Gryla

“	Your coven has always turned our kind away. For centuries, we've had to brave the wilderness alone. Why should we join you now?	”
	— Gryla to Zelda^[src]

Gryla is a recurring character on Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. She is portrayed by Heather Doerksen in Part 1 and Part 3, and later portrayed by Samantha Coughlan in Part 4.

Gryla is an ancient and very dangerous hedge witch who aligns with the the Spellmans to take down pagans and stop the impending resurrection of the Green Man.

Early Life[]

Gryla was born during the Dark Ages. She married a warlock who later abandoned her sometime after their only child was born. During a famine, Gryla and another witch from her coven made a pact to eat their own children to survive. They cooked and devoured Gryla's son first, her only child, and then the other witch broke their pact. Devastated, Gryla's spent the last thousand years trying to replace her lost child. Since then she's been looking for children to add to her "family"; they're known as the Yule Lads, for the mischief they cause every midwinter.

Throughout Chilling Adventures of Sabrina[]

Physical Appearance[]

Gryla has long, wavy blonde hair and crimson lips. Her clothing is rough, and she looks every bit the part of a primal witch living in the wild.

Personality[]

Gryla loves and genuinely cares about children. She continually tries to get children, particularly orphans, to join her "family", although she has been known to let children go if their biological families are still alive and still care about them. Gryla detests people who hurt children; she punished a Yule demon who turned children into wax figures by returning the favor. She also hates men after her husband abandoned her to the point where she loves eating them, although this dislike does not seem to extend to male children.

Powers and Abilities[]

Gryla possesses the standard abilities of a witch, such as spell casting, telekinesis, and longevity. Gyrla is said to be over 1000 years old. Most impressive is her ability to communicate with the dead.

She is also the only known being able to see her Yule Lads, which are invisible to humans, demons and all other witches. The Yule Lads cause mischief, but they listen only to Gryla, their mother.

Appearances[]

Part 1[]

"Chapter Eleven: A Midwinter's Tale"

Part 3[]

Part 4[]

"Chapter Thirty: The Uninvited"

Trivia[]

She is loosely based on the a mythical giantess living in the mountains of Iceland of the same name.
Gryla loves gin. She is open to discussion and deals so long as she can sate her love for the drink.
Heather was 30 weeks pregnant when Roberto asked her to reprise the role of Gryla for Part 3. As opposed to writing around her pregnancy, Roberto had written it into the series.^[1]