Witches

“	Women who identify as witches are born as such. And their abilities, which we call powers, are part of who they are. Part of their DNA, if you will.	”
	— Cordelia Goode[src]

Witches and Warlocks are humans gifted with the genetic heredity to affect change by supernatural or paranormal means, an innate connection to the elements and forces of nature that allows them to practice "witchcraft". Because of their unnatural abilities and supposed connections with dark forces, witches have historically been feared, persecuted, and hunted. Many escaped the Salem Witch Trials and sought refuge in New Orleans. As the witches settled in their new territory, a rivalry between them and the native Voodoo practitioners arose, and is still ongoing in present-day New Orleans. Among the population of witches, there is always one witch per generation who possesses a class of seven powers considered to be advanced acts of magic. This witch is known as the "Supreme".

Warlocks are considered to be inferior to witches, as the testosterone present within men is believed to be a known inhibitor of magical ability, impeding access to the ethereal realm. For this reason, no warlock has ever risen to the ranks of The Alpha (the male equivalent of the Supreme), but the warlocks believe that one among them would eventually usurp the Supremacy.^[1]

Although Cordelia Goode states most witches derive their powers from light and use their inherent gifts to do good in the world, there are in fact other witches who use their powers for sadistic and frightening purposes, either out of worship to Satan or other malevolent gods, in exchange for wealth, power and eternal youth.

To date, witches have thus far appeared in five seasons: Coven, Hotel, Roanoke, Apocalypse, and Delicate.

History

? - 42 A.D.

At some point after the creation of the world, the angel Lucifer was cast down from Heaven by God, thus becoming the lord of Hell and the ruler of demons. Through presently unknown means, a human woman named Siobhan swore her devotion to him, and in exchange for her servitude and undying loyalty, would retain everlasting life and the ability to wield dark magic from him.

In Western Europe, a peasant woman gave birth to twin girls after removing them from her womb via cesarean section, shortly after dying of blood loss and starvation alongside her newborn children. Miraculously, the three were brought back to life by a mysterious woman adorned in a headdress of raven feathers: Siobhan. After revealing herself to the mortal, Siobhan offered to share her power and eternal life with her, with the caveat that the woman would pledge herself and her daughters' undying loyalty to her. Indebted to Siobhan for rescuing her, the woman agreed, thus inducting herself and her daughters as the first of Siobhan's coven. Delegated with the roles of acting as Siobhan's spies and informants, they would become known as the Delicate witches.

1243

Per the stipulations of her agreement with Siobhan, this woman would raise her twin daughters in Galway, Ireland by teaching them the ways of Devil worship. Under Siobhan's leadership, the Delicates would target unsuspecting women to bare the Devil's sons, manipulating these women into believing their wishes would be granted at the cost of them unknowingly giving birth to monsters; babies with long black talons and sharpened teeth. Afterward, these women would either be forced to pay the consequences of offering up their children to Siobhan in exchange for their desires being granted, or avoid their fates entirely by becoming Satanic witches themselves.

One of the twins, Adeline, began to object to the ways of her family and was promptly punished by her mother, who gave herself a mark on her chin with the blood of a placenta she was devouring. Thenceforth, this mark would become the mark of all Delicate witches, "bound by blood, together, forever", and would supernaturally develop on all women inducted into the coven as a signifier of their subjugation.

The 14th Century

Sometime during the reign of the Roman Empire, a woman named Scáthach was born from a union between the Celtic Druids and their Roman conquerors.

As a young woman, Scáthach hid as a stowaway on a ship pioneered by British colonists on a voyage to the New World, bringing death and sickness to all in attendance. Upon arriving at shore, Scáthach was blamed by inland soldiers for enraging the Sea Gods and sentenced to be burned at the stake as a witch. Seeking to cheat death, Scáthach petitioned a pantheon of ancient bloodthirsty deities known as "The Old Gods" to bestow her dark magical powers, thereafter allowing her to massacre the soldiers and escape into the wild. She would become the first Supreme Witch of North America.

