Book of the Damned (object)

The Book of the Damned is a very powerful dark magic book. It was once possessed by the Styne Family. It disappeared 100 years ago, but later it was unearthed by Charlie Bradbury from a monastery library in Europe. It was found along with some research notes in the monastery crypt by the friar that buried it.

History
According to Charlie Bradbury, the Book of the Damned was written about 700 years ago, by a nun named Agnes who dedicated her life to breaking curses after she received "a vision of darkness". The nun locked herself away and, using her own skin for pages and her own blood for ink, she compiled it.

According to the research notes that Charlie found, it has been owned and used by cults and covens, and the Vatican had it for a while. It later came into the possession of a monastery in Spain which burned years ago. It remained there until Charlie found it.

After a gun fight in order to protect the book from the Styne Family, Sam later give it to Rowena secretly in hope she could crack it and extract a spell that can be used to remove the Mark of Cain. Rowena revealed that only the codex of witch Nadia could break the code and Sam tracked it down in the Werther Box in St. Louis, Missouri. Sam turned the codex over to Rowena, but also chained her so that she would only decode the cure before he destroyed the Book to prevent Rowena for using it for herself.

Even with the help of the codex, Rowena proved unable to translate the Book as the codex was coded too so Sam called in Charlie to help with her IT skills and Castiel to watch over them. Even working together, neither Charlie nor Rowena could translate the Book so overwhelmed, Charlie left with just her notes on the Book. Working privately, Charlie managed to figure out how to decipher the codex, but was interrupted by Eldon Styne who was looking for the Book. Unwilling to give her notes to him or the Book which she didn't have, Charlie destroyed her iPad and notes on the Book, causing Eldon to kill her, but not before she sent the notes to Sam and Dean. After Sam received Charlie's email, Rowena was able to crack the Book and use it to remove the Mark, inadvertently releasing the Darkness. Rowena then escaped with the Book of the Damned and the codex.

Contents
"Talking some black mass, dark magic, end-of-times nastiness."

- Charlie Bradbury

The book contains various dark spells. It is said to have a spell for everything. It is written in an obscure Sumerian dialect, that Sam is able to partially translate. However, after translating it finds that it is also ciphered by an unknown means: even modern computers and Men of Letters's decoders cannot decipher it. The only known thing that can is Nadia's Codex. Using the Book however can have grave effects if its not properly handled. Rowena indicated that only the most powerful and experienced witches are capable of using the Book's power safely.

The Book contained a spell to remove the Mark of Cain. However, the Book didn't warn of the consequences of removing the Mark, specifically releasing the Darkness. The spell, while not requiring a lot of ingredients, required a few very rare ones as well as the blood of the person the caster loved the most and some hair from the person with the Mark.

Effect
Any person that holds the book will feel a bad aura emitted from the book. If a person handles it for a long time, it will influence the reader's mind to a certain degree. The effect will be more profound if the reader is the bearer of the Mark of Cain. Powerful witches are shown to be effected by the aura as well, though they don't seem to be affected by the Book's influence over people's minds.

Trivia

 * The book, its origin, and anything about it is likely taken and based from several pop cultures:
 * The book's name were taken from "The Book of the Damned", a work of nonfiction by Charles Fort, and whose approach the Fortean movement was based upon. It was published in 1919. The book deals with various types of paranormal phenomenon ranging from UFOs to the existence of giants and fairies.
 * The actual book of "The Book of the Damned" briefly appears on Sam's notebook at the end of There's No Place Like Home.
 * The book history likely based from pseudo-history of Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire (textbook of magic) appearing in the stories by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. Although both of the books shared same history (being written after the book's writer taken visions of the darkness). However, in the series, it was altered and differed significantly.
 * The version that appears in Supernatural has more in common with the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis from the Evil Dead film series, which was bound in human flesh and inked blood, and written in ancient Sumerian.

Appearance

 * Season 10
 * Book of the Damned
 * The Werther Project
 * Dark Dynasty
 * The Prisoner
 * Brother's Keeper


 * Season 11
 * The Bad Seed