User Profile

Character Name: Piper Halliwell
Character Fandom: Charmed
Canonical Point of Entry: Season 6 Episode 15
Physical Description: Five foot 3, long dark brown hair, brown eyes

Background

Piper is the second eldest of the Charmed Ones. Originally the middle sister of the trio of witches, while Prue acts as the fearless lead witch and Phoebe is the eccentric and reckless spell-caster, Piper takes up the reins as the moral compass and voice of reason for the Charmed Ones. Piper is the best potion-maker out of the three sisters, aided by her training as a chef.

Unlike her sisters, Piper has always been the most reluctant to embrace her destiny as a Charmed One. She is always craving some bit of normalcy in all of her relationships, refusing to allow magic to take precedence over every aspect of her life. This has become a significant weakness, as demons and warlocks over the years have exploited the fact that Piper wants to just be normal in order to attempt to steal her powers or end her life.

During her early years as a witch, Piper proves to be the sister most "unlucky in love". Her engagement with Jeremy Burns was abruptly ended when she found out that he was a warlock waiting to kill the Charmed Ones as soon as they received their powers. Piper also seems to always fall for men she cannot pursue a long term relationship with. A ghost, Mark Chao, captures her heart very early on during her first year as a witch but once his death was avenged by Piper and her sisters, Mark moved on. Later she meets Leo Wyatt, a handyman hired to do odd jobs around the manor. She and Phoebe both compete for his affections, and although Piper wins the gentleman's heart, Leo turns out to be a "guardian angel" to the Halliwells and was forbidden from pursuing a romantic relationship with his "charge". The pair part ways, but not for long.

After more failed romances (including one with neighbor Dan Gordon) and demons and warlocks vanquished, Piper and Leo eventually reunite and begin a tenuous journey down the road toward marriage. After trials and tests to prove her equal dedication to her Charmed destiny and Leo, the pair are allowed to wed in front of family and friends at Halliwell Manor. With her marriage came new threats, new powers, and new losses.

The unexpected loss of a sister hits Piper and Phoebe hard. It proves more than anything that despite being the most powerful witches ever prophesied they are not invincible. Just weeks after Prue’s death Piper and Phoebe discover that, surprisingly, the Charmed Ones can be reconstituted. The discovery of a long-lost half-sister, Paige Matthews, gives rise to a possibility of recreating the Charmed Ones. With the addition of the youngest Halliwell – last name or not – Piper finds herself taking on the mantle as eldest sister and the most powerful of the Charmed Ones in terms of active power, potion-brewing ability, and her ability to strategize.

The death of Prue was especially difficult for Piper, who became the eldest sister and de facto leader, and as a result she has difficulty accepting Paige as a sister and friend. Slowly, however, the friendship forms and sisterly bonds ensue, allowing the Charmed Ones to grow in power and become strong enough to vanquish the Source of All Evil in three separate incarnations. Upon fulfilling their destiny of vanquishing the Source, Piper and her sisters are offered the opportunity to give up their magical lives in exchange for actual normal ones – no magic, no warlocks, no demons, and even no Elders. After much discussion and the chance to do what they do best, protect innocents, Piper, Phoebe and Paige decline the offer and soon after Piper discovers she is pregnant with her first child.

After battling many more demons and some mythical creatures, as well as dealing with the growing powers of her unborn child, Piper is diagnosed with toxemia, during her third trimester. But her baby, Wyatt, is delivered safely by Paige and Phoebe in a home birth (to which Piper is opposed right up to the moment her water broke) at the manor. All are surprised to discover that the baby is a boy, and not Melinda, whom Piper had seen in a visit to the future. Wyatt, however, is a prophesied, twice-blessed child with tremendous magical powers and the apparent heir to King Arthur’s sword Excalibur, hunted by demons from the womb and as soon as he is born. Like any nervous new mother Piper was afraid to leave her baby when she and Phoebe had to find out who placed a bounty on him. She proved her strength as a witch to be reckoned with by vanquishing many demons and sending out a message that any demon who wished to harm her child will be promptly vanquished. Afterwards, she names him after Leo and Paige's last names.

