Book of the Damned

Name	Book of the Damned
Manufacturer	Sister Agnes
Powers	Ability to create and undo any curse.
Location/Owners	Men of Letters Bunker
Episodes	10.18 Book of the Damned 10.19 The Werther Project 10.21 Dark Dynasty 10.22 The Prisoner 10.23 Brother's Keeper 11.03 The Bad Seed 11.09 O Brother Where Art Thou?

Okay, here’s what I’ve learned so far. About 700 years ago, a nun locked herself away after having visions of darkness. After a few decades squirrelled away by herself, she emerged with this. Each page is made out of slices of her own skin written in her blood. I told you, it’s eekish. According to the notes I found, it’s been owned and used by cults, covens, and the Vatican had it for a while. There’s a spell inside that thing for everything. Talking some black mass, dark magic, end-of-times nastiness. – Charlie Bradbury, 10.18 Book of the Damned

According to Charlie Bradbury, the Book of the Damned is a dark magic spell book for "creating or undoing any kind of damnation." Using the book, like all dark magic comes with a price; when spells derived from it are used, there is a negative reaction of biblical proportions. The three known pieces of information that are encoded in the book are the cure for the Mark of Cain, a spell to summon Lucifer in Limbo, and the book contains information on sigils that can temporarily neutralize Lucifer's powers once he is summoned.

History

Charlie relates that around 700 years ago, a Spanish nun named Agnes who had "visions of darkness," and made it her business to undo curses. Agnes discovered that balance was required to cure a curse, she had to know how to inflict another. She learned that the curse cannot be without the cure. With that knowledge Agnes spent a number of decades in isolation and wrote the book. Each page is made out of slices of her own skin written in her blood, in an encoded obscure Sumerian dialect. The Book of the Damned has been owned and used by cults, covens, and even the Vatican possessed it at one point. Its last known owners were the Styne Family, until they lost it in the early 20th century.

The Styne Family, according to Eldon Styne, lost the book for 80 years before it was uncovered in 2015 by Charlie Bradbury, who was able to locate a few historical documents that stated that the book was located in the ruins of a monastery in Spain that burned down years ago. Unearthing the book brought her to the attention of the Styne Family, who sent one of their members -- Jacob Styne -- to track it down. Jacob and his men hunted Charlie all through Europe, Russia, and eventually the United States. Sam and Dean became interested in it in hopes that it could be used to remove the Mark of Cain. While Rowena eventually did manage to use the Book to remove the Mark, she escaped with it and the Darkness was unleashed by the Mark's destruction.

Episodes

10.18 Book of the Damned

After acquiring the Book of the Damned, Charlie makes her way back to America with the book. South of Des Moines, Jacob Styne is able to track Charlie down using a special compass that points to the direction where the Book of the Damned can be found. When he and his henchman attempt to take the book from Charlie she goes on the offensive and is able to escape, but not before being shot. Wounded, Charlie calls Sam and Dean to tell them of her predicament, and that she has found the Book of the Damned, and it may hold the key to removing the Mark of Cain from Dean, with this new information Sam and Dean direct Charlie to one of Bobby's old hunting cabins to lay low until they get to her. While preparing to leave, Dean finds a lead lined curse box in the Bunker storage room, and suggests they use it to hide the book in.

When the Winchesters finally arrive to the cabin, Dean becomes entranced by the book and has to be snapped out of it by Sam, he hands the book back to Charlie and tells them to keep it away from him. While Dean researches the Styne family using the Men of Letters files, Sam and Charlie are busy at work translating the Book of the Damned, but hit a wall in translating it, until Charlie realizes that the book, in addition to being written in an ancient and obscure Sumerian dialect, is also in code. Noticing Dean's strange attention on the book, Sam puts it away in the curse box and suggest they use his notes to work on the decoding.

