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Witches in Supernatural
Witches in Supernatural
"I hate witches. They're always spewing their bodily fluids everywhere. It's downright unsanitary."
A witch is a human who uses magical spells and rituals or witchcraft. Many, but not all, of the witches on Supernatural use Black Magic. Some serve a demon to increase their powers. There are three categories of witches, Borrowers, Natural and Students.
- Curse: Often accomplished using a hex bag.
- Deal with the Devil: Most witches obtain their powers by selling their souls to demons.
- Evil Is Visceral: Like the page quote says, Dean hates dealing with witches due to all the...
fluids. - Hollywood Satanism: Borrowers are witches that get their powers through demon-worship.
- Hot Witch: Most of the witches on Supernatural, although some may be Older Than They Look.
- Magic Genetics: Natural witches are simply born with mystical powers.
- Magic Is Mental: How allegedly Student witches work.
- Religion is Magic: How Borrower witches work.
Don and Maggie Stark
Don and Maggie Stark (James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter)
Appear in "Shut Up, Dr. Phil" (S07, E05).
A prominent developer and his wife, both heavily involved in philanthropic works and connected to a series of strange deaths. Both powerful witches, their marriage problems threaten everyone around them.
- Ancient Evil: Maggie cheated on Don with Christopher Columbus.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Both declare they would never murder the other before making out.
- Berserk Button: Maggie has quite a few, it seems.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Don stuns a Leviathan.
- Hot Witch: Both are exceptionally good-looking, especially for their age.
- Karma Houdini: Both are powerful enough that, once their relationship issues are resolved, Sam and Dean leave town rather than attempt to kill them.
- Lack of Empathy: Neither one of them seems particularly bothered by all the dead friends and business associates piling up around them.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Maggie goes about killing any woman she suspects Don of cheating with. Don's not much better with Maggie's infidelity.
- Pet the Dog: Don comes and saves the brothers from Chet after he ambushes and tries to kill them, as well as removes the magic coins that his wife put under both their beds to kill them both.
- Really 700 Years Old: They've been together for at least 800 years.
- Shout-Out: Dean compares them to The War of the Roses, a Black Comedy about a wealthy couple's messy divorce.
- Unholy Matrimony: Even if their marriage has been dysfunctional for centuries.
- Woman Scorned: Maggie is a classic example.
Delta Mendota
Delta Mendota (Cyrina Fiallo)
Appears in "A Little Slice Of Kevin" (S08, E07).
"I'm mercurial."
Linda Tran hired Delta off of Craigslist to get the ingredients for a demon bomb.
- Cute Witch: Kevin finds her attractive.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Delta betrays the Trans to Crowley.
- The New Rock & Roll: Delta became a full witch after her band broke up.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When she asks Crowley if she "did good," he snaps his fingers and makes her disappear before describing her as a "presumptuous twit."
James Frampton
James Martin Frampton (Christian Campbell)
Appears in "Man's Best Friend With Benefits" (S08, E15).
"She was meant to be my familiar."
James Frampton is a homicide detective from St. Louis, Missouri. He once saved the Winchester brothers' lives during a case with a lunatic alchemist. The revelation of the supernatural world during this case led him to turn to witchcraft. Portia, a familiar who splits her time between human form and dog form, chooses him as her master.
- All Witches Have Cats: Subverted Trope for James, who has a canine familiar.
- Astral Projection: He can "go to a place without having to go to a place."
- Bad Guy Bar: He frequents a witch bar.
- Bad Powers, Good People: Uses witchcraft to solve murders.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Played With: His familiar, Portia isn't actually an animal, but a supernatural creature that can assume an animal or human form. But he starts having sex with her, which is against the conventions of his coven.
- Cold Iron: Dean and Sam use iron chains to nullify his powers.
- Go Madfrom The Revelation: Played with. He was an ordinary police officer before meeting the Winchesters. Learning about the supernatural world drove him learn more about it, eventually causing him to turn to witchcraft.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Witch Cop.
The Wicked Witch of the West
The Wicked Witch of the West (Maya Massar)
Appears in "Slumber Party" (S09, E04).