1555

In Hampton Court, England, Queen Mary I (aka Mary Tudor, or "Bloody Mary") delivered her own baby after throwing everyone else out of the room. Her sister Elizabeth entered the bloody birthing suite, seemingly alone with the new mother, who insisted that the newborn heir to the throne was a monster. Two women garbed in black, Delicates, materialized from the shadows, telling the queen it was time to part with the child, claiming he had waited six thousand years to be born. Elizabeth was incredulous that Mary would promise her child to these witches in exchange for a fruitful kingdom, and after protesting the witches' assertion that she would promise her own child to them as well, as her sister had done, was cursed with a barren womb by the Delicate witches. As Elizabeth doubled over in pain, the witches vanished with the newborn.

1589

Scáthach came across the exiled former leader of the Roanoke Colony, Thomasin White, and saved her from being devoured by a wild boar, in exchange for her soul. Under Scáthach's orders, Thomasin began to practice the witch's religion after returning to the colony with a vengeance, venerating the Old Gods by partaking in rituals involving the sacrifices of animals and humans, including children.

After Thomasin's son staged a rebellion against his mother, Scáthach convinced Thomasin to slaughter the entire colony in order to tether their spirits to the curse of the October Blood Moon, ensnaring them to the land long after their deaths. After Thomasin did as instructed, Scáthach killed her with her own blade, completing the sacrament. From this point forward, Scáthach would command the Roanoke Colony ghosts to sacrifice any human being who crossed their path every night of the October Blood Moon, forever honoring their traditions to the Old Gods and allowing Scáthach to remain immortal long into present times.

1590

A witch named Agnes Sampson concocted a formula to kill warlocks by making them bleed from the inside out, but was burned at the stake by her sister witches before being able to attempt it.^[2]

1692

It has been attested that the witches of Salem received their power from the Voodoo slave girl Tituba, though evidently, their abilities stem from a genetic affliction that is passed down through bloodlines.^[3][4] During the Salem Witch Trials, witches in the northeastern United States faced persecution and decided to flee south in the midst of the hysteria. However, their ailing Supreme, Prudence Mather, was unable to make the journey due to tuberculosis, and decided to take her own life in a ritual known as the Sacred Taking. This selfless act allowed a new Supreme to rise and lead the coven to safety, where they eventually settled in New Orleans. The generations of witches to follow would become known as the "Salem descendants".^[5][4]

The 18th and 19th centuries

Empress Joséphine Bonaparte, wife of Napoleon and a proud witch, cultivated one of the largest rose gardens in Europe. Joséphine enchanted her roses so that the colors she created remained fixed as she wanted them.^[1]

1868

The reigning Supreme of the time, Marianne Wharton, purchased Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies as a safe haven where witches could gather to learn how to control their natural-born powers.^[4]

1918

Russian Princess Anastasia Romanov, secretly a witch, attempted to use a protection spell to prevent herself and her family from being executed by a group of treasonous soldiers throwing a coup against the royal family, but was not strong enough to maintain it and was murdered.^[6]

1919

The witches of Miss Robichaux's Academy killed the serial killer known as The Axeman, putting an end to his murderous reign of terror in New Orleans, whilst unknowingly trapping his ghost in the Academy. In 1926, a witch was tried and burned at the stake for inflicting grievous bodily harm against another witch. That year, Supreme Mimi DeLongpre was presented with an antique brooch, and announced Anna Leigh Leighton as her successor.

1961-1977

Over the next ten years, the witches of the Salem Coven found a new enemy in the local Voodoo tribe led by Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen, motivated in part by racial tension between the two groups.

In 1961, in Natchez, Mississippi, an unaware witch named Coby Dellum was captured by toymaker Samuel Van Wirt during a job interview and forced to play life-or-death games in a dollhouse Van Wirt built for his son, Otis, in his bid to find the "perfect" mother for him. After very narrowly escaping, Coby was trapped in a porcelain shell by Van Wirt, only to be rescued by Supreme Witch Anna Leigh Leighton, who had arrived with another witch after being made aware of Coby's telekinetic distress signal. As Anna's sister witch disposed of Van Wirt with Pyrokinesis, Anna explained to Coby that she was a witch, and offered to bring her to Miss Robichaux's Academy in New Orleans to not only be kept safe under the protection of other witches, but to learn how to control her powers. Coby agreed and, sympathizing with Otis for being left an orphan, decided to bring him with her. To disguise his true identity as Van Wirt's son, Otis went by his middle name "Spalding" from then on, and would grow up to serve the witches of the Academy as their butler.

