The Source of All Evil

The Source Of All Evil is the title that represents the most powerful demon and ruler of the Underworld.

The Evil Essence
"...Once I take on a new body that I will use to finally destroy the Charmed Ones."

- The Source.

The Source is an evil essence who has possessed the bodies of numerous demons over the centuries. When the demon body is vanquished, the essence is transferred into another evil entity.

Background
Each demon wants to become the Source, a ceremony must take place crowning Him/Her as the putative ruler of demon kind and in full control of the Underworld. The coronation must be conducted by a Dark Priest and requires that The Source be touching the ancient and powerful demonic Grimoire, evil's equivalent to the Book of Shadows.

The first and most noted Source introduced in the series had a tattooed face that, as finally revealed on screen late into his time, was partially mutilated from battles with other Powerful Upper Level demons, such as Zankou, for control over the Underworld, which brought him to power. ("Charmed and Dangerous") Among his many demonic powers: throwing fireballs,energy balls, teleportation (with flames), manipulating flame, shape-shifting, summoning demons and evil beings, mind control, and possession. He sent numerous demons after the Halliwell sisters. His greatest victory came when Prue was killed by his assassin Shax. ("All Hell Breaks Loose")

War against the Charmed Ones
The show’s first season saw two warlocks, under the aliases Rex Buckland and Hannah Webster, stalking and attempting to murder the three Charmed Ones. In the episode The Witch is Back, Buckland mentions having failed a mysterious “He”, after the 17th century warlock Matthew Tate, was unsuccessful in killing the sisters. The two agree that by outing the Halliwells as descendants of Melinda Warren (and thus, as the Charmed Ones) that it wasn't a complete failure, a feat which would buy them time to vanquish the sisters themselves. Following this, Buckland and Webster expose themselves as warlocks to the Charmed Ones, when they attempt to steal their powers, but fail in killing them. This leads to Webster being seen spontaneously combusting, screaming out in pain ''“wait, it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t fail”'', whilst being vanquished by an off-screen and unknown force. It is likely, that these two warlocks were hired by the Source to kill the Charmed Ones, the mysterious “He” who vanquished them when they failed in their mission. "(Wicca Envy)" Even before their deaths, in the episode “The Wedding from Hell”, one can note that the two warlocks were invited to the wedding of Hecate, the so-called “Queen of the Underworld”, thus illustrating the fact that they were remotely connected with the royal hierarchy of the Underworld.

In Give Me a Sign, Litvack refers to the Source as his boss. After the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse failed to end the world, the Source vanquished them (though he was not actually shown on screen, as in "Wicca Envy", we do know that it was him because it was mentioned throughout the episode that only the Source could kill them and also at the end that it was the Source who was keeping the vortex open and killing them.) ("Apocalypse, Not")

The Source is talked about all through the season mainly by demons who he sends to kill the Charmed Ones. The first time he is seen, is during the third season finale, after his assassin Shax tried to kill a good doctor the Source wanted dead. In the end, he kills the Charmed One Prue Halliwell, destroying the Power of Three. ("All Hell Breaks Loose")

Renewed war against the Charmed Ones
The Source renewed his war against the Charmed Ones after they were reconstituted despite his best efforts to preempt this by swaying Paige Matthews to his side. ("Charmed Again, Part 1") He made several attempts on the Charmed Ones' lives and their powers, including putting Piper into a coma in order to force her to give up her powers, ("Brain Drain") and taking in the Hollow, an ancient formless being which has the power to absorb all magic, and, if not contained, destroy the entire world. He was successful in stealing their powers, but Cole Turner took in The Hollow, and stole the Source's power when he threw a fireball at him. The Charmed Ones then vanquished the Source the only way possible: calling all of the magic from their entire family line. ("Charmed and Dangerous")

Legacy
However, after his death, his powers and his spirit were absorbed by Cole (who was mortal at the time), and he possessed Cole, who eventually became the new Source. Cole had attained the full control of the powers of the source and in a ceremony that involved the evil Grimoire, the dark counterpart to the Book of Shadows he became strong enough to rule the underworld. The possessed Cole was killed by the Charmed Ones shortly after his official reign began. ("Long Live the Queen")

After Cole's first physical death, his widow, Phoebe, was carrying their child, whose darker half was intensified by a tonic potion created by The Seer and given to Phoebe (who was prevented from having the child be a powerful being of good that was of her and of Cole, via her unknowingly being bound in her "dark" wedding ceremony to the Source) grew powerful enough that he could control his mother from the womb. The unborn child was stolen by The Seer in her bid to become the new Source, but in the end both were vanquished for good. ("Womb Raider")

