American Horror Story: Apocalypse Theories: Who — Or What — Is Mallory?

American Horror Story: Apocalypse delivered a real doozy of an episode last week that sent the fandom into a frenzy of theories, confusion and shock, aka our preferred state. After Mallory (Billie Lourd) had her revealing confrontation with Langdon (Cody Fern), it became clear that she isn't just an embattled personal assistant. Then, when Coven's Cordelia (Sarah Paulson), Myrtle (Frances Conroy) and Madison (Emma Roberts) showed up at Outpost 3 and immediately went about resurrecting Mallory, Coco (Leslie Grossman) and Dinah (Adina Porter), it was confirmed that Mallory would play a key role in what's to come.

But all of this left one major question hanging: WTF is Mallory and why is she so powerful? Well, we have some theories...

1. She's a powerful witch. To be honest, this is the least likely theory because it's too goddamn simple. Could Mallory be important because she's the next Supreme? Technically yes, but we already did that. This season made Kathy Bates a robot; they'd never do anything as dull as repeat a Supreme-driven storyline. Plus, after Michael had his interview with Mallory, he mused, "I thought I destroyed them all," and clearly there are tons of witches still running around. In fact, while Mallory may not be a witch, it does appear as though Coco and Dinah are given Cordelia called them the Coven's "sisters" (although clearly Coco's powers never were properly developed). And while we doubt Mallory is merely a powerful witch, there is a chance she has a witchy twist to her...

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2. She has the spirit of one of the Coven witches harbored inside her. This theory takes the cake for the most bonkers of the bunch. A lot of fans are taking Mallory's line about having someone trapped inside of her very literally, and who can blame them. This show is not about subtlety. So if we are to believe that someone is actually hiding inside Mallory, the obvious candidates are witches we have yet to see who also have had a tense relationship with Madison (which would explain the "Surprise, bitch" reprise) -- ie: Zoe Benson (Taissa Farmiga) or Misty Day (Lily Rabe).

I have no idea why Zoe would have to hide inside Mallory because she's too boring for anyone to hunt down, so let's just focus on the Misty angle: Misty was left in Hell, at the end of Coven so if she found a way to return to Earth maybe she had reasons to do so incognito. When Mallory caused the disruption in the fire, there was a shrill sound that could be interpreted as mimicking a bird screech. When you combine birds and fire, you get a phoenix, which is a symbol of resurrection, which is Misty Day's witchy specialty. This theory is equal parts off the rails and viable, particularly given that one of the posters for the season saw a bird clawing its way out of someone's mouth.

3. She's an angel, seraph or nephilim. Just like how Langdon is the child of a human and a supernatural being, it's easy to speculate that Mallory may be too. Only instead of a ghost parent, Mallory could have angel lineage, which could make her a nephilim. Similarly, there's speculation that Mallory may be a seraph, which is a type of angel that is specifically connected to fire and light, which would make sense given Mallory's fiery display and her assertion that there are no dark places in her.

These options all line up with Michael's fear of her and his belief that her kind had been wiped out, given that we haven't seen any other angels/seraphs/nephilims in the series. However, one theory takes this notion a step further and posits that she isn't just some regular celestial being, she's the freakin' archangel Michael.

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According to the Bible, Archangel Michael fights on behalf of Christ against the Antichrist. He also just happens to be the archangel that is connected to fire. So if Mallory were to be the vessel for Michael or connected to the archangel somehow, it would make sense why Cordelia would approach her as the key to saving the world. It would also mean that this season was building up to a confrontation between two people named Michael.

4. She's an alien. In Asylum, it wasn't angels that represented God; it was aliens. So it's not really a stretch to wonder if aliens will play a role in the fight against the Antichrist. And now that we've introduced robots into the mix, why not add in some more sci-fi elements too! Plus, it's possible that if Mallory has some connection to aliens the reveal could be intertwined with Emily (Ash Santos) and Timothy's (Kyle Allen) "special DNA," that many have already speculated is a result of alien encounters.

5. She's Madison's former assistant. Never forget that Madison Montgomery used to be a famous movie star. Maybe before Mallory was servicing Coco she was a personal assistant to Madison pre-Coven. This could explain why Madison recognized Mallory. We also have yet to learn Mallory's last name, so maybe the two of them are even related! Of course, we don't expect Mallory is only Madison's former assistant or relative, but that doesn't mean she couldn't be one or both of those things on top of being an alien angel with the spirit of a dead witch hidden inside her.