Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending explained - everything you need to know after watching
Here's the major questions we have after watching the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has been on Netflix for a whole week now so if you've haven't finished it yet, you've no excuse. Get watching! If you have seen the shocking Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending then you know it leaves us with many, many questions about what to expect for a second season of the witchy Netflix Original. Who killed Connor? Does Sabrina have a secret twin? And will she ever return to Baxter high after the events of the finale? We're going to be talking about all this and more in our Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending analysis below, so if you haven't finished the series yet, turn away now and come back when you have. Everyone else can read on and find out what we think really happened to the teenage witch...
1. Who killed Connor Kemper?
This is one of the first questions that ever came up in the show and it still hadn't been answered by the time the credits rolled on the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending. If you don't remember who Connor Kemper is, he's the young warlock who was stabbed to death and brought to the Spellman Mortuary in the very first episode. Although his adoptive parents didn't know he was a warlock, Ambrose discovered that Connor certainly knew and that he even had a pet familiar which he spoke to. His death made the Spellman family uneasy and Ambrose even suggested that there might be a witch hunter in the area, but we still don't know who killed Connor when season 1 comes to a close.
It's later revealed that the Kinkle family are descendants of witch hunters, so could it be that either Harvey's older brother, Tommy, or their dad or grandad carried on the family business and killed Connor, never knowing how close they really were to the Church of Night coven. This would certainly be an interesting twist, but the truth is that we really don't know who killed Connor. It could've been witch hunters, it could've been mortals, or it could've been other witches and warlocks who made it look like a brutal stabbing to cover their tracks. There's any number of reasons why they might want Connor dead, but hopefully this plot thread will be picked up in season 2 and we'll find out exactly who killed him (and why).
2. How did Sabrina parents really die?
Because there's no way it was just a car accident like everyone says, right? Chilling Adventures made it pretty clear from the beginning that there was something else going on with the death of Sabrina's parents. The Weird sisters were the first to plant the idea that it was no mere accident in Sabrina's mind, and when she asked Father Blackwood about it, he was very shifty about the whole thing. And well he should be, seeing as he had the most to gain from at least Edward Spellman's death. Although he trained Edward, Sabrina's father eventually outgrew him and rose to be High Priest of the Church of Night, the most powerful position within the coven. When Edward died, Father Blackwood became High Priest. Enough said, right?
Then there's everything Nichola told Sabrina about her father's radical ideas. Sabrina's Academy of Unseen Arts classmate implied that Edward wanted to change things and do away with the Church of Night's more outdated traditions. He'd already flouted one of their most sacred rules by marrying Sabrina's mother, a mortal - and perhaps having a half-witch, half-mortal daughter had made him rethink the coven's ways. We know that's the opposite of what Father Blackwood stands for, and when he became High Priest, he reintroduced many of the old traditions, such as the Feast of Feasts we see in episode 7.
Basically, Father Blackwood had a lot to gain from Sabrina's parents' death, but it could have been any number of warlocks or witches who opposed their union and decided to do away with them. Remember when Sabrina runs into her mum in mortal limbo (more on that later)? She says: "But they took her. They took my baby after the baptism," which definitely suggests that something sinister was going on right before Sabrina's parents died. The only thing we know for sure is that it definitely wasn't your run-of-the-mill car crash. Wouldn't a powerful warlock be able to protect himself and his wife from such a mortal accident? And have you noticed how whenever someone dies in movies and TV shows under suspicious circumstances, it's always a 'car crash'? Car crash is basically just code for conspiracy at this point.
3. Is Sabrina a twin?
This is something which occured to me after seeing Sabrina's vision in episode 1. If you can't quite remember the moment I'm talking about, it comes when Sabrina is in the bath trying to get rid of the curse the Weird sisters put on her. She falls asleep and has a vision/dream of her parents who carry a baby (presumably her) and put it down next to another baby. One child has human feet and the other has hooves… creepy, right? While this certainly isn't enough to confirm that Sabrina herself is a twin, the fact that Lady Blackwood gives birth to twins during the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending seems to mirror this idea. And in fact, we presume that Sabrina's mum is talking about her when she tells Sabrina that "they took my baby" in limbo, but she could actually be talking about another baby - one which was never returned. Finally, the baby's Satyr-like feet seem to imply that that twin is a demon/evil, but which one is Sabrina?
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4. Who were the other members of Ambrose's plot to blow up the Vatican?
It's eventually revealed that Ambrose is under magical house arrest because he was part of a plot to blow up the Vatican. While I'm curious as to why the magical community cares about blowing up a church of "the false god," the more pressing question seems to be: who were his co-conspirators? It's the question he was asked at his trial in exchange for leniency, and it's the question Father Blackwood asks him when they talk about Ambrose coming to work for him at the Academy. Both times, Ambrose refuses to reveal who his co-conspirators are, despite the fact that he's clearly not the ringleader. Why was he the only one who got caught? Why did they want to blow up the Vatican in the first place? And who is he protecting? There's much we don't know about Ambrose's past yet, but hopefully season 2 will answer at least a few of these questions.
5. Why is Susie seeing her dead ancestor?
This is a major question which isn't answered in the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending. Although I usually hate loose ends in TV shows, I love that there's such a juicy mystery to be solved in season 2 about Susie and her ancestor Dorothea Putnam. Why is Susie seeing her dead ancestor? Is Dorothea a ghost, or something else? It's obvious that Susie isn't just imagining Dorothea; the two have in-depth communications about everything from the mining accident to the Spellman witches, and Dorothea knows things Susie couldn't possibly know. Clearly, she's not just a figment of Susie' imagination.
