American Horror Story is known for its twisted storylines and is filled to the brim with crazed characters that make most people shiver, even if just a little. Not only is every story connected in some way, but plenty of the characters feed off of each other’s stories, enhancing their own. This kind of writing is incredibly difficult to do well, and American Horror Story is one of the few to be able to do it well. Fans of the show love the kind of horror and gothic themes that are shown throughout each individual series, and it’s hard to ever really lose interest in a series once it gets its hooks into you.
With so many different characters, it’s hard to tell which ones are more powerful. Certainly, each one has something interesting about them, but that doesn’t mean that they’re really deadly. Of course, strange powers go hand-in-hand with a show like this, so in order to be dangerous in this world you have to at least have offed a couple of people. It looks like American Horror Story doesn’t really have a shortage of characters that fit into this, so there’s definitely a lot of people to look at. From cruel doctors to incredible ghosts with questionable pasts and powers, we’ve found some of the deadliest figures to ever be seen across all the series. If you’ve been a fan of the series from the start, you’ll probably see some familiar faces as we go through 20 of the deadliest characters to ever appear on American Horror Story.
20 DR. ARTHUR ARDEN
Dr. Arthur Arden is one of the scariest humans to be on AHS. This is particularly because there is nothing supernatural about him -- he’s just pure evil. We know that Dr. Arden is actually a World War II criminal, which is already reason enough not to like him and find him dangerous, but there’s more to the story.
If the events in Asylum weren’t enough to make you think he was dangerous, consider that he took Elsa’s legs, which was revealed to us in Freak Show. His actions have never really been for good, but he’s also not the worst person on this list...
19 DR. OLIVER THREDSON
Dr. Arden certainly wasn’t the only creepy doctor to ever come out of AHS. Dr. Oliver Thredson certainly took the cake there by being one of the most dangerous people in the series. At first, we thought he would be a friend and ally to Lana Winters, the journalist who was wrongly placed in Briarcliff, but he ended up being one of the worst things to happen to her.
However, after “rescuing” Lana, he revealed his real mask was that of “Bloody Face”, a psychopath with serious mommy problems. He was particularly dangerous because he was able to hide his true self in front of others, making him blend in with the population. We definitely don’t want him to treat us.
18 MAMA POLK
The Polk family, over all, is both dangerous and insane. Being cannibals should be enough to make you want to steer clear of them, but Mama Polk alone is still incredibly dangerous. Showing up in the Roanoke series, Mama Polk is an incredibly strange woman who comes from a line of inbred descendants who provide victims to The Butcher.
While The Butcher is certainly more dangerous, her threats are part of the reason Mama Polk is so dangerous in the first place. In place of providing victims, Polk is able to protect her family. She’s the matriarch of her family, so if anyone is completely dangerous out of all of them, it’s certainly her.
17 TATE
Tate is perhaps one of the most beloved characters on AHS. Evan Peters' character was not only spooky in personality, but also incredibly dangerous in both life and in his afterlife. Not only did Tate hurt multiple people while he was alive in one of the worst acts ever committed on the show, but he was also the reason for a lot of pain in the Harmon household.
This is seen particularly his treatment of Violet and in his attack on Vivian, as he was known for being borderline manipulative and certainly one to hide a lot of things about his past. The kind of abilities he had while in the afterlife certainly make him one dangerous ghost.
16 JAMES PATRICK MARCH
The original owner and designer of the Hotel Cortez, James March should be nothing more than a ghost by the time we are introduced to him. And yet, he is one of the many very suspicious and secretive criminals that shows up during the Hotel series.
Not only was James a known criminal, but he was an incredibly interesting one. In fact, he designed his hotel with plenty of twists and turns in order to make his sprees more fun. There are a lot of places where he can also hide any evidence, and no one would notice, and even as a ghost, he’s relatively menacing.
