P. Russell

"How does it feel to be powerless against me?"

- Russell speaking with Phoebe Bowen. P. Russell (1894 - February 17, 1924) was a witch and descendant of Melinda Warren. Born to Gordon and Charlotte Russell (née Bowen), she was a good witch of the Warren line who possessed the powers of pyrokinesis and divination. At an unknown time, Russell fell in love with Anton, an immortal, shapeshifting warlock who turned her evil. However, she concealed this from her cousins, P. Bowen and P. Baxter, whom she lived with.

Unbeknownst to her, Bowen and Baxter learned Anton's true identity and decided they had to kill her. On February 17, 1924, Anton gave Russell a potion to triple her powers in order to take on her cousins and take their powers. Initially reluctant, he persuaded her to by playing on her desire for power. She drank the potion and confronted Bowen while Anton kept Baxter busy. Russell failed to kill the cousins, who were almost able to kill her using a spell. However, her future-life, Phoebe Halliwell came into possession of her body and escaped them. Meanwhile, Russell came into possession of Phoebe's body.

In the future, Anton gave Russell his Protection Amulet and they proceeded to take on Bowen and Baxter's future lives, Prue and Piper Halliwell. However, Prue managed to kill Anton and, while Russell was distracted, knocked her out and took off the amulet so Phoebe could return to her body. Their souls were switched once more, and Russell was killed and cursed by her cousins.

Early life
Pearl Russell was born in 1894 to Gordon and Charlotte Russell (née Bowen) as their first and only child. Through her mother, she was a descendant of Melinda Warren, but did not inherit one of the Warren powers of molecular immobilization, telekinesis or premonition, and instead possessed pyrokinesis and divination. This may imply that her father was also a witch and that she inherited her magic from him.

Russell was a good witch, and, at an unknown time, moved to live at the house that her aunt and uncle had built, where her cousin, P. Johnson (née Baxter), lived with Gordon Johnson, her husband. Russell's other cousin, the photographer P. Bowen, also moved in.

Working at the speakeasy
Baxter and Gordon held a speakeasy at the house, during which Bowen would take portraits and Russell would tell the future, make potions, and even offered to curse someone for someone else. She used the family's Book of Shadows in her workings.

Russell was popular and respected among those who came to the speakeasy. She befriended a socialite and was often with her. Russell once offered to curse someone for her, to which her friend glanced at a man and answered with "maybe later" before they both laughed impishly.

At an unknown time, Russell met and fell in love with Anton, an immortal, shapeshifting warlock. The two of them fell in love, and Russell was soon turned evil. She concealed her new boyfriend's true identity from her cousins, and Anton told her that they had to kill them in order to take their powers and become unstoppable.

Confronting her cousins
On February 17, 1924, Anton gave Russell a power-tripling potion and told her to confront her cousins. She was, initially, resistant, but he managed to persuade her. He also gave her his Protection Amulet to protect her from their powers.

As part of the plan, Anton shapeshifted into Baxter's ex-boyfriend and luring her away so Russell could take Bowen upstairs and kill her. However, Baxter managed to escape Anton and Russell and Bowen fought downstairs instead, scaring away the customers. The amulet protected Russell from Bowen's cryokinesis, but she managed to knock her onto the floor anyway. Baxter then came in from the other room and began to strangle her. However, Phoebe Halliwell, Russell's future-life (and P. Baxter's great granddaughter) switched their souls, and Russell was transported into Phoebe's body in the year 2000.

In the future and death
"Hello, cousins. Or is it sisters, now?"

- Russell confronting the sisters.

Russell awoke in Phoebe's body and, upon awaking, saw Anton with her, placing the Protection Amulet around her neck. She was confused, and Anton told her that she was in her future body and that her cousins were now her sisters. To get revenge, the two went to the house (now known as the Halliwell Manor).

In the house, a brief battle ensued. However, after Russell sent a stream of fire at the sisters, Prue Halliwell (Bowen's future-life) telekinetically deflected it at Anton, vanquishing him. Russell, distracted by her true love's death, was then knocked out cold by Piper Halliwell (Baxter's future life), and the amulet was removed from her, allowing Phoebe to switch their souls back.

In 1924, in her normal body, Russell was killed and cursed by her cousins. It is unknown what happened to her body.

Physical appearance
Russell had short, dark hair and brown eyes. On the day she died, she wore a somewhat revealing pink dress with a red, feathery cardigan and a silver tiara.

Personality and traits
Initially a good person, Russell was turned evil after falling in love with Anton. However, she showed signs of second thoughts after the time came to kill her cousins. Regardless, she later tried to get revenge for her death by killing her cousins' future-lives.

Powers and abilities
Besides the basic powers possessed by magical witches, Pearl possessed the active powers of:
 * Pyrokinesis: After drinking the power-trippling potion, Russell was able to throw streams of fire with her hands. Before this, it can be assumed that she simply possessed the wiccan power to create fire as the ability to throw fire was later described as an Upper Level Demonic power.
 * Divination: Russell, who owned a crystal ball, presumably had some sort of divination power. This developed into the power of premonition in her next life.

Behind the scenes

 * Russell was portrayed by Alyssa Milano in Pardon My Past. She only appeared as Phoebe because she recognized her own soul.
 * It is possible that Russell's first name was Pearl, due to Phoebe mentioning an Aunt Pearl in Sense and Sense Ability.
 * According to the family tree, Russell was born July 2nd, 1894. However, as Phoebe said that she was the same age as her when she died (twenty-five) this date is inaccurate.
 * Her relationship with Anton can be seen as a precursor to Phoebe's later relationship with Cole Turner. The only difference is that after becoming the Source of All Evil, Cole was never able to turn Phoebe completely evil.
 * A character who made a cameo in the Charmed Comic issue "The Charmed Offense" displayed similar abilities to P. Russell. It could possibly be her as all Warren Witches were called from the after life to do battle, but the likelines of this was slim due to fact that when she died, she was evil. Though, she could have sought redemption after her death.

Appearances

 * Season Two
 * Pardon My Past


 * Season Eight
 * Generation Hex