Darklighters are a breed of evil magical beings that can be considered the evil counterparts to Whitelighters. The primary goal of all Darklighters is to kill Whitelighters in order to make witches more vulnerable to the attack of evil, as well as to kill mortals destined to become whitelighters before they can "earn their wings". In addition, Darklighters often work as hired guns or mercenaries to upper-level demons and the leaders of the Underworld.
Darklighters possess the ability to teleport through black orbs. Their preferred weapon is a deadly crossbow that can fire arrows coated in a poison lethal to Whitelighters and the Elders. Additionally, they possess a Touch of Death, which they can use to instantly kill their victims with a touch.
Types of Darklighters
Trackers page from the book.
Besides the standard "assassin" type of Darklighter, who strive to kill Whitelighters to leave their charges vulnerable or to kill Future Whitelighters before they can earn their wings, there are four other known types of Darklighters.
- One type of Darklighter spreads evil through procreation, by seducing innocent mortal women and tricking them into bearing their progeny, similar to an incubus. It is against the rules to tell these women about who they truly are, so it is presumed that the women are abandoned once a child is produced.[1]
- Spirit Killers are Darklighters that seek to drive paragons of good to suicide and prevent them from achieving their destiny. They curse their victims with bad luck and manipulate them into a depression before driving them to suicide. This type of Darklighter is particularly known for targeting Future Whitelighters to prevent them from fullfilling their calling, as suicide would deny them the chance.[2]
- Trackers are a powerful breed of Darklighters who hunt Whitelighters that are about to "lose their wings". They are more powerful than regular Darklighters and are often rogues that only answer to themselves. Trackers can be recognized by tribal tattoos on their face.[3]
- A fourth type of Darklighter was only seen in a parallel universe where moralities were reversed. Instead of being Whitelighters in this world, Sam Wilder and Leo Wyatt were Darklighters, leading to the birth of Darklighter-Witches Paige, Wyatt and Chris. Aside from their wiccan powers, they seemingly possessed the abilities of a standard Darklighter.[4]
Appendices
Book of Shadows
- Darklighters are on a mission to kill Whitelighters, which
- leaves their charges vulnerable to attack by the forces of evil. They can orb
- through a process known as black orbing, and some can inflict a touch of
- death, in contrast to a Whitelighter's healing power. A Darklighter's crossbow
- is armed with arrows covered in a poison lethal to Whitelighters.[5]
To Summon a Darklighter
- Ixo Mende Layto Sempar.
Vanquishing
- Darklighters are not invulnerable and are thus open to many ways of being vanquished. Previous methods used were potions, athames, Energy Balls and witch powers such as Molecular Combustion.
- Darklighters also appear to be susceptible to their own Darklighter arrows. However, some Darklighters are shown to be able to survive one of their own arrows, although it depends on the strength of the Darklighter and also that it shouldn't hit the vital points.
Significant Darklighters
- Alec: The first Darklighter encountered by the Charmed Ones. Alec fell in love with a mortal woman named Daisy, who he was assigned to impregnate. He was killed by Prue who switched powers with him and killed him with his own Touch of Death.
- Spirit Killer: He tried to make Maggie Murphy kill herself by cursing her with bad luck and manipulating her. He then tried to drive Prue to kill herself after she intervened, but was orbed away by Leo.
- Ronan: A Tracker Darklighter blessed by Cole with additional powers. He was used by Cole in an attempt to get the Charmed Ones to vanquish him. He was later vanquished by Cole with an Energy Ball.
- Damien: Damien was a Darklighter who was sent by Gideon to kill Leo. He was vanquished by his leader with a poison arrow in order to stop him from revealing that Gideon sent him.
- Salek: An upper-level Darklighter shown to have trained new Darklighters, including Sid. He was blown up by Piper after mortally wounding Paige and killing her charge. However, Paige's charge became a Whitelighter and saved Paige with her new healing power.
- Rennek: A powerful darklighter and a long-time rival of Leo. He was first working with Neena, but later became a threat on his own by obtaining powerful artifacts and altering reality to grant magic to mortals. He was vanquished by Prue.
- Wyatt Halliwell: When the future version of Wyatt was evil, he displayed the ability to teleport through black orbs like a Darklighter instead of the regular blue orbs.
- Evil Counterparts: The counterparts of Gideon, Leo, Paige, Wyatt and Chris in the parallel world were all shown to be pure or part-Darklighters.
Powers and Abilities
- Active Powers
- Black Orbing: The ability to teleport through the use of black orbs.
- Apportation: The ability to transport an object or person through planes from place to place. Darklighters most prominently use this power whenever they summon their crossbows and arrows, whose poison is lethal to all whitelighters and Elders.
- Touch of Death: The ability to incinerate and kill beings with a touch.
- Other Powers
- High Resistance: The ability to be highly resistant to other beings' powers and magic and survive otherwise lethal attacks.
- Sensing: The ability to sense the location of other beings.
- Immortality: The ability to possess an inifinite lifespan and an arrested aging process.
- Voice Manipulation: The ability to alter one's voice to sound like another or add an echo to one's voice when angered.
Notes
- All Darklighters that have appeared on the show have been male, with the exception of the evil counterpart of Paige Matthews from the Parallel World.
- It has been shown that when Whitelighter-Witches become evil, their orbs turn black, similar to orbs possessed by Darklighters.[6]
- A Darklighter was the last evil being to be vanquished on the show.[7]
- The term "Darklighter" is contradictory as darkness is defined as the absence of light.
Appearances
Darklighters have appeared in a total of 14 episodes throughout the course of the series and a total of 15 issues of the comics.
References
- ↑ As seen in "Love Hurts"
- ↑ As seen in "Murphy's Luck"
- ↑ As seen in "Sam, I Am"
- ↑ As seen in "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World, Part 1" and "Part 2"
- ↑ The Sourcebook
- ↑ As seen in "Imaginary Fiends".
- ↑ As seen in the flash-forward at the end of "Forever Charmed".