What did the homeless woman in SOA represent?

Sons of Anarchy had a mysterious character who appeared from time to time, often in crucial and/or emotionally charged moments, but her identity was never revealed in the show, and she was simply known as the “homeless woman.” So just who is the homeless woman in Sons of Anarchy? Luckily, there’s already an answer to this question. Created by Kurt Sutter, Sons of Anarchy premiered on FX in 2008, and it was such a big hit with critics and viewers that it lived on for a total of seven seasons, coming to an end in 2014.

The TV series Sons of Anarchy was about the journey of Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), who was the vice president of a motorcycle club of the same name in Charming, a fictional town located in the Central Valley of California. The plot gets into action when Jax discovers a document written by his late father, John Teller. The manifesto leads Jax to a crisis of confidence and identity, and he questions the club – its goals and path – as well as his own relationships with his family, and even himself. Throughout Sons of Anarchy's seven seasons, the audience met a wide cast of characters, but one appeared especially sporadically, mostly at the same times when Jax or Gemma (Katey Sagal), his mother, were going through tough times or had to make hard decisions: the homeless woman.

The homeless woman was played by Olivia Burnette, and appeared a total of eleven times, appearing throughout Sons of Anarchy with Jax and Gemma the most. The homeless woman first appeared in season 1’s episode “The Sleep of Babies,” where Gemma gave her money while sitting outside a shop, and appeared again that same season in the cemetery when Jax spent the night there and she gave him a blanket to stay warm throughout the night. The homeless woman’s presence in the series began to raise some eyebrows when in season 3, which took the club to Belfast to rescue Abel, Jax’s baby son, she appeared in the market when Jax was following the couple who adopted his son. The homeless woman was last seen in the series finale, when she handed her blanket to Jax, telling him “it’s time," and then he used it to hide so he could kill August Marks in Sons of Anarchy's ending. So, who is the homeless woman in Sons of Anarchy exactly?

Sons of Anarchy never revealed the identity of the homeless woman, but Kurt Sutter has now given an answer. During a Q&A session on Instagram, he was asked about the homeless woman and what she represents, and while he gave an answer to the question, "who is the homeless woman in Sons of Anarchy," it only made way for even more debate. Sutter explained she’s the “magic that anarchy summons and the mortality it extinguishes,” and that she’s “the bringer of eternal light and the harbinger of all things dark,” fueling fan theories about her being a deity or even the guardian angel of Sons of Anarchy's ill-fated Jax Teller. Back in 2012, Sutter said that the homeless woman is Jesus Christ, which seems fitting with the aforementioned description of her role and with the elements related to her final appearance in the series. After giving the blanket to Jax, the camera focused on the wine and bread she was eating, which appeared again in the final shot of the series, where two crows were eating the bread (splashed with wine) as Jax’s blood began to flow towards it.

Although Sons of Anarchy never revealed the homeless woman's name nor backstory, it did imply that she might have been Emily Putner, Brooke’s mother, who was accidentally killed as a result of the collision between Jax's father and a semi-truck (the accident that killed John Teller). This interpretation comes because after Jax went to Brooke’s house to talk to her father, there was a picture on the table showing Emily, and shortly after, the camera focused on the homeless woman. With this interpretation in mind, along with the “Jesus Christ” explanation, the homeless woman could be Jesus in the form of Emily Putner, or it was simply a way for the Sons of Anarchy crew to mess with its audience. The homeless woman, then, wasn’t entirely human, and she had a spiritual and metaphoric role in the series that can be interpreted in different ways.

Other Theories On The Homeless Woman's Identity In SOA

While the Jesus Christ and guardian angel theories tend to get the most attention because of Sutter's comments and the Sons of Anarchy series finale, one other theory posits the question: is the homeless woman in Sons of Anarchy the Grim Reaper? This idea stems from the notion that if the homeless woman represents "the mortality that [anarchy] brings," then the redemption and comfort implied by her being Jesus isn't quite accurate. Rather, the homeless woman could be more of a neutral figure feeding on the chaos in the protagonists' lives. This would fit well with the overall tone and themes of Sons of Anarchy, but ultimately, the homeless woman has more mystery and complexity than a single theory could account for, which is likely intentional on Sutter's part. The ultimate and least arguable theory is that the character exists to fuel discussion around the series, which she's ultimately achieved.

Next: Why Sons of Anarchy Ended After Season 7 (Was It Canceled?)