Rowena MacLeod

"The King at last...King of what, Lilliput? I mean I heard you were short. Well, get to it. Time for the coup de grâce, wee boy. Something the matter with you? Cat got your tongue, hmm? Meow."

- Rowena to Crowley

Rowena MacLeod is a very powerful Scottish witch, and the mother of the demon Crowley who was originally named Fergus Roderick MacLeod. She is also the grandmother of Gavin MacLeod. She currently appears as an antagonist in Season 10.

Background
Rowena considers herself a "natural" witch, claiming to be born with the gift of magic (as opposed to harnessing the power of demons). She is presumably immortal, as she is known to have been alive for centuries. She frequently uses hex bags to kill her victims. In Girls, Girls, Girls, it was revealed that she created a demon killing spell in the 1800's that only she knows how to perform. Many of the spells that she uses are not easily withstood by humans, and cause them to die shortly after being affected. Even simple spells like the servitude spell eventually burn up the human victims, as do powerful ones such as the Attack Dog Spell.

Rowena was formerly part of the Grand Coven, but was dismissed by her superiors as a result of her violent and forceful use of magic. Later, Olivette revealed that her having a child with a non-witch also contributed to her expulsion.

Before appearing in Season 10, Rowena was briefly mentioned by Crowley. He described his mother as "dabbling in witchcraft" and said that she taught him a few things. However, Crowley did not mention her name.

Season 10
In Soul Survivor, she briefly appears at the end of the episode sipping on brandy and reading a book. After some blood drips onto her arm she wipes it off and looks up revealing two hotel staffs pinned to the ceiling who she killed for coming to her for bill. She smiles and resumes reading her book.

In Girls, Girls, Girls, Rowena visits Raul's Girls, a brothel where the demon, Raul, is running a new version of soul collecting by selling sex to men,then reaping their souls and uses Defigere Et Depurgare , a demon liquefying spell on Raul, which makes Gerald, the other demon flee. She rescues the two girls forced into prostitution by Raul and takes them to a French restaurant. The chef of the restaurant warns Rowena that the outfits of the prostitutes violate the restaurant's dress rule. She uses the Servitude Spell on the chef which makes him ignore the dresses and do the best favor to her table. Rowena enlightens the girls about witches and the Grand Coven and convinces them to learn magic from her. The two girls accept and that's when the chef immediately dies because of his brain being boiled as an adverse effect of the spell he was under. Rowena and the prostitutes leave. At a hotel, she teaches the girls some spells and tells them to use on a man who she assumes coming to her for bill but later turns out to be someone who the demons use to lure her. The demons seize them and on the way, they face off with the Winchesters who kill them. Rowena uses the Attack Dog Spell on one of the girls, which causes her to fight against the Winchesters, buying some time for her and the other girl to escape the hotel. The latter of the two girls queries Rowena that what she had done to the former. Rowena tells her that she was not strong enough to harness magic. The girl distrusts Rowena and punches her in the face, after which she runs. Before Rowena can cast a spell on her, Dean incapacitates her by brandishing a gun but was stifled by Cole at the same moment who was after Dean. Rowena,so,escapes but later captured by beta team of Crowley's demons. She was tortured by Gerald before Crowley comes to meet her. Rowena sarcastically greets her son who is bemused by the captive being his mother.

In The Things We Left Behind Rowena befriends a demon, Trish and persuades her son that she left him forever not because she hated him but because she wanted to motivate him in an attempt to escape being captive in Hell's dungeon. Crowley was still exasperating with his mother and makes Gerald throw her back into the dungeon. Rowena devises another ruse which is to expose Gerald being culpable for smuggling demons from Hell onto Earth. Gerald throttles her to kill but was stabbed in the throat with an angel blade by Crowley. He brings Rowena out but she reneges the promise given to Trish that if this demon sides with her as a witness of Gerald's crimes, she would free her if being released by Crowley and leaves Trish behind.

In The Hunter Games, Rowena hides a hex bag under Crowley's throne which causes him to have a premonitory nightmare, depicting Guthrie, one of his minions,along with several other demons, assassinate Crowley and impale him with angel blades, killing him. Rowena is then seen prying around Crowley's palace, which Guthrie suppresses her not to. When Crowley makes a rendezvous with the Winchesters for a transaction dealing with the First Blade, Rowena scouts him by performing an Astral projection and eavesdrop their conspiracy. When she learns that the First Blade is hidden in Crowley's tomb, she threatens Guthrie to purloin the Blade. Guthrie hesitates to hand it to her even though he got it, confirming that he will only give it to Crowley. Rowena stabs him in the chest with an angel blade. When Crowley arrives, she blames Guthrie for stealing the Blade, which Crowley believes for already having the precognitive nightmare in which Guthrie betrays him.

