Revelation as a Charmed One

In the pilot episode of Charmed, Piper and her older sister Prue have moved back into their childhood home - a Victorian manor in their family for generations, and willed to them from their Grams. Six months after the death of Grams, Piper's younger sister Phoebe moved back home and discovered the Book of Shadows in their attic, from an old spirit board that their grams kept. The three sisters made the discovery of the ancient prophecy that spoke of three sister witches becoming the most powerful witches known to walk the earth -- The Charmed Ones. As a new witch, Piper developed the power of molecular immobilization, the ability to slow down the molecules of an object or person to the point of motionless activity, however, if used on a demon of high status the ability only slows down the molecules but does not completely freeze, so they are in slow motion. Her power was at first triggered by fear. She used her power for the first time during a practical interview for Quake -- Chef Moore entered before she had completed her recipe, and she froze him, albeit accidentally, to complete her dish. She cannot freeze good witches and can only freeze those within her range or in the room. However, on a trip to the future, she freezes a whole street full of people, meaning her power has room to grow.

Charmed life

The first season of the series focused on Piper and her sisters learning about their witchcraft and using their magical gifts to protect Innocents from the supernatural evils that plague San Francisco. 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. Unlike her sisters, Piper was the most reluctant to embrace her destiny as a Charmed One fearing that it might mean she was evil (“I’ve Got You Under My Skin”). During the initial season the main antagonists for Piper and her sisters are warlocks, with the occasional demon appearing sporadically throughout the season. During her first year 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 seemed to always fall for men she cannot pursue a long term relationship with. A ghost, Mark Chao, captures her heart very early on during episode four of the season (“Dead Man Dating”) but because he's a ghost, when experiencing romance, the two had to imagine feeling each other, 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 (“Thank You for Not Morphing”). Piper and Phoebe both compete for his affections, and although Piper wins the gentleman's heart, Leo turns out to be a "guardian angel" or "Whitelighter" to the Halliwells and was forbidden from pursuing a romantic relationship with his "charge" (“Secrets and Guys”). The pair part ways, but not for long.

Season Two series begins as Piper and her sisters celebrate their one year anniversary as witches (“Witch Trial”). Piper leaves her management role at Quake and opens her own nightclub, aptly named P3. Early in the season, Piper's relationship with Leo ended due to the complications that developed because of the distance his responsibilities as a Whitelighter put on their relationship. She began seeing her next-door neighbor, Dan Gordon - causing friction between herself, Dan and Leo and Charmed's very own "love triangle". Piper constantly struggles to choose between Dan or Leo, a decision which doesn't become clear until the final half of the season when she chooses to be with Leo ("Murphy's Luck"). Season Two also shows Piper dealing with the loss of her first innocent, her Doctor, and shows her grieving. At season's end, Piper and her sister discover that the demonic attacks on their lives have not been random, but orchestrated by an evil demonic power known as The Triad ("Be Careful What You Witch For").

Season Three sees Piper and Leo begin a tenuous journey down the road towards marriage. The Elders forbid their relationship ("The Honeymoon's Over"), and Leo proposes to Piper. They attempt to marry in secret, but their love is exposed to the magical community by the demon Belthazor, and Leo is taken away by the Elders ("Magic Hour"). Piper goes on a magical strike and refuses to hunt demons for the Elders until Leo is returned to her. However, she realizes that she cannot shirk her responsibilities, and Leo is returned on the condition that their relationship does not interfere with their magical responsibilities ("Once Upon A Time"). Meanwhile, the newly-discovered Triad sends a demonic spy and assassin after Piper and her sisters -- a demon known as Belthazor, who infiltrates their lives disguised as the human Assistant District Attorney, Cole Turner ("The Honeymoon's Over"). Piper and her sisters eventually learn that their true enemy is a powerful demon known as The Source of All Evil and ruler of the demonic Underworld, desiring their lives, powers and their coveted Book of Shadows. Piper and Leo finally wed in front of family and friends at Halliwell Manor (after three attempts) ("Just Harried"). Piper loses her eldest sister Prue to the demonic assassin Shax at season's end. ("All Hell Breaks Loose").

The eldest sister

Just nearly a week after Prue's death, Piper and Phoebe discover the existence of their baby half-sister, Paige Matthews. 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 in becoming the oldest sister she finds it extremely hard and finds it even harder to accept Paige as her sister, potion-brewing ability and her ability to strategize.

