The Charmed Ones

"We're the protectors of the innocent. We're known as the Charmed Ones."

- Phoebe to her sister Piper.

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.

Prophesied Powerful Witches
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 Halliwell
Prue, as the oldest sister, had the strongest power of telekinesis, which allowed her to move objects with her mind, though it was channeled through her eyes and hands. In early 2000, 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.

In Prue's life, she'd never had any permanent relationship. Her greatest love, Andy Trudeau, sacrificed himself to protect her and her sisters, which ended all of their possibilities of being together in life.

In 2001, Prue met her tragic end by the hands of Shax: the assassin of the Source. Her place in the triangle was later replaced by her long-lost half-sister, Paige Matthews.

It has been acknowledged by Patty and Cole in The Charmed Offensive that Prue's soul has gone missing.

Piper Halliwell
Piper, the second 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. In 2001, her powers grew to being able to make molecules move so fast that they explode, resulting in dangerous explosions. It is the strongest offensive power possessed by the Charmed Ones making Piper the most powerful of the Charmed Ones, even preceeding her older sister Prue. Later she gained the ability to make molecules reverberate at a speed which causes them to become disordered, this causes an object or being to rapidly heat up. Heat and fire can be created in the process.

Piper had spent years figuring out her feelings for her whitelighter, Leo Wyatt, and fighting for him. Their love becomes transcendant throughout history and allows them to conceive three children together: Wyatt, Chris and Melinda Halliwell. Even after their marriage, Piper and Leo are forced to fight to maintain their family.

Phoebe Halliwell
Phoebe, the third sister, was born with the power of premonition, which works by receiving visions of the future, and later, the past. She later gained the power of levitation in late 2000, which allows her to defy gravity and float in midair. Phoebe's original psychic powers eventually evolved into empathy, which allows her to read other people's emotions as well as channel/use their powers against them, since a person's power is tied to his/her emotions. Later in 2008, she developed the power of pathokinesis; which works as a means to manipulate others emotions with deadly results.

Phoebe has had two men that truly touched her: Cole Turner, the half-human form of Belthazor, who fought to be with her until his dark side overcame him once more and Phoebe vanquished him for good; the other person was Coop, a Cupid whom the Elders sent to help her find love again, and hopefully fall in love with him herself. By finding love in a Cupid, she found the man of her dreams and together conceived the daughter that she had long ago foreseen: P.J. Halliwell. They are currently awaiting their two other daughters.

Paige Matthews
In 2001, 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. At a young age, Paige has been able to orb, but was unaware of this power. After discovering her heritage, she learns to orb herself and others to other places. 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. This power is the replacement of the fallen Charmed One who had telekinesis. In 2006, she develops the power to heal open wounds. Also she gained the powers of glamouring and shielding and eventually she receives her own charges to train and protect as they learn witchcraft.

Paige married a mortal parole officer named Henry Mitchell after a few months of dating and him accepting her as a witch. Together, they produced two girls, Tamora and Kat Mitchell, and are currently adopting a baby boy named Henry Mitchell Jr.

The Power of Three
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 named Nicholas, 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 leads Phoebe upstairs, where she found the Book of Shadows and cast the incantation that reawakened their powers, and granted Prue the power of telekinesis, Piper the power to freeze, and Phoebe the power to see the future.

During their first three years as witches, they encountered countless manifestations of evil as they explored their origins. 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 (Prue developed the power of astral projection, Piper molecular combustion and Phoebe levitation), 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 sacrificing one of them in the process.

Aside from their united destiny, the sisters also sought a path of self-discovery, which motivated Prue to fulfill her dream of becoming a photo journalist; and Piper to choose between two men in her love life that has expanded from her past incarnation, and then fight to preserve her love; and Phoebe to find her own place in the world which prompted her to go back to college.

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 long-lost 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, and granted her a whitelighter form of telekinesis. ("Charmed Again")

The new Power of Three encountered many more magical creatures (good and evil), and the sisters even fulfilled their first combined destiny by vanquishing the Source of All Evil with help from Cole Turner 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, though demons are still on operation of eliminating the Charmed Ones.

At the end of season 8, 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")

In 2008, the sisters struggled greatly to combat Neena, the first witch to ever exist in history. They were separated at some point by Neena's powerful magic, but they managed to overpower her and her army with the help of their family matriarchs and other magical aids.


 * 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
Connection: Mind, Movement and Mental Stability. 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, but she never practiced Telematerialization again further in her Charmed life.
 * Telekinesis - The ability to move or control one or more objects with one's mind and hand movements 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 incoming attacks and perform incredible fighting skills, even defying gravity in some.


 * Astral Projection - The ability to project one's consciousness into a corporeal form on the physical plane anywhere the heart desired to be. Her telekinetic power is useless in this mode and her body is dormant, though she could still cast spells. 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 causes an object or a being to rapidly heat up. Heat and fire can be created in the process. First developed this power in Mortal Enemies.

Phoebe Halliwell
Connection: Manipulation of Psychic Energy. Seeing, Sensing, Feeling, and Manipulating what cannot be seen.
 * 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 now possess all the abilities within this power.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 defy gravity and 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 in 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. This power was stripped by the Tribunal but regained in Innocents Lost. She first developed this power in Valhalley of the Dolls.


 * Pathokinesis - The power to manipulate the emotions of others. She uses a powerful psychic blast to flood an individual mind with emotions, killing them. She first developed this power in Morality Bites Back.

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. First used this power in House Call.


 * 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. First used this power in Gone With the Witches.


 * Omnilingualism - The ability to understand, speak and read any language with a charge. First used this power in Imaginary Fiends.


 * Light Manipulation - Being able to control and shape orbs of light. First used this power in Repo Manor.


 * Telempathy - Telepathic and empathic connection with charges and her sisters/family.


 * Shielding - The ability to form a protective orb-based shield to block physical and magical attacks, it can also be used to protect the people around Paige. First developed this power in Innocents Lost.

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 broken 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 made 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. In "Last Witch Effort", Phoebe draws the Triquetra symbol to telepathically contact her sisters when Piper got sent to another plane and Paige's spirit crossed over to the Ghostly Plane.

On occasion, one sister can cast a Power of Three spell without necessarily needing all three to cast it together, as long as she is using 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.