Damien Karras is a troubled priest and psychiatric counselor suffering from a crisis of faith, who confronts Pazuzu and is joined by Father Merrin in his attempt to exorcise Regan MacNeil, a young girl the demon possesses. However, the whole exorcism ritual turns out to be tragic with the deaths of Merrin and Karras—Karras however is resurrected by Regan after Regan is able to control her demonic powers, but not Merrin unfortunately. One year later, Karras decides to abandon religion claiming two main reasons for it; his inconsistent faith and the rotten apples of Christianity. As he perceives it after the exorcism, Christianity is used as a tool of brainwashing and they are not focusing on the biggest mistakes to be corrected, but instead on the smallest ones. In an surprising dawn after an disturbing night Karras ends up being best friends with Regan MacNeil and his archnemesis Pazuzu one year later after the first exorcism.