| Selene Belltower | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Full Name: | Selene Belltower |
| Species: | Blood Witch |
| Clan(s): | Woodbane |
| Coven(s): | Catspaw |
| Occupation: | High Priestess |
| Family: | Cal Blaire - Son Daniel Niall - Ex-Husband |
"...how much more satisfying to seduce an angel than a villain?" - Selene Belltower, after meeting Daniel Niall
Selene Belltower was born in 1944 or 1945, as she is approximately 56 years old at the start of the series. She is the mother of Cal Blaire and ex-wife of Daniel Niall.
| Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode. |
She moves from town to town, creating covens and finding any blood witches in the area. If she can find any from the Woodbane clan, she attempts to coerce them to join her and her closest followers to practice dark magic and increase their power at all costs, or to steal their power. At least twice she has enlisted the help of her son to entice particularly powerful witches, notably with Morgan Rowlands.
Early life[]
Selene is a descendant of Irish Woodbanes. She grew up in Catspaw, a Woodbane coven that had renounced evil.
In 1962, at the age of 17, she met who would become her first husband, Patrick. Patrick was a member of another bright Woodbane coven from Seattle, Waterwind. Patrick was about 40 years older than Selene. In 1968, Patrick died and Selene found out he had embraced the dark side of Wicca and was likely using spells to hide this from her. She started to embrace darker magic and joined his dark coven, Turneval, after she found his secret Book of Shadows.
In 1970, Selene traveled to Albertswythe, Wales to study with a witch named Clyda Rockpel, a Welsh Woodbane who is said to have been legendarily vicious, rumored to have murdered her own daughter to enhance her power.
In 1971, at 27 years old, she underwent what is called "The Great Trial", a magickal ordeal that if you don't pass, you die. It was overseen by Clyda and another witch, possibly from Amyranth, named Scott Maddox. Based on her BoS, it is an extremely difficult ordeal that drains a witch of her strength and beauty at the time, but she should recover with more strength and knowledge than ever before. 27 is reportedly extremely young to undergo this trial.
In 1973, at 29, and after 3 years studying with Clyda, Clyda finall introduced Selene to other Amyranth members.
On Samhain, 1975, with Amyranth, she helped call the dark wave for her first time against a Wyndenkell coven.
In 1976, Selene met both Ciaran and Daniel in Shannon, Ireland at an Amyranth gathering.
At Beltane in 1979, Selene marries Daniel. The ceremony was what Selene had wanted that Daniel had been furious about it being, sky clad under the full moon in front of the entirety of the coven Turneval, including an immediate consumation in the circle. Daniel felt humiliated, but Selene rejoiced about how their ceremony went.
In the Series[]
Book of Shadows[]
Selene is not directly seen, but Cal tells Morgan a bit about her and definitely tells Selene about Morgan.
In The Coven[]
Selene meets Morgan for the first time in The Coven. She helps Morgan deal with her difficult feelings about her family by giving her some hot cocoa, teaching her a bit of magick, then performing a two-person circle with Morgan. She also flatters Morgan, telling her that she was not able to cast her senses like Morgan until she was in her twenties. When Morgan asks Selene about Maeve, Selene admits to having heard the story of Maeve's death similar to how Alyce does - as if it were a great tragedy much of the Wicca community in the area knew of. She also talks about her ex husband, Daniel, and how his leaving meant Cal and Selene are quite close and that's why Selene has heard so much about Morgan. She claims Daniel is living in Europe, but does not mention anything else about his life which we later learn is more complicated than Selene implies. Selene clearly spends their first interaction trying to make Morgan relax around her and trust her.
In Blood Witch[]
In Dark Magic[]
It is in Dark Magic that we learn of Selene's true intention's for Morgan and her true nature.
In Awakening[]
Selene is on the run from Hunter, who continues to seek her and Cal. It is unclear exactly where she is and if any of her magic continues to permeate through Morgan's life and Widow Vale. Hunter seems to believe Selene is lying low for the time being.
In Spellbound[]
Each chapter of Spellbound begins with an excerpt from Selene's Book of Shadows, beginning with her entry where she met her first husband Patrick at 17. Through these, we learn a great deal about Selene's background and her journey in Wicca as a young adult and as a Woodbane deciding to go down a path of knowledge and power at all costs, including through dark magic.
Selene spends this book actively weaving her web for Morgan, using the perfect bait: a spelled Mary K. Selene takes Mary K to her mansion, which Morgan and Hunter find out about from descriptions from neighbors about Mary K getting into a Jaguar. Selene has spelled Mary K and locked her in her secret library. Morgan and Hunter arrive there by going through Cal's room at the top of the house and using Maeve's athame to find the secret library, and Selene uses coercive efforts amplified with magick to at first attempt to persuade Morgan to join her, then uses glamours, illusions, and magickal attacks to attempt to murder Morgan so she can take Maeve's tools (Hunter is also in the fight, and Selene would kill him as well). Selene does well in their battle, due to her immense power that she has gotten through dark means, only to be thwarted by the appearance of Cal who takes one of Selene's attacks in Morgan's place. The attack kills Cal, leaving Selene devastated and howling like a banshee at the death of her son at her hands. Hunter manages to get the silver braigh on Selene, but she soon gets out of it and dies a magickal death of her own, likely inflicted by herself at the grief of murdering her own son.
Relationships[]
Calhoun (Cal) Blaire[]
Cal Blaire is Selene's only known child. He was from her second marriage with Daniel Niall. Cal looks up to his mother, doing whatever she asks of him including manipulating through seduction at least 2 women to get them for his mother's quest for power. The most telling descriptions of Selene's feelings for her son come from her Book of Shadows shortly after Cal was born, where she says "he will be my instrument, my weapon."
Daniel Niall[]
Selene and Daniel were briefly married, until Daniel fell in love with Fiona who he married soon after leaving Selene. Selene's final words to Daniel when he left her and Cal were to remember that everything comes back threefold.
Morgan Rowlands[]
Morgan meets Selene midway through the second book in the series, The Coven. She was trying to go see Cal at his home when she was distressed, but instead Selene pulled up and invited Morgan inside.Selene attempts to manipulate Morgan, as she recognizes her as an extremely powerful Woodbane witch that could amplify Selene's power either by joining her or by Selene forcibly taking Morgan's power. Selene assigned her son, Cal, to get close to Morgan for this purpose.
Appearance, Style, and Personality[]
Selene is described as a tall, slender woman who only looks about 35 years old (even though she is about 20 years older than that) and sometimes looks like Cal with dark brown hair and wide golden eyes with high cheekbones.
Selene exhibits a great thirst for knowledge and power. She pushes herself to her limits in the quest for power, and she is willing to do anything to get that power including killing many other witches and using her son.
She has adopted the same secretive behavior of her first husband Patrick when it comes to hiding her true nature. She often considers spelling him to force him to stay with her, but initially finds it far more enjoyable to watch him begrudgingly return to her despite his judgement (much in the same way she loves him, in a way both her and Daniel despise and cannot resist). After recognizing Daniel slowly slipping away, she decides to get herself pregnant with Daniel's child (Cal) in order to force him to stay. She believes this and his inability to stop returning to her will keep him, and will be more pleasurable than forcing it magickally. This changes once Daniel admits to having an ongoing, loving affair with a Wyndenkell witch in England, Fiona. Selene feels she needs to bind Daniel, but of course this is more difficult now than it would've been earlier.
Trivia[]
- Her witches robes are deep crimson silk embroidered all over with symbols from the ancient alphabet, of which can only be used for dark magick