Summary

• Unholy Ones patch in Sons of Anarchy is reserved for club members willing to kill and die for SAMCRO.
• SAMCRO patches denote rank and role, with President, VP, and Sgt. at Arms among them.
• Club rules on patches in Sons of Anarchy are often flexible, based on loyalty and club benefits.

The Sons of Anarchy motorcycle club members wore different patches depending on their role(s) in the club, but what does the “Unholy Ones” patch mean and why not all characters wore it? Sons of Anarchy took viewers to the fictional town of Charming, California, to take a look into the world of motorcycle clubs, and while it wasn’t entirely accurate all the time, it made for a TV series packed with action and drama. Through Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), viewers got to learn about the ranks of SAMCRO members, but the series left several unanswered questions about them.

The members of the Sons of Anarchy club wore patches on their vests, but these depended on their place in the club’s hierarchy and other things. The most notable patches are First 9 (for the original nine members of the club, such as Clay and Piney), President (worn by Clay, Jax, and Chibs), Vice-President (worn by Piney, Jax, Bobby, Chibs, and Tig), and Sgt. at Arms (seen on the vests of Tig, Chibs, and Happy). However, there are some patches with names that don’t give much away about their meaning, as is the case of the “Unholy Ones” patch, which has different interpretations.

Who Can Wear An ‘Unholy Ones’ Patch In Sons of Anarchy?

Only SAMCRO Members Willing To Kill And Die For The Club Will Receive It

“Unholy Ones” is not a high-rank patch within SAMCRO, but some of Sons of Anarchy’s main characters wore it. It’s widely understood that the Unholy Ones patch is for those club members who are willing to fight to the death for the club and kill to protect it, but there are other interpretations about what the patch stands for. It’s also believed that those wearing the Unholy Ones patch on their vests are members who are used like hitmen, are experts in using violence to extract information, and won’t hesitate to kill when the club needs it.

The only two characters seen wearing an Unholy Ones patch in Sons of Anarchy are Clay (Ron Perlman) and Happy (David Labrava)

The “rules” to wearing an Unholy Ones patch might not be set in stone and might be decided by the President of the club, based on loyalty, bravery, and other traits, as well as how much their actions benefit the club. The only two characters seen wearing an Unholy Ones patch in Sons of Anarchy are Clay (Ron Perlman) and Happy (David Labrava), and both meanings fit the characters, but they also raise the question of why others, like Tig Trager (Kim Coates), never wore that specific patch.

Tig is one of SAMCRO’s most loyal members but also one of the most impulsive ones, though that changed with time. Tig showed how far he would go to protect the club and that he wouldn’t hesitate about killing anyone in Sons of Anarchy season 1, when Clay tasked him with killing Opie (Ryan Hurst), but he ended up killing his wife, Donna.

Other, Lesser Known SAMCRO Patches Explained

There Are Several Patches Used To Denote Rank And Role In SAMCRO

While the Unholy Ones SAMCRO patch in Sons of Anarchy is perhaps the most notorious, given that it's apparently awarded to the most violent members, it's far from the only one seen in the show. Part of the appeal of the show was the aesthetic, and this included the jackets worn by the characters, many of which were adorned with various patches. There are many other, lesser-known patches in the Sons of Anarchy club that either weren’t seen often in the series or were easy to miss:

However, it should be noted that the rules for the SAMCRO patches were rarely, if ever, explicitly defined on the show. The rules for who can wear which patches change depending on the club, and as seen throughout the whole series, the rules in the Sons of Anarchy club were often bent.