James Patrick March

James Patrick March, sometimes referred to as Jimmy or Mr. March, is the primary antagonist of American Horror Story based on H. H. Holmes, the first recorded serial killer in America history.

James March is a wealthy oil business man and serial killer, who used his money to construct the Hotel Cortez in the late 1920s, built to serve his need to kill, by incorporating secret shafts and dead end hallways to hide the victims of his murders, along with the help of his loyal servant and hotel laundress, Hazel Evers. His father was a militant theist and was implied to be abusive toward him, resulting in James resenting religion and God.

After murdering a theistic victim who claimed that he would never win, James decided to commit a series of murders based on the ten commandments: murdering people who broke said commandments and harvesting a body part. He met Elizabeth at the opening of the Cortez, when he prevented her from committing suicide upon Rudolph Valentino's alleged death. The two married at the Cortez, but James had had unreciprocated feelings of affection toward the Countess, as she was looking for somebody to fill the void left in her by Rudolph's death.

When Elizabeth resumes her polygamous relationship with Rudolph and his wife Natacha Rambova, he abducts them and enclosed them in a dead end hallway, where they remain for the next ninety years. Elizabeth initially encourages he use his murderous habits in a progressive manner, killing those who may offer revenue. However, it's believed that she eventually turned James in for control of the hotel and his wealth. He kills himself in his office at 2:25 AM when the police are alerted to his activities. His office was later converted in Room 64, where the clock's alarm goes off at 2:25 AM every morning.

Since his death, he and Elizabeth have an arrangement where she and James must have dinner one night per month, but one is interrupted by Donovan and a drunken John Lowe, who he recruits as his successor, through manipulation, to complete the remaining eight Commandment Killings upon seeing John's rage while intoxicated, claiming he is better than killers such as Dahmer and Gacy.

Elizabeth continues to reject him, but, due to her "immense beauty", he has forgiven her. Her shows Elizabeth's new husband, Will Drake, Bartholomew, Elizabeth's only biological son and likely James' son as well. Will insults the aesthetic of the child and Elizabeth kills him in a fit of rage. He hosts a "Devil's Night" soirée every year where dead serial killers he personally mentored come to celebrate and congratulate each other on their murders.