Avatars

"With good there is always evil, so the battle never ends. Not until there is nothing left. That is the future your fight is leading to. Not good, nor evil, only nothing."

- Alpha about the battle between good and evil.

The Avatars are an ancient group of extremely powerful magical beings who can bend the fabric of space-time and reality itself. Unlike other magical beings, their power is said to be unlimited, beyond good and evil. Avatars are not categorized as good or evil; they are neutral. Their desire is to shape the world to their own design; a perfect world or Utopia.

The Avatars are depicted as a peaceful, yet powerful collective whose sole purpose is to create their version of Utopia, a world without evil. However, as discovered by the ancient Egyptians and the Charmed Ones, the price of this perfect world is free will. Despite their devotion to the cause, the Avatars are capable of knowing when the world is not ready for them, and do not force the change upon the world.

Avatars increase their ranks and power by inviting other beings into their collective. As a general rule, they do not force others to join them. Rather, they make their presence known using subtle methods, where those they approach are expected to understand the Avatars at their own pace.

In Ancient Egypt
At one point in time, Avatars ruled over the entire world, but eventually an Egyptian mage realized something was wrong and he created a very powerful potion which was the only thing able to destroy them. Unlike most magical creatures in the Charmed universe, Avatars are magically connected to each other. If one member of the Collective dies, it affects all Avatars, making them weaker and less powerful both individually and as a group as demonstrated when the Avatar Beta was killed by Kyle Brody with a potion. At this stage, they will become vulnerable to any attacks from very powerful Upper Level Demons or even Magical beings. This had similarly been applied to the Charmed Ones and later to the Triad.

The Avatars need Cole
The Avatars made their first appearance in Season 5, when they came to Cole Turner and asked him to join their ranks. Cole at first rejected their offer. Even as strong and powerful as Cole was his energy balls had absolutely no effect on them. Cole was invincible at the time so the Avatars could not harm or vanquish him either easily, but because of his powers and honest nature the Avatars wanted him to join them.

In a later episode, Cole realized the unlimited powers being an Avatar would provide him. He agreed to the opportunity and became an Avatar, and used his new power to change the past for personal gain. He altered reality in desire that Phoebe Halliwell would love him and they could be together forever. Unfortunately, he wasn't invincible in the altered world that resulted, as he was returned to his past form, that of the powerful demon known as Belthazor. The Avatars warned him, and asked him to stop. Cole ignored them, which led to his ultimate downfall.

The Gathering Storm
During Season 7, Leo Wyatt became an Avatar in desperation, wishing to use the powers to bring Piper and Phoebe back from death. Not long after, Leo began raising high faith for the Avatars before the Halliwell sisters, seeking to create a better world. The Avatars then sought out the disenchanted demonic seer Kyra, granting her a vision of their Utopia to explain to the sisters, which she would show Phoebe in return for being turned human. The powerful demon Zankou, who knew the Avatars' world would be far less than suitable for demons to thrive at all in, caught up to and killed Kyra for her betrayal in short time. This was actually the final straw for the sisters, who, having long desired a normal life, finally agreed to go along with the Avatars' plans. Utopia was then created, a new world order under the watch of the Avatars.

Afterwards, Leo checks with the sisters to see if Utopia has met its promises. However, Leo witnesses that the Avatars are maintaining Utopia in an unexpected manner. They are simply removing anyone who creates conflict from existence. Alpha, the representative of the Avatars, explained that they had modified the way people think, so as to allow people to more easily accept Utopia. Unfortunately some people were beyond hope, and their inner demons began to surface, driving them to cause conflict. This in turn drove the Avatars to deal with the resulting chaos to protect Utopia. Leo asked if they were killing people, but as they said, they simply removed them, vanquishing the one for the sake of the many. They had the obligation to maintain the world they had created, and they wouldn't let anything threaten that.

Zankou discovered a tomb detailing the Avatars' last attempt to create Utopia. He saw that in order to eliminate conflict, the Avatars not only took away free will, but the ability to feel grief, pain, or mourning. No one dies in Utopia, but merely "goes to a better place." Zankou convinced Leo to help him, and Leo agreed: he sacrificed himself to the Avatars, creating conflict by battling demons at a party held in the manor. When his sons Chris and Wyatt couldn't stop crying over the loss of their father, Phoebe, who had been skeptical at first about Leo's dying warning, used her power of premonition and remembered all the losses they'd faced. She realized that Leo was telling the truth, and Chris and Wyatt were simply too young to act the way that the adults had been programmed to act. She helps Piper remember her loss of Leo, and Paige's loss of Kyle Brody. The sisters meet Zankou and learn of the making of the potions. Zankou found an ancient Egyptian Tomb, with all the drawings showing their history with the Avatars. Anubis, the Egyptian God of Rebirth, said "There is a price to pay for Utopia".

