Charmed Ones

The Charmed Ones are three witches who descend from the Warren line of witches. They are the most powerful witches ever to walk the Earth, and are dedicated to protecting innocents and ridding the world of evil.

Each Charmed One has one specific power inherited from their ancestor, Melinda Warren; the prophecy states that the eldest has the power to move things with her mind, the middle sister can freeze time, and the youngest can see into the past, present, and future.

The magical bond between these siblings is known as The Power of Three, and is said to be the strongest and most powerful form of magic in the world. It is represented by the ancient symbol called the Triquetra.

Although the prophecy speaks only of three sisters, there is a fourth Charmed One. After the death of Prue Halliwell on May 17th, 2001, the half-brother of the Halliwell sisters, Peter Sawyer, was revealed. He received his powers and joined Piper and Phoebe, reconstituting the Charmed Ones.

Melinda Warren's Prophecy
The history of the Charmed Ones goes all the way back to their ancestor, Melinda Warren, a powerful witch who unfortunately lived in the era of the Salem Witch Trials. Melinda possessed all three original Charmed powers; the powers of Telekinesis, Molecular Immobilization, and Premonition, and was the creator of the Warren Book of Shadows.

When the warlock, Matthew Tate, exposed Melinda's secret to the villagers, she was burned at the stake. But shortly before her death, Melinda prophesied that each generation of the Warren line would grow stronger and stronger, finally culminating in the arrival of a sisterhood, which would be known as the Charmed Ones.

The Arrival of the Three Sisters
Prue, Piper and Phoebe were born in between the years of 1970 and 1975. Due to a pact that their mother, Patty Halliwell, was forced to make with a warlock named Nicholas, promising the girls' powers in exchange for their lives, their grandmother, Penny Halliwell, cast a spell to strip away their powers for protection and erased their memories of being witches.

In 1977, their mother had an affair with her Whitelighter, Sam Wilder, and conceived a child. Because it was forbidden for whitelighters and witches to fall in love and have children, they were forced to give the baby up for adoption. They took him to a local church where a nun brought him to Mark and Helen Sawyer, who named him Peter. Patty died one year later.

In early 1998, Phoebe moved away from home shortly after their grandmother's passing. Six months later, she moved back in with Piper and Prue. That night, their family Spirit Board directed her up to the attic. By going upstairs, Phoebe finds her family's Book of Shadows and cast the spell on the first page, which unbound their powers, allowing them to become the Charmed Ones.

The sisters 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. As their bond as sisters strengthened, so did the Power of Three. Eventually, the sisters not only developed magical strength, but also willpower and an unusually strong bond with one another, enabling them to stand united despite their very notable differences.

The Death of Prue Halliwell
No evil had managed to destroy the Charmed Ones until 2001, when the sisters accidentally used magic in public trying to protect a doctor and were caught on TV.

The Source of All Evil used the opportunity to kill the Charmed Ones by making Phoebe willingly stay in the Underworld in exchange for the demon Tempus to rewind time to the moment before their magic was exposed. She agreed after finding out that Piper had been killed because of the madness that resulted from the exposure.

After time was rewound, Piper and Prue were forced to face the demonic assassin, Shax, on their own and were both sent through a wall. The Source sent an assassin after Phoebe, but she managed to escape back to the Manor where their Whitelighter, Piper's husband, Leo Wyatt, healed Piper. However, he did not manage to save Prue. Thus, the Power of Three was broken.

Reconstituting the Charmed Ones
After many unsuccessful attempts to revive Prue, Piper desperately cast a spell to call a lost sister, which did not work. However, Prue's spirit changed the effects of the spell to locating Paige instead, after finding out that she might have the power to recreate the Charmed Ones. Paige found out about Prue's death and went to attend her funeral. While there, she spoke with Phoebe, who had a premonition of him getting killed by Shax, the same demon that killed Prue.

Though they managed to chase him away, they also discovered that Peter had the power to orb, and later found out that he wasn't just a whitelighter, but the long lost half-brother that they never knew they had. When the three of them joined hands, the Charmed Ones were re-established and Peter activated her Wiccan powers, and received the power to move objects with his mind.

With Prue being dead, Peter's arrival repaired the broken Power of Three, reviving the Charmed Ones and their destiny. The reconstituted Charmed Ones encountered many more manifestations of both good and evil, as well as endured many more losses, heartbreaks, and epic battles.

Powers and Abilities
As magical witches, the Charmed Ones have the three basic powers of spell casting, potion making, and scrying. Each Charmed One is particularly skilled at one of these powers. For example, Piper is the best at making potions due to her passion for cooking, and Phoebe is the best spell-writer due to her creativity and dedication to her Charmed heritage. Although Prue and Peter's basic Wiccan skills were good, their specialty was more at thinking and devising plans and helping innocents respectively.

Because powers are linked to one's emotions, when one of the siblings becomes emotionally distressed, their powers will be affected. If all three siblings are distressed, their combined magic (The Power of Three) will be weakened. Since the Book of Shadows is also linked to their bond, when their combined magic is weakened, so is the power of their book. This makes the book vulnerable to evil.

Aside from their basic abilities, each Charmed One possesses separate powers. These powers are linked to each other, which is how their advancements are 'selected'. Each Charmed One possesses one of Melinda Warren's powers (more commonly referred to as "The Warren Powers") and are given by seniority; Telekinesis, Molecular Immobilization and Premonition, respectively.

Peter is the only member to have Whitelighter powers, due to his Whitelighter heritage, which is also enhanced by his Charmed status.

The Power of Three
Although each member has proven him/herself to be a powerful witch in their own right, the combined magic of the Charmed Ones, known as the "Power of Three", is where their true strength lies.

When all three members of the Charmed Ones are gathered, their powers are united as one. Said to be the most powerful form of magic, the Power of Three is rooted in the Charmed Ones' bond as siblings. It is their love for each other that makes the bond and the magic of each member stronger. The Power of Three also has its own spell, called the Warlock Spell or simply The Power of Three Spell.

It is said that no demon or warlock, or any other magical being can withstand the Power of Three. Although some have come far into the destruction of the Power of Three, either trough trickery or some higher source of demonic being, none have succeeded in accomplishing this.

The Book of Shadows
Like any other witches, the Charmed Ones have a Book of Shadows. This is the magical tome of the Warren line of witches and is said to be the most powerful and coveted tome in the entire world. It contains spells and potions created and collected by their ancestors, many of which being from the Charmed Ones' grandmother; Penny Halliwell. It also contains information about various demons and histories that were passed down throughout the generations.

The Charmed Ones' bond with the Book
Connected to the Charmed Ones is the Book of Shadows. This magical artifact is believed to be the "source" of their magic. The strength and power of the Book depends on the strength of the Charmed Ones' bond as siblings, as well as each individual's emotional state. If they are not 'connected' with each other, the Book's defenses lower. On the other hand, the stronger the connection, the more powerful the Book of Shadows's magic becomes. This has been proven many times when a certain evil attempted to steal the Book of Shadows.

The Power of Three
The Triquetra on the cover of the Charmed Ones' Book of Shadows, resembles their bond; The Power of Three. It is known as the family's symbol.

Whenever the Charmed Ones are in turmoil and use their powers on each other in an offensive way, the triquetra will split, resembling the broken bond. The leaves of the triquetra disconnect and the circle will vanish. As a result, the book will lose its powers, as will the sibling's.

The only way to restore everything is for the siblings to bond with each other again and solve their problems.