called…

Maren

That name sounds a bit like Merrin! Of the other deities found at Hatra is a strange amalgamation of the Greek demi-god Heracles (called Hercules by the Romans) with a very ancient Mesopotamian deity named Nergal, or the god of the dead…

This is Nergal-Heracles found at Hatra:

Does he have three dogs with him? Or a three-headed dog? And Merrin’s vision involves three dogs! So again, Hatra is the Metaphorical Bedroom of Regan MacNeil. Something else that is interesting is that in Greek mythology, Hades is the god of the abode of the dead, and his pet was named Cerberus…

And there is something very interesting about that…

Who is the guy in this picture? Hercules, who captured the three-headed dog named Cerebrus. And thus we know one of the roots of the three dogs seen by Merrin in his vision. But no giant statue of Pazuzu has been found at Hatra, and it would seem that either the Pazuzu head found by Merrin was found in a much older stratum, or it simply attests to the continued existence of the Pazuzu-Lamashtu cycle. I think that it is the former possibility that is relevant here. 

Knowing that the location featured in Merrin’s vision is actually Hatra leads to another point. I noted in another essay that it seems strange that Merrin would see a clock stop, and then tell the archaeologist that he must leave because there is something that he must do, only to be found in Woodstock, New York, writing a book. It seems rather anti-climactic. Well, Hatra makes it clear that Hatra wasn’t the location where Maren…sorry, Merrin, was before writing his book in Woodstock.

So, our two churchmen, without their rifles, are trying to decide on who should conduct the exorcism. Merrin, of course. But then one of the men says to the other…

I think I read that he was working on a dig near Nineveh

Nineveh, modern Mosul, is 68 miles from Hatra. If the guy on the left has heard about what Merrin had been up to, why wouldn’t he say Hatra? Hatra isn’t Nineveh. The are radically different sites. This would suggest that Merrin had been working near Nineveh, not Hatra, before returning to the U.S. This would explain why we find him writing his book, rather than facing a demon.

There are two other figures in Merrin’s vision that I have left out…

It seems that one man is leading another man…who is blind. And one possible interpretation of this, which, in the vision, is witnessed before the battle scene, can be linked to whether Merrin actually believed that there really was a demon behind Regan’s condition. There are considerations that might suggest that he did not. Certainly, Pazuzu would not have been that demon. Merrin would have known that Pazuzu was basically a good guy, and that Pazuzu heads could be found all over what had once been ancient Assyria. So, did Merrin believe that he was facing the same, unnamed, demon that he had fought, almost to the death, in Africa? I have my doubts. It must be assumed that when the two church guys decided on Merrin to perform the exorcism, they would have briefed him. Surely you wouldn’t just send a priest to conduct an exorcism, which is extremely rare to say the least…hey! Just go to this particular address and deliver an eleven-year-old girl from a terrible case of demonic possession. No, they would have briefed him. It is clear that Merrin and Karras met for the first time at Chris’s house on the night of the exorcism. Merrin received his information from the two church guys, and they received their information from Karras. And Karras specifically told one of them that he didn’t really believe that it was a case of demonic possession at all. This would have been shared with Merrin, meaning that Merrin would show up at Chris’s house believing that he would not be facing a real case of demonic possession. Therefore, he had no reason to believe that he would once again face his old enemy. In the end, he knew only that he didn’t know the truth, which may have made him feel like he was a blind man being lead by Karras. This would also explain why Merrin took the step of supposedly forgetting all of his priest stuff, despite…

Showing up to one of the most iconic shots in movie history with his priest bag. Empty? I doubt it. I think he asked Karras to leave the house…

…so that he would have the chance to try and get an idea of what was really going on. If Karras pushed for the exorcism, yet didn’t believe that a case of demonic possession was involved, then Merrin had good grounds for distrusting Karras. Given the dynamics, I don’t think that Merrin could have possibly believed that he was dealing with a demon that he may, or may not, have encountered in Africa. If this is reasonable, then the Arab men in the shot referenced above are, in fact, Karras and Merrin.

Oh, dear! I forgot about the strange man at Hatra! He somehow got past the two guards. Or, maybe! He was already there…hiding. And he then snuck up on Father Merrin, causing the Good Priest to suddenly whirl around when he heard his footsteps. He is vitally important. How? I will offere an overly amateurish interpretation of the scene at the ruins of Hatra as seen in Merrin’s vision. Merrin has one more thing to do before he dies. Pazuzu is an ally. But he can only be an ally against Lamashtu. Pazuzu saved Merrin from the Lamashtuian Old Woman in the Carriage. Now the dogs. The one dog who is present and uninvolved, is Karras, who was designated as an assistant to Merrin, and an observing psychiatrist. That leaves 2 dogs and the Man Who Sneaks Up On Merrin. The two dogs are left alone to fight against one another. From Merrin’s perspective, his contextualization, he is one of the fighting dogs. Lamashtu is somewhere, but can do nothing, since Pazuzu is watching, just as he had earlier. The Sneaky Man is…and here I will return to a view I expressed in the essay I published on this website that specifically discussed the bathroom door during the ritual. What was the cause of death of Father Merrin? Most would say that he had a heart-attack. I don’t believe that that is what happened. I will show the scene that is the last one to feature Father Merrin before Karras re-enters Regan’s room and finds him apparently dead on the floor. In this scene, Merrin is alone with Regan…