"I've missed you, my pretty."
While most witches in Supernatural are humans who reside on Earth, the Wicked Witch of the West is a resident of Oz, and she is much more powerful than other witches we have seen.
- Demonic Possession: Able to take over a person with a single touch. She is able to control more than one person at a time. Furthermore, while most witches in Supernatural tend to have some link to (Abrahamic-derived) demons or Pagan/Wiccan following, she seems to be in a class of her own. She possesses Dean and Sam despite their warding against possession.
- Killer Space Monkey: Has an army of winged monkeys.
- Kryptonite Factor: Poppy seeds from the field in Oz can stun her.
- Geometric Magic: Unable to cross the warding symbols drawn on the floor of the dungeon.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When she possesses someone, their eyes will glow green.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Cannot be killed by fire, decapitation, or holy water.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Able to be bound by a spell.
- Shoe Slap: She can be killed if stabbed by the Ruby Slippers.
- The Speechless: Dorothy cut out her tongue, but she can speak through the humans she possesses.
- Super Smoke: Able to transform into green smoke.
- Voice of the Legion: When she possesses a person.
Rowena
Rowena MacLeod (Ruth Connell)
First Appears in "Soul Survivor" (S10, E03).
"Screw the Grand Coven and their silly rules."
Rowena is a witch who seeks to reclaim her lost power base.
- Abusive Parent: Self-admitted "horrible mother". Among other things, she once tried to trade her son for three pigs. For the record, Crowley was more offended by the number than the act, claiming he was worth at least five pigs.
- Ancient Evil: She's Crowley's mother, meaning she was born in the 16th century or earlier.
- The Atoner: "Funeralia" has her trying to resurrect Crowley, because of the regret she feels over being abusive towards him and not being able to say goodbye.
- Back from the Dead: She's revealed to have placed a resurrection spell on herself in case someone tries to kill her. As of season 13, she has come back from the dead with it twice.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With the Mark of Cain in season 10. While the Mark of Cain is the true enemy of the season, it's more of an internal threat. Rowena on the other hand, provides the external threat, and is an enemy that the Winchester frequently encounter.
- Bring My Red Jacket: May be the case when Lucifer kills her for the second time in "All Along the Watchtower", as red markings cover her corpse, possibly remnants of the same red dress.
- Broken Pedestal: Is interested in Lucifer and offers herself to be his liege. She gets killed for this, and when she comes back, she declares him her mortal enemy.
- Chekhov's Gunman: She's actually mentioned as far back as Season 8, where Crowley states that his mother is a witch who taught him a few things about magic and hexing.
- Consummate Liar: She's technically still human, but after just a few days in Hell she's playing all the demons like violins. She gets Crowley to believe that his current dragon Gerald is smuggling demons topside, causing Crowley to kill Gerald. Trish, the demon who lied to help her in this ruse, reminds her she promised to come back for her. Rowena promises "I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail," the very same words she spoke to young Fergus before abandoning him.
- Crazy-Prepared: Like mother, like son. She's fully aware that despite being a witch, she's just as mortal as anybody. So she put a resurrection spell on herself, just in case...
- Deadpan Snarker: Like her son, Rowena is quick-witted and has something of a dry wit.
- Demonic Possession: She is possessed by Alternate Michael in "Ouroboros" after the latter escapes from Dean's mind prison. She turns out to be his last vessel, as Jack exorcises him from Rowena before killing him.
- Dissonant Serenity:
- In her first appearance at the end of "Soul Survivor," Rowena calmly reads a book in her Tulsa hotel room while blood drips from two bodies pinned to the ceiling.
- She pulls this off again when Lucifer breaks free of his cage. Everyone is scared; Rowena takes it in stride.
- Divine Date: In season 11, she briefly romances with God. In season 13, she and the archangel Gabriel have sex. Heck, even her relationship with Lucifer is supposed to parallel an abusive married life, complete with trauma and recovery.
- Enemy Mine:
- Allies herself with the Winchesters, Crowley, demons, God, angels, and Lucifer to imprison the Darkness back into the Mark of Cain.
