Catacombs

Catacombs
General Information
Status:	Existing
Type:	World
Affiliations
Visitors:	Ichabod Crane Abbie Mills † George Washington † Betsy Ross † Pandora †
Prisoners:	The Hidden One † (formerly) Betsy Ross † (formerly) Abbie Mills † (formerly)
Appearances
First appeared:	"One Life"
Last appeared:	"Ragnarok"

"A month has passed in the world, yet here in the Catacombs, time has flown ten times as fast."

—Pandora to Abbie Mills

The Catacombs, also referred to as the Catacombs of the Dead, is a strange place where Abbie ended up after taking the Eye of Providence away from Pandora and The Hidden One. Betsy Ross had ended up in this place, but found a way out, leaving her cutlass behind. It was also where Abbie developed a fixation with a symbol she found there. In Dark Mirror, the Jersey Devil; Japheth Leeds, called it the Catacombs of the Dead in his home movie detailing the history of Pandora and the Hidden One.

History

Hidden One

After the Hidden One and the other Gods banished all of the evil in the world and placed it in a box, the Hidden One was tasked with looking after it for the rest of eternity. Every day, a servant named Pandora would place an offering by the Hidden One's feet. This offering was the blood of Humans to symbolise their submittance to the Gods. One day, while delivering the cup to the Hidden One and placing the cup by his feet, she offers him a flower which she proclaimed. The Hidden One, surprised that she would put herself at risk giving him a flower as it is forbidden. He asks why she would give him a flower. She tells him that she only wanted to bring him a bit of joy. He kisses her hand softly. He asks her why he remains in the dark while the other gods remain in the light. She shook her head. The Hidden One tells her the early history of the gods. He explains that him and the gods banished all of the evils of the world and stored them in a box, which he was tasked with looking after it. He also states that the only way to kill the other gods is to use the evils in the box. Once the Hidden One bestowed Pandora with great power, she gathered her brethren and unleashed the evils of the box onto the gods, killing them. Once it was all over, the Hidden One and Pandora were together, for a brief second. Humanity banished the Hidden One for all of eternity.

Thousands and thousands of years later, Pandora completed her ritual to travel to the Catacombs where she brought the Hidden One back to Earth.

Betsy Ross

Betsy Ross and George Washington made it to the gateway of the catacombs in order to retreve the Eye of Providence. Once they got inside, they entered a secret passageway and took the Eye and wrapped it in the flag. But Betsy became curious and lingered inside too long. The door shut with her on the wrong side. Whatever sequence Washington used to open the chamber didn't work, and he had to leave her, promising to come back. She tried everything she could to escape but eventually accepted her fate.

Months later, Ichabod and Abbie (her second time) found their way into the chamber and discovered Betsy's lifeless body, presuming that she was dead. Abbie noticed that she was breathing and woke her up. They question her to how she is still in there to which she tells them her story and that she has been there for months. Ichabod Crane has a lot on his mind. He's just discovered Betsy Ross alive and well, and he still has to get Pandora's Box reassembled and save the world. They are keeping the fact that they are from the future under wraps or risk throwing the time stream into utter chaos. But Betsy is curious, especially about Crane and Abbie's relationship, so Crane is having a hard time keeping his old friend from getting suspicious. He simply tells her that they are not only at the Catacombs on a rescue mission, but need to restore a powerful supernatural artifact that is the only hope against a foe that holds the fate of the world in his hands. Crane performs the incantation as instructed, but the box doesn't have its silver hue. It seems Pandora left out some information about the Eternal Soul of a Witness. The box opens, and a cloud of black smoke starts to envelope Abbie. Betsy and Crane fight to shut the lid, but the box turns silver and Abbie collapses. Abbie awakens, but she's weak and senses something is wrong. Crane says the box took something very precious, Abbie's soul. He's also got to tell Betsy that they will not be returning together. Apparently, if Betsy enters the well, she'll return to her proper place in history none the wiser. She senses the strong bond between Crane and Abbie and acknowledges his heart belongs to her. She then leaves the catacombs via the well and returns to her time period of 1777.

