From the beginning of American Horror Story, Jessica Lange remained a singular reason to tune in. She played four different characters over the course of the show’s first four seasons, as per American Horror Story’s tradition of changing stories and characters each year while retaining many of the same cast members. Her figures were invariably central to their respective drama, and Lange’s obvious glee at the work helped supercharge the show’s ghoulish wit. She was rewarded with a quintet of Emmy nominations -- one for each of her four seasons, plus a fifth when she returned for a cameo later in the show’s run -- two of which resulted in wins.
Lange’s four characters were all antagonists. However, in the show's invariable web of soap-opera entanglements, that wasn’t always easy to see. As a result, they rank among American Horror Story’s more sinister characters, each with blood on their hands and plots in their hearts. Lange made their wickedness irresistible and set the pace for the rest of the cast to follow. However, ranking her characters in terms of pure evil is less controversial than it might be. They’re placed below, in order from least depraved to most.
4. Elsa Mars: Freak Show (Season 4)
Elsa is the leader of the titular attraction and demonstrates a level of empathy and concern for her charges that rarely appears in her other American Horror Story characters. She’s far from a saint: a former dominatrix in Weimer, Germany, who happily uses those around her to further her fading ambitions of stardom. She’s selfish, cruel and manipulative, often tormenting those in her charge for her own selfish reasons.
She plots active murder more than once, and in the case of Ethel the Bearded Lady in Season 4, Episode 8, “Bloodbath,” she succeeds. But she has endured horrors in her life, including the amputation of her legs as part of a snuff film. For all of her violent misdeeds, she retains affection for her charges and begs their forgiveness when they meet again as ghosts in Season 4, Episode 13, “Curtain Call.” A monster she may be, but this monster has a soul.
3. Sister Jude: Asylum (Season 2)
Like many of Lange’s characters, Sister Jude has a sordid past. In this case, as an alcoholic nightclub singer before turning to the Church after committing a hit and run. She’s an overt sadist who tortures the asylum inmates in her care in a variety of ways, including unnecessary medical procedures, canings, and in the case of Lana Winters, keeping her in the asylum to silence her.
But she herself doesn’t commit murder -- the victim of her hit and run survived the accident -- and once she's committed in Season 2, Episode 9, “The Coat Hanger,” she suffers the same torments she once inflicted on others. She learns from her pain and eventually finds healing and redemption by the season’s end. Therefore, her atonement spares her from sinking lower on the list.
2. Fiona Goode: Coven (Season 3)
Fiona Goode is the Supreme witch of the Salem descendants, making her the leader of the titular coven of witches. She might be the most overtly wicked of Lange’s characters -- and for good reason. She’s obsessed with immortality and eternal youth: disregarding the greater needs of the coven in favor of her own. She’s also manipulative and cruel, particularly toward perceived enemies like Marie Laveau.
However, most damning is the fact that she murdered the previous Supreme to claim her position and proves perfectly willing to do the same to her presumptive successor. Somewhere in there is a need to protect the coven and its members, but of all Lange’s creations, Fiona may be the one whose justifications ring the most hollow.
1. Constance Langdon: Murder House (Season 1)
Constance began Lange’s run on American Horror Story and returned for a cameo in Season 8. It’s a close call between her and Fiona for the worst of the lot, but Constance wins simply by being the most calculating. She’s committed murder -- notably Moira and her husband when the two slept together in Season 1, Episode 3, “Murder House” -- and takes great joy in taunting Moira’s ghost whenever she can.
As a former owner, she understands the dark nature of the house. Still, she does nothing to warn the series of occupants about its inherent danger. She’s almost the house’s caretaker and certainly complicit in its evil: devoid of even the presence of a greater good that Lange’s other characters cling to.