Rowena

Hardly the most appetizing process in the world, but killing demons always makes me hungry. – Rowena, 10.07 Girls, Girls, Girls

History

Rowena is a natural born witch originally from Scotland, who has been around since the 17th century (or possibly longer), and is the mother of Fergus Roderick MacLeod who is now Crowley and grandmother to Gavin MacLeod.

Rowena abandoned Fergus and fled her village after she was charged with practicing witchcraft. It was during this time that Rowena got the chance to study under the great Milanese witch, Letitia Di Albinoni, and join the Grand Coven. Despite Rowena having laid with a "non-magic and hatched his spawn," the Grand Coven was willing to overlook her personal life because of the talent she possessed.

Rowena was expelled from the Grand Coven because her magic was considered too extreme: one spell she created was the "Defigere Et Depurgare," which was used to vanquish demons. Rowena's "unpleasantness" with the Grand Coven would ultimately lead to her being banned from performing magic, taking on students, or forming her own coven, as well as sending her on the run for years for having engaged in sex with a non-witch and giving birth to his child. In 2014, 300 years later, Rowena resurfaces to reclaim her lost power base.

Rowena reunites with Crowley and makes several attempts to manipulate him for her own ends. Crowley is aware of Rowena's manipulations yet captures the head of the Grand Coven, Olivette, for her. Under torture by Rowena, Olivette reveals the Grand Coven is now much diminished in its power.

Frustrated by Crowley's continued dealings with the Winchester brothers, Rowena attempts to drive a wedge between them. When this fails, she leaves Hell. Sam tracks her down and beseeches her help in decoding the Book of the Damned to reveal how to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean. Rowena agrees to help on the condition that Sam kill Crowley for her. Sam eventually holds her captive so she cannot escape while she decodes the Book of the Damned.'

Following his failure to kill Crowley, Rowena determines the ingredients needed for the Mark-removal spell which involves her sacrificing the person she loves most in the world. Castiel is able to determine it is a young man named Oskar whose family had helped her hundreds of years ago, and of whom she was so fond that she cured him of a terminal disease and rendered him immortal. Castiel summons Crowley who brings them the ingredients as well as Oskar. Rowena kills Oskar and casts the spell to remove the Mark. The spell releases The Darkness at the same time. Rowena takes the opportunity to escape with the Book of the Damned and the codex, casting an Attack Dog Spell on Castiel so he will kill Crowley.

Episodes

Rowena enjoying a book after killing the room service.

10.03 Soul Survivor

In a hotel suite in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Rowena is reading a book in front of a fireplace, when suddenly a drop of blood falls on her arm from the ceiling. She looks up, revealing two hotel staff members nailed to the ceiling, smiles and continues reading her book.

10.07 Girls, Girls, Girls

Two demons named Raul and Gerald are running a brothel, using women to make deals, selling sex for souls. Rowena visits the brothel and throws a hex bag to Raul, who immediately begins vomiting black goo -- liquified demon smoke -- and collapses, dead. She leaves with two prostitutes, Elle and Catlin, and takes them to eat at an upscale restaurant. The waiter tells them that Elle and Catlin do not meet the dress code, so Rowena bewitches him with a servitude spell. They are served the finest food and wine. Rowena explains that there are three types of witch: Borrowers, which harness the power of a demon, the Naturals, those who are born with the gift of magic, and the Students, who learn from a Grand Coven approved mentor. Rowena tells them that she was thrown out of the Grand Coven a long time ago for her extreme methods, and was thus forbidden from forming a coven or even using magic. She has been on the run ever since, but offers to take Elle and Catlin under her wing anyway. Just then, the waiter's face turns red and he collapses, dead Rowena, forcing a quick exit from Rowena and the girls.

