Meredith

Meredith
Appearances	FAITH (Mentioned) FAITH: Chapter III (Mentioned)
Age	Unknown
Status	Deceased
Relatives	Unknown Husband John Ward (Son)
Biographical information
Date of birth	Unknown
Date of death	Unknown; Early 50s
Physical description
Species	Human
Gender	Female

Meredith is a minor character briefly referenced in Chapter I and III. She was the mother of John Ward.

Biography

We don't know how she looked or what kind of person she was, so we're going to cut when she's relevant in the plot.

1953

Considering that John was 33 years old in 1986, by deducing his age, Meredith likely gave birth to John at some point in 1953 in Palmyra, New York. Additionally, at some undisclosed point, dialogue in Chapter III implies that Meredith apparently got sick and died. It's alluded that John tried to get help for her, either by prayer or some other methods, but is unsuccessful. John believes that he's somewhat responsible for not helping her and feels guilty over the whole circumstance. Meredith's husband/John's father is absent for unknown reasons, so it's assumed that John was going through foster care services until he temporarily resided in Snake Meadow Hill Church's orphanage sometime in the mid 1950s.

September 21st, 1986

We flash forward a little over three decades to 1986. Within that time frame, John becomes a priest and works under the Vatican, likely because he's held faith in the Lord ever since Meredith passed away. John lives for most of his life in his own home somewhere in Connecticut. Sometime in September of 1986, John was assigned to assist another priest named Father Allred to exorcise a teenager named Amy in her house, the Martin House. This is John's first exorcism and plans to jot down the events of the entire session.

Now the 21st, the duo parks outside the Martin residence and begins the exorcism session in the basement. John attempts to complete a prayer that's supposed to exorcise evil spirits but Amy's parents, Bob and Cindy, accidentally disrupt him by checking on the commotion. Amy's Demon tries to afflict Cindy by calling out to her, so Father Allred demands John to relocate the two back upstairs. John does so and heads back downstairs, but Amy is nowhere to be found and Allred is incapacitated on the floor. John decides to take his crucifix and complete the exorcism himself.

John calls out to Bob and Cindy for assistance but they're nowhere to be found. John explores upstairs and sees Amy standing idly in the main attic. John attempts to convince Amy to return back to the basement to make her feel better, but her demon starts to mock him by bringing up the name of his dead mother, Meredith, and sarcastically asking if she got better. John is shocked and uncomfortably stays quiet since he never mentioned his mother to anyone in the house. It taunts him by saying that he couldn't help her, but John snaps back and says, "That's enough." The demon tries to get into his head by mentioning that Meredith is in the room with them, but John shakes off its goading and tries to remain set to have the exorcism performed right there in the attic. Everything here is what John would eventually write down in his notes.

Meredith won't get mentioned for a while. Ultimately, the exorcism turned into havoc. John was all by himself when he was going against Amy, and she escaped after a brief struggle. John sets up mannequins to block any entrance to the main attic after whatever he witnessed in there while he was trying to exorcise Amy. In between all of it, Amy strangled her own parents with their intestines and finishes the job with Father Allred. She somehow cuts off the lights to the entire house and John mentally breaks down. He accidentally prays to who he thought was the Lord to escape the house alive and he stumbles towards the paramedics and police outside.

September 21st, 1987 (Chapter I)

On the anniversary of the failed exorcism, John decides to return to the Martin House to cast away Amy's Demon once and for all. Finding a key in a decrepit shed nearby, John unlocks the door to the front house and enters inside. As he explores the area, he finds a note he left behind a year ago in the Master Bedroom where he jotted down that he found Amy in the attic. He wrote down that Amy somehow knew his mother's first name and spoke Latin perfectly. The note ends that he tried calling for help, but nobody came, so he begun the session again.

October 30th, 1987 (Chapter III)

We flashforward a little over a month later to when Meredith gets mentioned again. John experiences a vivid nightmare where he recounts various events during the first exorcism. Some details don't match what he wrote down, though, so every event in these nightmares is unreliable. Regardless, John dreams of the time when he confronted Amy in the attic and when she mentions his mother's name. Beyond that, this is the last time Meredith ever gets mentioned.

Trivia

• Meredith's last name is never revealed. It's very well that John got his last name, "Ward", from his father's side of the family.
• The fact that Meredith was mentioned during John's encounter with Amy in Chapter III is a nod to Father Karras from The Exorcist (1973) where Regan mentions that his recently deceased mother is in the room with them.