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Moira O'Hara

Moira O'Hara

Appearances
Portrayed by	Frances Conroy (older) Alexandra Breckenridge (young)
First Appearance	Pilot
Last Appearance	Afterbirth
Information
Species	Ghost
Gender	Female
Hair Color	Auburn
Eye Color	Green (when old, her right eye is grey)
Born	around 1958
Died	1983
Cause of Death	Shot in the eye by Constance
Occupation	Housekeeper
Relationships	Constance (former employer, murderer, affiliate) Ben Harmon (employer) Vivien Harmon (employer) Jeffrey Harmon (godchild)
Relatives	Mother (deceased)

Moira O'Hara is the housekeeper for the Harmon family, and has been there for the stay of many families.

1 Episodic Appearances
2 Background
3 Appearance
4 Personality
5 Quotes
6 Trivia
7 References
8 Comments

Episodic Appearances Edit

Background Edit

She has been the housekeeper for the house for a long time. While still alive, she once had sex with Constance's husband, Hugo, due to "feeling lonely". When he made another advance towards her, she refused him, saying that what they did was a mistake. In 1983, not happy with being denied, Hugo forced himself on Moira and attempted to rape her only to be caught in the act by Constance who murdered them both (and Moira had been shot in the eye, explaining the blueness; see trivia). Constance buried her in the backyard of the house, where another person would be buried in 2011. She became a ghost, and is now the housekeeper for the Harmons. Moira would like to die and join her mother that she visited in an old people's home and let her die by removing her oxygen mask in the afterlife. She cannot however, she first has to be released by the house. Theories as to how this will happen include her murderer (Constance) being publicly known as her murderer and being punished and a proper burial for Moira's corpse (the two are related of course).

Appearance Edit

Added by DoZ

It is claimed that to women she appears as an elderly lady with one working eye (he other is gray and clouded), with a less-provocative dress, and to men she appears as a beautiful, unscathed young woman with stockings. It is speculated that this is because womens' intuition gives them insight on the true nature of people, where as men see only what they want or desire. However, these ideas seem to lack the attention of both character-specific detail and the role of the house. In the first few episodes of the series, it is revealed that the house will "find out what you did and use it against you," and that Ben has been guilty of an affair with a much younger woman. Therefore, it is also possible that Moira's varied appearance seems more likely due to the "sins" of Ben, rather than a general male vs. female response.

Personality Edit

When she is seen as old, she seems to be nice and passive. When she is seen young, she's a seductive, sex-craving young woman.

Quotes Edit

(To Vivien) "Sometimes, people just go mad."
(To Constance) "Your sense of humor was and continues to be a delight."
(To Constance) "You need to pay for what you've done."
(To Violet) [in response to her saying that the christmas ornaments were ancient] "I suppose they are. You'll come to understand, Violet, that the word 'ancient' will lose all its meaning when your entire existence is one long today."
(To Ben as Young Moira) "Kinky. Do you want me to try that on? Looks like you went to a lot of trouble to find it." (Ben) "What do you know about this?" (Young Moira) " I know I just get wet, thinking about sliding that rubber on my body." (Ben) "Stop it. Stop your bullshit and listen to me. You're in this house all the time; you see everything. What happened with Vivien?" (Young Moira) "Why do you care? You're a man. Isn't this what all men want? The freedom to satiate their needs, guilt-free?" (Ben) "Just tell me the truth. I think I made a horrible mistake by putting Vivien in the hospital. She was attacked by someone." (Young Moira) "Congratulations, Dr. Harmon..." (Ben looks on in disbelief, as Moira turns old right in front of him and makes for the door) "You're finally beginning to see things as they are." (Moira leaves.)

