The Charmed Ones

You can kill me, but you cannot kill my kind. The Warren line will grow stronger with each generation, culminating in the arrival of three sisters. They will be the most powerful witches the world has ever known, they will defeat all kinds of evil. They will be known as The Charmed Ones.

The Charmed Ones are a sisterhood of the three (actually four) most powerful good witches ever to walk the Earth, and are dedicated to protecting innocents and the world from the forces of evil. They are descended from the family line of Warren witches. Each sister had a unique power along with the ability to cast spells and brew potions.

The history of the Charmed Ones went all the way back to their ancestor, Melinda Warren, a powerful witch who unfortunately lived in the era of the Salem witch trials. She possessed all three of the Charmed Ones' original powers: telekinesis, molecular immobilization, and premonition, and was also the creator of the Warren Book of Shadows. When Matthew Tate, a warlock, exposed her secret to the villagers, she was burned at the stake. But before her death, Melinda Warren prophesied that each generation of the Warren line would grow stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of the Charmed Ones. Three sisters that would be the most powerful witches the world had ever known.

Prue, as the oldest sister, had the strongest power, telekinesis, which allowed her to move objects with her mind. Later she manifested the ability of astral projection, the latter allowed her to be in two different places at the same time by projecting her mind and consciousness out of her body in a tangible state on the physical plane, leaving her body unconscious. Piper, the middle sister, has the power to manipulate molecules, at first to slow them down to the degree that they stop, and the people/objects become frozen. As she grows more profficient, she learns to freeze only certain people or only certain objects or body parts as she wishes. Eventually, her powers grew to being able to make molecules move so fast that they explode, resulting in dangerous explosions, and even to turn them into a liquified state. Phoebe, the youngest, initially possessed the power of premonition, which evolves into being able to receive visions of both the future and the past. She later picks up the powers of levitation and empathy; which respectively work as means to float in midair and channel other people's emotions as well as their powers.

After the tragic and unexpected death of Prue, Piper and Phoebe discover that they have a half-sister, Paige Matthews, who is the daughter of their mother and her whitelighter, Sam. Paige's whitelighter blood mixes with her witchcraft heritage to give her a unique form of telekinesis - telekinetic orbing, though she has to verbally call for objects to "orb" them where she wants them. As she learns to control the dual sides of her ancestry, Paige also learns how to orb herself and others (the whitelighter form of teleportation) and to heal open wounds, and eventually she receives her own charges to train and protect as they learn witchcraft.

Although each sister is a powerful witch in her own right, their combined might, which is known as the "Power of Three", is where their true strength lies, and is said to be the most powerful form of magic ever. Their powers are rooted in their bond as sisters, and it is their love for each other that makes them strong. Without supreme power and/or trickery applied, likely including some from an outside source, there is no demon, warlock, or magical being that can withstand the Power of Three.

The Power of Three, the ancient magic and bond that is imbued with the sisters, is represented by the ancient symbol called The Triquetra. An embossed triquetra was placed on the front of the Book of Shadows, and would split whenever the Power of Three was split.

The Original Charmed Ones


After three centuries, the prophecy was fulfilled by the birth of Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell. Although they were born witches, their grandmother, Penny, bound their magic at Phoebe's birth to protect them from a warlock who intended to kill them as soon as Phoebe was born, with immunity from their powers granted by their mother against her will. In March 1998, Penny died from a fatal cardiac arrest which subsequently lifted the spell, but Phoebe moved away from Piper and Prue almost immediately, thus delayed their powers' reawakening till six months later, when she returned. That same night she returned, while playing with Piper with their family spirit board, they noticed it spelled the word "attic" and led Phoebe upstairs, where she found the Book of Shadows and cast the spell that reawakened their powers.

During their first three years as witches, they encountered countless manifestations of evil. By vanquishing these dark forces, they developed a reputation of untold power and fabulous destiny. In the beginning, the sisters only encountered warlocks, but as their powers grew and evolved, so did the evil beings they encountered, going from demons and ghosts to dark lords. Eventually, the sisters not only developed strength, but also willpower and an unusually strong bond with one another, enabling them to stand united despite their very notable differences. By the new millenia, the sisters stopped the Horsemen of the Apocalypse from ending the world, almost sacifricing one of them in the process.

In 2001, the Charmed Ones made the fatal mistake of exposing magic to the world, and had to resort to resetting time to amend the error. But by doing so they lost their strongest, most battle-hardened sister, Prue, who was killed by the demon Shax, who blasted her through a wall, resulting in severe brain damage and died before Leo arrived. With her death, the Power of Three was broken.

The Reconstituted Charmed Ones


With Prue's death in 2001, the Power of Three was shattered. However, hope for its reconstitution was brought by the arrival of Prue, Piper and Phoebe's half-sister, Paige Matthews. Paige was the result of a forbidden, clandestine love between Patty Halliwell and Sam Wilder, a Whitelighter guardian angel. This ancestry and Prue's unexpected death resulted in the awakening of Paige's half-witch powers. ''("Charmed Again") ''

The new Power of Three encountered many more magical creatures, and the sisters even fulfilled their first combined destiny by vanquishing the Source of All Evil with help from Cole and the Seer. After his final vanquish, their combined destiny became to protect and prepare the way for the next generation while also continuing to thin out the demon hierarchy and save innocents.

