Charmed Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Charmed Wiki

Harry: According to the ancient texts, its sole purpose is to raise the Source of All Evil, summoning its master by tipping the scales to evil with a deluge of blood—
The Charmed Ones: And the deafening screams of human torment.
— An explanation of the Harbinger[src]


The Harbinger of Hell was a demon whose presence began the third part of the prophecy that predicted the Apocalypse. In late 2018, the demon was unleashed or awakened and attacked a custodian at Hilltowne University in search of a host, later possessing a comatose Angela Wu. It was exorcized from Angela by the Vera-Vaughn Charmed Ones and trapped within a paint can. Eventually, the Harbinger was imprisoned in Tartarus to later be consumed by Hunter Caine and vanquished along with him in May 2019 through the combined efforts of the Charmed Ones, as part of the demon Alastor's plan to raise the Source of All Evil.

History[]

In "Let This Mother Out", after the Charmed Ones fully accepted their destiny, the Harbinger emerged in its primordial form and attacked a custodian in the lab at Hilltowne University. It would later make its way to find a hospitalized Angela Wu and use her as a vessel.

After taking possession of Angela in "Sweet Tooth", the Harbinger then began preyed upon virgins on campus, killing Cameron Russo, Penelope Schnurr, and a nun in the university ministry. She started targeting Macy Vaughn at the Halloween party, only to be knocked out by Mel Vera's Solar Charm and contained in the attic of Vera Manor.

As the Harbinger grew more powerful in "Exorcise Your Demons", the Elder Charity Callahan ordered the Charmed Ones to slay the demon under the full moon, as the demon will come to full strength by then. Mel, however, wanted to be able to save Angela, and together with her sisters, devised a plan to exorcize the demon, with a hidden spell written by their mother. With the spell, Harry Greenwood and Charity's assistance, and Angela's own fighting strength, they managed to extract the Harbinger and trapped it inside of a paint can. Charity was returning home with the trapped Harbinger when Alistair Caine showed up and mesmerized her into switching cans with him.

In "Keep Calm and Harry On", looking for a way to bribe Dante, a demonic guard of Tartarus, into freeing an imprisoned Harry, Mel decided to use the only real thing he'd want and that is swap the Harbinger of Hell for Harry. Mel told this idea to Charity, who initially dismissed it but eventually gives them the paint can. However, none of them know that the paint can containing the Harbinger of Hell was actually sitting securely in Alistair Caine's office. Before they were able to make the exchange, Dante discovered the Harbinger of Hell wasn't in the paint can and believed the sisters had tried to trick him. As he makes a move against them, the sisters devised a plan to incapacitate the Tartarus guard and use his thoughts to figure out how to rescue Harry. Alas, Maggie Vera's powers weren't working, due to her anti-heartbreak spell, and Dante was able to break free and forced Maggie into Tartarus.

Macy and Mel rushed to Charity for help, and the three of them briefly argued before learning that Alistair took the paint can from Charity. With no other choice, Macy and Mel were forced to ask Parker Caine for help. Parker helped sneak Macy and Mel into his father's office, where they were able to steal the real can containing the Harbinger of Hell. The two sisters returned to Dante with the real paint can, but just as Maggie and Harry are taking their first steps to freedom, Alistair arrived looking to retrieve his son, Hunter Caine, from Tartarus. The sisters used the Power of Three to create a powerful force field to fend off the demon and cause him to teleport away. With Alistair gone at least for now, Mel finished the trade and sent the Harbinger into Tartarus.

In "Red Rain", it was found that Hunter Caine had inhaled the Harbinger during their imprisonment in Tartarus. When he was vanquished during the Kappa Cinco de Mayo party at The Haunt in "Ambush", this allowed for the Harbinger's virus to become airborne, infecting many individuals at the party. While at the hospital, the Charmed Ones and Harry found that those infected had began bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth and ears and had been driven to a state of hostility. Galvin Burdette was able to save the many innocents by performing the ritual to remove the ibi, sacrificing his own life in the process.


Personality[]

The Harbinger is a sadistic demon, taking pleasure in frightening the Charmed Ones and gloating about unleashing death and destruction upon the world.

Physical Appearance[]

The Harbinger's primordial form is that of a black living goo. While possessing Angela, it transformed her body, making her look like a decaying zombie with gray skin and wild hair. From time to time, a red energy would pulsate from the cracks of her skin.

Powers and Abilities[]

Active Powers
  • Possession: The ability to possess the body of another being, usually against their consent. The Harbinger must possess a person in order to use its full strength of powers.
  • Limited Shapeshifting: The ability to alter one's physical form. Once possessing a vessel, the Harbinger is able to alter the appearance of the vessel into a more demonic appearance, and even to stretch the structural limits of the vessel.
  • Sensing: The ability to determine the location and status of other beings. The Harbinger was able to sense the virginity status of others and also was able to keep track of Macy when she ran through the woods.
  • Touch of Death: The ability to cause death through physical contact.
    • Virus Inducement: The ability to infect other beings with a virus of magical origin. The Harbinger's Touch of Death was initially channeled by transferring a powerful, demonic virus through physical contact. The virus could evolve to become airborne, and the lethality can presumably be moderated in order to allow massive infection.
      • Insanity Inducement: The ability to drive others into a state of insanity. After being vanquished alongside Hunter and its demonic virus became airborne, it began to infect many people. The targets would bleed from the eyes, ears, mouth and nose and be driven to a state of extreme hostility.
  • Supernatural Strength: The ability to be stronger than what is naturally possible. The Harbinger was strong enough to tear a person apart, however was unable to break chains that were enchanted specifically to restrain it.
Passive Powers
  • Immunity: The ability to be immune to certain magical effects. Harry stated that the Harbinger is too powerful to be frozen in time at all.
  • Power Augmentation: The ability to enhance the magical abilities of oneself or others. Hunter was much more powerful after inhaling the Harbinger and returning from Tartarus.

Weaknesses[]

  • Sugar: The Harbinger has a weakness to sugar due to it having sulfuric acid in its physiology. If it were to ingest something with a large enough sugar ratio, a huge chemical reaction will occur.
  • Virgin blood: It seems that when The Harbinger smells spilled blood of a virgin, he becomes obsessed with the desire to receive this sacrifice no matter what.
  • Powerful Magic: The Harbinger is vulnerable to powerful magic, such as a solar charm, the Exorcism Ritual, containment spells and the anti-demonic Haitian ritual.

Quotes[]

I will spread pestilence, death and disaster, and The Source will rise!

Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • The Harbinger of Hell has an ability to acquire the memories and personality traits of its host, which it used to imitate Angela Wu.
  • The Harbinger-possessed Angela's appearance likely references the ghost of Kayako Saeki from the Ju-on and The Grudge horror films.
  • The Whispering Evil's primordial form in season 3 is also very similar to the Harbinger's form.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Dante said that he always wanted to get his hands on that guy.
Advertisement