Lantom quotes from Daredevil

Growing up without your parents, Matthew, you don't grow to see them as people. You need to understand that... to understand her.

Matt Murdock

Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It's been, uh…it's been too long since my last confession. My dad, he used to come to this church back when I was a kid. He was a fighter. Old school. Boxer. Lost more than he won. Had a 24-31 record before he, uh… But he could take a punch. Jesus, he could take a punch.

Language.

Matt

Sorry, Father. Yeah... Guys he went up against used to say it was like hitting oak. And nights when he was outmatched, my dad's strategy was to let 'em hit him 'til they broke their hands. Never got knocked out, my dad. Knocked down, sure, but he, uh, always got back up. He was always on his feet when he lost. Every now and then, though, uh… Every now and then, he'd get hit and something inside him would snap. My grandmother…She was the real Catholic. Fear of God ran deep. You'd have liked her. She used to say, "Be careful of the Murdock boys. They got the devil in 'em." And you'd see it sometimes in the ring. His eyes would go dead… and he'd start walking forward real slow, hands at his sides like he wasn't afraid of anything. And the other guy, he'd see that look, and he'd try to get away from him. Nah. My dad, he'd catch him and trap him in a corner. Let the devil out. Yeah. Now, I didn't understand it, you know? What he was feeling deep inside, I didn't understand it. Not back then.

Lantom

But you understand it now? Perhaps this would be easier if you tell me what you've done.

Matt

I'm not seeking penance for what I've done, Father. I'm asking forgiveness…for what I'm about to do.

Lantom

That's not how this works. What exactly are you about to do?

Matt

Do you believe in the Devil, Father?

Lantom

You mean... as a concept?

Matt

No. Do you believe he exists? In this world, among us.

Lantom

You want the short answer or the long one?

Matt

Just the truth.

Lantom

When I was in seminary I was more studious than pious, more skeptical than most of my peers. I had this notion which I was more than willing to speak about, at length, to whoever I could corner, that the Devil was inconsequential. Minor figure in the grand scheme.

Matt

Not very Catholic of you.

Lantom

Uh-huh, yeah. In my defense, in the scriptures, the Hebrew word "Satan" actually means "adversary." It's applied to any antagonist. Angels and humans, serpents and kings. Medieval theologians reinterpreted those passages to be about a single monstrous enemy. And, in my youthful zeal, I was certain I knew why: propaganda. Played up to drive people into the church.

Matt

So you don't believe he exists.

Lantom

Am I done talking?

Matt

Sorry.

Lantom

Years later, I was in Rwanda trying to help local churches provide aid and sanctuary to refugees. I'd become close with the village elder, Gahiji. He and his family had the respect of everybody, Hutu and Tutsi alike. He'd helped them all through famines, disease. The militia liked to force Hutu villagers to murder their neighbors with machetes. But nobody would raise a hand against Gahiji. They said, "Well how can we kill such a holy man?" So the militia commander sent soldiers with orders to cut his head off in front of the entire village. Gahiji didn't try to put up a fight. Just asked for the chance to say goodbye to his family. By the time he was done, even the soldiers didn't wanna kill him. So they went to their commander and asked permission to shoot him. At least give him a quick death. The commander wanted to meet this man who had won the respect of so many. He went to Gahiji. Talked with him in his hut for many hours. Then he dragged him out in front of his village and hacked him to pieces along with his entire family. In that man who took Gahiji's life, I saw the Devil. So yes, Matthew. I believe he walks among us, taking many forms.

Lantom

I was worried you might've gone out and done something foolish, after our talk this morning.

Matt

I haven't done anything. Not yet.

Lantom

Sounds a bit on the ominous side.

Matt

I went to visit someone close to the... close to the Devil. Not to hurt her, just to get a sense of him. Of who he is and what it would take to... do what I have to.

Lantom

And... what did you learn?

Matt

That he has someone he loves... who loves him, who'd mourn his loss.

Lantom

Mmm-hmm. Few things are absolute, Matthew. Even Lucifer was once an angel. It's why judgment and vengeance... are best left to God. Especially when murder is not in your heart.

Matt

How do you know?

Lantom

You're here, aren't you?

Matt

I know my soul is damned if I take his life. But if I stand idle, if I... if I let him consume this city, all the people that will suffer and die...

Lantom

There is a wide gulf between inaction and murder, Matthew. Another man's evil does not make you good. Men have used the atrocities of their enemies to justify their own throughout history. So the question you have to ask yourself is: are you struggling with the fact that you don't want to kill this man but have to? Or that you don't have to kill him but want to?

Lantom

I have a pretty good idea who you are and what you do. How you do it… That's something else entirely.

Matt

Accident when I was a kid. Used to think it was God's will.

Lantom

Used to?

Matt

Yeah, He made each and every one of us with a purpose, didn't He? A reason for being.

Lantom

I believe so, yes.

Matt

Then why did He put the Devil in me? Why do I feel it in my heart and my soul clawing to be let out if that's not all part of God's plan?

Lantom

Maybe you're being called to summon the better angels of your nature. Maybe that's the struggle you're feeling deep within you.

Matt

And how do you know the angels and the Devil inside me aren't the same thing?

Lantom

I don't, but nothing drives people to the church faster than the thought of the Devil snapping at their heels. Maybe that was God's plan all along. Why He created him, allowed him to fall from grace to become a symbol to be feared warning to us all, to tread the path of the righteous.

Lantom

How you holding up?

Matt

Like a good Catholic boy.

Lantom

That bad, huh?

Lantom

Well, you have to realize, Karen, that whatever it is that you've done or haven't done, it can still be redeemed.

Karen

Yeah, that's nice, but I'm not so sure that I believe that.

Matt

Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.