Resurrected
Four years later, an unnamed possessor demon invaded the body of a woman named Mandi, in order to manipulate Piper and Leo's son Wyatt. She then used Wyatt's incredible powers to bring the previous half-faced Source back from the dead (which would possibly be right out of the belly of the serpent-like beast of the Demonic Wasteland, but this was killed in Series 5 so there would have to be more than one.). This also again makes the point that Cole Turner wasn't the Source in and of himself, but was possessed by the Source (or Cole would have returned instead of the half-faced Source, when Wyatt's powers were used to bring back the Source). However, Leo, along with the Charmed Ones' protege Billie Jenkins, trapped in Magic School with no way to get home, realized the school has been taken over by evil, and discovered the demon's plan. Shortly after, they found a spell to return Billie, who warned the Charmed Ones, who in return went to Magic School to rescue Leo. Meanwhile, Leo stayed in the school to watch over Wyatt. Although he was disguised from the world, the Source sensed that he was in fact the Charmed Ones' former Whitelighter. The Charmed Ones arrived just in time, and Piper vanquished the unnamed demon, and with it the resurrected Source, as their magic was interconnected. ("Desperate Housewitches")

The Half-faced Source
This Source had been in power and in control of the underworld for thousands of years, disfiguring his face in his battle to ascend to the throne.

Higher-level demons were able to communicate with The Source through swirling balls of supernatural fire, and all demons were able to sense his glory, as a reminder of his power. In turn The Source was able to sense and summon all of his subjects, especially if they focused their concentration on locating him, but few demons ever met this Source, and even fewer saw his disfigured face.

The Source had many powers including pyrokinesis, telekinesis, Immortality, Immunity, Regenration, adjusting, reconstitution, flaming, sensing and possession; was able to phase, appearing as a non-corporeal entity; cast flameballs and force blasts; could move at extremely fast speeds; generate electrical fields; shapeshift and even transform. The Source was also telepathic, able to read ‘souls’; and minds and project and hear thoughts, even across dimensions; create mental illusions; and cloud minds, subtly influencing them.

On the rare occasion that he was injured The Source gushed black blood, while his very presence was enough to momentarily disrupt electrical systems and lights.

Cole Turner as the Source
When the original Source was vanquished, his evil and power had already been absorbed by the Hollow and were able to survive to be reborn within Cole Turner. With his demon half vanquished, a void was left within him until the entity of The Source filled it making him demonic again.

After being absorbed into Cole by the power of The Hollow the weakened spirit of The Source only had subconscious control of its new body, but quickly gained both strength and power to completely subdue Cole's personality, taking over his body near-absolutely. This first manifested itself when Phoebe asked Cole if there was something he wasn't telling her (at the end of "The Three Faces of Phoebe") but after some hesitation he replied no, in spite of the fact that he'd clearly been hiding something all day. Though it wore Cole's mortal body The Source was recognized by the flaming black eyes it would sometimes display to demons to gain their obedience.

From there, he would hatch a plan involving setting up events for Phoebe Halliwell to marry him in a dark wedding ceremony and conceive a demonic heir, then for him to take over the Underworld and kill the Charmed Ones (either in the process or afterwards). However, there was one piece of of Cole's humanity the Source was unable to overcome: the former Belthazor's now intrinsic love for Phoebe. This forced the Source to integrate that love into its being and work it into its plans.

The results of this included helping to save Paige (who he intensely disliked at the time and vice versa) from the Vampire Queen who was coming after his throne, getting the power broker demon to remove the bad powers that were driving Paige insane (in spite of the fact that he was actually enjoying taking advantage of this to torture her), and, as Cole became strong enough through said love for Phoebe to force the Source to work with him, even a nearly successful transfer of the Source from Cole Turner to a crafty wizard. Ironically, it would be this same love returned by Phoebe which would cause her (along with the couple's demonic spawn inside her) to interrupt the transfer by destroying the wizard, forcing Cole and Phoebe to embrace evil together as the new Source and his Queen. Again ironically, as Phoebe could not fully immerse herself in the role due to hormonal fits and a just-as-intrinsic desire to be with her family and to be good, this ended up as Source Cole's downfall.

