Vanquishing is a term describing the destruction of a magical being, most commonly the forces of evil such as demons and monsters. The death of a mortal or a force of good, such as witches, is generally referred to as killing instead.
During a vanquish, beings are often destroyed in a violent, painful manner. Most vanquishes leave no trace behind and do not damage the surroundings or objects near the destroyed being. This is presumably in order to cover up any existence of magic from the mortal world.
Methods for Vanquishing[]
Vanquishing can be achieved by various means. The most common method of vanquishing is shown to be through the usage of spells and potions. However, some demons and monsters can be vanquished merely by offensive powers, such as pyrokinesis, and ordinary or magical weapons. The weapons used could be anything from a dagger/knife to seemingly ordinary substances, such as baking soda or rat poison.
Weapons lined with salt helps vanquish demons when impaling them with such weapons since salt makes them desiccate at an accelerated rate and ultimately die.
Some evil beings require a specific spell, sometimes requiring the Power of Three, while others may require a specific object or weapon, such as Viralis only being vanquished by his own dagger at the hands of a Charmed One[1]. While most vanquishes are usually instantaneous, there are cases in which the entire process can take time if the being is upper-level (such as when Taydeus took a few seconds to explode after he died[2] or when the spell to vanquish Lainey, the queen of the Cicada Demons, was slow causing Macy Vaughn to have to crush her with a control panel).[3]
Trivia[]
- For some unknown reason, Elder Devorah Silver's death also looked like vanquishing, as her body withered away, which should not have been, since she was a human witch.
- One theory suggests that her body withered away, because she was in a pocket dimension which she had created at the moment of her death, and when she died, as the dimension ceased to exist, her body also did. However, one could still argue that the pocket dimension should have just ceased to exist and her body returned to the Haunt in the real world with the others.
- Despite the fact that Fiona Callahan was also a human being, her death was also like vanquishing and there was not a trace of her body left. Though, this was likely a side effect of her body being struck by the energy of the Sacred Flame Igniting Spell.
- Vivienne Laurent is the only mortal on screen to be vanquished.
- Hunter Caine, Callum, Jimmy, Omon and Earl are the only beings that were vanquished without a death scream.
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