American Horror Story: The 25 Best Characters, Ranked!

Ready to revisit 10 years' worth of murder, mayhem, witchcraft, satanic possession and aliens? (Actually, let's scratch that last one.)

Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, American Horror Story has conjured up heaps of nightmare fuel over the last nine seasons, and with a new season heading our way (Double Feature premieres Wednesday, Aug. 25 at 10/9c), it's time to take stock of our most favorite heroes, villains and (literal) monsters in this absolutely bonkers anthology series.

But ranking our faves was no small feat. We limited our list to 25 picks spanning the entire franchise (well, almost the entire franchise — sorry, 1984) to break down the best of the best as we giddily anticipate Season 10. From the inhabitants of Season 1's haunted dwelling to Apocalypse's crossover extravaganza and everything in between, we've done our best to rank the series' most notable characters, which of course includes some of TV's most twisted individuals.

So which of Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe and Jessica Lange's characters made the cut, and where did they place? (Spoiler alert: All of Lange's can be found here.) View the photos below as we count down the greatest AHS characters ever, then hit the Comments section to tell us who we may have forgotten! 

While we enjoyed Coco's antics as a rich, entitled captive of Outpost 3, a safe haven from the apocalyptic "Nuclear Winter," the character really began to shine after she was revived by Supreme Cordelia and revealed to be a student from Miss Robichaux's Academy. Like many of her fellow witches, Coco struggled to find her place in the world, and seeing this whole different side of her made for an interesting surprise in Season 8's already twist-tastic run.

We stand by the fact that Freak Show killed Twisty off waaaay too early, but at least the season delivered an equally sinister villain in the clown's wake. After Elsa denied his request to join her gang of misfits, Dandy became the self-appointed protégé of the killer clown in order to deal with the rejection, and his socially, emotionally and psychologically damaged self. In a season filled with characters who had been cast aside by society due to their physical abnormalities, the seriously disturbed Dandy turned out to be the biggest freak of them all.

This eccentric Stevie Nicks stan tugged at our hearts from the moment we met her in Coven. After Zoe and Madison sought Misty out for help with resurrecting Kyle, the swamp-living loner stumbled upon Myrtle's charred bones and helped revive her too, therefore firmly pulling her into the world of Miss Robichaux's Academy. She may not have become the next Supreme (as Fiona and Myrtle once suspected), but at least we got to spend more time with this wild child thanks to the crossover season Apocalypse. May she twirl and swirl to the smooth sounds of Stevie for many years to come!

Just because Sarah Paulson isn't center stage doesn't mean she can't steal the show. The actress slayed as Sally, a former junkie who became a permanent ghostly presence of Hotel Cortez in Season 5. Prone to emotional outbursts and mental instability, Sally had a dark past with drugs, both with her own addiction and her forced injection of others. Not only did she kill her own friends by drugging them up and sewing them together (gross), but she also delivered the hotel's Addiction Demon fresh victims every year as a way of paying her dues to the haunted establishment. Plus, seeing Paulson take on a purely villainous role for a change served up heaps of dastardly fun.

If this was a list of the scariest clowns of all time, Twisty's placement would notch a whole lot higher. The demented clown had a rough life. He was dropped as a baby, which gave him a minor mental disability, and later, was falsely accused of molesting children as an adult. The death of his alcoholic mother sent him over the edge, forcing him to attempt suicide with a shotgun, which didn't take his life, only his lower jaw. Twisty then became a serial killer and kidnapper, wanting to keep children "safe" from parents he deemed unfit. Though we loved his surprise Cult cameo, we wish the clown could've survived a little longer on Freak Show to cause more havoc... and nightmares.

As if the Harmon family didn't have enough to contend with in that Murder House of theirs, enter Larry: the home's former owner who was sent to prison after being accused of lighting his family on fire. Though he was released following his cancer diagnosis, the house (and his love for Constance) drove him mad, leading him to become a sharp thorn in the Harmons' side. Thanks to Denis O'Hare's intense and often manic performance, we never fully knew what Larry's true motivations were, which made it impossible to trust him... and impossible to turn away.

Serial killers are a dime a dozen on AHS, but James March, the designer of the Hotel Cortez, was truly something special. Portrayed by Evan Peters, March used the hotel's twisty infrastructure to fuel his murderous hobby, hiding all of the evidence (bodies!) in the compound's many secret rooms. After his death, he continued roaming its halls like many of the others who died there, coercing John Lowe to carry on his legacy as the Ten Commandments killer. He also hosted a "Devil's Night" shindig, where he invited the country's most infamous killers — John Wayne Gacy, Aileen Wuornos and Jeffrey Dahmer to name a few — to the hotel for a frightening meeting of the minds. Peters seemed to have a blast with the role, which made it that much more deviant and delicious to watch.

