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Four Harvest Girls sacrificed, four girls returned.
Monique Deveraux to her fellow Harvest Witch Abigail in From a Cradle to a Grave


A Harvest Witch, also known as a Harvest Girl is a particular witch chosen by the Elders to be the forefront of the Harvest ritual practiced by the New Orleans Witch Community. Unlike the other witches who practice Ancestral Magic, Harvest witches are highly favored by the Ancestors and have a direct connection with them, second only to that of the Regent.

Description

The Harvest ritual involves appeasing the witches' ancestors by giving them an offering of power in exchange for the ancestors strengthening the coven's connection to their magic, which weakens over time. The offering is meant to prove the coven's faith, not only in the Harvest ritual but in the ancestors themselves and the ancestral magic that their coven's witches, living and dead, practice. To prove this faith, the coven sacrifices four young witch girls who are put in a kind of limbo for the duration of the Harvest ritual, where they were taught magic and indoctrinated to have faith in the ancestral witch cause while they were in limbo. After each sacrifice, the power of the recently-deceased witch would pass on to the next living girl. During the 2011 performance of the Harvest, Monique was the second-to-last girl to be sacrificed; when she died, her powers, plus the powers of the two girls sacrificed before her, were all passed on to Davina and those meant to fuel the Earth itself. Since she was saved before she could be sacrificed, she continued to possess all four girls' magical powers until she was finally sacrificed in Après Moi, Le Déluge.

Throughout The Originals Series

Season One

In Sinners and Saints, we see the flashbacks to the 2011 ritual. The girls didn't suspect a thing until they witnessed Abigail as the first victim. The Elders then forcefully took Cassie and slit her throat too. Marcel's Army then came and started killing all of the guilty witches expect Agnes who by that point had killed Monique. Davina then was recused by Marcel who took her under his wing. In the present day, the siblings learn about the Harvest and break off their alliance with Sophie which she's informed about in Fruit of the Poisoned Tree.

In The Casket Girls, the Harvest is at climax leaving Davina powerful at her 11th hour. She uses this to kill a group of witches hunting her and almost forces Klaus into his wolf form while taking down Elijah & Marcel.

In Après Moi, Le Déluge, due to Davina's powers unraveling quickly, it's determined that she must be finally killed. Marcel blames Klaus for this finally happening since he believes that Davina's temporary death the previous episode and Klaus killing Tim was a part of this. Sophie notes its only happening since the deadline is approaching faster and to stop it from happening. Sophie becomes an Elder by consecrating Esther at Lafayette Cemetery. Davina makes the selfless decision to complete the Harvest, but the reaping was hijacked by Celeste who used it to resurrected her friends instead to get revenge on The Mikealsons.

In Crescent City, Monique is resurrected after the death of Papa Tunde the previous night. Escaping from her family tomb only to be greeted by Céleste Dubois who was expecting her. Later, she is reunited with her aunt at the family restaurant they talk before Marcel arrives. He asks for help to find the other resurrected witches so he can kill them to get Davina back. Monique persuades Sophie to help him, but Klaus kidnapped Monique to lure them out to undo the hex on Father Kieran. Marcel then comes to Monique's recuse and fights Klaus. Sophie then finishes off Klaus with Papa Tunde's Blade. At the end of the episode when Sophie tries to take Monique out of the city and apologizes for not doing that a year ago before The Harvest. Monique refuses and kills Sophie citing she'll cleanse this city with help of the other Harvest girls once they return. She then leaves with the other resurrected witches.

In Le Grand Guignol, with the deaths of Bastianna & Celeste. Abigail & Davina return from the Ancestral Plane with the former's return seen on screen.

In Moon Over Bourbon Street, all 3 Harvest Girls, excluding Cassie, had risen. While Abigail & Monique are flourishing and showing their new profound magical abilities. Davina is having a tough time fitting back into the witches' society. She can't use her magic because she hasn't been trained by the dead witches and Monique reminds her constantly that she chose to side with the vampires and shouldn't be one of them. After leaving Elijah's party she goes to the coven garden with Josh. He convinces her that what her family thinks doesn't matter, using the story of his boyfriend in High School. She then uses her magic to bring the whole garden back to life stunning Monique when she returns.

