  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, strong drug use, extremely traumatic themes, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | Everybody pays, everybody suffers. | „ |
| ~ Papa Legba |
Papa Legba is a supporting antagonist in American Horror Story: Coven and American Horror Story: Apocalypse. He is the gatekeeper of the spirit world, as well as the god of travel, opportunity and luck. He is based on the character of the same name from Haitian Voodoo.
He was portrayed by the late Lance Reddick, who also portrayed Jack Bernard in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Sylens in Horizon, General Lunaris in DuckTales, Thordak in The Legend of Vox Machina, Agent Clappers in Paradise P.D., Steven Erickson in Invincible, and Ra's al Ghul in Beware the Batman.
Role and Powers[]
Papa Legba's role in American Horror Story is mainly to acquire as many souls as he can.
He shows several uses of powers in the show:
- He can detect whether or not a person has a soul, this is shown when he revokes the deal with Fiona Goode claiming she has no soul.
- He seems to be able to teleport wherever he wants, shown when he is summoned and in Queenie's hell when he appeared in the restaurant.
- He is show to control minds when Marie Laveau refuses to torture in Hell, yet she is apparently brainwashed into doing it anyway.
Personality[]
Being the gatekeeper of the spirit world, Papa Legba seems to be always interested in acquiring souls, regardless of who they're from. He was willing to make a deal with Fiona Goode for her soul despite her being vain and murderous, but revoked the deal when he found that she, 'had no soul'. Yet once he successfully makes a deal for someone's soul, Papa Legba delights in tormenting his victims into sacrificing innocent souls for him.
Despite his often antagonistic and somewhat sadistic personality; Papa Legba is an honest individual. He explained clearly and honestly his terms of granting immortality to Fiona when she asked for details. Furthermore he meticulously explained the dynamics of Marie and Delphine's immortality to Queenie while also praising her for her sharp mind and powerful magic in being able to enter and exit the spirit world successfully.
Season 3[]
Papa Legba is introduced during the third season as the deity responsible for granting Marie Laveau her immortality through a deal where the Voodoo Queen is to perform a service for Papa Legba every year in return for his favor including retaining her appearance and extended lifespan. Despite Marie being visibly upset and protests against the "service" she is required to carry out involves kidnapping (and implied sacrifice) of a new born child, she reluctantly carries out this act as it allows her to protect her community.
Fiona Goode who is suffering from cancer attempts to coerce Marie into revealing the magic she used to become immortal, however due to the ongoing feud between the witches and voodoo practitioners Marie scornfully tells the supreme to leave her shop and renews the war between them when Fiona digs up Delphine LaLaurie in an attempt to learn Marie's secrets.
After the witch hunters attack Marie's salon resulting in the death of her people, Marie and Fiona put aside their differences and even become partners in crime due to their shared positions within their communities and bonding over torturing Delphine as an indentured servant servant within the academy. While recuperating from the attack Marie is approach by Papa Legba who informs her it is time for her to carry out the agreed service, despite Marie becoming visibly upset and protests the timing he simply reminds here that she agreed to the terms of their deal and if she is unhappy they can cancel it. However Marie proceeds to carry out her service by kidnapping a new born child from the hospital and is implied that Marie either gave the child to Papa Legba or sacrificed it.
When Fiona asks again about the source of her immortality, Marie finally relents and tells the dying supreme of her deal with the Loa Papa Legba and that he could give her the same deal should they come to terms. Fiona then conducts a summoning ritual providing offerings including cocaine which he accepts noting that she "brought out the good stuff" and proceeds to ask for the same deal that he made with Marie. Papa Legba is more than happy to carry out the same deal and even explains all the details in full stating that she would have to carry out a similar service every year and in return she would become immortal which the desperate Fiona is more than happy to carry out, even when he notes that it would involve potentially sacrificing innocent souls. With both parties agreed they seal the deal with a kiss, however after the kiss Papa Legba immediately calls off the deal stating that Fiona has no soul to trade.
When Fiona informs Marie of the failure they devise to offer up another soul instead leading them to kill Nan by tricking and drowning her in a bathtub, however Papa Legba appears and tells them that he does not accept "substitutions" despite the fact that Nan was an innocent soul.