Months after the birth of Wyatt, the Charmed Ones meet Chris Perry, a Whitelighter from the future who comes back to help them defeat the ancient Titans – ancient witches-turned-Gods by the Elders. In a repeat of history, Piper, Phoebe and Paige are transformed into the Goddesses of Earth, Love, and War, respectively. While possessing this power, Piper has the ability to control all manner of nature, teleport to anywhere she can imagine, throw lightening bolts, and sense her sisters. She is also the most powerful of the Goddesses, ultimately being the one who destroys the Titans by opening a crack to the center of the earth and throwing them into it. While her sisters relinquished their holds on their powers, Piper's rage at discovering Leo's ascent to Elder causes her to hold onto it, throwing San Francisco into a hurricane-like storm. She confronts Leo in the heavens about abandoning their family, but eventually comes to understand that Leo's actions reaped the ultimate reward, and this is not something she can fight, given that most Elders were killed by the return of the Titans and Leo is needed to help restore order amongst them as a new founding leader.

Chris becomes the girls’ new Whitelighter and Piper attempts to live a life as a single mother. Piper and Leo separated and she begins to pursue relationships with mortal suitors, most notably a fireman named Greg who she dated for some time. Chris later reveals he came from the future ultimately to protect Wyatt from a dangerous evil force that will not reveal itself for a full year, a mission complicated by Leo's intense mistrust of him.

Leo and Piper are set on the path to reconciliation when a demon uses the power of a genie to wish the Charmed Ones dead. Leo's connection to Piper saved the sisters as even though he and Piper are in a magically-induced sleep, Leo hears Piper's cries for help when her spirit begins to move to the afterlife and he heals her. A few weeks later when Piper and Leo become stranded in the ghostly plane with Leo shot by a Darklighter's arrow and no one around to heal him, their defenses finally come down. When Leo tells Piper that he still loves her, they end up having sex that night.

Power

Piper's inherited power is the power of molecular immobilization, also known as temporal stasis. This primarily gives her the ability to 'freeze' objects in motion by slowing down their molecular movement rate to such a point where they appear not to move. Her power is initially triggered by panic and Piper had to make hand gestures to cause things to freeze or unfreeze. Later, she developed the more offensive power of Molecular Accelaration, or blowing things up. This power works by speeding up the molecules of the desired object to the point where they separate with an explosive action. It uses a similar hand motion as she does for freezing and thus, she was hesitant to use either power initially, not knowing whether her targets will freeze in place or explode into bits. As with freezing, Piper learned to master this power and can attack with precision. This ability is known as molecular combustion.

Unlike Prue's telekinetic abilities, the limits on Piper's power are not determined by an object's mass. Even relatively new to her powers, she once froze a moving truck to prevent it from hitting a baby's pram. Rather, Piper's power of freezing seems to be limited by the area, regardless of how many objects are in it or their weight. When indoors, Piper's powers appear to be limited by the room she is in. Outdoors, it is unclear what her limits are, but in a magical trip to the future, she once froze an entire city block, with every object in it. She was obviously very surprised by this, as if she had never demonstrated influence over such a large area before. Since this was an accident, it is unclear if that was actually her limit, or if she could freeze an even larger area through effort. She can freeze objects and people that are technically outside the room she is in, if she has a clear shot. When Phoebe was possessed by the Woogyman, Piper was able to freeze her while outdoors and Phoebe was still inside the manor because the door was open, giving Piper an unobstructed path to her.She also once froze someone who was outside in front of the manor and she was inside, just by thrusting her hands through an open window.

Like the other Charmed Ones, Piper can also brew magical potions and recite/write spells. She is best at making potions, as predicted by Grams in 1997 before she died from a heart attack, because Piper is a natural-born and university-trained chef.

In contrast with Phoebe and Prue, Piper has never been interested in learning conventional means of fighting, such as martial arts kicks and punches, preferring to rely on her powers. As the use of either of Piper's powers would bring most physical confrontations to an immediate conclusion in her favor, there is little need for her to be adept at hand-to-hand combat, though she has been shown using some of her combat skills in some episodes. She has also been seen using some martial arts skills, and also gymnastics.

Disclaimer: I do not own the character Piper Halliwell nor the show Charmed. There is no profit made here, it is strictly a roleplaying journal.

Friends (6):

Friend of (19):