In 1967, in a cafe in New York City, singer Frank Sinatra argued with actress Mia Farrow on the future of their relationship. with Sinatra threatening to break off their marriage if she did not adhere to being a stay-at-home mother. Mia, in response, returned to the set of Rosemary's Baby and put on the prosthetic of a pregnant belly for an upcoming scene, which film director Roman Polanski informed her would consist of her walking across the street and stepping into actual traffic. Despite her apprehension, Mia went through with the scene, crying and scared. After returning to her trailer, she hallucinated she was losing blood from the prosthetic, as if having an actual miscarriage. A woman stepped behind the door of her dressing room and reassured Mia she could help her, convincing her to remove the fake womb. In doing so, Mia realized the blood was gone. Upon opening the door to see who the woman was, she encountered Siobhan, holding the script of Rosemary's Baby in her hands. It is likely around this period Siobhan began to refer to herself as "The Auteur", as an allegory not only to her role in infiltrating Hollywood behind the scenes, but in being revered by her coven of Delicate witches as their leader, in a role similar to the Supreme of the Salem Coven.

In 1971, the bloody conflict between the Salem Coven and Voodoo tribe finally came to an end when Marie Laveau and Anna Leigh Leighton signed a truce that entailed neither of their sides crossing into the other's territory.^[7]

Shortly after the truce was declared, Anna was brutally murdered by Fiona Goode in her endeavor to become the next Supreme. The only witness to this event was Spalding who, due to his infatuation with Fiona, cut out his own tongue when he learned that it had been enchanted to speak the truth by Fiona's rival, Myrtle Snow. The Council on Witchcraft presumed Anna to have been killed by the Voodoo tribe instead. They identified Fiona as Anna's successor to the Supremacy and had her perform the Seven Wonders. Fiona successfully did this and was declared the new Supreme, though she ultimately used her power to satisfy her own selfish needs instead of the betterment of the Coven.^[7] In the 1970s, the witch Mary Oneida Toups led an alternative coven at Popps' Fountain in the French Quarter.^[4]

At some point during the early to mid-1970s, Siobhan attended a meeting with reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Andrew Hill to convince him to work with her and the Delicate witches, offering to make him the number one fertility specialist in New York City in exchange for consenting to her and her coven performing rites of black magic on his patients. At his refusal, Siobhan threatened him with death to force him to agree to her terms, thereafter granting him overnight success and eternal youth.

Around 1977, Siobhan gave birth to her own biological son, Dex Harding, leaving him in the care of her mortal lover to be raised without ever knowing his true mother’s identity, allowing Siobhan to manipulate her son without his knowledge as he grew. Due to his magical heritage, any children conceived by Dex would prove invaluable to the Delicate covens’ goal: creating the purest demonic offspring that the witches could raise in their image, allowing them to build an army to take over the world and claim dominion over society.

1987

In Manhattan, a young fashion designer named Mavis Preecher fell pregnant after a one-night-stand and, through unknown means, struck a deal with the Delicate witches to become successful in her chosen career at the cost of her baby. While experiencing a painful labor, her obstetrician, Dr. Hill, antagonized her, reminding her of the agreement she made with the witches. The delivery was bloody and terrifying, and it was not long before two of the black-clad witches arrived to steal the baby, leaving Preecher screaming in fear.

