Patricia Halliwell
Encyclopedia
Patricia "Patty" Halliwell is a fictional character
on the WB television series Charmed
. Patty Halliwell is the mother of the "Charmed Ones" (Prue
, Piper
, Phoebe
, and Paige
) on the series. She is played by actress Finola Hughes
.
. She is a descendant of Melinda Warren, and had the power of molecular immobilization—-a power inherited by her second daughter, Piper. It is a possible chance that if Patty lived a while longer she would have embraced the power of molecular combustion—-the power to speed up molecules to a point where they separate rapidly in a explosive action. This was also Piper's second power.
Patty was taught magic by her mother. She quickly grew into a powerful witch in her own right; when she was nine, she started casting spells to counter her mother's spells.
Patty married the mortal Victor Bennett, and gave birth to Prue, Piper, and Phoebe. Sometime between Prue's birth in 1970 and Piper's birth in 1973, Victor found out that his wife, mother-in-law and daughters were all witches. He had a hard time coping, which put a strain on his marriage. Victor and Patty fought constantly over how to raise their daughters, with Patty (and Grams) wanting to raise them as witches and Victor wanting to raise them as normal girls. However, Patty seemed alarmed that Grams wanted to teach Prue and Piper how to make potions when they were only five and two, respectively.
It was around this time that Patty's Whitelighter
, Sam Wilder, began spending more time with her. Irritated by Sam's constant involvement in their lives and with magic in general, Victor left the family out of frustration for a few months.
During the separation, Patty was kidnapped by a warlock named Nicholas. Sensing that she was pregnant with the third Charmed One, Nicholas forced Patty to give him immunity from their powers in exchange for the lives of her daughters. Patty and Grams decided to bind the girls' powers so that Nicholas couldn't gain access to them.
Patty and Victor later divorced, most likely in the first half of 1977 because it was stated in season one, episode three's "Thank For Not Morphing" that the last time Victor saw Piper and Phoebe they were four and one respectively, and in season three's "We All Scream For Ice Cream," Victor states that the last act he performed as Prue's father was saving her from the Ice Cream Man when she was six, meaning that Victor left before Prue turned seven on October 28, 1977, yet he was still around for the Christmas of 1976, as seen in the Christmas video from "Thank You For Not Morphing."
In the second half of season four's premiere, "Charmed Again," Patty stated that, "It happened after your father and I were divorced, when Sam and I were together," in reference to the child that she and Sam conceived and secretly had together. While her quote suggests that she did not have an affair while married to Victor, it is more likely that she purposely phrased herself in such a way because she meant that Paige's birth happened after her divorce from Victor instead of the affair. Patty gave birth on August 2, 1977, meaning she had to have conceived Paige in either late October 1976 or early November 1976, meaning that she was still with Victor at the time of Paige's conception, as shown in the 1976 Christmas video from "Thank You For Not Morphing" (she was roughly a month or so pregnant with Paige in the video). Patty initially wanted to keep the baby and raise it as her own. However, at the time, it was not only forbidden, but unthinkable, for witches and Whitelighters to be involved. Grams feared that the Elders would strip Prue, Piper and Phoebe's powers as punishment, and convinced Patty to keep the baby's birth a secret from them. Therefore, to protect her youngest daughter from both sides of magic, she gave the baby up anonymously to a church, with the single request that her daughter's name begin with a "P".
On February 28, 1978 during an attempt to vanquish a Water Demon in a summer camp's lake, Patty was distracted by an overprotective Sam. She tried to freeze the scene, but the demon was immune to this power. He used this opportunity to drown Patty from the inside out. Prue, then eight years old, was particularly devastated by her mother's death; for over 20 years she was unable to say "I love you" to anyone because it was the last thing she heard Patty say to her.
Years later, her idea of using a combination of magic and electricity to vanquish the demon is carried out by Prue, Piper, and Sam.