- She joins Team Free Will again in Season 12 finale in order to stop Lucifer from reaching his son.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Double subverted with both Crowley and Oskar.
- In Oskar's case, she genuinely loves him so much that she granted him immortality to repay the debt she had to his family. Then it's seemingly subverted when she has a tearful reunion with him, and kills him in the middle of it for a spell, just to get her power back. But then we learn that she holds a grudge at Crowley since this event and when his son and her grandson Gavin chooses to return to the past to die with his lover, she gladly fulfills his wish.
- In Crowley's case, she only pretends to care him by her own admission. But came season 13, where she learns that he is now dead, and is in shock over it to the point where she tries to get Billie/Death's attention.
- Even Evil Has Standards: She'd rather die than do business of any kind with a pimp.
- Evil Matriarch: Crowley's, actually.
- Evil Redhead: She sports a mane of red hair, but is a villain.
- Faux Affably Evil: Often comes across a sweet and cheerful woman, complete with a playful sort of voice. And then she will torture, murder, brainwash or betray you, all with barely changing her expression.
- Fiery Redhead: Has bright red hair and anger issues.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With the Winchesters as of "Funeralia", although it is worth mentioning that the threat that brings them together is Rowena herself.
- Fire Keeps It Dead: Averted, although she recalls that being immolated by Lucifer dampened her resurrection spell somewhat. While she came back mere seconds after her first death, in the second, she needed several months (possibly since her whole body had to be regenerated, as opposed to just the neck).
- Gaydar: When she meets Charlie Bradbury, she deduces many things about her including being "sexually progressive".
- Heel–Face Turn: Starts in Season 12, where she becomes a Friendly Enemy to the Winchesters, and cemented in Season 13, where she becomes their ally against Lucifer and Michael after they discover that she feels remorse for her actions and for how she treated Crowley.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Played With: She makes one in season 15 to return the escaped souls back to hell. Though ultimately Sam is forced to do her in as he is her one true killer.
- Hot Witch: Rowena is quite attractive.
- Immortal Procreation Clause: Since she acquired immortality at a later age, her son Crowley/Fergus was born a mortal. He in turn became an immortal at a later age (or rather, after his death), so his son Gavin was born a mortal.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After finding out Crowley died, she starts to show signs of having a Heel–Face Turn, and starts to get on better terms with the Winchesters.
- Karmic Jackpot: Rowena pulls a Heroic Sacrifice at the beginning of the final season, allowing herself to be killed to return the souls to hell. As a result, Rowena manages to conquer hell and become its new queen.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch: In "Girls, Girls, Girls," she kills a demon pimp, although it's to recruit the prostitutes for her coven. The line before suggests there's some Even Evil Has Standards going on as well, though.
- Killed Offscreen: Lucifer kills her for the second time in "All Along the Watchtower", and while the killing is not shown, her burnt corpse is. Not that it stops her from resurrecting.
- The Lad-ette: She's quite into drinking, fighting, and sex.
- Lady of Black Magic: A cunning witch among the most dangerous in the world, who takes great pride in her deceptive nature. After unlocking her true power, she can even kill Reapers and change fate.
- Leitmotif: Gets fuller and longer the closer she gets to whatever her goal really is. It's a moving, surreptitious oboe line with shrieking strings, almost like something you'd hear in a Zelda/Castlevania crossover.
- Manipulative Bitch: Downplayed; she tries but truthfully she's not so good at this, and her efforts rarely work as well as she plans.
- Multiple-Choice Past: She either conceived Crowley during an orgy or by a wealthy man who abandoned her. It is never made clear. Possibly a Retcon.
- Never Be Hurt Again: Her speech to Crowley shows that this is her motivation to gain as much power as possible.
- Never My Fault: She feels betrayed by Crowley even when she was blatantly manipulating him.
- "Not So Different" Remark: She gives such a speech to Charlie thinking they're both "ahead of their time". Charlie disagrees.
- Offing the Offspring:
- She asks Sam to kill her son Crowley in exchange for the translation of the Book of the Damned. Later she enchants Castiel to hunt him.
