Gideon

Gideon was one of the most powerful and well-respected Elders, as well as the mentor of Leo Wyatt. He was also the headmaster of Magic School, possibly since its creation. While initially a friend to the Charmed Ones, he was later revealed to be the one trying to kill Wyatt Halliwell. Gideon was convinced that Wyatt was too powerful, and tried to kill him for the Greater Good.

Early Life
At an unspecified time, Gideon became the Headmaster of Magic School. It is possible he had been Headmaster since the school's creation after the destruction of Atlantis, as it was mentioned by the Elders that Gideon was the only one who could protect the school.

Gideon mentioned having met the first Charmed Ones when they were very young. After the Elders believed Leo killed Rennek, a powerful darklighter, he was the one who tells Leo about him becoming the whitelighter of the Charmed Ones in front of the Halliwell Manor.

He was also a supporter of the union of Leo and Piper in contrast to the rest of the Elders, and even went as far as to convince his fellow Elders to let them wed. However, after Wyatt Halliwell was born, Gideon grew concerned that the child was too powerful and became convinced that Wyatt needed to die to protect the Greater Good.

The Headless Horseman
In The Legend Of Sleepy Halliwell, Gideon requires the sisters services when one of the students at Magic School conjures up The Headless Horseman and beheads people, including the sisters and Gideon's aide Sigmund. Gideon then panics when discovering that the horseman kills a mortal innocent with him realizing that he may have to shut the school down. When the student Zachary was discovered to be the one responsible for the horseman, he morphs into Paige to move the students away from Gideon before turning back into himself to attack him. After the sisters are returned to normal, they convince him to let Gideon go.

True Intentions Revealed
In The Courtship Of Wyatt's Father, Gideon hires a group of darklighters to kill Leo Wyatt, because he wasn't focusing fully on his elder duties. One of the darklighters, Damien, ended up being sucked into the Ghostly Plane with Piper and Leo. While in the plane, Piper and Leo reunite as a couple and make love, (conceiving Chris Halliwell in the process) before Damien impales Leo with an arrow. While this is happening, Gideon "helps" Phoebe and Paige with reversing a portal back to return the couple to the real world. Damien is killed by his leader upon returning. After the ordeal, Leo informs Gideon on the bridge that he can't justify staying on earth anymore, and stays in the heavens until Spin City, while Gideon goes to the Underworld to meet with the darklighter leader and reveal his true plan, which was to keep Leo away and distract the Charmed Ones while he kills Wyatt (who grows up to be evil and immensely powerful in an alternate future), whose birth he considers a mistake.

The Spider Demon
In Spin City, when Piper and her unborn baby are cocooned by the Spider Demon, the sisters call Leo back from the Heavens for help. He goes to Magic School for information on a wizard, which Gideon gladly provides before he growls at Leo for abandoning his Elder duties again. After the demon is vanquished, Piper agrees to stay at Magic School with Gideon for her safety, oblivious to what he is really up to.

The Tribunal and Barbas
In Crimes And Witch-Demeanors. Darryl Morris ends up facing execution for killing a robber, due to the Cleaners removing exposure of magic the Charmed Ones used. Gideon gives them information on the Tribunal and then summons them. He acts as a lawyer for the sisters, while the Tribunal members summon Barbas. The Tribunal accelerates time while the case is proceeding to the point that Darryl is about to be executed while they read out their judgement. Barbas tries to convince the tribunal to relinquish the sisters' powers, but after finding out that Barbas deliberately carried out the plan by possessing a robber and Inspector Sheridan with phantasms, allowing him to be set free from purgatory. The sisters retain their ability to practice magic, but Phoebe loses her active powers. Barbas, technically the winner in the case, taunts Gideon by reading his greatest fear - that the sisters will discover his true intentions with Wyatt, but promises not to tell anyone.

Witch Wars
In order to ward the sisters, Leo and Chris off Gideon's plan to kill Wyatt, he conspires with a demonic couple Corr and Clea to kill the sisters off in a demonic reality TV series. He does this by betraying a good witch, Tali, to her death by getting the sisters to protect her from the demonic contestants. Although one of his conditions was that no innocents were harmed, the demons, being evil, have other plans with a darklighter killing Tali and a shapeshifter stealing the appearance of the crime reporter Kyle to get to the sisters themselves. Gideon pretends to save the day by forging a page on magical projector crystals he bugged the Manor with. He then grabs a crystal to show a promotion for the series and claims that they're the ones after Wyatt. After the couple are vanquished, the sisters celebrate their success, with Gideon relieved that the sisters, Leo and Chris don't suspect him anymore. Sigmund, who knows of the plan all along, worries that their attempts to kill Wyatt would be the reason why Wyatt turns evil, but Gideon ends up vanquishing him before he confesses to the sisters.