Throughout the five years where the Charmed Ones faithfully served their Wiccan duties, they rid the world of the most formidable and terrible demons and creatures of evil. By Season Six, the Underworld became increasingly scarce.

Piper has three children with her husband Leo Wyatt; Wyatt, Chris and Melinda. Phoebe has three little girls with her husband Coop. Paige has a son, Henry Jr. and twin daughters named Tamora and Kat Mitchell with her husband Henry Mitchell. ("The Day The Magic Died", "It's A Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World, Part 2", "Forever Charmed")
 * The Tall Man had been imprisoned for centuries, and as such had never heard of a Charmed One when ordered by the Seer to capture one. She simply used the description of "a powerful witch", that every demon before him had failed to contain. ("Womb Raider") Phoebe later destroyed this demon using the powers of her demonic baby that later proved to actually be The Source's and Seer's baby.
 * Later, the wizard Rathmere while confined by the Spider Demon, was told that she had captured a Charmed One, something she knew little about. As a powerful wizard in the magical community up until his capture in 1904, he had heard of the prophecy of their coming. ("Spin City")

Powers and Abilities
As witches, the sisters have the basic skills of spell casting, potion making, scrying for something or someone, cursing and glamouring. Piper is known as the best potion maker due to her passion to cooking; and Phoebe the best spell writer due to her dedication to her Charmed life. Although Prue and Paige are good at these skills, they are not quite as skilled as their middle sisters. Prue was more capable of thinking and devicing plans while Paige had more skill in helping people with her whitelighter nature.

Aside from these standard abilities, the sisters each possess separate powers. Their powers are linked to their emotional states - if one sister becomes emotionally distressed, her powers will be affected; and if all three sisters are distressed at the same time, their combined magic will be weakened to the state that evil can easily roam around them. The powers of each sister is connected with each other, this is how their advancements are selected.



Prue Halliwell
Telematerialization - An extension of her telekinetic abilities, this power allows Prue to transfer liquids (It is unknown if solid things or gasses too) from one place to another. She can do this by splitting the molecules of the desired object in the air and making them re-join in any other place she wants. Prue was only shown using this power on-screen once, in the Pilot and it is unknown if she ever practiced Telematerialization again further in her Charmed life.
 * Connection: Mind, Movement.
 * Telekinesis - The ability to move or control one or more objects with one's mind and hands without physical contact. The strength of the ability depends on one's physical and emotional strength, but most importantly, mental stability. It was initially triggered by squinting her eyes, but it later grew to channeling through her hands. Anger allows her power to generate stronger effects. Telekinesis also allowed her to deviate projectiles and incomming attacks and perform incredible fighting skills, even defying gravity in some.
 * Astral Projection - The ability to project oneself on the physical plane anywhere the heart desired to be. Her telekinetic power is useless in this mode. First developed this power in Ms. Hellfire.



Piper Halliwell
Connection: Manipulation of Molecules.
 * Molecular Immobilization - The ability to slow down the molecules of an object to the point where they stop moving completely, almost like stopping time itself. It was channeled by her hands. Initially needed panic or fear to trigger the power. At first, Piper could only apply it in objects near her, but as her power grew, the radius the effect of the immobilization grew as well, covering several feet.
 * Molecular Combustion - The ability to speed up molecules to the point where they spontaneously burst into flames, causing things to explode. This formidable ability subsequently transformed Piper into the most powerful Charmed One after Prue died, allowing her to move on to being the eldest sister. Frequently used to vanquish demons in place of spells or potions and extremely useful for that purpose. This power is channeled by her hands, and triggered by anger. First developed this power in Exit Strategy.
 * Molecular Acceleration - The ability to make molecules reverberate at a speed which causes them to become disordered, this results in the liquefaction of solid objects. First developed this power in Mortal Enemies.



Phoebe Halliwell
Connection: Seeing, sensing, and feeling what cannot be seen and felt.
 * Premonition - The ability to see past, present, and future events of a touched object with enough psychic energy, it also comes as a danger sense so she can dodge attacks with perfect timing. Her power advanced and she is now able to project within her premonitions and take part within them, which allows her to see further certain details in the events she foresees. Her power continued to grow and she can now look into the future at will. This power was stripped by the Tribunal, and regained in Styx Feet Under.
 * Levitation - The power to sustain floating in midair. It allows her to dodge attacks and reach a certain height. She can use this power to boost her fighting skills, as her blows have more impact. This power was stripped by the Tribunal, and regained sometime between Forever Charmed and No Rest for the Wicca. She first developed this power in The Honeymoon's Over.
 * Empathy - The power to sense and read other peoples' emotions. This ability allows her to channel one's emotions and tap into the target's powers, which is tied to their emotions; allowing Phoebe to use their powers against them. Her power advanced and she is now able to amplify and project emotions onto a target and kill them. This power was stripped by the Tribunal but regained sometime between the events of Forever Charmed and Innocents Lost. She first developed this power in Valhalley of the Dolls.