- She also leads her grandson, Gavin, to return back in time and die with his lover, though it is his choice to do it, and she merely helps him.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Since her son is a demon, technically Rowena has outlived her son for a long time, as the human Fergus died many centuries ago. For that matter, she also outlived her grandson, Gavin, who unlike her and Crowley was not an immortal or became a demon; even if his ship didn't sink, he would still have died to natural causes hundreds of years ago. With Crowley's death in season 12, she has fully outlived all her descendants.
- Pride: Powerful and talented, Rowena really is full of herself, and often both overestimates her abilities while underestimating others. It's due to this that she normally fails. Underestimating Sam led to her being imprisoned and pretty much enslaved by him.
- Really Gets Around: She conceived Crowley during a winter solstice orgy so she can't tell who his father is.
- Really 700 Years Old: She is more than 300 years old.
- Redeeming Replacement: The last ruler of Hell and the only one to try and change it for the better instead of ruling it as an Evil Overlord. She uses fear to keep the demons in line, preventing them from tempting humans into deals and even making them help the Winchesters on one occasion.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Gets mad when Lucifer kills her that when she is resurrected, she teams up with the Darkness just to exact revenge. Though she quickly gets scared of what she can do.
- Safety in Indifference: On why she would never be tempered by love:"I hate you because, when I look into your eyes, I see the woman I used to be, before magic, before the coven, when I was nothing but Rowena, the tanner's daughter. A pale, scared little girl who smelled of filth and death. I hate you because, when you were born, your father said he loved me. Then he went back to his grand wife and his grand house, whilst I lay pathetic and half-dead on a straw mat - my thighs slick with blood. I hate you, because if I didn't, I'd love you. But love... love is weakness. And I'll never be weak again."
- Smug Snake: Despite her genuinely impressive powers and being very dangerous, Rowena is just a bit too full of herself to be a truly impressive opponent. Really, a lot of her plans fail due to her ego and many of her successes rely more on others than her.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Speaks almost all her lines in a giggly Scottish lilt, but she clearly enjoys hurting others, practically relishing opportunities to torture others.
- Terms of Endangerment: "Red" by Lucifer. Sometimes he swaps this with "Ginger".
- The Sociopath: Amara states that she doesn't even have the capacity for worry or kindness. Seemingly proven false as of Season 13.
- Vagueness Is Coming: In the final act of "Soul Survivor," Castiel tells Dean that he should take a few days off to recover after his cure; after all, Heaven and Hell are pretty quiet right now. Cut to Rowena's charnel-house hotel room.
- Vain Sorceress: A powerful witch, Rowena possesses an ego that potentially could surpass her son.
- Wham Line: From Crowley to Rowena:"Mother?"
- What You Are in the Dark: In "Exodus", after Lucifer manages to break free and enter the Rift, there is nothing stopping Rowena from just leaving and abandoning the boys to their fate. Indeed, she almost goes through this, but conscience gets the better of her and she decides to stay in the fight.
- Woman Scorned: She joins Amara in "Hell's Angel" to get revenge on Lucifer for snapping her neck when she tried to devote herself to him.
Elizabeth Higgins
Elizabeth Higgins (Erin Cahill)
Appears in Malleus Maleficarum
A Massachusetts housewife whose book club starts reading spell books and becomes borrower witches for personal benefits without understanding what their magic costs.- Big Damn Heroes: In the climax, Elizabeth reads a spell to injure a demon who is about to kill the brothers and Ruby.
- Break the Cutie: Elizabeth grows increasingly frightened by and concerned about what's going on when one of her friends uses magic to kill people, and has a drawn-out Oh, Crap!, This Cannot Be! reaction to finding out that the spell book has been gradually getting them to sell their souls to Hell.
- Caring Gardener: She uses her magic to make the flowers in her garden grow out of season.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Elizabeth wears purple in her first two scenes and is the most compassionate and cautious of the book club witches.
- Happily Married: Elizabeth used her powers to get her husband a promotion at work off-screen and the way that she expresses shock at how her friend Renee's husband is Locked Out of the Loop implies that Elizabeth is open with her own husband about the magical goings on.
