The third installment of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina introduced some exciting new world-building and plot questions to the story. Viewers learned that pagan witches have their own alternative kinds of magic, the Eldritch terrors are real, and some of what’s in hell.
There’s one small problem, though: there are still some questions raised the first and second installments that didn’t get any closer to an answer. Some of those questions are more significant than others, but they still deserve some explanations (even in passing). So, before fans get too excited about season four, let’s review some of the older questions that didn’t get answered by part three.
How Do Familiars Work?
The concept of familiars was introduced right away in season one. Sabrina even has a little disagreement with her aunts over whether to pick one from a catalog or cast a spell and see who answers. It’s also explained that they’re goblins that have taken animal form (and Salem even talks before becoming a cat).
What’s in it for the goblins? Familiars are rarely seen in the show, and few of the witches seem to have them. So, what all are they capable of, and why do witches have them if they’re largely unnecessary?
Who Was Ambrose’s Father?
Sabrina has two aunts that all viewers are familiar with. Those aunts sometimes refer to Edward Spellman, Sabrina’s deceased father, and their time together. Yet, even when they are reminiscing about the past, Ambrose Spellman’s father never comes up. It’s clear from some lines that he’s deceased, including a line in season three about how Ambrose and Prudence both suffered from the lack of fathers. But who was this uncle that Zelda and Hilda never speak of? What was his relationship with Edward? Was he perhaps much younger than the other three, so he didn’t grow up with them? And who was Ambrose’s mother?
How Did Blackwood Find Agatha and Dorcas?
Viewers discovered with Prudence and Sabrina that Blackwood actually fathered Prudence and just didn’t want to claim her openly. But what about Agatha and Dorcas? He says that they’re truly orphans, yet they didn’t just spring up out of the ground or something. He had to have acquired them somewhere. It also begs the question of how the “Weird Sisters” are connected by magic if one of them isn’t really an orphan. They’re always presented as a unit and seem capable of doing some special communal magic, like when they cursed Sabrina or fought the angels. What’s going on here?
How Does the Cunning Work?
Nana Ruth explains all the way back in season one that the Cunning started when a curse was cast by witches. However, it’s not made clear how exactly it works or which witches were the culprits. It would certainly create some added drama if a Spellman cast it, but there could still be drama if their descendants were other members of the Church of Night.
There have been more examples of Rosalind using the Cunning in season three, but it’s not clear how much control she could gain over it or whether it was created by the curse as opposed to just being activated by it like Nana Ruth suggested.
How Does Witch Aging Work?
This particular detail is one of the most pervasive and frustrating unexplained facts about the witches and warlocks in the show. It’s acknowledged that the witches live for a very long time, but there’s no clear frame of reference for how long. Centuries? Millennia? What’s the average? And at what age are witches really considered adults?
They have their dark baptism at 16, but that’s really young if they plan to live for centuries. It’s clear that aging does start to affect their bodies, too, because some of the council look visibly older. And how old are Zelda and Hilda? How old was Sabrina’s father when he met Diana? Talk about a midlife crisis.
Does the Kinkle Family Know About the Supernatural?
It’s revealed in season one that the Kinkle family (formerly the Von Kunkles) hunted witches in Greendale. They even continue a tradition of hunting in the same woods. Yet, Harvey didn’t know anything about magic until Sabrina revealed she was a witch, and he didn’t know what it was he saw in the mines. So, has any other information about witches or the supernatural been passed down through their family? He did find the logbook of his grandfather’s that mentioned a woman in white and weirdness in the mines.
More importantly, could this old bad blood with witches become an issue again? That’s been teased a few times, but not actually come to fruition.
Are More Angels Going to Retaliate?
The Church of Night was massacred by angels. Sabrina even got shot. But the angels were beaten back and killed themselves. So, wouldn’t it seem likely that there are other angels that might come after them? And, given what viewers learned about Sabrina’s heritage, how did they not recognize Sabrina as part celestial?
It’s hard to believe that heaven would just accept the murder of their own by Satanic witches. Eventually, they’re going to wonder where their fellows are. They should also notice the power imbalance bringing back old gods and the Eldritch terrors.
Why Did Lucifer Wait For So Long to Make Sabrina?
Lucifer complains about how long he waited for this fit consort for himself. But, why didn’t he do it earlier? If he wanted some unholy trinity, there were generations of witches that could’ve done that for him. Some of the witches are a few centuries old at least.
It suggests that there’s something about this particular time in history that is special and allows him to finally bring about hell on earth. It’s also strange that he didn’t share his prophecy with more of his witch followers if he wanted this to eventually happen. Maybe he’s just a really bad planner?
Why Does Theo See His Ancestor?
This was a very significant and recurring bit of magic in the first two seasons. For some reason, Theo’s ancestor Dorothea communicates with him and helps instruct him on how to protect his friends and Greendale. Why is that? In a show about magic, this bit of mortal magic begs to be explained. It’s stated that Dorothea helped protect the witches of Greendale from persecution, so it makes sense that she would connect with the descendant who befriended a witch. Yet, there’s no explanation of how this works or why this spirit and ability were introduced.
Where Are the Other Covens?
Other covens in the Church of Night have been referred to a few times. The fact that they have a high council certainly suggests their existence, and Lilith pretended to have been from one of them. But, how many are there and where are they? None have come to check in on the Greendale coven, and there hardly seems to be any communication with them aside from the “inter-coven meeting” mentioned in passing in season three. Gryla and the other lone witches were certainly surprised to hear from them. It’s strange that they heard from the pagan witches before other Satanic witches.
