- "According to legend, shtrigas are nasty old women, but the one that I met in prison, the one that you're looking for is beautiful. And he's a bloke."
- —Charlie[src]
Shtriga are a race of malevolent vampiric witches and warlocks, able to siphon souls and life energy from their victims. A rare male shtriga known as "Chad Stephens" was a temporal fugitive, who preyed on a summer camp during the 1990s.
Overview[]
The shtriga are usually expected to be female witches. Aside from their dark magic powers they also have enhanced strength and distorted voices. Siphoning life force allows the shtriga to keep their bodies young and strong, otherwise they turn into easily broken dried husks; however, this process of extracting the life force takes a long time, and that the source(s) need to remain alive until the point of completion, making it possible to rescue victims before they are completely depleted of such by the shtriga tapping into their life energies. According to John Constantine, the shtriga are weak to cayenne pepper.[1]
History[]
The shtriga were a race of witches known to John Constantine from mythology. One of them, a male specimen, was trapped in the dark dimension of Mallus's realm, where he encountered the shapeshifter fugitive. After Mallus broke out of his prison, the male shtriga was one of the fugitives who ended up wreaking havoc in different points across the timeline. Masquerading as "Chad Stephens", the shtriga preyed on children visiting the camp. His crimes were eventually uncovered by the Legends, who searched for a female witch. However, their shape-shifter prisoner helped the Legends to identify their shtriga target as young and male, allowing Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe to bait and destroy him.[1]
Known shtriga[]
- "Chad Stephens" (deceased)
Powers and abilities[]
Powers[]
- Enhanced strength: Shtriga possess strength greater than that of an average human.[1]
- Life force/Soul energy siphon: Shtriga prey on souls of their victims and are able to siphon life energy and power themselves with it.[1]
- Shape-shifting: Shtriga have the power to change their physical appearance, allowing them to appear as humans.[1]
- Superhuman speed: Shtriga are able to move at high speeds and catch victims and opponents off-guard.[1]
- Protection circle immunity: Shtriga are able to ignore protection spells.[1]
Weaknesses[]
- Cayenne pepper: According to John Constantine, shtriga are weak to cayenne pepper.[1]
- Soul links: If the spell the shtriga put on their victims gets dispelled, the shtriga weakens accordingly, and losing enough soul energy leaves them a dried husk.[1]
Appearances[]
DC's Legends of Tomorrow[]
Season 4[]
- "Wet Hot American Bummer"
- "Tender is the Nate" (mentioned)
- "Legends of To-Meow-Meow"