The Parallel World
In his final attempt to kill Wyatt, Gideon was forced to contact his counterpart in the evil parallel world, so that world's Wyatt would be killed as well. To prevent Leo and Chris from intervening in their plan, both Gideons turn invisible and blocks the potion necessary to create a portal, thus injuring their hands. After the Gideons heal each other, they manipulate the portal plan so that the Chris's and Leo's would cross over into each other's worlds.

When the plan to return Chris goes horribly wrong for the good sisters, Paige and Phoebe are forced to track down their evil brother-in-law and nephew. However, evil Gideon sent their evil counterparts home, allowing them to move the good sisters through the portal and causing the worlds to turn unbalanced. The Gideons discuss this plan over a game of chess. Good Gideon sends Paige and Phoebe through the portal only to be attacked by the evil Gideon, telling them that they're not supposed to be there. The Pipers then lapse into labor and go to hospital - leaving good Gideon alone with good Wyatt.

His Intentions are Discovered
While Paige, Phoebe, Leo and Chris are in the evil world's underworld (which looks more like a flourishing garden) with the good Barbas, evil Phoebe and Paige arrive and attack their counterparts while Chris, Leo and Barbas take cover behind a large rock. When Leo wonders out loud about whether or not Gideon knew about the portal problems, Barbas suggests that Gideon know exactly how it could go wrong. Once the Pipers call the sisters to say that they are in labour, Leo and Chris inform them that they need to save Wyatt as well.

Meanwhile, the Gideons plan their attack on the Wyatts by orbing them out of their bedroom to the attic. They later bless an athame to penetrate his force field and kill him. Just then, the Wyatts orb the athame away from themselves and into the Gideon's chest before a power of four vanquishing spell is cast by the sisters. The Gideons orb back to the mirror to heal themselves, knowing that they can breach his shield and with the worlds now unbalanced, they try to use it to their advantage.

Working with Barbas
Gideon realised his mistake of causing a significant imbalance, but realised that Wyatt's death would be the "great evil" necessary to restore the balance between the two worlds. However, the sisters, Leo and Chris soon discovered that in Chris' timeline that Gideon took Wyatt away for several weeks in his attempt to kill the boy. While Wyatt was able to fend him off, the trauma of having to constantly defend himself was too much for his young psyche to handle, and turned him evil – thus making Gideon's concerns a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Meanwhile, the Phoebes and Paiges search in the Gideons' office when they notice an echo in the room. The Phoebes open the curtain masking the mirror after they notice a chess piece.

To help him make the necessary great evil, he enlists the help of Barbas, who sets to work scaring a cheerful Piper into bewitching her sisters to make them as unusually happy as her followed by torturing Leo with a hallucination of Wyatt growing up to be evil so that Wyatt's defenders would be distracted - allowing him to kidnap and kill Wyatt.

Killing Chris and Kidnapping Wyatt
Chris is looking after Wyatt and searching through the book, when he hears footsteps. He then tries to flee with Wyatt, but Gideon knocks him back. Gideon then conjures up his athame, which he then uses to stab and kill Chris, as he runs towards Wyatt's cot. Leo orbs back from the hospital after Barbas finishes taunting him with the possibility of losing two sons instead of just one, only to find out that Gideon has breached the force field, picked Wyatt up and orbed him to the underworld with Barbas, stating that "It's for the best, Leo.".

Once the pair return to the underworld, Gideon and Barbas argue over how to kill Wyatt, with Gideon preferring not to get stabbed this time round. After Gideon notes how apparently Wyatt is cocky by not having his shield up, Barbas grows tired, grabs the athame, and pounces on Wyatt himself - only to fall to the floor as Wyatt orbs away. This results in a chase around the underworld by the pair until Gideon, via voice manipulation, lures Wyatt into a crystal cage using his father's voice.

His Vanquish
While Chris was dying, Leo had to go to Magic School. There he came face to face with his evil counterpart where they discuss how to save their sons. Evil Leo notes that he was full of hope while at the hospital, to which Good Leo responded with fear. Knowing that Barbas was responsible, they realize that in order to find Gideon, they need to find Barbas.

Upon trapping Wyatt, Gideon calls for Barbas to administer the killing - who apparently turns up to see him. "Barbas" criticises his lateness, to which Gideon snaps at his impatience. He hands "Barbas" the athame, who grows suspicious. Gideon asks if there is something wrong. "Barbas" states that there is - and proceeds to stab Gideon. "Barbas" transforms into Leo as he flings Gideon across the room. The real Barbas flames in and eavesdrops, while Gideon tries to defend his actions to kill Wyatt - including pulling the Elder card (to which Leo states that he is not one of them anymore) - but Leo refuses to have a bar of it.

