| “ | Baba Yaga. A witch who feeds on children's fears using hallucinations. So, according to this, she wears this ring. It's technically her heart and it's the source of her power. | ” |
Baba Yaga is an ancient and immortal witch that preys on children.
History[]
For centuries, Baba Yaga preys and feeds on young children, gaining a fearsome reputation with her actions.
In late 1992, Baba Yaga begins preying on Wadsworth, Ohio, setting up her nest in a nearby abandoned cannery. She kidnaps and kills Sean McGee, Tony Raymonds and Britt Wilcox during this time.
In January 1993, as Travis Johnson attempts to retrieve a candy bar from a vending machine at the Rooster's Sunrise motel, Baba Yaga grabs him by the hand from inside of the machine and, cackling, apparently drops various candies on the young boy's hand, terrorizing him while she cackles from within the machine. Travis eventually pulls his hand free as his sister Caitlin and Dean Winchester run up to help him.
Travis informs Caitlin, Dean and Sam of his encounter with Baba Yaga. Aware of the existence of monsters, Dean attempts to contact his father for help, but discovers that he is out of contact for at least another two days. Caitlin and Travis reveal the disappearances of the other children and the four plot out the locations on a map, eventually determining that the cannery is Baba Yaga's most likely location. Accompanied by Caitlin, Dean checks out the cannery and locates Baba Yaga's nest and the bodies of her most recent victims. Frightened but unwilling to reveal his discovery, Dean simply tells Caitlin that Baba Yaga is not present and they leave.
At the same time, Baba Yaga begins terrorizing Sam and Travis, making a game of Boggle spell out death threats to them. Baba Yaga causes the game tiles to shake before turning out the lights and becoming visible to strangle Travis while Sam tries to intervene. Rushing in, Dean attempts to shoot Baba Yaga, but she disarms him. Drawing a silver knife, Dean cuts off most of the fingers on Baba Yaga's right hand, causing her ring to go flying, before stabbing her in the chest. Clutching her hand, Baba Yaga dissolves into dust, apparently killing her.
Due to Baba Yaga dissolving, the group believes that she has been killed and that the threat is over. Before leaving, Dean secretly tips off the police to the location of the bodies of her victims. However, Baba Yaga's disappearance is actually due to the stone of her ring being cracked when it was sent flying and she is merely sent into dormancy. The ring is later found by Caitlin and Travis' mother, the motel's cleaning lady, in her vacuum and she gives it to Travis as unclaimed property. Unaware of the ring's true nature, Travis puts it onto a chain and turns Baba Yaga's ring into his lucky charm.
In 2020, Travis returns to the motel in an attempt to face his fears from the fight with Baba Yaga in 1993. A few weeks before returning, Travis has Baba Yaga's ring repaired, inadvertently allowing her to return. Taking on the form of a young Travis, Baba Yaga taunts him before slitting Travis' throat with a broken liquor bottle.
Subsequently, though Travis is believed to have committed suicide, Caitlin comes to the conclusion that Baba Yaga has returned and calls the Winchesters back to help deal with her. The Winchesters are dubious, finding no EMF, hex bags or anything that suggests a supernatural element and with all indications pointing to Travis having committed suicide. There is also no missing or dead kids in town and in 1993, Baba Yaga had only been preying on children.
As Dean leaves the room, he is confronted by Baba Yaga in the form of his younger self, though with a hairstyle mirroring his current one. Racing down the hallway while causing the lights to flicker, Baba Yaga tells Dean that she has been waiting for him and that he knows what he has to do. A silver knife appears in Dean's hand and Dean realizes that it really is the monster he faced over twenty years before. Baba Yaga states that Dean failed and, entranced, Dean, falls to his knees and almost stabs himself with the knife while Baba Yaga orders him to say hello to Travis. Sam arrives moments later to find Dean on his knees and no sign of Baba Yaga or the knife. Dean tells Sam that Caitlin is right about Baba Yaga having returned.
Meeting at a bar, the Winchesters and Caitlin decide that they have a second chance to end Baba Yaga for good, but they must first figure out what she is. Caitlin states that Baba Yaga is scary and enjoys tormenting her victims, having played with Travis, drawing it out and lured him rather than just grabbing the young boy. Dean notes that Baba Yaga can look like other people and things, having just now resembled Dean as a kid. As Sam prepares to leave to look through the lore for clues on Baba Yaga's identity, Dean finally tells the other two about her nest and the bodies that Dean had discovered there.
Searching on the Internet, Sam finally finds a webpage about Baba Yaga who he quickly realizes matches the description of the monster they are fighting. Caitlin has Sam zoom in on Baba Yaga's ring in the picture and recognizes it as Travis' ring. Caitlin explains how their mother had found the ring and Travis turned it into his lucky charm before having it repaired. Sam realizes that Dean cutting off Baba Yaga's fingers and the ring was what defeated the evil witch in the first place, but as Sam turns to ask about how it used to be broken, Caitlin heads out to her car where she searches through Travis' belongings for the ring. However, all she can find is the chain. As Caitlin closes the trunk, Baba Yaga appears to her in the form of an adult Travis with his throat cut. Holding up the ring, Baba Yaga asks if Caitlin is looking for it before abducting the young woman.
