The Trinitarian Crisis of Damien Karras

The Exorcist and the movies within the franchise have a myriad of scares to offer us. One of the more frightening components of the franchise is that exactly one movie besides the original was worth a shit out of six movies and one TV series. The Exorcist III overcame the terrible preceding movie and offered us some legitimate nightmare fuel and a good storyline.

As a writer I am biased, but the quality of both the first and third movies are no doubt elevated because William Peter Blatty was involved, having written the titular novel that inspired the first movie, and Legion, the novel that would inspire the third movie. Not only that, he also directed the third movie.

One of the unspoken horrors of Blatty’s original novel and the movie has to do with one of the main players, Father Damien Karras, and his identity. The Exorcist is about a few things. It’s a simple plot line, with a few layers, and it does a fair amount of justice to the book. I’d argue it’s one of the better adaptations out there and people don’t know it because many, like myself, knew of it as a movie long before we knew of it as a book.

Who is Damien?

Before we dive into Damien, the man, consider Damien the name. The name, much like Damien Karras, is Greek: Δαμιανός (Damianos) and means to conquer. This subtle thematic…