The Dead Queen

### Aliases

The Other Queen, The Good Mother, The Younger One, The Witchy Woman in the Woods, The Ghost Mother, The Vengeful Bride

## Background

Local witches and haints form a pact to return the Dead Queen to her grave and keep her there, requiring a ritual to be performed at her gravesite every seven years. This works for two seven-year cycles, but when Old Green Eyes, Skin't Tom, Granny Sargent, and an unnamed second witch arrive at her grave in 1926, the grave is empty.

The Dead Queen destroys the settlement of Craw and kills all of the Gibsons except Caleb, whom she releases. Caleb loses memory of his earlier life and name. He appears to be protected by the Dead Queen, as seen when an enormous wolf-like creature appears on Death Island and attacks The Thing That Was Not.... Caleb seemingly dies, but it is revealed that his bond to the Dead Queen has rendered him unable to die.

Good Mother Ministries is a community outreach organization and cult devoted to the Dead Queen. Their scriptures and hymns are derived from the Christian Bible, but altered to include passages about the Good Mother and the Dark Earth. Most members of Good Mother Ministries have been abused by men in some way, and they pray for the Good Mother's vengeance. The cult hails the Dead Queen's return as a sort of divine reckoning. The Dead Queen was summoned by Good Mother Ministries to kill Georgie Triplett's step father, which she did. She later killed and beheaded Frank Tilley in front of Cora Lee Tilley after Cora Lee prayed for The Good Mother to come save her from her abusive marriage.

The Dead Queen's powers reflect a corruption of the Green. It is unclear whether she is affiliated with The Inner Dark, or with anyone at all.

One legend of her origin, which has been proven to be untrue, says that she was a young woman who became pregnant at the age of 12, but she and the infant both died in the birthing process. She and her baby were buried near the site of what eventually becomes Craw, TN, but in her grave she continued to grow into a corrupted and corpselike version of a young adult. They says that she emerged from her grave around her 20th birthday with her emaciated, undead baby, whereupon she began exacting vengeance on men who had harmed women and children, as well as anyone who happened to be in her way.

It is later revealed that The Dead Queen is two separate entities: a mother and a daughter. The Mother, Daughter Dooley, took pity on a small baby who was born to be a vessel of The Inner Dark. When she triumphed in saving the baby, she found it was still a source for The Inner Dark, as when she breastfed, it latched onto her and the two began a long fight for power. It was determined they needed to be bound. Three witches, three others, and one greater still must meet every seven years to bind her to the earth. Daughter Dooley must lie in the grave with the baby for a year, but may roam freely for the other six. When the binding goes wrong, the baby escaped and Daughter Dooley was brought along with her.

During the Binding Ritual, Marcie Walker, Delia Hubbard, Marigold Underwood, Skin't Tom, Miss Lavinia, Old Sister and Bartholomew successfully bound The Dead Queen for another seven years.

## Appearances

* Episode 12: The Other Queen
* Episode 20: Am I Born to Die?
* Episode 21: A Worthy Grave
* Episode 30: The Dead Queen