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EDWARD MORDRAKE
"The Two-Faced Prince" AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW β content warnings: AHS in general comes with a plethora of warnings; more details about those (and Edward's, specifically) can be found here!
| A 19th-century English nobleman, poet, musician, and scholar: handsome, refined, and of great talent and potential, who harboured a tragic secret β a hideous second soul in the form of another face on the back of his head. This "demon's face" was able to speak in depraved whispers that only Edward could hear, constantly hissing of Hellish horrors and goading him to do terrible things. No doctor could offer any help to his condition, and despite Edward's many attempts to rid himself of his dark twin β such as drowning it, among other ways to kill it β the second face would not die. Eventually the young aristocrat was driven insane by this existence, and institutionalised by his family. The demon attached to him was able to help him escape (through murdering his way out of there!), where he then joined a "freak show" troupe as "The Two-Faced Prince", in the only place where he could live his tormented existence in some peace, where he could be accepted. However, even this proved not to be enough; Edward wasn't happy, living this way and making a spectacle of himself. On one Halloween night, he finally snapped. The face drove him to murder the entire member of his troupe, before he hung himself to death, the face smiling even after his death. Now there is a superstition amongst carnies that no "freak" performs on Halloween, lest they summon the spirit of Edward Mordrake. Once summoned, he serves as a vessel for the demon's face, compelled to follow its desires to take the life of one "freak", adding them to his own ghostly troupe. In order to determine who will be taken, Edward and his demon seek out the most wounded souls, the depraved, the broken, the lonely β those with deep shame. Edward then must ask them to share their deepest woes and darkest hours, listening to the horrors that they might have known in their lives. In his own words, the demon's face feeds from "pain, regret, the delicious moment when hope is lost, the sweet bleeding of a broken heart", but despite how Edward perceives his dark twin as "evil", the demon itself has nuance. If a soul's sorrow is deep enough, the face may even weep for it. To encounter him comes with potential to see his dual sides. Edward is a polite, genuinely sympathetic, and often mournful listener to those he encounters, finding no pleasure in their pain and even openly chastising his second face for its malevolence. Yet he may abruptly snap into a less cordial personality if someone tries to escape him or if the hungry demon's face knows they are being dishonest, needing more from them: its mind and desperation might infiltrate Edward's, making him harsher, even cruel with his words and actions (POV you're being insulted by a polite but deranged Victorian spirit), before he then swaps back to his usual gentler disposition. All in all, he's what could be considered a charming yet sinister presence, but despite the terror he inflicts to satisfy the face's hungers, taking a soul into his Hellish troupe is often actually a mercy for the chosen. They become freed of their mortal torments and find a new family with Edward Mordrake, who knows the burden of such terrible loneliness. β’ all the horror / dark themes, sweet things, funny things, tragic things, general, shippy flavours, found family galore, gothicy spooky romances, dark obsessions, hurt/comfort, etc... pretty much anything! I'm very interested in diving further into this character and Getting Deeper with things β’ summonings: Anyone in any time period could summon Edward, whether knowingly or unknowingly! I'm happy to bend / flex canon rules a bit so that anyone, not just "carnies", could cause him to appear. Perhaps he's straight-up just drawn to an especially lost soul β the wounded, lonely, or depraved. If someone gives a performance of any kind (especially on Halloween), it could cause him to come around, as in canon. Or maybe someone from the modern world does a ritual or fucks around with a Ouija board or chants in a mirror or something and he just like... shows up highly confused lmao. Maybe he even gets trapped in the world of the living?? I'd love to play around with the "urban legend" factor to him any number of ways. Also spirit mediums / anyone connected to the dead would be fun to bump into! β’ fellow "monsters": As mentioned, Edward is going to be drawn most especially to those who are tormented or lost, "dark" creatures, cursed and damned souls, oddities, the unloved, etc. Come to him all the most piteous beings out there, let him adopt you... and also just any fellow spooky supernatural things in general. Give me tender things, sad things, outright horror things β I'd love to play around with "bringing out the darknesses in one another" type shenanigans β’ "freakshow" / sideshow shenanigans: I'd love all the things with that particular type setting, whether with Edward being alive or a ghost β’ more AHS characters: I'm trash for this dumb show and would just indulgently love to toss Edward at other AHS folks or slide him in other settings... especially Coven for witchy fun and Hotel for the Ghostly Glamour, but really any of them would be π€
demon's face - the second face on the back of his head which demands the soul/life of someone whenever Edward is summoned; whomever is chosen will be stabbed with a dagger by Edward and become part of his ghostly "freak show" troupe. however, the demon can also tell if a soul is not meant for that purpose, in which case the victim may pass on to "heaven" / another afterlife instead intangibility / invisibility - as an extremely powerful ghost, he has the ability to let himself be physically perceived or not. he can assume a tangible form, one in which he can interact with the world as desired, even feeling solid to the touch soul collecting - the ability to "take" a soul; this involves his demon's face feeding on someone's deep pains & woes, and then Edward killing them afterwards clairvoyance / omniscience - the demon's face (and thus Edward by proxy, as the face will tell him whatever it learns) has the ability to understand the minds, truths, and hidden insights of others / know when they are lying to it (this can be adjusted for rp purposes and I won't assume that he's able to do this without discussion / establishing a scenario) other ghostly powers - Edward is capable of such abilities as telekinesis, teleportation, etc. SPECIES: formerly human (albeit possessed by a demonic supernatural entity) / currently supernatural (ghost) HEIGHT: 5'11" HAIR: black, thick, slightly wavy EYES: a striking blue, with very large pupils NOTABLE: Extremely Victorian. Muttonchops for days. Has a second, evil face that he keeps covered with a top hat OCCUPATION: musician, poet, scholar (formerly) / sideshow performer as The Two-Faced Prince (formerly) / vindictive spirit, cursed collector of souls, reaper of reckoning (current) P/B: Wes Bentley BACKTAGGING: βοΈ 4TH-WALLING: βοΈ THREADJACKING: βοΈ FIGHTING: βοΈ FLIRTING: βοΈ ROMANCE: βοΈ SMUT: βοΈ MIND READING: βοΈ (though he has some defenses; we can hash this out) KILLING: β (he's already dead... but he could be banished or smth) OPT OUTS: β (I'm good with pretty much anything! super dark content, heavy gore, throw it @ me) |
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