Queenie then attempts to make contact with Papa Legba to get information about Marie's deal with him after she finds evidence that Delphine had managed to successfully kill Marie in retaliation for being tortured by her and treated poorly by other members of the coven. The young witch then undertakes the dechensum spell in order to contact him only to transported to her own personal hell, stuck back at her old job at the fried chicken store serving a never ending line of ungrateful customers but successfully manages to summon him. The Loa congratulates Queenie for being able to travel to hell just to contact him but warns that she shouldn't take too long it returning back to her body, Queenie however is confused as she only just arrived and is wondering why they are at the fried chicken store. Legba explains that this is her hell, the worst point in her life where she was forced to serve chicken to ungrateful customers with no hope for the future and that she should return soon as "in hell, time moves different".
Queenie manages to return only to find Papa Legba already in her room congratulating her as not many witches would be able to successfully return and aggress to talk about his deal with Marie over hot chocolate. Legba is happy to explain that his deal with Marie is still in effect as she has been able to complete her service to him and he simply cannot break the deal just because Queenie asked. However Queenie argues that as Marie had been attacked and dismembered by Delphine she would be unable to carry out the terms of her agreement and would technically be in breach of their contract. Papa Legba smiles and tells Queenie that she is "one crafty witch" and agrees to undo Maries immortality by raising their cups of hot chocolate.
Later after both Marie and Delphine had been killed due to the immortality being undone, they find themselves in hell where Marie is being forced to torture Delphines children while Delphine herself is forced to watch, helpless and unable to do anything. Papa Legba appears and questions Marie why she is not carrying out her new work as this is part of what she wanted. Marie explains that she does not want to torture the young women and only wanted to make Delphine suffer, however Papa Legba tells her that she has no choice as she had sold her soul to him she must now do what he commands, When Marie asks about the good she tried to do for her community throughout her extended life, Legba simply tells her she is in this hell because of "all the babies" she helped deliver to Papa and that some things can't be overlooked. Legba now tired of Marie's complaining then tells her to "get back to work", unable to refuse Marie reluctantly begins to torture Delphines daughter again.
Season 8[]
Papa Legba makes a return in season 8 of the show making a small cameo in episode 7 "Traitor".
Cordelia seeks the help of the current Voodoo Queen Dinah Stevens to contact Papa Legba as a possible ally against their enemy the Anti - Christ Michael Langdon. Despite Dinah warning her that Papa Legba will demand a sacrifice Cordelia still asks her to carry out the summoning.
Papa Legba answers the summons and informs Cordelia that is fully aware of the events going on and the threat that Michael poses to everyone. He also takes the opportunity to reveal that he owns the soul of Nan who he fondly refers to her as "his little helper" assisting with carrying out the various punishments he is responsible for overseeing. While Cordelia is happy to see Nan again she asks the Loa to help with the battle against Michael, however Legba informs her that the Anti - Christ is too powerful to go against head on but he could assist with trapping him in his realm as his abilities as allow him to manage the entrance to the spirit world.
Cordelia is initially happy with the proposal but immediately baulks when Papa Legba states the price for his help would be sacrificing her students. Despite urging from Nan saying she would like to see her friends again, Cordelia immediately refuses saying she would never make that sacrifice regardless of how dire the circumstances. Papa Legba is disappointed and then leaves with Nan back to his realm. Dinah tells Cordelia that she wasted her only opportunity to secure help from the Loa.
In the final episode "Apocalypse then" when Cordelia and the coven confront Michael, Dinah betrays them as she prioritizes being on the "winning side". Cordelia however reveals she anticipated this and had made a deal with Papa Legba to secure the help of the newly resurrected Marie Laveau she offered the soul of Dinah as "the most corrupt Voodoo Queen" to replace Marie as carry out the various tortures in his domain as Papa Legba had been unimpressed with her poor performance.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This adaptation of Papa Legba seems to be roughly based on the crossroads demon from popular urban legends:
- Both request the souls of children.
- Both grant diabolical favors to the bargainer.
- Both request their souls in exchange.
- Both tales end with the bargainer being damned for eternity.
- Despite being named after the Voodoo Loa Papa Legba, this character has more in common with Baron Samedi, the Ghede of Death and Lust. However, Samedi has been used regularly as a character in fiction so the producers of the show likely wanted to use a different name.
- In real-life Voodoo liturgy, Papa Legba must be called upon before and after any ceremony to guide the spirits summoned in a ritual back and forth to the spirit world. Along with his role of Gatekeeper to the Spirit World, in Voodoo denominations, Papa Lebgba is also the patron of travel, opportunity, and luck.
External links[]
- Papa Legba at the American Horror Story Wiki
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
Murder House Asylum Coven Freak Show Hotel Roanoke Cult Apocalypse 1984 Double Feature Part 2: Death Valley NYC Delicate American Horror Stories | ||