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Reverend Traske is one of the overarching antagonists of the Hocus Pocus franchise.
He was the reverend of Salem, Massachussets back in the mid-17th century. In 1653, Traske tried to force the young Winifred Sanderson to marry John Pritchett and threatened to send away her sisters Mary and Sarah, prompting the Sandersons to be banished from Salem due to refusing his orders, effectively having a hand in their transformation into the worst witches Salem would ever see. He is also the ancestor of Jefrie and Cassie Traske.
He was portrayed by Tony Hale, who also played Doctor Undergear in Jake and the Never Land Pirates, James Suggs in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, Ross in The Angry Birds Movie, the Joker in Batman Ninja, Apothecary Gary in Amphibia, Doctor Psycho in Harley Quinn and Vaneé in LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales.
History[]
Reverend Traske was a man who worked as the reverend of Salem, Massachussets back in the mid-17th century. By 1653, Traske had come across Winifred, Mary and Sarah Sanderson, three young orphaned and outcasted sisters who had been the daughters of the town's apothecary. One cloudy day, Traske decided to have Winifred married to a young man called John Pritchett, insisting that it was his duty since their father's passing, but Winifred refused due to her disgust for Pritchett and her crush on William "Billy" Butcherson, angering Traske due to Winifred taking the Lord's name in vain twice.
That same day, which happened during Winifred's sixteenth birthday, Traske came to their house and offered Winifred to pardon her only if she accepted to marry John. Winifred asked him to let her reconsider, which Traske accepted, but Winifred refused again and insulted John after he "celebrated" not having to marry her before declaring that she would marry Billy if she were to marry, much to Billy's astonishment. Furious at Winifred not "respecting" the things Salem considered sacrosanct, Traske declared her banished from Salem forever and ordered one of his men to take Mary and Sarah away to avoid Winifred "corrupting" them, assuring Winifred that the Smith family had agreed to take in Mary and Sarah to "turn them right". To rescue her sisters, Winifred put a spider that her sisters had gifted her on Traske's arm, leading him to panic and distract everyone. As the three Sanderson sisters ran away into the Forbidden Wood, Traske claimed that the spider had been "Satan's work", giving the townspeople the impression that the Sandersons had attempted on the Reverend's life.
Hours later, during nighttime, Winifred, Mary and Sarah returned to Salem after becoming witches due to their encounter with the Mother Witch, using her spellbook to enact revenge on Reverend Traske through starting a fire on his house. Alerted, Traske exited his house and plead for the neighbors to help him put the fire out by bringing water as he denounced the fire as Satan's work and blamed Winifred's spider for it. Though they are mentioned to have tried to kill Traske and his family, they didn't do so because of their inexperienced with magic back then, yet Traske wrote some journals about the Sandersons. It's unknown what happened to Traske after this, but his actions led the Sandersons to become feared and evil witches who served Satan, making him responsible for their turn to villainy and the events of the original Hocus Pocus film.
Centuries later, the Sandersons are resurrected for a second time by Becca and Izzy, two Salemer girls, in 2022, leading them to resume their plans to take revenge on Salem. As they visit their old cottage, which is now Gilbert's magic shop, they discover through a flyer that Reverend Traske had descendants in the form of Mayor Jefry Traske and his daughter Cassie, who is friends with Becca and Izzy. Though Sarah initially assumes that Traske is alive, Winifred deduces that Jefry is Traske's descendant and resolves to get his blood for their Magicae Maxima spell, even bewitching many Salemers to hunt Jefry down by singing "One Way or Another". However, the Sandersons ultimately resort to kidnap Cassie when they realize that she is a Traske family member too.
Trivia[]
Tony Hale, who played Reverend Traske, also played his descendant Mayor Jefry Traske.
One can argue that it's debatable to call Reverend Traske as a villain, as some of his actions as well as his misogyny can be chalked up to that being acceptable back in the 17th century. However, Traske's evident hatred for Winifred Sanderson and his sadistic relish at separating her from hersisters by mockingly asking people to have faith prove that he uses his authority to antagonize them.
It can also be argued that Reverend Traske and his fellow Salem officials were the reason Sanderson sisters' recorded history was romanticized and that they were too biased to discover the truth about how they became witches in the first place. To elaborate, they believed Sanderson sisters' pact with The Devil to be how Manual of Witchcraft and Alchemy came to existence instead of their predecessor. Not only that, despite underestimating how worse they had become, Gilbert rightfully pointed out that Sanderson sisters started off as misunderstood individuals instead of malicious from start as Reverend Traske and his fellow Salem officials described them to be.
The existence of Mayor Jefry Traske and his daughter Cassie must be an indicator that either Reverend Traske had a son that continued his family bloodline after his death or a brother who continued the bloodline.
Reverend Traske is surely a nod to the fanatical witch hunter Reverend Trask from the classic gothic horror television serial, Dark Shadows, played in the show by Jerry Lacy.
Villains