- Hot Witch: Elizabeth is a magic practitioner with an attractive, delicate appearance.
- Token Good Teammate: Of the four book club witches, Elizabeth is the only one who does anything to help the Winchesters or be upset by the deaths of Janet and the woman she killed. Renee doesn't care about the deaths as long as magic is benefitting her financially, Janet uses magic to murder the wife of a man she's having an affair with, and Tammy is a servant of Hell.
Max Banes
Max Banes (Kendrick Sampson)
First Appears in Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox
A natural witch and the son of another witch and a hunter. Max and his (non-magical) twin sister Alicia are minor allies of the Winchesters.- Big Brother Instinct: Max cares deeply for Alicia and is willing to risk condemning his soul to hell to resurrect her when she's killed.
- Glowing Eyes: Max's eyes glow purple whenever he uses his witch powers, such as telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and tracking spells.
- Twofer Token Minority: Max is African-American (half African-American, anyway) and gay.
Jennie and Jamie Plum
Jennie and Jamie Plum (Elise Gatien and Jordan Claire Roberts)
Appear in Various and Sundry Villains
A pair of witch sisters in Massachusetts who assist Rowena in one of her plots against the Winchesters.- The Commandments: Their mother taught them to always look their best, never get attached to a man, and make their murders look like natural causes to avoid attracting The Hunters' attention.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The sisters care about each other and want to resurrect their dead mother.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: They pretend to be damsels in distress to lure in victims.
Clea
Clea (Barbara Eve Harris)
Appears in We Happy Few
- Enemy Mine: Clea gets Rowena to ally with the Winchesters in an attempt to stop the Darkness.
- Odd Friendship: Rowena and Clea see each other as friends, although Clea comes across as far more laconic and moral than Rowena.
- Portal to the Past: Clea and Rowena are about to go back in time to Ancient Greece to escape the Darkness when the Winchester's seek them out.
- Post-Modern Magik: Clea is implied to be several centuries old and carries a gun along with ingredients for magic potions.
- Psychic Powers: Clea reads tarot cards and auras, which tell her that the Winchester's have a chance of beating Amara.
- Token Good Teammate: Most of the Grand Coven are sinister figures, but Clea describes herself as serving both magic and Heaven. She carries a crucifix, shows no interest in murder or power-grabbing, and is willing to work with Hunters.
Nora Havelock
Nora Havlock (Nicole Oliver)
Appears in Repo Man
A low-level Wiccan witch who is associated with the Hunters.- Dark Is Not Evil: Nora wears drab, black and gray clothing but wants to help against evil forces and is easily frightened by witnessing violence.
- Mama Bear: When her son is kidnapped by a satanist, she plays a proactive role in rescuing him.
- Remember the New Guy?: Nora worked with the Winchesters in their search for Lilith but doesn't appear until an episode set four years later.
Katja
Katja (Leslie Nicol)
Appears in About A Boy
The witch from Hansel and Gretel, who has survived into the twenty-first century.- Death by Irony: She wasn't killed in her own oven by Hansel and Gretel like the Brothers Grimm claimed, but Dean still kills her that way hundreds of years later.
- Evil Versus Evil: Katja is one of the vilest witches in the show, and was sent to America by the Grand Coven to kill Rowena (although the two never actually meet).
- Gonk: Katja has obese facial features, rotting teeth, a big nose and dark, beady eyes, none of which help her appearance.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Katja relishes eating children and goes into a monologue about how they taste.
Caitlin and Elle
Caitlin and Elle (Chelsea Hobbs and Kristen Comerford)
- Appear In: Girls, Girls, Girls
- The Apprentice: Very briefly. Rowena teaches them some magic spells, but they never get a chance to use them before Rowena betrays Elle and Caitlin leaves in disgust.
- Defiant Captive: Caitlin refuses to wear a revealing outfit for a demon, snarling that if he likes it so much, he can wear it.
- Dumb Blonde: The blonde Elle mistakes Latin for Spanish and doesn't know what "phonetics" means.