15 INFANTATA
Thaddeus was one of the biggest heartbreaks on AHS -- no one likes to see babies grow into evil monsters. While Thaddeus wasn’t anything more than your average infant in life, after his passing his father turned him into an absolute monster. Created from various parts, the thing that Dr. Montgomery brought back would never truly be his son again.
Thaddeus has an immense bloodthirst, which causes him to attack people and while we’d love to stop the Infantata, his mother already tried. After attempting to end him with a letter opener, Nora realized that nothing could kill the monster that her son had become.
14 KAI ANDERSON
Not all powerful people have supernatural abilities -- some just so happen to be in positions of power or cult leaders. This is definitely the case with Kai Anderson, a local Michigan leader and the main antagonist of the Cult series. Clearly his character is unstable, and yet it’s only part of what makes him dangerous.
Kai uses his personal beliefs to start a cult and become a different kind of powerful at the same time. While Kai may not have any kind of superpowers, he certainly has a way of drawing people to him and tends to be the one leading them -- something very dangerous when it’s coming from a manipulative person like him.
13 ALLY MAYFAIR-RICHARDS
Ally started off as a relatively weak character because of her different phobias and mental health problems. While there’s nothing wrong with these issues, they don’t allow her to show off just how dangerous she is because, for a good part of the Cult series, she was primarily afraid.
However, Ally becomes more of a danger after she cures herself of her phobias. Not only did she set up for her wife and Kai’s sister, Winter, to perish, but she also was the one to take down Kai himself. Her manipulation and cunningness after curing herself was one of the biggest turnarounds we’ve ever seen on the show.
12 EDWARD MORDRAKE
Comparatively speaking, Freak Show didn’t necessarily have anyone with powers. For the most part, everyone was just born a certain way. Edward Mordrake, however, was a very different story -- the ghost was feared by most of the performers and his eerie presence made everyone stand on edge, and with good reason.
Mordrake was a handsome nobleman who was said to be very classy. However, he was also said to have a second face on the back of his head that would tell him to do awful things. If a performance happened on Halloween night, he would take the life of one of the carnies in the show.
11 DR. CHARLES MONTGOMERY
Dr. Charles Montgomery isn’t really a powerful person when it comes to his day to day -- in reality, he’s just sort of a ghost now. The series never really gave us a reason to think he was particularly dangerous, however, we have to acknowledge that he was certainly powerful.
After his son was taken from him, Dr. Montgomery desperately wanted to bring him back to life. While the procedure was certainly not for the feint of heart, and definitely Frankenstein-ish, he did succeed in his want: Thaddeus was back.. sort of. Being able to bring someone back from beyond the grave is reason enough to make it to this list.
10 SISTER MARY EUNICE MCKEE
Sister Mary Eunice McKee would, in her regular state of mind, not be on this list. However, there was one thing that set her apart during her time in the Asylum series that makes her extremely dangerous: the very pure and innocent nun would eventually be possessed by the devil himself.
This not only gave her personality a total flip, from the sweet girl to a strange and dark evil, but this switch gave her confidence and she was able to manipulate Dr. Arden to do her dirty work and help her gain control over the asylum. It’s pretty hard to beat the devil’s work, but there are a few AHS characters that could try.
9 MISTY DAY
Misty Day was certainly a different kind of witch -- one that was even able to bring Stevie Nicks to the series. While Misty may seem like she’s just an isolated witch with no real powers, we have to admit that her healing abilities make her both equally important and dangerous.
We saw this not only when she was able to bring back two alligators, but also when she was able to heal Kyle Spencer. While she was certainly nerve-wracking with her abandonment issues and quick judgement on those who disrespect nature, we certainly feel her healing powers are enough to earn her a decent spot on this list.
8 DONOVAN
Out of all the blood virus victims we’ve seen in Hotel, Donovan was certainly the most love-struck and heartbroken. When we’re introduced to him, he’s the pampered companion of The Countess, Elizabeth, who saved him from meeting his demise from an overdose.