In The Big Uneasy, the girls participate in a traditional festival know as La Fête des Bénédictions, where the community offers witches gifts in return for their blessings. Monique still makes it clear that Davina isn't worthy of being a Harvest Witch. After Marcel disturbs the feast Monique is about to kill Genevieve so the coven could finally get Cassie back along with the full power of the Harvest. However, Esther intervenes and tells Monique that her coven must kill Hope instead of Genevieve.

In A Closer Walk With Thee, Davina convinces Abigail to help her do a séance so she contacts her friend Tim. The attempt is unsuccessful however Davina meets Mikael who tells her Tim has moved on and that he can help her take down Klaus if she can bring him back to life. Meanwhile, Monique cast a hex on Hayley and Hope in an attempt on their lives. Genevieve fixes it and she knows that Monique is the culprit. Back at the coven house Monique is yelled at and told by Genevieve that Consecration won't work on a dead baby who was killed in the womb or stillborn. They have to wait until after the birth.

In From a Cradle to a Grave, Hayley finally went into labor, unfortunately, she was being held captive by the French Quarter Coven. The combined efforts of Monique and Abigail kept Klaus from getting any closer to kill them. Monique slit Hayley's throat as she was holding Hope. The witches then left St. Anne's Church and magically broke Klaus's neck. At Lafayette Cemetery The two Harvest girls were with Genevieve to sacrifice the baby. They made an agreement to kill Genevieve themselves so they would get Cassie back from the Ancestral Plane. Fortunately for Hope, her family arrived to recuse her. Abigail was the first causality in the Lafayette Cemetery battle. Monique then attempted to finish the job herself. She would have succeeded if Marcel hadn't shown up with The Devil's Star. Genevieve was killed by Hayley which finally allowed Cassie to be resurrected hours later. However, it was shown to the audience that she was Esther's vessel. On Davina's front, she brought Mikael back to life and tied him to one of the objects that she had used to resurrect him and revealed that he was now enslaved to her. She takes him to the attic telling him that he will remain there until she is ready for him to punish Klaus and not a second before.

Season Two

In Rebirth, Esther as Cassie has made an alliance with the werewolves while Davina denounced the covens again.

In Alive and Kicking, Elijah discovered that Davina brought Mikael back from the Other Side before it collapsed. Klaus found out Esther is possessing Cassie after paying her a visit.

In Every Mother's Son, during the family dinner with her sons Finn, Elijah, and Klaus, Esther leaves Cassie's body and enters into Lenore's body. When questioned afterward as to Esther's whereabouts, Cassie is confused as to what is going on and does not know Elijah and Klaus. Elijah convinces Klaus to leave her be. Unfortunately, Cassie is imprisoned by her coven soon after this as they saw her as unhinged to PTSD.

After being there a while Cassie met Rebekah who she recognizes for being an Original despite possessing Eva Sinclair.

In Sanctuary, a week has passed by and Rebekah discovers a way out through a mysterious witch. She lets Cassie in on her escape plan. When Rebekah later goes to Cassie's room after curfew she discovers it empty. Worried she goes down the hall to where the usually locked room is. Rebekah finds a dead Kindred witch and that the glass coffin is empty. Suddenly, she hears a creaking sound, but when she turns, she finds Cassie standing in the doorway. She has two cuts on her cheek that run diagonally down her face. Rebekah is stunned by Cassie's betrayal and is ambushed by the other Kindred members. However, Freya steps and wipes out the Kindred. She kills Cassie for last citing her betrayal as the reason she's dead when she could just escape like Rebekah offered her. This leaves Davina as the only Harvest Girl left alive.

In Fire with Fire, Davina becomes the Regent despite protests from Elders who objected. Earlier in private conversation with Vincent, Davina mentioned that her friends died for nothing (meaning they were all manipulated by their zealous ancestors and in Cassie's case The Kindred) which indirectly lead to their deaths. Vincent tells Davina she'll have the power to ensure that won't happen again in the future.

