- "The stones of power shall be mine!"
- — Margaret Isobel Theroux to Magistrate Wilkins in Spell.
Countess Margaret Isobel Thoreaux, more commonly called Isobel, was an infamous and aristocrat witch of France who lived in the early 17th century, as well as the ancestress of Lana Lang. She has been referred to as Countess, Countess Theroux and more commonly, Isobel. She was from the village Castelnau-de-Montmiral. Isobel was shown to be highly accomplished in both witchcraft and martial arts.
Lana purchased the Countess' spell book on eBay and once she touched the symbol, Isobel was reborn in her body.
Powers and Abilities[]
- "Your magics are impressive. (...) But so are mine."
- — Isobel to Clark. Spell
Isobel and her friends cast a spell at Clark's party.
- Witchcraft: Through her understanding of the Latin invocations of the spell book coupled with her knowledge of their hand gestures and potions, Isobel was among the most powerful practitioners of witchcraft. As the leader of her own coven, Isobel's magics were superior to that of her circle.
- Magical Senses: Isobel possessed an awareness of anything magical, being able to detect their auras. She was able to sense Clark's powers and determine that he was not magical.
- Teleportation: Isobel was able to teleport vast distances with naught but a word. When the stone of air was on the ground and Clark ran at super speed to grab it, Isobel teleported and got to it first.
- Possession: By infusing her blood with the Mark of Transference within her book and inciting a spell, Isobel ensured her resurrection - the spell calling out to her heiress. This enabled Isobel's essence to inhabit Lana's body, accessing her memories while retaining all of her own abilities.
- Telekinesis: Isobel could move or manipulate objects as well as restrain or suspend people in the air through sheer force of will. At first, this was achieved through Latin spells and hand-gestures. Upon her second resurrection, she could summon objects to her merely by reaching towards them.
- Resurrection: By brewing several listed ingredients and chanting to activate their paranormal properties, Isobel was able to create a potion capable of summoning forth the spirits of her dead coven sisters and binding them into whoever drunk the potion - making them reborn on Earth as she was.
- Pyrokinesis: Isobel held a limited capacity to manifest flames. This was exhibited when she magically inscribed words onto the walls of the Talon, all in flames strong enough to scorch the concrete. Beyond just this, her essence caused a fireplace to dim and then to flare up upon her rebirth.
- Mind Control: Isobel could influence minds to a degree. This was first seen when she and her circle enchanted Chloe's party-goers into dancing and stripping. Later, she put a hex on Lex Luthor - compelling him to play his piano endlessly for over a day's time, to the point of bloodied fingers.
- Energy Projection: By just a swift movement of her arm she was able to project powerful bursts of energy which could knock out any person who came into contact with them, usually knocking them back. This is used when she breaks out of the prison chair, knocking out the guards and twice against Clark, knocking him out both times. Thus showing how incredibly strong it was.
- Power Stripping - Through magic and with the aid of her coven fellows, Isobel was able to strip Clark's powers away.
- Geokinesis - Through a spell, Isobel could dig up a horse-statue containing the Crystal of Air.
- Superhuman Strength: While not to the same degree as powerful metahumans with the ability, Isobel did exhibit a limited degree of super-strength while in Lana's body - sufficient to break free of her restraints while being tortured by Chinese soldiers and later to overpower and kill Genevieve Teague.
- Invulnerability: While inhabiting Lana's body a second time, Isobel showed a degree of invulnerability when she began showing no pain at being electrocuted by Chinese soldiers - the charge ricocheting back into the machine, short-circuiting it. She said she wouldn't let any harm come to her body.
- Flight: She was able to spin in mid-air by levitating.
- Swordsmanship: Isobel displayed a proficiency in martial arts, using Chinese swords to try knocking Clark out.
- Enhanced Senses: Though unclear which sense exactly she may be using, Isobel can tell if a person is a virgin or not, simply by getting a strand of hair of them.
Vulnerabilities[]
- "They've taken the book and with it our powers."
- — Isobel to her coven, before being burned. Spell
- Spell Book: Prior to their burning, the removal of Isobel's spell book deprived both her and her coven of their powers. Upon their resurrection, destroying the book exorcised her sisters from their hosts, however Isobel herself - while sealed in Lana's mind - remained and retained her magic.
- Stones of Power: Possibly from some magical reaction, any one of the Stones would glow and scorch her skin upon contact. She remedied this later by folding the Air Stone in a red cloth. Interestingly, she seemed to have built-up some resistance, as she used the Air Stone to kill Genevieve Teague.
Early Life[]
- "Says here she was a warrior princess who... kicked a lot of ass and broke a lot of hearts."
- — Jason Teague to Lana, over Isobel's tomb. Crusade
Isobel and her coven are burned at the stake.
Born in the French village of Castelnau-de-Montmiral in the late 1500s, Isobel grew into a fierce and skilled fighter with as much a reputation for her numerous jilted lovers as for her victories on the field. It is unknown if she was born Homo Magi, or acquired her Magical abilities through other means.