2007

Witch hunter Henry Renard allied himself with Marie Laveau in a joint effort to eliminate all the Salem descendants. He married Fiona's daughter, Cordelia, under the alias of "Hank Foxx", and used her research to secretly hunt witches.^[8]

2013

Due to many families willingly deciding not to reproduce, Miss Robichaux's Academy's student body dwindled from as many as sixty young witches to a total of four: Nan, Queenie, Madison Montgomery, and Zoe Benson.^[4]

With her reign as Supreme coming to an end, Fiona returned to New Orleans upon learning that a witch by the name of Misty Day was burnt at the stake by a mob of Christians, who had witnessed Misty ressurrect a dead bird.^[4] Freeing the immortal serial killer Delphine LaLaurie from her grave, Fiona learned Delphine had been granted eternal life by Marie Laveau and sought to gain immortality herself by bargaining with the Voodoo Queen, who had been alive for centuries.^[3] Unsuccessful, Fiona resorted to murdering her successor to the Supremacy in a bid to keep her power, believing it to be Madison after learning of the girl's magical talents.^[9] When the Council arrived to investigate Madison's disappearance, Fiona learned from Cordelia that Madison could not have been the next Supreme due to a heart condition. That Halloween night, Cordelia was blinded by an acid attack orchestrated by the witch hunter corporation, Delphi Trust.^[7][10]

In retaliation for the Minotaur's dismemberment at Fiona's hands, Marie Laveau declared war against the Coven and raised an army of the undead to siege Miss Robichaux's Academy. With Fiona tending to an injured Cordelia, the young witches were left to defend themselves from Marie Laveau's onslaught. Using a chainsaw and raw magical power, Zoe took out the zombie army by herself.^[11]

In light of recent attacks against the Coven, the Council demanded Fiona's immediate abdication as Supreme. However, with Queenie's Injury Transference ability, she was able to frame Council member Myrtle Snow for Cordelia's assault and had her burnt at the stake. Misty Day, having resurrected herself, stumbled upon Myrtle's charred corpse and used her power of Resurgence to bring her back to life.^[11]

With Fiona having neglected her duty as Supreme to reveal her successor, Cordelia tasked Zoe, Madison, Misty, and Queenie with performing the Test of the Seven Wonders. Misty died during the Trial of Descensum, her soul able to travel to but not return from Hell, and Zoe died during the Trial of Transmutation after accidentally transmuting onto the Academy's metal picket fence. Myrtle, seeing the dire situation at hand, convinced Cordelia to perform the Test of the Seven Wonders as well. Cordelia excelled at six of the Seven Wonders, and after performing the seventh to resurrect Zoe, Vitalum Vitalis, she ascended to the Supremacy.

Having turned against the Delicate witches and pledged herself to the goddess Hestia instead, Adeline Harding was promptly targeted by her former coven, who staged her death as a kitchen fire in her restaurant in Brooklyn. Her widowed husband Dex was unaware of his wife's true nature as a witch or her direct association with his real mother, remaining unaware of his mother's involvement in his relationship with Adeline.

2014

Cordelia exposed the existence of witches to the world during a live television interview, hoping to start a new era where witches would no longer have to live in fear, and this encouraged many more witches to step out of the shadows to attend the Academy. In a conversation with Myrtle, Cordelia stated that they would need to find more buildings to house them all in.

Shortly after Cordelia revealed the existence of witches to the world, the Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men, an academy for warlocks, was destroyed by fearful locals using Molotov cocktails. All that remained of the original site was a sculpture left standing from an area which was once the school's gardens. It was converted into an entrance to a new secret underground school where the warlocks could practice their abilities in secret, unimpeded by the concerns of the outside world.^[1]

That same year, couple Matt and Shelby Miller moved from Los Angeles, California to a Big Shaker mansion in North Carolina, along with Matt's sister Lee. Soon after, they were terrified by the presence of the Roanoke Colony ghosts led by the ancient First Supreme Witch, Scáthach. Scáthach seemed to take a particular interest in Matt for unidentified reasons, enchanting his mind with Concilium to force him to engage in sexual intercourse with her and erase his memories of the event, much to Shelby's horror. The couple narrowly escaped during the night of an October Blood Moon and would relay their experiences for the hit televisized documentary series "My Roanoke Nightmare".'