Trivia Edit

The Greek word moira (μοῖρα) literally means a part or portion of the whole, and by extension one's portion in life or destiny, which consisted of bad and good moments distributed by the Fates. The three Moira were demons/goddesses (depending on the Ancient Greek source) who determined every person's moment and manner of death.
The actress who portrays the older version of Moira, Frances Conroy, actually has a discolored iris, she is not wearing contact lenses. She was in a car accident and then had eye surgery. Frances mentioned her eye problem in the casting sessions and the writers decided to make this a plot point so that she would not have to wear contact lenses. That is why Constance shooting Moira in the eye was written in. ^[1]
The fact that the Moiras and the twins Troy and Bryan have red hair is a plot point. Ryan Murphy has revealed that the redheads have something to do with Ben's childhood. “It’s something that happened to Dylan’s character as a child that involves redheads,” Murphy said. “It’s a beautiful childhood thing for him that will be explained.” ^[2]

References Edit

↑ Behind the Scenes video- Casting
↑ Malloy, Tim, "TCA: Ryan Murphy's 'American Horror Story' Haunted by Redheads", The Wrap, 6 Aug 2011

Retrieved from "http://americanhorrorstory.wikia.com/wiki/Moira_O%27Hara"

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Who else want's to see some hot Moira-on-Moira action in some future episode?

25 days ago by A Wikia contributor
I thought that the ghosts would be able to haunt the house only until their bodies are buried there (Moira seems to be hopeful that as the potential buyer would build a pool, someone would find her bones, I don't recall word for word but I think she hinted that she would then be free, able to leave the house), but I find unlikely that the couple and even their daughter were buried there after they were found dead there by the police or whoever deals with it. Unless the other ghosts eventually took the bodies and buried them over there somewhere, and the police never bothered looking for them.
But perhaps just dying there guarantees that one will be "locked" in the house, regardless of where their bodies/bones are. That's certainly a requirement as well, but I thought that the placement of the body also was.

26 days ago by A Wikia contributor

Do you recall when Constance asked that psychic chick to connect with Addie's spirit, It (Addie's spirit) replied that "she is happy that she did not die on that house". So yes, merely dying on the house, or its premises, is enough to turn imto a ghost and haunt the property.
by Anele Dlamini (South Africa)

25 days ago by A Wikia contributor

ok, so here's another idea that offers an explanation to the Moira 'aging' dilema; I'm sure it’s not the scriptwriters' thoughts but it's a better fit than some theories!.

When Constance kills Moira you see her as a young woman but, as we hear, men see what they want to see. So, what if the Moira we see killed by Constance is really the old Moira but appears young as we are seeing her through Constance’s husband’s eyes? That way Constance, like all the other ghosts, doesn’t age during the rst of the story. The flaw here is why doesn’t Constance see her as old Moira when she catches her with her husband? - hmmm

April 14 by A Wikia contributor

You could add to the evidence the fact that Constance's husband was drunk when he was trying to rape Moira. That can mess with one's perceptions of attractiveness.

Or yet, it could be that Moira died young, but she was then subject to some voodoo ritual where she was resurected, and then aged normally, and eventually died again, perhaps she was one of those who died in the crash of Oceanic 815.

26 days ago by A Wikia contributor

All I want to know is why stockings with garters are so damned sexy!

February 11 by A Wikia contributor
as far as Moira's age issue, i think the reason (and this is just a theory) that all of the spirits in the house are able to change their appearance. This is the reason why some appear with their scars, wounds and bruises and some appear perfectly normal. I think that their ability to alter their appearance comes with their evolving. Moira has been in the house for a long time and rarely does she fixate on how and why she died, unless Constance is around. She is always helping the new owners and therefore has a purpose instead of constantly agonizing over her death. You'll notice that the characters who have not really "moved on" of sorts and peacefully resume their haunting, are the ones with the most brutal wounds. (example: the infantata who was killed as an infant and then rekilled by his mother was not old enough to understand his death so cannot move on, the mother and two girls who burned themselves alive were not ready to show themselves to the husband and were therefore not ready to move on, the twins boys who were young when murdered are probably not old enough to process their death and move on, and the doctor's wife who spends her days crying over losing her baby cannot move past the grief so she still has her gunshot head wound) Moira has evolved and can present herself as whatever she likes which i believe is one of the many "parlor tricks" that all of the ghosts can do once they move past their own fate and become a supportive member of the household. Support to the "parlor trick" theory is: Moira finally revealing her true self to Dr. Harmon, Hayden throwing up blood and guts and convincing the doctor that she was rotting from the inside, and remember the /Elizabeth Short/Black Dahlia? She always presented herself to others as a beautiful young girl but at the end when they team up to scare the new owners, she appears as the cut up Black Dahlia. Moira probably chooses to present as an old woman because she desperately longs to be at rest and she probably presents as a young lady to men because that's what she always was in her human life (remember she says, "i would have been a good mother if i weren't so busy being a slut") and it's what she was used to. Okay, i know this is long but i hope it helps because this issue was interesting.

