Hereditary Movie Ending Explained

We know from Joan that Paimon was already in a female body before taking over Peter. Presumably, this was Charlie, Annie’s second born child. Whilst Peter was kept away from his controlling grandmother and the family estranged from the matriarch, her failing health meant she moved into the Graham’s home during Annie’s second pregnancy - Annie herself admitting that to appease her mother, she ‘gave her’ Charlie, resulting in Leigh taking over pregnancy, birth, and life.

Charlie claims that her grandma wanted her to be a boy, something that makes sense considering her quest to find the right vessel for Paimon’s incubation, ultimately crafting Charlie into the most masculine vessel she could for the time being. Finding her embroidered doorstop with 'Charles' only serves to further prove how hard Ellen tried to push for a second born son.

When exactly she managed to get this hell demon inside the little girl isn’t clear - but due to Annie’s strong connection with the supernatural events of the story, perhaps he’s always resided within the females of the family, passed down from grandmother, to mother, to daughter, until he could finally possess his most desired male host. Ellen is referred to as a Queen in her final image, after all - the gender swapped vision of Paimon, perhaps.

Annie’s sleepwalking and uncontrollable anger would be something to reinforce this point; exampling somewhat ‘evil’ traits in the struggling mother that could be a dark force pulsating within. Her constant battle with guilt and repression, as evidenced by trying to set her family on fire during their sleep, and wishing Peter was never born, is her only chance to fight back against this unstoppable force.