Anyone with the blood virus is relatively deadly; after all, in order to quench your thirst, you’ll have to hunt. However, Donovan wasn’t necessarily the most powerful, but what made him stronger was definitely his love for Elizabeth and his want to be with her. However, he ultimately perished and asked not to be stuck in the Cortez so that he won’t be stuck with Elizabeth’s lovers for eternity.
7 RAMONA ROYALE
Ramona Royale was one of first ex-lovers we ever met of Elizabeth’s. After a decade long relationship and an even longer life with her affliction, it stands to reason that Ramona is a little more dangerous than Donavan. Not only has she been through more with both Elizabeth and her own personal life, but she has a bit more experience.
Ramona watched as Elizabeth ended her lover, splitting the two apart from each other. She also had to end her father after trying to save him with her virus, which backfired immensely. From experiences like this, we see Ramona isn’t afraid of much, making her a pretty big figure in the Hotel series.
6 QUEENIE
Queenie was certainly a very special witch in the Coven series. This is particularly shown when we see that she can use multiple kinds of magics, whereas most of the other girls can use just one. Her ability to use voodoo helps her in a variety of ways and is one of the biggest reasons why she’s on this list.
Queenie had certainly been through a lot, but her greatest strength was that she could cause any kind of harm. The biggest backfire to this was that in order to really hurt someone, she would have to hurt herself first.
5 CORDELIA FOXX
Cordelia Foxx was one of the few characters in the AHS that made your heart go out to her -- she desperately wanted to be enough and usually felt as though she came up short. While Cordelia had personality issues that made her lose a lot of control over her academy, she would later grow in power.
Cordelia was blinded not only once, but twice in order to gain back her foresight that gave her plenty of power. At one point, she would also be the Supreme, meaning she was the most powerful witch in the coven. While she had some character flaws, we can’t deny that she still maintained respect from her students and power.
4 FIONA GOODE
Jessica Lange is almost always a character given great power, but perhaps her deadliest role was playing none other than Fiona Goode; a Supreme of the Salem descendants. When we’re introduced to Fiona, we see that she’s incredibly laid back and certainly lives on the high-end side of life, which is probably because she’s so powerful.
Being a witch like Fiona means that she has quite a bit of magic on her side, something she demonstrates frequently. Her only flaw in power was that she was distraught at the thought of growing old and would eventually become too sick to fight even her only daughter.
3 THOMASIN WHITE/THE BUTCHER
Thomasin White was the leader of the lost colony of Roanoke. As their leader, she made enough mistakes to not only cause one, but two different coups where even her own son would refuse to acknowledge her. Known as “The Butcher” for her sacrifices, even in the afterlife Thomasin is pretty scary.
In sacrifice to Scathach, Thomasin sacrifices everyone she can get her hands on in order “sanctify the land”. She would later give herself as an offering. In passing she becomes a ghostly figure that appears each Blood Moon, when her colony is allowed to roam free and commit their acts to complete the dark sacrament.
2 THE COUNTESS
It’s very hard to beat Lady Gaga, especially since she’s been put in some very powerful roles in her time on AHS. The Countess is perhaps one of her most famous roles, especially since it was the first time we saw her on the show.
The Countess is a leading vampire and she’s incredibly dangerous. She finds very different ways to lure people under her command; whether by seduction or the promise of something they want. She was incredibly manipulative, but we certainly wouldn’t want to get on her bad side as she was prone to taking out people that did.
1 SCATHACH
Descended from the Druids of Roman conquerors, Scathach is said to be an English stowaway who perished on a voyage plagued with awful things. When she was discovered in the landfall, the soldiers blamed everything on Scathach for being a woman, claiming that she angered the sea gods. But before they could burn her at the stake for being a witch, she answered the call of ancient, bloodthirsty gods.
She’s since become something more than a ghost and less than a god; her powers have instilled fear into plenty characters in the Roanoke series. She ultimately commands her Roanoke colony, but she’s definitely more powerful than we give her credit for.