The Entity in Leviticus
SPOILERS!!!
Literally just my thoughts and theories on the entity.
I've seen people say that they think the entity is homophobic, but I don't agree. I don't think the entity is inherently homophobic in nature. I think the creepy priest dude is using it for that, but I don't think it itself is homophobic.
I think the entity is sort of similar to an incubus? I think it feeds off lust and fear, and that queer kids are the only ones having it thrust upon them because the church is obviously not performing the ritual on someone straight. I think if it was performed on someone straight, that the same thing would happen, just with someone of the opposite gender. But they would never think to do this to someone who isn't homosexual, so they probably think it only works because of the fact that the kids are queer, if that makes sense. Like, "oh, no wonder they died or the demon was hunting them, they're sinful," because religious communities, especially rural ones, live in a sort of echo chamber. Like during the witch trials back in the day: they would tie up the accused and throw them into a body of water; if the accused sunk to the bottom - where they would drown - they were innocent, because they didn't save themselves with magic, but if they floated to the top - where they were then taken out and killed - they were guilty, because they obviously saved themselves with magic. But this obviously kills them either way, because that was the intent.
There's one moment with Entity-Ryan in the abandoned building, where it goes to kill Naim, but pauses when Naim raises his hand up and cups it's face. I think this is because, at this point, since Naim's been chased by the thing all over hell and back for the past hour, Naim isn't feeling any sense of lust for the entity. It's about to smash his head in, but right before he dies, he lifts his hand to cup it's face because it looks like Ryan. And this is an entirely pure act of affection on Naim's part. Every other time it's attacked someone has been in the middle of something "lustful": the kiss at the funeral, the lesbian woman in the shower, Ryan in the photobooth, even Naim by the screen door, to an extent. But right here, there's no lust for it to feed on. Naim's just taking in Ryan's face in what he perceives to be his last moments. āRyanā is above him, which is a pretty normal occurrence, and he reaches up to touch him one last time, even if he is away that itās not really him.
People compare Leviticus to The Summer Hikaru Died a lot - which I totally get, I do that too -, but I think they're very different. For one, both the boys in Leviticus are alive, and the entity is imitating them, where the entity in TSHD has taken over the dead body of Hikaru. But the biggest difference for me is the entities themselves. The entity in TSHD is a very neutral creature. It kills, but not out of an excitement of seeing people die and not out of a want to see suffering, but because it wants to feel human souls - because it doesn't have a soul the way humans do and it wants to feel warm - and because it doesn't understand or see death the way humans do. It's just something that happens, something that it can cause. A normal function, like sleeping or eating. It doesn't see death as necessarily a bad thing before Yoshiki tells him that it is. And even then, it still doesn't really understand exactly, it just doesn't want to upset Yoshiki. That's why it makes itself less powerful by giving Yoshiki a piece of itself. It still doesn't see death as inherently bad, but it doesn't actually want to hurt anyone and it doesn't want to hurt Yoshiki, specifically.
(Sorry for calling my baby "Hikaru" an 'it' during this whole thing, it just made sense for the explanation. I literally love him. Also, I haven't read the manga, so if any of this is wrong, I apologize.)
In contrast, I do view the entity in Leviticus as more neutral-evil than completely neutral like "Hikaru". It does want to hurt people for the sake of hurting people (though honestly āwantā is a pretty heavy word, it doesn't seem to even revel in hurting them; Iām not sure it feels at all, given that once it drops all pretense of imitating someone, it seems to drop all sense of emoting as well), and it very obviously wants to kill them. But I would still consider it to be a pretty neutral creature. Like I said, I don't believe the entity itself is homophobic. I think the ritual was performed and the entity was forcefully attached to whoever the ritual was performed on. It gives no indication of hating Naim, Ryan, or Hunter for being queer. It doesn't seem to want to hurt them for any specific reason at all, which is where the neutrality comes in, for me. Itās still a very violent being, but Iām not sure if it even understands why itās doing all this apart from it being forced (?) by the priest.
Additionally, the Entity seems to have complete knowledge of all of Naim and Ryan's interactions, which I find interesting. It knows exactly how they talk, it knows of all their interactions - even the ones from before either ritual was performed, and it knows exactly what they want very intimately. Iām wondering how? Like, is it tapped into their thoughts somehow? What really gets me about this is the ear thing. Real-Naim sweetly kissing Ryanās ear on the bus and then Entity-Naim presumably kissing and then biting Ryanās ear off, using a very specific memory and want against him before he manages to get away. Itās seemingly all-knowing, which I personally see as a metaphor for it having been there the whole time. Now itās been āunleashedā and they can do nothing about that. Itās always been with them, but only now that people know and theyāre being perceived by others does it hurt them (does their want hurt them), when it was previously dormant and non-violent. The others around them have turned their desire into something personified and borderline evil. This might be a reach, though.
Anyway, you can disregard all of this if you want. These are just my thoughts, but Iāve only seen it once and this is purely off memory. Maybe I missed something or am super far off.Ā