The death of Prue was especially difficult for Piper, and as a result she had difficulty accepting Paige as a sister and a friend. ("Hell Hath No Fury"). Slowly, the friendship forms and sisterly bonds ensue as the season progresses, allowing the Charmed Ones to grow in power and 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 normality - no magic, no warlocks, no demons, and even no Elders ("Witch Way Now?"). They decline the offer, and Piper learns that she is pregnant with her first child.

Entering motherhood

A more aggressive Piper

During Season Five, Piper deals with the growing powers of her unborn child, and is diagnosed with toxemia, during her third trimester ("The Day the Magic Died") as a result of the stress of battling demons and warlocks during her pregnancy. Her baby, Wyatt Matthew Halliwell is born ("The Day the Magic Died") and is delivered by Phoebe and Paige. The family are surprised that the baby is a boy, and not Melinda, whom Piper had seen in her visit to the future ("Morality Bites"). Wyatt is a prophesied, twice-blessed child with tremendous magical powers, born on the Wiccan Sabbath. He is hunted by demons from the womb and as soon as he is born. Piper is reluctant to leave her baby to battle demons, but overcomes this fear when a demonic bounty is placed on Wyatt's life. She and Phoebe conduct a mass-vanquishing of demons in the Demonic Market, prompting powerful demons to place a law preventing any demon or warlock from hunting Wyatt. Piper then names her baby after Leo and Paige, both of whom had worked tirelessly to protect him ("Baby's First Demon")

During the season finale, Piper and her sisters meet Chris Perry, a Whitelighter. He appears from the future to aid them in their defeat of the ancient Titans. The Titans were trapped by the Elders in icy catacombs, and when released, destroy nearly all of the Elders, with Leo able to rescue and protect the surviving ones. Chris persuades Leo to transform Piper, Phoebe and Paige into the Goddesses of Earth, Love, and War, respectively, with the aim of giving them enough power to destroy the Titans. ("Oh My Goddess, Part 1")While a Goddess, Piper has control over the elements. While Phoebe and Paige struggle to control their power, Piper remains calm and serene. She is, however, angered by Leo's impending ascension to become an Elder. She uses her anger to destroy the Titans. While Phoebe and Paige relinquish their Goddess powers, Piper unleashes her rage onto San Francisco, throwing the city into a huge hurricane. She confronts Leo in the heavens and accuses him of abandoning their family. Leo attempts to heal her pain, but rather traps her pain deep inside of her and causes her to become light-hearted and "chipper" ("Oh My Goddess, Part 2").

Estrangement with Leo and second child

Chris becomes the girls' new Whitelighter as Leo struggles to leave the family to become a full-time Elder, and Piper attempts to adjust to life as a single mother. ("Valhalley of the Dolls (Part 1)"). Piper and Leo have separated and she begins to pursue relationships with mortal suitors. Chris reveals that he has returned to the future 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. Piper throws herself into protecting Wyatt, and decides to swear off men as she decides that Wyatt is the only important male in her life. ("Prince Charmed"). Chris reveals also that Wyatt will become an extremely evil warlock in the future.

Piper and Leo reunited after they are trapped in the Ghostly Plane by a Darklighter. Leo is shot by the Darklighter's arrow, and is close to death. He tells Piper that he loves her, and they sleep together. In the morning, they are rescued by Phoebe and Paige. Leo is persuaded by his mentor Gideon to return to the Elders permanently, yet he does not know that Piper is pregnant with their second child ("The Courtship of Wyatt's Father"). She decides to abstain from telling Leo the truth, as leaving their family was hard enough the first time around.

It is revealed that Piper's baby is in fact the Whitelighter Chris -- Phoebe is the first to discover this, and Leo the last. Together, the entire family work even harder to aid Chris in saving Wyatt. Piper is persuaded to live in Magic School with Wyatt, as unborn Chris does not protect himself from the womb as did unborn Wyatt. Magic School is protected from evil and prevents death from occurring in the halls, and they are safe.

Piper goes into labor during the season finale ("It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World (Part 2)") but the side effect of Phoebe and Paige's cross-world-traveling causes her to become over-optimistic and happy. She casts a spell on Phoebe and Paige to make them cheery also, infuriating Leo and Chris as they attempt to convince the sisters that Gideon is hunting Wyatt. Gideon kills Chris, and Piper suffers from internal complications in the hospital. Her doctor, also affected by the spell, is unwilling to do anything to save her. Leo breaks the spell on Phoebe and Paige, kills Gideon and reverses the magic causing the world to be happy. It returns to normal, and Piper and baby Chris are saved.