January 20 by A Wikia contributor

i completely agree with you :) this is the only theory that makes sense to me. i would also add that some ghost might actually LIKE looking the way they were murdered. at least what's what i feel when i see the twins. to me they look like they enjoy looking that way 'cause the wounds help them scare others. and actually, they've always been pranksters, that's, like, the essence of them :)

January 21 by Verauko
All very fascinating, but not what Ryan Murphy says. You all read WAYYY too much into this. The problem is that Ryan Murphy never developed a coherent universe/rules for this. He has EXPLICITLY admitted this. He said that the only rule he came up with was "The ghosts can wander around on Halloween." He had no explanation why Vivien did not try to save Ben from Hayden in the last episode. About Moira he (and other cast members) have said that what Moira says about men wanting to see things as they want them to be is the correct answer and only rule. Yes, that makes part of the show illogical and that sucks. But it's still the truth.

January 21 by KatD1
i always wondered why viv didn't help ben O.o

January 22 by Verauko
I think it could just be a flaw on the writing that the fans are just trying to "figure out" the explanation as if it was actually carefully planed, rather than a flaw. It could be that for example, that the people behind the casting decisions liked the acting of the actress that plays the aged Moira, and decided she had to be on the show as a recurrent character even at cost of changing something, which they may have done in a hurry, not thinking that much about the problems, or thinking they can came up with some answer whenever it's really needed (if the fans don't come up with one and they just "steal" it). "Hell, 'lost' got away with things much worse than that! Let's have her as 'unnatractive Moira' and we come up with something as we go, if we ever need to."
Other thing, perhaps something that goes a bit against the idea of she being able to "shape shift", is that she's seen by different people in dfferent ways, at the same time. Women see her as the old lady, whereas men see her with the age she was when she was murdered.
Of course, it could always be that she can chose to look differently to males and females, or to anyone who feels or does not feel attraction to her, or perhaps she could look as if she had seven different ages to seven different people who look at her at the same time in the same room.

26 days ago by A Wikia contributor

Apart from the "Women see her real soul age from beginning, men have to get over the sex part to see her as an old lady" which is good for character development but doesn't explain what makes her special and not like all ghosts that stay the same age as when they died, I've read a theory that she is old because her bones are buried in the house so see keeps getting old (and so the previous theory applies: she IS the only ghost that is getting older, but men keep seeing her previous, younger form)

January 1 by A Wikia contributor

She died young, so she is young. She appears old because that's what she wants to be. She an old soul and that's why. She only appears young to mean who prioritize sex.

January 7 by American Morality
^ simple as it seems, i believe that's the true reason. but this brings me to another question - can jeffrey change his appearance and become... let's say... a teenager? O.o this would demand some kind of awareness from him, that babies at his age don't have yet. so is it possible for ghosts to mentally age?

January 7 by Verauko

i love her friendship with vivien.

December 24, 2011 by Akin21

I do too and I am glad that Moira is now a part of the Harmon family it's touching.

December 24, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
oh when she made her the god mother i was like awwww that's so cute so now Moira has a family cause well she never got to see hers cause she went missing and was never found but yah i liked hoe Vivien did that. :)

December 24, 2011 by Buggaboo:)
how* sorry i put hoe by accident sorry

December 24, 2011 by Buggaboo:)

Was I the only one laughing during the season finale, when Moira was telling Ben and Vivian that she doesn't wanna see anymore suffering in the house, while she was standing over the new couple getting it on in the kitchen?

