Papa Legba

Papa Legba is the gatekeeper of the spirit world as well as the god of travel, opportunity, and luck. He is a character in Coven portrayed by Lance Reddick. He is also associated with life and death. Before and after a voodoo ceremony Papa Legba has to be summoned to guide the spirits back to the spirit world.

Background

At some point in time, Marie Laveau sold her soul to this spirit for immortality, he asks her every year a sacrifice, each year worse than the other. In order to make a deal with Papa Legba, the Sellers must have a soul and kill someone with an innocent soul. Papa Legba is a Loa meaning that he is a spirit of Haitian Voodoo.

Personality and appearance

Papa Legba is a tall, shadowy Loa with coal-red eyes, grey-white face paint in the shape of a skull and black dreadlocks. He wears a long black overcoat and a hat with small skulls around it, decorated with various bird feathers. Papa Legba posses a claw-like attachment to his finger from which he snorts cocaine. He is mainly seen walking with a cane.

Being the gatekeeper of the spirit world, Papa Legba is always interested in acquiring souls no matter who they are from. He was willing to make a deal with Fiona Goode for her soul despite her being vain, cruel, and murderous but revoked the deal when he found that she lacked a soul. Yet once he succesfully makes a deal for someone's soul Papa Legba delights in tormenting his victims into sacrificing innocent souls for him.

Despite his often antagonistic and somewhat sadistic persona, Papa Legba is an honest individual. He explained clearly and honestly his terms of granting immortality to Fiona when she asked for details. Furthermore he meticulously explained the dynamics of Marie and Delphine's immortality to Queenie while also praising her for her sharp mind and powerful magic in being able to enter and exit the spirit world successfully.

What Papa Legba does with the innocent souls he acquires from his accomplices (namely Marie Laveau) is unknown. Theoretically because these souls are in fact innocent and therefore haven't done anything to warrant damnation to their own personal hell then it can be assumed that Papa Legba sends these innocent souls to a lighter afterlife that doesn't warrant eternal torment.

To summon Papa Legba the individual must have true desire and intent to see him and must offer something of value to pique his interest. Being the spirit of Life and Death Legba is able to grant immortality to those who request it, but it comes at a price, your soul. Along with your soul Papa Legba will demand the sacrifice of an innocent soul one day, of his choosing, every year.

To make matters worse, Papa Legba makes his prices worse as time passes, as an attempt to psychologically drive the person into madness for their desires.

Story

Papa Legba first appears and awakens a sleeping Marie and demands that she pay his price and reminds her that once a year she must provide a soul for him. He appears again in a flashback as Marie explains to Fiona how she became immortal and how long ago she gave birth to a baby, but Papa Legba wanted her to give up the infant to him, she tried to take back the deal and become mortal again but could not was forced to give him her child. Fiona called Papa and tried to arrange a deal with him for immortality and she agreed to his terms of service, but when she tried to finalize the deal, he says the deal is off because she has 'nothing to sell' saying she has no soul and then disappears. Then after Fiona and Marie drown Nan in the tub he appears and tells them that he won't accept any substitutions and that they must provide an innocent soul, after they try to convice him, he comments that the two of them together are 'big trouble' and then escorts Nan's soul to the afterlife though she comments it is better than being in the coven. ^[1]

Queenie later takes up audience with Papa Legba, using voodoo magic to enter the spirit world where she finds herself in Chubby's, where she used to work. Papa Legba appears to her and explains that this is how Queenie perceives Hell, the place where she was treated badly and considered herself worthless. Queenie then inquires over where Marie Laveau is. Papa acknowledges this, then warns Queenie to leave or be stuck in the afterlife forever. After returning to her bedroom, Papa Legba reveals that Marie has been dismembered and scattered by Delphine LaLaurie, and tells Queenie that while Marie lives, so also will Delphine. Queenie notions that because Marie is disembodied, she can no longer pay her service to Papa Legba.^[2]

When Delphine finds herself incarcerated in the spirit world, tortured by Marie Laveau, and the latter refuses to butcher Delphine's daughter, Papa Legba appears. He says to Delphine 'welcome to Hell', prompting Marie to question why she is dead. Papa Legba tells her that she could not hold up her end of the bargain, and that he owns her soul. He orders her to 'get back to work'. ^[2]

After Fiona dies, Papa Legba appears in her hell, laughing maliciously at her torment. ^[3]

Quotes

To Fiona Goode: "The deal is off. You have nothing to sell. You have no soul."
To Queenie: "You are one crafty witch."
To Delphine in her Hell: "Congratulations, Madame Delphine LaLaurie; you have been granted your sweet release from the world of the mortal. And as punishment for your crimes of murder, torture, passion, fashion, and being an all-around, no-good miserable bitch, you will spend all of eternity here... in my home."
To Marie and Fiona after killing Nan: "You two, together, big trouble."
To Fiona Goode: "I don't give a wet donkey's shit about your title. I shine to only one thing; your soul."
To Queenie in her Hell: "No, darling. Its not the hell... it's your hell. This was the worst time of your life, waiting on people who treated you like the piece of trash you thought you were. No power, no respect, and no future that you could see. Just grease in your hair and the smell of lout in your nose."
To Queenie: "Took some skills to come down here before you die. Most people be afraid they couldn't get back. It's almost sun up; unless you want to stay here forever, you better hurry and get back. Time... move differently in Hell."

Trivia

Despite being named after the Voodoo Loa Papa Legba, this character has more in common with Baron Samedi however Samedi has been used regularly as a character in fiction so the producers of the show likely wanted to use a different name.