10 Small Details You Only Notice Rewatching The Nun
7. The Snakes With The Abbess
As mentioned, the Abbess in Saint Cartha's monastery is long dead by the time The Nun kicks off and is simply Valak in disguise using the figure as a ruse to keep Father Burke and Sister Irene in the area.
Even before the revelation that the Abbess is revealed as being Valak in disguise, there's a detailed moment that points to things not being as they seem in the film.
When the film's heroes arrive on the scene and meet the Abbess, the mysterious figure is introduced sat on an old stone chair. The camera zooms in on a pair of snakes etched into the stonework which, given the reveal that comes later, is a detail that should already be leaving audiences with an ill feeling.
Valak the demon is known as the Marquis of Snakes and has long been associated with snakes in both its real world and fictional depictions. Seeing these snakes on the chair is a foreshadowing of the Abbess' true form, and the fact that the two snakes on the chair are eating eachother is yet another symbol of the possession that will befall Sister Irene and the demon by the end of the movie.