Welcome back to Horror 101, a series of articles where we explain horror movie legends and their lore. For beginners, the confused, or just those who need a refresher, these articles are for you. The Leprechaun series is a very hit-or-miss franchise. Though I hold it near and dear since it was the first horror movie marathon I ever did with friends, these films are cornier than a field in Kansas. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have an abnormal amount of backstory and lore, so they’re on the blackboard today. Let’s dig into the Leprechaun franchise’s beautiful mess, and answer the question of…
WHO IS THE LEPRECHAUN?
An ancient and sinister being—no, seriously guys, he’s a leprechaun.
A 2000-year-old fairy of mischief and murder hailing from Killarney, Lep was once a good creature. Leprechaun: Back 2 Da’ Hood details that while most Leprechauns are peaceful and benevolent creatures that are meant to protect ancient treasures from evil and then retreat into the wilderness once their job is done, the Leprechaun’s greed consumed him, and he decided to take a stash of gold for himself. Now, he spreads chaos wherever he goes and tortures almost everyone he comes across in the hunt for his pot of gold.
The Leprechaun is obsessed with his treasure, and anyone who gets in the way of his collection of wealth, or dares even to steal a single shilling, is subject to his magical powers and a cruel death (usually served with a limerick relevant to how he kills them). And if he doesn’t use his magic, he’ll probably just stomp you to death with a pogo stick or snap your neck.
He also enjoys enslaving humans and capturing women to serve as his wife. Sometimes it’s to torture them, and occasionally, it’s to become the king of space as he does in Leprechaun 4. Also, he is obsessed with cleaning shoes and if he bites you, you become a were-leprechaun. For some reason? It felt pertinent to mention this given his general weird motifs, he has a lot of unexplained character quirks.
WHAT IS THE LEPRECHAUN’S NAME?
We don’t know, it’s never said. Mark Jones said the original name he had come up with for Lep was Basil, but that was never made official. And though people call him Lubdan, that name is never spoken in the movies; it came from a non-canon comic book miniseries, which is not course-relevant material as far as we’re concerned.
WHY DOES HE WANT GOLD?
Leprechaun 3 teaches us, through a very mid-90s CD-ROM animation of lore, that the gold is also the source of Lep’s magic, and that each piece of it allows the holder to make a single wish. In Leprechaun 2, holders of the gold are considered immune to his magic and any harm that could come from it, but this seemed like a one-and-done deal since it’s contradicted in several other films when people get murdered despite having his gold on or in them.
HOW DO YOU BEAT THE LEPRECHAUN?
Throughout the series, a four-leaf clover (or, in Leprechaun Returns case, clover juice) is the best way to immobilize Lep before he can be destroyed with fire or some other means. In Leprechaun 2, good old-fashioned wrought iron can trap and destroy him since it burns fairy creatures. In 3, we find out through a very funny fire stunt where they swing Warwick Davis around on wires, that if you destroy his gold with fire, you can burn him alive.
He was put down for the last time chronologically (no really, we mean it, he’s gone!) in Leprechaun: Back 2 Da’ Hood, through very extreme methods: they shoot him with hollow-point bullets that have clovers in them, then trap him inside of wet cement.
Like any good slasher villain though, there is no surefire way to put Lep down. No matter all the rules you establish, he keeps coming back, sometimes paradoxically reappearing in places completely different from where he died. In the first movie he fell down a well in North Dakota and was burned alive, but in the second movie somehow came to Los Angeles inside a magical tree that was brought over from Ireland. And then he ended up in space without any real reason.
Who are we to question the inscrutable and incredible mysteries of such a sacred and definitely well-made franchise? The point is your best bet is to avoid the Leprechaun altogether: don’t steal his gold and try not to be Irish if you can help it.
WAIT, WAS LEPRECHAUN THE FIRST FRANCHISE TO GO TO SPACE?
No, that was Godzilla. When the Controller of Planet X took Godzilla to his home world back in Invasion of the Astro-Monster (1965), they accidentally invented the trope of bringing the monster into space to up the stakes. If only Leprechaun 4 had been even a fraction as good as Astro-Monster.
…SO, WHATS UP WITH LEPRECHAUN: ORIGINS?
I don’t care who my editor sends after me, you can’t make me acknowledge WWE Studios movies. Besides, it’s just a soulless cash-grab remake and has nothing to do with the other 7 films. But Hornswoggle is in it as the Leprechaun, if mid-tier wrestlers in horror movies do anything for you.
Do, however, watch the reboot sequel to the original Leprechaun, Leprechaun Returns, because it’s very fun.
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And that will be it for today’s Horror 101 lesson. See you in the next class and stay tuned to Horror Press’s social media feeds (@HorrorPressLLC on Twitter and Instagram) for more content on horror movies, television, and everything in between!