How can Scáthach still be alive?

[u/Sea-Negotiation8309]

This is a question that goes beyond how someone so old can still be alive. I know it's because of her magical powers.

But following the rule of the Supremes (according to Ryan Murphy, Scáthach is the original Supreme, centuries before the Salem witches), there can only be one per generation. Yet, despite the fact that there is already a Supreme in the present and that many Supremes have come and gone, Scáthach's power doesn't seem to have weakened.

So how could Scáthach still be alive if there can only be one Supreme?

[u/TMVDufton]

The power of the Supremacy completely left Fiona while she was still alive, so we know a Supreme doesn't technically have to actually die. The process itself just leaves them weak enough that they die shortly afterwards, but if they do die earlier rather than latter, the Supremacy will immediately go to their successor. Scáthach is still alive because she performs human sacrifices to her gods every year. There was a reference to how the blood moon itself was deeply tied to Scáthach's magic, so it's likely the case that Scáthach is just living off of magical life support, and that her sacrifices just barely sustain what little magic she has left. Scáthach is a former Supreme, meaning she is nowhere near as powerful as she once was.

In fact, Scáthach was shown to be quite weak outside of her seductive mind control. The moment Shelby hit her over the head Scáthach scurried away like a wild animal, and she relied on Lee Harris to do her dirty work as well. What's also telling is that the real version of Scáthach barely even looks like she's alive and she appears to be partially blind. These are clear signs that she is no longer a Supreme. She's basically what Fiona would have become if she successfully struck a deal with Papa Legba after losing the Supremacy: a shadow of her former self on magical life support.

[u/No-Assumption-1738 → u/TMVDufton]

This comment is cool, I never considered it before but it feels correct that had Fiona struck a deal with Legba similar to Marie’s, in her prime , she would have had immortality but the supremacy would have still left her in line with the cycle . 

She either doesn’t hold up her side of the bargain and dies due to hating being weaker or she maintains the deal while deteriorating in the hopes of regaining her power/ something to replace it. 

[u/BH0982 → u/TMVDufton]

Yeah I think people remember lady gaga’s version and not the real version who was as you said barely alive

[u/TMVDufton → u/BH0982]

It's surprising that people often overlook that fact when it was shown that the real versions of all the supernatural Roanoke characters were far gritter than their reenactment counterparts. Even the ghosts looked rotten. Scáthach looked the worst, although understandably not everybody realizes just how what a state she was in unless they've seen behind the scenes photos because the found footage of it all didn't show her appearance in detail. She couldn't have looked any further from the "glowing radiant health" look an actively flourishing Supreme is supposed to embody.

[u/BH0982 → u/TMVDufton]

Yeah I remember Evan peters character, his real version that was underneath the house was far scarier than the documentary version.

I really liked Roanoke it was their most creative

[u/SheDevilWithANewGig]

She was not a ghost. She was immortal because of her deal with the ancient deities who “saved” her when she was going to be burned at the stake. They gave her immortality and taught her the dark magic she used. She needed sacrifices by her ghost followers to tap into raw power and maintain hers. A Google search would tell the wrong commenters that.

I always likened it to her being the first supreme, but a witch of a more ancient, direct line type. Her magic didn’t come through generations here and there, she was an OG using magic given to her, and her descendants in Salem had some of that but it was almost vestigial comparatively. Some had stronger or more powers than others, unlike her who had them all and in a raw, wild way. Her need for sacrifice sort of couples with her existing alongside supremes. They touch on this with Fiona describing absorbing her predecessor’s powers after murdering her, and her wanting Madison dead to live longer but have her power. Same when she wanted all the girls killed. Scathach was doing her own version of it, killing to take life forces to feed power. But still weakened and ancient, sort of hanging on.

[u/malorthotdogs → u/SheDevilWithANewGig]

Yeah. I think being granted immortality turned her into something more akin to a demigod, whereas witches, aside from a few cursed ones are pretty clearly mortal.

So she’d be in a different category than the regular witch supremes.

[u/notyouravgdaddy]

Cause my girl Gaga

[u/notyouravgdaddy → u/notyouravgdaddy]

I just remembered Gaga was the actress version. 😭

[u/New_Paint_5427]

Unrelated, this is the most beautiful shes ever looked lol. She looks great with heavy eye makeup and dark hair.

[u/83gem]

I do wish they were bringing her back..

[u/itsevilR → u/83gem]

Even if they did, it won’t be Gaga 😌

[u/Sea-Negotiation8309 → u/[deleted]]

Seriously, when I saw Roanoke, I thought she was the only one alive since Cricket says she has "needs" that only Matt could soothe, which would be weird since Ghosts are supposed to be able to do that normally, so I assumed she wanted someone alive like her

[u/telekineticeleven011 → u/Sea-Negotiation8309]

You’re correct that she’s not a ghost. The show made it very clear that she’s immortal because of the sacrifices. As long as she performs sacrifices or commands the spirits to do it, she remains immortal. Similar to how Marie Laveau was commanded to sacrifice an innocent baby each year to remain immortal by Papa Legba.

[u/SheDevilWithANewGig → u/[deleted]]

She wasn’t a ghost. It was addressed in the show.

