Rowena MacLeod is an extremely powerful witch, and the mother of Crowley, who was originally named Fergus Roderick MacLeod. She is also the grandmother of Gavin MacLeod, and is of Scottish descent. She was one of the main antagonists of Season 10. In Season 11 she continued her efforts to gain power, eventually teaming up with Lucifer upon promises of being his queen. After helping Lucifer free himself, Lucifer snapped her neck so he couldn't be trapped in the Cage by her again. However, she was able to resurrect herself with a spell she had prepared before.
Rowena is a "natural" witch, being born with the gift of magic (as opposed to harnessing the power of demons or learning it), though in Season 11 she claims she doesn't acknowledge her "natural" gifts in her youth and only sees herself as a "pale, scared little girl who smelled of filth and death" before she becomes a witch. She is presumably immortal, as she is known to have been alive for centuries. She frequently uses hex bags to kill her victims. Rowena created a demon killing spell in the 1800s that only she knows how to perform.[1] 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 her reappearance in the present day, 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
Rowena briefly appears at the end of the 3rd 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.[2]
When 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, she uses Defigere Et Depurgare, a demon liquefying spell on Raul. This 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 waiter, which makes him ignore the dresses and do the best he can for 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 the chef immediately dies because his brain boiled as an adverse effect of the spell he was under. Rowena and the prostitutes leave.[1]
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.[1]
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.[1]
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.[3]
In order to give, Crowley 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 hides a hex bag under Crowley's throne. Rowena is then seen prying around Crowley's palace, which Guthrie tries to get her to stop. When Crowley makes a rendezvous with the Winchesters for a transaction dealing with the First Blade, Rowena watches him by performing astral projection, in order to eavesdrop on their conversation. 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.[4]
Katja, a witch and the member of the Grand Coven, travels from Europe to the United States, in pursuit of Rowena as ordered by her superiors in the Coven. Her hunt was thwarted by Sam and Dean Winchester when Dean incinerated her in her own flaming kiln, killing her.[5]
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".[6].
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.[7]
As part of her plan to defeat Dean, Rowena draws sigils and symbols in blood on her body, and appears on earth. She casts the Attack Dog Spell on a trio of teenagers, and uses them to attack Dean. When Dean successfully beats the teenagers without killing them, Rowena uses a Gaelic spell on Dean which was supposed to rip him apart, but did not 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 only Rowena can break the spells cast on them. Overwhelmed by the knowledge that even her mightiest spell cannot overpower Dean, she injures herself and reveals to Crowley that Dean attacked her in the hope of Crowley retaliating against Dean for his mother. However, Crowley ignores her, feeling unconvinced by her love for him, stating that the only reason she is clinging to him is he is being useful to her. Rowena then packs, and leaves her son's palace.[3]
After an encounter with the Styne Family where Sam appeared to destroy the Book of the Damned in a fire, he meets with Rowena in the hope that she can find a way to reverse the Mark of Cain, since she is a very powerful witch. With a smile, she discussed the terms of an agreement with him.[8]
Rowena stipulates that Sam has to kill Crowley in return for her decoding the book, to which Sam agrees. She 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. Nadia, however, was murdered by the Men of Letters, and her codex was plundered and hidden in a Werther Box which induces hallucinations and delusions to all those who attempt to open it. These illusions manipulate the victims to commit suicide, with 98 percent lethality. When Sam and Dean discover the whereabouts of the Werther Box, the former opens it which causes Dean to have hallucinations of purgatory, in which he kills a leviathan and confronts Benny.[9]
Benny was trying to persuade Dean into puncturing himself with a shattered glass bottle, killing himself. 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 the hallucinations cease, and allow the box to open. Sam cuts his arm, and spills his blood into the collection bowl on the box. It doesn't work, however, since more blood is needed.[9]
Being a hallucination that would bring about Sam's death, Rowena encourages Sam into spilling vast amounts of his blood and he almost kills himself by excessive blood loss, but Dean is freed from his hallucination by impaling Benny instead of himself. He seeks out Sam, and spills his blood with Sam, which deactivates the spell on the Werther box, and disperses Rowena. Having successfully opened the Werther box and retrieving Nadia's codex, Sam arranges a rendezvous with Rowena, and hands her the codex. As a precaution to make sure that Rowena neither goes back on her promise and abandons the search for a cure, Sam binds her with iron manacles and chains. Sam tells her to work on the codex and departs, leaving Rowena furious and enraged.[9]
