Violet Harmon is a teenage girl transported to a new home with her dysfunctional family. She is a character in American Horror Story portrayed by Taissa Farmiga.
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What is the backstory of Violet Harmon in American Horror Story?
How does Violet's relationship with Tate develop in American Horror Story?
What are the circumstances surrounding Violet's death in American Horror Story?
How does Violet Harmon's character evolve throughout the series?
What is the significance of Violet's move to Los Angeles in American Horror Story?
Background[]
Violet is the troubled, teenaged daughter of Ben and Vivien Harmon. She was born on December 19th, 1993 in Boston, Massachusetts. After her mother had a stillbirth, her father is caught having an affair with his psychology student. In an attempt to keep the family together, Violet is forced to move to Los Angeles in order for her parents to have a fresh start. At first, she dislikes the house that her father Ben wants them to live in, but upon learning about the suspected murder-suicide committed there, she has a change of heart.
Personality[]
Violet is a pretty, clever and highly sardonic teenager. She is described by her mother as "fearless". She possesses a strong intellect and a sharp, witty demeanor. She tends to be very honest and blunt and keeps to herself. Violet is suffering from major clinical depression and engages in several instances of self-mutilation such as cutting herself and smoking cigarettes. Violet is attracted to the darker elements of the house and of life.
Normally fearless[2], when encountering all of the ghosts in the house, she is overwhelmed with emotion and breaks down and tries overdosing on sleeping pills given to her by Leah.[3]
Violet is a bit of a loner, and while she often seems to enjoy her individual lifestyle, she becomes increasingly isolated. She seems to have little to no respect for her father due to his affair. She has displayed some resentment toward her mother at times, but remains close with her. Her personality type is often classified as an INTP.
Appearence[]
Violet is quite thin with a petite build. Her wardrobe usually consists of layered items, including long floral dresses, cardigans, long-sleeved shirts, and hats, with her style being very grunge-esque. She has long dirty blonde hair that she wears down and parted in the middle. She usually has a natural face, with very minimal makeup.
Story[]
Murder House[]
Violet reluctantly moves from Boston to Los Angeles after her father, Ben Harmon, cheats on her mother Vivien Harmon. Her family bought the house with her approval even after learning there was a murder-suicide by the previous owners. She starts school and clashes with a popular girl named Leah. After a therapy session with her father, Tate Langdon stopped by the bathroom and saw Violet cutting herself. They instantly bonded over their issues with their families, their music taste, and how they feel like outsiders to the rest of the world. She confides in Tate about her father's affair, and how her mother had a stillbirth sometime before that. She later finds out about the murders Tate committed and is confused with her mixed emotions for him. She learned about his emotional instability from his mother and is forced to keep the secret of his sister's death from him. Violet knows that Tate is a ghost. She goes to Westfield High, Tate's old school, where she later learns he committed a mass shooting in the mid-90's.
Tate explained to Violet that she has "evolved. " If she ever wanted a ghost to leave her alone, she could simply tell them to "go away." In reality, Violet had unknowingly died when she overdosed on sleeping pills following the revelation that Tate was a ghost and a mass murderer. Tate had hidden Violet's body in a crawl space beneath the house, where it was discovered by an exterminator, who Tate had subsequently killed to prevent Violet or her family from learning that she wasn't all there.[4]
Meanwhile, Tate overheard Violet's father planning to send her away, and suggested that Violet take a multitude of pills so she could 'die' and be with Tate forever. (She did not know she was already dead at this point.) She starts to agree, but then runs away screaming for her parents and attempting to leave the house. However, each time she exits a door, she comes right back into the house through a different door. Violet is very confused, and Tate tells her that he needs to show her something, and leads her into the crawl space beneath her house where her body was being hidden. When she comes to the realization that she is dead, she is overcome with sadness, and Tate says that she died crying, but that she was loved and safe.
Violet found out that Tate killed both Chad and Patrick and raped her mother, and she immediately confronted him. She told him that despite her love for him she couldn't be with him anymore. She claimed that she used to believe he was like her, and attracted to the darkness, but in actuality, he was the darkness itself. He told her that she was all he wanted and all that he had, but she continually told him to go away. After their tearful breakup, she is comforted by her mother's ghost.[5]
After Violet's father dies, Violet, along with both of her parents and her baby brother, continue as ghosts, "living" happily in the Murder House and preventing any further deaths from occurring inside the house. Violet, along with her parents, Jeffery, and Moira, are happily celebrating Christmas when Violet sees Tate watching her, and her smile falters. Tate then goes on to tell Hayden, who was also banished by the Harmons, that he will wait forever for Violet to forgive him if he has to.
