| Piper / The 1st Killer | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Biographical Information | |||
| Full name | Piper Anderson James | ||
| Age | 20 or 21 | ||
| Eye color | Brown | ||
| Hair color | Brown | ||
| Occupation | Serial Killer (currently until death) Broadcast Reporter (formerly) | ||
| Status | Deceased | ||
| Nickname | The Killer Lakewood Slasher | ||
| Relationship Information | |||
| Family | Maggie Duval (mother) Emma Duval (half-sister) | ||
| Friends | Kieran Wilcox (boyfriend; deceased) Audrey Jensen (formerly) | ||
| Enemies | Audrey Jensen (currently) Emma Duval | ||
| Other Information | |||
| Interests | Murdering | ||
| Talent(s) | Manipulating, murder, acting, lying | ||
| Secrets | * Brandon James's daughter (exposed)
| ||
| Education | Unknown | ||
| Death | Shot in head | ||
| Cause of Death | Shot in chest by Audrey using Kieran's gun; shot in temple by Emma with Kieran's gun; fell back into Wren Lake | ||
| Date of Death | October 31, 2015 | ||
| Series Information | |||
| Season(s) | One Two (corpse) | ||
| Last appearance | The Vanishing (corpse) | ||
| Latest appearance | Revelations | ||
Piper Anderson James, better known as Piper Shaw, was a recurring character, who was revealed to be the main antagonist of the first season of Scream. She was portrayed by Amelia Rose Blaire.
Initially claiming to be a visiting pod-castor investigating the new Lakewood Murders, it is revealed she is the daughter of Brandon James, and his best friend, Maggie Duval.
After Brandon's presumed death by the police, Maggie's parents made her give up the baby for adoption, with Maggie never even knowing if the baby was a boy, or a girl.
This drove Piper mad, as she believed her younger half-sister Emma Duval had "the perfect life", while she never got to know her parents.
Piper was sent to the blessed sister's children home, where she was foster sisters with Kristen Lang. Ultimately, upon finding out who her parents were, Piper decided to plan a "reboot" killing spree, targeting Emma's friends in order to make her suffer. Piper had dated Kieran Wilcox, who became romantically interested in each other since both had parents who abandoned them.
Piper was also a famous podcaster, who documented murders. She used this as her cover to interact with the citizens of Lakewood, and also "bonded" with Emma. Audrey had brought her to Lakewood in order to plan a documentary about Brandon James together, which allowed her begin her killing spree.
As The Killer, she took great pleasure in making Emma suffer by killing her friends, and making Emma feel indirectly responsible. Emma grew to trust Piper and would confide in her, unknowingly giving the killer information. This would only confirm to Piper that she was succeeding in her goal.
Piper carefully orchestrated everything (including the 2015 Lakewood Murders), deciding to make Kieran as her accomplice to provide a backup plan should anything go wrong. She also decided to kill and frame Seth Branson for the murders after Emma and Maggie were dead. Eventually, after the death of Clark Hudson, Piper was ready to finish her plans and kidnapped her mother, Maggie, so that Emma could have a final showdown where at the same dock where Brandon was shot at. She gleefully revealed her true self to Emma when she arrived, taking in pleasure in Emma's shock and horror that someone she considered a friend was the killer.
After revealing her plan, Piper managed to severely wound Emma and her mother, severely slashing Emma's stomach and stabbing Maggie in her side. As she prepared to finish Emma off, saying that she had one final surprise for Emma (Presumably revealing her accomplice), Audrey Jensen, who saw Emma running to the dock, intervenes and shoots her in the chest with Kieran Wilcox's gun, causing her to fall into the water. She emerged a few seconds later and was shot in the head by Emma, killing her instantly. Her corpse fell into the same lake that her father's did, but the body wasn't found.
Kieran, who did not come to be revealed at the docks and stayed behind, retrieved her corpse from the lake. They refrigerated in the orphanage she lived in until it was eventually found by Emma and Audrey. The accomplice also surgically implanted a pig's heart inside her, as her autopsy (done by Maggie) revealed.
In Season 2, Kieran continued Piper's work once Emma returned from a therapy retreat, starting the killing spree all over again. Kieran proceeded to terrorizeed and murdered the people she failed to kill: Murdering Jake Fitzgerald and Seth Branson, stalking and harassing Audrey about her involvement with Piper, making Brooke suffer mentally, making Noah Foster suffer emotionally, and making Emma suffer by killing her friends (the same way Piper did). However, Kieran was defeated in the end by Emma and Audrey, who had him hauled off to jail, leaving Piper unavenged.
Season 1[]
- Pilot (1st Episode)
After Tyler O'Neill drops off his ex-girlfriend, Nina Patterson at her house, Piper, in her killer costume, decapitates Tyler off-screen and sends Nina numerous text messages. As Nina is relaxing in the hot tub, Piper drops Tyler's severed head into the water, causing Nina to panic and run away and cry out for help in fear. Piper appears behind Nina and slashes her back with a hunting knife. As a severely wounded Nina tries to flee, she trips and falls. Nina desperately tries crawling to the swimming pool. Piper grabs her from behind and deeply slits Nina's throat from ear to ear. Just after, Piper tosses Nina into the swimming pool to bleed out and die.
