Possible Spoilers.......
I did not see this question anywhere on the board, so I decided to ask it--
Who or what is Pazuzu? I've seen the name mentioned a few times, but I never figured out who/what it was. Is that just another name for the devil? Or is it a different demon-thing completely?
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He's actually a Sumerian god, "Demon" is a strong word
it never really made sense for me that a god would choose to posess little girls when he could do so much more
Well, the idea in the movies is that pagan "gods," such as Pazuzu, are in fact demons who have decieved mortals.
But in this movie, his name doesn't come up, does it? The creature in Cheche is only adressed as Satan himself, rather than Pazuzu. The only weak reference is the poorly constructed statue in the temple that only carries a passing semblance to the icon displayed in both the "Excorcist" and "The Beginning" (those icons are actually sculpted after the real imagery of Pazuzu).
Iconography
Pazuzu is often depicted with the body of a man but with the head of a lion or dog, talons instead of feet, two pairs of wings, and tail of a scorpion and a serpentine penis. He would lure young beautiful women away into the desert and have passionate sex with them He had three oversized testicles that leaked a strange yellow fluid that smelled like burnt hair. He is often depicted with the right hand upward, and the left hand downward; this gesture has had a long-standing meaning in occult circles which is: "As Above, So Below"
[edit]Mythology
Pazuzu is the god of the South-west wind that was known for bringing droughts and famine during dry seasons, and locusts during rainy seasons. Pazuzu was invoked in amulets aimed at fighting against the powers of his hated rival, the malicious goddess Lamashtu, who was believed to cause harm to mother and child during childbirth. Pazuzu is also a god who protected humans against plague and evil forces, in particular the evil goddess Lamashtu.
[edit]In popular culture
At the beginning of the book and film The Exorcist, when Father Merrin is at the site of an archaelogical dig in Northern Iraq, the figure that threatens him — seemingly an illusion — is Pazuzu, whom he had battled many years earlier. Later, when he is appointed to perform the exorcism on Regan, he suspects it is Pazuzu that possesses her. There is a very tense scene in the movie in which the demon recognizes an old enemy when Merrin arrives at the house to perform the exorcism. The 1977 sequel film Exorcist II: The Heretic and the 2004 prequel Exorcist: The Beginning also deal with Pazuzu.
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