Since Rowena has not found a cure for the mark, Sam argues with her for procrastinating in deciphering the Book of the Damned using Nadia's codex, to which Rowena replies that she is an, artist and needs time for interpreting the cure for Dean. She also states that her deciphering of the codex could be expedited if she could use magic, since Sam has her in iron shackles. Sam is desperate and demands why she is stalling but Rowena denies, saying that removing the Mark of Cain would insure her life, plus her willingness to have Crowley killed. In addition, Rowena mentions that Nadia also encrypted her own codex so that no one could ever decode it, to Sam's chagrin. When Sam goes to leave, Rowena asks him to go grocery shopping.[10]
He returns with Charlie, who is also there to help find a cure for the Mark, but Rowena is antagonistic toward Charlie, and tells Sam that she does not need an ancillary decoder. Sam retorts by revealing that Charlie wouldn't be her helper, as she would be subordinate to Charlie. Rowena is not impressed by Charlie's confidence in tech, as she has never heard of the school where Charlie learned this magic. Sam tells her that she will find the ancient spells and curses, while Charlie's tech will put it into context. When Castiel is counted in, Rowena is intrigued by him, and taunts that all their discreet and unwilling collaboration must be unbeknownst to Dean, who doesn't even know that Sam didn't destroy the book. Sam, Charlie, and Castiel make a mutual agreement on cooperating for Dean's sake.[10]
Rowena taunts Charlie and her laptop, and Castiel enters with his favorite snack as a human, pork rinds. Charlie asks Rowena about the nun who wrote the Book of the Damned, and Rowena replies that she was a hermit nun, Agnes, and that she was incinerated at the stake by the men of the church. Rowena mentions that her and Charlie are similar, however Rowena believes Charlie has too much trust in the Winchesters. Charlie confesses that the Winchesters are like her brothers, but Rowena tells her that her loyalty would be her undoing. Because Rowena won't leave her alone, and even tried to talk her into witchcraft, Charlie tells Castiel that she has to leave for two hours, or even one, just to get away from Rowena.[10]
When Charlie and Rowena start arguing, Castiel calls Sam to let him know that Charlie wants to leave. Sam says it is too dangerous, however, so Castiel moves Rowena to another room, and chains her there. Rowena felt that Charlie was being the dramatic one, and believed that determining a cure would go faster if Charlie accepted her help. She also mentions that Crowley is her son, which surprised Castiel. Castiel leaves her, and finds out that Charlie has left for a motel, where she is later killed by Eldon Frankenstein.[10]
Following Charlie's death, Sam decides to end the work to remove the Mark and kill Rowena, but changes his mind once he receives an email from Charlie with how to crack the codex. Rowena confirms she can now remove the Mark, but demands that Sam kill Crowley before she will as she doesn't trust him to keep up his end of the deal otherwise. After Sam fails, he calls Rowena to tell her and give her Crowley's warning. While Rowena is left worried, she insists Sam keep trying.[11]
Following his failure to kill Crowley, Sam tries to threaten Rowena into helping with witch-killing bullets. However, Rowena is not threatened as Sam needs her to crack the Book and to cast the spell. She offers a new deal: her freedom and the codex in exchange for removing the Mark. Sam agrees and Rowena determines the ingredients needed for the spell which includes her sacrificing the person she loves most. Castiel is able to determine it is a young man named Oskar who's family had helped her hundreds of years before and she had grown so fond of she cured him of a terminal disease and made him immortal. Castiel summons Crowley who brings them the ingredients and Oskar. Rowena is happy to see Oskar despite her protests of loving no one and is horrified that she will have to kill him. However, she goes through with it and casts the spell to remove the Mark. She succeeds in removing the Mark, but unwittingly releases the Darkness at the same time. Rowena takes the opportunity to escape with the Book of the Damned and the codex, casting the Attack Dog Spell on Castiel so he will kill Crowley.[12]
Season 11
Rowena stands before a trio of witches in an abandoned warehouse, at her altar she declares that they shall be known as the "Mega Coven" to the confusion of the trio. When one witch questions why they would join her, Rowena tells them that the Grand Coven is obsolete and falling apart. She tells them of how she compelled an angel to kill her son, the King of Hell. But one witch tells her, she made a deal with Crowley only the day before, she declares Rowena "delusional as ever." As the trio begins to leave, Rowena pulls out the Book of the Damned and performs an incineration spell, killing the trio of witches on the spot.
