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You were not born for this. You were born to be loved. And I do love you. I am so sorry, my love. I have failed you over and over again, but I will not fail you now. Whatever happens, do not be afraid. We will meet again. I love you beyond all measure, beyond any other love, beyond life itself.

John was the firstborn child of John Alden and Mary Walcott and also a witch. While he had yet to be given an official name, he was often affectionately called "Little John" by his mother, Mary Sibley. He later legally acquired the last name of George Sibley, who was said to be his uncle, thus being officially named John Sibley.

He's a character primarily portrayed by American actor Oliver Bell.

Early Life

After Mary Walcott discovers that she is pregnant by John Alden, Mary fears what the Puritans will do to her should they discover that she is pregnant out of wedlock. Therefore, Mary is convinced by Tituba that the best thing that she can do for both herself and her child is to offer the child up to the Devil in exchange for power. For the following seven years, Mary is lead to believe that her child died shortly after he was sacrificed to the Devil. The witches also convince Mary that she would never have had to make such a painful sacrifice if it wasn't for the cruel and inhumane society created by the Puritans. This is what fuels Mary to complete the Grand Rite, in order to exact revenge against the Puritans and help the witches to create a beautiful world of freedom, justice, and liberty, especially for their kind. However, after the surprising return of John Alden (who Mary believed died in the war), Mary slowly begins to lose sight of her grand vision, until she finally decides to abandon her task altogether and leave Salem with her long-lost lover, John Alden. However, before Mary has the chance to leave, Tituba reveals to Mary Sibley that in spite of what the witches lead her to believe, Mary's child is alive and well and threatens to kill him, if Mary fails to complete the Grand Rite.

Personality

Due to his dark and uncivil upbringing by the Elders, Little John has many harmful and unethical behavioral traits such as killing and torturing animals as well as humans. He also seems to have a lecherous and lustful attitude towards his mother and has intimately kissed her and once spied on Mary as she and Samuel Wainwright had sexual intercourse.

Physical Appearance

A thin boy with fair skin, a helmet of black hair and dark eyes that resemble the traits of his mother. Dressed in traditional clothes of the Colonial Period. As an adult, John was a tall, handsome man with piercing blue eyes, angular jaw, black hair, and broad shoulders.

Throughout The Salem Series

In The Vow, Giles Corey threat Mary to reveal to John about the abortion, when everyone - except Tituba - unaware that the child is still alive.

In The Stone Child Mary is crying while feeding her familiar and Tituba tells her crying will sour the milk. Mary says "There was a time I might of suckled something other than a Toad," Later in the episode Mary tells a woman who lost her baby " I too have lost a child. Oh I know the pain you feel, I feel it even now,"

All Fall Down Mary holding her son

Meeting his mother for the first time

In All Fall Down, Tituba makes her return to The House of Seven Gables to stop Mary, which has threatened the Elders to leave Salem without completing the Grand Rite. To force her to remain, Tituba delivery to her a wooden casket containing a lock of hair tied with a ribbon and reveals that belong to her son, that Mary has always considered dead. At this point Tituba promises to her former mistress that she will embrace his son only once completed the mission of the Ritum Magni, otherwise, the witches will kill her son once and for all. Once Increase was killed, Tituba leads Mary in the wood where witches guard the child who, once seen his mother, runs to hug her.

Salem-Promo-Still-S2E01-07-Mary and John Sibley

Little John with his mother.

In Cry Havoc, the boy is first seen at Mary's home who is singing him a lullaby, Mary states that he looks like he has never heard a lullaby before and the boy tells her that the Elders never sang to him and she promises she will sing to him every night. Mary tries to question where he has been all these years but Tituba arrives to take him back to the hive. Mary tries to stop her stating she has had enough of the Elders conditions of her seeing her son, who belongs with her in Salem but the boy cries out in pain when Tituba uses her powers on him to force Mary's compliance, Mary concedes to their wishes but promises her she will one day suffer.

The following evening the boy is visiting his mother who is showing him object's that once belonged to her own mother, where she tells him she does not remember her as she died when she was very young. He asks about his own father and she tells him he was the very best of men, one that she loved very much but he is dead. The boy asks her his name and she tells him his name was John, he reveals that the Elders never gave him a name, that he isn't allowed one till he is baptized but would like to be called John, Mary tells him that he will be if that's what he wants affectionately calling him "little John".

