Matthew Tate

Matthew Tate was a powerful 17th-century warlock with the power of mimicry, the ability to replicate any power used on him.

During the time of the Salem witch trials, he seduced Melinda Warren, and copied her powers. He then exposed her as a witch to keep up his own cover. As a result, Melinda was arrested and sentenced to be burned at the stake.



Matthew visited her while she was imprisoned in order to mock her, but it turned out to be a mistake. Melinda managed to strip him of all the powers he had stole from her, and used a powerful curse to imprison him inside a locket that he had given to her as a gift. While she herself was inevitably doomed, his sentence was even worse than hers - he had to spend all eternity in oblivion, knowing the sting of betrayal. Only Melinda herself or one of her descendants could open the locket and set him free. Legend states that Matthew must never be freed, or he would destroy the Warren line. Indeed, the eldest Charmed One, Prue, stated they had (at that point in time) "never been up against anyone like him before."

Rex Buckland and Hannah Webster deliberately gave the locket to Prue in an attempt to steal the Charmed Ones' powers and kill them. Rex and Hannah intended to banish him again once they got the Charmed Ones' powers. When Prue freed Matthew, he knew immediately that Prue was a blood relative of Melinda and went in on her, but Prue flung him across the room--allowing him to copy her power of telekinesis. After a struggle, Matthew telekinetically blew out Prue's window and leaped to the ground. He then killed a lawyer, Arnold Halliwell, and another Halliwell who owned a hardware store. Rex and Hannah finally tracked him down and convinced him that he needed their help to kill the Charmed Ones.

The Charmed Ones summoned Melinda for help, and found her original curse in the Book of Shadows. Piper and Phoebe went to Quake to get the ingredients. However, Matthew tracked them there with Rex and Hannah's help in hopes of getting Piper's freezing power. He missed her, but did manage to collar Phoebe in the kitchen and copy her power of premonition after Phoebe saw him coming after Melinda in the manor. Matthew then toed over to the manor and ran into Melinda, but couldn't goad her into freezing him. He saw a vision of the four witches cursing him back into the locket, and demanded to know where Prue was. Terrified, Melinda made Matthew think Prue had gone to the zoo to get a spotted-owl feather needed to curse him (she'd really gone to her old employer, the Museum of Natural History).

Later that night, Matthew came back to the manor, armed with a gun Rex had given him. He telekinetically drew Piper to him and threatened to kill her, hoping that she would freeze him instead. At the last minute, Prue rushed in with the feather, and they were able to curse him back into the locket. When the Charmed Ones released Melinda back into the realm of the dead, Melinda took the locket with her--likely keeping Matthew trapped for eternity.

Powers
Matthew was arguably one of the most powerful warlocks in colonial America. His main power was mimicry, which allowed him to copy any magical ability when it was used against him. He copied the power of blinking from a witch, and is reportedly the first warlock to manifest that power; it eventually started manifesting in warlocks rather than witches. He also knew how to use teleknises in more creative and lucrative ways than Prue during season one, enabling him to rise into the air and also land unharmed when he made a jump that would have killed any ordinary mortal. (Prue would later demonstrate similar feats of telekinesis in season 3).

Warlock Curse
(To Curse Matthew Tate into Melinda's locket)


 * Ingredients needed:
 * assorted herbs,
 * a Spotted Owl Feather,
 * a leather bag
 * and a locket.


 * Combine the herbs and make it into a fine powder.
 * Put the powder into the leather bag and add the owl feather.
 * Put the bag into fire and let it burn while chanting the spell
 * and holding the locket open, pointed to the to-be-cursed warlock


 * Outside of Time!
 * Outside of Gain!
 * Know only Sorrow!
 * Know only Pain!

Trivia

 * Matthews is the first warlock and character to use the power of Blinking. Melinda states that Matthew must have copied it from another witch. However later in the series, blinking is an ability used by all sorts of warlocks.

Appearances
Matthew Tate appears in a total of 1 episode throughout the course of the series.


 * Season 1 -
 * The Witch is Back