| “ | Tartarus… a hellish prison for magical creatures. Gods, demons, the vanquished. It's where the bad guys send their bad guys. | ” |
Tartarus is a mystical dimension that serves as a prison for various magical creatures.
History[]
According to Leon, the god Apollo ended up here after killing a Cyclops (though according to Maggie Vera, this Cyclops created a lightning bolt that killed Apollo's son), and he was only released when his distraught mother, Leto, used her scythe to blast the ground until a hole opened and Apollo was set free.[1]
Zeus later split the scythe into three shards and entrusted them to three sentinels, along with blessing each shard with a magical beacon should it ever be needed for them to be reunited.
In late 2018, the upper-level demon Alastor sought to reunite the shards in order to obtain help on how to release the Harbinger of Hell from its enchanted paint can prison. While the scythe was reassembled, it was stolen by Jada Shields before either Good or Evil could use it.[1]
Later that same year, on Christmas Day to be exact, the Whitelighter Harry Greenwood and the pure demon Hunter Caine end up being imprisoned in this dimension.[2] Maggie Vera also spent some time inside Tartarus after she was thrown there by the demon Dante during the Charmed Ones attempt to save Harry. Eventually, the sisters were able to save both Harry and Maggie.
As seen from Harry's and Maggie's experience, the prisoners of Tartarus were confined inside a circular rock chamber where a dragon is constantly watching them through the holes on the wall of the chamber and taunting them mercilessly. The dragon also constantly sends black scorpions whose sting will invoke the most painful and traumatic memories of these prisoners.[3]
Residents[]
- Jailers
- Prisoners
- Apollo (formerly)
- Fiona Callahan † (formerly)
- Harry Greenwood (formerly)
- Maggie Vera (formerly)
- Knansie † (formerly)
- Hunter Caine † (formerly)
- The Harbinger of Hell † (formerly)
- Numerous Unidentified Beings
Trivia[]
- In Greek mythology, Tartarus was the deep abyss of the Underworld where the wicked were punished and that served as prison for the Titans.
- The satyr Leon described Tartarus as "… a hellish prison for magical creatures. Gods, demons, the vanquished. It's where the bad guys send their bad guys." It could be presumed that vanquished is used in the sense of "defeated" or "banished" in this statement, as beings that are sent to Tartarus are not destroyed but simply imprisoned there.
- Macy named the dimension "Hellcatraz"—a nickname inspired by Alcatraz, a prison island located in San Francisco and visited by Phoebe Halliwell in the original series.
- While Fiona, Harry, and Maggie were left in a weakened state from their time imprisoned in Tartarus—with Fiona even requiring a Restoration Ritual, Hunter somehow returns from his imprisonment seemingly unfazed and even more powerful. This was unexplained until it was revealed that Hunter had inhaled the Harbinger of Hell.
Gallery[]