After telling Gideon he was the reason why Wyatt turned evil in the first place, Leo orbs Gideon's magical mirror to the Underworld, and notifies Evil Leo on the other side not to kill Gideon. Gideon asks Leo what he was about to do. Leo replies with "A Great Evil," which was needed to restore balance to the parallel worlds. Leo strikes Gideon with lightning. Before Gideon dies, he curses Leo about the potential consequences of his decision before turning to dust. Leo destroys the mirror to prevent any future contact between the worlds, which had since been restored, due to a paragon of good being killed by another.

Personality
Gideon was a charismatic middle-aged looking Elder who possessed a great sense of responsibility and a great respect for the forces of good. He was very well capable of using words skilfully, such as when he addressed the Tribunal, acting as a lawyer for the Charmed Ones.

However Gideon was also consumed by a great fear for those who possess a unnatural number of powers, believing that those with power would inevitably end up turn evil. His fear of the horrors that would follow under such circumstances was so great that he was willingly to plot the death of his pupil and great friend, Leo, and even murder Chris and a innocent baby.

He easily ranked as one of the most manipulative characters in the series, since all his attempts to Wyatt's life were all carefully planned and calculated, planting false evidence here and there, to ensure that he will not be suspected by the boy's caretaker's.

Powers and Abilities
"Gideon's one of the most powerful Elders. If he wants him dead, he'll find a way."

- Leo stating the great magical power of Gideon


 * Basic Powers
 * Spell Casting: The ability to cast spells and perform rituals.
 * Active Powers
 * Orbing: The ability to teleport through the use of orbs. Gideon's orbs had a unique purple color.
 * Healing: The ability to heal the wounds of others, unless that being is already dead or evil.
 * Apportation: The ability to teleport beings or items across different planes or dimensions, Gideon used this to teleport the box with the cameras in it in "Witch Wars".
 * Electrokinesis: The ability to manipulate electricity and fire bolts of lightning.
 * Telekinesis: The ability to move objects and beings with the mind.
 * Telekinetic Orbing: The ability to transport things with the mind through orbs, he first used this to orb Sigmund's head over to the other heads in "The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell".
 * Remote Orbing: The ability to teleport others elsewhere through the use of orbs.
 * Molecular Dispersion: The ability to utterly destroy objects and beings by tearing them apart on a molecular level.
 * Transformation: The ability to change one object into another. Gideon used this ability to change the pages of a book into an entry on Ronyx crystals in "Witch Wars".
 * Force Field: The ability to generate a protective force field.
 * Invisibility: The ability to become unseen by the naked eye.
 * Divination: The ability to observe others through a Crystal Ball.
 * Photokinesis: The ability to manipulate light and orbs.
 * Thermokinesis: The ability to manipulate temperature.
 * Voice Manipulation: The ability to alter and manipulate one's voice.
 * Other Powers
 * Sensing: The ability to sense the location of other beings.
 * Regeneration: The ability to heal instantly after being wounded.
 * Reconstitution: The ability to reform the body after it has been destroyed.
 * Immunity: The ability to be immune to certain spells, powers or potions.
 * Immortality: The ability to possess an infinite lifespan and an arrested aging process.

Notes and Trivia

 * Gideon mentioned that he had been watching Prue, Piper and Phoebe since they were born.
 * Gideon and Kevin are the only Elders seen not wearing the traditional Elder robes.
 * According to Barbas, Gideon's greatest fear was that someone discovered that it was him who was after Wyatt. This was likely because his affiliation with demons and darklighters would bring the end of Magic School, his career as an Elder and his life.
 * Gideon, though officially considered an evil vanquished by Leo, could be more appropriately considered a tragic hero in which he would be a hero who, through his own actions, makes an error in judgement which leads to his downfall: the error being judging Wyatt as being a great threat to the force of good and his attempts at trying to vanquish him, which if unsuccessful, would have turned him evil.
 * Besides Paige, Gideon is the only Whitelighter or Elder in the series whose orbs are a different color. His orbs have varied between the regular blue and purple.

Appearances
Gideon appeared in a total of 7 episodes and 1 comic issue throughout the course of the series.


 * Season 6
 * The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell
 * The Courtship Of Wyatt's Father
 * Spin City
 * Crimes and Witch-Demeanors
 * Witch Wars
 * It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World, Part 1
 * It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World, Part 2

Season 9
 * The Darklight Zone (In a flashback)