All spoilers are unmarked.
- The show is set in an alternate world where witches made a pact with the Massachusetts Bay Colony called the Salem Accord. In exchange for being spared further persecution, they are forced to fight from age 18 until death for the US military.
- Entire witch bloodlines have been decimated by this; Tally and Raelle, for example, are the last of their bloodlines. What's worse, according to Petra Bellweather, these "lesser" bloodlines aren't considered worth preserving, so it's fine if they die off.
- The Salem Accord is viewed as slavery by the terrorist organization the Spree, who are willing to kill muggles indiscriminately in order to gain freedom for all witches.
- The Camarilla are a centuries-old group of witch hunters who have no issues with brutally murdering any and all witches (even going so far as to take and preserve physical "souvenirs" of their victims).
- The show's very first scene involves Scylla (in disguise) exploding a balloon filled with a malicious Spree spell in a crowded muggle mall during Conscription Day. The spell causes everyone within hearing range to commit suicide by throwing themselves off the mall balconies (including, presumably, children). It's revealed this attack caused the death of 1600 muggles.
- In episode 1x02 ("My Witches"), General Alder and the military leaders watch a strike against the Spree in Kiev via linking and a scrying stone. A small water bottle explodes, releasing a spell that causes the team to tear each other apart. The military seniors and the viewers watch from General Clary's daughter's point-of-view as her fellow soldiers attack and kill her.
- In episode 1x03 ("A Biddy's Life"), Scylla performs a spell on her ex-boyfriend, Porter, to compel him to commit suicide. In the next episode it's revealed he was afraid and conscious but unable to stop himself.
- In episode 1x05 ("Bellweather Season"), Abigail goes looking for her cousin Charvel, only to discover Charvel has been brutally murdered, splayed out in the bathtub with her throat slit and her vocal cords ripped out.
- When Scylla is tortured in 1x07 ("Mother Mycelium") by Alder, Alder uses an illusion on Scylla to make Scylla believe she is eating crushed glass.
- "Abomination" gives us Maj. Magda Verger, the instructor for identifying and resisting off-canon magic - essentially the Motherland version of Defense Against the Dark Arts. By way of introductions, she hypnotizes the class into kidnapping themselves and sticks them in her "Dollhouse", a small, cramped room filled with dozens of ticking clocks, ominous whispers, and a bunch of creepy, life-sized dolls. And then the dolls suddenly spring to life and attack the students, with two of them grabbing Abigail and Raelle and dragging them away.
- In "Irrevocable", Raelle is kidnapped by the Camarilla, who attempt to cut out her vocal chords. When the mycelium intervenes, they decide to try and kill her. Repeatedly. For added cruelty, they bring in children to serve as human shields to discourage Raelle from defending herself.
- In the Season 2 finale "Revolution, Part 1" the Witchplague (a bio-engineered weapon) takes out multiple witches, overcoming them and then spreading through their mouths in black tendrils to attack only others with witch blood. Then Raelle and her team find Penelope enveloped in the Witchplague, unaware that she's patient zero, delirious and dangerous. The team have to fight this innocent witch and then have to kill her to save everyone else!
- In the Season 3 episode "Happy Yule", the Camarilla are celebrating Blanton Silver getting sworn in as president. For the entertainment, they are forcing witches to battle each other to the death. The main event? "Army vs. Spree". The Spree woman (Vira, Scylla's ex, previously seen in "Homo Cantus") uses her Work to force Sterling to stab himself. In response for messing with her man, Anacostia does a Windshear that disintegrates the other woman, leaving nothing but bloody bits.
- From episode "Petra's Favorite Pen", Raelle's description of the effects of the Witchbomb on a person is Body Horror."The mushrooms don't just start on the skin. They form deeper. In the muscle. In the bone. You're alive as each individual nerve is consumed. You're essentially being eaten from the inside out. Hurts so badly, I've seen a man claw his own belly open to try and rip out the infection. Didn't work, but I think it did kill him faster, right?"
