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Winter Anderson is a nanny with a peculiar fascination for the morbid. She is a character in Cult portrayed by Billie Lourd. She is the sister of cult leader Kai Anderson, who manipulated her to join the cult. She was hired by Ally and Ivy Mayfair-Richards to look after their son, Oz.

Background[]

Winter is the youngest of three children. She lives with her brother Kai in their family home. Her father was a lawyer who was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident. This caused him to go from being a man who was firm but fair with his wife and children to be abusive. In 2014, her mother, devastated by the abuse and accusations that she was having an affair, killed her husband and then herself. Kai was the only one of the siblings home at the time. Kai informs their third sibling, Dr. Rudy Vincent, of their parents' passing and hides them in their bedroom, covering their bodies with lye to mask the smell. Winter's clueless about her parents' deaths until she returns home for Thanksgiving and Kai shows her the bodies. Upset and sickened, she threatens to turn them both in. Kai uses Rudy Vincent's logic about what will happen to the family home and finances, which successfully convinces her not to turn them in. It is stated that Winter went through a period when she self-harmed, most likely due to her parents' death, and her friends were concerned that Clinton losing the election would cause her to relapse. She left Vassar College to work on Clinton's campaign. After the election, she was hired as a nanny by Ally and Ivy.

Her most embarrassing moment was in 5th grade when a classmate found a love letter she wrote to Paula Abdul and told everyone. Children fill her heart with dread and her brother Kai is her greatest fear.

Personality and Appearance[]

Winter is a young woman worried about the outcome of Donald Trump's election to the US Presidency. She is morbidly fascinated by violence and gore and is terrified by her brother Kai, the person that she fears most in the world. Winters suffers from pedophobia, as "her heart is filled with dread at the sight of children." Winter suffered from Self-injury Disorder but she found a way to not yield to such harmful impulses anymore. She is described by her brother Vincent as being entitled.

Winter is a girl in her 20s, with long silver hair, a porcelain doll face, and a modern gothic attire, consisting of black dresses with white collars, and Victorian-ish accessories.

Story[]

Winter reacted negatively to Clinton's defeat in the 2016 presidential election, blaming the supportive voters for failing to do more while on the telephone with a friend. She then had a bickering with her brother, Kai, a seemingly Trump supporter who was happy for the rampant panic caused by the election outcome.

In the following days, Winter came to Mayfair-Richards home to respond to Ally and Ivy's job advert for a nanny. Winter presented herself as the perfect candidate, having previously studied her victims. Distorting her past, Winters gave the idea of an open-minded activist involved in social work. Once hired, Winter began to become familiar with Oz, fascinated by Oz's drawing of Twisty murdering a guy. After some homophobic remarks, Winter introduced Oz to the dark web, showing the child the video of a murder, describing it as a vaccine to desensitize Oz to violence.

Later that same night, Winter made sure Oz witnessed the murder of Thom and Marylin Chang, his family's friends and neighbors at the hands of a gang of clown-masked assailants. When Ally and Ivy asked for explanations in the street full of police officers investigating the murder, Winter said they were all fantasies triggered by the "Twisty: The Clown Chronicles" comic book that Oz was not allowed to read.[1]

Winter is worried that she has lost Oz's confidence and, to regain it, gives the boy a Twisty action figure and introduces him to the "pinky ritual," with the promise of relieving him of fear by keeping them. Afterwards, Winter leaves Oz with the new neighbors who bought the Chang's house, Meadow and Harrison Wilton, causing concern for Oz's moms.

After several days, Winter takes advantage of Ivy's absence from home to make Ally become more open and confident towards her. To do this, Winter seduced her employer with red wine and a hot bubble bath. Once she realized that Ally was becoming dependent on her, Winter left the woman alone at home during a blackout with the excuse of having to go home to check her belongings.[2] The next day, she then returned to the Mayfair-Richards residence re-assigned as Oz's nanny by Ivy despite Ally's annoyance for leaving behind the house earlier. Winter says she let in a guy and she goes to check on Oz. Winter gives Oz the guinea pig from Meadow much to Ally's disgust and Winter doesn't agree with her.

In a flashback we see how Ivy and Winter first met. Ivy was sexually assaulted at a rally and Winter tries to catch the criminal. They go out to eat and knock out the criminal named Gary. They tie him to a pole and leave. Winter later tells Kai where Gary is.

Winter helps Kai with his polling and Ivy and Winter start dating. They go to kill Bob and Ivy throws up and Winter comforts her. They also later kill R.J.

Ivy is afraid of being arrested but Winter tells her they won't be and they kill Sally. Later at the restaurant, Ivy and Winter discuss what will happen to Ally and they meet Bebe. Winter goes to see Kai and she agrees he is a jerk and the woman kill Harrison.

Winter prepares lunch for the men and she tells the women the story of Kai and Pastor Charles. Winter is later told to have sex with Samuels and she does agree to. They begin but Winter won't and she is punished. Winter is brought lunch by Samuels and after taunting him, he tries to rape her but she kills him and blames Beverly.

Winter brings Oz to his mom's and the women are taken back to Kai. Kai makes them drink the kool aid and they do but it was a prank. Winter picks Oz up from school and his mom's go to get him and Ally punches her and they find Oz.

In a flashback, Winter and her friends watch a political rally and Kai hits one of her friends pissing Winter off. Winter accidentally activates the ice cream truck noise and Kai scolds her and Ally will not talk to her. Winter later participates in the murder of Gary. Ally blames Winter for the bug noise and Kai kills her.

Notes[]

  • This character was introduced by Ryan Murphy on his Instagram account with a pun to Game of Thrones, namely "Winter is Coming".[3]
  • This character marks the first character Billie Lourd has portrayed in American Horror Story.
  • She suffers from pedophobia, the fear of children.
  • She is a Hillary Clinton supporter.
  • She has access to the deep web. She has been desensitized to it and sees it as an important thing to do.
  • Her sense of style strongly resembles the aesthetic of the Salem witches featured in Coven. This is likely an intentional nod to the season following immediately after CultApocalypse, in which the witches make their debut second return to the series.
  • She is lesbian. She shows attraction to both Ally and Ivy, acting on it towards Ivy primarily and doesn’t pursue relationships with any males on the show, growing discomforted being with a man. Her brother uses a lesbian targeted slur against her when she shares a story of her having a childhood crush on a woman and being humiliated for it. [1]

Quotes[]

  • Kai
    What's the thing that scares you the most?
    Winter
    Honestly, Kai? You.
  • Winter (to Ally and Ivy)
    I'm not calling your son a liar, he's an imaginative kid but none of that happened.
  • Winter (to Ally)
    It's not always about you.
  • Winter (to Kai)
    Kill the motherfucker.


Gallery[]

References[]

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