Prudence Blackwood is first introduced to us along with her fellow witch sisters Dorcus and Agatha confronting Sabrina in the woods and warning her a half breed like her is not welcomed at the Academy of unseeing arts, since Sabrina is half mortal. Then all three of them put a curse on her. Later we learn all three sisters were adopted by Father Blackwood. They are known as the Weird Sisters and seem like their going to operate much like every other bully clique who hates the protagonist for being different.
This gets subverted when Sabrina herself summons them to help get revenge for her friend Susie by messing with moral boys who hit her. They strike a bargain that Sabrina won’t join the Academy if they help her get revenge. Sabrina agrees to this but crosses her fingers behind her back (our heroine ladies and gentlemen).
The three of them execute a plan that involves tricking the guys into hooking up with each other and blackmailing them. Then Prudence and her sisters scare them off and are also revealed to have done a spell to control the boys um anatomy. (Honestly the whole thing makes me uncomfortable especially when certain facts about the football players come to light later on, but that’s not what this essay is about)
Prudence tells Sabrina “ You may be more suited to the academy then we first thought” showing she’s changed her mind. Prudence also reveals she knows Sabrina had no intention of keeping her promise but agreed to help anyway, because she enjoys tormenting moral boys. This reveals a lot about Prudence’s character she is crafty, cruel and biggoted but she can bend a bit when faced with what she sees as potential.
We also learn that Prudence is very wise, since she points out that signing the book of the beast and making a contract with the devil is about giving up your freedom in exchange for power. Prudence laughs in Sabrina’s face when the half witch suggests they shouldn’t have to give up anything for power and should have it all. This highlights her self awareness and hints that Prudence is far older than her appearance suggests. Which actress Tati Gabriella has confirmed stating that Prudence is really 75 years old.
For the first season Prudence kind of fades into the background other than viciously hazing Sabrina with her sisters which links back to her cruelty. Until episode seven titled the Feast of Feasts. The Witches of the coven have a tradition where a witch is selected as a sacrifice to be killed and have her flesh consumed by the other members of the coven after they fast. Prudence is chosen and sees it as a great honor “ Prepare me a bath of buttermilk and bring me a plate of macaroons” she orders.
Prudence goes about sweetening herself to be the best feast she possibly can.
Sabrina who is chosen by the coven as her handmaiden tries to persuade her it’s all nonsense as she baths her. “ You don’t really believe all that” Sabrina insists. Prudence reveals she does, she wants to die to be honored by the Coven and to “reside in the Dark Lord’s heart until the trumpets of the apocalypse sound” This shows us Prudence is a true believer who is truly devoted to the Church of Night.
Sabrina bring Prudence to her school and she finds out Harvey is descended from witch Hunters then someone kills a familiar and Prudence thinking its Harvey has to be persuaded out of full retribution mode by Sabrina who informs her “ Harvey didn’t kill that farmiar” to which Prudence gives the best line of the season “ How is your faith in the mortal boy any different than my faith in the Dark Lord? Why is your faith more valid than mine?” this line once again highlights the fact that Prudence is an old soul who challenges Sabrina to actually think.
Its revealed near the end of the episode Prudence is Blackwoods biological daughter and was only chosen as feast queen so Blackwoods wife could get her out of the way to protect the inheritance of her own children. This sets up Prudences character arch but for now it just spares her from being eaten though she still sits on the throne because she is Prudence and wants to feel special for one night.
She has a slight role in the mines episode where she lets Sabrina kill and resurrect one of her sisters because both Agatha and Dorcus went behind her back and collapsed the mine to kill the Kinkle family. This suggests that Prudence does have a bit of a code despite her anti human stance, she feels there at least has to be justification for killing a mortal.
In Season 2 Prudence is openly acknowledged by Father blackwood as his daughter. She’s also assigned as her baby brothers wet nurse and in chided in the first episode for letting him cry. However despite her newfound responsibilities Prudence’s Father and her do not see eye to eye. When Prudence offers to run against Sabrina as head boy, Father Blackwood won’t allow it because he cannot conceive of a witch with a position of authority. Furthermore he will not allow Prudence to have his last name.
This results in Prudences and the other weird sisters telepathically wire the answers to Sabrina. While i’d rather have Prudence obtain the position for herself because Sabrina shouldn’t get everything she wants. It is at least the first act of defiance toward her Father from Prudence.