Dorothea doesn't act like the ghosts we usually see on TV, but her appearance does have something in common with the ghosts Sabrina mets at the Academy who were harrowed to death, so perhaps this is just what ghosts look like in the Chilling Adventures world. If so, the other question is: why did she only start appearing to Susie recently? Did Susie's discovery of her as part of a school project lead to the ghost appearing to her descendent? And why is she appearing to Susie? Does she want something, or is she just lonely?
I guess the other possibility is that Susie isn't seeing Dorothea at all, but something else - perhaps a demon - which has taken on the guise of Dorothea to manipulate Susie for its own ends. The worrying thing is that Susie doesn't seem to think anything is odd about the fact that she's suddenly started seeing and communicating with her long dead ancestor, although that hasn't stopped her from hiding it from her friends and family…
6. Why is Sabrina's mum trapped in mortal limbo?
If you're anything like me, you were very surprised to see Sabrina run into her mum in mortal limbo when she was looking for Tommy's soul in episode 9. Why would her mother be trapped in limbo instead of crossing over to heaven or hell? Well, if you remember, when Sabrina was researching limbo to try and help Tommy, she discovered that limbo is "where the souls of unbaptised babies go when they perish, or the souls of people who died before their time." Sabrina's mum would certainly fall into the latter category of someone who died before their time, so presumably Sabrina's father, Edward, is also trapped in limbo (but in warlock/witch limbo, as there's a different limbo for mortals versus witches and warlocks).
7. Did Harvey really kill Tommy?
I hate to be that person (who am I kidding, I LOVE being that person), but we didn't actually see Harvey kill the resurrected Tommy (nor did we see a body), and you know the rules of TV - if you didn't see them die, they didn't… and even if you do, sometimes they come back anyway (*cough* Jon Snow *cough*). While I think it was obvious to everyone, including Harvey, that his brother was gone for good, I still wonder if he had it in him to kill whatever was residing in his brother's body. After all, Tommy is the one who protected, loved, and encouraged him his whole life. I don't know if Harvey could bring himself to kill him even if he knew that it wasn't really his brother. Let's just say I wouldn't be surprised if we find out in season 2 that Harvey and his dad are keeping zombie Tommy chained up in the basement and feeding him… 'meat,' to try and keep him under control.
8. Who is Madame Satan?
While the demon which the Devil sent to encourage Sabrina along the Path of Night remains namelessly living inside Mrs. Wardwell's body for the majority of the show, the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending reveals her true name. When the terrified Principal Hawthorne ask who she is, she replies: "I'm the Mother of Demons, the Dawn of Doom, Satan's concubine. I'm Lilith, dear boy. First Wife to Adam, saved from despair by a fallen angel. I call myself Madame Satan, in his honour." Talk about an impressive title. Daenerys better watch out!
A little more research shines some light on who exactly Madame Satan is and what we can expect from her in season 2. Spoilers: It's not good for Sabrina. Madame Satan first appeared in Archie Comics' Pep Comics back in 1941, but it's her storyline in the Chilling Adventures comics that we're most interested in. She's introduced at the end of issue 1 and becomes the main protagonist for the entire series. This version of Madame Satan was originally a witch named Iola (not dissimilar from Lilith, is it?) who dated Edward Spellman before he left her for Sabrina's mother Diana. Distraught that Edward chose a mortal over her, she kills herself (by jumping into a pit of lions, if you're wondering) and ends up in the pits of Gehenna, a place in the circle of Hell reserved for suicides, until two witches from Riverdale accidentally release her. Back on Earth, she kills Edward, torments Diana, and takes on the guise of a teacher at Sabrina's school to continue her revenge on the Spellman family. Sound familiar?
9. Why did Madame Satan's familiar suddenly start talking? Is that why she killed it?
One of the biggest disappointments for old-school Sabrina fans is that Salem doesn't talk in Chilling Adventures, but something happened during the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending that suggests he might in season 2. Right after Madame Satan reveals to Principal Hawthorne who she really is (just before eating him), she talks to her familiar, Stolas, the crow which has done her bidding throughout the series - who, amazingly, suddenly replies! "Oh, stop squawking and say it," she says. He answers: "Forgive me Madame, but doesn't it seem that Satan is grooming Sabrina to reign at his side, not you?"
He's referring to something which Madame Satan says earlier, which I'll get to in a minute, but the more interesting question for now is why he suddenly started talking. Has Stolas always been able to talk and this is just the first time we get to see it? Or has he chosen to remain silent until this point for some reason? The fact that Madame Satan then kills him would seem to imply that he said something wrong, but I get the impression that this is not unusual behaviour for the pair. Perhaps certain witches always kill their familiars when they start talking, learn too much, and start questioning their plans? It's just a theory for now, but either way, I think it's safe to say we'll hear from Salem in season 2.
10. What does the Devil want with Sabrina?
This is the biggest question from the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending. What does the Devil want with our teenage witch? We see him go to extraordinary lengths throughout Chilling Adventures to get Sabrina to pledge her allegiance to him, and something tells me that that's just the first step in what he has planned for her. Madame Satan believes that she's grooming Sabrina to take her place as the Devil's foot soldier, so she can become the Queen of Hell - but as Stolas said, that's not necessarily the case. I tend to agree and think it's much more likely that the Devil wants Sabrina to reign beside him in Hell. But why? What's so special about Sabrina? She's not even a full witch. Does she have some particularly strong powers which would make her useful? Or is there something dark inside her which makes the Devil think he's found his soulmate?
Continue to Page 2 for more about the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending
Lauren O'Callaghan is the former Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar+. You'd typically find Lauren writing features and reviews about the latest and greatest in pop culture and entertainment, and assisting the teams at Total Film and SFX to bring their excellent content onto GamesRadar+. Lauren is now the digital marketing manager at the National Trust.