December 23, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

No, I was laughing too :D

December 23, 2011 by American Morality
The season finale was weird. The entire season was very dark and dramatic, but the season finale was comedic, totally unexpected. I was expecting a climax of drama, tension and terror. Then when it finally cames I ask myself whether I'm watching the right channel or some movie channel where they're showing "Beetlejuice".

26 days ago by A Wikia contributor

Shouldn't Jeffrey Harmon or whatever that baby's name is be added as her godson?

December 23, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
So wtf happens with the whole little Anti-Christ kid???

December 23, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

Nothing. That was the end.

December 23, 2011 by KatD1

what episode does her corspe get reburied?

December 22, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

Murder House.

December 23, 2011 by KatD1

I tohught it was sweet when Vivien made Moira the baby's godmother and for the record best godmother ever!!!!

December 22, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

i know that was so cute

December 22, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

Do you think maybe there has to be something figured out about each ghost that would make them appear as they really are? Like when Ben saw Moira as she is once he shows his devotion to his wife. This is just a thought. I'm not too sure what this would have to do with why Moira is the only one to age.

December 22, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
ok so she ages so ppl could see she ages but when its a guy she SEXY and seductive coool

December 22, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
I think the reason why Moira ages has to do with the fact that she -knows- she's dead, she knows she doesn't belong in that house and she knows where her corpse is. She remembers why she died, and who killed her. That means that she knows exactly what she's doing and not doing, and I think this also makes her the most dangerous of all the spirits because she -knows- what every person in that house is able to do, YET she does not stop ir, Nor tries to prevent it. Instead she gives her little warnings, and I think..... she has a rage against males that would make Hayden's look minor.

December 18, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

i think she so desperately wants to die/cross over that it manifests in her old appearance. this would also explain why some ghosts have wounds while others don't. it looks like spirits can control what they look like - what they wear, whether their death wounds are visible or not.

December 18, 2011 by Verauko
this brings me to another question... can they change their appearance to look like somebody else? that would be a huge twist :)

December 18, 2011 by Verauko
From some of Moira's Quotes you could interpret, that she is a very selfasured to feminist woman, remember how she told Vivienne about the silly medical theories about women in the past ans mentioning "The yellow wall". Based on this I would theorize that she appears as a nice old lady to people she don't want to offend and appear as a gorgeous young bedroomfantasy when she wants otherwise. In my opinion she blames men for her destiny, she was a victim in two cases, she had been nearly raped by Constance's husband and has been killes by the jealous wife because of some kind of prejudice that they had an affair. After Ben finally tells her, that he won't cheat on Vivienne with her, he was able to see her - lets say "good side" - Ben showed to her, that he is not the kind of male she suspects every male has to be, so letting Ben see her "good side" seems to me something like an offer of peace.
I won't say, that she has a rage against males, she is stuck in her experiences with them, I think in life Moira had always been more an object than a person in the eyes of the males around her, and now she reacts vice versa an sees males only as some kind of sexually leaded dumbasses.
@Verauko: Given by the things we've seen in the show I would say, that they can change their appearance to a mild degree, i.e. appear as younger or older image of their appearance, show or hide their deathmarks, but I think this abbility needs some kind of selfawareness and of course the ghost must want to change its appearance, I think some ghosts just don't want to appear "normal".

December 22, 2011 by Lianvis

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHICH EPISODE THE RED HEADS FROM BEN'S CHILDHOOD IS EXPLAINED??? I DON'T REMEMBER SEEING THIS please someone let me know! (e-mail me if you do PLEASE! ! ! ! sn0wBuNNy229@yahoo.com)

December 16, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

they never explained this because the 13 episode season was cut down to 12, so there you have it

January 6 by A Wikia contributor

Not to spoil it for those who have not yet seen the after birth spoiler pics but it looks like Moira really does care about Vivien as a friend which is nice. Aside from the sex appeal that young Moira offers one of my favorite things about Moira is that deep down she has a sense of kindness or decency which we have seen on occasion like on "Halloween" or "Rubber Man" even though she has done some wrong she may be the only ghost with-in the house except for Violet and Vivien who is not pure evil.