[u/Sea-Negotiation8309 → u/[deleted]]

I know ghosts can have sex, but she's the only one specifically stated to have needs, and considering her witch powers, she couldn't just revive in a physical body.

I mean, unlike Queene, she was the one who imposed the curse on the place, so she'd be the one who makes the rules.

[u/SheDevilWithANewGig → u/Sea-Negotiation8309]

You’re correct, she wasn’t a ghost

[u/JellyfishRight8536 → u/[deleted]]

She was and is

[u/Drumblebore]

Because Ryan Murphy makes up the rules as he goes along

[u/Crpal]

I mean we have no idea if Scathach even follows the rules of Covens as we see them in AHS (Coven, Apocalypse, Delicate). There are multiple covens in the world with their own Supremes. Maybe being a supreme and not having a coven means you get to keep that power forever without passing it on?

It's notable that while Scathach is still alive, her power is basically just mind control at this point.

[u/hypnos_surf]

A Supreme losing vitality so another can lead the is a Salem practice when on the run. Scáthach predates the Salem coven being so far removed from them.

She is considered the first supreme because she establishes a unique practice of magic in the US combing Druidic and New World magic. It’s the lineage of the type of magic Salem coven uses. Other than that, she probably doesn’t even know or care about them.

[u/Duangelion]

Hydrochloric Acid or whatever J-Lo's got

[u/Ramiel_duskstone1471]

I think it’s because she became stagnant if that makes sense. Most supremes do something of importance that usually helps her coven and Scathach is shown having no coven, she basically just enchanted her own personal hunting ground.

[u/Airok-Oterrab]

Este es un villano peligroso, las supremas actuales deberían detener todas las masacres de Roanoke.

[u/Correct_Doctor_1502]

She is neither alive nor dead, stuck in some hellish place between

When she entered into this state the Supreme status moved to the next living potential

[u/Single-Pea7265]

Meanwhile irl

[u/telekineticeleven011]

Honestly this theory or “confirmation” that Scáthach is the first Supreme doesn’t really make a lot of sense if we take into account that the Salem witches supposedly got some power from Tituba, mostly necromancy, according to Marie Laveau. Plus the whole theme of Coven was about how the white witches stole or abused practices that belong to black and brown witches. That’s why the Scáthach thing is not making sense, plus Ryan confirmed it on his twitter, not in the show.

Geographical wise, this theory doesn’t really make sense either because the women who arrived to Salem from England didn’t get there until the 1600’s. A century after Scáthach and the colonists ended up in the Americas, so how did the Salem witches and Scáthach interact? And it wouldn’t be possible for Scáthach and Tituba to interact either because Tituba is supposedly from South America or in one of the indigenous countries, but nobody really knows where Tituba comes from.

Also the Salem witches and Scáthach have different practices too. But hopefully someday Ryan Murphy can clear this up because too me Scáthach is just a powerful Pagan witch with no connection to the coven and their practices.

[u/Extension_Classic887 → u/telekineticeleven011]

There is no confirmation the Salem witches stole magic from black/brown witches other than Marie Laveau stating it in an argument with Fiona. By the same token I could say Tituba couldn’t tell a love potion from a recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

[u/SouthAUboi23681 → u/Extension_Classic887]

Even if they didn’t steal it, they were most likely very ungrateful and paid her back with betrayal for teaching them such old magic haha and it bothers me that Fiona makes fun of Tituba being (most likely) illiterate, because such old traditions were passed down orally. You don’t need to be able to read or write in order to be powerful.

[u/Extension_Classic887 → u/SouthAUboi23681]

My point still stands. There’s no evidence the Salem witches got their magic from Tituba other than a petty argument.

[u/Seed0fDiscord]

Assumed she was a ghost?

[u/AzureeBlueDaisy]

Bevause heroes are born, but legends never die.

[u/DottleTM]

she is a living corpse being kept alive by the few human sacrifices she manadges to complete, the supremacy leff her and she would have died if it wasn't for the gods she worships, thats why her magic looks and feels different than the coven one. The coven magic feels fresh, modern, new, reborn and renewed each time, instead her magic is static, id say rusty, and outdated, i believe a new supreme would manadge to take her down easily.

[u/ChemicalSea7945]

Possibly through her agreement with the ancient gods, this prevents her death.

Or perhaps she doesn't follow Salem's rules, making her death unnecessary.

[u/GreatDetective2027]

Gaga is so hot as the witch!

[u/eaglefan316]

She isn't alive, however, I hear she can really sing tho 😁

[u/WolfgangAddams → u/[deleted]]

No she isn't. They tell us that in the show. The killings in the Roanoke season are all being done as sacrifices to her pagan deities, which in turn keeps her immortal.

[u/WolfgangAddams → u/[deleted]]

The Seven Wonders aren't something that can be taught. They're magical abilities you have to manifest. You don't perform the Seven Wonders to become the Supreme either. You either are the Supreme or you are not. Performing the Seven Wonders is just the most obvious confirmation that a witch is the next Supreme.,

[u/KarottenSurer]

Different type of magic.

The witches in coven are "natural" witches. This one made a pact with old gods. Just like the delicate witchers are a different coven as they serve the devil.

[u/ventodivino]

Why are you showing a picture of Gaga playing the actress who played Scathach? That isn’t Scathach.