Headscratchers / Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Characterization of the Weird Sisters

• I haven’t finished the season yet but I’m on episode four and it seems inconsistent in characterization that the Weird Sisters now suddenly hate Sabrina when they helped her take down the jocks in episode one. Can someone explain this change in attitude?
  • They helped her so they could torment mortal boys, not for her own sake.
  • OP here. Yes but then they say that they’re fine with her coming to the school so I don’t get why they’re tormenting her now.
  • I don't remember them saying they were fine with it. Prudence does say Sabrina might be more suited to the academy than she thought, but that doesn't mean she likes her or wants her there.
  • It's also shown that they're acting on the instructions of Father Blackwood when they harrow her, rather than doing it solely out of hatred for her.
  • In addition to the above, The Weird Sisters were there when Sabrina rejected the Dark Lord, and Prudence was specifically shown to be part of the mob that was coming after Sabrina.

The Nature of God

• All the witches worship Satan and the high priest even calls God the False God. But during the dark baptism he mentions that Satan was an archangel that gave up Heaven rather then his pride. So even if they worship Satan as their Lord, wouldn't that still make God well...God and therefore the god above Satan?
  • Hypothetically, yes, but that's according to Christian theology. There's no particular reason to say that Satan did not grow more powerful. Also, it's not like they were particularly rigorous with constructing the show's internal theology.
  • "God" can have a number of different definitions, which may be based less on power or hierarchy than being worthy of worship. For that matter, "false" also has definitions that effectively mean something similar to insincere or treacherous.
  • Real world religions are often internally inconsistent, so there's no reason a fictional one can't be.
  • The Part 2 episode "The Passion of Sabrina Spellman" sheds more light into the way the Church of Night sees God. According to their versions of events, Lucifer confronted God about the existence of evil, arguing that it meant that God was either not All-Powerful (because He couldn't prevent the existence of evil) or not All-Good (because He allowed evil to exist), and therefore was a False God. In this version, pointing this out is what got Lucifer kicked out of Heaven.
  • Furthermore, Lilith eventually reveals that Lucifer was never a god, and convincing witches that he was was one of his greatest lies.
  • But even if it is true that Lucifer confronted God about the existence of evil and that got him kicked out of Heaven, the witches' own belief and religion still acknowledge God as the creator of Heaven and Lucifer and the one to kick him out of Heaven. Therefore still acknowledging him as the God above Lucifer and everyone else, themselves included.
  • Probably, they don’t actually know the true nature of God. Since their religion is based on what Lucifer said, he could have lied to them. In addition to that, it seems like in the show’s mythology, there are no “good” and “evil” and the entities have a good side and a bad side. So probably the same applies to God (who could actually be a powerful angel, just like Lucifer).
  • Acknowledging that God created Lucifer doesn't mean they can't believe Lucifer is destined to overthrow him like Zeus did his father Cronus. Or that one entity can't create another that either is or grows to be greater than the first entity.

Hilda and Zelda's Accents

• What's the in-universe explanation for Hilda and Zelda having different accents (nationalities)? Zelda even refers to Hilda as "British" in Episode 6, but since they're sisters, shouldn't that mean they're both British?
  • Well, with what Zelda says about the children of High Priests having a claim to the priesthood, it's possible that Hilda, Zelda, Edward, and Ambrose's father are all the children of a High Priest. Considering also that Zelda says that High Priests sleep around a lot, it's possible that they all have different mothers.
  • One of them could also be significantly older than the other. Even a couple of decades would be short enough to feel like a quick stay, to a witch, but long enough for your witch kid to get an accent. It’s also possible that Hilda was an expat for a while.
  • Hilda says that Zelda harrowed her at the academy though. Presumably this means that Zelda was a student at the same time, which rules out the possibility of Zelda being significantly older.
  • A slight wildcard explanation, but as witches age considerably slower than mortals, there's no reason to think a witch's time at the academy is only for a few years, especially considering the breadth of material there is to be learned. With Sumerian, Mesopotamian, and Latin to learn, plus all of the history within that, the theology and brainwashing of the coven's religion, classes on spells, potions, summoning, demonology and more, it may take decades to finish one's education.
  • I read a sneak peek of the CAOS Prequel Novel on Amazon and I now know why Hilda has a British accent because she lived in England for a while to take care of Ambrose when he was young and the accent stuck when she came back to the USA.

Why take the baby?

• Why didn't Zelda just lie and say that the boy twin came first? That would make him Blackwood's legitimate heir and protect the girl without having to hide her.
  • Maybe she just didn't want the baby girl to be raised by Blackwood? He might not have hurt her, but that doesn't mean he would have treated her well. He's a misogynistic prick, and I think by the season finale Zelda sees that, plus she's seen how Prudence turned out with him as her only parental figure.
  • Character Development - Zelda spent the whole season having her pedestal of Blackwood broken, suffering collateral damage for Sabrina's mistakes, discovering all his dirty laundry and all the corruption in the Black Church. Sabrina has been the heretical devil on the shoulder, helping Zelda routinely question why things are the way they are. So Zelda now feels inspired to rebel, and taking the baby was a good way to get back at Blackwood.
  • In addition to the above, Season 2 has Blackwood finding out about his daughter and telling Prudence he plans to marry her to her brother when she turns 16 to purify their bloodline. So Zelda was right to want to hide her from him.

