The third season of American Horror Story was called “Coven” and it followed the lives of several young witches who were attending a boarding school of-sorts in order to hone their magic and protect them from harm. These witches vary widely in personality and this leads to numerous rather intense moments between them as they deal with their involuntary placement at the school. In typical AHS, fashion, things get rather grim rather quickly and not all of the girls make it to the end of the season.
One of the fascinating thing about AHS: Coven is the diverse nature of the characters that make up the show and how the show is able to turn what could appear to be stereotypical characters into rather interesting, complex, and well-developed creatures with extensive backstories and truly intriguing motivations that inspire their actions. A great way to explore these characters is through the alignment system that is commonly used to categorize Dungeons & Dragons characters.
Cordelia Goode- Lawful Good
This character is truly the poster child for the term “Lawful Good.” They believe in a strict adherence to the moral and legal laws of human society and will follow them, even if doing so denies them the things that they want.
This character does their best to teach those in their charge how to use their magic the right way but finds that some of their students are far more interested in a more chaotic version of magic (which is not helped by the arrival of the Neutral Evil supreme.)
Zoe Benson- Chaotic Good
This character is a rather interesting figure as they are one of the more gentle figures on the show; but they are not without a dark side. This character is a good-hearted person that tries their best to do what is right, be honest, and care for those around them.
However, the more chaotic nature of their label comes out when they use their special powers to punish those who hurt others. Though this is not something they resort to often, it does imply that the character is willing to go a bit off the rails in order to enforce their “good-focused” moral code.
Kyle Spencer (Pre-Death) - Lawful Good
It would not be fair to judge this character after their death for they are no longer themselves/in control of themselves after this moment in the story. Pre-death, this character is as good as they come. A volunteer, a hard-working student, the kind of guy that would call his friends out for being jerks… a truly stand-up guy.
His death was truly a tragedy within the show as his character was such a pure and kind soul. However, the only thing worse than his death was his rebirth.
Misty Day- True Neutral
This character is a rather special one in that her purity of spirit and gentle nature would make one assume that she easily belongs within the “good” category. However, doing so would ignore the fact that she operates on her own moral code where killing those who harm animals is perfectly acceptable. Which some may take issue with.
This character is rather skeptical of the idea of good or evil in the first place and tends to decide what is right for herself and operates on the moral code in which she has devised on her own.
Madison Montgomery- Neutral Evil
Though we do have a soft spot in our hearts for this character, that does not erase the fact that she ends numerous lives during her time on the show. And while we support her doing so (for the most part,) one does have to question her primary motivation in ending the life of the man who did nothing more than offer her a bit of stage direction.
This character believes that she is the sun around which the world should revolve and gets rather bent out of shape when the pawns… or people around her do not bend to her will. And she sees nothing wrong in a touch of arson or murder if it helps her get her way in the end.
Delphine LaLaurie- Chaotic Evil
This character is, without a doubt, the most evil character on this list and possibly one of the most evil people in human history. Her love for chaos, pain, and hurting those that she believes are beneath her rarely comes from a place of self-focus nor revenge. But simply because she enjoys it.
Of course, she does use her House of Horrors to punish those who she believes to have slighted her. But her thirst for blood is rather chaotic in nature due to the fact that she seems to commit most of the atrocities out of sheer desire to do so.
Fiona Goode- Neutral Evil
Characters who place themselves above all else and are willing to kill in order to achieve their goals fall into the Neutral Evil category. This category places the self at the core of all desires (and usually at the expense of others.)
Fiona Goode is known for doing whatever it takes to get what she wants. Whether that means ending a young girl’s life in order to maintain her own power or sucking the youth out of another human being in order to feed her own vanity, she sees other people as nothing more than the means to an end.
Marie Laveau- Chaotic Neutral
Though no one would ever dare to disagree with the actions of this character, it can be fair to say that they are rather chaotic in nature. And though it does seem like revenge is her primary motivator, her personal morals seem to change based entirely upon the situation in which she finds herself.
She narrowly avoids falling into the “Chaotic Good” category as her actions do cause intentional harm to others that she has no ill-will towards (and this does not seem to bother her) but she avoids falling into the evil category as her actions seem to be based out of a desire to make things fair rather than to hurt others.
Next: American Horror Story: 10 Horror Movie References Made In Asylum You Didn’t Notice