Isobel was recruited by Duchess Gertrude to find the stones. Isobel went to a tent with a mystic and saw a Kryptonian in the globe, who told her that if she got the stones they could rule together. She walked out thinking she herself could rule Earth one day. (Smallville Magazine, "Legend")
However, Isobel betrayed the Duchess in the end and stole her map to the Crystal of Air, so she could have it to herself.
Madeline Evans and Brianna Withridge were the Countess's comrades and they helped Isobel search for the Stones of Power. The Duchess accused them of being witches they were captured by the townspeople and were sentenced to burn at the stake for practicing witchcraft, although it turned out Gertrude was a witch also. Isobel lost her spell book and was brought to the courtyard to be burned along with Madeline and Brianna. Before she was burned, Isobel spat blood which intertwined with the book's symbol and added a word giving her a chance of resurrection. The Mark of Transference appeared on her skin, which would enable her to possess Lana's body. As the Countess and her companions burned, she prophesied that her heir would awaken her and that she would find the stones and have vengeance. According to Genevieve Teague, the Countess also vowed to kill each of Gertrude's heirs, therefore destroying the entire future of Duchess Gertrude's family line when Isobel rose again.
At some point before her execution, Isobel conceived a child who would go on to continue her linage - insuring their mother's resurrection. Whether this child was born legitimately or out of wedlock was never revealed. It's possible that her executioners didn't know of her child.
Season Four[]
Lana changes after touching the cursed page.
Centuries later, Isobel's tomb was placed in a church in Paris by the grandmother of Genevieve Teague, who used her son to orchestrate a visit by Lana to the tomb. When Lana did a rubbing of the Countess' tomb, she was blasted with a beam of light that branded her with the Mark of Transference. She woke up twelve hours later in her bedroom, with no memory of what happened. This drove her to return to Smallville when she saw the symbol in the Kawatche Caves in some online pictures. She hoped that by returning home, she could learn more about the Mark and the Countess. Jason soon followed.
Isobel and her companions are reborn.
Lana became possessed by the Countess Theroux when she touched the spell book she had purchased on eBay. Isobel made a potion to restore the spirits of her followers. Brianna's spirit was transferred into the body of Lois Lane and Madeline's into Chloe Sullivan. She then stole the hidden map in the Russian Manuscript at the Luthor Mansion and placed a spell on Lex Luthor to play the piano indefinitely. Isobel and her comrades infiltrated a party thrown by Clark Kent and bewitched everyone, including Clark, to start losing their inhibitions and for all the boys to take their shirts off and dance in their boxer shorts. The next morning, having regained consciousness and learned what had happened to Lex, Clark confronted Isobel just as she had reacquired her old spell book from Jason, forcing him to rescue Jason while she escaped, leaving him a message to meet in the barn at midnight.
The three witches take Clark's powers.
In the subsequent confrontation, Clark's invulnerability and heat vision allowed him to withstand the witches' initial attacks (although they assumed that he was a sorcerer rather than an alien), but they nevertheless managed to get the upper hand, stripping Clark of his powers and leaving to open the hidden chamber in the Kawatche Caves after realizing that he knew where one of the stones was hidden. When Clark arrived to stop them, having been released by Jason, Isobel grabbed the Crystal of Fire, only to scream out in pain as the stone protected itself from her. Clark grabbed the stone, which restored his powers. Although Isobel threatened to remove his powers again, he swiftly destroyed the spell book with his heat vision, causing Lana, Chloe and Lois to revert to normal.
Isobel in a confrontation with Clark.
Isobel emerged once again after Lana was tortured by Chinese officers. She broke free from the Chinese officers and revealed that the map is the key to one of the Crystals of Knowledge. Isobel knocked Clark out and went to the location of the Crystal. Isobel unearthed a horse statue holding the stone. When she broke it, it gave off the piercing buzz to Clark: he followed its origin which led him to Isobel and the Crystal. Isobel fought Clark with magically-powered Chinese weapons. She wounded Clark, who put up a fight against the magically-skilled Isobel. Clark managed to defeat her and get the stone away from her but when Isobel touched the stone together with Clark, there was an explosion. The effects of the explosion seemed to send Isobel back into hiatus and the stone disappeared.
Isobel kills Genevieve.
Isobel resurfaced for the last time when Lana was being strangled by Genevieve Teague and used the Air Stone to stab Genevieve in the heart. Once Isobel had exacted her revenge on Duchess Gertrude, she freed herself from Lana and Isobel's spirit could finally rest. The Mark of Transference was removed.
Appearances[]
- Season Four: Crusade (Mentioned only), Run (Mentioned only), Transference (Mentioned only), Spell, Bound (flashback only), Unsafe (Mentioned only), Recruit (Mentioned only), Krypto (Mentioned only), Sacred, Blank (flashback only), Forever (Mentioned only), Commencement
Trivia[]
- Kristin Kreuk is of Dutch and Chinese-Canadian descent. However, Lana's ethnicity has never been mentioned on the show, besides the fact that Thoreaux was French.
- It is unknown if Thoreaux was of Homo Magi descent.
Lana Lang in Smallville
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