Every season of the long-running series American Horror Story has unique characters, men and women who struggle against sometimes inhuman odds to survive the many horrible things thrown at them. What’s more, each season has many people that show just how brave they are.
Asylum, arguably the best of the series’ seasons so far, had characters, some of whom were villainous, some of whom were heroes, and some of whom were both, who showed just how much courage they possessed and how far they were willing to go to protect either themselves or their loved ones.
Charlotte Brown
Charlotte Brown was one of the stranger characters to appear in the series, especially since she believed that she was Anne Frank and that she had survived the Holocaust.
While this made for one of the season’s least effective plot twists, there’s no denying that she was also one of its bravest characters, since she was willing to challenge Dr. Arden, one of the most chilling and frightening characters the show has ever created.
Mother Superior Claudia
One of the through-lines of this season of the series was how willing those in power were to turn a blind eye to the horrors going on at Briarcliff.
While this was somewhat true of Mother Superior Claudia, as the season wore on she showed that she was willing to take a stand, both helping Lana to escape the horrors of the place as well as sowing the seeds of its eventual downfall. Without her intervention, it’s very likely that the asylum would continue to operate as it always had.
Monsignor Timothy Howard
Monsignor Timothy Howard is one of the season’s most villainous and duplicitous characters, willing to do anything and everything to both cover up the horrors of the asylum and to ensure that he doesn’t take the blame.
Though he is quite clearly a terrible person, and more of a monster than anyone else except for possibly Dr. Arden, it also has to be said that it takes a certain amount of daring to do the things that he does, which include murdering a possible informant in the middle of a hospital.
Pepper
Pepper is one of the series' best characters, largely because she seems to be innocent (she is also one of the characters to appear in multiple seasons). Like the other inmates, she suffers quite a lot at the hands of those in charge, but she manages to persevere nevertheless.
She repeatedly shows that she has the kind of bravery that allows a person to endure and even to forgive, as she demonstrates when she is returned by the alien and becomes friends with Sister Jude.
Sister Mary Eunice
Lily Rabe’s Sister Eunice is one of this season’s most tragic characters, for while she is initially very devout, she becomes something else altogether when she is possessed by a demon.
Much of her arc revolves around the horrible things that she does while possessed, but she ultimately exhibits a significant amount of fortitude when she manages to wrestle control away from the demon long enough for her to implore that the Monsignor kill her (which he does, setting her free).
Grace Bertrand
This season of American Horror Story is full of tragic romances, and Grace is one half of one of those (in that she has a doomed relationship with Kit). However, despite everything, she repeatedly shows that she has the determination to endure things that would have probably driven someone less brave completely over the edge.
For a while, she even manages to forge a life with Kit once they are both freed from Briarcliff but, as is so often the case with this series, her story ends tragically when she’s killed by an axe.
Shelley
Like most of the other inmates of Briarcliff, Shelley was imprisoned there under false pretenses, after her husband accused her of nymphomania. However, she’s not the type of person to let that break her spirit, and she repeatedly shows that she has a tremendous amount of grit, even going so far as to challenge and belittle Dr. Arden himself.
Considering just how cruel and ruthless he has shown himself to be, that took an extraordinary amount of courage on her part, even if it did result in her mutilation at his hands.
Sister Jude
Sister Jude is one of Jessica Lange’s best roles in the series, and it’s not hard to see why. She is both incredibly strong and yet strangely vulnerable, and she is driven by a righteous sense of her own rightness.
While she begins the series as a villain, as it goes on she gradually shows that she is both somewhat heroic and also has a lot of fortitude to call on. Indeed, it’s precisely because she’s willing to admit that she was wrong that she becomes an inmate herself, though she finally finds freedom and forgiveness.
Kit Walker
Kit Walker is one of Evan Peters’ best roles on the show, and he has just the right mix of heroism and vulnerability to make a character that audiences can cheer for.
He is, as is the case with many of the other inmates, imprisoned on false pretenses, but his innate bravery and courage allow him to endure through to the very end of the series. And, just as importantly, he also has the valor to offer Sister Jude forgiveness, taking her in and giving her a place to stay as she nears the end of her life.
Lana Winters
Sarah Paulson, the beloved star of this series, is in top shape as Lana Winters, the journalist that Sister Jude commits unwillingly to Briarcliff. She suffers a great deal during the course of the season, but she never loses sight of her essential self, and she proves her bravery many times.
In fact, she’s such a courageous character that, once she emerges from Briarcliff, she manages to create a formidable career for herself as one of the nation's top journalists.