2015

In November, Queenie won tickets to attend a live studio audience for the The Price is Right in Los Angeles, with Cordelia bewitching the tickets so that she would win big money on the show. Deciding to take a vacation to LA, Queenie made reservations to stay at the Hotel Cortez. After checking in and being recognized by the desk clerk as "one of the witches" from Cordelia's televised interview, Queenie immediately detected "bad juju" in her room from her intuitive powers, which proved to be correct as she was attacked by Ramona Royale, a starving vampire. Although Queenie was able to defend herself with her Injury Transference, she was ultimately killed by James Patrick March, a ghost who could not be affected by her Voodoo magic due to already being deceased, leaving her witchcraft without a physical body to affect. As Queenie bled out, she was feasted on by Ramona, who claimed to feel "bears running through her veins" from consuming her blood.^[12]

Shortly after Queenie's disappearance, Cordelia arrived at the hotel in search of her fallen sister, thereafter encountered Queenie's ghost playing card games with James March to cure her eternal boredom. Despite her many attempts at freeing Queenie's ghost with charms and incantations, Cordelia was unable to free Queenie's spirit from the hotel due to the buildings evil nature cancelling out her magic. Tearfully, Cordelia was forced to say goodbye to Queenie, and would come to see the event as her biggest failure as Supreme.^[13]

2016

With the smash success of My Roanoke Nightmare proving to be a cultural phenomenon, a sequel series titled Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell was soon after greenlit for development by Hollywood producer Sidney Aaron James, who wished to continue exploiting Matt, Shelby and Lee Miller's story by placing them under the same roof as the actors who portrayed their fictionalized counterparts on the original show. Experiencing marital difficulties, Matt and Shelby reluctantly returned to the haunted estate they left behind a year prior, but for very different reasons. While Shelby sought to patch up her relationship with Matt, Matt had become obsessed with Scáthach, spellbound by her magic into growing obsessed with her, which is what dissolved his and Shelby's marriage, unbeknownst to Shelby. Upon encountering Matt having sex with Scáthach in the house's basement, Shelby removed her husband from the ancient witch, who quickly vanished, and proceeded to beat Matt's head in with a crowbar, killing him. Shortly after, Scáthach encountered Matt's sister Lee, who had been left severely injured and abandoned in the surrounding forest. Offering her a boar heart that epitomized the dispension of her free will, Scáthach took control over Lee with her powers and influenced her to massacre the few remaining survivors who had not been killed by the Roanoke Colony ghosts or through other means, leaving Lee the sole survivor of the massacre and a subject of scrutiny in the media.

2017

Ariel Augustus, Grand Chancellor of the Hawthorne School, became aware of a young boy with special abilities named Michael Langdon.

He showed his fellow colleagues video footage of Michael using his powers to kill a police officer, and convinced them to have Michael enrolled at the Hawthorne School to hone his power. Ariel believed that Michael could be the Alpha, a powerful warlock who could supplant the Supreme and pave the way for warlocks to be respected by their more powerful female counterparts.^[1]

Under normal circumstances, the Warlock Council at the Hawthorne School would test the proficiency of a student's power level after a year of study, but Michael's magical proficiency showed that he warranted this test after only one month. Michael's power and skill proved that he was the most powerful warlock the school had ever seen, and thus Ariel requested an immediate meeting with Cordelia Goode, Myrtle Snow, and Zoe Benson to request Michael be allowed to take the Test of the Seven Wonders. Much to Ariel's anger, Cordelia refused.^[1] Michael, overhearing Cordelia's refusal, traveled to the Hotel Cortez and Hell, respectively, to resurrect the ghosts of Queenie, Madison Montgomery and Misty Day, showing off his unprecedented power and changing Cordelia's mind. At the sight of her revived sisters, Cordelia fainted and had a premonition of Miss Robichaux's Academy after an apocalyptic event, making her suspicious of Michael and his motives.

Ariel Augustus and Baldwin Pennypacker conspired to kill all of the witches of Miss Robichaux's Academy, but were thwarted by Cordelia. Ariel and Baldwin were sentenced to death by burning at the stake, along with Miriam Mead, Michael's adoptive mother and the individual responsible for the murder of warlock John Henry Moore, who opposed Michael. As witches have long stood by the agreement that no witch is allowed to kill a condemned warlock, John was allowed to light the flames in Cordelia's place.^[2]

Taking heed of a resurrected John's warnings that Michael was not merely a warlock, but a demon, Madison Montgomery and warlock Behold Chablis were sent by Cordelia to Michael's place of birth in Los Angeles to discover the true nature of his origins, where they uncovered he was none other than the Antichrist, the son of the Devil and the Biblical ender of days.