After reading up on the Styne family and their use of the book, Dean tries to dissuade Sam and Charlie from trying to translate the book. Dean tells them that the book has been calling out to him and the Mark, and that he can hear it like it's alive, and that it wants him to use it but not for good. He demands that they destroy it before anything bad happens from using it before heading out to get supplies.

At a convenience store, Dean runs into Styne, who has been tracking down Charlie and the book. Styne and his henchman attack Dean who manages to escape. He races to the cabin to destroy the book in a fire of holy oil. Jacob and his men arrive at the cabin and a fight ensues in which they are killed. Sam pretends to burn the book, but actually hides it.

Seeing the book as the only chance to save Dean, Sam decides to make a deal with Rowena to use it.

10.19 The Werther Project

Rowena confirms that she is likely the only person alive who could handle the book's power, however, she can't read it in her current state. The only person who could was a Grand Coven witch named Nadya who was murdered by the Men of Letters and her decoding codex stolen. Sam begins a search to find Nadya's Codex and locates it in the Werther Box, a warded creation of Cuthbert Sinclair. Sam and Dean manage to break the warding spells on the Box and get the codex. Sam takes it to Rowena, but locks her up so that she will only decode the cure for the Mark of Cain at which time he will destroy the book though he intends to keep his deal with her.

10.21 Dark Dynasty

Rowena tells Sam that the language Nadya used in the Codex is as indecipherable as the book. Sam calls Charlie to help translate the book. Charlie uses pictures of the writing in the book and the codex to find a pattern in the book's coding and any synchronicity with the symbols in Nadya's Codex. The Styne family sends Eldon Styne to retrieve the book and kill Charlie. Charlie eventually finds cracks the code on both the book and the codex. She is killed by Eldon Styne, but not before she sent an E-mail to Sam that contains Charlie's Code Breaker.

10.22 The Prisoner

Dean tells Sam to give up on his crusade for removing the Mark of Cain and he promises to kill the person that killed Charlie after ripping apart everything and everyone they ever loved. Cas is looking at the pages in the book as he talks to Rowena. Sam was going to stop his hunt to destroy the mark, but he recieved the e-mail from Charlie containing Charlie's Code Breaker. Rowena looks at the E-mail and says that she can finally decipher the book and remove the Mark of Cain. Sam decides to keep looking for the cure for the mark in the book and tells Cas to keep an eye on Dean. Rowena says that she will start deciphering after Sam kills Crowley, honoring their deal. Rowena is seen beginning to translate the book as Sam calls her and tells her that her extra powerful demon killing hex bag was useless against Crowley. Cas tells Dean that they can finally read the book, but Dean, completely consumed by the Mark's power and still consistent that the cure in the book either won't work or cost another innocent life, still refuses to let them try to remove the Mark of Cain.

10.23 Brother's Keeper

Rowena used the book to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean's arm. The blast from the spell blasts the chains off her arms. She powers herself up with the book to the point where her powers can affect Demons and Angels. She casts an attack dog spell on Cas to kill Crowley and she runs off with the book, Nadya's Codex, and Charlie's Code Breaker.

11.03 The Bad Seed

Rowena uses the Book of the Damned to incinerate a trio of witches who refused to join her new "Mega Coven."

11.09 O Brother Where Art Thou?

In order to get Sam a face to face with Lucifer, Crowley has his minions kidnap Rowena so they can use a spell to communicate with Lucifer without opening the Cage. In exchange for her help, Crowley promises to call off his assassins. With a deal in place Rowena gets to work decoding the Book of the Damned at the Men of Letters Bunker, under Sam's supervision. Rowena eventually finds a spell, and along with Sam and Crowley descends into Hell to perform it.

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The Real Book of the Damned

The Book of the Damned is a work of nonfiction by Charles Fort and was published in 1919. The book deals with various types of paranormal phenomenon ranging from UFOs to the existence of giants and fairies. The version that appears in Supernatural has more in common with the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis from the Evil Dead film series, which was bound in human flesh and inked blood, and written in ancient Sumerian.