Patty became a spirit after her death and watches over her daughters from the spirit realm. She takes ghostly shape to aid Prue when she is nearly drowned by the Demon of Fear, Barbas
. Later, she is allowed to occasionally take corporeal form among the living. The first time this happens is when she is allowed to attend the wedding of Piper and Leo Wyatt
, as an apology from the Elders putting the two of them through so much agony.
She is allowed to become corporeal again when she tells Piper and Phoebe about their fourth sister, Paige Matthews
, after Prue's funeral. She later appears to Piper in an underwater cavern to prevent her from drowning, just like she had done previously with Prue. She is later summoned by Grams in order to choose sides between Victor and herself over whether or not Leo will be a danger to the girls after Victor calls upon her as an objective third party. She sides with Victor, causing Grams to go off in a huff and reverse the spell upon the girls that Grams had cast. She manages to summon Grams back for the Wiccaning
and she and Victor both feel they made up a little for their lost time parenting the girls in this instance. Both she and Grams return to aid Piper in the series finale.
In the finale, Piper and Leo travel back in time using Coop's (a Cupid) ring to save Phoebe and Paige from death. Piper is not specific enough about where she wants to go and apparently ends up traveling to when Phoebe was conceived and her parents were still together. Upon hearing of her daughters' deaths, Patty insists on coming to help them out and comes up with the plan to form a new Power of Three with Grams. She travels first to the far future with Piper and Leo and then to a time when Grams was comforting a young Piper. Patty did not know she was dead then and after Grams faints upon seeing her, Piper is forced to tell her. Piper also keeps dodging the subject of Prue, not wanting to tell her of Prue's death. Patty convinces Grams to help by revealing the girls as the Charmed Ones and with Grams and Piper, recite a spell to remove the Hollow from the past Charmed Ones and Billie and Christy changing the future. She later reunites with Victor and is shocked to find out they were divorced. He comforts her though telling her it was a long time ago. At the end, she joins everyone after it is over and reveals that she now knows of Prue's death thanks to Victor. She understands and accepts Prue's death because of Paige's existence. She is returned to her own time by Coop and her memory of it is erased.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the WB television series Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
. Patty Halliwell is the mother of the "Charmed Ones" (Prue
Prue Halliwell
Prudence "Prue" Halliwell is a fictional character from the television series Charmed. Prue is depicted as one of the featured leads as she fulfills her role as a witch and, more specifically, a Charmed One one of the most powerful witches of all time...
, Piper
Piper Halliwell
Piper Halliwell is a fictional character from the television series Charmed. One of the featured leads, Piper is introduced in the series as a witch and, more specifically, a Charmed One one of the most powerful witches of all time. The character was portrayed by Holly Marie Combs throughout the...
, Phoebe
Phoebe Halliwell
Phoebe Halliwell is a fictional character from the television series Charmed. One of the featured leads, Phoebe is introduced in the series as a witch and, more specifically, a Charmed One one of the most powerful witches of all time. The character was portrayed by Lori Rom in the unaired pilot,...
, and Paige
Paige Matthews
Paige Matthews is a fictional character from the television series Charmed. One of the featured leads, Paige is introduced at the start of season four as the fourth Halliwell sister and youngest Charmed One one of the most powerful witches of all time. The character was portrayed by Rose McGowan...
) on the series. She is played by actress Finola Hughes
Finola Hughes
Finola Hughes is an English actress, television host, author and former dancer, best known for role as Anna Devane on the General Hospital, All My Children and General Hospital: Night Shift , and her role as Anna Devane's identical twin sister, Doctor Alexandra Devane Marick, on All My Children...
.
Character's background
Patty was born on April 5, 1950 She was the only child of Allen Halliwell and Penelope JohnsonPenny Halliwell
Penelope Halliwell is a recurring, supporting fictional character from the WB television series Charmed that acts in our world from beyond death....
. She is a descendant of Melinda Warren, and had the power of molecular immobilization—-a power inherited by her second daughter, Piper. It is a possible chance that if Patty lived a while longer she would have embraced the power of molecular combustion—-the power to speed up molecules to a point where they separate rapidly in a explosive action. This was also Piper's second power.