Sam and Dean are on Rowena's trail, and they find out that she has been responsible for a number of murders at high-end hotels, with the bodies impaled on the ceiling and brains boiled. Later, the women are staying at a hotel when there is a knock on the door. Rowena tells Elle and Catlin that it is probably the hotel manager, coming to find out why she hasn't paid the bill, and that he would be practice for them. When she opens the door though, it is revealed to be a bellboy, whose throat has been slit by demons, who proceed to capture the women. Sam and Dean arrive and kill the demons, and say they are only there for Rowena. She puts an attack dog spell on Elle, and uses this distraction to escape with Catlin. Elle fights Sam, but when the spell runs its course she dies like the waiter. Outside, Rowena tells Catlin that most people cannot withstand the power of the spells, but that Catlin is strong. Catlin punches Rowena and runs away. Rowena begins to recite a spell but is stopped when Dean puts a gun to her head. Before he can act, Cole puts a gun to Dean and Dean is forced to let Rowena go.

At Crowley's base of operations, Gerald tells Crowley that although the Winchesters took down the alpha team, the beta team had a perimeter around the hotel and captured Rowena. She is bloodied and bruised and strung up in chains in a cell. Crowley enters. As Rowena mocks him, in utter surprise, all Crowley can say is "...Mother?"

10.09 The Things We Left Behind

Gerald places Trish in Crowley's dungeon next to Rowena. As Trish attempts to break free from her bindings, Rowena initiates small talk with her, wanting to find out what brought her there. Trish tells her she was smuggled topside as Crowley only allows certain demons out of Hell. When Trish asks why she is a prisoner, Rowena replies that she was a "horrible mother."

When Crowley finally decides to see Rowena, he berates her for being a horrible mother to him, but Rowena deflects that by saying she was motivating him for bigger things. When he brings up she abandoned him when he was eight, she tells Crowley it was because she ran afoul of the locals and had to flee. Rowena tells Crowley she wishes to be a family again, and that he can trust her unlike the demons who will turn on him at the first chance.

After their chat, Crowley and Gerald escort Rowena to the dungeon. It's there that Rowena accuses Gerald of smuggling demons out of Hell, to which Trish confirms. Gerald denies the accusations, and begins to strangle Rowena. When he doesn't listen to Crowley's repeated orders to stop, Crowley stabs Gerald through the neck with an angel blade, killing him. As Crowley leaves the cell, he asks Rowena if she is coming. She smiles and follows him out the door. When Trish reminds Rowena that she said she would get her out if she lied about Gerald, Rowena responds that she'll be back for her "in a flash" and locks the cell.

10.10 The Hunter Games

Crowley dreams that he is being assassinated by his own demon henchmen in a hallway, Rowena brings him back to reality where he sits at his throne, staring blankly into space. She shows concern and offers to help him in any way, however Crowley insists that nothing is wrong and tells her she can't do anything to help him. Immediately after he exits the room, she pulls out a hex bag from under his throne.

Later one of Crowley's henchman Guthrie, finds Rowena searching through Crowley's cupboards. When Crowley enters, Rowena tells him Guthrie is plotting against him. Crowley is suspicious of her, but Rowena promises she only wants them to be a family again. When Crowley goes to meet with the Winchesters, Rowena astral projects herself to spy on them. She hears that Crowley is planning on giving them the First Blade, and where it is hidden. She sends Guthrie to retrieve it, pretending it is at Crowley's behest.

When Guthrie returns with the First Blade, he refuses to give it to Rowena, so she kills him. When Crowley returns, she claims Guthrie was planning a rebellion against him. Crowley remembers his nightmare, which Rowena pretends must've been a prophetic vision. Rowena also warns him about the Winchetsers.

10.14 The Executioner's Song

While Crowley is holding court with his inner circle of demons, Rowena begins to admonish him for just giving into a crossroads demon's complaints of not being recognized for his work, suggesting a particularly gruesome punishment for which Crowley obliges. Later Rowena approaches her son about dealing with the high-ranking Grand Coven witch, Olivette, who was responsible for her being put on the run, it's then that Crowley reveals he has been on to Rowena's manipulations from the beginning, but ultimately agrees to help her.

