Edward Mordrake

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles/New York
Performance Date: April 28, 2015
Primary Language: English

“The story is that this man had a fully functioning human being. He had a functioning brain and his face and body looked normal. However, he had a face on the back of his head. The Face on the back of his head would whisper evil thoughts into his mind.”

 

Analysis:

The informant found this story through a link he clicked on twitter.

According to the informant, Edward Mordrake is a non fictitious figure. Apparently, Mordrake was a man living with two faces, one evil, one good. However, the informant not believe that part to be entirely true; He believes that the man existed but does not think he actually had two faces. As the informant was telling me this story, I immediately saw a parallel to the story of Edward Mordrake and Professor Quirell’s character in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  Quirinus Quirrell’s character eventually reveals that he has an evil face on the back of head, like Edward Mordrake. Except in Harry Potter, it’s the the nefarious dark lord Voldemort whereas in Mordrake’s case, according to the informant’s story, is just an evil face. From the informant’s story it seems that the Evil Face and Mordrake share the same body and brain, like Quirrell/Voldemort in Harry Potter; making it so that Mordrake and Quirrel are brought to do evil deeds by their other faces.

The idea of the doppelgänger has been a central motif in the horror genre. The story of Edward Mordrake plays upon the Jekyll and Hyde motif. It seems like a cautionary tale to people to allow them to embrace their evil thoughts or “shadows” as Carl Jung puts it, or else repressed negative or attitudes will manifest itself and take over the psyche.

 

The informant is a fan of American Horror Story and said that two of the episodes this season were titled “Edward Mordrake.” In fact, this is what prompted him to find the story online.

 

Citation:

Rowling, J. K., and Mary GrandPré. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: A.A. Levine, 1998. Print.

 

IMDB pages for AHS Edward Mordrake Episodes:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3687728/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3687724/