The Source of All Evil

The Source of All Evil is a fictional character on the WB television series Charmed, a demon who was the ruler of the underworld for the show's first 4 seasons and Season 8.

It appears that the Source itself was a very ancient demonic being, that moved into the body of each demon that held the position of the Source. It then gradually absorbed/integrated the powers and personality, of each demon that held the position of the Source, into itself. Therefore, each demon that defeated other demons to hold the position of the Source, including defeating a previous Source, would over a long period of time, literally become the same Source with even more powers. It does not appear that this was generally known to most demons.

The Source had a tattooed face, that when finally revealed, was partially mutilated from battles with other demons when its last host seized power. It was said that the damage done to his face was the result of battles with Zankou. 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.

Biography
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. 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 as in "Wicca Envy," he was not actually shown on screen). But we do know that it was him because it was mentioned through out the episode that only the Source could kill them and also at the end that it was the Source who was keeping the vortex opened and killing them.

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 destroys the Charmed One, Prue Halliwell, destroying the original Power of Three

The Source renewed his war against the Charmed Ones after they were reconstituted. 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, 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.

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 attained the full powers of the Source in a ceremony that involved the evil Grimoire, the dark counterpart to the Book of Shadows. The possessed Cole was killed by the Charmed Ones shortly after his official reign began.

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.

Four years later, an unnamed possessor demon invaded the body of a woman named Mandi, in order to manipulate 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 and Billie, 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.

Spells
Prudence, Patricia, Penelope, Melinda,  Astrid, Helena, Laura and Grace;  Halliwell witches stand strong beside us;  vanquish this evil from time and space.
 * '''To Vanquish the Source:

Information (on the half-faced Source)

 * The actor Peter Woodward who plays the half faced source, also appears as another demon in the season seven episodes "Someone to witch over me" and "Ordinary witches". This demon is Aku, the Sarpedon's mentor who the Sarpedon eventually kills.
 * He was responsible for incarcerating the powerful demon Zankou & The Tall Man.
 * He is also responsible for banishing numerous beings from the underworld, such as: The vampires, wizards, Kurzon and even possibly, Hecate.
 * On Charmed, when Hecate appeared, it was said that she was the Queen of the Underworld - meaning that it is possible that she was with the Source during that time. After the Charmed Ones defeated her, she fled back to the Underworld, and never appeared later on in the series. Possibly, this was because The Source vanquished her or banished her, but there could be other reasons. It is also possible that she simply considered herself Queen of the Underworld, and was in some sort of power struggle with the Source. However, this is most likely simply one of the many errors of the writers -- the Source at the point was considerably more powerful and experienced than the Charmed Ones, and thus the Source would have no problem defeating her, and probably would not respect someone as weak as her, not to mention the fact that there is virtually no mention of the Source or the Underworld until season two.
 * When he first appeared (In season 3), he was dressed in a red robe with a red hood covering his face. He had large wings attached to his back, and was holding a sword. In season 4, he was only dressed in a black robe with a black hood covering his face. He was also considerably less stout (as he was no longer played by Michael Bailey Smith).
 * His face remained covered until one of the guardians (the evil one) of The Hollow zapped him with a lightning strike. The Source then rose with his face finally showing. Since then, he didn't put the hood back on.
 * Only upper level demons (and the Charmed Ones) have seen his face.
 * The source once shapeshifted the seer so as to disguise her from the charmed ones, but it's possible that this was actually the power of projection.