Ending a season in the middle of a boss fight is bound to leave viewers with lots of questions,
but the outcome of that tussle isn't the end of the mysteries in Warrior Nun. Here's a
look at the biggest unanswered questions we have about the Netflix hit's first season.
“You must have a million questions.”
The first friend Ava makes after her awakening is JC, a charming thief squatting in a wealthy
vacation home with his compatriots. Ava is attracted to JC right away; a romance develops,
and JC eventually splits from his fellow thieves to help Ava, even though there's clearly so
much that Ava hasn't told him.
At the end of Episode 5, JC is there when a monstrous Tarask materializes and seemingly
slays Sister Lilith. He's understandably freaked out, and in the following episode Mary tells
Ava that he promptly ran away from the scene.
So is that it for JC? Will we see him again? While neither he nor Ava exchange the L-word,
they seem to care quite a bit for each other. Of course, watching a demon impale a nun is
probably enough to spoil just about any romance. Not to mention that at this point neither
JC nor Ava have any clue where the other is.
It may be that the craziness of Ava's life is too much for JC, but who knows? The unfinished
battle of the season finale seems pretty public. It takes place in Vatican City the day that
a new Pope is named. It could be that JC might see Ava fighting demons on TV, decide to throw
caution to the wind, and come back.
You hear a lot of echoes of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural in Warrior
Nun. One pretty big trope from those earlier series we see repeated is the hero seemingly
killed and pulled into Hell, only to return with new purpose and power. While Sister Lilith
seems to have sacrificed herself at the end of Episode 5, she shows up covered in cuts
and dry blood at the end of Episode 7.
She displays abilities similar to those of the Tarasks, and the scar where she was impaled
radiates with what appears to be demonic energy. While she doesn't seem to remember what happened
to her, she knows things the other heroes don't most importantly, she knows it's a mistake
to allow Ava to enter Adriel's Tomb.
So what happened to Sister Lilith? What's keeping her alive and what, or who, sent her
back?
If we assume as her fellow sisters believe that Sister Lilith was dragged into hell,
then the obvious answer is that it's the forces of hell who sent her back, fully equipped
with new abilities and knowledge. But while that may be the easiest answer, it leads to
more questions. She seems to be working with the OCS and the Warrior Nun, and why would
the armies of Satan make an ally of a secret Catholic warrior sect?
"You've been to the other side. What are you?"
"Doesn't matter but I know what you really are."
One of the welcome aspects of Warrior Nun is that its characters often turn out to be
more than they first appear, and Mother Superion is a perfect example. Tasked with training
the sister warriors and the Warrior Nun, Mother Superion initially expresses nothing but disdain
for Ava. She's hard-nosed, unforgiving, and even cruel. Throughout the first season we
hear a number of characters referring to Superion's past without getting into details, and eventually
we learn she was very briefly one of the halo bearers before the artifact rejected her.
"The Halo rejected me. Not all candidates are worthy."
But there's still plenty we don't know about Mother Superion, and the most obvious question
involves her prominent facial scar. Could the scar have something to do with the halo's
rejection?
In particular it's difficult to hear Mother Superion's story and not think of the journal
entry Sister Beatrice reads about the World War II era Warrior Nun who escaped from the
concentration camps. Could it be that, like the earlier Warrior Nun, Mother Superion lashed
out with the halo's power in hatred, and that's why the artifact rejected her?
You might think that since Warrior Nun is based on a comic book, we could figure out
the answer to all these questions by checking out the source material. But Warrior Nun is
fairly different from the comics in a number of ways, including the identity of its protagonist.
Ava was created specifically for the Netflix series in most of the comics, the hero is
Sister Shannon, which happens to be the name of the Warrior Nun who dies in Episode 1.
Sister Shannon returns in Episode 8 as part of Ava's dream. Shannon surprises Ava by speaking
with nothing but regret for what she and the previous Warrior Nuns fought and died for,
believing it's all been futile. Ava seems to believe this isn't merely a dream but an
actual communication with the departed Sister Shannon. It's this dream that inspires Ava
to tell her allies their mission has changed and that she plans to destroy the bones of
Adriel.
But considering what happens in the following two episodes, we have to ask if it was truly
the spirit of Sister Shannon to whom Ava spoke. Going to Adriel's Tomb with the intent of
destroying his bones is what ends up freeing Adriel, suggesting it could possibly be Adriel
who psychically communicated with Ava and disguised himself as Shannon.
At the same time Adriel tries to take the halo from Ava, big things are happening at
Jillian Salvius' lab. Jillian's ailing son Michael insists that his mother bring him
to the Ark, telling her "the door" is about to open. As he predicts, the Ark spontaneously
comes to life and Michael runs through the quantum portal, beckoning for his mother to
follow. Jillian runs to the portal, but it closes before she reaches it.
