| Olivia Godfrey | |
|---|---|
| |
| Home |
Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, United States (currently) |
| Occupation |
CEO of Godfrey Industries (formerly) |
| Species | |
| Status |
Deceased |
| Died |
Suicide (1st time) |
| Killed By |
Herself (1st) |
| Relatives |
|
| Portrayed By | |
| Season(s) | |
| First Appearance | |
| Last Appearance | |
|
Olivia Godfrey is the matriarch of the Godfrey family and a former partial owner of the Godfrey Institute. She was the wife of the late J.R. Godfrey, with whom she had two children: Shelley and Juliet Godfrey (deceased). Roman Godfrey, despite being raised to believe J.R. was his father, is actually the child of an affair between Olivia and Norman Godfrey, J.R.'s brother.
Olivia is Upir and enlists the help of Dr. Johann Pryce to control her cravings.
Early life[]
Olivia Godfrey, née Luspec, was the plainer of two sisters born into a proud and wealthy Romanian family in the early nineteenth century. It is said she was of meek and gentle spirit, and was thus loved and protected by her elder sister and her father.
When Olivia was thirteen years old, she fled from home with a slave named Dimitri, who was bought as her sister's dowry. They rode for a day and stopped to rest, where it is implied the two slept together. Upon waking, Olivia discovered that Dimitri betrayed her, having disappeared along with the horses and the rings on her fingers.
Distraught, Olivia mutilated her tail with a sharp rock, cutting it off at the base of her spine. She bled out by the riverbank until her father's search party came upon her body, and he was able to resurrect her as upir.
Nine months later, she gave birth to a baby girl: Magdalena. Rejecting her father's suggestion to claim the baby was her elder sister's, Olivia argued that a slave could only father a slave, and therefore told him to give the baby to the swineherd instead.
Following the birth of Magdalena, Olivia informed her father she would leave the family to join an academy in the city and study dramatic arts there.
V. Throughout the Series[]
Personality[]
Olivia is a beautiful and feared woman. She is a wealthy widow with a mysterious background who stands in control of the Godfrey family fortune. She is a highly manipulative person, demonstrating symptoms of clinical psychopathy, willing to do anything to forward her own agenda. She has exhibited clearly amoral and even malevolent tendencies, including killing several of her children immediately after their births because they were not born with the caul, as well as forcing her then-seventeen-year-old son to rape his non-consenting cousin/half-sister.
Physical Appearance[]
Throughout the first season, Olivia wears only white clothing for an unidentified reason, with accents in black or red for her accessories. White is traditionally the color of purity and innocence, which - like the entirety of Olivia's exterior - is a mask to hide her true nature. White is also the color of goodness, while black is the color of evil—though few would dispute the wickedness that crouches in the upir’s bosom. She is tall and slim, with long, dark brown hair and piercing eyes. She carries herself in the manner of someone who is seldom refused and never disobeyed, and accentuates her physical beauty to further manipulate the people who find her attractive (i.e. typically heterosexual men). She seems never to age and exudes a sense of mystery and power. Olivia was also born with a tail, a deformity much like a caul, signifying her future as an upir.
Relationships[]
- Norman Godfrey: Olivia and Norman begin a sexual relationship during her marriage to J.R., Norman's brother, and continue it after he commits suicide. After Letha dies, Norman felt no bonds to his wife, Marie, and divorces her for Olivia. Norman learns he’s the true father of Roman and that Olivia is an upir. He starts to question her background and finds out that Olivia killed his ex-wife. Norman breaks up with her and attempts to murder her, but chooses to let her suffer with her terminal illness. Olivia turns bitter when he leaves her house. Later, in the white tower, she sees Norman, and rips his heart out.
Powers & Abilities[]
Olivia's peak strength. (click for animation)
- Enhanced Strength: Olivia has used her strength to threaten and overpower many of her enemies. For example, in The Godfrey Institute, Roman tried to attack her but she was able to lift him up with one hand and throw him a distance away.
- Mesmerization: Olivia has used her ability to mesmerize her victims many times.
- Regenerative Healing: Due to her immortality, only certain things can kill her.
- Enhanced Durability: Olivia has the ability to withstand great impact or physical damage that would normally kill or severely injure a human.
- Immortality: Olivia was born long before the 1800's. However, to this day, she still looks the same as when she was in Paris in 1884 and 1965, when she murdered a married couple.
Weaknesses[]
- Decapitation - Separating an upir's head from the rest of the body will result in its death.
- Cremation - Cremation is one of the only ways an upir can really die.
- Strike to the Heart - A direct strike to the heart cannot kill an upir however it can weaken them for a while.
- Blood Deprivation - Being deprived of blood not only causes upir to weaken, but also to lose their ability to control the urge to feed and become animalistic and feral.
Name[]
- Olivia is a feminine name of English origin. This name was first used in this spelling by William Shakespeare for a character in his comedy 'Twelfth Night' (1602). Shakespeare may have based it on OLIVER, or perhaps directly on the Latin word Olivia meaning "olive".
- Godfrey, Olivia's marital surname is of Anglo-Saxon or Irish origin, along with being from the Germanic name Godafrid, which meant "Peace of God" from the Germanic elements God and from "Peace".
Quotes[]
- "Honk"
Trivia[]
- Olivia wears only white clothes in season 1 when she is considered sociopathic, and dark clothes such as blacks, greys, even red, in season 2 when she develops empathy after her recovery. A known fact regarding white clothing in Slavic folklore is that it is usually worn by women only when mourning the dead. Brides usually wear very colorful clothing. Olivia also has a fetish of smoking and touching her hair whenever she is having a conversation or when she is trying to mesmerize her victims.
