Cole Turner

In the fictional television series Charmed, Cole Turner was once the demonic ally of the Charmed Ones. He was acted by Julian McMahon for three seasons.

Cole was born in 1885 to California state assemblyman Benjamin Colerige Turner and a demon mother named Elizabeth. Benjamin died in 1888, and after Cole's birth, his mother took him from Earth and raised him in a demon dimension. Elizabeth may have been Hecate, the former Queen of the Underworld. Cole grew up despising his human side for it's weakness, and he became a powerful demon with a reputation as a killer under the name Belthazor.

Cole became a member of the Brotherhood of the Thorn, who served the Source of All Evil. He made a reputation for himself as an assassin who could kill any witch. He preferred to kill his targets with an athame. Cole was hired by the Triad to get close to and kill the Charmed Ones. To do so, Cole returned to Earth in his human guise and was set up as an assistant district attorney in San Francisco.

While trying to get close to the Charmed Ones, Cole became attracted to Phoebe, and after his first few attempts to set up Phoebe and her sisters, he started protecting them because he didn't want his assignment to end. Eventually he stood up for the sisters and protected them, even though they didn't know Cole and Belthazor were the same person. Cole had eventually fallen in love with Phoebe, as she fell in love with him as well.

Using the spirit of Rage, Andras, Belthazor was possessed and forced to try to destroy the sisters. Belthazor vanquished Andras, but was cut by the Charmed Ones and they were able to create a vanquishing potion. When the Triad wanted to kill Cole for failing, he had, in the end, killed them, and had later went on the run.

Phoebe discovered that Cole was Belthazor and that he refused to kill her because he loved her. Phoebe faked his death and Cole fled, resisting his dark side. Cole was gone for many weeks, but then returned to Phoebe renouncing his evil ways. He helped protect the Charmed Ones from a warlock and dark priestess who planned to wed the warlock to Prue and turn the sisters evil.

Phoebe and Cole grew closer as she helped free her from a psychic link with an Indian who was cursed in a time loop. Cole returned and became the Charmed Ones' demonic ally, working alongside them. He even witnessed Piper and Leo's marriage.

While at Prue's funeral, Cole was attacked by two demon bounty hunters but he quickly killed them. Later on, he discovered that the Source had sent a Chameleon demon named Alastair to spy on the Charmed Ones. Once uncovered, Alastair was attacked by the sisters and fled. The Source killed Alastair and took his place as the sisters hunted him down. The Source then kidnapped Piper and took her to the underworld, where he used his mental powers to create a fantasy world where Piper was a mental patient, hoping to trick her into giving up her powers to him. Cole and Leo traveled to the underworld to track down Piper while Phoebe and Paige used a spell to project themselves into Piper's mind. As Piper was about ready to relinquish her powers, Cole and Leo attacked the Source repeatedly as he stood immobile controlling Piper's mind. Cole eventually was able to wound the Source, but as he attempted to kill the Source his attack was blocked by the Source's Oracle, who died so the Source could escape.

Some time later, the sisters became aware of a demon who was killing witches. After Piper scried for the demon from slime they found, Phoebe and Cole attempted to track the demon down. They were attacked by a Scavenger demon, which was feeding on the remains left by the killer. It was at this time that Cole asked Phoebe to marry him in a spur of the moment. When Cole had to embrace his demon side in order to defeat another demon, a potion was used on him to strip him of his demon side, leaving him merely human.

Shortly after, Cole and Phoebe were possessed by the spirits of Frankie and Lulu, a criminal couple who found their way to the present through a time portal. They went on a crime spree, stealing a diamond ring and a wedding dress, all to the end of getting married. At the church, Cole was shot and Frankie's spirit escaped, only to be captured by a spirit named Clyde. It was at this time that Phoebe accepted Cole's marriage proposal.

Later, the Seer betrayed the Source by contacting Cole and giving him the Hollow to help defeat the Source. The Seer and Phoebe then used their combined abilities to put the Hollow back in its crypt. They returned Piper and Paige's stolen powers, but this secretly left Cole with the Source's powers.

Cole started having nightmares of becoming the new Source. He tried to fight becoming the Source, but it kept him from revealing what happened to the sisters, as the Seer attempted to guide him on his new dark path. Phoebe had cast a spell to hear her heart's desire, which summoned her future and past selves to the present. Older Phoebe refused to tell Phoebe about the events of the future for fear of changing things for the worse. Learning a young and vulnerable Phoebe was in the present, the demon Kurzon attacked Young Phoebe, but Cole protected her. Kurzon attacked again, this time wounding Older Phoebe. He was vanquished by the Charmed Ones, but not before Older Phoebe told Phoebe to marry Cole. This returned the older and younger versions of Phoebe to their own time.

Now fully controlled by the Source, Cole orchestrated a number of events to spurn Phoebe to call of her wedding to the end of wedding Phoebe in a demonic ceremony (which was disguised as a private ceremony). Shortly after, Paige began to distrust Cole, and Cole hired a power broker to imbue Paige with a demonic power in order to distract her and her sisters so he could impregnate Phoebe with his evil spawn. Once alone with Paige in the manor, Cole played mind games with Paige, nearly driving her insane if not for her sisters' intervention.

When a power struggle broke out between Cole and the Queen of the Vampires, the Vampire Queen sent a group of vampires to bite Paige and make her a vampire under her thrall. Although they were successful, Cole was able to kill the Vampire Queen before Paige was fully converted into a vampire.

Cole attempted to give up his position of the Source of All Evil to an evil wizard, but failed when Phoebe used her baby's powers to kill the wizard. She then joined Cole as his queen, and Cole and Phoebe became the new rulers of the Underworld. With Phoebe's loyalties torn between Cole and her sisters, Phoebe chose her sisters and vanquished Cole.

After Cole died he ended up in the demonic wasteland where all demons go after being vanquished. His powers as the Source were taken from him and embodied in his child and eventually the Seer.

Although he tried to get Phoebe to help bring him back to life, Phoebe refused and asked him to move on. While in the demonic wasteland, Cole quickly gained demonic powers and sought redemption again. However, Phoebe and her sisters weren't about to accept him as their friend anymore, even when he was able to convince Phoebe to become human again when she was turned into a mermaid.

Alone for many months, Cole had gone insane and wanted to end his life, since he couldn't be good and he wouldn't be evil. However, he learned that he had became invincible. Cole was unvanquishable. At many attempts, Cole tried to kill himself, even trying to behead himself, but the Charmed Ones stopped him. Cole then decided to team up with demons to help him bring Phoebe back to him, and with every attempt, he lost.

Cole had joined Alpha and became an avatar, a powerful being that was neither good or evil, and corrupted reality so that Paige was never found. Phoebe discovered his evil intentions and, with the help of Piper and Paige, vanquished him once and for all, or so it seemed at the time.

However, instead of going back to the Wasteland, this time Cole ended up in the "void between life and death". It was here that Piper bumped into him after being attacked by a thorn Demon and was hovering on the brink of death. Cole explained that he was there to help Piper get Leo back (Leo had been taken away by the Elders to be punished for his joining the Avatars). Although Piper was wary of him at first, she soon realized that Cole was right and took his advice. In the end, Piper and Leo were reunited. Cole also said that he wanted Phoebe not to give up on love and wanted her to move on. It was revealed that Cole had been the one who arranged for Drake to become human and meet Phoebe. How Cole managed to accomplish this remains a mystery for now. Nor is it clear just what kind of being Cole is now. When Piper asked if he were a Demon or spirit, Cole said he was neither, but did not specify further.