At a restaurant, Rowena sits with two witches, pitching them to join her new Mega Coven and offering them power they could never get while in the Grand Coven. The witches appear to agree to join, when suddenly a demon-possessed waiter attacks. One witch attempts to fend him off with a spell, but is too late and has her throat slit. Rowena makes her hasty retreat, using a spell to block her exit with furniture.
Sometime later, Rowena comes out of a brick building, disguised in a blonde wig and speaking in an American accent, carrying her suitcases towards a yellow taxi. She quickly realizes that the driver is actually Dean Winchester and sends him flying across the alley, pinning him to a wall. Before she can kill Dean, Sam appears from nowhere and places her in iron shackles. Back at the Bunker's dungeon, Dean is chaining Rowena to the chair while Sam is searching her luggage for the Book of the Damned, but is only able to find Nadya's Codex and Charlie's code breaker. When Sam goes to retrieve Castiel, Dean threatens to call Crowley unless she helps them, Rowena eggs him on, telling him if she is dead, there will be no one to remove the curse from Castiel. A panicked Sam returns to the dungeon, telling Dean Cass has gone missing. The trio pile into the Impala and track Cass down using his phones GPS. Dean parks the Impala in the general vicinity of where Cass' GPS brought them, and tells Sam to take Rowena one way, while he looks another. When Dean tracks Castiel down, Rowena and Sam show up not long after as Castiel starts attacking Dean. With a gun to her head, with witch-killing bullets, Sam orders Rowena to remove the curse. Once done, Sam briefly takes his attention away from Rowena to place her back in shackles, but Rowena is able to use the momentary lapse to her advantage and uses a spell to send Sam's gun flying across the room, along with Sam. Before either Winchester can do anything, Rowena traps them behind a cage and makes her escape.[13]
In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, A hooded and shackled Rowena is brought before Crowley and the Winchesters. She surmises they want her help to deal with the force that was released when the Mark of Cain was removed. Dean tells her everyone in the room holds a piece of the puzzle to stop the Darkness, Rowena is then filled in on Amara being God's sister, and is shocked at learning the truth, as back in her day people would be burned at the stake for merely suggesting God had a sister. Knowing that her decoding the Book of the Damned is pivotal to their plan, she wants to know what would be in it for her, to which Crowley agrees to call off his assassins, until the next time she crosses him. She asks what is in the Cage that is so important, and when they tell her it's Lucifer, Rowena is elated at the prospect of meeting the "Dark Prince".
Rowena in chains while looking for the spell.
With everyone in agreement, Rowena is taken to the Bunker, where she is given Nadia's Codex and Charlie's code breaker. After some studying, Rowena finds the spell necessary to communicate with Lucifer without opening the Cage, and along with Sam and Crowley journeys to Hell to perform the spell.
Crowley leads the trio to "limbo," a desolate area in the furthest reaches of Hell. There Rowena paints warding sigils around a cage, and performs the first part of the spell -- which activates the warding sigils, and a ring of holy fire surrounds the cage. The second part of the spell causes the flames to rise high above, once they die down a figure appears in the shadows with glowing red eyes -- Lucifer. As Rowena and Crowley watch Sam's conversation with Lucifer from a distance, Rowena becomes enamored by the fallen angel. Eventually, the illuminated spell-work on the cage begins to fade and the fire around the cage begins dying. Crowley looks startled, but Rowena looks intrigued. As Crowley questions why the warding failed, Rowena simply tells him to follow her, and leads him away.[14]
Rowena is revealed to have been working with Lucifer who approached her in her dreams, promising to make her his queen if she helped him get Sam. After she reveals the truth to Crowley, he calls Dean in to help him trap Rowena as she's the only one who can send Lucifer back to the Cage. Rowena catches onto their plan through a hex bag she placed in Crowley's pocket, but Crowley had put something in her tea that stuns her and allows Dean to place a witchcatcher around her neck that forces her to obey Crowley.