“No. No. Michael.”
Where could Michael be? Well, the answer to that is obviously tied to the question of
where the quantum portal leads. Jillian seems to think Heaven is on the other side of the
portal, or something very much like what we think of as Heaven. Cardinal Duretti expresses
the fear that it actually leads to Hell. We have no way of knowing if either are right,
or even close.
One thing that does not bode well for Michael is that he constantly refers to "the angel"
who has been communicating with him. If it's Adriel who's been in contact with Michael,
then that's not good. Now that we know that Adriel is no angel, there's no reason to think
he wouldn't happily put Michael at risk for his own ends.
In the beginning, we're told Adriel is an angel. In the season finale, Ava calls him
a devil. But by the end of season one, we don't really have a clear idea of who or what
Adriel is. What do we know?
Well, we know when he appears on Earth during the Crusades, Adriel is being pursued by the
Tarasks. He forges an alliance with Areala the first Warrior Nun and builds armor from
the Divinium in the Tarasks' corpses. We know that he has an unnaturally long life, can
heal from just about any wound, and appears to have some sort of control over the wraith
demons.
One possibility comes straight from Adriel's mouth. When Ava asks if he's an angel, he
says that's the closest approximation she could understand. This could suggest that
neither Adriel nor any of the so-called demons are creatures of Hell, but rather something
else, entities of unknown origin who have been misinterpreted through the lens of religion.
"We are the same, you and I. We've both been misunderstood."
If, on the other hand, we're meant to see the supernatural beings from the show as creatures
from either Heaven or Hell, then that makes things more complicated because we're left
with the question of why one demonic being Adriel is in conflict with other demons.
Nothing in Warrior Nun's first season makes you want to go back and rewatch it more than
when Father Vincent walks up to Adriel and calls him "master." At that moment we know
it's Vincent not Duretti who's been the traitor inside the OCS, and, most tragically, the
one who has Sister Shannon killed in the first episode. It makes it tempting to go right
back to the beginning and rewatch the series, paying special attention to Father Vincent's
actions.
"Don't… trust…"
"Who?"
We have to wonder exactly when Adriel recruited his servant within the OCS. It puts a whole
new spin on the revelations that Vincent has a less-than-holy, even criminal past. Could
it be that Adriel reached out and recruited Vincent even before he was ordained as a priest?
Could Vincent have joined the priesthood with the goal of infiltrating the OCS and freeing
his master? And what exactly could he be expecting in return for his treachery?
Vincent's played a long game and committed dark acts to achieve his master's goal. What
could Adriel be promising him? He doesn't seem like someone interested in wealth or
power, but obviously he's fooled us before. Is it possible he actually thinks he's doing
the right thing?
According to the backstory of the OCS, the order has operated completely in the shadows
over the centuries. The events of Warrior Nun's first season raise the question of whether
it will be possible for the OCS to keep itself a secret anymore. And if they can't stay a
secret, will they be allowed to exist at all?
The first time we see the OCS get more of the spotlight than they're used to is when
Jillian Salvius releases video to the press of Sister Beatrice making short work of her
lab's security force. However, Beatrice isn't identified and Jillian doesn't mention the
OCS by name, though she does say the perpetrator is an operative of the Catholic Church.
We have to assume the battle in the season finale will likewise get plenty of attention,
and it may be tougher for the sister warriors involved to hide their identities. The battle
is in Vatican City right after a new Pope is named, and there's no way there won't be
dozens of smartphones recording the melee as it happens.
How can the OCS operate after that? How would things go in the real world if video was released
of nuns shooting a prone man in the back of the neck with a crossbow? Doesn't seem like
those nuns would stay out of prison for very long.
Things really don't look good for Shotgun Mary at the end of season one. Facing down
the crowd of possessed civilians, her friends repeat the OCS mantra, "In this life or the
next." Both shotguns drawn, Mary fights off a few of the possessed, but the mob soon overpowers
her. The season finale ends with Mary disappearing in a crowd of the possessed, crying out in
pain.
We're guessing and hoping that Mary will survive to return in season two. Things may not look
good for her right now, but as the events of the first season make abundantly clear,
she's one of the toughest members of the OCS there is.
Still, you can never be sure. As tough as she is, Mary gets easily knocked off her feet
by just a single possessed villager in Episode 6. Now she's being swallowed by an entire
mob of the things, some of whom are possessing the elite Vatican Swiss guards who are formidable
even without demonic passengers. And let's not forget even if Mary and her friends find
a way to escape the possessed without killing them, they still have Adriel to deal with.
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