Penny Halliwell

Penelope "Penny" Halliwell (née Johnson) (also known as Grams) was a powerful witch, High Priestess of Good, and the grandmother of the Charmed Ones: Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Paige.

Early life
According to the family tree, she was born on June 23, 1930, breeched, in a Boston, Massachusetts hotel room. Her parents were Gordon Johnson and P. Baxter. ("Pardon My Past") According to information provided in season 2, P. Baxter died in December 1970, when Penny was forty years old. A descendant of Melinda Warren, Penelope was a powerful witch with the power of telekinesis. ("That '70s Episode")

She first married Allen Halliwell, and took that last name. Together they had a daughter, Patricia. Penny was once a peace lover until Allen was killed by her former best friend, Robin, and Robin's warlock boyfriend, Nigel. As a result, she became a fierce demon/warlock slayer. She learned to focus her telekinetic power, and created spells and potions on her very own. ("Witchstock")

Later in life she started her own coven with witch practitioners (non-magical) and her closest friends as members, including her college sorority sister Gail. ("How to Make a Quilt Out of Americans")

Wiccan duties
As Penny became the matriarch of the Halliwell/Warren family, she fell in love with the Necromancer. But she couldn't be with him because, though he truly did love her, he used her to get to the spirits of the Halliwell/Warren line. She later banished his spirit forever in 2003. ("Necromancing The Stone")

She created most of the potions in the Book of Shadows. She battled such evil beings as the Woogyman. ("Is There a Woogy in the House?")

Grams became known as a High Priestess of Good who binds a witch to her love through handfasting. She was summoned from the dead to bind Leo and Piper in matrimony. It is unclear if she binded any more members of the Halliwell family but it is presumed so.

Powers & Abilities
Penny is an extremely skillful and powerful witch, like her ancestor, Melinda Warren. Though she and her granddaughter Prue shared the same power of telekinesis, she was far more skilled in using it, having learned how to focus it, and created spells and potions on her very own. One memorable feat she performed was when she mistook the future versions of her granddaughters for warlocks, and telekinetically expelled them from the manor. Prue had never demonstrated such fine-control over human-sized objects.



Love and Family
Penny married a total of four times (starting with Allen), and was engaged for a total of six times, but the relationships didn't work out. When Patty married Victor Bennett, Penny didn't allow her to take his last name, a tradition that will be followed by the Charmed Ones (all except Paige).

Penny witnessed the birth of her granddaughters Prudence, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell, later earning the nickname 'Grams'. When Patty was forced to give immunity to a warlock named Nicholas, Grams had no choice but to bind the girls' powers, until they were ready for them. ("That '70s Episode")

She was forced to keep the secret about the birth of Patty's fourth daughter Paige from everyone, because Paige was fathered by Patty's Whitelighter, Sam Wilder. Penny helped Patty and Sam decide that it was best to give the baby up for adoption as relationships between witches and Whitelighters were forbidden by the Elders. After Patty's death in 1978, Penny became surrogate mother to Patty's first three children, and would continually argue with Victor about how the girls should be raised. Because of those arguments, the girls didn't see their father again for a very long time. Penny was essentially a single mother from then on. ("Charmed Again," "Sympathy For The Demon")

Years later, Penny developed a heart condition. She wanted to keep the girls from receiving their powers permanently, so she created a potion to strip them of their powers. On March 5, 1998 she made the decision to give the sisters the potion, but before she could she had a heart attack and fell down the attic stairs. She became a guardian spirit, keeping watch over her grandchildren, and reappearing to bless her great-grandchildren at their Wiccanings. ("Pre-Witched")

Life after Death
Grams, as a high priestess, performed the marriage ceremony uniting Leo Wyatt and Piper in spirit form. When their first child turned out to be a boy, Grams was initially upset about it as she believed the family line should only be female, but eventually came around to accept and love her new great-grandson Wyatt. ("Just Harried", "Necromancing The Stone")

When Grams learned about Gideon's death at Leo's hands (because Gideon had tried to kill Wyatt), she was unsure if she could trust Leo to be around the girls. She later learned to trust her family to make the right decisions without her input, but still provided them with assistance when needed. ("Cheaper By The Coven")

Appearances
Penny has appeared in a total of 14 episodes throughout the course of the series.


 * Season 1
 * Is There a Woogy in the House? (1.15) - in a premonition of Phoebe's from the 70s
 * That '70s Episode (1.17) - in 1975


 * Season 2
 * Witch Trial (2.01)


 * Season 3
 * Magic Hour (3.01)
 * Just Harried (3.15)
 * PreWitched (3.17) - in flashbacks from 1998


 * Season 4
 * Charmed Again Part 1 (4.01)


 * Season 5
 * Happily Ever After (5.03)
 * Sympathy for the Demon (5.07) - in a flashback from the 70s
 * Necromancing the Stone (5.21)


 * Season 6
 * Witchstock (6.11) - present ghost and in 1967


 * Season 7
 * Cheaper By The Coven (7.03)


 * Season 8
 * Still Charmed & Kicking (8.01)
 * Forever Charmed (8.22) - from 1982