Rowena reluctantly sets up the spell to send Lucifer back to the Cage and casts it in time to save Dean, Sam and Castiel. Afterwards, Crowley has the restrained Rowena remain in Hell with him and asks why she hates him so much. Rowena explains that Crowley reminds her of her life before she was a witch and a member of the Grand Coven when she was just a tanner's daughter and Crowley's father abandoned her. Rowena hates being reminded of her weakness, and sees love as a weakness and therefore she chooses to hate him and won't love him instead. At that moment, Castiel enters the room and is revealed to have said "yes" to Lucifer. Lucifer releases Rowena from the witchcatcher and after checking that she's the only one who can open the Cage again, snaps her neck, killing her. [15]
Rowena tending to Amara's wounds
In Hell's Angel, it is revealed that Rowena was revived through magic and chose to side with Amara, healing her wounds which were sustained from Heaven's smiting. Rowena offers herself up as a useful ally, adding that she can provide useful information and that she wants to get back at Lucifer. However, when Amara displays her powers, Rowena begins to have second thoughts. Once Amara is convinced that Rowena can be useful, Rowena sends a message to Crowley informing him that she is alive.
Rowena joins the Winchesters and Crowley in an attempt to summon Lucifer into a trap and have Castiel expel him from his vessel. Much to Rowena's frustration, the plan fails and Amara ends up following Rowena to their location. She flees the scene for her own safety.
Rowena begins working on a spell but in order to cast it, she needs another witch. Rowena goes to visit Clea and convinces her to help. As they prepare the ingredients, Sam Winchester appears at their location, protected by a powerful charm. He tells them that the witches are needed to take part in a battle against the Darkness. Rowena is distrustful of Sam, but Clea decides to listen and offers to bring more witches to join.
Rowena gazing up at the sun.
Rowena meets up with God, Lucifer, Dean, Sam and Crowley inside a warehouse. God assigns Rowena with the task of luring Amara to their location, while pretending that she is betraying God. Amara, however, sees through the ruse but arrives anyway. Rowena then casts a spell upon Amara to weaken her vessel, and while alone she is incapable of hurting her, the other witches assist her and Amara is briefly brought to her knees.
Annoyed, Amara deflects the spell, knocking Rowena to the ground and killing Clea and her companions. The angels then begin their own attack followed by the demons. Rowena remains unconscious for a while, and wakes up to what appears to be the sun, shining brightly.
She goes inside the warehouse and calls them outside. While they all look to the hole the mass-smiting made, she directs them into looking to the sun, shining red in the skies above them. Castiel states the sun is dying and that Amara is destroying it as God teleports them back to the bunker. There, all except Sam become hopeless and decide that Amara has won the battle, as it has no meaning to keep fighting a battle they can't win
Rowena helps God sit down and decides to make him some tea. While they drink tea together, Rowena talks about Crowley in his childhood and God compares him to Adam and Eve, much to Crowley's annoyance. However, Sam arrives, trying to convince them into doing something to fix the problem, but none of them show will into trying something. However, God tells them Amara can be potentially defeated by the light, and that the supernova of ten thousand suns could kill her. Castiel suggests they use souls, as they are living batteries of light and energy, and Rowena tells them that, with sufficient souls, she can make a soul bomb to explode Amara
She gives Sam and Dean a magic crystal in order for them to collect the souls of the ghosts in Waverly Hills Sanatorium. After they collect the souls, they find it unsufficient and, without help from Heaven or Hell, they can't do it. However, Billie appears, wanting to know what they are doing. Rowena is left uneasy by the looks she and Crowley exchanged, and Billie discovers their plan to defeat the Darkness. She states that dead folks are kind of her thing, and raids the Veil, catching the hundreds of thousands of souls they need to build the bomb. When they think about how Dean can carry it, Rowena states that he is going to be the bomb itself
Rowena uses the crystal to transfer the souls to Dean, and tells him that, by pressing the index and middle fingers together, the bomb will explode, and that he must be near Amara when it happens. After Dean goes to meet her, she and the others invade a bar to drink while they wait for their salvation, or for the universe to be destroyed instead. When God is teleported away by Amara, they believe that he had died. Suddenly, the sun is fixed and light returns. They get outside, believing that Dean sacrificed himself and died to kill Amara, and now the universe is saved because the Natural Order is still intact. As she looks into the newly-revived sun, she exclaims that he "bloody did it".
