Diksha Sundriyal
The thirteenth season of FX’s ‘American Horror Story‘ centers on the witches of New Orleans preparing to fight Satan, who is on the brink of taking over the world. In the midst of it, Ben, a young man with the fear of the number 13, discovers he is connected to Satan as well as to his plans concerning the world once it is won. The witches come close to putting a stop to the whole thing, but meet a crushing defeat in the penultimate episode. In the finale, however, tides turn in their favor, when an unlikely path appears to get what they want. And Ben turns out to be the key to it. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Ben’s Happy Ending Takes a U-Turn
Ben is introduced in the story after having gone through a particularly tragic time. He has recently survived a plane crash that killed his girlfriend, along with the majority of the other passengers. He didn’t really know his parents; his childhood is a blur, and he doesn’t seem to have any happy memories. And then, he gets a job with the mysterious Mr. Nas, and things seem to spiral further from there. Eventually, he comes face to face with Satan and realizes that he has been set up to be the Devil’s successor. Once he accepts his destiny, he gets unprecedented powers, and that’s when things start to take a turn. Even though Ben joins the witches to kill Satan, he can’t help but accept that things have gotten better for him.
He meets and falls in love with Madison. Even though he and the witches are stopped from killing Mr. Nas, Satan calls off his bet with God, which technically means they have saved the world. And then, suddenly, Madison gets pregnant and has his child within a few minutes. This is shocking and sudden, but entirely welcome. Even the fact that their child is the granddaughter of Satan does nothing to keep the parents or the other witches of the Coven from doting on her. Having a family, with a partner and a child, gives Ben the happy life he’d been searching for all this time. It gives him the purpose that had evaded him, and being a father is surely better than being Satan’s proxy, ruling over the Earth and causing pain and chaos.
However, tragedy continues to follow him even now. During a trip to the store to buy diapers, Ben is teleported to the Apollyon, which is now taken over by the witches. Cordelia and Mallory tell him that they have found a spell to defeat Satan once and for all. However, making it work requires the ultimate sacrifice, and Ben is the only one who can make it. It turns out that he isn’t simply the son of Satan, but is the thirteenth one in history. This makes him the most powerful of Satan’s spawn, and the witches can use his powers to turn up the heat on their spell. Ben is devastated by this because he’d finally started to feel happy and settled in his life.
Ben Sacrifices Himself to Defeat Satan
When Ben laments that he is a father now, Cordelia tells him that the greater the sacrifice, the stronger the spell. When he wonders how Madison, who thought she had finally found the love of her life, would take it, Cordelia assures him that she will understand. The witches also point out the urgency of the situation. They have to go through with it before Satan figures out their plan. Sure enough, the Devil himself shows up at the Apollyon, wondering what they are up to. Even as the witches tell him what they are going to do to him, he doesn’t believe they are powerful enough to pull that off. But then Ben aims the dagger right at his chest, which is when Satan gets worried.
This proves that the spell will work, and it empowers Ben to let go of his fear and realize that this had been his destiny all along. Becoming a father has made him realize that this is the best way he can make the world a better place for his daughter. So, he tells his father off and sacrifices himself for the greater good by renouncing evil. He turns to dust, and it looks like he is gone for good. However, in the end, a shadow rises from the ashes and goes into the flames. Does this mean Ben is still alive? It is likely that his status as the son of Satan and the powers that come with it gave him a loophole to sneak out of death and back to life. However, it wouldn’t be a sacrifice if it were so easy to come back.
So, there is a good chance that he is gone for good. That still leaves the question of the mysterious shadow, and the most likely answer to that is Satan. Ben was Satan’s son, and likely had some of his father’s essence, which escapes once Ben turns to dust. So, the shadow is the remnant of Satan, still hanging around after he is trapped in a picture by the witches. This would also prove the point that evil is always around and cannot entirely be defeated. It paves the way for Satan to come back, and who’s to say he can’t bring back his son either. For now, however, Ben is definitely in the dust.
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