Ruth Cobb

Ruth Cobb was an evil witch who lived in colonial Virginia during the 17th century. To keep her cover, she served as commander of the village's witch hunters. It appeared that most of the villagers didn't know that Ruth was a witch herself. One of the few who did appear to know, Micah, rode with the witch hunters to undo their work, only to be killed when he was exposed as a double agent.

Biography
Not long after arriving in the New World, she somehow learned that a powerful magical child was due to be born on All Hallows Eve, Ruth decided to kidnap the baby's mother, Charlotte Warren, and raise the child as evil. Had she succeeded, evil magic would have ruled the New World forever. That child turned out to be Melinda Warren, founder of the Warren witch line and the earliest ancestor of the Charmed Ones. She also held a party at her house in order to tap into the dark side of the source of all magic.

Seeing a chance to destroy the entire Warren/Halliwell line (or perhaps turn it evil), the Triad dispatched Cole to help Ruth. However, the Elders got wind of this as well, and helped Charlotte's coven bring the Charmed Ones through a time portal in order to rescue Charlotte and get her to a protective circle where Melinda could be born.

Powers and Abilities
Ruth could curse talismans or other magical artifacts to sense, locate, counteract and identify good witches. She also had the ability to read Tarot cards. She has not shown any major powers, but being a witch she had the powers of spell casting and potion making.

Talismans
She used the magic from All Hallows Eve to make her talismans even more powerful. Prue, Piper and Phoebe didn't believe in their powers; talismans weren't nearly as powerful in their time as they were in the 17th century. They tried to sneak into the party, but the talismans repelled them.

Behind the Scenes

 * Ruth was the only evil witch during the series' run who wasn't either killed or stripped of her powers.
 * This appears to be a reminder of how Matthew Tate outed Melinda as a witch to the Salem town council 23 years later in order to keep from being unmasked as a warlock.
 * Ruth was portrayed by Judy Geeson.

Appearances
Ruth Cobb appeared in a total of 1 episode throughout the course of the series.


 * Season 3
 * All Halliwell's Eve