During the play Prudence gives Sabrina advice “ lust is not a sin Sabrina” she reasures her. Though the moment is more about Sabrina it does highlight Prudence’s views on sex which does make up her character. Prudence being raised within the Church of Night has always been very comfortable with her sexuality in Feasts of Feasts as queen she requested an orgy and teasingly invites Sabrina to join in. Prudence does not view lust as something to have hang ups about physical desire is something to be acted upon. Within the same episode she pursues Ambrose Sabrina’s cousin flirting with him. Her advances are returned and two of them enter a poly relationship.
The valentines episode isn’t really a highlight except it reveals the fact Prudence and her sisters have prothosized dreams and share a vision about how the spellmans will be the undoing of the Blackwoods which FatherBlackwood dismisses. I’m guessing this a macbeth reference but it does show that Father blackwood dismisses Prudences concern for his safety.
Later Prudence goes to Zelda blackmailing her into getting the anti pope to declare Prudence a Blackwood. Now whether or not Prudence wants the power that comes with the name or desires to be part of a family is unclear and i honestly think there’s evidence for both. On one hand Prudence does attempt to murder Father Blackwell later in the same episode and only relents when he declatres her “ Prudence Blackwood” but on the other hand she does save her fathers life from Ambrose and when Father Black wood changes Prudence with potecting the acdemy and their family name while their off on his honey moon.
Prudence takes this vow very seriously replying he can rely on her.
The next episode we see Prudence honoring this promise she sets about breaking Ambrose who she see’s as a tradior to get him to confess to the murder of the anti pope, refuses to let Sabrina into the acedmy while calling her out for useing her and her sisters all year and saveing her life only for selfish reasons during the Feast of feasts.
These acts reveals a repressed bitterness from Prudence and hint she sees both Sabrina and Ambrose of using her just to destroy her father which is why she’s so vindictive towards them. Much like trying to kill her Father, Prudences acts of violence seem to come from a place of great betrayal and a sense of her not being important to those she cares for. Prudence is also high on the fact she appears to have finally gained the approval and affection of the only parent she’s ever known and intends to keep it that way. It’s a response for some children who grow up in emotionally abusive household and Prudence has done so for at least 75 years.
Then a life changing event happens to Prudence making her question evaluate her values. Witch hunters show up at the academy and despite the best efforts of her and her sisters fail to protect the other students. The Witch hunters due to their angel powers (just go with it) overpower the sisters and start killing other witch students as Prudence and her sisters watch in horror while awaiting their fiery pire. Then Sabrina the half breed swoops in last minute and demolishes the angel witch hunters (Gosh it is hard to say that with a straight face) and brings the dead students back to life after respecting herself displaying power beyond that of a regular witch and as aggravating as it is, it does further Prudences arch as she starts to question whether half witches and by extent morals are inferior.
Prudence goes as far as to question Ambrose about Sabrina’s miracles. She also admits seeing Sabrina come back from the dead made her happy. When Ambrose admits he’s scared to die Prudence in a rare moment of tenderness resources Ambrose there’s no need to be frightened since he’s an honorable man. “ Satan keep you” she tells him sincerely showing us Ambrose has been forgiven and that Prudence is finally being honest about the fact she likes Sabrina (For some reason). Here Prudence is clearly starting to question what she’s been taught.
In the last two episodes of season two Prudences dynamic with her Father reaches its conclusion. When Father Blackwood decides to form his own denomination the Church of Judas. He creates a new set of rules and restrictions Prudence after looking them over states “ These new rules only apply to the witches and not the warlocks” Father Blackwood replies that “Witches should focus on more femmine magics of herbalism and fertility” Prudence asks if the rules also apply to her. Blackwood says as long as she gets the other witches to cooperate she’ll be exempt from the same rules. Offering Prudence special privileges along with the unspoken promise of his affections with a chaste kiss.
While Prudence does take the bait she also helps Zelda convince Father Blackwood to spare a witch for trying to leave the Church of Judas persuading him i’ll only create a martyr and cause more rebellions in the future. This is usual for Prudence who was previously fine with the torture and exacution of Ambrose showing a shift in her thinkng. Prudence watching her classmates killed in front of her while refusing to denounce their Dark Lord seems to have caused her to develop more of an appreciation for the lives of the other coven members beyond those who she considered family.