Apocalypse[]
Violet has begun ignoring Tate and doesn't speak a word to him as they continue to reside in the house. This upsets Tate as he tries his best to get Violet to speak to him and he seeks Ben's help in one of their endless therapy sessions. Ben says he can't do anything to help, as Violet has enough reasons to hate Tate since he set fire to his mother's boyfriend, shot over a dozen students in high school, helped kill Violet's parents and raped her mother.
Later on, Madison sees Violet crying as she and Behold are getting ready to leave Murder House. Madison stays behind and talks to Violet. Violet is forlorn about Tate. Madison offers her some advice and uses her magic to reveal to Violet that Tate saved Vivien from Michael's flames. Violet then calls Tate's name and Tate rushes down the stairs. Tate apologizes and Violet forgives him because he saved Vivien. They embrace.
The reconciliation of Violet and Tate is later undone by Mallory, who murders Violet's half-brother, Michael, and prevents Madison from ever going to the Murder House in the first place. Despite Mallory going back in time and reversing these events, it is unclear whether Ghosts and Spirits are affected by this, as Billie Dean states in Murder House that ghosts are not affected by time like the living are. It is also said in Apocalypse that demons and spirits in Hell are aware of the reversed time line, but nothing has been confirmed if the same rules apply to ghosts.
2021-?[]
After the destruction of the murder house, it is assumed that her spirit along with that of her family found peace.
Quotes[]
- Violet Harmon: "So we're the Addams family now?"
- To Tate Langdon: "Wanna listen to Morrissey? He's cool, and he's pissy, and he hates everyone and everything."
[6] - To Tate Langdon: "I hate it here. I hate everyone. All their bourgeois designer bullshit, the east coast was much cooler. At least we had weather"
- To Tate Langdon: "And the worst part is that six months earlier my mom had, like, this brutal miscarriage. The baby was seven months old, we had to have this macabre funeral... Have you ever seen a baby coffin?"
- To her parents: "Fine, I'm depressed. I'm not gonna off myself. So you can go back to your policy of benign neglect."
- To her parents: "I'm pretty stuffed on bullshit."
- To Ben Harmon: "Like who I'm gonna live with after you get divorced? Is there a third option, cause both of you kind of make me wanna kill myself."
- To Ben Harmon: "You're a cheater! Young girls, old ladies with feather dusters?! You're so weird and pathetic I'm surprised you haven't gone after me."
- To Leah: "You don't know me. Why are you doing this?"
- To her parents: "Both of you kinda make me want to kill myself."
- To Tate Langdon: "I used to think you were like me. You were attracted to darkness, but Tate you are the darkness."
Notes[]
- She is the first character to be portrayed by Taissa Farmiga. For a complete list of her characters, see Cast.
- Violet is absent in only one episode throughout the season ("Spooky Little Girl").
- According to casting director Eric Dawson, Violet was originally written as a goth.
- On the "Family Portrait" website, it appears that she's wearing a wedding dress.
- Violet is the only Harmon whose death is unaccounted for by the authorities and is presumed by some to still be alive. This is due to the fact that Tate Langdon deliberately hid her corpse in the basement of the house where no one else would likely find it.
- She has an IQ higher than 150 and she was an A student most of her life; she previously mentioned going to Harvard.
- Violet is extremely good at chess.
- On her iPod she listens to Grunge and Punk Rock.
Gallery[]
- See also: Violet Harmon/Media
References[]
- ↑ Is mentioned by Ben Harmon inside the Video Game Escape From Murder House.
- ↑ Episode: Home Invasion
- ↑ Episode: Piggy Piggy
- ↑ Episode: Smoldering Children
- ↑ Episode: Birth
- ↑ In the original script for the Pilot episode she played.
| Murder House | |||||||||||
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| Asylum |
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| Coven | |||||||||||
| Freak Show | |||||||||||
| Hotel | |||||||||||
| Roanoke |
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| Cult | |||||||||||
| Apocalypse | |||||||||||
| 1984 | |||||||||||
| Double Feature |
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| NYC | |||||||||||
| Delicate | |||||||||||