Aunt Zelda's triumph in 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 2' is the first step to breaking the patriarchy of the Church of Night
In the '90s sitcom of 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch,' Aunt Zelda was the stricter aunt- controlling, bossy and yes, very sassy. Now in the darker adaptation, 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,' Aunt Zelda is all the more darker and fiercer. A devout witch, with a tasteful demeanor, Aunt Zelda played a crucial role in leading Sabrina Spellman towards the Dark Lord. Aunt Zelda has been pushy towards her niece since the very beginning.
Played by Miranda Otto, the actress described Aunt Zelda as a "foreboding character," and even though many fans did not like Aunt Zelda in the first part of the series, where she ends up in part 2 is exactly where she ought to be. Given that Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) aspired to be the first High Priestess of the Church of the Night, we know how important that step was to break the reigning patriarchy of Satan's religion.
And Aunt Zelda did it. Smoothly. By marrying the villainous Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle), pretending that she was still under his love spell, Aunt Zelda played her games well and protected Sabrina and her sister Hilda, who she killed so many times in Part 1. Besides, Zelda also protected the entire coven just by being smarter than her enemies, so she deserves more credit than fans tend to give.
As a devout witch, always looking for ways to please the Dark Lord, no one else would have been more shocked and surprised than Zelda when it was disclosed that Sabrina is the daughter of Lucifer and his plans were to make her his queen. After her husband, Father Blackwood aka Faustus poisoned the entire coven and ran off, she launched the Church of Lilith after Lilith aka Madam Satan triumphed over Lucifer.
With Blackwood's entitlement, Zelda could claim the position of a High Priestess of Church of Lilith and that is gloriously hell shattering, if not earth.
Aunt Zelda being exactly the way she is, stern on the outside, but deeply compassionate, she will make for an excellent High Priestess. Sorry Sabrina, but it was only for the better that Zelda became the High Priestess.
The transformations she will bring about in the patriarchial church will be amazing! As a decision maker of the Spellman household, Zelda is prompt and sharp with her decisions. She recognizes ambitions and knows how to go about it, say when she was determined to marry Faustus despite what others had to say. A woman of less talk and more actions, strict Zelda commands respect and does not mind being talked ill about. She knew Sabrina did not like her controlling nature, but that's how the teenage witch got where she did. At the end of the day, Zelda only wants best for everyone else, including herself.
"Zelda’s kind of a politician in that way. She’s maybe seeking to change the system from within, but she doesn’t want to change the system from without. She sees her journey as within the church," Otto said in an interview.
Her immaculately dark outfits, a cigar pipe, a foreign language newspaper and powerful witching spells by her stride makes Zelda a character hard to unlike.
Fiercely protective, she's taken the responsibility of her coven and it won't be long before we hear how powerful the coven of Lilith becomes, and maybe that is when we will thank Aunt Zelda.