ABSTRACT
This chapter compares real-life narratives and fictional accounts of tattoos, arguing that they serve as tools for developing storylines and characters. Especially magical tattoos in supernatural narratives introduce splits, either by differentiating between before and after the tattoo, or by letting the tattoo act uncontrollably, independently of its wearers. John Alden’s tattoos in the TV series Salem show how ritual tattooing can be experienced as a transitional period, as a therapeutic yet uncontrollable corporeal transformation, as death and rebirth, and as a physical and spiritual bond, highlighting how the conceptual instability of tattoos is contrasted with the fragility of subjects.
