Misty Day is a witch with extraordinary gifts who lived alone in a swamp before being brought into Miss Robichaux's Academy. She is a character in American Horror Story portrayed by Lily Rabe. She possesses the natural born gift of resurgence: the ability to bring souls back from the dead.
Background
An earthy young woman from a backwoods Pentecostal community in the bayous of Louisiana, Misty Day was misunderstood due to her ability to bring souls back from the dead (i.e. the power of resurgence). Although some saw her gift as a blessing from God, others in the community saw her as a necromancer and a threat to the community. Since her resurrection from being burned at the stake, Misty spends her days wandering the swamps and listening to Stevie Nicks, insisting that the lead singer from Fleetwood Mac is a witch, which she interprets through the lyrics.[1]
Personality and Appearance
Misty Day is a young witch with blonde hair and ethereal looks. She is a lonely, eccentric woman, who meanders the swamps of New Orleans, looking for a group to call her own. In tune with nature, she takes great offense to those who disrespect it and will punish them severely. This is shown when she uses her gift to bring two alligators back to life so they can kill the two poachers. Misty also seems to have a fear of abandonment, showing panic when Zoe Benson said she had to leave both times (the second time with Kyle Spencer).
She spends most of her time meditating, tending to her gardens, and listening to Stevie Nicks. She may also be a Christian and a very spiritual woman, as she was seen attending a church group [2] and she was deeply focusing on the cross in Joan Ramsey's house. [3] Before killing two poachers, she asked why they think God would let them destroy his creations.
Story
Misty Day wandered into a church seminar one fateful day and stumbled upon a dead bird. As a lover of nature and all its creatures, she gently picks it up and, using her gift of resurgence, resurrects it. This draws the attention of the churchgoers who assume her powers are the work of the Devil.
That evening, she is dragged through a field and burned at the stake by the religious extremists. She was reported as missing, but the witches of the Salem descendants knew what actually happened, so she was presumed dead. However, with the help of her powers and mastery of swamp healing, she manages to recover from her "death" by resurrecting herself.
Another day, two alligator poachers find Misty near their kills. Infuriated when she openly speaks against their actions, they threaten her with a gun, only to be attacked and killed by the now resurrected alligators.
Because of her assumed death at the stake, witches in New Orleans are rocked and divided about whether they should live life in hiding, or fight. When witches Zoe Benson and Madison Montgomery resurrect Kyle Spencer, she appears to help Zoe by treating Kyle with her gift and home-made healing mud.
Without a coven to call her own, she's gone into hiding in a shack in the woods.
In a kind gesture to a new friend, she decides to look after the newly resurrected Kyle for Zoe, promising to get him back on his feet the best she can.
Misty spends the day laying in bed with Kyle, listening and singing along to Stevie Nicks. Misty talks to Kyle about finding her own coven, saying that without a tribe she can call her own, she can't be at her best. Zoe arrives and Misty shows her Kyle's healed scars. Zoe then attempts to leave with Kyle, so as to return him to his mother, who is suicidal without her son. Misty, however, tries to convince Kyle to stay. Kyle violently refuses and leaves with Zoe, who promises to return for Misty; a promise Misty knows she will break.
Sometime later, she comes across the recently burnt corpse of Myrtle Snow, now being eaten by dogs, and she resurrects her. To help with the recovery, Misty buries Myrtle beneath swamp dirt; at which point, a blood-stained Kyle emerges. She bathes him, which elicits violent behavior on his part, due to the sexual abuse he's suffered at his mother's hands. Misty is devastated when he breaks her boom box, saying he broke her "Stevie".
Not long after, Zoe returns and asks Misty to resurrect Madison. At first, Misty declines, offering to bury a now rotting Madison instead. But Zoe convinces her and, with Zoe's help, succeeds in bringing Madison back. Though offered refuge at the academy, Misty refuses, disturbed by the foul energy present in the house.
Realizing someone was after her, Misty, along with the newly resurrected Myrtle, show up at the academy, seeking protection. There, Myrtle claims that only someone with as much power as Misty would be the new Supreme. Although initially anxious of bearing this new title, she takes part in the Sacred Taking, a ritual intended to have Fiona kill herself; thus, letting the new Supreme flourish. However, the scheme is ruined by the ghost of the recently murdered Spalding, who manages to convince a drugged Fiona to continue fighting. Misty is later seen sitting amongst the other witches, eager to learn the new Supreme's identity when she learns of Joan Ramsey's shooting. At the scene of the crime, she is then approached by Fiona, who asks the young witch to demonstrate her powers by resurrecting the newly dead Joan. Misty complies, only to collapse shortly after resurrecting her.
After that, Misty decides to stay in the academy, she and Cordelia are seen using a ritual on plants from the greenhouse, and it demonstrates her great affection for working with (or lead by) Cordelia.