December 16, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
I was just wondering, why does Moira appear as an old woman if she died when she was young? The old version of her is supposed to be the "true" one because when Ben saw her as an old woman, Moira said he was finally seeing things as they really were but this implies that she aged as a ghost (which is impossible because look at the ginger twins, Charles and Nora, basically all the other ghosts from the past) hmm

December 15, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

I always wondered this as well, b/c I never understood why she was the only one to age, even as Nora appears to Vivean she is young as the day she killed herself. . .

December 16, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
I am curious about this as well. Perhaps her saying to Dr Harmon "now you are actually seeing things as they are" is a clue. Maybe as a young woman working as a domestic or something in her own experience made her feel like an old woman and that is why she seems that way?

December 17, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
Yeah, I'm curious about this as well

December 18, 2011 by Darkraven1812
check out the "Moira died twice theory" below. It may answer these questions for you.

December 27, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

Could someone tell if she is no longer going to be in the show...because she is my fav. character!!!!!

December 15, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

Moria is still in the house and is still shown in the show as is evident by tonight's episode.

December 15, 2011 by BadlyBruisedMuse

I've been thinking about Moira's situation and wondered why doesn't she just kill Constance during Halloween it would be so easy that and before it was filled with another corpse could she not move her remains during that time aswell.

December 15, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

yeah I didn't get that either - why didn't Larry move her body and properly bury her? b/c he knew it's what Constance wanted?? is that why they're all trapped?? they're all buried in/on property?

December 16, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
Well it is implied that Moira might be able to move on if her remains are buried properly outside of the Murder House but that might not work for her because most every other ghost like Tate was not buried at the Murder House and is still bound to it what I meant is why could'nt she take care of moving her remains on Halloween before the gazeebo went up.

December 16, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
It may not be in her (Moira's) nature. And besides, if you were Moira would you want to spend all eternity running into Constance.

December 17, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
If it was Halloween she could kill Constance outside of the Murder House.

December 17, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

not only my boyfreind think that she's hot ... I also think !

December 14, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
i changed the pic, is that okay using that pic?

December 14, 2011 by Akin21

Apparently someone changed the pic back form the one you had posted. Not cool. I don't know who did that.

December 14, 2011 by KatD1

Is dhe done off the show....I hope not!!!

December 14, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
Where did she go when ben fired her....Or at night...is she a live in or does she just pretend to leave at night and then sleep under the floorboards or something.

December 11, 2011 by AHS1994

If you have watched the show you know she is dead. Obviously not so obviously, when she leaves she just disappears, as the ghosts can. She can't leave the house as has been made clear time and time again on the show.

December 11, 2011 by Purpilia

I have concocted a theory. I propose that Moira has alrady died once before. I think that she died at a young age (which accounts for young, hot Moira) and then her ghost became a maid at the Murder House. THEN, she slept with Hugo and Constance killed her. This is where she acquired her older persona. Old Moira is a manifestation of how old she would have been had she not died once before this. Some of the details are a bit fuzzy and I know this isnt a perfect theory but it makes sense in my head.

December 11, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

So she was a maid, died, became a maid again, died again, and then became an older maid?

December 11, 2011 by AHS1994
...What? How could you even consider this a relevant thought? -_-...

December 14, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
Nooooope. Old to women, young to men. She becomes old to Ben because he begins to piece together the events.

December 15, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
In one of the earlier episodes, doesn't Constance tell Moira something like, 'I've already killed you twice". . . Another thing that's kind of confusing is if the ghosts can't leave the house, how was Moira able to go visit her dying mother in the nursing home?

December 15, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
NO. Constance says "don't make me kill you AGAIN."

December 15, 2011 by KatD1
when Ben discusses firing Moira with Vivien, Moira says something like "men see what they want to see but women see the truth of the soul" referring to Ben's accusation of her insinuation towards him. Although this could quite possibly be a reference as to why she is seen by the women as old as she would be if she were alive. Her soul is as old as Vivien sees her.

December 16, 2011 by A Wikia contributor
weel clearly her and Tate didnt die normally. the rules are different for them. something is up and this is just a theory that tries to explain why Moira has two personas and no one else does.

December 27, 2011 by A Wikia contributor

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