When Dean returns, Caitlin is missing and Sam suspects that Baba Yaga took her. Sam explains that they identified Baba Yaga as an ancient immortal witch and that the last time, they hadn't killed her but just damaged the source of her power. Dean suggests tracking her down and destroying the ring which Sam agrees is the most likely way to destroy her. Sam states that they need to find Baba Yaga's nest which has got to be close since all of the attacks have happened at the motel this time.
As the Winchesters search the motel, the door to Room 214 suddenly opens in front of Dean. Entering, Dean suddenly finds himself in an illusion of the abandoned cannery when the door closes behind him. Finding Baba Yaga's old nest, Dean finds the body of the young Sam in it. As Dean walks away, Baba Yaga confronts him, again in the form of Travis. Dean informs the witch that he now knows what she is and shoots Baba Yaga, but it has no effect. Dean questions why Baba Yaga is targeting adults and she explains that she is starving after so many years of dormancy.
Baba Yaga tackles Dean to the ground where Dean struggles against her without success. Hearing the struggle, Sam rushes into Room 214 where he finds Caitlin unconscious on the bed and Baba Yaga and Dean struggling on the floor. Sam stabs the witch in the back, causing her to fling him across the room. As Baba Yaga turns back to Dean, he grabs her hand and yanks off Baba Yaga's ring before kicking the weakened witch backwards to the ground. As the ancient witch rises to her feet, Dean smashes the ring with the butt of his gun. Baba Yaga is instantly engulfed in green fire and burns to nothing, killing her as Sam, Dean and Caitlin watch.
Personality[]
Baba Yaga in lore
Baba Yaga is cannibalistic, feeding on children for centuries. She is also highly sadistic, enjoying tormenting her victims, drawing it out and luring them in before killing them. Travis described the way Baba Yaga tormented him as "making a freaky game of it" and she was shown cackling with joy while playing with Travis from inside of the vending machine.
After her return, Baba Yaga targets adults despite her taste for children. When Dean questions this, she explains that she is starving after being dormant for so long.
Powers and Abilities[]
Baba Yaga is an extremely powerful and unusual witch. Her ring is the source of her powers.
- Invisibility - Baba Yaga is invisible unless she wants to be seen.
- Immortality - Baba Yaga is centuries old and remains immortal so long as her ring is intact. While describing her to Dean, Sam states that she is immortal "kind of."
- Invulnerability - Baba Yaga is invulnerable to all forms of harm as long as her ring remains intact. Only when her ring is removed or destroyed can she be harmed or killed. When Sam stabs her in the back with a silver knife, she is completely unharmed by the injury aside from being angered by his actions. When Dean shoots Baba Yaga, she simply tells him that it won't work against her.
- Shapeshifting - Baba Yaga is capable of taking on other forms and can mimic other beings such as ghosts.
- Electrokinesis - Baba Yaga causes the lights to flicker while posing as a ghost. She also causes the lights to go out completely in seconds when attacking in 1993. After her defeat, the lights return.
- Super Speed - While posing as a ghost, Baba Yaga is shown moving at an incredible speed.
- Mind Control - Baba Yaga appears to have at the very least a hypnotic effect, placing Dean into a trance where he nearly stabs himself, albeit with a knife that she caused him to believe that he was holding.
- Perception Altering - Baba Yaga is able to prey on people's fears by causing them to experience hallucinations. According to the lore, this is how she targets children. When tormenting Travis, Baba Yaga causes various candies to apparently fall on his hand, candies which are still in their original positions moments later when she is gone. While trying to get Dean to kill himself, she causes him to hallucinate holding a silver knife. Baba Yaga later turns Room 214 into the cannery where Dean had found her nest in 1993 when fighting him in 2020. In addition, despite Caitlin being unconscious on the bed in the room, Baba Yaga is able to make the room appear empty to Dean when he enters it.
- Telekinesis - Baba Yaga was able to cause Boggle pieces to shake. She also opened and closed the door to Room 214.
- Super Strength - Baba Yaga displays inhuman strength, overpowering Dean Winchester effortlessly during a fight and flinging Sam across the room when he angers her. After her ring is removed, Baba Yaga loses this power and is kicked to the ground by Dean.
- Regeneration - Despite Dean cutting off the fingers of Baba Yaga's right hand in 1993, they have regrown by 2020.
Weaknesses[]
- Her ring - As the source of her power, it is Baba Yaga's only weakness. By damaging her ring, Dean was able to render Baba Yaga dormant for over twenty years with her only returning after the ring was repaired. When Dean removed the ring again, he was able to overpower the witch who was previously too strong for Dean. By destroying the ring, Dean was able to kill her.
Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- The way that Baba Yaga goes up in flames when she is killed is similar to the destruction of a ghost when their link to the living world is destroyed.
- Like Hydeker the shtriga and the Tennessee Soul Eater, Baba Yaga is a villain from the past that was apparently defeated and the Winchesters later had to return to finish.
- She is the second known cannibalistic witch after Katja from About a Boy. Both witches were killed by Dean Winchester.