Later Piper shoots a GIF next to Nina's body as the killer. Then she transports Tyler's head, Nina's laptop/necklace and Tyler's car to a storage unit she owned (As revealed in the Season 2 episode, Psycho) but later transports everything to the Lakewood General Hospital.
Later during the day/night, Piper visited a pig farm (possibly belonging to her uncle, Troy James, and slain a pig. She then hides the pig somewhere, and then plants it in a box with a note for Maggie Duval: "Emma looks just like you at that age. (Reffering to a Young Maggie during the time of the murders.)
Piper then crashes Brooke's party, most likely hiding in plain sight, and lures Brooke to her father's garage (where she presumably was going to kill her) but was interrupted by Will Belmont. Sometime after the party, Piper follows Audrey Jensen to Rachel Murray's house where she appears as The Killer, stalking them.
Piper marks her final appearance when she calls Emma Duval, after she left Audrey's, and taunts her about pretending to have a "perfect life" on social media websites. After revealing herself and her plan, Piper stabbed her mother and overpowered Emma. As Piper was about to kill Emma, Audrey intervenes, shooting her in the shoulder with Kieran's gun. Piper got back up and was promptly finished off by Emma.
- Hello, Emma (2nd Episode)
Piper first appeared at George Washington High School, interviewing a teacher about Nina Patterson's relationship with other students. Afterwards, Piper meets Audrey Jensen and Noah Foster and asks if they knew the real Nina. "Nina was a stone-cold bitch who got what she deserved." Audrey coldly says. Then, Piper witnesses Jake Fitzgerald threatening Noah.
- Wanna Play A Game? (3rd Episode)
Piper dresses as The Killer and pretends to be Tyler O'Neill and sends Riley Marra a text saying "HELP ME!". Towards the end of the episode, Piper still disguises as Tyler and sends Riley texts saying to come meet her outside the police station. Riley agrees. Once outside, Riley sees Tyler's car parked.
Piper follows Riley to the car. Riley texts "I'm here. Where are you?" With a reply, Piper's text says "Right here" before swatting Riley across the face and chases after her into a dead end in an ally. Riley climbs up an escape ladder. Piper stabs Riley twice in the back and slices her leg, hitting an artery. Piper lets Riley die.
- Revelations (10th Episode)
Piper appears to be the Killer. She taunts and threatens to murder Emma and Maggie and frame Branson for all the murders that she orchestrated herself. Piper viciously slashes Emma's stomach with the hunting knife. She is then attacked to the ground by Maggie. "You broke my heart, Mom. You always hurt the ones you love." Piper says as she stabs Maggie with the knife. She attacks Emma by slashing the knife around but gets knocked again by Emma. Emma attempts to choke Piper but Piper hits Emma, causing her to let go. Piper stands over Emma, bending down.
"So... I have one more surprise before I open you up. And you'll never see it coming." Piper menacingly says before getting shot in the chest by Audrey using Kieran's gun. Piper falls into the lake. After her body splashes in the water, Piper emerges silently in attempt to stab Emma. However, Emma senses this and grabs the gun and shoots Piper in the head, instantly killing her. Piper flops back into the water, definitely dead.
Later, it is reported that Piper's body is nowhere to be found.
Season 2[]
- Vacancy (3rd Episode)
After numerous flashbacks of Piper's death and a brief hallucination of the killer, Emma conquers her fears.
- Jeepers Creepers (6th Episode)
A photo of Piper is seen on the murder board.
- The Orphanage (9th Episode)
Audrey and Emma then find something in a rocking chair: The long dead rotting corpse of Piper, sitting straight. The bullet hole has obviously shattered her skull and brain.
- Heavenly Creatures (11th Episode)
The episode opens with Piper's autopsy being done by Maggie, with Miguel Acosta watching. During the autopsy, Maggie discovers a pig's heart surgically implanted inside of Piper. Emma goes to Audrey's house and demands answers from her about her involvement with Piper.
Audrey reveals that she knew that Piper was Emma's half sister and that she was with Piper at the Crescent Palms Motel the night Rachel Murray was murdered, therefore, neither could have done it.
Audrey insists she didn't know Piper was the killer and only wanted to make a documentary about Brandon James but Emma does not believe her claims and leaves when she doesn't change her story.
Death[]
After Piper reveals to be The Killer, she explains how her story ends: "Seth Branson slits Emma's throat, before spilling Maggie's guts". Emma tells Piper that the police will find out who did the murders. Piper explains that the police won't because she has Branson framed and tied up in the trunk of her car. Emma soon realizes that the day she and Piper talked about her father, Piper meant Brandon James. Piper confirms this and explains to Emma about her childhood and how Maggie dumped her and kept Emma while her father got shot. She was jealous of Emma's "perfect life" and angry at Maggie for abandoning her. Maggie tries to apologize and convince her stop, but she ignores her mother's pleas. Emma, seeing Piper was not backing down, attempts to stab her with a knife she had hidden behind her back.