Particularly important here is the fact that Regan has been strapped down to the bed again by the wrists. We know that someone had cut through the straps, ensuring that at some point, as she yanks and tugs at them, they would break, and she would be free. But Karras was able to bind her wrists, paying the price for doing so:

Father Karras! Turn around!

Now, Sweetie… you be good!

I know a little girl who’s in big trouble! I’ve told her not to be beat up the priests! As for Karras, I did warn him. Actually, he had it coming. But Merrin tells Karras to leave since he can’t stop hallucinating. Before that happens, Regan is strapped down to the bed, at the wrists, again. Then Karras leaves.
 

This is a fascinating camera angle. The cameraman stands directly behind Merrin. But the cameraman isn’t a character in the film, so we must be seeing through someone else’s eyes.

So how is that minutes later, Regan is out of her straps again? And no, it’s not because…she wants no straps. I find the only possible explanation is that someone had set her loose. Someone appeared from the bathroom. These scenes are from Father Merrin’s vision…

Metal workers.

That is a great shot! I love the flecks of light dancing mid-air, and Merrin looking rather ghost-like. Here’s another:

Here we have the cameraman directly behind Merrin as he makes his way through the tunnel to the light on the other side.

So why are there so many shots of the metal workers? I think the main thing about these scenes is not the heat, or the metal...but rather…the loud banging. It’s quite loud, and I actually had to turn down the volume on my computer. It is the banging that matters. It symbolizes the pounding in Merrin’s head that resulted when someone hit Merrin from behind. He is the man who snuck up on Merrin at the ruins…the man who wasn’t supposed to be there. Merrin heard him, whirled around, but it was too late. That man freed Regan from the straps. Then he disappeared into the attic through the hatch in Regan’s closet. He went out onto the roof, down to the ground, and finally…took up a position at the bottom of the stone stairway. Why? He was waiting for someone to come flying down. The story would be that Regan killed Merrin, Karras entered the bedroom, got into a fight with Regan, and then Regan was accidentally knocked out of the window, tumbling down to the bottom of the stairway. And Karras did attempt to kill Regan…more than once. But he couldn’t go through with it. He saw his mother’s face beckon to him to throw himself out of the window instead of Regan. And that’s what he did. So the banging of the metal workers and the man who, in the vision, suddenly snuck up on Merrin, are readily, if not fancifully, explained. After all, I have it on good authority that he isn’t really that scary after all…

See! And I know something that is far scarier than Mr. Pazuzu…

Didn't see it coming did you? Of course, we're still left with one dog…who is this last dog? Who is it that Merrin is fighting so strenuously? Is this the mystery entity? The unknown, unnamed demon? I have suggested earlier that Merrin had every reason to not believe that there was a demon involved. Well, not a spirit-entity. There was a demon, both real, and metaphorically. But he wasn’t one who flew in from Africa. So within the context…

1.  Pazuzu

2.  Lamashtu (somewhere)

3.  The Two Churchman (Those Guarding Hatra)

2.  Karras (Watching Dog; Man Leading the Blind Man)

3.  Merrin (Fighting Dog 1; Blind Man)

4.  Mystery Entity (Fighting Dog 2)

5.  Father Dyer (Sneaky Man)

And so it is that this strange part of Merrin’s final vision makes perfect sense, as does the black dog who suddenly appears in the Merrin-portion of the “Dream.” He is the black dog who is a key part in the ritual against Lamashtu…perhaps, in a certain sense, the Black Dog is Pazuzu, in some manifestation within the ritual for warding off evil. I'm sure that I'm the only one who's inclined to say...I'm glad he was around.

Time is very important, especially when you realize that there is something very important you must do before it is time to move on. There can be no doubt that Father Merrin’s final act helped Regan move on from a hell created while fleeing from another hell. The Sands of Time slipping away between his fingers. Borrowed time? Well, Karras was living on that too. His end was very different, but he and Merrin would end up at the same place at essentially the same time. Merrin completed his task, while Karras finally escaped from his pain…his own hell. As for Regan…time was on her side. Perhaps Captain Howdy returned to his box in the attic, only to be found later by someone else. As for Merrin, I’m sure he will be remembered. As for me, I’ve wasted a lot of time talking about something that I obviously know nothing about. Maybe. But in the end, time catches up to us all. Of course, time also has a habit of starting over again