We won't soon forget Jessica Lange's stunning rendition of David Bowie's "Life on Mars" that she performed in character as Elsa Mars. (Watch it again here and swoon.) It was one of the series' coolest and most unexpected moments. Although Elsa isn't our favorite of Lange's characters (though it's one of the actress' favorite seasons), Elsa's dangerous yearning for fame, along with her shocking secret — that her legs were sawed off during the creation of a snuff film years back — made the character that much more intriguing and mysterious. Considering her horrific past, Elsa was an anti-villain who knew that "the show must go on," no matter how many bodies dropped or killers lurked around her company. She did care for her beloved "freaks," though. (Her goodbye to Pepper still makes us weepy.) Not only did she relate to them, but it proved she had a heart despite the horror that surrounded her.

Is it safe to say that Cult is one of the series' most polarizing entries? Regardless of one's personal opinion of the season, we can't deny that Evan Peters' portrayal of Kai Anderson was downright bone-chilling. Watching Kai's path from small-time internet troll to radical extremist and cult leader was truly a nightmare to behold, proving once again that mankind can be just as deplorable as legitimate monsters.

Denis O'Hare sizzled as Liz, Hotel Cortez's bartender and another of its ghostly apparitions. Liz broke our hearts with her story of discovery, love and loss, but we couldn't help but root for her along her journey. Her interactions with the Countess, Iris and the other hotel "residents" brought some levity to the season's depravity — that is, until we learned of her gut-wrenching cancer diagnosis. There was a silver lining, though. Liz asked to be killed inside the walls of the hotel so that she could remain with her chosen family forever. The Countess granted her her wish, reuniting Liz with her lost love, Tristian, in the afterlife. To say that we have a soft spot for Liz would be quite the understatement.

Casting a globally renowned pop star to lead its fifth season was some ballsy stunt casting, but Lady Gaga rose to the challenge. The Countess was fashion-forward and complex, having lived just over a century in pure decadence. She was the former wife of James Patrick March, and married the monster solely to acquire his wealth. And then there's the bit about her blood virus, which was AHS' take on vampirism. The Countess infected people with the virus in order to take them on as eternal lovers. (Talk about a "Bad Romance," huh? I'll see myself out.) The character was not only a breath of fresh air for the series, but was the perfect leader for the hotel's widespread debauchery.

Pepper, a microcephalic woman and former performer in Elsa Mars' Cabinet of Curiosities, was framed for murder by her own sister and brother-in-law, and committed to the horrific asylum that was Briarcliff Manor. She was the first character to be featured in more than one season (along with Sister Mary Eunice and Arthur Arden) before crossovers became an expected event throughout the anthology. (Depending on who you ask, she was also abducted by aliens. Unless you ask someone such as myself who REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT ALIEN SUBPLOT.) Poor Pepper may have passed on, but she continued living rent-free in the deluded mind of Sister Jude.

This guy certainly pulled a fast one on us! Dr. Thredson, aka Bloody Face, was the doctor residing at Briarcliff Manor who often opposed Sister Jude's outdated and torturous practices for treating patients. Then, of course, he raped Lana, killed her girlfriend, got her re-committed to the asylum, and pulled off a wide variety of disgusting, serial killer ish, like skinning and beheading innocent women. Needless to say, Bloody Face was an absolute terror.

Fiona was the glamourous Supreme witch who made her way back to Miss Robichaux's Academy with hopes of mentoring the young witches, and making good with her estranged daughter Cordelia. She yearned for eternal life, but was diagnosed with terminal cancer due to a new Supreme rising within their ranks. She believed the only way to stay alive was to murder her successor, and that's when she took quite an evil turn. Jessica Lange lit up the screen as the feisty Fiona, but let's be real: All of Lange's roles are making the cut here. Onward!

Falsely imprisoned for the crimes of Bloody Face, Kit quickly found himself in Sister Jude's crosshairs, falling victim to painful experiments by Dr. Arthur Arden. Even after his eventual release from the waking nightmare that is Briarcliff, Kit became Jude's caretaker while she detoxed from the asylum's drugs. Because that's who Kit is: A nice guy with a good heart who does what's right. He even refused when Lana asked him to speak about Jude on camera. AHS' list of Good Guys may be short (most of them turn out to be some shade of gray), but Kit forever remains one of our faves.

When Angela Bassett was announced as part of Coven's cast, we knew things were about to get real. Laveau was the Supreme-equivalent in the world of Voodoo, making her the perfect counterpart to Lange's Fiona. In fact, the mighty high priestess considered Fiona Goode to be her sworn enemy, and once Laveau's lover Bastien was killed, all bets were off as the two factions engaged in a bloody, brutal war. Laveau dabbled in rituals of fertility, potions of eternal life and mind control, and also transmutation, levitation, and necromancy. In sum: You don't want to mess with Marie.

Once a maid for Constance and her husband, Moira spent her time in the afterlife continuing to serve the owners of the Murder House without their knowledge that she was actually dead. In her younger days, Moira had an affair with Constance's husband, which ended with a bullet through her eye courtesy of Queen C. Constance then buried Moira's body in the house's backyard, sealing the maid's fate of spending eternity inside the haunted home's brick walls. Despite everything, Moira was protective of Vivien Harmon, but thanks to her mistrust of men, she spent the season taunting Viv's husband, Ben, who only saw her as her younger, more attractive self. When everything was said and done (read: everyone died), Moira became godmother to the Harmons' newborn baby, Jeffrey.

