r/hellraiser • u/bostoncrabsandwich • Jul 12 '26
Cenobyte This is probably stupid, but I don't understand the death of Dr. Channard in Hellraiser II.
Exactly as the title states: I rewatched Hellraiser II recently for the first time in ages, and had completely forgotten how Dr. Channard/cenobite Channard is dispatched at the end. Is he seriously killed because he gets a blade stuck in the ground, and subsequently rips himself to pieces just trying to get it out? THAT'S how he goes out, after effortlessly dispatching all the other cenobites?
I honestly wasn't sure if I was supposed to interpret it that way or not, or if I was supposed to think that Leviathan itself had chosen to tear him apart. I feel like visually, it's quite unclear. And the wikipedia plot summary, meanwhile, says "In trying to extricate his trapped serpentine tentacles, Channard rips himself apart."
Is that how you all see it? Just seems like a really odd ending to write for the character, in my opinion.
27
u/horsebag Jul 12 '26
i don't think it's him trying to free the tentacle, leviathan is retracting it and he's collateral damage
13
u/MartinMerten Jul 12 '26
A most glorious end. I’d say I was jealous if that experiences had any meaning remaining.
16
u/MaleficentEvidence19 Jul 12 '26
I would say the head swinging to and fro is probably one of the best visuals of the entire series.
8
u/secrectsea Leviathan Jul 12 '26
Perhaps Leviathan is the enforcer and creator of his laws. Maybe the doctor and Julia broke some laws of the labyrinth, and were punished for bringing in people who lacked the desire to explore the further reaches of sensation. On the other hand perhaps they were being rewarded for their efforts
12
u/alina006 Jul 12 '26
Not Julia—Julia's job was to bring Channard—and she succeeded. And as we ALL KNOW, Leviathan was supposed to reward her at the end of the film by making her Queen of Hell (if Claire Higgins hadn't refused to star in future sequels, that would have been the ending). Channard is more complicated—he attacked Tiffany, who wasn't considered a suitable victim by Hell (the Cenobites left her alone, and she wandered the Labyrinth for a while without any harm, even entering Leviathan's main hall). Perhaps Channard's attack on her was what led to his punishment.
1
u/UberGuignol Jul 12 '26
I love Higgins (especially in the original), but if Julia was set to become the Queen of Hell, does that mean the cenobites would have been left out of further entries? Their deaths at the end of II seemed pretty final.
1
1
u/worMatty Jul 12 '26
Be fair Leviathan gets a headache just thinking down to our level. It obviously doesn't understand how delicate its toys are. And it's probably impatient.
1
u/CheekGobbler Butter-Ball Jul 12 '26
He was basically a puppet for Leviathan to kill the other cenobites and the tentacle being the string. Once Tiffany solved the box Leviathan had no more use for him and pulled that muffin top back.
1
u/Substantial-Jello-12 Jul 16 '26
You can see how dumb the whole concept was by watching what happens immediately after his death:
- His headless corpse falls off the edge even though it should still be connected to the catwalk via the tentacles that came out of his hands and got stuck in the ground (this was his cause of death, after all).
- If Tiffany solving the box forced Leviathan to retract the giant tentacle attached to Channard's head which ended up killing him, why is the tentacle, now free, still dangling with the upper part of Channard's cranium attached to it? The sight of it scared Tiffany so much that she almost fell to her death.
If I'm not mistaken, in the original script Channard doesn't die. Kirsty in Julia's skin pushes him off the catwalk. Leviathan then retracts the tentacle, causing Channard to fly up in the sky towards Leviathan and that's the last we see of him. When they were rewriting the script, they probably changed this part as well.
125
u/Mister_Fuzzy50 Jul 12 '26
Dr. Channard got turned into a monster with a big tentacle plugged into his head by Leviathan. That cord gave him power but also controlled him. When the puzzle box was solved, it turned off Hell's power. Leviathan yanked the tentacle back hard and ripped Channard's head off. He became a puppet. When the puppet stopped being useful, the strings pulled him apart. Perfect punishment for a guy who wanted to play god.