Warrior Nun Is Hiding Secret Messages In Episode Titles

When writers, showrunners, and filmmakers are weaving stories together to create substantive works of art, it's not uncommon for them to sprinkle deeper meanings into the narrative for fans to dig into. In the superhero genre, for example, symbolic costumes hide deeper meanings. There's also a recent trend of movie posters subtly hinting at everything from outright spoilers to plot themes that audiences might accidentally gloss over. Now, fans are uncovering information hidden within the details of Netflix's biblical action series "Warrior Nun."

If you haven't seen the show yet, here's a minor spoiler: each episode title is a citation of a specific bible verse (or verses). It's a fitting decision, seeing as the show is about nuns fighting demons and rooting out corruption within the church. So what do the bible verses mean? If you're wondering that too, you're not alone. If that makes you curious enough to look them up, then you're playing right into the showrunner's hands — in a good way, of course.

Using bible verses instead of more traditional episode titles was a conscious choice by the show's creators. Those bible verses aren't random, either. During an interview with Decider, Simon Barry explained that "They all have a connection to the episode they're attached to, but they also all speak to the philosophy of the show a little bit, as well," adding that "It was our way of including the audience in a bit of an Easter egg hunt."

Many different entertainment news outlets are on the case. Refinery29 broke every episode title down into a convenient slideshow, and ScreenRant went into a similar level of detail. However, if you look closely at their rundowns, you'll notice some discrepancies in the text. When discussing Episode 2, "Proverbs 31:25," the former used a biblical translation which means "she can laugh at the days to come," while the latter sourced a bible which translated the verse as "she laughs without fear of the future." Let's take a closer look at why this is so important.

First, keep in mind that there are many different versions of the Bible out there, and the original text has been translated so many times into so many different languages that the meanings of specific verses can get muddled, to say the least. Just look at this example from The New York Times about how the Hebrew word "nefesh" can mean anything from "soul" to "corpse" to "throat" or half a dozen other things. And that's just one example of hundreds — if not more.

This confusion is on display in the two different interpretations of "Proverbs 31:25." Saying that "she can laugh at the days to come" fails to add any context about what she's laughing at or why. But saying that she can "laugh without fear" implies danger, potentially a mortal threat. It's still wide open to interpretation, but when you're talking about an action-packed fantasy series with literal demon fights, adding the word "fear" is much more ominously foreboding and compelling.

Another example of layered meaning is the use of the word "whoredom" in the Episode 4 title, "Ecclesiasticus 26:9-10." Both interpretations cited above assume that the word is referring to a woman's sexuality. But a less common biblical translation (via YourDictionary) simply means unfaithfulness to God. In the episode, Ava finds out that an evil nun tried to murder her (breaking the sixth commandment isn't exactly being very faithful), and when she ends up killing her in self-defense, she has a serious crisis of faith. 

If nerding out over linguistics or biblical scripture isn't your thing, that's okay. You don't have to understand the episode titles to enjoy the show — but those fun little Easter eggs do make the series a bit more interesting.