All Our Questions About Warrior Nun (With Some Answers)

Ava's life, or more accurately death, was changed forever when the nuns stuck the halo into her lifeless corpse, setting off her hero's journey. The supposedly holy object not only revived her, but also gifted her supernatural abilities like walking through walls and Wolverine-level healing. We learn from the Order of the Cruciform Sword, aka super nuns, that the halo was originally bestowed from atop angel Adriel's head upon Areala, the first warrior nun as a blessing for all of her good deeds.

But alas, nothing is ever as it seems in the realm of the church. This whole gift from god fable was actually a cover-up for the dark beginnings of the order. Adriel, as it turns out, wasn't an angel, and he gave Areala the halo (which was stolen, by the way) to cover his tracks while on the run. So if Adriel isn't an angel, is the halo embedded in Ava's spine actually a halo? If not, what exactly are the sinister origins of this all-mighty relic?

For only appearing in one episode of the series, Ariel had quite the character arc. First, he was a generous angel who started the halo-bearing tradition. Then it is revealed that he is actually a thief, and almost certainly a demon, on the run. In a key flashback, we see Adriel enter through a portal (presumably from hell), and close the portal behind him with the halo. The halo is difficult to track when inside living tissue, so Adriel hid the halo inside Areala to both hide it from his hunters and earn the protection and praise of Areala's comrades.

It is clear that Adriel is not a human, as he has survived in his stone prison for over a millennium. But the jury is still out on what type of being he is, and what powers he possesses. So the main question here is, who is Adriel and who did he steal the Halo from while in hell? There is a theory that Adriel actually stole the halo from Lucifer, which explains why he was being hunted so mercilessly. This would explain the halo coming from hell, but isn't the most satisfying answer.

Father Vincent is the most trustworthy, lovable character in the show, until you find out that he has been lying to everyone the whole time. When Adriel escapes in the finale, Father Vincent, who had convincingly pained Cardinal Duretti as the villain, revealed that he was in cahoots with Adriel the whole time. But from my calculations, Adriel has been trapped inside of an impenetrable, stone cage for the last 1,000 years, so how did these two end up as buddies?

Earlier in the season, Father Vincent confided in Shotgun Mary, a leading member of the nun squad, that he had done terrible things in his past, believing himself to be dark at heart. Following the confession, he asserted that he had changed his ways after finding God. But could finding God be code for somehow finding Adriel, who sent him on a path to infiltrate to organize this great escape?

Warrior Nun literally starts with a bang, as the beginning scenes follow armed nuns retreating from battle into the morgue where Ava's body is being processed. Sister Shannon, the current halo-bearer, dies from incurable wounds and the nuns must hurriedly remove the halo and place it into another vessel before their assailants can capture it. Enter Ava's dead, lifeless corpse.

Shotgun Mary, a gun-toting member of the order with no care for religion, is distraught over Shannon's death, setting off her season-arc to find the party responsible for the attack. Whenever Shotgun Mary reminisces on her time with Shannon, or pleads for more time to crack the case, there is a glimmer of love in her eyes, and it isn't just the friendship kind.

Sister Beatrice, played by Kristina Tonteri-Young, is the reliable one in the group. She's a strong fighter, loyal friend, and most-importantly, a god-fearing woman. There are subtle hints dropped throughout the season that Beatrice has some baggage, as she repeatedly mentions that every one in the order is dealing with their own trauma. While nothing has been said outright, the chemistry between Beatrice and Ava, accompanied by the vague explanation of her troubles with the church teases at her being on the queer spectrum.

Michael, the young son of brilliant scientist and anti-hero Jillian Salvius, is an odd one to say the least. His mother infused his blood with divinium, the supernatural material found in holy relics, at a young age to combat a fatal blood disease. Even though Michael is secluded in his clean, yet creepy room in the basements of ARQ-Tech (Salvius's research company), he has an uncanny connection to all things divinium and other-worldy.

He could sense when Ava, who has a hunk of divinium in her back, was at the facility, and knew when Ava would unknowingly release Adriel. For the duration of the season, Jillian attempts to open a gateway to a dimension where there is no pain or loss, and after numerous failed attempts, Michael runs to his mother's machine right when the portal opens, and jumps in. Are psychic abilities the extent of his divinium-originated powers, or can he do more?

Sister Lilith was the season's number two antagonist, pitting herself against Ava for the coveted honor of halo-bearer. In the midst of battling Ava to claim the halo for herself, she instinctively sacrificed her life to save Ava from a demon hunting them both. The demon pierced Lilith through the sternum before dragging her to hell, leaving the nuns to hold a funeral. In a twist of fate, Lilith returns from hell with no recollection of her time there, but newfound senses and demonic powers to prove it. Lilith's time in hell is literally a blank, but it could be the key to learning more about the underworld and the powers hunting down Ava's halo.

Michael Salvius's sixth sense power is one of the most underdeveloped story lines of the show. During the final episodes, he increasingly becomes obsessed with an unnamed man's arrival, which turns out to be Adriel escaping into the Vatican courtyard. Adriel's escape seemingly triggered the opening of Jillian's infamous portal to only god knows where. When the portal opens in ARQ-Tech's basement, it greatly resembled the portal Adriel jumped through before giving Areala the halo. If Adriel is a demon from hell, did Michael take a one-way trip there? Or do all supernatural portals just happen to look ominous and aflame?

The core foundation of the order of the cruciform sword is service to God and his will. Fighting demons, vanquishing parasitic spirits, even killing fellow humans — it is all done in the name of the lord and savior, or so they thought. After discovering that it wasn't an angel sent from God that started the warrior nun tradition, but a thieving demon that started the sect, will the nuns be able to justify their actions? Adriel has already threatened to steal back his halo from Ava, but if they somehow defeat him in the end, what will they do with the power that was once angelic, has been revealed to be corrupt?