Utopia and retirement

Season Seven, with the season opener "A Call to Arms", begins with introduction of the mysterious "Gathering Storm" and this force's manipulation of Leo. Piper tries to help a haunted Leo who killed a fellow Elder, as a result of the demon Barbas convincing Leo to kill a fellow Elder who he believed was after his family, just like Gideon. Some months later Piper cannot understand how Leo can make such a tremendous comeback from his grief of killing an innocent Elder, but she is willing to accept Leo back into her life once again, despite the fact that he tells her that he is an Avatar. With his Avatar kind, Leo and the sisters create a world of peace but it has deadly consequences in the episode "Extreme Makeover: World Edition".

But after the world of the Avatars fails, Leo has to deal with the Elders' punishment and he is once again taken away from his family to endure a trial. He has to determine if his destiny lies with his family or the other Elders. In the 150th episode, "The Seven Year Witch" Piper receives help in the form of Phoebe's past love, Cole. He helps her and Leo get back together for good (which also makes Leo mortal) and restores Phoebe's faith in love by proving that their (Piper and Leo's) love conquered all. Soon a new threat comes on the horizon, Zankou, a powerful demon imprisoned by the Source hundreds of years ago who seeks to bring order to the Underworld and to destroy Piper and her sisters.

After months of fierce battles and even losing possession of the manor and the Book of Shadows, Piper and her sisters destroy Zankou and the Nexus in the season seven finale "Something Wicca This Way Goes". At the end of the episode Piper and the sisters seemingly die in the final battle with Zankou. The mortal world, the underworld and the Elders believe Piper and her sisters to be dead, while this is the sisters' chance to finally get a normal life.

Rewitched and the ultimate battle

In Season Eight Piper transforms her face and takes up the alias of Jenny Bennett, only her loved ones being able to see her as she was. However, Piper's new look matches someone else who was wrongly wanted for murder as featured in the episode "Run Piper, Run". After clearing her look-alike’s name Piper has to change her look and get a new name, Jamie Bennett. While in disguise, Piper and her sisters take on a protégé, Billie Jenkins. While Billie helps with their demonic load, eventually Piper and her sisters realize that hiding their true selves is a mistake. After a plot that involves the Department of Homeland Security to explain her sudden return from the grave, Piper returned to her real name and old life in the amply titled episode "Rewitched".

Despite having been through hell and back in their relationship, Leo does not adapt to being a mortal married to one of the most powerful witches in magical history well. Even going to a magical marriage counselor doesn't turn out as well as they had hoped. Their counselor has them switch bodies in order to walk a mile in each other's shoes and hopefully mend some broken bridges. It works, and for a while, things are good in Piper's life.

In the tenth episode of the final season "Vaya Con Leos", the Angel of Death comes to Piper to warn her that Leo's time is coming. While Piper figures out a way to prevent Leo's death, it involved having Leo frozen. An Angel of Destiny tells Piper and her sisters that they have another battle to fight and Leo's death would have motivated them, and specifically Piper, to fight it. Piper reasons that losing Leo with his return hanging on her success is a much greater motivator than just losing him. The bargain struck, the Angel of Destiny vanishes, taking the frozen Leo with her. Simultaneously, Billie is searching for her demon-abducted sister, Christy Jenkins.

Piper starts to film everything that goes on in the house so when Leo comes back, he can watch what he missed. She also avoids demon fighting, but when she and her sisters discover that Billie and her recently-found sister are the ones they have to fight, she is the most determined to take the battle on. As the magical community is turned against the Halliwells by the Jenkins sisters, Piper escapes with her sisters to the Underworld. In the penultimate episode of the final season Piper and her sisters team up with two demons and utilizing the power of the Hollow, the sisters vanquished the spirit-form remains of the Triad and turned against the Jenkins sisters, also possessed by the Hollow. The battle ends with the survival of Piper and Billie and the deaths of Paige, Phoebe and Christy.

The series finale, "Forever Charmed" shows that Leo is returned to her, and he stops her from murdering Billie with her bare hands, taking her to Phoebe's apartment, where Coop materializes and is stunned to find that Phoebe is dead. Piper, however, is determined to get her sisters back, reasoning that they've conquered death before. She borrows Coop's ring, and through time travel summons her mother and Grams, and prevent the deaths of Phoebe, Paige and Christy, but with Christy alive, Leo is removed once more. Realizing Christy had manipulated her, Billie deflects her fireball aimed at her, killing Christy. Leo is returned, and the family present — the sisters, Grams, Patty, Victor, Wyatt, Chris, Leo and Coop rejoice in their final victory. With the destruction of all the strong demons of the past, the sisters can finally have normal lives. Piper and Leo's marriage returns to peace and they soon have a third child, Melinda. Piper also opens a restaurant. The story ends with an elderly Piper reading the events of the past from the Book of Shadows to her granddaughter. After Piper leaves with Leo to rest, more children enter the manor and we get to know them as more of Piper's grandchildren. Piper's granddaughter Prudence closes the door with her telekinetic powers, ending the story of Piper Halliwell and the Charmed Ones.

