Carnivàle/Sofie Bojakshiya

Sofie Agnesh Bojakshiya
Carnivàle
Actor	Clea DuVall
First Appearance	1x01 - Milfay
Last Appearance	2x12 - New Canaan, CA
Series Billing	Main Cast
Episode Count	24

Character History

Season 1

Sofie's role during season 1 is extremely muted, and her interactions don't seem to lead anywhere. She is presented as a highly sheletered and solitary loner. She appears to have few friends within the carnival, save for Jonesy, whom she's had feelings for for quite a while. She develops a relationship with Libby, after Dora Mae's death, and the two become extremely close. However, after Jonesy sleeps with Rita Sue, and Libby, who witnesses the act, fails to tell Sofie, Sofie exacts her cruel revenge on both of them, effectively severing all her ties with the carnival.

Sofie's relationship with her comatose mother is no less problematic. Apollonia is extremely controlling and caring for her takes its toll on Sofie. Unfortunately, Apollonia, who is growing increasingly unstable, does little to help the situation. Sofie is forced to deal with her mother's psychic tantrums, as well as being privy to psychic visions that her mother is unable to contain. As a result, Sofie is forced to watch her mother's rape at the hands of her mysterious, tattooed father.

Fed up with caring for her mother, and furious at Jonesy and Libby, Sofie prepares to leave the carnival, only to be stopped by the sound of her mother's voice. Stunned, Sofie is caught unaware as her mother traps the two of them in their trailer and sets it on fire.

Season 2

Jonesy, who ran into the burning trailer, manages to save Sofie, but not Apollonia. Once she's outside the trailer, the other carnies realize that Sofie is forced to listen to her mother's dying screams as she burns alive in the trailer. The trauma of having her mother attempt to kill her plagues Sofie for the rest of the season, as does the spectre of her mother, who refuses to leave her alone.

In an effort to focus her mind on something else, Sofie turns to manual labour within the carnival, to the disgust of many of the other male rousties. Eventually, after sleeping with Ben, Sofie deserts the carnival and, clueless as to his true nature, takes a job as a maid in Brother Justin's house. After a while Iris, Justin's sister, makes the connection between Sofie and the woman Justin raped in St. Paul (i.e. Apollonia). Justin's actions, on the other hand, imply that he is unaware of Sofie's parentage, and that he probably wouldn't care even if he was.

Back in the carnival, Lodz is using some of his time in a temporary physical body to scrawl on Ruthie's mirror "Sophie is the Omega," but the message does not reach anyone who would be able to understand its meaning.

Back in California, Justin at long last discovers Sofie's identity as a former carnie and deduces that she is somehow connected to Ben, his enemy. Sofie becomes his ace in the hole in any potential showdown with Ben, and as such she is locked in the same woodshed that was used to (unsuccessfully) house Scudder. Trapped in the shed, Sofie is tormented by visions of her heritage, visions which are not entirely dissimilar to Ben and Justin's avataric dreams. When the visions end, Sofie is confronted by her own doppelganger, who, with all-black eyes similar to Scudder's and Justin's when using their powers, asserts that "This is your house."

When Jonesy makes his way to the shed to rescue Sofie, Sofie retrieves Stroud's gun and shoots Jonesy in the chest, displaying the same all-black eyes as her father. She then calmly walks off. The next day, she locates Justin's near-lifeless body in the cornfield, a result of the preacher's battle with Ben, and proceeds to revive him. Her motives in this, as in all else since she entered into her role as the Omega, remain unclear.