Regan Teresa MacNeil is a major character in The Exorcist franchise, serving as the main protagonist of the 1973 film and the 1977 sequel. She is played by Linda Blair.
Biography[]
The Exorcist[]
In the first film, Regan MacNeil is a 12-year-old girl and the daughter of actress Chris MacNeil. Regan is caught between her mother's grueling working schedule and the fact that her parents are in the process of an acrimonious divorce (her father is in Europe and is not seen in the movie). She is described as shy, even diffident, and it is not within her nature to behave aggressively. She is devoted to her mother, making clay animals as gifts for her and leaving a rose at her place at the kitchen table each morning. Chris is determined to be a good mother, spending all her off days with her. Because Chris is an atheist, she does not teach Regan about religion. However, her atheism is not militant and she does not attempt to discourage any belief in a higher power that others have. When Regan asks about God, Chris tries to answer reassuringly.
Even though Chris knows Regan very well, it takes her some time to realize that Regan's bizarre changes are not neurological. At first she seeks doctors, who either consider it a case of bronchitis or an imaginary ailment. This results in further and more complicated testing, where it cannot be found where there is anything wrong with her medically, culminating in a point where some of the world's most prominent medical men convene. It steers towards the spiritual when one psychiatrist suggests demonic possession and recommends seeking the services of a priest.
Father Damien Karras, a priest who has studied psychology, is reluctant to approve exorcism. After a study of Regan, he agrees to it. His bishop authorizes the exorcism on the basis that he must be under the oversight of a more experienced priest, so he is aided by Lankester Merrin. A prolonged battle between Pazuzu and Karras ensues, including briefly transforming Regan into his deceased mother. After some time, Pazuzu looks for a new host, leaving Regan's body. Regan is returned to normal with no apparent memory of her possession. However, in the penultimate scene of the first movie where Chris is given a friendly greeting by a priest, Regan gives him a kiss on the cheek, suggesting she has some memory remaining of Merrin and Karras and wished to give a posthumous thanks.
Exorcist II: The Heretic[]
In the sequel, which takes place four years later, Regan is 16 years old, living in New York City as a dancer and undergoing psychiatric therapy, claiming to remember nothing about the events of the first film, while her psychiatrist believes her memories are only buried or repressed. As the story progresses, Regan is revealed to have psychic healing powers (the reason why the demon attacked her previously).
Father Philip Lamont is assigned by the Cardinal to investigate Merrin's death, and visits Regan, but his attempts to question her about the circumstances of Merrin's death are rebuffed by her psychiatrist, Dr. Gene Tuskin, who believes that Lamont's approach would do Regan more harm than good. In an attempt to plumb her memories of the exorcism, and specifically the circumstances in which Merrin died, Tuskin hypnotizes Regan, to whom she is linked by a "synchronizer", a revolutionary biofeedback device used by two people to synchronize their brainwaves. Lamont returns to be coupled with Regan by the synchronizer, and interrogates her as she and Tuskin are entranced. Tuskin becomes overwhelmed by Regan's memories of the exorcism as Pazuzu's spirit attempts to break through and kill Tuskin, prompting Lamont to take Regan's place in the machine. Regan is able to save Tuskin's heart with her psychic powers, keeping Pazuzu at bay.
On a trip to Africa to meet with Kokumo, Lamont learns that Pazuzu attacks people who have psychic healing abilities. Regan is able to reach telepathically inside the minds of others; she uses this to help an autistic girl to speak as she waits to see Tuskin. Tuskin and her staff are shocked, but the girl's mother is too overjoyed to care, and despite Tuskin's attempt to keep them in the office to figure out what happened, insists on going home so the girl's father can hear her as well. Father Merrin, who belonged to a group of theologians that believed psychic powers were a spiritual gift that would one day be shared by all people, thought people like Kokumo and Regan were forerunners of this new type of humanity. In a vision, Merrin asks Lamont to watch over Regan.
Lamont and Regan return to the old house in Georgetown. The pair are followed in a taxi by Tuskin and Sharon, who are concerned about Regan's safety. En route, Pazuzu tempts Lamont by offering him unlimited power, appearing as a succubus doppelgänger of Regan. Although Lamont initially succumbs to the succubus, he is brought back by Regan and attacks her doppelgänger while a swarm of locusts deluges the house, which begins to crumble around them. However, Lamont manages to kill the doppelgänger by beating open its chest and pulling out its heart. In the end, Regan banishes the locusts and Pazuzu by enacting the same bullroarer ritual attempted by Kokumo to get rid of locusts in Africa (although he failed and was possessed). Outside the house, Sharon dies from her injuries after she immolates herself, and Tuskin tells Lamont to watch over Regan. Regan and Lamont leave while Tuskin stays to answer police questions.