Tempus (Charmed)

Tempus is a fictional character on the WB television series Charmed.

Tempus (played by David Carradine) was an upper-level demon who could manipulate time in any way he chooses to. Hence the name Tempus, a Latin word meaning time. He is also known as "The Devil`s Sorcerer". He also has the ability to create a time loop, and to reset time. One way to stop Tempus is to take him out of the time that he's in. It is very difficult to contact Tempus, since he is a powerful demon who is well insulated.

In season 1, episode "Deja Vu All Over Again", in his first and only appearance, Tempus was sent to help the demon "Rodriguez" defeat the charmed ones. So, every time Rodriguez fails to kill them and gets vanquished, Tempus would reset time, allowing Rodriguez to learn from his mistakes and getting another chance. Tempus and Rodriguez were the only ones who knew about this, until the sisters began to feel that they were in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again. Andy Trudeau was killed by Rodriguez. Once the sisters figured this whole thing, they cast a spell to accelerate time, therefore breaking the time loop. Tempus, defeated by the Charmed Ones, fled back to the underworld and Rodriguez got vanquished by Prue Halliwell, of the Charmed Ones. However, Trudeau remained dead.

In season 3, episode "All Hell Breaks Loose", the Charmed Ones and the demonic world were exposed on live television. The sisters had to contact Tempus to reset time before all of it happened (to solve the problem), but none of them knew how. Their Whitelighter, Leo, decided to go to the underworld, and asked Cole to contact Tempus. Cole said he did not have that kind of power. Phoebe suggested him to go to The Source Of All Evil, a powerful demon, and ask him to contact Tempus to reset time, as exposure was also a problem for The Source. Once Cole asked The Source, The Source stated that Tempus was still weakened from when he last turned back time, and doing so again could destroy him. But later on, The Source accepted, and used Tempus to reset time.

In season 8, episode "Desperate Housewitches", the demon Tam asked a possessor demon who is she trying to bring back from the dead. Tam guessed, and said if it was Barbas, Zankou or Tempus. The possessor demon later said that it was The Source. But, from this conversation they had, it appears that Tempus was dead, probably because of the weakening.

Behind the scenes
Although referred in three different episodes of different seasons, Tempus only appeared on-screen once, in season 1.