Powers and abilities

Piper's ability of molecular immobilization, or temporal stasis, was inherited from her mother. The phrase temporal stasis has been confused as a misused word for this ability but it actually states what the ability does (temporal means over a period of time and or denoting time and stasis is a state of balance between forces (equilibrium), and inactivity). The ability causes all persons (except good witches) and objects to freeze in motion. Despite appearances and descriptions of this power, Piper does not truly stop time, only all movement in her vicinity. Initially, Piper's power was triggered by fear, panic, and surprise, but she eventually learned to freeze things at will. Once she learned to deliberately freeze things, this power was activated by an act of will accompanied by gestures, and couldn't be used if her hands were restrained. She later learned to freeze objects with just one hand (and on one occasion, she used a costume prop wand). At first, she simply froze everything in her immediate vicinity, later learning to selectively freeze certain objects. Indoors, her powers were checked by walls, working only on objects in the room she was in. However, she can freeze objects/people in other rooms, provided she has an unobstructed path to them, such as an open doorway. It was established that Piper couldn't freeze good witches, but she seemed to overcome this obstacle. In season six, a male witch with telepathic abilities channels Piper's powers and freezes other witches. Later on, Piper was able to selectively choose what she wanted to freeze. For instance, she could freeze all the innocents in a room and leave everything/everyone else still able to move. She did not even require to know which people in the room were actually innocents. She could also freeze a single object, leaving everything else moving as normal.

When Piper froze an area or object, it would remain frozen for several seconds, unfreezing on its own. As Piper's powers developed, she could freeze for longer periods and learned to unfreeze objects at will, rather than waiting for the freeze to wear off. She even learned eventually to selectively unfreeze parts of objects she had frozen. She has for example, frozen demons then unfrozen its head in order to interrogate it. It should be noted that certain demons, good witches, warlocks and ghosts were immune or resistant to her freeze power. Some, such as the ghosts and the Furies, are completely immune. Others, such as Jeremy Burns were able to eventually throw off the effects of the freeze within a few seconds. Others, were simply slowed down for a short time, never truly frozen.

Later, Piper gained the power of molecular combustion, the ability to speed up molecular movement instead of slowing them down, and cause them to separate in an explosive action. This power was usually triggered by anger, frustration, surprise, and fear. Since both powers depended on gesturing with her hands, Piper was apprehensive about using them at first, not certain whether she would freeze something or blow it up. Piper can also blow up mystical discharges, such as offensive energy spheres cast by witches or demons. For instance, in season five, a demon threw a stream of fire at her, and she exploded it. In season eight, Piper shows that she can deflect a projectile in flight. In one episode a demon threw a fireball at her while the Charmed Ones were chanting, and Piper gestures at it while continuing to chant. The fireball flies back towards the demon. Piper also seems to be able to blow up something and not have it affect her. A door for example, would explode, but none of the wood particles would touch Piper. This may be subconscious defense mechanism that one of her powers is responsible for i.e. The shards fly in all direction but are deflected away from her. While some creatures were resistant or immune to Piper's explosive power, those that didn't blow up would often be driven backwards. In season eight, her power grew and she was able to blow up a Triad member after three attempts. Piper was able to agitate the molecules of an object to the point that object would spontaneously combust. In season eight, for example, she caused wood to ignite. Piper seems highly resistant to her own power. For example, in the season seven finale, Zankou had her powers and attempted to use them on her, but only succeeded in causing a minor wound.

Occasionally, in times of great stress, fear, or desperation, Piper's Molecular Combustion power would be heightened to a more powerful degree. When she performed such empowered blasts, her abilities were similar to that of Molecular Dispersion. This power is also seen with Gideon the Elder. Molecular Dispersion does not merely cause the target to explode/implode, but rather cause the molecules to disperse, disintegrating the object completely. She has, for instance, disintegrated the Source of All Evil. Unfortunately, as the Source was a being of immense power, he was able to reconstruct himself moments later.