Patty was taught magic by her mother. She quickly grew into a powerful witch in her own right; when she was nine, she started casting spells to counter her mother's spells.
Patty married the mortal Victor Bennett, and gave birth to Prue, Piper, and Phoebe. Sometime between Prue's birth in 1970 and Piper's birth in 1973, Victor found out that his wife, mother-in-law and daughters were all witches. He had a hard time coping, which put a strain on his marriage. Victor and Patty fought constantly over how to raise their daughters, with Patty (and Grams) wanting to raise them as witches and Victor wanting to raise them as normal girls. However, Patty seemed alarmed that Grams wanted to teach Prue and Piper how to make potions when they were only five and two, respectively.
It was around this time that Patty's Whitelighter
Whitelighter
A Whitelighter is a fictional character featured on the WB television series Charmed. These beings are former human mortals who are given a second chance at life in order to serve under an angelic group known as The Elders as guardian angels for good witches and other future...
, Sam Wilder, began spending more time with her. Irritated by Sam's constant involvement in their lives and with magic in general, Victor left the family out of frustration for a few months.
During the separation, Patty was kidnapped by a warlock named Nicholas. Sensing that she was pregnant with the third Charmed One, Nicholas forced Patty to give him immunity from their powers in exchange for the lives of her daughters. Patty and Grams decided to bind the girls' powers so that Nicholas couldn't gain access to them.
Patty and Victor later divorced, most likely in the first half of 1977 because it was stated in season one, episode three's "Thank For Not Morphing" that the last time Victor saw Piper and Phoebe they were four and one respectively, and in season three's "We All Scream For Ice Cream," Victor states that the last act he performed as Prue's father was saving her from the Ice Cream Man when she was six, meaning that Victor left before Prue turned seven on October 28, 1977, yet he was still around for the Christmas of 1976, as seen in the Christmas video from "Thank You For Not Morphing."
In the second half of season four's premiere, "Charmed Again," Patty stated that, "It happened after your father and I were divorced, when Sam and I were together," in reference to the child that she and Sam conceived and secretly had together. While her quote suggests that she did not have an affair while married to Victor, it is more likely that she purposely phrased herself in such a way because she meant that Paige's birth happened after her divorce from Victor instead of the affair. Patty gave birth on August 2, 1977, meaning she had to have conceived Paige in either late October 1976 or early November 1976, meaning that she was still with Victor at the time of Paige's conception, as shown in the 1976 Christmas video from "Thank You For Not Morphing" (she was roughly a month or so pregnant with Paige in the video). Patty initially wanted to keep the baby and raise it as her own. However, at the time, it was not only forbidden, but unthinkable, for witches and Whitelighters to be involved. Grams feared that the Elders would strip Prue, Piper and Phoebe's powers as punishment, and convinced Patty to keep the baby's birth a secret from them. Therefore, to protect her youngest daughter from both sides of magic, she gave the baby up anonymously to a church, with the single request that her daughter's name begin with a "P".
On February 28, 1978 during an attempt to vanquish a Water Demon in a summer camp's lake, Patty was distracted by an overprotective Sam. She tried to freeze the scene, but the demon was immune to this power. He used this opportunity to drown Patty from the inside out. Prue, then eight years old, was particularly devastated by her mother's death; for over 20 years she was unable to say "I love you" to anyone because it was the last thing she heard Patty say to her.
Years later, her idea of using a combination of magic and electricity to vanquish the demon is carried out by Prue, Piper, and Sam.
Patty became a spirit after her death and watches over her daughters from the spirit realm. She takes ghostly shape to aid Prue when she is nearly drowned by the Demon of Fear, Barbas
Barbas (Charmed)
Barbas, the Demon of Fear, is a fictional character cast as a major foe from the WB Television Network television series, Charmed...
. Later, she is allowed to occasionally take corporeal form among the living. The first time this happens is when she is allowed to attend the wedding of Piper and Leo Wyatt
Leo Wyatt
Leonardo "Leo" Wyatt is a fictional character from The WB television series Charmed, portrayed by Brian Krause. A possible breakout character included in the writing initially as a love interest beginning in the seventh episode of the first season that initially set Phoebe and Piper quarreling and...
