The Charmed Ones

The Charmed Ones are a prophesied sisterhood of three (later four) witches who descend from the Warren line of witches. They are known as the most powerful witches ever to walk the Earth and are dedicated to protecting the innocent 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 future.

The magical bond between these sisters is known as The Power of Three, and is said to be the strongest 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 Halliwell sister. After the death of Prue on May 17th, 2001, the Halliwells' long lost half-sister, Paige, was revealed. She received her powers and joined Piper and Phoebe, taking Prue's place in the Power of Three and reconstituting the Charmed Ones.

As Blessed starts, the Charmed Ones now retired and it's still unknow if there will be another set or who it could be.

History
"You can kill me, but you cannot kill my kind. With each generation, the Warren witches will grow stronger and stronger - until, at last, three sisters will arrive. Together, these three sisters will be the most powerful witches the world has ever known, they will defeat all kinds of evil. They will be known as The Charmed Ones." —Melinda Warren's last words, before being burned at the stake.

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 three sisters, which would be known as the Charmed Ones.

The Arrival of the Sisters
Prue, Piper and Phoebe were born in between the years of 1970 and 1975. Due to a pact that their mother, Patty, was forced to make with a warlock named Nicholas, promising the girls' powers in exchange for their lives, their grandmother, Grams, cast a spell to bind 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 her to a local church where a nun brought her to Mr. and Mrs. Matthews, who named her Paige. 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, others came to realize the Charmed Ones had appeared, and slowly 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 sisters met a brief strain in their bond when Phoebe fell in love with a demon named Cole Turner, also known as Belthazor, and faked his death to save him. When her sisters found out, Prue was the most upset, but came to forgive her gradually. They also came together for Piper when she fell in love with their whitelighter, Leo Wyatt, whom eventually proved the transcendence of their love and reached for marriage.

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, healed Piper. However, he did not succeed in saving 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 her getting killed by Shax, the same demon that killed Prue.

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

With Prue being dead, Paige's arrival repaired the broken Power of Three, reviving the Charmed Ones and their destiny. Since Prue had the power of telekinesis, Paige received this power as the replacement in the circle. The reconstituted Charmed Ones encountered many more manifestations of both good and evil, as well as endured many more losses, heartbreaks, and epic battles. In 2002, the sisters even fulfilled their first combined destiny by vanquishing the Source (albeit three separate times). After his third vanquish, their destiny became to protect and prepare the way for the next generation while also continuing to thin out the ranks of evil and save innocents. In 2003, Piper and her husband Leo conceived a magical child whom they named Wyatt Matthew Halliwell before Leo became an Elder and separated from the family. During this time, a mysterious whitelighter, Chris, travels back from the future and becomes the Charmed Ones' new whitelighter. In 2004, the sisters slowly learn Chris's true identity and his connection to the future that he is trying to change. Together, they manage to prevent Chris's future from occurring at the cost of Chris's own life. On that same day, Piper gives birth to her and Leo's second child, who is really Chris himself.

The rest of their journey took on near-death struggles and painful experiences as they had to deal with powerful foes and personal problems that almost cost them their lives, though they are also rewarded for their efforts. Leo becomes mortal again after the eventful times and is allowed to live out his life with his family. Phoebe finds out that she is meant to conceive a baby girl and begins to look forward to her future. Paige learns the joy of helping others as a whitelighter and embraces her whitelighter duties.

Between 2005 and 2006, the sisters suffer a new loss: Leo. After being told that a great battle is about to commence and Leo's death will motivate them, the sisters strike a deal with the Angel of Destiny - to keep him in a frozen state until they have prevailed. The sisters also accept a new witch apprentice, Billie Jenkins, who had long ago lost a sister of her own. Eventually the Charmed Ones find out that the Jenkins sisters are their new enemies and plot several strategies to destroy them. In the end, Billie sides with them again and end the battle with the destruction of the true evil behind the events: the Triad and Billie's sister, Christy. By this time, Paige marries a parole officer named Henry Mitchell and conceives twin girls, Tamora and Kat Mitchell, while adopting Henry Jr.; Phoebe marries a Cupid named Coop, who was sent by the Elders to make up for her losses over the years, and together mothers P.J and Parker Halliwell; Piper and her husband Leo Wyatt conceive their only daughter, Melinda Halliwell.

The Prophecy

 * The Warren line of witches descends from Melinda Warren, a victim of the
 * Salem Witch Trials in the seventeenth century. As Melinda was burned at the
 * stake she vowed that each generation of Warren witches would grow stronger,
 * culminating in the arrival of three sisters. These sisters would be the most
 * powerful good witches the world has ever known. They would destroy all kinds
 * of evil and be known as The Charmed Ones.

Powers and Abilities
As magical witches, the Charmed Ones have the four basic powers of spell casting, potion making, scrying, and mediumship. 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 Paige'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 sisters becomes emotionally distressed, her powers will be affected. If all three sisters are distressed at the same time, their combined magic (The Power of Three) will be weakened. Since the Book of Shadows is also linked to the sisters' bond, when their combined magic is weakened, so is the power of their book. This makes the book vulnerable to evil.

Unique Powers
Aside from their basic abilities, each Charmed One possesses separate active powers which are destined to grow and advance over the years. 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. The youngest sister, Paige, is an exception to this rule due to being the replacement of Prue, and therefore possesses a telekinetic power.

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

When all three sisters 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 sisters. It is their love for each other that makes the bond and the magic of each sister stronger. The Power of Three also has its own spell, called 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 through trickery or some higher source of demonic being, none have succeeded in accomplishing this.

The Book of Shadow
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' sisterly bond as well as each sister's individual 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' magic becomes. This has been proven many times when a certain evil attempted to steal the Book of Shadows.

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 sisters 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 sisters'.

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

Protecting itself against evil
At the very early beginning, the Charmed Ones had yet to grow a tight bond with each other and their book. Evil was able to touch the book, but could not move it out of the manor.

As the sisters grew closer and their powers stronger, their book grew stronger as well. It was able to move itself when evil wanted to touch it[3] and later on, even create a shield around itself that could electrocute demons.[4]

When the sisters are all emotionally weakened, the book will lose its strength and power, leaving it vulnerable to be taken by evil. When a demon is then able to steal the book, its power will shift and it will protect itself from good. The only way for good to reclaim the book is for the sisters to bond with their book again, by casting "The Power of Three Spell"

Notes and Trivia

 * The Charmed Ones are represented by an ancient symbol called the "Triquetra". This symbol is also used to represent their universal power as well. The cover of the Book of Shadows, as well as Kit's collar, feature the Triquetra.
 * The Charmed Ones are often to referred to as "the Halliwell sisters", mostly by other mortals, but also by other supernatural beings.