Paige Matthews
Connection: Mind, sensing and helping charges and innocents.
 * Orbing - The ability to teleport from place to place in a swarm of bright white lights. Initially, she was only to orb in the same place and triggered by fear, but learns to transport to other places and take passengers with her. She has had this power since birth, but never aware of it and so never used it until she met her sisters.
 * Telekinetic Orbing - The hybrid ability to focus on one or more objects and physically call for it with telekinetic force and appear in a swarm of orbs. She received this power when the Charmed Ones were recreated after Prue's death in Charmed Again, Part 1. This is the only power that comes from her Wiccan heritage.
 * Healing - The ability to reconstitute any open or internal wounds or illness with a warm touch. First developed this power in Payback's A Witch.
 * Glamouring - The ability to change one's appearance for short periods of time.
 * Sensing - The ability to locate a specific person or object at any point on Earth or sense their presence. First used this power in Saving Private Leo.
 * Hovering - The ability to rise in the air a few feet, mostly used for meditation.
 * Omnilingualism - The ability to understand, speak and read any language with a charge.
 * Light Manipulation - Being able to control and shape orbs of light.
 * Telempatic connection with charges and her sisters/family.
 * Shielding - The ability to form a protective orb-based shield. First used this power in Charmed Lives.

The Power of Three
Although each sister is powerful in her own way, their true strength lies within their bond as sisters. When all three are joined together, they can access the united power called the "Power of Three" to vanquish the most powerful incarnations of supernatural evil, such as upper-level demons or warlocks. There are several spells in the Book of Shadows that require all three sisters to chant at the same time in order to make them work, whether they are meant for vanquishing evil or opening a time portal. The closer they are to each other, the stronger their power becomes and subsequently increases the defenses of the Book of Shadows, since it's connected by their bond as well. Because of this, many evil forces have attempted interfere with their bond, either to break or affect it one way or another. Certain evils have also attempted to acquire their Power of Three to their own gain.

If all three sisters war against each other with their powers, their bond will be break and all of their powers will be stripped away, along with the magic of their Book of Shadows. This happened in "Power Outage" when a spirit named Andras magically makes Prue, Piper and Phoebe quarrel with each other about their suppressed issues and eventually attack each other, allowing Belthazor an opportunity to kill them. The only way to repair their powers is to rebond as sisters and think about the same things at the same time.

Since this power requires all three sisters united, it can also easily break if one sister dies. Prue's death was what broke the Power of Three until Paige came to recreate it, taking Prue's place in the circle.

Leo comments in "Sense and Sense Ability" that part of their power comes from their telepathic connection, that they could practically think about the same things at the most important times.

On occasion, one sister can cast a Power of Three spell without necessarily needing all three of them casting it together, as long as she uses the right chanting, proven by Phoebe when she cast the Dominus Trinus to re-awaken their bound powers. Also, Piper summoned the Power of Three while Paige is possessed and Phoebe mummified in order to expel the spirit from Paige. A third occasion is when Paige cast a Power of Three spell to vanquish a slime demon with Piper and Phoebe by her side.

The Power of Three was called The Power of One once. It refers to the fact that the Power of Three acts as one united power. The sisters work as one.

When in unity, their magic is so powerful that they can save their lives or kill most of the deadliest upper level demons with The Power of Three Spell.

The Power of Three has met many matches over the years that were either equally as powerful or superior to it, but the sisters always find a way to strengthen their power within it.

The Book of Shadows


The Book of Shadows is the Charmed Ones' family heirloom handed down by the centuries of wisdom by their ancestors. The Book of Shadows is the sisters' source of power and knowledge as well as guidance to magic. Without it, they can easily become underhanded.

This book was started by the first official witch of the Warren family, Melinda Warren, and handed down through generations who added numerous entries to guide future generations, such as prominent histories, demon and warlocks entries, spells or potion recipes.

Aside from the knowledge written in its pages, the book is also magically linked to each generation of the family, proven by the link it shared with the Charmed Ones. When it first became their possession, its magic was only strong enough to keep itself from being taken out of the house by demons, but after three years, it became strong enough to shield itself from a demon, and later send a demon flying.

Many evils have attempted to acquire this book to their advantage and some have succeeded.

Penny Halliwell, the grandmother of the Charmed Ones, invented several recipes of potions throughout her years as a witch. Leo Wyatt added an entry to guide future whitelighters, i.e. his sons when they come into their powers.

In season one, the Book magically flipped itself to the pages that the sisters needed. At first, they thought it had its own mind, but then realized in season two that it was their deceased grandmother's work all along as a means to guide them.

By the end of season eight, Piper, Phoebe and Paige added their own entries about their experiences as witches to pass down the knowledge to future genrations.

Trivia

 * All 4 Charmed Ones have been to jail.
 * All 4 Charmed Ones have been hospitalized; first Prue, then Piper, then Phoebe and Paige last. Piper has been hospitalized the most often.
 * A shot of all three Charmed Ones together can be seen in every episode of the series.