King Herod Isn't Exactly a Character on 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' but He Plays an Important Role
Updated Jan. 24 2020, 6:48 p.m. ET
The newest season of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina just dropped on Netflix, and there's even more exciting content to work through this season, making up for the dramatic cliffhanger Season 2 left us all on.
In this new season, Sabrina has some new responsibilities and quests to prove herself — and one of those quests involves a certain King Herod.
Who is King Herod, and what does he have to do with this season of Sabrina?
First, let's catch you up to speed.
If you haven't watched Season 3 of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, then don't read any further — there are some major spoilers ahead.
The first episode of the new season picks up where Season 2's cliffhanger leaves off. Sabrina has to save Nick from Hell, and once she does, she becomes the Queen of Hell.
But the drama doesn't end there. Even though Sabrina is just trying to resume her important duties as queen, Prince Caliban received 666 signatures from Hell's highest borns to challenge Sabrina to the Aruthrian Quest for the Unholy Regalia, meaning she has to complete the quest to keep the throne.
The challenge requires her to find and retrieve the three most powerful occult objects known throughout history and bring them back to Hell. The first of these items Sabrina is required to find is King Herod's crown.
So who is King Herod?
King Herod isn't exactly a character in the Sabrina series, but rather a historic figure. Known as the King of Judea, King Herod allegedly ruled around the time of Jesus' birth. In the Bible, King Herod appears in the Gospel of Matthew and orders the Massacre of Innocents.
This massacre ordered all male children within the vicinity of Bethlehem under the age of two to be killed. Allegedly, King Herod ordered this at the time of Jesus' birth.
But, despite it's mention in the Bible, it's unclear to historians whether or not the event actually happened. Matthew is the only book in the Bible that mentions this tragedy, leading some to believe that it was made up instead.
However, King Herod was known to be particularly cruel, and even killed three of his own sons — clearly making him one of the cruelest rulers of that time.
This is where the series' 'Riverdale' tie-in becomes clear.
Apparently, the crown of King Herod is located in Riverdale. While it's become clear that Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Riverdale are set in the same universe, it's still unclear if the two plots take place in the same timeline.
However, both shows have included subtle Easter eggs to allude to their connection. In the episode where Sabrina goes to Riverdale to find the crown, we even see "JJ wuz here" scrawled on the back of the town's welcome sign, alluding to Jughead Jones.
The other crossover we see in Sabrina's search for the crown is in the history of the crown itself. Allegedly, the crown was brought to the town by American soldier Private Benjamin Blossom. He decided he wanted the crown for himself, so he snuck it into the town — only to be murdered by a group who also wanted the crown.
If the last name "Blossom" sounds familiar, that's because Benjamin Blossom is apparently a distant relative of Cheryl Blossoms. Maybe the two shows are set in the same timeline after all.
