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'Riverdale' Season 3 Is Back & Here's Who Might Be At The Center Of This Mystery

by Becca Bleznak

Riverdale Season 3 is back, and if you can’t contain your excitement, you’re definitely not the only one. The CW series that gets progressively more unbelievable every week has filled the A-sized hole in Pretty Little Liars fans’ hearts, and shows no signs of stopping. Because where PLL had one major mystery to solve, Riverdale has no limitations. To satisfy your craving for all things outlandish, I’m coming at you with the 4 most bizarre theories about Riverdale Season 3. So prepare yourself.

Real talk: Riverdale may appear on the surface like any another teen drama filled with romance and 20-somethings pretending to be high schoolers who just can’t seem to stop sleeping with each other — but it’s not. For one thing, most who watch are pretty heavily invested in the twists and turns, as well as the adult relationships. The history of town is basically a character itself, and the more Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and the rest of the crew dig into the past, the more mysteries they discover.

In case you haven’t been watching, the Riverdale Season 3 big bad is the Gargoyle King, a tall, weird, tree-like being with horns who is somehow tied to a role-playing game that has now become very real. The identity behind the mask (or the person or persons working with the creature) will likely be revealed by the end of the season, so for now, let’s see what other fans are proposing.

Chic & Charles Are Still Alive

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Reddit user Gentle Critter writes that he thinks Charles Cooper is still alive, and is the Gargoyle King that has been seen in present-day Riverdale. (He isn’t the one who originated the game, however.) Charles is back living at the place he was raised, Sister of Quiet Mercy group home, and he’s been working with the Gryphons & Gargoyles players all along. Oh, and Chic, who impersonated Charles during Season 2, might be alive too: Afterall, we never actually saw The Black Hood kill him. And who in Riverdale actually stays dead?

The Gargoyle King Is Multiple People

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Redditor elpatator has a pretty simple theory: “The GK is actually played by each parents at different times so they can have an alibi. Probably because they’re all responsible for the events that happened 30 years ago.” Honestly, this one makes the most logical sense — these parents are always up to something nefarious, and this could also explain the Gargoyle Gang. But then again, this is Riverdale. The most believable theories are rarely true.

This Time It’s Actually Sheriff Keller

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He was a prime suspect for many during Season 2 when everyone was trying to figure out who the Black Hood was, and now he’s made the list once again. As Cosmopolitan writes, he isn’t willing to discuss Gryphons & Gargoyles, so he’s probably lying about something. Or maybe Keller was the original Gargoyle King, and is still involved with whoever it is now? There’s also the possibility that he’s working with someone, like Hermione Lodge.

None Of It’s Real

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OK, so this one has probably come up before, but I have to include it. Because Riverdale seriously makes audiences say, “WTF” every week — what if none of it is happening at all? YouTuber Lauren Jane read some Riverdale fan theories out loud, and one of them was that everything that is happening is all just part of a novel that Jughead is writing. And while it would be way too easy of an explanation, it does work in one major way: It ties everything back to the pilot, when Archie runs into Jughead writing at Pop’s Chock’Lit Shoppe. But I can’t see this being true, especially since that would mean all of this has been for nothing. I guess we’ll see when Season 3 returns.