Like Bloody Face before her, Delphine LaLaurie's true evil knows no bounds. Once a wealthy socialite known throughout New Orleans, Delphine was later revealed to be a nefarious serial killer who tortured and murdered her black slaves. After Marie Laveau tricked her into drinking a potion that granted her eternal life, the Voodoo pro buried the socialite alive, only for Fiona to dig her up and use her as a bargaining chip against Laveau. She eventually landed in her own personal hell, being locked in a cage in her own torture attic, and forced to watch Laveau torture her kids for all of eternity. A fitting punishment for a wicked old hag.

Once a meek and innocent nun at Briarcliff Manor, Sister Mary Eunice fell victim to a malevolent presence lurking inside the asylum's walls. Post-possession, Mary Eunice killed patients to feed Dr. Arden's mysterious creature, but that's not even the half of it. The devil inside her framed Jude for murder (so much framing this season!), and admitted her into the asylum. Then, she plotted to gain control of the Vatican, and raped Monsignor Timothy before he ultimately pushed her off the stairway, killing her. Briarcliff was bad enough without a literal demonic presence running around, but poor, sweet Mary Eunice was simply caught up by the entire establishment's evil.

Emma Roberts shined as Madison Montgomery, a young Hollywood starlet who unknowingly used her powers of telekinesis to murder a film director who was mistreating her. Her bitchy attitude was quite amusing... until Fiona killed her off, believing Madison was a prime candidate for the next Supreme. Misty Day revived her (no one stays dead in these witchy seasons), but by season's end, Mads is choked to death by Kyle for refusing to revive Zoe. She ultimately ended up in her own personal hell, processing returns for a never-ending line of complaining department store customers. Classic!

Tate, the son of Constance and Hugo Langdon, was always lurking around the Murder House and chasing after Violet Harmon. It was later revealed that he was actually dead, and that he was responsible for a school shooting that killed 15 of his classmates. Constance was often neglectful and verbally abusive to him and his siblings, causing Tate to bond with another mother-figure in the house: Nora Montgomery's ghost. Like a truth psychopath, Tate also lit Larry on fire, and raped and impregnated Vivian Harmon. Only when he was finally free from the maleficent forces that lurked in the house did he remember the horrific deeds he had done, causing him to feel great remorse for his past actions. Tate was full of mystery, and watching his story unfold was downright riveting.

Myrtle Snow is a fashion icon. But Frances Conroy's Myrtle was more than just a set piece; she's a scene stealer. The eccentric head of the Witches' Council never trusted Fiona one bit, believing that the Supreme witch murdered her predecessor. Plus, Fiona's constant attempts to overthrow Myrtle and the council only raised Myrtle's suspicions. (Fiona did scape-goat, frame and burn Myrtle at the stake. So there's that.) Myrtle had the highest regard for tasty food, haute couture and lavish jewelry, and always had a fab quip whenever one was needed. But after she killed the rest of the Witches' Council following their unjust order to execute her, Myrtle convinced new Supreme Cordelia to execute her, in order to give the coven a fresh start. Morals in check, and outfits for days? We stan.

Lana Winters seemed to have it all — an ambitious journalism career, a wonderful girlfriend — that is, until Sister Jude had her committed for her homosexuality. Her wrongful imprisonment put her in the path of a murderous psychopath, an insane nun and even the devil himself, all while Lana desperately tried to plan her escape and prove Kit's innocence. Sarah Paulson took a huge step into the limelight with this character, and her efforts paid off in spades. By season's end, we weren't just rooting for Lana; we needed her to survive.

Sister Jude was a stern nun with a dark past, responsible for overseeing the doctors and patients at Briarcliff Manor. Once a nightclub singer who accidentally killed a young girl while drunk driving, Jude's disposition was ice-cold, as she treated her patients like inmates of a prison. The tables were turned on her when a possessed Sister Mary Eunice framed Jude for murder, and admitted her into the very asylum she worked in. (Who can forget that simultaneously silly and chilly Name Game scene?) Jude's story arc was a rollercoaster of highs and lows, and Lange's performance helped put Asylum at the very top of our AHS favorites.

Could our number one spot possibly have been claimed by anyone else? While Jessica Lange's Sister Jude was a trip and a half, Constance Langdon remains Queen Supreme (sorry Cordelia) of the anthology's shared universe. (It takes a special kind of someone to chop up a dead body and feed it to dogs — and her husband, nonetheless!) She was also Tate's mother and Michael's grandmother, which alone speaks volumes to her messed-up lineage. Constance was always keeping secrets and manipulating situations to benefit herself. The Harmon family had a lot to contend with after moving into their haunted house, but despite the generations of ghouls they cohabitated with, Constance's mental warfare and bats–t family might've been their greatest adversary.