Harvest Witch

A Harvest Witch, also known as a Harvest Girl, is a particular witch, typically chosen by the French Quarter Coven 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 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 witches who are sent to the Ancestral Plane for the duration of the Harvest ritual, where they were taught magic. After each sacrifice, the power of the recently-deceased witch would pass on to the next living girl. During the 2011 Harvest ritual, 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. Since the ritual was interrupted by Marcel before she could be sacrificed, she possessed all three of the previous girls' magic until she was finally sacrificed in Après Moi, Le Déluge.
==Throughout The Originals Series==
===Season One===
In Sinners and Saints, Davina recalls the Harvest ritual and explains it to Elijah. 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 and his vampires interrupted the witches' ritual and began slaughtering the witches. Agnes survived but managed to sacrifice Monique. Davina then was rescued by Marcel.
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 and Marcel.
In Après Moi, Le Déluge, due to Davina's powers unraveling quickly, it's determined that she must be finally sacrificed. Marcel blames Klaus for this finally happening since he believes that Davina's temporary death and Klaus killing Tim was a part of this. Sophie notes it's 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 Céleste who used it to resurrect three other dark witches instead to get revenge on the Mikaelsons.
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 Celeste 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 rescue 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 and Celeste, Abigail and Davina return from the Ancestral Plane.
In Moon Over Bourbon Street, three Harvest Girls have been resurrected. While Abigail and 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 known as the 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 casts 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 goes into premature labor and is taken by Genevieve and the witches of the French Quarter Coven. The combined efforts of Monique and Abigail kept Klaus from getting any closer to kill them while Genevieve delivered the baby. Monique slit Hayley's throat as she was holding Hope. The witches then left St. Anne's Church and magically broke Klaus' neck. At Lafayette Cemetery, Genevieve, Abigail and Monique prepare to sacrifice Hope. If successful, the Ancestors promised Genevieve her life, however, Monique and Abigail plan to sacrifice her, should she fail, so that they can bring Cassie back from the Ancestral Plane. Hope, however, is rescued when the sacrifice is interrupted by the Mikaelsons. Abigail was the first casualty, followed by Monique, when she 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. Since Genevieve failed, the Ancestors begin to punish her, but she's murdered by Hayley for attempting to sacrifice Hope. Following her death, Cassie is resurrected. Elsewhere, Davina uses the resulting nexus vorti from Hope's birth to resurrect Mikael and bound him to the Bracelet of Obedience that she had used to resurrect him.
===Season Two===
In Rebirth, though Cassie had been resurrected, Esther now possessed her body and 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 due 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 an 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. The Harvest Girls are aware of the plan and, while he and Hayley are unconscious on the mortal plan, they go to collect some of the thorns capable of killing an Original.
In Phantomesque, Kol meets with the Harvest Girls, Amy and Jessica, and offers them bags of Dark Objects in return to speak to Davina. The Harvest Girls reject him; firstly, as a vampire and, secondly, as the brother of the man who murdered them. After they refuse a second, Kol becomes angry and attempt to intimidate them, however, Jessica debilitates him with a pain infliction spell and Amy breaks his neck with telekinesis. With Kol subdued, they take the dark objects as payment for meeting with him.
==Known Harvest Witches==
* Davina Claire (formerly)
* Monique Deveraux †
* Abigail †
* Cassie †
* Jessica
* Amy
* Steph
* One Unnamed Witch
==Gallery==
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==Trivia==
* Four young girls are specifically chosen from the French Quarter Coven, however, the specific criteria that makes them eligible by the Elders are unknown. It is perhaps based on power or potential.
**In High Water and a Devil's Daughter, Vincent reinforces this sentiment when he was forced by Elijah to complete the impromptu Harvest ritual but told him that he was not a French Quarter Elder, nor was it his magic to perform.
* The Harvest Ritual is performed with the the symbolism of the four elements. Similarly, each girl also represented one of the elements during the Fête des Bénédictions, with the exception of Cassie, who had not yet been resurrected. Earth, to connect them to their ancestors. Water, to heal the community. Wind, to carry them to their ancestors and back. Fire, to purify. Monique, Abigail, Davina and Cassie represented the element of earth, air, fire, and water respectively. The representations of the elements for the new 2019 Harvest girls remain unknown since the preparation for the Harvest ritual were not followed.
*The specifications of the Harvest ritual were withheld from the Harvest girls; specifically, that they were to be sacrificed. They were told they'd be placed in a state of peaceful limbo and they'd be awakened and be reborn. Davina, and by extension some of the French Quarter witches, had the misconception that should the Harvest not be completed all their power would drain away. Davina specifically believed she'd be normal and free of magic.
==References==
==See also==
Category:Groups
Category:Witches
Category:Witchcraft
Category:New Orleans Coven
Category:The Originals (series)
Category:The Originals Characters
Category:Supernatural
Category:Witch Covens