Maeve and Verena

So... Episode 5, huh? That was sure something!

There's a ton of stuff to discuss, but I wanted to discuss this smaller detail, since it pertains to stuff about Sybil/the Witch(es) that I'm super interested in.

If you go and investigate Enoch's desk in the Forbidden Wing (specifically his bottom drawer), you will find a bunch of bottled up notes addressed to a "Miss Maeve" or a "Miss Verena." They will disintegrate if you try and read them, preventing you from knowing its full contents UNLESS you have Mystical (OR if you have Booksmart - then you can read them fast enough before they dissolve). Then you can fully read them without even needing to open the bottle, which implies that perhaps this is how Maeve/Verena got Enoch's letters? So those letters are almost certainly addressed to the Witch.

The fact that there are two different names for the Witch makes me more confident that it's not really one person, but a series of Witches that inherit the title, and by extension the position of becoming the Scarlets' magical collaborators. Verena is, I believe, Maeve's daughter, and it's a family business, much like the Scarlet coal mine.

So, I'm pretty dang confident that Maeve was the Witch Enoch was referring to in the Episode 4 vision - the one he talked about to an injured Teddy. In his note to her, he outright says that he's writing in utmost urgency, mentions lives being lost, and that the town is in a frenzy, which really makes me think this letter was sent in the immediate aftermath of the 1918 Collapse. Therefore, I think Maeve is the one who started the whole ritual of putting the Entity into the bodies of Scarlets and binding them to the house. She also MIGHT be the one who helped with the carvings, but we don't know that for sure.

I think Verena, the Witch that came after Maeve, is the Witch from Charlie Shaw's memories, the one who's advice ended up getting him killed by Edwardine. The note of interest reads like this:

Verena: know what you tried. Do not appreciate the attempt at subterfuge. Thought we both knew what was at stake here. The boy has been dealt with, expect me this evening for in-person discussion.

The "attempt at subterfuge" was, I believe, Verena giving Charlie the map with the "poem" under the guise of freeing Edwardine from the town. "The boy has been dealt with" reads to me like Enoch getting Edwardine to kill Charlie, putting an end to whatever disruptions he might have done to their plans. While in the past I wondered if the Witch had lied and knowingly led Charlie into a trap, "thought we both knew what was at stake here" implies that the Witch/Verena acted on her own volition without Enoch knowing. This appears to be an indication that the Witches of the past were not always in step with the Scarlets or had their own goals, something which we know is true of Sybil.

Quick bonus: One of the notes simply reads "Miss Verena: trouble with T. Your presence requested at once." T is most definitely Teddy being possessed by the Entity, imo.

Now to connect this to the present day: Maeve and Verena are therefore related to Sybil and Kaneeka. I think Verena might be the grandmother of Sybil (since Sybil mentions her in passing quite a bit), and therefore every Forsyth generation corresponds with a generation of Scarlets; Enoch and Maeve, Edwardine and Verena, Mary-Belle and ????, Pearlanne and Sybil, and finally, Tabitha and Kaneeka. And then with Enoch mentioning how he's previously gone to Maeve for help years ago, this partnership might be even older than we know; perhaps even going all the way back to Silas Scarlet.

(Side note: Mary-Belle and Alexandra (and Andrew Charles also counts) have been called the "lost generation," given that none of them were able to assume control of the mines. I have to wonder if that means the Forsyth generation that aligns with them has also been similarly "lost," since so far we know nothing about Sybil's parents)

And so finally... What is Sybil doing now? She's obviously behind Kaneeka's disappearance and general erasure, which is a strong enough spell that it even affects non-tea drinkers, but she also erased much of her own presence? She makes sure you 1) can't remember the general store 2) can't remember her job of running the tea room and 3) can't draw any connection between the Witch Wayne mentions and herself. But why? The tea room thing is what especially puzzles me - why does she not want you to remember that detail? Is it because it's tied to that specific location? Does she not want you to remember her association with tea, or the fact that she's mind-controlling people through it? What is it?

What I do think is that Sybil and Kaneeka are currently at the Tremaine Homestead; and we'll find them there in Part 2...

Last minute edit: WAIT I JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING

In Enoch's letter to Maeve, he says that he is unable to find her place of residence, hence why he does the magic "letter-in-a-bottle" thing to contact her. Sybil says that she comes from "standard hill folk," people who mostly sustains themselves off the land and kept to themselves.... Perhaps similar to how Maeve might have lived? And remember: Sybil only started living at the general store when she got married, and now that place has been shuttered. (And Miles left behind 😔 RIP)

What if Sybil took Kaneeka to that place? The location of the previous Witches? What if she went back to her old home?