Michael, devastated and enraged by the death of Miriam, orchestrated attacks on Miss Robichaux's Academy and the Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men with help from the new Voodoo Queen, Dinah Stevens, massacring nearly every witch and warlock within both premises.^[6] After Mallory used Tempus Infinituum to kill Michael in 2015, thus reversing and preventing the events of the Apocalypse in 2021, these attacks were undone.^[14]

2019

Siobhan, having been keeping tabs on her son Dex from afar, eventually became aware of his newest relationship with childhood actress Anna Victoria Alcott, and began to set in motion events that would ensure Anna would become the latest carrier of a demonic child. At a support group for women struggling with infertility, Siobhan befriended Anna under false pretenses, offering help her through her infertility by suggesting she see Dr. Andrew Hill. As Anna let her guard down with Siobhan and allowed her into her life as her publicist, Siobhan orchestrated her Delicate witches into tormenting Anna, giving each member of the coven a distinct role in manipulating her life to spy on Anna's days and nights, ensuring her pregnancy went as planned.

Hierarchy

The Supreme Witch

The Supreme Witch, known more colloquially as The Supreme, is a worldwide status recognized among the witches descended from the Salem Witch Trials. While most witches possess only a handful of inherent supernatural gifts, the Supreme is said to embody multiple, if not all. To be identified as the Supreme, the witch in question must have mastery over 7 distinct abilities, known as 'The Seven Wonders'. Historically, there is said to be only one Supreme per generation (approximately 40-50 years). Part of being a Supreme means no ailments or diseases, until a new Supreme ascends and the Supreme before them dies of rapidly declining health.

The Alpha

The Alpha is a male warlock with abilities that rival the female Supreme. Only the Alpha is considered a "Level 4" warlock, with even members of the Warlock Council being only Level 3. The Alpha is prophesied to come, and the Warlock Council believes he will usurp the Supreme, allowing the warlocks to reign above the witches for the first time in history. The witches believe that the concept of the Alpha is impossible, as the testosterone found in men's bodies prohibits their magical abilities and makes them inferior or less effective in practicing magic. After discovering Michael Langdon and taking him in, the Warlock Council believes that he is the Alpha.

The Auteur

The Auteur is an ancient and evil witch who has command over her own coven of malevolent witches, known as Delicates. However, unlike the Supreme Witch, who inherits her magical powers and is born with her gifts, the Auteur has pledged herself to Satan in exchange for receiving eternal youth and wielding magic through sacrificial dark arts. The Auteur is also capable of inducting other women into her coven and blessing them with magic; namely, women who were all deceived into giving birth to Satan's children and willingly gave them up to the Auteur to receive wealth, power and success. Thus far, Siobhan Corbyn is the only known Auteur.

The Witches' Council

The governing body of the witches and warlocks, formerly depicted as very old-fashioned elders, as displayed by their use of typewriters in the modern times. They are responsible for investigating issues and crimes that revolve around the coven, concealing witchcraft to the uninitiated, and welcoming potential students to Miss Robichaux's Academy. The council only visits the coven on very important cases, such as the death of another witch.

The Warlock Council

The Warlock Council is the governing body of warlocks at Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men. They are depicted as middle-aged, "Level 3" warlocks, as displayed by the fact they still use typewriters in modern times. However, the Supreme holds the most authoritative power in the Council, as Cordelia was able to refuse the warlocks' request to conduct the test of the Seven Wonders on a candidate they thought to be the Alpha.^[1] In the original timeline, as of 2018, all of the members of the Warlock Council are deceased. After Mallory reversed the events of Apocalypse, their deaths were reversed.^[14]

Chancellors

Chancellors are high-ranking witches and warlocks of unspecified authority. According to Myrtle Snow, chancellors are appointed by the Supreme.^[7] Ariel Augustus has been the Grand Chancellor for an undisclosed period of time.^[7]

Levels

After a year of studying at the Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men, all students are individually tested to determine their current level of magical capabilities, with Level 4 being the most advanced. In the history of the Salem coven, no warlock has ever exceeded Level Three, but it was prophesied that a Level Four warlock - known as the Alpha - would emerge and supplant the female Supreme in power.