While Rowena begins formulating her plan of attack with Crowley, he is called away by Dean Winchester seeking the First Blade to kill Cain. This forces Crowley to postponed the attack, which Rowena does not take kindly, and begins to argue with him about his trust with the Winchesters, and how they don't care about him.

After Crowley returns, Rowena tells him of her intention to leave, claiming to be heartbroken over the way in which Crowley rules Hell, telling him he is nothing but the Winchester's "bitch."

10.16 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, going so far as to hex one of the demons to spawn a second face on the back of his head. She also rebukes Crowley for denying to help her and for choosing the Winchesters over his own blood. She taunts Crowley about his existence is only because of her and again, destroys his palace by casting a spell. Crowley, later,captures Olivette and brings her before Rowena as a gift, much to her joy. Rowena takes the shackled Olivette and beats her. Olivette reveals she excommunicated Rowena for being too dangerous with magic and that the Grand Coven has already devastated and weakened due to the Men of Letters, who confiscated all their accumulated spells and potions and placed them in warded bunkers around the world, and revealing that the Winchesters are the only known Men of Letters in the United States. 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, Rowena begins to kill Olivette with a spell, but quickly stops when she realizes death would be a release for Olivette, instead Rowena chose to transforms her into a hamster.

Rowena attempts to kill Dean Winchester with a spell.

10.17 Inside Man

Rowena begins her plan to kill the Winchesters, to prepare she draws sigils and symbols in blood on her body, and seeks the aid of a demon subordinate to triangulate the location of the Men of Letters Bunker, however the demon is only able to give her a 10 mile radius to work with. After Dean has hustled money playing, and heads to the bathroom, Rowena enters the bar and casts the attack dog spell on a trio of men that Dean just hustled and unleashes them to attack Dean. When Dean successfully beats the men 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 is the only one that can reverse the spell cast on them. Overwhelmed by the knowledge that even her mightiest spell cannot effect Dean, she lacerates and beats herself and reveals Crowley that Dean did this to her in hope of Crowley retaliating. To her surprise, Crowley ignores her and tells her she deserved what she got for going up against Dean and later, forces Rowena to leave 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.

10.18 Book of the Damned

Sam secretly meets with Rowena to seek her help in deciphering the Book of the Damned and removing the Mark of Cain from Dean. After Sam pleads his case, Rowena simply smiles and wishes to go over the terms of their agreement.

Rowena becomes a prisoner.

10.19 The Werther Project

Sam meets with Rowena and asks for her help in decoding the Book of the Damned in the hope it will reveal how to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean. Rowena agrees to help, on the condition that Sam kill Crowley for her. She says she needs a special codex that was created by Nadya –- a witch of the Grand Coven. Rowena knows that the Men of Letters confiscated took it when they killed Nadya.

When Sam gets bespelled by the Werther Box, Rowena appears and instructs him to bleed himself in order to open the box. When he has lost a dangerous amount of blood, Dean appears, and hits him, breaking the spell. The apparition of Rowena disappears.

After obtaining the codex from the box, Sam secretly takes the codex to Rowena, but he tricks her and manages to shackle her so she cannot escape while she decodes the Book of the Damned.

10.21 Dark Dynasty

Since Rowena has not found a cure for the Mark, Sam argues with her for procrastinating in deciphering the Book of the Damned even though she has Nadya'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.

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.

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.

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 Styne.

10.22 The Prisoner

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.

Rowena makes her escape with the Book of the Damned and Nadya's Codex.

10.23 Brother's Keeper

Following his failure to kill Crowley, Sam tries to threaten Rowena into helping with bullets filled with witch killing brew. However, Rowena is not intimidated as Sam needs her to crack the Book of the Damned 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.

Links

• Fanfic about Rowena on Archive Of Our Own
• Rowena Cosplay on Tumblr