The year the show is set

• Why did they have to say the time period takes place “Of This Year?” It obviously isn’t with all of the anachronisms and the fact that November 3rd wasn’t on a Monday “this year” in 2018.
  • This year means the year in-universe, not out of it. It's part of the Ambiguous Time Period thing (what year does the show take place in it? why, the one it takes place in, of course).
  • There was an group of fans who thought the series took place before the main events of Riverdale like by an decade (Mid 2000s) before that was ultimately Jossed by an particular Riverdale character cameo was thrown in as Easter Egg which Roberto confirm that both series ran on an similar timeline despite notable events not being crossed referenced/mentioned in either series.

Warning about the Acheron Configuration

• Why didn't Edward leave a warning that the Acheron Configuration contained a sleep demon?
  • With this crowd, that might make them MORE determined to open it.
  • Quite possibly, he was hoping if Blackwood ever succeeded in opening it he would fall prey to the demon.
  • And perhaps part of the task would be to deal with whatever's inside once you've opened it.

The nature of Dorian Gray

• Is Dorian Gray a Warlock or is he a supernatural entity, or like a human with a curse or something?
  • He appears to be a human granted with immortality. When Satan appears, he says he granted Dorian eternal youth and life.
  • The character is an adaptation of the title character from Oscar Wilde’s book The Picture of Dorian Gray. In the book Dorian Gray sold his soul so that his portrait would age in his place, thus granting him eternal youth. The character’s extensive collection of paintings is likely a reference to his literary origin.

The motivation of the Plague Kings

• The powerful demon lords Asmodeus, Beelzebub and Purson leave Hell and come to Earth to kill Sabrina and prevent her ascension, which would result in the Apocalypse and the coming of the The Legions of Hell to Earth. But why would the demon lords be against this? Why would they go behind Lucifer's back to foil his plans?
  • It's implied that the Plague Kings have their own political agenda. Beelzebub says they are not the "pawns of Satan" and that they don't take orders from the Dark Lord or witches. They say that Sabrina "engenders chaos," meaning they probably know about the prophecy surrounding her. Maybe they're afraid that if Sabrina is able to carry out the Dark Lord's will and enslave mortals and witches alike, Lucifer will deal with them in an equally harsh (or worse) way.
  • The demons would be released from Hell sure, but they'd be under Satan's command and he'd be even more powerful.

Edward Spellman’s revelation

• Was that really Edward’s ghost who told Sabrina that Father Blackwood brought their plane down or was it Lilith in a glamour? Or something else all-together?
  • I think I remember it being a glamour caused by Lilith. There is a shot of her hiding after the ghost appears, implying she summoned to fool Sabrina.
    • Since Lilith's deception is never brought up again and all the characters are acting under the pretense that Blackwood really did murder them and he had a really good motivation to, it's basically taken as fact. However, that still begs the question of if he actually did it, or if it's just a believable lie.

Depowered witches aging

In season one, when Zelda and Hilda are stripped of their powers they immediately start to age rapidly to what their bodies would be were they mortal. However in season 3 when the same is done to the whole coven (and apparently all Satanic witches), everyone stays the same. Why??

• When they were stripped of their powers, it was done all at once and to force them to age to bring pressure on Sabrina. In short they aged rapidly because the people behind it were being dicks over Sabrina not signing her name. When the their powers fade later, it is just because Satan is no longer their to top up their internal infernal batteries. The former case is deliberate blocking and forcing of an effect, the latter is just a fading and their natural body clocks will just start ticking normally again.

Rosalind and The Pagans

• So one of the reasons why Rosalind was turned into stone. Was because she wasn’t a Virgin and also because of her cunning, and throughout the season people said she could have used her cunning to stop the pagans now I’m wondering how exactly could she have done it. The cunning only shows her things from the past and future and can also reveal hidden secrets.

Why only three?

• Why do the pagans go after only three very specific virgins in an entire town (two of them closely connected to both a witch coven and a girl with cunning to boot)? Why don't they at least think about going after someone else when they can't get a hold of Harvey and Theo in the last episode?

Sabrina’s power

• Does Sabrina still have the power she gained after finding the third unholy regalia? She still had it when she initially traveled back in time and I know that the other Sabrina is Queen now but does that mean that they both have power? Is it being split between Lucifer, Sabrina Spellman and Sabrina Morningstar?

S 3 ending

• Why would Sabrina want to give her all to Hell? She clearly doesn’t like her father and didn’t want to take up the throne before. This is the Sabrina that we see at the beginning of episode 7. I find it hard to believe that she would leave her friends and family behind to permanently rule as Hell’s queen. It seems completely OOC.

Sabrina’s age

• Is Sabrina no longer 16? She was trapped for decades before her future self saved her. Does that mean that she’s now decades years old? Did she age while trapped in that stone?

The ending

• Why wasn't Sabrina buried in the Cain Pit? Seems very out of character for the aunts to let her stay dead when they had a convenient means of resurrecting her in their yard.
• Also, what killed Sabrina Morningstar? When she returns to the "real" universe, the only injuries she has are some cuts on her face from jumping through the mirror, and surely those wouldn't be enough to kill her.