Magic

A number of magical powers and abilities have been showcased in Coven, Hotel, Roanoke, Apocalypse and Delicate.

Some abilities are inherent or reflexive to certain witches, that is they do not need to focus or concentrate. It is not rare for a witch to manifest more than three powers, though a Supreme is required to have at least seven (the Seven Wonders), though not necessarily all possible powers. It is said that the reason that a Supreme is so powerful is that she is the physical embodiment of many and or all powers. According to Cordelia Goode, witches draw their power from light^[1],  though evidently, there are other witches lurking in the shadows of their benevolent counterparts who draw their power from dark forces, and look less human as a result.^[3]

• Witches are shown to be able to use their powers collectively.
• Certain abilities can also be triggered by certain events and substances.
• Voodoo and witchcraft practitioners share certain powers.

Weaknesses

• Mortality - Despite having magical powers, witches and warlocks are still humans and share many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural beings (e.g. age, decapitation, disease, heart-failure, suffocation, being drained of blood by a vampire, gunshot or stab wounds etc.)^{[4][9][11][15][10][16][17][18][19][20][2][6][14]}. However, there are many means through which they are able return from unnatural death, either through their own power or through the powers of other witches and warlocks; Vitalum Vitalis^{[7][17][19][14]} and Resurgence^{[11][15][15][5]} are two examples of this. Additionally, some witches are able to resist mortality entirely via the annual sacrifices of animals and human beings to ancient deities, rendering them immortal^[21].

• Disbelief - The act of denying or disbelieving in one's potential could cause a witch or warlock to inadvertently suppress their magical power.^{[4][16][17][22][23][19][14]}

• Emotions - A witch or warlock's magical powers are subject to the influence of their emotional state. Strong emotions such as happiness or anger can fuel a witch's power, while emotions such as fear and sadness may prevent a witch or warlock from properly accessing their powers. According to Myrtle Snow, witches' powers only develop as fast as their cerebellum allows.^{[4][9][17][19][6][14]}

• Distraction - Denying a witch or warlock from concentrating or giving full attention to their spells may render them ineffective. Since some spells are spoken verbally and take time to take effect, witches and warlocks are vulnerable to attack before a spell's completion^[20]. Additionally, certain spells require items, tools, and/or special events during casting, therefore they can't be invoked on mere whim.^[6]

• Witchcraft / Voodoo - Witches and warlocks are still susceptible to the powers of other witches and warlocks^{[4][3][9][7][11][5][10][24][17][19][2][6][14]}. According to Marie Laveau^[3], the powers witches and warlocks possess originally came from voodooists', and in some cases, voodooists are in fact more powerful than witches and warlocks. Dinah Stevens was able to singlehandedly use a ritual to break a protection spell around Miss Robichaux's Academy^[6], for example, despite the spell having been cast by the Supreme herself. Voodoo may not always be more powerful, however, as Zoe Benson was able to successfully cancel out a spell performed by Marie Laveau in an attempt to harm the Acedemy with an army of zombies^[11], and the Identity Spell Cordelia Goode cast on Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt and Mallory to disguise that they were witches could not be perceived by Dinah^[14].

• Magical Limitations - Witches and warlocks cannot retrieve someone who did not return from the afterlife due to Descensum,^[20] nor retrieve a ghost trapped inside of a hellmouth. According to Cordelia Goode,^[1] witches gain their powers from light, and thus the power of a hellmouth can negate their abilities. Despite this, passive powers such as divination remain unaffected.^[1][25] It is unknown if this also affects witches who gain their powers from darker sources.^[21] The excessive use of magic can also lead to overexertion, resulting in disorientation, nose/eye bleeds, unconsciousness, or if taken to the extreme, death.^{[4][5][16][26][17][1][6]}