Later Prudence catches Zelda admitting she does not support the Church of Judas and the other witch warns Prudence her blood won’t protect her from Father Blackwood. Prudence not only dismisses this but retrieves her half baby sister and tells her Father about Zelda’s deception. Zelda takes Prudence hostage and demands that baby Letica be given back to her. Blackwood dismisses her claiming that since he has his full blooded daughter he doesn’t care if Zelda kills Prudence. Which supports Zelda’s claim that Prudences blood won’t protect her. After Zelda is locked up Prudence asks Blackwood “ Father, what are your plans for baby Letica?” as she now feels doubt about his intentions. Blackwood replies he intends to marry her daughter to her own brother Judas.
Prudence is horrified and frees Zelda from her cell telling her to take her half sister and run. Zelda offers her the chance to join them but Prudence declares she can’t leave her sisters or abandon the rest of the coven. Further conveying her found loyalty that of just the family unit.
Prudence finds Agatha and Dorcus and convinces them to do a spell to end Father Blackwood. They are interrupted by Blackwood who demands Prudence attend him during an audience with the Dark lord. She silently observes as Blackwood expresses disgust at having to bow to Sabrina as queen of hell. Later he tells Prudence to pack. She inquires as to why they should run from the Dark Lord. Blackwood angrily snaps he “ Will never bow down to a spelman whore!” When Prudence asks him what about the rest of the Coven. Blackwood reveals he poisoned them a communion. Prudence runs out ignoring Blackwoods warning she’ll never see the baby twins again.
After a vow to kill Father Blackwood she runs to the church teleporting Dorcus and Agatha to the spellman house and telling the Spellman family “ Blackwood poisoned the entire coven!” Pudences sisters and some of the coven members are saved. The last shot of her shows Prudence beheading Father Blackwood which is not only a literary representation of what she wants to do to him but also a symbolic rejection of him as a leader and Father.
So what can we take from this?
Prudence’s core character trait is her Faith. It’s shown that Prudence has faith in Blackwood despite how many times, he’s let her down, she has faith in her adopted sisters shown by how many times she relies on them, she even starts to have faith in Sabrina.
My reading of Prudences arch is not one of rejecting Faith. Prudences questions are still rooted in religious doctrine even in her last scene with Blackwell “ why are you running from the Dark Lord?” to Prudence, there is no reason to run from the very figure she devoted her life to even if it means bowing to Sabrina this is the ultimate act of religious piety that makes sense for the girl who bathed in buttermilk to make herself a feast. For Prudence no sacrifice is too great.
Prudence’s arch seems to one of learning to question the leaders of one’s Faith community and whether they have the best interests of those they claim to want to lead.
The irony is Prudence is heavily implied to be taught the values of faith, family and community by Blackwood, values which he does not share. As show cased by how he uses both his family members and the coven witches and warlocks for his own personal gain and discarding them when it’s convenient.
It’s not his rejection and endangerment of her that causes Prudence to move against him but the reveal of his plans of an incestus union between his own children. Even then there are hints she may of gone with him had he not poisoned the coven. Acting in the same vein as the witch hunters Prudence was told to protect the other students from.
It’s worth noting Prudence is done with him after he proves a danger to the very coven he’s leading because she does value everything, Blackwood doesn’t and as a person of faith Prudence realizes everything about him is a shame. So she rejects him. That is why Prudence with her morally ambiguous cunning, faith, self sacrifice, intelligence and value of family is the true Queen of the Feast of Feasts.
Happy African American History Month guys! I’ve been meaning to dive into some African folklore and now seems like the perfect time. So for the next month i’m going to be affectionately snarking some African tales and i may do an American Gods Essay because as a mythology buff, i really need to finish that show.
Also Sandydragon1 from Wattpad wrote an awesome Fantasy story so here’s an author approved promotion with a link so those of you who are interested can check it out if you want to.
Have you ever thought how cool it would be to have an animal companion? One who will always stay by your side no matter what? But what if the creatures that chose you were not quite what you had in mind?
When young Taylor has a group of flies latch onto her, and becomes the subject of bullying and ridicule. It results in a series of events that causes Taylor to rethink everything she knows about animal bonds, friendship, and even people she doesn’t like.
If you want a heartwarming fantasy about the difficulties of growing up, dealing with bullies and the power of friendship. Then check out Quit Bugging me by sandydragon1.
https://www.wattpad.com/story/200211283-quit-bugging-me
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