The Surprising Detail That You Never Noticed Links The Conjuring Movies
New Line Cinema has created one of the most successful horror franchises in recent memory with the Conjuring universe. The true story of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren loosely provides the basis for the Conjuringverse, which spans decades and continents. From haunted French nunneries to ancient samurai ghosts, there is a wide diversity of evil on display in these flicks.
All of the movies are connected in one way or another. The Annabelle series centers on a demonically possessed doll that eventually joins the Warrens' collection. The Nun is a prequel for the first two Conjuring films, and The Curse of La Llorona features the same demon-fighting priest as a side character.
The movies are also linked thematically. Each one deals with a supernatural struggle between everyday folks and hell's nastiest demons. The external battle with the demon echoes internal struggles the characters have with their roles in their families, societies, and romantic relationships. But the links go even deeper, down to one detail fans rarely notice.
All these Conjuring characters share the same deeply symbolic injury
Reddit user Joaf pointed out that numerous characters in the films suffer damage to their left eye.
"In The Nun the snake bites the priest in the left eye," they write, adding that in Annabelle: Creation, "the mom had her left eye torn out." Ed Warren gets a blast of scalding hot steam to the left eye in The Conjuring 2, and Daniela's departed father is missing his left eye in Annabelle Comes Home. All these missing or injured eyes are echoed in the doll Annabelle, whose left eye is broken.
The trend begins in the first Conjuring, during the big exorcism scene. Possessed mother Carolyn has been tied to a chair and wrapped in a sheet. As Ed attempts to perform an exorcism on her, demonic forces rip the sheet off Carolyn, exposing her freaky demon eye.
But what does it all mean? Eye damage is a common motif in horror movies. The eye is one of the most vulnerable parts of the body, so filmmakers looking for an easy moment of sympathetic horror know to go for the eyes. Film is also a visual medium, so showing an eyeball getting all messed up underscores the ways we may be affected by watching the movie.
The fact that it's all left eyes getting damaged is significant as well. The Latin word for left is "sinister," and people throughout Western history considered the left side of things to be evil. That association is why left-handed people were often retrained to favor their right — so that they wouldn't be corrupted by the sinister left hand. These demonic forces may be attacking the left eye because it's the one most susceptible to evil. Luckily, right almost always wins out in the Conjuringverse.