To the tone of Phoebe's argument that at least people knew what they were dying for with good and evil, the Avatars promised to rewind the world to as it was before Utopia was created, and said they would retreat until another time, where the people are ready to accept Utopia.

Last Appearance
In 2005, an Avatar appeared before Piper when the latter summoned her and an Elder. She demanded an explanation as to why the Angel of Death wanted to take Leo away. Though initially appearing at odds with each other, the Avatar and Elder didn't have the authority to answer her question, claiming that neither of them had the power to save Leo, as doing so would greatly disrupt the Grand Design. They gave Piper the information of a higher power who looks over the Grand Design, the Angel of Destiny.

Powers and Abilities
The power of the Avatars lies in their collective. As such, they possess a virtually unlimited number of magical powers. For this reason, only their most prominent powers are listed. When individuals join the Avatars, they strengthen the collective by adding their powers to it, amplifying each individual power and every member as a whole.

As an entire collective, the Avatars are extremely powerful. One Avatar alone was able to withstand the combined magical assaults of several Elders, all at the same time, without having the need to retaliate. Even Zankou acknowledged the extent of the collective's power, which was why he had to resort to underhanded tactics in order to undermine their agenda.

Though their generic powers are supposedly limitless, the Avatars themselves seem to decline from this way of thinking. Any manipulation of time, space and reality on their behalf drains the group of the magical power they have at their disposal, leaving them at a risk if they used it frivolously. For this reason, members are encouraged to not use their powers for personal reasons like Cole. There are also limits to what they can achieve, as seen when Alpha pointed out to Cole that Avatars cannot control love.

Active Powers
 * Fading: An energy based form of teleportation.
 * Reality Warping: The ability to warp the fabric of reality and alter it to one's desire. The Avatars possess this power as a Collective.
 * Chronokinesis: The ability to manipulate and control time in all directions.
 * Resurrection: The ability to bring the deceased back to life.
 * Teleportation Manipulation: The ability to manipulate or stop the teleportation of others.
 * Illusion Casting: The ability to create illusions and make the intended target see what they desire.
 * Power Granting: The ability to bestow powers upon other beings.
 * Power Negation: The ability to cancel out the powers of others. The Avatars could also nullify the power of Crossed, Double-Crossed; disabling it from sucking anymore people in.
 * Energy Waves: The ability to fire highly destructive waves of energy, capable of vanquishing multiple targets at once.
 * Literary Manipulation: The ability to scan book rapidly absorbing all of their information.
 * Electrokinesis: The ability to create strong forces of lightning and electricity.
 * Sensing: The ability to locate and find people or objects.

Other Powers
 * Immortality: Living for an infinitely long lifespan and having an arrested aging process.
 * Immunity: The ability to be completely immune to the powers or magic of other beings.

Known Avatars

 * Current
 * Alpha
 * Gamma
 * Avatar of Force ("Sam, I Am")
 * Unidentified Avatar ("Vaya Con Leos")
 * Unnamed Avatars ("Charmageddon")


 * Former
 * Leo Wyatt ("Charmageddon")
 * Cole Turner ("Centennial Charmed")


 * Deceased
 * Beta ("Extreme Makeover: World Edition")

Vanquishing Potion
While immortal and virtually invincible as a collective, individual Avatars can be vanquished by an ancient Egyptian Potion. This potion was created by the mage Anubis when the Avatars tried to create Utopia in the time of Ancient Egypt. None of its ingredients are known. For this reason, only a few vials exist, most of which have been destroyed.

When the potion is thrown and breaks it releases grey smoke, which then enters the Avatar through both the mouth and nostrils, killing them almost instantly like a poison. Once the potion in inhaled, death is unavoidable, unless time is reversed. Kyle Brody tried to use the potion twice, one failed attempt to kill Leo Wyatt and a successful one, killing Beta. Unfortunately Brody himself was killed too in the process by Beta.

Notes and Trivia

 * The Avatars were credited as creature head demons in their first two appearances of season 7.
 * They assume names based on the Greek Alphabet.
 * The 'beyond good and evil' image taps into the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, who used the phrase as a book title, taken from a longer quotation which, in English, says "Whatever is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil". This is particularly fitting for Leo's mental state when he join the group.
 * The method of Fading used by the Avatars changes between Season 5 and 7. They first faded with a shadow-like effect and later faded through light.

Appearances
The Avatars appeared in a total of 14 episodes over the course of the series.


 * Season 5
 * Sam I Am
 * Centennial Charmed


 * Season 7
 * A Call to Arms (as Creature Heads)
 * The Bare Witch Project (as Creature Heads)
 * Charrrmed! (as Creature Heads)
 * Once in a Blue Moon
 * Someone to Witch Over Me
 * Charmed Noir
 * There's Something About Leo
 * Witchness Protection
 * Ordinary Witches
 * Extreme Makeover: World Edition
 * Charmageddon


 * Season 8
 * Vaya Con Leos