Hecate

Hecate is the (likely) self-proclaimed "Queen of the Underworld" who comes to earth every 200 years to find an innocent man from a well-born family and put him under her spell so she can create a demonic spawn. She was the first upper-level demon encountered by the Charmed Ones.

Hecate must marry the innocent man in a sanctified wedding before impregnating herself. Her child would look human on the outside, but he would be pure demon. Her spell can only be broken by a declaration of true love and a sealed kiss. Just like the Noxon demons she cannot be vanquished easily but can be cursed into a special 14th century Italian dagger called a poignard. It appears she is also impervious to pain; when a seamstress pricked her with a needle, she didn't even flinch.

Physical forms and powers
In her demon form she is depicted with many horns, wrinkled skin, long claws and all canine teeth. However, being an upper-level demon, she can also morph into the stereotypical beautiful, tall blonde. Hecate was also unusually strong; she killed a stripper with one slash of her claws.

Relationships


In Season 1 episode "The Wedding from Hell", it was shown that Elliott Spencer's mother had made some sort of Faustian Deal with Hecate to have be rich and sucessful. Instead of her soul as the price however Hecate wished for her first born male's hand in marriage so as to conceive an heir, posing as newly hired assistant Jade Démone to avoid suspicion. This left his true fiance Allison Michaels quite distraught.

Hecate had several demonic attendants, who posed as her bridesmaids in the wedding. They also had super strength, and other powers as well.

As her title is "The Queen of The Underworld", some suggest that she may have been the lover and/or wife of The Source of All Evil, as when Phoebe was married to Cole Turner when he was the Source, she gained this title. However, given that she needed a first born mortal male to conceive an heir, the very idea that "Queen of the Underworld" was not a self-proclaimed title in Hecate's case is at the very least called into question.

Hecate Webpage



 * Hecate
 * Queen of the
 * Underworld


 * Hecate, Queen of the
 * Underworld, takes human
 * form every two hundred years,
 * coming to earth to marry a
 * mortal and give birth to the
 * demon child. (See Photo.) To
 * do this, Hecate must catch an
 * Innocent to be her groom, put
 * him under a spell, and marry
 * him in a sanctified wedding.
 * In this way her child will grow
 * up looking normal, but
 * possessing a demon soul.
 * Those reputed to be Hecate’s
 * children are significant
 * throughout history.


 * See: Atilla the Hun, Genghis
 * Kahn and Ivan, the Terrible.

Hecate in books
Phoebe saw a drawing of Hecate in a book and Prue a drawing on a website.

She is drawn in her demon form holding her baby. The baby has two little horns.

Background Information
Hecate, also spelled Hecaté, is also called Agriope ('savage face'), she was the daughter of the Titan Perses and of Asteria, although sometimes it is said that Zeus himself fathered her, and she is the mother of Scylla. It is thought that she was also known as the dark side of the goddesses, Artemis, Selene, or Diana. She was said to have three faces, symbolizing her power over the underworld, earth, and air, thus she is sometimes depicted with three heads, that of a dog, a horse, and a lion. Sometimes she is also portrayed with a torch or with a pack of hounds. She was only worshiped at night by torchlight and dogs and black lambs were sacrificed to her.


 * Hence her spell: By Asteria and Perses, open sky and do your worst!

Hecate is pretty much the goddess of life and death, and closely associated with the underworld. The daughter of Titan, Perses, she was greatly respected by Zeus, and was usually accompanied by a pack of dogs. She is also, Today, refrerred to as the goddess of witches. Besides controlling things of darkness and the night, Hecate was also called upon by women in childbirth, to protect their child/children from evil spirits

Trivia

 * In her guestrole in "Friends", Sarah Rose Peterson (Hecate) wore the same dress Shannen Doherty wore in a promo picture of Charmed.