Time Loop

A Time Loop refers to when a day repeats itself over and over again until a certain task is fulfilled that will end it. A Time Loop can last for any period of time and will not usually not be noticed by the person(s) stuck in the Time Loop. Initially the person who caused the Time Loop will be the only person to remember. However, if one has the power of Premonition or a similar power then the first time a day (or any other time period) repeats itself they may get a feeling of "Deja Vu". On the second repeat they may develop an uncanny feeling of exactly what is going to happen and when. This would allow the person to change the day and break the time loop.

The Demon, Tempus, has the power to manipulate time and ergo also the ability to create Time Loops. However, if he is defeated then the Time Loop will be broken and reality will move forwards.

Three time loops have been used on throughtout the series. The first time loop was caused by Tempus in the Season One finale, Deja Vu All Over Again. Tempus hired a demon posing as Inspector Rodriguez to kill the Charmed Ones. Tempus rewound the day each time the demon failed. Fortuantely, Phoebe was able to sense the time loop with her premonition power, remembering quicker with each rewind. She and her sisters eventually accelerated time to force themselves out of the time loop.

The second the Charmed Ones encountered a time loop was in the Season Three episode, ''The Good, the Bad and the Cursed. ''Whilst investigating an old rundown wild western town, the ghost of a Indian psychic called Beau Lightfeather fell through Phoebe and created a Psychic Echo between them. From then on, [Phoebe]] began to experience the same injuries as Beau was receiving from local villian Sutter. Phoebe soon received a premonition of Beau's execution by Sutter. Prue and Cole realised Beau was stuck inside a time loop as a result of a great injustice and travelled into the time loop; the Wild West. Prue and Cole were able to convince the townspeople to stand up to the tyrannical Sutter and save Beau, therefore ending the time loop and saving him and Phoebe from dying.

The third and final time loop in the season was in Season Seven episode, Show Ghouls. A corrupt club owner from the 1890s, Count Roget, had made some sort of Faustian Deal with the demon Sargon, who was later vanquished by the Charmed Ones in 1999/2000. A fire was started by Roget in the club killing all of the innocents inside. The time loop forced the innocents to relive the fire each day for over a hundred years due to the great injustice. In 2005, Mike, a friend of Darryl Morris' was possessed, originally what was thought to be the soul of a distraught barkeep, George, from the club but turned out to be a ruse by the spirit of Count Roget. He tricked Phoebe and Drake de Mon into projecting their souls into the time loop so he could use their projection point to escape his own curse and possess Drake's body. Eventually he was dispossessed and dragged to Hell. This in turn allowed the tortured souls of the innocent clubgoers to move on as Roget's evil deal had stopped them from doing so.

Appendices

 * (Book of Shadows text:)

Time Loops

 * A Time Loop is a period of time that repeats itself over
 * and over again ad infinitum. Sometimes a Loop is
 * localized to a specfic plane or ground, but at other
 * times a Loop's effects can be felt globally. A few magical
 * beings are powerful enough to create Time Loops such as
 * Tempus, the Devil's Sorcerer. But the causes of a Loop can
 * also be more Cosmic. For example, certain spiritual
 * traditions believe that a great Evil or great injustice can be
 * cursed into a Time Loop until righted. Once the evil has been
 * eliminated or the injustice has been corrected, Time will
 * stop repeating itself and again move forward for those who
 * were trapped in the Loop.