Since I’ve already made a post about the symbolism in Ryan’s injuries from the Entity (see post here) I decided to make one about Naim too
The first time where Naim is injured by the Entity is during the funeral scene. He finds him smoking, and goes to try and explain himself and how he’s met with the Deliverance Healer too. The Entity only gets two lines of dialogue in this scene, however, being “I told you to fuck off” and “why would she do that?”
Both these lines bait Naim to come closer, to keep talking to him, while never actually providing any real comfort for him, like the Real Ryan would. The Entity instead begins to kiss Naim. The first thing he even does is put his hand in Naim’s hair, before moving his hands down to Naim’s neck, or more specifically, around the base of Naim’s throat.
He starts to choke Naim, and repeatedly rams Naim into the fence, eventually cracking it, which allows Naim to escape. Because this is Naim’s first interaction of the movie with the Entity, the only things it has to work off of so far is the mill scenes, and then the parts in the rink.
Naim’s next injury from the Entity was in the scene at his house in the climax of the movie. He has seen the Entity a few times before that point, but this is the second time it ever actually gets its hands on him.
This scene is framed as a confessional, something extremely obvious with its presentation. I’ve probably already said this, but from all the trailers, I genuinely thought that scene was an actual confessional lol.
The Entity shows up at Naim’s screen door after failing to get in through the front, telling him that the Entity is in the backyard. Naim tells him that he doesn’t even know if it’s the real Ryan, but the Entity keeps trying to convince him that he’s real, and that he needs to get inside to escape.
The things that gets to Naim though is Ryan telling him “I don’t wanna be here. I hate what you fucking did to me.” In reference to the outing. I won’t reiterate the entire scene but everything the Entity tells him specifically goes along with Naim’s extreme guilt throughout the movie, keeping Naim there with him.
So maybe it’s not even the real Ryan. But it’s the closest Naim thinks he’ll ever get to him again. He’s seeing Ryan smile again. It’s like they’re back at the mill for the first time. He even apologizes to EntityRyan, and confides in him that he’s scared of his feelings for Ryan. But he hears from the Entity that Ryan wasn’t scared of Naim. It’s exactly what Naim wants to hear from him. Even if it’s not the real Ryan, it at least looks like him.
But that’s what the Entity wants. The moment it gets the chance, it reaches through the screen door and rips out a huge chunk of Naim’s hair. In almost every other kiss Naim shares with the Real Ryan, his hands are in his hair. Just like with Ryan and the ear, this is something that gets to Naim. Something Naim likes. And the Entity takes it.
The most notable injury from this scene though is the bathroom scene, where the Entity shoves its hand down Naim’s throat. First, it shows Naim trying to open the window to crawl out, but the Entity comes up behind him, and pulls them down, a direct reference to what happens to Marnie in the opening scene. Shot the same way, same movements, everything.
The reason why the Entity puts his hand down Naim’s throat is relatively debatable, because it is the payoff from an earlier scene that ended up getting caught. Because we don’t have an official version of the scene, or even the screenplay, this is working mostly off of word of mouth, from fans to actors and on. But the generally agreed upon version of this is that during the bus scene, there is an extended part when Ryan puts his fingers in Naim’s mouth. Maybe this’ll get proven wrong once some people get the screenplay but whatever. This is literally all we have lmao.
So the Entity putting his entire fist down Naim’s throat is the logical conclusion to that scene. Associating love with fear and all. One of the most violating, disgusting things you can do to another person, while wearing the face of who they love most. And on top of it, that Entity is fucking drooling throughout this. He likes that shit.
The only reason Naim survived this in any capacity was sheer dumb luck. He happened to grab the lighter before it was too late, allowing him to run away.
Naim’s next attack from the Entity is another point of debate— whether it was actually Ryan or not. Maybe this movie is just really fucking good at gaslighting the audience, but I don’t really know myself. Another thing to find out once the screenplay is released. Naim doesn’t get injured in this scene, but a rock is thrown at him by Ryan. This mirrors back to both the mill scene from the beginning of the movie, as well as the scenes between Hunter and Ryan.
The last attack from the Entity in the movie though takes place in the mill. Naim is trying to hide, trying to board up the windows when he gets pushed through by the Entity, landing on the concrete below. Another thing from the beginning of the movie, Ryan (metaphorically) pushes Naim to conquer his fear of heights and come into the mill with him. The Entity (physically) pushes Naim into the mill.
It pins Naim down on the ground, and picks up the pipe from the mill scene, the same one Naim and Ryan competed to pick up, and both failed. The Entity lifts this with ease, and tries to smash Naim’s face in with it, but Naim, who is trying to get the lighter, is able to move in time. Another example of Naim’s luck.
The Entity lifts it again, and is about actually kill Naim this time, when Naim reaches out and touches the Entity’s cheek. This is another thing that probably warrants an entire 1k word analysis honestly, but there are so many opinions and theories on this, that I’ll just share mine. The Entity’s whole purpose is to associate love with fear, as I’ve been equating throughout all of this. Stroking Naim’s hair vs ripping it out. So what I think Naim does here, is the complete opposite.
He associates fear with love. In what he thinks are his final moments, he reaches out to Ryan one last time, the same as he did at the screen door. He’s about to die, and the last thing he wants to see is Ryan. This directly parallels Ryan’s speech about how “he wants it to look like Naim.” Naim wants it to look like Ryan too. And if that’s how he dies, then so be it.
But in every death we’ve seen so far in Leviticus, there has never been this final association as the character dies. Marnie is dragged onto the shower tiles, Hunter is dragged off into the night. If either of them ever fought back, it would be through violence. But Naim is a gentle character. The root cause of his relationship with Ryan was his showing Ryan kindness, and how to be loved without being hurt.
All the way until the very end, that’s the idea Naim holds, and that’s what he uses against the Entity. He literally kills him with kindness. (Well not really ‘kills’ but yk)
Naim takes the lighter back, holds it to the Entity’s face and saves himself. He doesn’t fall for the Entity’s tricks anymore after this point, as it begs for Naim to come back, that it’s the real Ryan, repeating the line “they wanted us to be scared”. Naim effectively gets away, shutting out the Entity, and choosing love over fear in the end.
I don’t really know how to end this, other than saying that some of this might be proven wrong by the official screenplay release, and honestly I’m kinda looking forward to it. That means more analysis for me and more Leviticus content for everyone.
I love you Naim Reid. Lowkey gotta buy him a get well soon card though holy shit
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