However, Piper saw this coming and blocked the blow, then savagely slashed Emma's stomach with her hunting knife. Severely wounded, Emma backs away in ear and pain. Maggie tackles Piper to the ground and begs her to stop. "You broke my heart, Mom. You always hurt the ones you love." Piper says. She stabs Maggie in the side and whacks her off. "You psychotic bitch!" Emma cries out. Piper slashes her knife before Emma tackles Piper to the ground, resting one hand on Piper's throat. However, Piper punches Emma off and stands over her, bending down. "So... I have one last surprise before I open you up. And you'll never see it coming." Piper sinisterly says, smiling, but is shot in the chest and falls into the lake with a splash.
It is revealed that Audrey fired Kieran's gun. Moments later, Piper sneakingly rises back up, with her knife raised in an attempt to finish off Emma. Emma senses Piper and quickly grabs the gun and shoots Piper in the temple, instantly killing her as blood splatters behind her head. Piper falls back into the water, definitely dead.
Murders committed[]
Personality[]
Piper was an extremely cruel, sadistic and sociopathic bully of a physchopath. She was something of a misanthrope, and took to callously taunting and threatening her victims and her targets. Piper would go so far as to target the supremely weak individuals in a group -- namely Emma -- and to lead vicious killing attacks on said persons.
Piper was also extremely arrogant, narcissistic and self-righteous: an egocentric serial killer, Piper would never see the wrong in anything she did, shown when she murdered victims during her killing spree, but in her own eyes had done nothing wrong and violently insisted so.
Throughout Piper's entire life, she suffered a villainous breakdown and vowed revenge, believing unshakably that she would support herself, narcissistically disregarding the fact that Audrey was as important to her as it was to her, and her lack of a certain morality or restraint disturbed and repelled them. Piper was very homicidal and a sadist at heart, personally decapitating Tyler's head and terrorizing Nina in the hot tub before murdering her as well (though it's unconfirmed if it really was her or Piper's accomplice).
Piper, especially in the most recent stage, is shown to be extremely obsessive: she was intensely obsessed with tormenting Emma and threatening Maggie in a delusional recognition of putting her in life and later suspension -- both of which were entirely Maggie's fault, ironically. She even went as far as too turn Emma's lover Kieran Wilcox, against her.
When Piper had the complete upper-hand in her final confrontation, Piper proceeded to try and murder Emma, by severely slashing her stomach. Interestingly, Piper tried to also kill Maggie, stabbing her in the stomach. When Piper was on the edge of finally getting her revenge, in the belief that -- in spite of everything Piper had done -- she would be hot in the chest by Audrey with Kieran's pistol and finally in the head at the hands of Emma.
Trivia[]
- Piper's character has many similarities with Gale Weathers.
- She had a podcast called "Autopsy of a Crime".
- Noah took over the show after her death in Revelations and re-branded it to "The Morgue" in I Know What You Did Last Summer.
- She has a love of coffee, even promising to respect Emma's privacy for the sake of it.
- Piper was the final character to be killed in Season 1.
- She was shot once in the chest by Audrey and then once more in her forehead by Emma.
- In Revelations, Piper revealed herself to be the killer, and her motivations has many similarities with Roman Bridger and Jill Roberts.
- Similar to Roman Bridger and Jill Roberts were related to Sidney, Piper is related to Emma and is the long lost half-sister Emma didn't know existed until she saw her mother's ultrasound and found out Maggie had slept with Brandon James. Subsequently, she shared a hatred of her younger sibling for having a family just like Roman did to Sidney.
- Like Mrs. Loomis, Piper had a helper. Her helper went on to be the New Killer of Season 2.
- Piper has various similarities to the movie killers: she's related to the final girl (Emma) like Roman and Jill were to Sidney. She worked as a reporter (like Mrs. Loomis) and just like Jill Roberts, she had a completely different personality when revealed as the killer.
- The story about her motivation for her current job is fake.
- In Exposed, she told Emma that Audrey tried to force Rachel Murray to do things that made Rachel uncomfortable.
- Piper died just like her father; she was shot on the dock at Wren Lake and fell into the lake. The only difference is Piper was shot twice.
- It was later confirmed in The Vanishing[1] that Brandon James, Piper's father had survived the shooting.
- Emma shooting Piper in the forehead is reminiscent of how Sidney killed Billy and Debbie Loomis.
- She appeared as a hallucination to Emma in Psycho.
- It was revealed in Jeepers Creepers that Audrey is the main reason Piper was in town, as Audrey had invited and exchanged letters with Piper, asking her to come and investigate about Brandon James and Lakewood's bloody history.
- Prior to The Orphanage, Piper's body was never been found. In The Orphanage, it was revealed that her corpse was kept by her accomplice.
- Piper's name was originally named "Piper Shay".
- Piper was the main antagonist in Season 1.
- Piper was unaware of the fact that her father, Brandon, had in fact survived his shooting, as revealed in The Vanishing.
- In The Vanishing, Piper's autopsy, which was done by Maggie, revealed the killer had refrigerated her corpse and surgically implanted a pig's heart inside.
- In When a Stranger Calls, it has been revealed that Piper had a secret relationship with Kieran Wilcox (the accomplice) long before they came to Lakewood.
Gallery[]
