Salem Saberhagen is a year-old witch who was sentenced to spend years as a cat by the Witches Council as punishment for attempting to take over the world. Salem is sent to live with Hilda Spellman because she supported his regime as a part of the refreshments committee, and thus caring for his needs as a cat was her sentence.
Despite his megalomaniac desires for world domination, he is generally portrayed as having a good heart and being a loyal friend to Sabrina , giving her guidance and causing her trouble in nearly equal portions. Zelda states that Salem is originally from Mars.
Salem initially seemed like a normal, innocent black cat. However, he actually talks. As the season goes on, Salem talks about life before being a cat and his attempts for world domination, as well as a little bit of a troublemaker, like when he rips up Sabrina 's favorite Christmas sweater.
He also gets "kidnapped" by a little boy who refuses to give him back, but then Sabrina saves him. He also enters a Cat Show, hosted by Bob Gordan. He almost wins but when Sabrina turned herself into a cat, she won pretending to belong to Zelda , but Sabrina gives the blue ribbon to Salem as he was "the best cat.
This season, Salem helps Sabrina in studying for her Witch's License as well as her social life, like when Sabrina uses a "Turn-Yourself-Into-A-Boy spell," Salem taught Sabrina how to act like a "dude" around other people, like picking a good name and not putting perfume on unless she wants to get beaten up.