Season Four

In High Water and a Devil's Daughter, Elijah enacts a plan to re-establish the link between the Ancestors and the mortal plane by sacrificing four French Quarter witches. He calls Vincent to Lafayette Cemetery, showing him the new would-be Harvest witches and orders him to complete the Reaping. However, Vincent is doubtful that the girls will be brought back as he is not a French Quarter Elder nor his magic to perform. Though disgusted at Elijah's ruthless means to a end, he attempts the Reaping though the Ancestors are angry and denies his plea. In order to bring them back, he calls out to Davina, being a former Harvest and French Quarter witch herself, by using her remains, pleading with her. Ultimately, she accepts the sacrifices on the Ancestors' behalf and the four girls are resurrected.

In Voodoo in My Blood, the newest Harvest Girls were shown to be in contact with their ancestors more specifically Davina. The girls send Klaus and Hayley to her in the Ancestral Plane, via a loophole, in order to discuss the Hollow. Ultimately Davina wished to sacrifice Klaus, using his death to once again trap the Hollow.

Known Harvest Witches

Gallery

Trivia

  • The typical ceremonial outfit for a Harvest Witch is white.
    • This is as oppose to black for the Regent and gray for the Elders.
  • Four young girls were chosen from the entire pool of the New Orleans witch community after months of testing. Thus, It is possible that each witch was chosen based on how powerful they were individually.
  • The Harvest Ritual is performed with the the symbolism of the four elements, with each girl representing one of the elements. This is later shown during the Fête de Bénédictions, with the exception of Cassie, who hadn't risen yet.
    • Monique represents the power of Earth
    • Abigail represents the power of Air.
    • Davina represents the power of Fire.
    • Cassie represents the power of Water.
  • Currently only one of the girls is still alive. We don't know what impact has had the death of the three Harvest girls in the witches hierarchy or in their magic practice and connection with the Ancestors.
    • With Davina's death, Harvest witches are inactive, seemingly with no impact on the French Quarter Coven nor the connection to the Ancestors.
  • They're groomed to have leadership over the coven as evident as Monique became Genevieve's right hand after the Consecration of her aunt Sophie despite having her own agenda.
  • Davina left the coven while it's implied Cassie was kicked out when she was committed to the asylum. Both experienced hell. Cassie was possessed by Esther and it's presumed that The Ancestors knew and looked the other way for Esther to keep carrying out her plan. Davina was abused by them since they hated that she was Marcel's ally.
  • Harvest witches have been noted to be more powerful than average witches by many characters throughout the series, however, they seemed to be most powerful during the Harvest ritual and did not seem to display such power after it ended; i.e. when Genevieve died. However, as Davina Claire was the sole Harvest Girl following the Harvest, this cannot be confirmed.
  • Due to The Ancestors being cut off from their descendants there may not be another Harvest ritual performed. Davina who was adamantly against there being another future ritual as first witnessing the damage directly made from the Harvest made sure of that in Give 'Em Hell Kid.
    • In High Water and a Devil's Daughter, four new girls, Jessica, Amy, Steph and an unnamed young witch, were chosen by Elijah, albeit off cycle. Vincent performed the Harvest Ritual to reestablish the link to The Ancestors and the four witches were resurrected by the Ancestors. This officially made them active again in the French Quarter Community.
    • One of the two previously unnamed Harvest witch was revealed by Najah Jackson via Twitter. This is later reaffirmed via a deleted scene of High Water and a Devil's Daughter, when Jessica received a text from Steph indicating that she'd meet her and Amy at Lafayette Cemetery to perform a little Voodoo spell. When they arrived, Elijah had already killed her and he then proceeded to kill the both of them. The fourth and final Harvest witch's name remains unknown.
    • Unlike their predecessors, it's unknown what elements the 2019 Harvest witches represent.

References

  1. https://twitter.com/Najah_j/status/871224205089681409
  2. Although originally confirmed by Najah Jackson, via Twitter, it's reaffirmed in the following deleted scene: The Originals 4x07 Elijah kills witches Deleted Scenes.

See also

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