In Blood Kiss,

In From Within,

In The Wine Dark Sea,

In The Beckoning Fair One,

In Dead Birds,

In Wages of Sin,

Despite his essence being wholly supplanted by that of the Dark Lord who took full possession of his body at the end of the Grand Rite, John Sibley's body continued to be used as a proper meat suit by the Devil until, exploiting the sacrifice of a pious soul like that of Cotton Mather, the Dark Lord was able to cause the rapid and inhuman growth of his human body. By destroying the child's body, his adult version came out of the ripped entrails. Later, the body was stabbed to death by Anne Hale, who permanently killed the empty shell that no longer housed the soul of its rightful owner. (Black Sunday)

Powers and Abilities

John's clairvoyance

John is having a vision

John turned out to be a powerful witch in his prime, though much of his skills may be due to his being conceived and bred as a Devil's vessel.

Old Tongue during Exorcism

John's inhuman cries

John showed a remarkable affinity with extrasensory abilities, and Clairvoyance, though he had little control over the aforementioned paranormal abilities that were triggered in a completely casual manner. When John became prey to premonitions or sensing, his body began to tremble as if he suffered some sort of seizure, and his eyes became completely white as usual during foresight. John also showed some inclination to unleash natural elements during anger attacks, causing tremors in the objects even to make them fly from side to side of the room, but also atmospheric phenomena such as thunderstorms.

How much of the latter was actually due to John's supernatural abilities was not entirely clear as he unleashed the storm while Cotton Mather was trying to exorcise him, and therefore this may have been caused by a demon lurking inside his little body.

Little John vomiting insects

John vomiting insects

Always during the exorcism, John demonstrated a high endurance of pain, bending his body in a completely unnatural and deadly manner for a common human being. He also vomited swarms of insects and spoke ancient dead language distorted by the Devil, causing chaos and uttering inhuman cries that created suffering to Cotton and John Alden.

Since John was raised for seven years in the midst of the Essex Hive, he may have learned the arts of Witchcraft from his tenderest childhood, since his disturbing drawings represented scenes of Sabbaths and gory sacrifices.

Relationships

Main article: Mary and John Sibley
I'll tell you what I feel for my son Simply love Complete and unconditional.
Mary Sibley to Sebastian Von Marburg about her son
Salem-Promo-Still-S2E01-07B-Mary and John Sibley
After believing that the child was dead for seven years, Mary discovers that her son has been living in the forest under the protection of the Elders. Blackmailed to complete the Great Rite, the witch is allowed to see the child for a few hours a day. During these moments, between the two comes a deep relationship, especially Mary nourishes a deep love for the child.

Main article: John and Little John
Are you really truly my father... John Alden
— John to his father John Alden
File:Possessed John with his father promotional still.jpg
John Alden discovered relatively late the existence of his own son, and despite the child is the essence of Evil, the man does everything possible to save the child from eternal damnation, even if the Countess and the Devil instilled in him the doubt if the child is actually his son.

Gallery

Trivia

  • According to Brannon Braga, it has always been the intention of the writers to put his character in the main storyline but first, they had to show certain events to introduce him.
    • The theme of a satanic son is recurring in the stories about witches. The most famous is perhaps that of the novel Rosemary's Baby and the film that was made from it by Roman Polanski.
  • Although, Dr. Wainwright and Countess Von Marburg will surely be enough trouble for Mary, the person who's truly going to turn her world upside down is her nameless long-lost son who was raised by her coven without her knowledge.
  • "[With] her not being able to trust anyone and her hive sort of falling apart and this big secret that they kept her son for seven years, I think the only reason that Mary's going on is that she has nowhere else to go," says Montgomery. "And there's no way that she would be able to live in this world with her son unless she still carries on with the witch thing. I think she's doing everything for her son [and] trying to create the world in which they can be together."
  • Even John, as Sebastian Von Marburg, seems to be prone to an incestuous affection towards his mother, as when he kisses her on the lips in Blood Kiss.
  • Little John and Tituba are the only two witches known to have been turned by the Devil himself as oppose to being turned by a fellow witch.
  • Theoretically, in spite of Little John's body being occupied by the Devil, after being drowned in the river of hell-blood, for all intents and purposes, Little John is spiritually dead.

See Also

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