Benjamin Colerige "Ben" Turner was a California state assemblyman from the San Francisco area. He married a demon named Elizabeth, who gave birth to their son, Cole Turner in 1885. Three years later, Benjamin somehow found out that his wife was a demon and tried to take Cole away from her. However, Elizabeth killed Benjamin with an energy ball and raised Cole by herself.
Cole intended to resurrect his father, though his soul was destroyed by the Ancient Athame before he could. His final wish was later granted when Prue Halliwell resurrected Benjamin's soul in his son's body.
History[]
Benjamin's Soul[]
After his death, Benjamin's soul came into the possession of the Source of All Evil, who kept it as leverage in case Belthazor would be unable to suppress his human half. After Cole fell in love with Phoebe Halliwell, the Source gave Benjamin's soul to Raynor, Cole's former mentor. Raynor promised Cole that he would get his father's soul if he killed the protectors of a powerful amulet and fulfilled other unspecified "obligations".
Cole eventually followed Raynor's orders under the influence of Raynor's manipulation and a spell. Raynor then gave him his father's soul and asked what he could do with it now that he was evil again. Cole replied that it was not his concern and proceeded to vanquish him with an athame.[1]
Benjamin's Body[]
Benjamin's body was buried in an unnamed mausoleum in San Francisco. Cole often used the mausoleum as refuge whenever demons such as Demonic Bounty Hunters were after him, as it is harder to sense a demon within a cemetery. The mausoleum later became a meeting place for Cole and Phoebe, as Cole considered it the second safest place he knew.
After discovering Cole was Belthazor and helping to fake his death, Phoebe went to the mausoleum to find out more about him and got a premonition of Benjamin's death when she leaned on his coffin. Afterwards, she visited the Historical Society to find out more about him, and saw his obituary in the paper.[2]
Resurrection[]
Several years later, Cole revealed to Prue that he still had his father's soul. However, instead of letting him move on, Cole intended to bring him back.[3]
After Cole's soul was destroyed by the Ancient Athame, Prue slipped Benjamin's soul into Coop's pocket. She admitted that although she did not agree with his plans, they both owed him for saving their lives.[4]
Coop decided to finish what Cole started and told Henry. They realized the soul in their hands was only one half, and the other half was located in the Demonic Wasteland. They managed to get there with help from Tyler Michaels. After retrieving the other half of Benjamin's soul, they were overrun by demons and Coop dropped the fragments, which broke and released Benjamin's soul. Benjamin temporarily possessed Coop, and was later resurrected by Prue in his son's body.[5]
Benjamin, who started going by "Ben", tried to adjust to life again, but was having trouble to due the body's residual memories of Phoebe. Prue recruited him to help her understand what the All had been making her do things without consent, such as hurting her family with her presence. He also started a friendship of sorts with Kyra, a demon-turned-human.
It was later revealed that Prue had been under the influence of the Grimoire, which made her reach out to the Old Ones; Benjamin was simply one of the sacrifices needed to bring back the extinct race. After the crisis with the Old Ones was averted, Benjamin decided to go on living in his son's body and take over Knox Academy after its previous headmaster's demise. He also began a romantic relationship with Kyra.[6]
Notes and Trivia[]
- Benjamin's half of a soul appeared in the canon e-book, The War on Witches.
- Benjamin's counterpart in the reboot series is Julia Wagner.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
Benjamin Turner appeared in a total of 2 episodes and 14 comic issues throughout the course of the series.
| Charmed, Season 3 | |||||
| #01 | "The Honeymoon's Over" | #09 | "Coyote Piper" | #17 | "Pre-Witched" |
| #02 | "Magic Hour" | #10 | "We All Scream for Ice Cream" | #18 | "Sin Francisco" |
| #03 | "Once Upon a Time" | #11 | "Blinded by the Whitelighter" | #19 | "The Demon Who Came in From the Cold" |
| #04 | "All Halliwell's Eve" | #12 | "Wrestling with Demons" | #20 | "Exit Strategy" |
| #05 | "Sight Unseen" | #13 | "Bride and Gloom" | #21 | "Look Who's Barking" |
| #06 | "Primrose Empath" | #14 | "The Good, the Bad and the Cursed" | #22 | "All Hell Breaks Loose" |
| #07 | "Power Outage" | #15 | "Just Harried" | ||
| #08 | "Sleuthing with the Enemy" | #16 | "Death Takes a Halliwell" | ||
| Charmed, Season 10 | |||||
| #01 | "No Country for Old Ones" | #08 | "Love is a Burning Thing" | #15 | "The Four Sisters, Part 2" |
| #02 | "Magically Malicious" | #09 | "Haste Makes Wasteland" | #16 | "Happy Ending" |
| #03 | "The Perks of Being a Whitelighter" | #10 | "The Curious Case of Benjamin Turner" | #17 | "Effigy" |
| #04 | "Charmed Assault" | #11 | "Fear Always Comes Back" | #18 | "Tribunal and Tribulations" |
| #05 | "Whatever Happened to the Demon with a Soul?" | #12 | "Virtue" | #19 | "Something Old, Something Prue" |
| #06 | "Will o' the Witch" | #13 | "Court of Love" | #20 | "The Reason" |
| #07 | "Hard Knox Life" | #14 | "The Four Sisters, Part 1" | ||