Headscratchers / Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies

Purification rituals

• Why did Morgana cut off her pinky finger ? I understand that she's trying to purify herself in order to fight the Djinn, but why that finger specifically?
  • Matthew 5:30 "And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and. cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee. that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." She was cutting off an offending member from the hand that committed the deed; the hand that held the gun that killed the guard.
• Why didn't Morgana try to atone for the man she murdered? She gave the paintings back but she didn't go to his grave, or try to help the family in any way, and that was clearly the worst thing she did.
  • Yubitsume.
  • Did she even know the guy's name? Was that information ever released? Besides Damerest took credit for the murder. The family wouldn't believe that she was involved even if she made inquires.

Robbery

• Why were Morgana and Eric robbing the art gallery? Her apartment was nice, and there was never a mention of money needed, or coercion into the act.
  • Maybe her apartment was paid with the previous robbery attempts?
  • Greed doesn't really have to make sense. A person can be relatively well-off and still want more.
  • Many people who are living a plush lifestyle are also heavily in debt. Morgana might be in danger of defaulting, hence the robbery for quick cash.

Wishes

• Why didn't Eric's wish make history reset? If he'd never been born then Morgana wouldn't have been with him at the robbery. It's possible the robbery might still have happened, but things would have been totally different, likely resulting in the Djinn never being released. Again.
  • The Djinn usually does not grant the exact wish of his victims. He almost always uses the negative interpretation. Plus, he did not erase Eric from history, he simply reversed his age to beyond the point where he was born.
    • He reverses his age, he doesn't make it so that he wasn't born. He's breaking his rules by not even granting the actual wish.
    • He does grant the wish, just in a different way. All evidence of him and memory of him existing has been removed (except for the clothes because the Djinn needed them). Morganna remembers him because of the Psychic Link she shares with the Djinn which gives her Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory.
• Why did the command 'freeze' count as a wish? A guard later literally says something is his command and it doesn't count as a wish. So why did he freeze?
  • Because the Djinn interpreted it as a wish.
    • But he freezes the guard, which wasn't the guy's wish. He wished for the Djinn to freeze. He doesn't even seem to be following his species's rules anymore
    • When the guard said "freeze", the Djinn interpreted it as "turn someone into a Popsicle", not "don't move".
• The prisoner who wished to walk between the bars and out of the jail didn't get to do those things; he was just shoved through some bars. Specific wording is always the key for these wishes, so the Djinn shouldn't have gotten that soul.
  • Specific wording would not have helped. Anyone who is not the person that summoned the Djinn will lose their soul when they make a wish.
  • He didn't ask to walk between the bars. He asked to walk through them. To walk can mean to "pass through" and presumably his legs were in motion when he was forced against the bars, and his body was presumably removed from the jail after his death. So wish fulfilled.
• Why didn't Morgana's request for a second plane ticket for the Father count as a wish? It was a request granted by the Djinn, ergo 'wish' according to the universes rules.
  • Did you make a second plane ticket? Or did she just say that she had a friend that needed to be with her? If it's the latter than there's no request, just implied need. And the Djinn is offering his help, which he is allowed to do, in the same way as "Please continue" is not a wish from the first film.
    • The line is indeed "I'll also need one for Father Gregori," so no request. Just expressed need.
  • Probably to avoid suspicion.
• Did all the people at the casino specifically say 'I wish to win' or 'I want to win', etc? The general desire for something hasn't been enough in the past for the Djinn to take souls; a direct question had to be asked, or at least a nod.
  • The casino goers didn't have to wish to win. The Concierge that Morgana and the Djin were speaking with said "You could say '''we wish everyone the best of luck." The Djin complied, just so he could relish the chaos resulting from all the patrons winning at once, and probably claimed the souls of the upper-level management of said casino corporation as a bonus...
  • Probably not every single one, but the Djinn was probably just waiting around for people to verbally express what they wanted. "Please, please give me a winning hand" and such.
• Why did Morgana's wish for the man she murdered to be alive again work perfectly? Knowing this Djinn he could have easily made the man a zombie, or trapped in a coffin, or any number of horrible things.
  • Show Morgana that he can do benevolent requests so that she'd be enticed to make more? Just not caring enough at that point because it looked like he was finally getting his three wishes, so he was rushing through them?
  • Even if he had, remember that the climax technically hinges on Morgana's soul being cleansed of her sins, not the fact that the cop comes back to life in and of itself. The very act of wishing him back to life could be seen by the universe (or whatever) as Morgana evening the cosmic karmic balance or what have you, since she is choosing to use her last wish — a boon of potentially great power and consequence — to undo her greatest wrong and restore its victim back to life. Even if the Djinn had spitefully made him a zombie or brought him back to life in his coffin, that would thus be down to his actions, not hers, meaning that her soul would still have been cleansed, allowing her to defeat him. The wish is simply granted in its most positive form because it is reflecting the fact that good has triumphed over evil.
• "I wish YOU into Hell, Demerest," and the Djinn says "Got ya," resulting in all three of them ending up inside the Gem of the Secret Fire, with Gregori now crucified. Several questions: First the priest DIDN'T wish HIMSELF into 'Hell', he wished that DEMEREST (meaning the Djinn), and Demerest alone go there. Two, while the Stone of the Secret Fire is hellish, it's not exactly the real Hell. Three, why was Morganna brought along? And four, why is the priest now crucified? He didn't wish for that. Gregory's entire wish seemed to be Attack Reflector version of No, You. The Djinn's interpretation of "Freeze," in an earlier scene made more sense.
• When the big Scary Black Man makes his wish to Demerest just before he escapes prison. First he's yelling at Demerest, and then his voice get softs and he whispers that he wishes that he could "slow dance with you for one minute alone. Compton style." And then it cuts to them both being teleported to a remote part of the prison, and the Djinn reveals his true form, and asks "Shall we dance?" And guard turns up dead, with his face missing because the Djinn needed it. What exactly did the guard mean when he made that particular wish? Is "slow dancing, compton style" some kind of innuendo? Did he want to fight Demerest? Did he want to have sex with Demerest (and did the Djinn in fact accommodate him)? Or did he literally want to slow dance with him for some odd reason? Very confusing exchange.
  • The tone and his aggressive behavior very much suggests he wanted to beat up Demrest.