The Vice Principal
So I wanted to take the time to pose a little theory I had about The Vice Principal.
Chapter 5 of Paranatural did well to expand on the world that is Mayview, but we don’t have the full story on her. Just who is she, and how the heck did people even let children near her? Well, that’s what I want to prove.
I think she is a Monster.
We were already introduced to the idea of monsters before generally with the Cousinhood hunting them, but we got some more important lore in Chapter 5. Davey Jones as our first established Monster Character, and Agent Day’s presence providing information about them.
Monsters are “corrupted humans.” Due to Davey’s vampiric nature, we can safely assume that “corrupted humans” can range from anything partly-human to humans with non-spectral powers. This definition would apply to Werewolves, Zombies, and even Witches.
Patchworm and Davey use the term “The Witch” in reference to a person. Given that Patchwork and Zarei saw the Vice Principal just a few moments before, and how highly doubtful it is that Davey would refer to a second Witch, then that would mean that the Vice Principal is The Witch.
But what does that mean exactly?
Well for starters, witches are known for magic and spell-casting abilities. While the information of paranatural witches are lacking, it can be easily assumed that there is an ability difference between witches and Spectrals.
Zarei has a full blast of spectral energy here. Yet it doesn’t register with V.P. Even if she has forgotten about who Zarei is, or their history, there should have been more of a reaction to all that spectral energy.
Unless she couldn’t see it.
Cody couldn’t see Hijack. But Davey could. They are both vampires, but only Davey showed signs of his own spectral powers. Meaning that monsters can’t see ghosts and spectral powers, only Spectrals can. This means that Witch powers come from a separate source, something non-ghost or spirit related.
Furthermore, witches in lore were seen as maleficent and historically people did see witches as satanic, so it isn’t a stretch to assume that the Cousinhood would group them in with monsters as well, being “corrupted” by the powers of Satan.
Hilarious considering that Spender is currently housing Lucifer.
With V.P established as a witch, it makes this sentence a bit more hilarious in hindsight. She is starting the witchhunt, which is actually a Witch’s Hunt.
But she isn’t just any witch. Like how there are different types of Spectrals, there must be different types of Witches depending on what magic they are proficient at.
And she is a Bug Type Witch.
Davey doesn’t say “hands,” he says “legs.” As if The Witch doesn’t have any hands at all, only legs.
Now there are a lot of animals in the world that don’t have hands. Their limbs be called paws, claws, hooves, something to further define the limb. But bugs only have legs. A lot of legs.
Here we see Patchworm and Zarei are being cautious after running into V.P., calling it the “Spider’s Web.” Spiders would use webs to ensnare and trap their victims, something that we had seen happen before.
She used the string to control her weird child puppet to capture Jeff (who, ironically, was also Hijack’s puppet). It didn’t work, but she still somehow had enough string to contain Hijack for a little while.
If she was just a Spider Witch, I would have called her the Spider Witch from the beginning. But I didn’t, because she is similar to another insect.
Seriously! You can’t tell me that that nose is normal! There is nothing normal about it. It looks like an electrical cord was stretched out from her skin! And we know that that thing is real.
We saw her get a nosebleed from the game. That is an actual body part on her face. And it isn’t just her nose that has the similarity.
Yeah, pretty similar don’t you think? And look! Her arms behind her back even give off the illusion of wings.
In Patchworm’s mini-flashback, we see the silhouette of V.P. showed in darkness. The background is designed in spider webs. But under her arms the swirling pattern looks more like the design on wings than any web. So it isn’t just spider powers she is mimicking, but mosquito ones as well.
But what are these powers exactly? Well….
During this time of Hijack’s capture, he called her a “Hag” which is another term for witch. But, one with a bit more darker edge.
Hags are known for eating children.
Eating.
Children.
Mayview Middle School just became a huge buffet for this blood-sucker, though I don’t think it is blood she is drinking.
Before we get to that, let’s go over what we know of her history. Really nothing, but we know that Zarei has had history with her.
They fought one another. Zarai thought she had won a long time ago. And based on the grey shading in the last panel, they weren’t good memories. Especially if just seeing V.P.’s face made her terrified. But I want to focus back on the flashback panel. That is a child being trapped in V.P.’S Shadow, presumably Zarei’s. That plus her position in a school, it implies that she specifically targets children.
But if she intended to harm the school, she would have had opposition.
We know that Cody is the secret President of the Student Council. We know that he would accept killing Hijack for revenge of what he did to Jeff.
So then why would he allow V.P. at the school?
If she really is that big of a threat, he could have asked his dad to take her out.
He may be dangerous, but he is doting. If Cody asks, Davey would probably kill her without remorse. But Cody doesn’t. We know that Cody wouldn’t hesitate to do what he thinks is right. He banned his dad from school grounds. And yet it looks like that the V.P. is working for him. For what reason does Cody have to keep her?
Well….
There is a power struggle in Mayview. If there is one monster, then surely there must be more. Davey uses his skills to make sure that that struggle is balanced. Not one group is more powerful than another, and Davey is determined to keep it that way.
So maybe Cody is playing the game inside the school as well.
After Cody came in charge, the school drastically changed, but specifically note Collin’s story.
The V.P. only feeds on the students in detention. That is why she is in charge of capturing delinquents, that is how she is able to eat. And by only feeding on the detention children, the rest are spared from her appetite.
Also, note the string used to tie these two up like with Hijack. More Spider Silk.
She obviously can’t actually kill any students, that would raise too much suspicion on her. And she is a Major Player in this power balance if Davey knows of her existence. So she would probably use her magic to drain students of something nonphysical that wouldn’t kill them. Say….blood or their spirits?
Trapping them in detention and draining them for consumption still fits into the spider/mosquito abilities.
Of course, it also looks like that V.P. here is also really into the rules. So it could be a “cake and eat it too” scenario. Where V.P. gets to have the control she desires AND a way to eat/sustain herself.
So what does she want to do now? Well, Hijack certainly piqued her interest.
That is the look of realization of something that she had been looking for. And that looks like to be body snatching.
Look at the key word here. “THAT Easily.” V.P. is known for stealing bodies. If we continue the bug theme, there are a lot of parasitic insects that take over bodies or live in them as a host.
Parasites would infect bodies, so why not a witch infecting the student body?
This also makes Zarei’s confusion make sense.
If they did defeat her, how is she still standing? Well, she got another body. But it sounds like it would take a long process for it to happen.
After the game she does out she goes off to look for her “bigger fries”: Hijack. Jeff now is acting like Jeff again. She can’t see spectrals or ghosts, so she –like everyone else—is under the assumption that Hijack left and Jeff is back to normal.
This part is purely speculation since there isn’t much about what she is looking for. But my guess is that learning of Hijack’s existence, a being who can easily possess others, pushed her to try and get her act together for a new body-snatching ability.
But seeing how Davey and Cody got to Hijack first, and that Zarei knows of her return, I’m sure we are going to get a chapter dedicated to their three-way conflict soon enough.