Papa Legba

Papa Legba is a Gatekeeper of the Spirit World, charged with balancing the scales of life and death. He is a character in American Horror Story portrayed by Lance Reddick.

Papa Legba is a tall, shadowy Loa, a spirit of Haitian Voodoo, with coal-red eyes, grey-white face paint in the shape of a skull, and long black dreadlocks. He wears a dark overcoat that tapers down to the ground, matched by a hat with small skulls around it, decorated with various bird feathers. His nails are yellowed and long, and he uses them to snort drugs offered to him by those petitioning for his presence. He is mainly seen walking with a cane.

Subject ID: 65145

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Papa Legba is a Gatekeeper of the Spirit World, charged with balancing the scales of life and death. He is a character in American Horror Story portrayed by Lance Reddick.

Papa Legba is a tall, shadowy Loa, a spirit of Haitian Voodoo, with coal-red eyes, grey-white face paint in the shape of a skull, and long black dreadlocks. He wears a dark overcoat that tapers down to the ground, matched by a hat with small skulls around it, decorated with various bird feathers. His nails are yellowed and long, and he uses them to snort drugs offered to him by those petitioning for his presence. He is mainly seen walking with a cane.

Being the Gatekeeper of the Spirit World, Papa Legba is always interested in acquiring souls, no matter who they are from. He particularly enjoys making deals with those that are needing of valuable life lessons and negligent of consequences, preying upon their fatal flaws (i.e. greed, vanity) in order to force them under his servitude and, when they fail to uphold their end of a bargain, torment them for eternity after their deaths as punishment for their wickedness. He was willing to make a deal with Fiona Goode for her soul despite her narcissism, cruelty, and murderous behavior, but revoked the deal when he found that she lacked a soul in the first place.

Despite his often antagonistic and somewhat sadistic persona, Papa Legba is an honest and fair individual. He explained clearly and honestly his terms of granting immortality to Fiona when she asked for details. Upon being asked by Queenie about the dynamics of Marie and Delphine's immortality, he explained every meticulous detail of their arrangement, in the process praising Queenie for her sharp mind and powerful magic in having been able to enter and exit the spirit world successfully.

What Papa Legba does with the innocent souls he acquires from his accomplices is unknown. Because these souls have done no injustice, and therefore nothing to warrant damnation in their own personal Hell, it can be assumed that Papa Legba sends them to a lighter afterlife that does not inflict eternal torment. When Nan was drowned by Fiona and Marie in a bathtub, he promised to take her to an afterlife where she would find treats for girls "just like her", presumably bringing her to Heaven. Due to Nan having murdered Joan Ramsey, however, she was instead forced to torture the guilty for all of eternity in Hell, though she does come to enjoy it, indicating that Papa Legba was being truthful.

In order to make a deal with Papa Legba, an individual must have a true desire and intent to see him, and must offer something of value to pique his interest. Being a spirit of life and death, Legba is able to grant wishes to those who request them - including immortality - but these wishes come with a steep price: the willing dispension of one's soul into his possession. After granting their request, the aforementioned individual is from then on in service to him, and must perform any act that he commands them to carry out. Oftentimes, this is the sacrifice of an innocent soul on any day of his choosing, every year. As time passes, he demands worse sacrifices in an attempt to psychologically drive the person into madness for their desires. Reneging on their part of the deal will result in Papa doing the same and reversing their wish, often with dire repercussions.

Subject ID: 65145

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