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The Source has practically unlimited demonic powers. In order to remind his minions of his power and reach, all of them can
sense him and his wishes, no matter where they are. Despite this, he is not invincible; a concerted attack by a powerful demon
can wound him, and it has been heavily implied that if lower-level demons banded together, they could overthrow him and claim
his position - which means a great deal of his time is concerned with ensuring that no demonic faction becomes powerful enough
to do so. He is also not the ultimate level of evil, despite his name - other evil beings have been seen on Charmed possessing
powers beyond his, though they rarely involve themselves with the mortal world.
The Source is not a single, eternal entity - rather, when a Source is vanquished, a coronation ceremony presided over
by a Dark Priest is held to raise a new Source from the ranks of his minions. The ceremony grants the Source dominion over
all demons in the Underworld, though a potential Source can be challenged by another demon before receiving his full powers.
In rare cases if the Source is disempowered, his powers will seek a void within another being, possessing it and ultimately
overpowering its soul.
His known powers are projecting energy beams, projecting fireballs, controlling and producing fire and heat, glamoring/morphing
into another person, teleporting in flames, cloaking the senses of a whitelighter, being able to summon to his presence any
demons or warlock he chooses, reconstitution, and manipulation of the minds of others to convince them to do his bidding.
The Source is vulnerable to the scream of gargoyles guarding churches.
The Source prefers to direct his minions to do his dirty work, only taking a direct hand in the affairs of the Charmed
Ones when his minions (the Council, the Triad, Belthazor, and many other demons) failed to kill them.
When Shax killed Prue, the Source believed he had won; however, with the arrival of Paige Matthews he took a direct hand
in trying to corrupt the youngest Charmed sister and turn her to evil. The Source used the Oracle to help him find Paige and
use her to do his bidding, but failed when Piper and Phoebe were able to convince their new-found sibling to stay on the path
of good.
Desperate to vanquish the Charmed Ones, the Source unleashed an ancient and feared magical force called the Hollow to
steal their powers, making them vulnerable so he could kill them himself with their own powers. However, his new assistant,
the Seer I, persuaded Cole Turner to use the Hollow to stop the Source out of a fear that his unchecked power would destroy
the world. Cole absorbed the Source's fireball power before he could use it to kill the Halliwell sisters, and the Charmed
Ones then vanquished him.
Unknown to anyone, the Source's vanquished spirit possessed Cole instead of being destroyed, gradually and increasingly
taking control of him and suppressing his soul (while also taking on certain of his personality aspects, including his love
for Phoebe Halliwell). It eventually turned him evil, and had him trick Phoebe into marrying him in a dark ceremony so his
heir would be born evil.
The remaining ember of Cole's human soul was briefly able to gain control upon learning that Phoebe was pregnant with
his son, the love he felt overpowering the Source's evil, and gave Phoebe a premonition that he was a demon again. By now,
Cole and the Source had merged personalities to such an extent that Cole was not willing to be coronated as the new Source
with his wife hating him, so he had offered to give up his powers and position as the Source to an evil wizard who wanted
them as well. Unfortunately Phoebe, who was under the influence of her demonic pregnancy, killed the wizard before the transfer
could be completed, damning Cole to become the Source permanently.
Pressuring Phoebe to choose a side, Cole/Source had no choice but to kill the Charmed Ones - but Phoebe stood in his way
and rejoined her sisters, finally vanquishing him.
Unfortunately, this was all part of the Seer's plan - she had predicted that Phoebe would give birth to Cole's son, who
would ultimately become a new and even more powerful Source. She used a powerful demon called the Tall Man to trap the Charmed
Ones and magically transfer Phoebe's unborn son into her own body, making her both the interim leader of the Underworld and
the mother of the next Source. However, the Seer couldn't control the powers of her new evil child. As she was about to destroy
the Charmed Ones, the Power of Three chant caused the Source's powers to backlash and vanquish itself, the Seer and the Council.
Spell to Vanquish the Source: Prudence, Patricia, Penelope, Melinda, Astrid, Helena, Laura and Grace Halliwell witches
stand strong beside us Vanquish this evil from time and space
The Source first appeared onscreen in episode 3x22, 'All Hell Breaks Loose' (though was mentioned by other characters
on numerous occasions in preceding seasons) and was finally vanquished in episode 4x21, 'Womb Raider'.
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