In About a Boy, Katja, a witch and the member of the Grand Coven, travels from the Europe to the United States, in pursuit of Rowena as ordered by her superiors of the Coven but her hunt was thwarted by Dean who incinerates her in her own flaming kiln, thus killing her.

In The Executioner's Song, Rowena is present at the court and scorns a crossroad demon for demanding Crowley the credit which equals his work. She,then, suggests Crowley halve him and pin the bloody pieces to the wall of the court so that no one dares demand anything from Crowley anymore, thus not wasting the king's time, which Crowley complies.Rowena,later, reveals that Olivette, her rival and superior, the high priestess of the Grand Coven, has just resurfaced and implores Crowley to track down Olivette and coerce her to sanction her practice of magic once again on her behalf. Crowley reluctantly agrees but later, revokes the plan as he has some business with the Winchesters to exterminate Cain. Rowena is disappointed and chastises Crowley, telling him not to go but Crowley rebuffs. When Crowley returns distressed and crestfallen, double crossed by the Winchesters, Rowena is ready to leave but Crowley halts her. She berates him for being their puppet and lap dog and addresses him "their bitch".

In Paint it Black, Rowena remains vexed with Crowley and vents her frustration by ruining the court and casting shocking spells to all those who interferes her ; she hexed one of the demons to spawn a rear face. She also rebukes Crowley for denying to help her and for choosing the Winchesters over his own blood. She taunts Crowley about his existence only because of her and again, spoils his palace by casting a spell. Crowley,later,captures Olivette and brings her before Rowena, much to her joy. Rowena shackles Olivette and beats her. Olivette reveals she excommunicated Rowena for having a child with a non-witch and that the Grand Coven has already devastated and weakened dedicated to the Men of Letters. She mentions that the Winchesters are the only known Men of Letters. With the assumption that the Grand Coven from which she has been hiding for centuries and which she has been fearfully groveling until now is no longer powerful and authorized, she tortures Olivette and eventually, transforms her into a hamster.

In Inside Man, Rowena instigates her plan to defeat Dean. She draws sigils and symbols in blood on her body and emerges to the earth. She casts the Attack Dog Spell on a trio of teenagers and unleashes them to attack Dean. When Dean successfully beats the teenagers without killing them, Rowena uses a Gaelic spell on Dean which is supposed to rip him apart, to no avail since Dean bears the very powerful and ancient Mark of Cain. Dean spares her life for the sake of the hexed trio as he knows that Rowena can only break the spells cast on them. Overwhelmed by the knowledge then even her mightiest spell cannot overpower Dean, she lacerates herself and reveals Crowley that Dean did this to her in hope of Crowley retaliating Dean for his mother. On the contrary, Crowley ignores and later, forces Rowena to leave unconvinced by her love on him,stating that the only reason she is clinging to him is he is being useful to her. Rowena then packs and deserts her son's palace.

In Book of the Damned, Sam meets with Rowena with the hope that she can crack the Book of the Damned, since she is a very powerful witch. With a smile, she says to Sam to discuss the terms of their agreement.

InThe Werther Project, Sam consorts with Rowena clandestinely to construe the Book of the Damned. Rowena stipulates that Sam has to kill Crowley in return for her decoding the book,which Sam agrees. Rowena mentions that an affiliate of the Grand Coven, a witch named Nadia, once wrote a codex which can help interpret the Book of the Damned. Nonetheless, Nadia was murdered by the Men of Letters and her codex was plundered and hidden in a safe Werther Box which induces hallucinations and delusions to all those who attempt to open it and these illusions manipulate the victims to commit suicide which is of 98 per cent lethality. When Sam and Dean discover the whereabouts of the Werther Box, the former opens it which causes Dean to have deceiving hallucinations of purgatory in which he kills a leviathan and confronts Benny who persuades him into puncturing himself with a shattered glass bottle. Meanwhile, Sam is saved from Suzie who blames him for being responsible for her death by Rowena by using a spell, who, herself, is a hallucination induced by the Werther Box. Rowena and Sam confer how to open the Werther box in order to get Nadia's codex. Rowena uses a spell to reveal the letters etched on the box which read that only by spilling the Men of Letters' blood would cease the hallucinations and dislodge the box. Sam lacerates himself and spills the blood, to no avail since Dean's blood is still needed. Being a hallucination that would bring about Sam's death, Rowena encourages Sam into spilling vast amount of his blood and attempts to kill him by loss of blood. When Dean is freed from his hallucination by impaling Benny, he seeks out Sam and spills his blood, which vanishes the fake Rowena, successfully disclosing the Werther box and retrieving Nadia's codex. Sam arranges a rendezvous,meets Rowena and hands her the codex. As a precaution to make sure that Rowena neither reneges her promise nor absconds away, Sam binds her with manacles and chains her. Sam tells her to work on the codex and departs, leaving Rowena furious and raged.

Powers and Abilities
"That? Parlor trick! I'm capable of greatness. Given free reign I'd be unstoppable."

