'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' Part 3: What is the Unholy Regalia and why is it important to Sabrina?
In Part 3 of 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina', with Lucifer gone, Hell is under new management. Though at the end of Part 2 it seemed Lillith(Michelle Gomez) would be Queen of Hell, in Part 3 it was made clear that Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) had to take the crown in order to maintain the balance of the realms.
However, even Sabrina on the throne does not satisfy the Infernal Demon Kings and they back another to take the throne -- Caliban, Prince of Hell(Sam Corlett) who was made of the clay from Pandemonium.
Caliban then challenges Sabrina for the throne and in order to decide a winner, the Infernal Kings say that Sabrina and Caliban must complete the Unholy Quest, which requires them to acquire the three items of the Unholy Regalia. Whoever collects the most items, wins the right to the throne.
Over the season, Sabrina and Caliban compete with each other -- sometimes playing dirty -- to acquire these items, which include King Herod's crown, Pontius Pilate's bowl and Judas Iscariot's 30 pieces of silver.
King Herod's crown
The first item that Sabrina has to acquire is King Herod's crown, which her cousin, Ambrose(Chance Perdomo) learns is in Riverdale. Unfortunately for Sabrina, Caliban employs cheap tricks and steals the crown from her, thereby winning the first challenge.
King Herod referred here is Herod the Great, the Roman client king of Judea. He was responsible for the "Massacre of the Innocents", mentioned in the New Testament, where all male children two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem were ordered to be executed. According to the Gospel of Matthew, after the birth of Jesus, some magi from the East visited Herod to inquire about the whereabouts of "the one having been born king of the Jews". Herod, alarmed that there is an impending threat to his crown had ordered the executions.
Pontius Pilate's bowl
The second challenge requires them to find Pontius Pilate's bowl. Sabrina has to go to Golgotha and travel back in time. She meets Caliban there, but she succeeds in winning the second challenge.
Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 CE. He is best known today for being the official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion. Pilate had lobbied for Jesus to be spared his execution and acquiesces only when the crowd refused to relent. He attempted to avoid personal responsibility for the death of Jesus by washing his hands to show that he has cleaned his conscience from the execution.
Judas Iscariot's 30 pieces of silver
Of all three items, this is perhaps the best known. In the show, the easy way for Sabrina to acquire the 30 pieces of silver is to betray someone. While she tries to do this to Harvey Kinkle(Ross Lynch) and Roz Walker(Jaz Sinclair), she realizes she cannot betray her friends and chooses the hard way -- go to Vlad the Impaler, who it turns out is Judas's son according to the show.
Judas Iscariot was one of the original Twelve Disciples of Jesus Christ. He betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane by kissing him and addressing him as a "rabbi" to reveal his identity to the crowd who had come to arrest him. And he did this -- you guessed it -- for 30 pieces of silver. Vlad the Impaler is more popularly known as the inspiration for Dracula -- the greatest fictional vampire. Vlad is called Judas's son here because the two have interchangeably been remarked upon as being the world's oldest vampire.
All episodes of Part 3 of 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' are now streaming on Netflix.
