Ari Aster included a major clue that foreshadows Charlie’s (Milly Shapiro) death in Hereditary less than ten minutes before it actually happened. The director is known for having an impeccable attention to detail and ensuring his audience will have new things to uncover with every viewing. In the case of Charlie’s death, the sign of Paimon on the telephone pole that ultimately decapitated her foreshadowed that she was always meant to die and that Peter (Alex Wolff) would become the king of hell’s vessel.
Hereditary follows a family of four in the aftermath of the matriarch’s death. The movie stars Toni Collette as Annie Graham; Collette’s acting career in the horror genre continues to skyrocket with her recent roles as unhinged mothers in dysfunctional families, including Netflix’s I’m Thinking Of Ending Things in 2020. When Annie sends her daughter, Charlie, to a supposedly innocent school party with her brother Peter, the two drive past a telephone pole. In an instant, the frame freezes on the object, which has the symbol their grandmother wore as a necklace carved into it. As the movie progresses, it is revealed that the symbol signifies Paimon, one of the kings of hell first mentioned in the 17th century grimoire, The Lesser Key Of Solomon. When Charlie has an allergic reaction to nuts, Peter rushes her to the hospital, but quickly swerves to avoid hitting an animal. What he doesn’t expect is that his sister has stuck her head out of the window in hopes of catching her breath, only to be hit by the pole as he jerks the car — this decapitates her instantly.
There are several instances leading up to the Paimon symbol that tell the viewer that everything in Hereditary was predetermined by a greater power. Their grandmother was part of a cult that worshipped the king; they just needed the right vessel, but Charlie had to die first. Here’s how the Paimon symbol was the ultimate secret clue about Charlie’s death and the ultimate fate of the Graham family in Hereditary‘s ending.
The day of the party, Peter is sitting in class as they are learning about the fatal flaw that undoes the hero Heracles from Greek mythology. A classmate states that his fatal flaw is arrogance because “he literally refuses to look at all the signs that are being literally handed to him the entire play.” The teacher goes on to discuss how Heracles has the illusion of control when, in fact, Sophocles wrote the oracle that dictates what happens to him. Meaning, his entire life is predetermined and he has no control or choice. Another classmate states that they’re all just pawns who are hopeless with a fate meant to destroy them. Once the Paimon symbol appears, it solidifies that Charlie has no choice but to die and Peter has no choice but to become the vessel for the king of hell.
Everything was set in motion when Charlie was born. The grandmother offered her to Paimon, but he needs a male host. Charlie was groomed by the matriarch and, technically, she carried the king’s spirit around with her until she died. It is theorized that the clicking sound she makes with her tongue is Paimon, which is why Peter makes the sound once the king enters his body. When she draws pictures of her brother, Charlie crosses out his eyes. It is believed that eyes represent the soul of a person. The cult and Paimon needed a way for Charlie to die. By placing the symbol on the pole, it signified that it was the best way to tear the family apart—as demons tend to do—to make everyone weaker, less attached, and free Paimon from Charlie so he could enter Peter’s body instead.
The cult designed how each character was meant to die. Even the grandmother’s death could be apart of the elaborate design they created in order to bring King Paimon into the realm of the living. None of the characters have control, as was established by the first classroom scene. Paimon and the cult decides their fate, which is why the the symbol on the telephone pole is an interesting hidden detail that defines the entirety of Hereditary and foreshadows Charlie’s death.
