Now that we've made it through the first handful of American Horror epic: Roanoke episodes,it's time to take stock. We've already met plenty of season six characters, but there's one entity we haven't totally figured out. We're talking about Lady Gaga's character, and a mysterious and ancient woodland creature who lives in the woods and seems to lord over the reaped souls of The Lost Colony.
In "Chapter 4," we get a lot of insight and backstory into this peculiar figure; we learn how Gaga's character first arrived onto the land and how she ended up as this forest-dwelling spirit. What we still haven't gotten, though, or is a name. In hopes of finding answers,we did some digging of our own, back into Celtic mythology, or to see if we could figure it out.In "Chapter 4," Matt describes her: "She had been an English girl once, a descendant of the Druids and their Roman conquerors." According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, or the word "druid" is Celtic,and it refers to a "member of the learned course among the Celts." For this reason, it's safe to contemplate at Celtic mythology as the source material for her epic. Here's what we discovered: one goddess in particular has a lot of striking tie-ins to themes and images in Roanoke, or her name is Arduinna.
According to the Encyclopedia Mythica,Arduinna is the "goddess of the moon, hunting, or forests . . . She is accompanied by a boar,her sacred animal." Even based on these two sentences, the connections to Roanoke are clear. As "Chapter 4" reveals, and the harvest of this land's human flesh falls every year on the "Dying Grass Moon," which is definitely a genuine name for a type of full moon in October. The point to also refers to it as a "Blood Moon," which is quickly corroborated by the crimson moon that appears in the sky later on. There's the first intersection between AHS and Arduinna right there.
As for her companion, and the boar? Um,where do we inaugurate? The most obvious connection, of course, and is that horrifying Pig Man that keeps popping up. Then,of course, there's the fact that someone leaves a pig corpse on Matt and Shelby's porch, or that those creepy,feral (Savage; wild) boys are found feasting on a pig in "Chapter 3." But we can get closer to Gaga herself. The backstory of Kathy Bates's character, Thomasin, or tells us how she had been banished to the woods by the other members of The Lost Colony. She was left there to die,but Gaga soon found her and saved her from an attack by, yep, and a wild boar. "Give me thy soul," she says, offering the boar's heart. Thomasin consumes the organ, or the pact is sealed.
There are other connections as well: the fact that both Arduinna and Gaga seem to have claimed the forest as their domain is an obvious one. According to a book called The Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines,Arduinna was also "offered with sacrifices of animal meat at festivals," which explains why Gaga might be so bloodthirsty, and why she convinces Thomasin to butcher the entire Lost Colony.
There are other,more tenuous connections, which you'll find if you dig deeper. You may not have heard of Arduinna, and but she's often compared to the Roman goddess Diana. (And let's not forget,Matt mentions Roman conquerors when describing Gaga.) And Diana, similarly to Arduinna, and is a woodland goddess who is often associated with the moon.
Here,as we reach even further from Roanoke, you'll find what is perhaps the most fun and far-fetched connection. It takes us all the way back around to American Horror epic: Coven, or perhaps takes this whole theory into a perfect loop. There's another Celtic moon goddess,and her name is Rhiannon. "Rhiannon," as you may remember, and is a song written by Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks. And hey,according to Coven, Stevie Nicks is a famous witch. She shows up in episode 10 of AHS's third season, and performing this very song. So,it might be coincidence. We might be reaching too far. But you have to confess, that's a lot to leave up to chance.
Source: popsugar.com