Who was the demon in Ari Aster's horror thriller Hereditary? Details explored

Hereditary is a psychological horror thriller genre film directed by Ari Aster as his debut feature. It was released on June 8, 2018, by A24 and became a massive financial success and received critical praise. Prior to that, it was also praised during its Sundance premiere.

Hereditary follows the Graham family which consists of Annie Graham, who works as a miniature artist, her husband, a son, and a daughter. Annie's mother passes away and that starts a chain of several events. She used to be part of a secretive cult who were worshipping a demon. Things take a dark turn when Charlie, Annie's daughter, dies. They begin experiencing paranormal events in their lives.

Through a paranormal tale, the film explores various interesting themes such as dealing with grief and secrets that many people hide from their families.

Here is the official synopsis of Hereditary:

"A grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences."

Who was the demon in Hereditary?

The demon in the film is King Paimon who is revealed to be the reason behind all the torment the Graham family has been facing. In the finale of the film, we realize that Ellen, Annie's mother, was a worshipper of King Paimon and followed his cult.

Hereditary was the first feature film of Ari Aster as a director. It stars Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, and Ann Dowd. Ari lent his voice in a scene but his role remains uncredited.

They tried to bring Paimon into the real world through a human body. In one scene, Annie comes across a book of spells that gives her details about the cult King. He opts for a male body to possess, which defies the usual trope most horror films follow. The need to only have a male host really gives a unique twist to the entire storyline.

In the last act of Hereditary, we see Peter being possessed by King Paimon, and the latter succeeds in entering the real world. The chilling finale of Hereditary contributed to it becoming a major success. We see everyone hailing Peter (now possessed by Paimon) as the King. The Paimon eventually takes control over the entire family and becomes the head of the cult.

Paimon becomes a relentless force that will not leave the family. He is responsible for their entire misery and pain and will continue to control them. Through these events, we also realize that Joan only approached Annie so that Paimon could eventually find a good male host.

Is the demon in Hereditary based on a real incident?

While the entire storyline of Hereditary is fictional, the element of King Paimon is reportedly taken from a real-life book written in the 17th century. As per Screen Rant, it is called The Lesser Key of Solomon. The book works as a guide to summon different kinds of demonic entities. One of them mentioned in the book is named Paimon, just like in the film.

The book mentions details of Paimon's abilities and powers. While Paimon is one of the demons mentioned, the book still has many more. This opens up some possibilities for a potential sequel to Hereditary in the film.

Ari Aster was asked about his sequel plans by Thie Week Media, and he responded by saying that he had an idea. But he didn't reveal much details about the same. If a sequel is announced, fans of the first film would be really happy as they want to know how the Graham family would deal with the Paimon coming to life.

Hereditary managed to subvert several tropes that are associated with the horror genre. This includes how a possessed person would look like. Unlike other films, Peter doesn't look different after the demon enters his body. His mannerisms change drastically. These ideas can be further explored if a sequel takes place.