- Rowena

Rowena is a very powerful witch that has been around since the 1600s. She is among the most powerful witch to appear in the series. After training throughout her life, she has mastered and collected a vast arsenal of spells and other magical objects, which vary in complication. Although her current powers are somewhat reduced due to Olivette's sealing, she is not significantly affected.


 * Witchcraft - Being a witch, Rowena is very experienced in the use of spells and hex bags. She even has the ability to create some spells of her own (Defigere Et Depurgare). It is unknown whether or not the Attack Dog Spell is of her making. She also capable to cast a spell that capable to obliterate a human with ease. She was also able to disrupt a hallucination Sam was experiencing due to the effects of the Werther Box
 * Immortality - Rowena can live for a very long time if not infinitely. She has lived for at least 300 years, if not longer.
 * Hex Casting - Due to being an old talented witch, she has absolute knowledge of hex bags, and are said to have taught Crowley how to use spells and hex bags back in the 1600s.
 * Dream Manipulation - In The Hunter Games, Rowena demonstrated this ability by crafting a spell which manipulates her victim's dreams.
 * Astral projection - In The Hunter Games, Rowena demonstrated this ability by crafting a spell which projected her awareness outside her body in order to spy on Crowley making a deal with Sam and Dean Winchester.
 * Illusion Casting - Rowena proved capable to crafting an illusion spell powerful enough to successfully trick Cain.
 * Transmogrification - Rowena was able to cast a spell to turn Olivette into a hamster.
 * Reality Warping - Rowena was able to cast a spell so that one demon's had a face on both sides of his head. However, she claims that this is merely a parlor trick compared to what she is really capable of.
 * Telekinesis - Rowena has pinned humans to the ceiling by impaling them on furniture on multiple occasions. She also able to cause several items in Crowley's lair to shatter and explode with a simple spell.
 * Torturing - She is able to torture her target until death with a certain powerful spell.
 * Teleportation - Rowena was able to teleport away from Sam and Dean after they had successfully retrieved Nadia's Codex.
 * Luminescence - Rowena was able to cast a spell to brighten an inscription on the Werther Box.



Weaknesses

 * Power Sealing - Her powers are reduced to a certain degree due to an unknown sealing spell that was casted by Olivette before her expulsion. Although her current powers and abilities are somewhat reduced, she is still very powerful and difficult to defeat. It's not been revealed what she is capable of in her full state.
 * Iron - Her power was reduced dramatically and blocked when she was bound by iron. As shown in Girls, Girls, Girls, she severely weakened when bound by the iron cuff's in Hell's Dungeon. Sam was also able to restrain her using iron chains.
 * Verbal Restraints - It appears Rowena is unable to cast many spells without reciting an incantation as Crowley's demons were able to capture her with ease after they had gagged her.

Quotes

 * "Of course you had a father. You were just conceived during a winter solstice orgy, and it's not like I was taking names."
 * "This demon asks you to equalize credit for his and another's work. Split the baby if you will. Well, then I would well and truly split the baby. I'd cut this pulling, pathetic, grade-grubbing git in two, literally. Then I'd nail his bloody halves to the doors of the court. A reminder to all not to waste the King's time! Whiners beget whiners. You can't reward behavior like that. Why, I never gave in when you asked for sweeties as a child no matter how much you cried. Well, you were a very chunky child, darling. A bit of a bloater."
 * "You can't understand my disappointment or my pride. You don't know this but after I left you, after I was forced to leave you, I heard of your death. Your mortal death. I thought you were gone to me forever. Then, hundreds of years later and thousands of miles away, I find you: the King of Hell. And not by luck or accident, you made that happen all by yourself. You're not a mother. You can't know what that pride felt like. How huge it was. But can you try to imagine, for me? Now do you understand why it breaks my heart to see what a colossal numb nut you've become? You've got the crown but you're no ruler, not really. A sad, bored wee boy on the throne who'll flop ass up the second those Winchesters, hunters who'd as soon see you dead as have you to tea, ask you to. You're no king. Not any more. You're their bitch!"
 * "You see my son, the spawn you speak of, is now the King of Hell - total Cinderella story I'd say. Oh aye, and now you, dearest Olivette, are prisoner of the baddest of the bad and his devoted mother."
 * "You say that like it's an insult. Nice girls, they're pathetic. Here's to evil skanks."

Appearances

 * Season 8
 * We Need To Talk About Kevin (mentioned only)
 * Clip Show (mentioned only)


 * Season 9
 * King of the Damned (mentioned only)


 * Season 10
 * Soul Survivor
 * Girls, Girls, Girls
 * The Things We Left Behind
 * The Hunter Games
 * About a Boy (mentioned only)
 * The Executioner's Song
 * Paint it Black
 * Inside Man
 * Book of the Damned
 * The Werther Project
 * Dark Dynasty