- Go-Go Enslavement: Their captors have Caitlin wear a bra with no top and Elle wear a leopard print minidress and long stockings.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Caitlin walks out on Rowena (and punches her) for casting a potentially fatal spell on Elle to distract the Winchesters.
- Sex Slave: The two are kidnapped by demons and forced to work as prostitutes as part of a scheme to buy souls for sex. Caitlin later says that she'd rather die than go back there.
Olivette
Olivette(Teryl Rothery)
- Appears In: Paint It Black
- Deadpan Snarker: Olivette has a sharp, bitter wit, saying that the Men of Letters had something worse than spells: public relations.
- Defiant Captive: She's pretty scornful and bold while being mocked and punched. Her defiance only crumbles as Rowena prepares to turn her into a hamster.
- Fantastic Racism: Olivette looks down on demons and kicks Rowena out of the Grand Coven for sleeping with a regular human.
- Really 700 Years Old: She's much older than Rowena, who was born in the 17th century.
Charisse, Melodie and Thomasin
Charisse, Melodie, and Thomasin (Christa Andersen, Raven Sto, and Deni DeLory)
Appear in: Bad Seed
Three witches Rowena unsuccessfully tries to ally with.- The Hecate Sisters: One is old, one is middle-aged, and one is young, although the "mother" is the sharp-tongued leader and the "maiden" is a Goth.
- No Name Given: Their names are only revealed 19 episodes after they die, and it isn't clear which name belongs to which witch.
- Thrown from the Zeppelin: A variant: Rowena gathers them to propose her plans for a "Mega Coven," but all three scornfully refuse and are killed. Rowena then seeks out a pair of more susceptible lower-ranking witches to repeat her proposal to.
- Underestimating Badassery: They dismiss Rowena as a weak poser (to be fair, she boasts about killing Crowley, who they know is still alive) and end up dead.Youngest Witch: And, honey, you don't have the guts or the chops to pull this off, so let's not kid ourselves.
Magda and Claudette
Magda and Claudette (Chantal Bul Viet and Courtney Richter)
Appear in: Bad Seed
Two more Grand Coven witches Rowena tries to recruit before being interrupted by a demon attacker.- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Magda is a sergeant-at-arms who has long been denied officer status in the Grand Coven, and Claudette claims, "I'm worse than nobody. I'm nobody's third cousin who doesn't even get invited to dinner." They're attacked by an assassin within seconds of showing interest in an offer of higher status from a more dangerous and sinister witch.
- Deadpan Snarker: They dryly bring up the medieval witch hunts to justify the Grand Coven "hiding in the shadows."Magda: Well we were being burned or hung by the thousands.Claudette: It put a lid on our enthusiasm.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Inverted. The two are a pair of relatively benign witches who are just starting to show interest in Rowena's evil scheme before a demon attack kills Magda and makes Claudette cut ties with Rowena.
- Hot Witch: The two are magic users with attractive appearances and clothing.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Magda gets a Slashed Throat in the middle of casting a spell against an assassin.
- Lovable Coward: Claudette is a pleasant and humorous character who immediately runs away when an assassin shows up and helps the Winchesters capture Rowena so Crowley will call off the assassin who almost killed Claudette.
Shamans
Sergei
Sergei (Dimitri Vantis)
First Appears in "Unhuman Nature" (S14, E07).
Sergei is a Russian shaman who has consulted with the British Men of Letters, whose former member Ketch put Sam and Castiel in contact with him in regards to Jack's worsening condition. He works for a price and frequently has a secret agenda.
- For Science!: He sees himself as man of science even though he works with magic. When he casts a spell he's more interested in seeing what happens than in getting any particular result. This may agitate you if the spell is a life-and-death matter.
- Lovable Traitor: His betraying clients to pursue his own interests is pretty much priced into dealing with him. Courteous and charming, he also knows that his skills are too valuable them the protagonists to drop him.
- Worthy Opponent: Castiel actually gains Sergei's respect by threatening harm to his niece."I like this you, Castiel. It's very...Russian."