As other Sources had before him, Cole possessed a great array of powers; including fireballs; flaming; molecular control; telekinesis; shapeshifting, immortality, regeneration, invulnerability, with almost no magical power able to permanently harm him; and telepathy capable of both reading and manipulating minds; but by far his most important ability was his shielding against the power of premonition. While his evil side held strong Phoebe's power was completely useless on him, guaranteeing his true nature remained a secret from The Charmed Ones until his coronation granted him access to his full powers as The Source. This made it very useful as he was strong enough for a time to near-completely suppress the humanity within him.

The Source's greatest ally was the Seer, though she closely guarded her true evil agendas. As the only supreme power in the Underworld, this Source brought about an unprecedented alliance between different demonic races while also finally eradicating the entire clan of Vampires that was after his throne.

The Source as Cole Turner was finally vanquished by the sisters: Piper, Leo and Paige orbed to Cole's loft and battled him. Piper blew him up twice but he reconstituted himself both times. Paige tried to encase him in a crystal cage again, but he stopped her. However, Phoebe rejoined her sisters and completed the cage. The three then vanquished him again with the same spell that they used the first time. His vanquish as Cole freed Cole from his power and he got absorbed along with all of his powers by the beast in the Demonic Wasteland.

Heir
Cole's widow, Phoebe, was carrying the child of The Source, who was transformed into a being of pure evil thanks to a tonic fed to his Phoebe by the Seer. The child was now able to control his mother from the womb. The unborn child was stolen by The Seer, who placed it in her own womb, thus gaining the power of the Source's heir, in her bid to become the new Source.

She told Phoebe that the baby was never hers nor Cole's to begin with, that from the moment of conception, the baby had always been hers. However, in the end both were vanquished for good by the Charmed Ones when they forced the Seer to tap into the child's full power in her attempt to vanquish them. This power was too great for her to contain and the unborn Source self-destructed taking the Seer and the Infernal Council with him.

The Resurrection as a Golem
A year after the half-faced Source had returned, Neena and Hogan, a witch and a warlock, worked together to permit the resurrection of the Source, gathering all the indredients needed to revive him. With other demons, they built a golem and during a ceremony, the essence of the Source went on this new body.

His goal was to get revenge by destroying the Charmed Ones once and for all.

After a battle ensues amongst the Source, the Charmed Ones and their husbands, the sisters create a vanquishing potion imbued with the essence of various magical beings from the magical community, including Leprechauns and Nymphs. When the Source arrived at the Magic School, the sisters threw the potion at him, and recited a more powerful version of the Power of Three Spell, thus destroying him.

To Call Upon Our Ancestors

 * Prudence, Penelope
 * Patricia, Melinda...
 * Astrid, Helena
 * Laura and Grace


 * Halliwell Witches
 * Stand strong beside us
 * Vanquish this evil
 * from time and space

To Vanquish the Source

 * Cast by the Charmed Ones
 * Piper impaled the Source with The Sword of Excalibur and Paige threw a potion infused with the magic of Billie Jenkins and various members of the Magical Community after which they recited this spell:
 * The Power of Three we now decree!
 * The Power of Three will set you free!
 * The Power of Three will DESTROY thee!

To Share the Source's Power

 * Used in the Charmed Comics by Neena
 * Neena casts the spell causing the power to split amongst herself and many other demons around her, including a Goat Demon, a Dragon Demon, a Darklighter, Vampires and Dark Priests.


 * Ancient evil now destroyed.
 * Others rise to fill the void.
 * To build our strength within this hour,
 * Leave vanquished Source, but share his power.

Appearances
The Source of All Evil appeared in a total of 14 episodes throughout the course of the series, and 4 issues throughout the course of the comic series:

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Charmed Season 3

 * "All Hell Breaks Loose"

Charmed Season 4

 * "Charmed Again, Part 1"
 * "Charmed Again, Part 2"
 * "Brain Drain"
 * "Charmed and Dangerous"
 * "The Three Faces of Phoebe" (As Cole Turner)
 * "Marry-Go-Round" (As Cole Turner)
 * "The Fifth Halliwell" (As Cole Turner)
 * "Saving Private Leo" (As Cole Turner)
 * "Bite Me" (As Cole Turner)
 * "We're Off To See The Wizard" (As Cole Turner & The Unborn Source)
 * "Long Live The Queen" (As Cole Turner & The Unborn Source)
 * "Womb Raider" (As The Seer & The Unborn Source)

Charmed Season 8

 * "Desperate Housewitches"

Charmed Season 9
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 * "No Rest for the Wicca" (As an essence)
 * "Innocents Lost"
 * "Mortal Enemies"
 * "Unnatural Resources"