, as an apology from the Elders putting the two of them through so much agony.
She is allowed to become corporeal again when she tells Piper and Phoebe about their fourth sister, Paige Matthews
Paige Matthews
Paige Matthews is a fictional character from the television series Charmed. One of the featured leads, Paige is introduced at the start of season four as the fourth Halliwell sister and youngest Charmed One one of the most powerful witches of all time. The character was portrayed by Rose McGowan...
, after Prue's funeral. She later appears to Piper in an underwater cavern to prevent her from drowning, just like she had done previously with Prue. She is later summoned by Grams in order to choose sides between Victor and herself over whether or not Leo will be a danger to the girls after Victor calls upon her as an objective third party. She sides with Victor, causing Grams to go off in a huff and reverse the spell upon the girls that Grams had cast. She manages to summon Grams back for the Wiccaning
Wiccaning
A wiccaning is a Wiccan ceremony or ritual analogous to a christening or baptism for an infant which centers on the presentation of the infant to the God and Goddess for protection.-Application:...
and she and Victor both feel they made up a little for their lost time parenting the girls in this instance. Both she and Grams return to aid Piper in the series finale.
In the finale, Piper and Leo travel back in time using Coop's (a Cupid) ring to save Phoebe and Paige from death. Piper is not specific enough about where she wants to go and apparently ends up traveling to when Phoebe was conceived and her parents were still together. Upon hearing of her daughters' deaths, Patty insists on coming to help them out and comes up with the plan to form a new Power of Three with Grams. She travels first to the far future with Piper and Leo and then to a time when Grams was comforting a young Piper. Patty did not know she was dead then and after Grams faints upon seeing her, Piper is forced to tell her. Piper also keeps dodging the subject of Prue, not wanting to tell her of Prue's death. Patty convinces Grams to help by revealing the girls as the Charmed Ones and with Grams and Piper, recite a spell to remove the Hollow from the past Charmed Ones and Billie and Christy changing the future. She later reunites with Victor and is shocked to find out they were divorced. He comforts her though telling her it was a long time ago. At the end, she joins everyone after it is over and reveals that she now knows of Prue's death thanks to Victor. She understands and accepts Prue's death because of Paige's existence. She is returned to her own time by Coop and her memory of it is erased.
Episodes
- Thank You for Not Morphing (season one; a barely seen Patty in a home video and a photo is played by Alyssa Milano)
- From Fear to Eternity (season one; though the character of Patty appears as a ghost, the voice used is not that of Finola Hughes. In the German version, her dub voice is heard in this episode, is the same in every other episode that Finola Hughes appears).
- That '70s Episode (season one,From 1975)
- P3 H2O (season two,in Phoebe's premonition about her death and a photo of her)
- Just Harried (season three,as a present from the Elders to Prue Piper and Phoebe on Piper's Wedding Day)
- PreWitched (season three,in a flashback that takes place six months prior to season one's premier)
- Charmed Again (Part 1) (season four,as a ghost)
- Charmed Again (Part 2) (season four,as a ghost that is solid since this is the first time her and Paige meet)
- A Witch's Tail (Part 2) (season five,as a ghost)
- Cat House (season five,in a flashback of 3x15 "Just Harried")
- Cheaper by the Coven (season seven,as a ghost that is solid)
- Forever Charmed (season eight,From 1975 sometime before Prue, Piper and Phoebe visited her from the future in 1x17 "That 70's Episode" since Victor and her are together and Phoebe and Paige weren't born yet)
Hughes, on the filming of her final episode
Regarding the taping of her last appearance on the series, actress Finola Hughes noted that she hasPowers and abilities
Aside from the basic powers of a magical witch, such as spellcasting and scrying, Patty possesses the gifts of:- Molecular immobilizationCharmedCharmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
- Premonition (only while pregnant with Phoebe)
- Telekinesis (only while pregnant with Prue)