Personality and Traits
Rowena is an intelligent, cunning and extremely manipulative individual who takes great pride in her deceit and devious nature, describing it to her equally manipulative son as "who [they] are". Rowena often fluctuates between her mannerisms, sometimes presenting herself as calm and courteous and then suddenly vicious and violent when revealing her true intentions. She is exceptionally ruthless towards her enemies, whether they are people she loathes or disapproves of or someone who has simply annoyed her. She gruesomely kills the demon Raul after denouncing him as nothing more than "filth" and openly suggests to Crowley that he savagely rip a crossroads demon apart and brutally display his carcass for asking for recognition for his work, justifying this as a tyrannical threat not to waste the king's time.
Rowena has also demonstrated that she has no concern for innocent lives, as she frequently uses spells that result in their death by boiling their brains and impaling hotel employees to ceilings. She even points out to Dean that using the innocent against heroes like him will play out to her advantage. Furthermore, Rowena is dangerously wrathful, as she takes great pleasure in torturing Olivette for wronging her in the past and threatens to burn everything that Crowley cares for when he throws her out.
Rowena is highly ambitious and believes strongly in ruthlessly fighting and striving to gain power for the sake of greatness. She is very carefree and displays disregard and resentment for authority, openly and deliberately defying both Hell and the Grand Coven without fear of the consequences, preferring to use her magic whenever and however she wished. Olivette stated that while talented and skilled, she has always been reckless and egocentric.
Rowena often feigns a warm and sweet disposition towards others in order to manipulate them and gain their trust. Rowena claims to be extremely proud of her son, Crowley, and regrets abandoning him as a child. She states that she left him both for his safety and to further her career in witchcraft which she deemed "no environment to raise a child". However, it is highly implied she never cared for her son as a child, apparently trying to sell him for pigs on one occasion and abandoning him so she could live out her own selfish desires.
While she claims to love Crowley and regularly reminds him that they are family, it is later revealed that she is merely playing on his emotions, using it to manipulate and gain control over him so she can use his position as the King of Hell to her advantage and to further her own goals. Once Crowley realizes this with Dean's assistance and throws her out of his domain, she becomes disowning and berating and shows her hatred for him and her desire to destroy everything around him.
Although genuinely powerful and talented, Rowena's ego causes her to often overestimate her capabilities, both magical and manipulatory. Many of her failures are caused by her underestimating her opponents.
Like her son, Rowena is quick witted and sarcastic. However, unlike Crowley who believes in integrity, Rowena has no sense of loyalty. This is shown when she abandons a demon in Crowley's dungeon after the demon lied for her and helped her gain her freedom.
Rowena has shown that she is indeed capable of genuine love and affection, which she shows for Oskar, though she was willing to sacrifice him for her own freedom. Rowena later confesses that the reason she hates her own son is because if she did not she believes she would truly love him, but since love is a weakness, she vows to never feel helpless or weak again, like she did when Crowley's father impregnated her and then abandoned her. However, Rowena displays great admiration and affection for Lucifer but justifies it with the explanation that he is not a man but is what she views as "perfection. This admiration shatters after Lucifer makes an attempt on her life.
Crowley has described his mother as the type who would latch on to anyone with power and influence, including Lucifer, Amara, and God. Rowena has gone to great lengths to earn trust, despite never truly becoming loyal. Ultimately, Rowena values her own safety and survival above all else.
Appearance
Rowena is a red-haired woman of average height. She usually wears long-sleeved dresses of various colors, from red, blue to black. Aside from this, Rowena does not carry any personal objects.
Powers and Abilities
“
Charlie may have cracked the codex, but who's going to read it if I'm gone, not to mention handling the ingredients, getting the measurement just right, unless of course, either of you have spent years of your life studying with the greats, mastering the intricacies of high witchcraft?
”
— Rowena in Brother's Keeper
“
Oh please! When we initiated your thankless ass into the coven we did overlook your private lapses because of your talent.
”
— Olivette to Rowena in Paint it Black
“
That? Parlor trick! I'm capable of greatness. Given free reign I'd be unstoppable.
”
— Rowena in Paint it Black
“
I'm afraid Fergus that, in all your long life, you've never seen what a real witch can do with real magic. I'm terrifically pleased it's the last thing you'll ever see.
