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| “ | The devil doesn't reside in hell, Mr. Walker. He lives right here in the frontal gyrus; the occipital lobes. Inside those beautiful brains lies the secret of understanding the darkness of the human psyche, and ten of them put together are not as dark as what resides right here in this cute, blond melon. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Arden while experimenting on Kit Walker. |
Dr. Arthur Arden (real name: Hans Gruper) is the secondary antagonist of American Horror Story: Asylum and the overarching antagonist of American Horror Story: Freak Show.
He is the physician and Administrator at Briarcliff Manor. A confirmed Nazi war criminal, he was responsible for the altered humans running rampant in the surrounding forest.
He was portrayed by James Cromwell, who also played Joseph Campbell in The General's Daughter, The Colonel in DreamWorks' Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Professor Robert Callaghan in Disney's Big Hero 6, Captain Dudley Smith in L.A. Confidential, William Donahue in Eraser, and Warden Hazen in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard.
Appearance
Dr. Arden was an older man, standing tall at 6'7", with a shaved scalp and Van Dyke beard. Arden suffered from microphallus.
Background
Before he was a Nazi, he was originally a snuff filmer, notoriously known for being behind Elsa Mars losing her legs in a snuff film.
A small box on his bedroom dresser contained Nazi memorabilia and a series of amateur photos depicting women bound, beaten and perhaps dead, giving hint to his early life as a snuff filmer. While he was originally the supervising physician at Briarcliff when it was a tuberculosis ward; Monsignor Timothy Howard allowed him to stay on under the belief that his research could aid humanity.
He regularly performed tortuous experiments on the patients of Briarcliff Manor and did not believe in using an anesthetic. Arden's lab was sealed off from the rest of the asylum's staff, affording him the privacy to pursue his twisted experiments.
Personality
Dr. Arden was a man of science with very little regard for the archaic and religious practices of his employers. He was also a sadistic misogynist, who not only expressed great disdain for vulgar and loose women, but also took delight into torturing and possibly killing women back in the past, before running a concentration camp and then an asylum.
However, he became increasingly remorseful and revulsed by Sister Mary's atrocious experiments and desired to put an end to her victim's suffering at the very end, indicating that he was not completely irredeemable and still possessed a moral code - albeit a twisted one.
He loved fine wine and Chopin. He had also made anti-Semitic comments on numerous occasions.
Trivia
- Dr. Arden is primarily based on the infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.
- The younger Dr. Arden/Hans Gruper in the flashbacks was portrayed by John Cromwell, who is the son of James Cromwell.
