Character Relationship Map: Exorcist: The Beginning

Characters

• Father Lankester Merrin (played by Stellan Skarsgård) — protagonist

  Veteran Jesuit priest and archaeologist confronting demonic forces in Africa and Georgetown.

• Father Francis (played by James D'Arcy) — supporting

  Young priest accompanying Merrin on the African archaeological mission.

• Major Granville (played by Julian Wadham) — supporting

  British military commander managing the Kenyan dig site.

• Chuma (played by Andrew French) — supporting

  Translator and guide navigating local tribal tensions.

• Joseph (played by Remy Sweeney) — supporting

  Local guide and assistant at the archaeological excavation.

• Jefferies (played by Alan Ford) — supporting

  Lead archaeologist overseeing the Kenyan excavation.

• Semelier (played by Ben Cross) — supporting

  Antiquities collector who recruits Merrin for the African mission.

• Lieutenant Kessel (played by Antonie Kamerling) — supporting

  Sadistic Nazi officer who traumatized Merrin during WWII.

• Father Gionetti (played by David Bradley) — supporting

  Clergy member involved in the dig site's religious oversight.

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Major Granville → Jefferies (Power Military Oversight) — Granville is connected to the military management of the excavation and its endangered personnel.

  Major Granville and Merrin discover Jefferies tied up inside the church after his organs have been pecked out by crows.

• Father Lankester Merrin → Jefferies (Professional Investigator) — Merrin's religious investigation increasingly challenges the archaeological operation overseen by Jefferies.

  Merrin meets Jefferies at the excavation and investigates the dig after workers disappear and strange events increase around the site.

• Father Lankester Merrin → Father Gionetti (Professional Religious Contact) — Gionetti provides religious knowledge and a possible exorcism tool to the skeptical Merrin.

  Merrin visits the asylum where Gionetti serves as warden, and Gionetti gives him a volume of Roman rituals for exorcism.

• Semelier → Father Lankester Merrin (Professional Recruiter) — Semelier hires Merrin for the mission and remains interested in what Merrin discovered.

  Semelier, an antiquities collector, invites Merrin to recover an ancient demonic relic from the Derati excavation.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Chuma → Father Francis (Alliance Expedition Companion) — Chuma supports Francis and Merrin as a guide during the early exploration.

  Chuma travels with Merrin and Francis to the excavation and enters the church with them through its uncovered dome.

• Major Granville → Father Lankester Merrin (Alliance Expedition Associate) — Granville briefly cooperates with Merrin during the investigation of the site's violence.

  Major Granville accompanies Merrin and Chuma when they discover Jefferies inside the church.

• Father Lankester Merrin → Lieutenant Kessel (Conflict Traumatic Adversary) — Kessel represents the wartime trauma that continues to haunt Merrin.

  Kessel forced Merrin to participate in arbitrary executions during the war, and Bession later speaks in Kessel's voice to torment him.

• Father Lankester Merrin → Joseph (Narrative Protector) — Merrin becomes Joseph's surviving companion and protector during the final catastrophe.

  After Joseph witnesses his brother's death, Merrin remains connected to him, and they emerge together from the buried church.

• Father Lankester Merrin → Chuma (Alliance Investigation Ally) — Chuma supports Merrin as translator and guide during the investigation.

  Merrin, Chuma, and Francis visit the excavation together, and Merrin later explores the valley with Chuma.

• Father Lankester Merrin → Father Francis (Alliance Mission Partner) — They cooperate as priests investigating the church and the evil beneath it.

  Father Francis joins Merrin on the African archaeological mission and enters the buried church with him.

Story Analysis

A priest with shattered faith confronts an ancient evil while investigating the buried history of a forbidden valley.

Plot Progression

1. Trauma Finds a New Battlefield — Merrin, shaken by his wartime past, accepts Semelier's request to investigate a Byzantine church in Kenya. He joins Francis and Chuma at an excavation already surrounded by fear and unexplained violen...
2. The Church Beneath the Sand — The investigators enter a perfectly preserved church whose inverted cross and armed angels suggest that something was sealed below it. Strange seizures and disappearing workers make the excavation inc...
3. Signs of an Older Evil — Merrin confronts evidence of demonic influence, including repeated drawings, a suicide, deaths in the village, and a pagan temple devoted to Pazuzu. Empty graves reveal that the valley's plague story...
4. The Seal Is Broken — Francis explains that the church was deliberately buried over a site associated with ancient evil and Lucifer's fall. Jefferies's mutilation and the discovery of the possessed individual confirm that...
5. Exorcism and Ashes — Francis is killed, and Merrin performs an exorcism in the tunnels. After the surrounding forces destroy one another, Merrin and Joseph survive and leave the reburied church, while Semelier hints at a...