Tamal Kundu
Amazon Prime’s ‘Carnival Row’ takes place in an expansive world where humans and mythical creatures exist alongside each other, as do science and magic. Because of a war between human empires, fae folk have been forced to leave their homes in the continent of Tirnanoc and come to the Republic of The Burgue as refugees. Aoife Tsigani (Alice Krige) is one such fae refugee. She is the haruspex of the faerie community, respected and feared in equal measure. In the season 1 finale, Aoife is killed, though the repercussion is felt in season 2. Here is everything you need to know about it. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Aoife Tsigani: Death by Darkasher
The phrase “haruspex” relates to divination in the religion of ancient Rome. A haruspex (plural haruspices) practiced haruspicy (haruspicina), the art of reading the entrails of sacrificed animals. The Romans inherited haruspicy from the Etruscan religion, and the practice was also common in ancient Greece, where the reading of livers for omens was called hepatoscopy or hepatomancy.
Magic is present in the world of ‘Carnival Row,’ though it is much more subtle in the Amazon Prime series than in other fantasy shows. Series co-creator Travis Beacham made a conscious decision about this.
“It’s funny, in developing the season, the season roughly follows the events of the feature in a tweaked kind of way, but I try to pay homage to it [folklore and old fantasy stories] here and there,” Beacham told Buzzy Mag. “But there are a lot of subterranean battles and whatever. I will say in the seasons going forward, we’re trying to explore the depth and gravity of the magic in the world. We try to keep magic relatively rare in order to give it that presence when it’s onscreen, then you really feel like something exceptional is happening, rather than waving a wand every third second. So we’re trying to create a slow burn magic story that will play out across multiple seasons that sort of flirts with those same ideas.”
Aoife represents that magic aspect of the show. Not long after arriving in The Burgue, she met a human girl by the name of Piety — the daughter of a prominent noble family originally from Leonice. Unlike the people of The Burgue, the girl and her family didn’t consider Aoife’s abilities blasphemy against their religion. As a result, Aoife found a patron, and Piety grew up learning about fae magic, practicing it in secret, and becoming even more powerful than her mentor.
In season 1, Piety convinces Aoife to lie for her to Absalom Breakspear (Jared Harris), sacrifice his pet deer, and tell him that his son has been abducted by his rivals when Piety is the one behind the abduction. As Rycroft “Philo” Philostrate (Orlando Bloom) discovers that a golem-like creature called the Darkasher is behind the recent murders, he comes to Aoife seeking proof. She provides him with just that by creating a Darkasher that Philo can control.
Aoife has a vision of her own death and tells Piety about it. Seeming worried about her, Piety takes her to her own home, though Aoife eventually returns to Carnival Row. She is eventually killed by the Darkasher in the season 1 finale. But as she dies, she finds out who has been controlling the Darkasher all this time, and it’s none other than her old protege, Piety.
Although Aoife dies, she manages to send a message to Philo, who arrives at Aoife’s home with Tourmaline Larou (Karla Crome), from the land beyond death, revealing the truth to him. In season 2, Tourmaline starts to have visions of Aoife and becomes terrified. She speaks to Mima Sawsaan, a religious figure in her community, who tells her that she has inherited Aoife’s gifts. It seems like despite her death, Aoifde will play an important role in the narrative of the second and final season.
Read More: Is Piety Breakspear Dead? Did Indira Varma Leave Carnival Row?