”
— Rowena in Brother's Keeper
Rowena is an extremely powerful witch that has been around since the 1600s. She is among the most powerful witches to appear in the series, and according to Sam one of the most dangerous witches in the world. 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 is also able to cast a spell that obliterated a human with ease. Her magic is strong enough to affect the King of Hell and a fallen seraph; even angels are unable to heal her curses. With knowledge from the Book of the Damned, she was able to perform the Mark of Cain removal spell, which eventually freed the Darkness. She was also able to conjure Lucifer and is capable to open his cage. However, while the enochian sigils she used to bind Lucifer prevented him from teleporting, they did not remove all of his powers (though this was intentional as she was working for Lucifer). Furthermore, she claims to be the only person capable of opening Lucifer's Cage.
Immortality - Rowena can live for a very long time. She has lived for at least 300 years, if not longer.
Spell Casting - By casting a spell on herself as a fail safe, she was revived after Lucifer killed her. 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 is also able to cast a spell that obliterated a human with ease.
Self-Resurrection - By casting a resurrection spell on herself as a fail safe, she was able to revive herself after Lucifer killed her.
Conversion - She was able to transform Olivette into a hamster as punishment for her wrongs against Rowena.
Healing - When Amara's powers where significantly weakened by fatal injuries caused by the massive smite, Rowena healed her by casting various healing spells.
Hex Casting - Due to being an old talented witch, she has absolute knowledge of hex bags, and is said to have taught Crowley how to use spells and hex bags back in the 1600s.
Astral Projection - She was able to float from her body and spy on Crowley and speak with the Darkness.
Telekinesis - Rowena has pinned humans to the ceiling by impaling them on furniture on multiple occasions. File:Rowena&Dean11x03.gifShe was also able to restrain both Crowley and Castiel simultaneously. Rowena has demonstrated the ability to throw humans a considerable distance with her mind, as shown when she attacked Sam and Dean. She was also able to cause multiple pieces of furniture to move across a room and form a barricade behind her to prevent a demon from following her.
Thermokinesis - In order to get a message to the Winchesters and Crowley, Rowena remotely burned a message into a cabinet door near them.
"Wings of Titania, bear mine eyes aloft, as I bid thee."
Weaknesses
Power Sealing - Her powers are reduced to a certain degree due to an unknown sealing spell that was cast 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. She severely weakened when bound by the iron cuff's in Hell's Dungeon.[1] Sam was also able to restrain her using iron chains.[9][10] However, she was eventually able to escape the chains.[12] She later tells Sam that iron can't hold her long.[13]
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.
Witch-killing spell - as a witch she is vulnerable to the witch-killing spell. Sam has twice threatened her with a bullet version of the spell though due to the circumstances, she has not been harmed by it.
Witchcatcher - Dean and Crowley were able to restrain and enslave her with this tool.
Mortality - Since her immortality only grants her an immunity to age and illness, she can still be killed. Lucifer was able to kill her, simply by snapping her neck.
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."
"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."
Notes
Rowena is Scottish, along with her actress Ruth Connell.
According to a statement on Twitter by a Supernatural writer, Rowena has now been on the show longer than every character aside from Bobby, Castiel, Crowley, Dean and Sam.
She hates Crowley for two reasons: The first reason is that before she was a witch she was a destitute girl who she viewed as disgusting and weak and sees her old self every time she looks into Crowley's eyes. The second reason being that the man who was Crowley's father told Rowena that he loved her, impregnated her, and left her for another woman with a wealthy estate. As a result, she refuses to love Crowley because she does not want to feel weak or vulnerable anymore.
Although she claims not to love Crowley for she sees love as weakness, Rowena came to adore Lucifer in a possibly romantic way. This affection would eventually lead to her demise.
Rowena is the first female main antagonist to be killed since Abaddon in season 9. In her case, she was killed by the former main antagonist Lucifer rather than a Winchester or Castiel, though Lucifer killed her in Castiel's body.
She is also the first main villain to be resurrected (not counting Crowley, who faked his death).
She shares her first name with Rowena Ravenclaw, another Scottish witch from the Harry Potter universe.
She was the first witch in the series that has been shown to use magic to resurrect herself without any assistance from higher beings.
Chuck reveals that Rowena is "one of his guilty pleasures".
Rowena has implied that she was a part of the assassination of American president Abraham Lincoln. As she told Sam, "I promised Lincoln a fun night at the theater".[14]