Misty is attempted by the visit of her idol Stevie Nicks, and after listening to her music, she goes along with Madison for a festival in a graveyard. Already at the cemetery, she is challenged by Madison to demonstrate her powers, when approaching an open coffin, she is struck with a brick in the head by Madison, she is then put in the coffin and buried.
Cordelia manages to figure out Misty's location by touching an article of her clothing, and Queenie and Cordelia head to the cemetery, where Queenie uses her powers to deconstruct the mausoleum, as well as to revive the unconscious Misty. When the three return to the Academy, Misty punches Madison in revenge and a fight ensues between the two witches with Misty gaining the upper hand before Kyle intervenes and breaks them up. Misty also joins Zoe, Madison, and Queenie when they murder The Axeman.
Misty, Queenie, Zoe, and Madison begin the Seven Wonders where Misty (like the other 3 witches) passes the tests of Telekinesis and Concilium. Once they begin the test of Descensum, Misty is the only witch unable to bring herself back from the nether realm and is stuck reliving a horrific childhood memory of a science class frog dissection on a loop. Misty's body disintegrates into ash as Cordelia holds her and sobs.
Powers
Misty is a powerful natural born witch and is shown to have mastered four of the Seven Wonders.
- Resurgence - Misty is able to revive the dead with a simple touch by reaching "the place between life and death and draw the soul back to life." [2] Often, the strain of this ability would cause her faint, but overtime, her talent progressed to allow her to retain consiousness after resurrecting someone.
- Telekinesis - Misty is able to move objects and person with her mind as demonstrated during the fight between the witches and the Axeman.
- Concilium - Misty is able to control other people's minds and actions. She proved this ability during an afternoon with Madison at the Lafayette Cemetery and later, during the Trials of the Seven Wonders.
- Transmutation - Misty is capable to move instantaneously from one place to another without physically occupying the space in between.
- Divination - Misty is capable of sensing and obtaining information through magical intuition.
- Sensing - Misty claimed that she can sense evil ever since she was a child, smelling it like a perfume. She once told Cordelia about this ability when we came back from hell, fetched by Michael Langdon.
- Descensum (incomplete) - Similarly to her power of resurgence, Misty was able to descend into the Afterlife. However, Misty was unable to distinguish reality from hellish vision, and became trapped in her personal hell.
- Spellcraft - Misty Day has an affinity for performing rituals, in particular, conjoined with potions and mud-based salves concocted with an empiric knowledge of herbalism. Using her special concoction, Misty healed her wounded flesh as well as Kyle, Madison, and Myrtle after they sustained several degrees of damage to their bodies, in juncture to her primary power. She also performed protection spells by surrounding herself with "white spirit's light."
Quotes
- To Fiona Goode: "I've surrounded myself with the white spirit light to protect me. And even if you do put me down, I've already made plans on how to bring myself back."
- To poachers: "Why would you kill God's innocent creatures?"
- To Zoe: "This stuff is the shit, literally!"
- To Zoe: "Power of resurgence... I like the sound of that."
- To religious zealots: "It's you that will end in flames! I swear it!"
- To Kyle: "You can't be your best self until you find your tribe. I'm still looking for mine."
- To Cordelia: "Can I say something? I don't wanna be the Supreme."
- To Madison: "I don't wanna waste my magic on you. I can do you with my hands!"
- Myrtle Snow (about Misty Day's powers)
The Swamp Mud is a metaphor, her metaphor. She's a sophisticated witch with extraordinary gifts. Hiding out as a hippie swamp rat. From humble hillbilly stock, she's been a witch since birth. Her power and humanity separating her from everyone around her. In fact, those around her tried endlessly to destroy her in order to mask their own evil purposes. Yet she rose from the ashes stronger than ever, more fully realized. A living testament to the greater ideals of our coven. Power, compassion, and uniqueness. We are lucky to have found her and she us.
- To Madison: "No, I know what you're trying to do. Mess me up, make be doubt myself. You think I'm stupid because of where I came from. Well, I'm not so easily bought, and I ain't that easily fooled."
- To Michael Langdon: "Are you here to save me?"
Notes
- She is the third character to be portrayed by Lily Rabe. For a complete list of her characters, see Cast.
- Misty Day has been absent in three episodes overall throughout the season. Those episodes are: "Fearful Pranks Ensue", "The Dead" and "Protect the Coven."
- Misty was killed three times (burned at the stake, by asphyxiation and her inability to return from hell) in the season. She resurrected four characters (herself, Myrtle, Madison, Joan), two alligators and a bird. She also resurrected several frogs when she was stuck in hell, so it can be assumed that that happened to her in the past.
- She alleges to be able to surround herself with spiritual white light to protect herself from evil beings. Something that Billie Dean and Cricket also do.
Gallery
- See also: Misty Day/Media
References
- ↑ FX American Horror Story Coven Fan Guide
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Episode: Bitchcraft
- ↑ Episode: The Sacred Taking
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