Abbie Mills

On Earth, not long after the Hidden One escaped the catacombs, Abbie Mills grabs the Eye of Providence and enters the tree that Pandora used to get the Hidden One from the Catacombs just days before, in order to prevent the Eye from killing her sister and to prevent the Hidden One from returning to his former glory. The tree acted as a gateway to and from the Catacombs but after Abbie enters, the tree closes forever.

Abbie wakes up for her first time at the catacombs and finds herself alone in a stone temple. The Eye of Provides is lying on the floor in a pattern. She follows the outside light to the nearest exit, and finds herself looking out of a vast castle onto an alien landscape. Abbie walks across the landscape and comes to a deep well. Nearby is a cutlass stuck in a tree trump, and Abbie pulls it free. She returns to the Catacombs and draws a map of the area as she explores. Abbie plays chess against herself, pretending to be Ichabod, and realizes that the sun never sets. Ichabod calls to her, and then he flickers in and out of existence briefly. Abbie figures that it’s a hallucination and returns to the chessboard, and Ichabod announces the next move. He materializes in the hallway and says that he needs her help to complete his journey. Ichabod tells her to focus on their partnership. Abbie concentrates and Ichabod fully appears. She is unable to touch him, and Ichabod explains that he’s an astral projection. Abbie says that she’s been there ten months, although it’s only been weeks for them. Abbie explains that the sun hasn’t moved since she arrived. She hasn’t needed to eat , drink, or sleep, and she’s spent her time relieving the monotony by mapping the realm. Ichabod notices some Sumerian glyphs on the wall and recognizes them from the tablet. Abbie thanks him for never giving up on her, and he says that he only did what she would have done if their roles were reversed. Ichabod translates the symbols and discovers that they refer to The Hidden One. His power flows from the Eye on his staff, opening a gate between world. Abbie points out that if she uses it to return then the Hidden One can recover it. Ichabod notices the cutlass and says that he’s seen it before, and insists that it belonged to Betsy.

Pandora appears in the temple in her astral form, and says that the Eye is the key to escaping. She offers to show Abbie how to use it... if she brings them the Eye when she returns. Ichabod and Abbie refuses, and Abbie realizes that Pandora is powerless against her in her astral form. Pandora admits that she’s right, but she can hurt Ichabod. She severs his tether to the candle, leaving him left to float for all eternity. Ichabod disappears and Pandora tells Abbie that she will restore him... if she gives him the Eye. Pandora repeats her offer and warns that there are fates worse than death. She wonders how long Abbie can withstand the solitude, Abbie admits that she may go mad in the future... and destroys the Eye. Furious, Pandora severs her tether and returns to her body. Time passes for Abbie, and she soon knocks away the improvised chess pieces in frustration. Ichabod faintly calls to her, and Abbie insists that he’s always with her. Concentrating, she works out that since Betsy was there and left her weapon, she must somehow have escaped. She realizes that the cutlass was driven into the stump to act as a stay for a rope... and Betsy used the rope to descend into the well. Abbie calls to Ichabod and tells him to use her as a totem so that he can follow her back to the real world. Using a vine, Abbie lowers herself into the well using a vine, unknowingly escaping from the catacombs.

Trivia

On-Screen Notes

• According to Ichabod, sorcery exists in the Catacombs, allowing for any there to not need food or water to survive while there. In addition, sleep isn't needed also.
• Upon meeting Abbie there using astral-projection, Crane learned that despite Abbie having only been gone for around a month, for her, it had been over ten months to a year, indicating time moves much faster in this realm; ten times faster according to Pandora.
• The Hidden One was put in the Catacombs by his fellow gods.
• It always seems to be sunny in the Catacombs.

Cultural References

• The symbol on the temple, which has the shape of the Emblem of Thura, is a variant of the real-world rune letter Odal.

Appearances

Season Three

"I, Witness"

"Whispers in the Dark"

"Blood and Fear"

"The Sisters Mills"

"Dead Men Tell No Tales"

"This Red Lady from Caribee"

"The Art of War"

"Novus Ordo Seclorum"

"One Life"

"Incident At Stone Manor"

"Kindred Spirits"

"Sins of the Father"

"Dark Mirror"

"Into the Wild"

"Incommunicado"

"Dawn's Early Light"

"Delaware"

"Ragnarok"