• Spiritual Entities - Deceased witches and warlocks will lose their ability to perform rituals and spells, and all of their active powers if they become ghosts or pass into the afterlife^[17][1]. Some magical powers have no effect on ghosts, as they are already deceased and are immune to injury^[18]. In Misty Day's case, the fact that she could still revive a dissected frog in Hell relied entirely on how that afterlife worked, as Hell's sole function is to cause the most extreme distress for the soul. As a result, the frog did not come back to life because of Misty's power, but rather because Hell wanted to torture her with the image of reviving a frog over and over again only for it to be sliced open in front of her while it was still alive, on a boundless loop.^[17][20]

• Higher Beings - Demons, Angels, The Antichrist and Deities are much more powerful than witches and warlocks. Magical powers possibly have no effect on them, though Mallory was able to blast the Antichrist with telekinesis when enraged.
  • The Antichrist - The Antichrist seems to be much more powerful than witches and warlocks, and is able to easily deal with them. Despite this, he still considers them to be his only real threat in his quest to destroy the world.^[6][14]
  • Hestia - At least for Satanic witches, chanting incantations of worship in the name of Hestia will cause any witches who worship the Devil to quickly revert to their true ages as their immortality is stripped away, causing them to rapidly decay and die.

Known Witches and Warlocks

Supreme Witches Scáthach Prudence Mather † The Unnamed Supreme † Marianne Wharton † Mimi DeLongpre † Anna Leigh Leighton † Fiona Goode † Cordelia Goode Mallory The Witches' Council Elsa Lanchester Bartholomew Myrtle Snow † Cecily Pembroke † Quentin Fleming † Zoe Benson Queenie Madison Montgomery † The Warlock Council Ariel Augustus John Henry Moore Baldwin Pennypacker Behold Chablis Delicates Adeline Harding (formerly) † Ivy Ehrenreich † Nicolette Siobhan Corbyn † Sonia Shawcross Talia Thompson Ashley Ashleigh Susan Anna Victoria Alcott

Zoe's great-grandmother † Nan † Misty Day Mary Oneida Toups † Leslie † Kaylee † Millie Rosie Christine Sunny Chattahoochee Forest Witch † Helen Stevie Nicks Unnamed disgraced Russian witch † Wanda Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt William Banks Joséphine Bonaparte † Mallory's grandmother (presumably) Bubbles McGee Agnes Sampson † Anastasia Romanov † Coby Dellum Many other unnamed witches and warlocks

Gallery

Notes

• The way the Supreme is chosen is similar to how Slayers in the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be "activated", requiring a previous Slayer to die in order for a random person to potentially be the next generation's Slayers. Both Slayers and the Supreme are generally female and both shows have witches and supernatural creatures.
• The earliest known American coven (in the series) are descendants of Salem witches, but mythology relating to witches existed beforehand, indicating other types of witches may exist; Scáthach and Marie Laveau are two examples of this. Also, the Delphi Trust had been hunting witches since before the Salem Witch Trials.
• The Witches' Council seemed to employ Albino Guards as security escorts for protection. It is unknown if these guards are warlocks themselves.
• The former Supreme Mimi DeLongpre shares the same surname as supposed distant cousins of Constance Langdon and parents of Michael Langdon in her cover story in the final episode of Murder House. "He was the child of distant cousins on my mother's side. The DeLongpres of Virginia, Eveline and Steve."
• Scáthach is the first known human to become a witch in the AHS universe, opposed to being genetically born one. This may imply that normal humans can become witches through the sacrificial worship of the Old Gods. Although Cordelia Goode believes most witches possess magic which is inherently benevolent in nature, not evil or violent, Scáthach is evidence that evil witches do in fact exist.
• Most witches share some disdainful outlook on warlocks, which many warlocks share in return.
• In Return to Murder House, it is confirmed that Michael Langdon is not a warlock, but the Anti-Christ, sustaining John Henry Moore's description of Michael's powers being dark and malevolent. Unlike other beings, Michael is also born from the union between a ghost and a human, and can call on the power of Satan due to this status.
• A few notable female figures in history are portrayed to be witches, such as Joséphine Bonaparte and Anastasia Romanov. Leonardo da Vinci was thought be a warlock by Myrtle Snow.^[17]
• According to Behold Chablis, alcohol can increase powers within.^[1]

References

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