Sumith Prasad
AMC’s supernatural series ‘Mayfair Witches’ revolves around the Mayfairs, a New Orleans-based family infamous for their connection with witches, demons, and other supernatural entities. Deirdre Mayfair lived all her life thinking she is the last Mayfair witch since she doesn’t know about her daughter Rowan Mayfair‘s survival. Lasher eventually informs Deirdre that her daughter is very much alive, which makes her leave her home to meet Rowan. Although Deirdre eventually finds her daughter, the cost of the same turns out to be her own life. Since her death is confirmed in the third episode of the series, the viewers must be puzzled about the identity of her killer. Well, here are our thoughts concerning the same! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Deirdre’s Mysterious Death: A Reunion Cut Short
Rowan Mayfair learns about her family after going through Ciprien Grieve’s phone. She realizes that she is originally from New Orleans, which leads her to Louisiana. Meanwhile, Lasher informs Dierdre that her daughter is alive. In the second episode of the series, she musters up enough courage to free herself from her aunt Carlotta’s custody and sets out to find Rowan with the help of Lasher. The supernatural entity becomes Deirdre’e eyes and confirms to her that Rowan is in New Orleans, which makes her rush to the hotel where her daughter is staying. Deirdre nearly reunites with her daughter but before the same could happen, her throat gets slit and she dies.
Deirdre’s killer can be none other than Lasher, her beloved. In the third episode of the series, Ciprien examines Deirdre’s dead body and tries to find his killer for Rowan. He gets into the elevator Deirdre was killed and touches the walls of the same to explore the “past” of the space, only to find it “cleaned.” Ciprien believes that whoever the killer is, the person is potent enough to erase the past from the elevator walls using supernatural powers. Since Lasher is the most powerful supernatural entity associated with Deirdre, he can be the killer. But does he have any motive to kill his lover? Yes, he has.
If Lasher is indeed Deirdre’s killer, he must have put an end to his lover’s life to unite with Rowan. He may have wanted to eliminate the interference of Deirdre when he tries to connect with the latter’s daughter. Lasher usually “conquers” the Mayfair witches after the death of the previous one, which was also the case with Deirdre, who connects with Lasher after her mother’s mysterious death. In Anne Rice’s ‘Lives of the Mayfair Witches,’ the series of novels which serves as the source texts of the show, Lasher tries to form a bond with Rowan, the thirteenth Mayfair witch, expecting her to free him from his current existence for him to become a human being again.
After Deirdre’s death, Lasher tries to connect with Rowan, taking advantage of the latter’s vulnerability and grief. He even changes his appearance to Deirdre to sing praises of him, believing that it will lead Rowan to him. By likely killing Deirdre, Lasher must have anticipated Rowan to immerse herself in her sadness and emotional vulnerability for her to seek comfort in the supernatural entity’s presence and charms. If that’s the case, Lasher fails since Rowan seeks security and comfort in Ciprien and detests the “magic” Lasher performs to captivate her.
Another significant detail that makes Lasher the only major suspect is that none of Deirdre’s adversaries has any supernatural powers or abilities to clean the elevator as Ciprien notices. If not Lasher, Carlotta can be the killer. When Rowan was born, it was Carlotta who separated her from Deirdre so that the baby can live a life without getting attached to Lasher. When Deirdre sets out to meet Rowan, Carlotta must have feared that the reunion of the mother and daughter is facilitated by Lasher for the entity to captivate Rowan. Killing Deirdre can be the way she chooses to stop her niece from leading Lasher to the next generation Mayfair woman like Deirdre’s mother did with her.
However, Carlotta seemingly isn’t a witch to eliminate the past of the elevator to stop Ciprien from finding her. If she really is the killer, she may have associated with a supernaturally gifted individual other than Lasher to kill Deirdre. According to Rice’s novels, Carlotta displayed how ruthless she can be by killing Deirdre’s mother Antha Marie Mayfair. Thus, Carlotta’s grief can be a pretense to deviate attention to Lasher if she really killed her niece.
Read More: Who is Rowan Fielding’s Father in Mayfair Witches, Explained