Piper's powers are linked to her emotions intimately. In season five, she began losing control over her powers when she and Leo were having marital problems. She went to the extent of blowing up an entire wall. The first time it is seen is in 'Exit Strategy'. Piper had just gotten her power and was extremely afraid, afraid to the point where she kept blowing things up. Her powers were originally channeled through her hands, but this is not the case when her emotions are out of control. Originally, she had to use both hands for her powers to work, but she later learned how to use just one hand.

Unlike Prue's telekinetic abilities, the limits on Piper's freezing 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.  It is unclear what Piper's limits were out of doors, but in a magical trip to the future, she once froze an entire city block, but not objects/people in a nearby building. 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. In Wicca Envy, when Prue was framed for murder and put in jail, she freezes everything inside the jail from outside; 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 gifted 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. Although she has some combat skills and gymnastic ability, her skills as a fighter are nowhere near those of Prue or Phoebe.

Romantic life

She has dated a ghost, a banker, a construction worker, a grad student,a governor ,a fireman, a warlock, and her Whitelighter and husbandLeo Wyatt. They broke up for some time because their relationship could not work due to their conflicting magical destinies during the time she was dating the governor Mbahgwie Mudoh who then broke up with her up because he knew that she was powerful witch. In order to keep their secret they had to use a memory spell on Mbahgwie to keep him from exposing them as witches. Piper then sought out a normal relationship with a mortal, her next door neighbor Dan Gordon before reuniting with Leo. During their relationship, Dan remained oblivious to the fact that Piper was a witch.

Piper and Leo still had to deal with the consequences of their forbidden romance after getting back together. When the Elders issued an ultimatum about Piper and Leo's relationship, Leo proposed to Piper, who, after some hesitation, accepted. They tried to marry in secret, but the Elders were told of their plans after Cole exposed them to the magical community. As a result of this, during the wedding ceremony (with Prue and Phoebe as bridesmaids and Grams as the High Priestess) the Elders painfully orbed Leo away. When the Elders forbade Piper from ever seeing Leo again, Piper decided to go on strike from being a witch. But once she realized that she still had a job to do and she still had to save innocents despite her anger over the Elders' decision to forbid her from being with Leo, the Elders sent Leo back. The Elders said that Piper showed great courage in protecting innocents even when she had the love of her life taken away. The Elders however, allowed Piper and Leo to continue seeing each other on the condition that their relationship would not interfere with their jobs.

Leo and Piper were finally married by the ghost of her grandmother Penny in a special ceremony. The sisters' father Victor, Phoebe's half-demon boyfriend Cole Turner and Detective Darryl Morris attended the wedding, and the Elders sent Patty back to Earth for the day to attend the wedding as a gift. Their marriage has produced three children; Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, Christopher Perry Halliwell and Prudence Melinda Halliwell.

But this was not to be the end of their struggles to have a relationship and have a magical life as well. Leo had to leave Piper and his son for a short time to be an Elder, but worked around it. After Leo had killed an Elder who was trying to capture his son Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, Leo ended up seeing floating green heads and then, unfortunately for him, ended up killing another innocent Elder called Zola.

Leo tried to get over this but was ultimately turned into an Avatar who corrupted the girls to create Utopia but this went wrong. After this is Season 8 (Veya Con Leo's) Piper learns that the Angel of Death was after Leo and so in an attempt to stop Death taking him a spell was cast and every man in the world was turned into Leo. But this back fired and Piper had to call down the Angel Of Destiny who said that she would take Leo and when the Ultimate Battle had been fought Leo would be returned to them. So with the help of a demon Leo was frozen and taken from Piper but he is later returned to her after the final battle.

Piper's most notable relationships:

Professional life

Piper originally worked as an accountant for a small bank in San Francisco before quitting her job to pursue her dream of being a professional chef. A few months later, Piper landed a job as a new chef under the tutelage of Chef Moore at a high quality restaurant Quake. Only a week or two pass before Piper's boss leaves Quake and she is promptly promoted to restaurant manager, a job that has her constantly working double shifts and makes her unhappy.

After quitting Quake, Piper opens P3, a nightclub named as a tribute to the Power of Three and Prue, Piper, and Phoebe. P3 is made popular by the appearance of Dishwalla, a hit group whose manager is in league with Masselin, a demon who feeds off of souls he keeps trapped inside of him. The Charmed Ones defeat Masselin and the manager is arrested on kidnapping charges, but P3 is established as a successful club. P3 closes briefly after Prue's death, though it reopens when Piper moves on and accepts Paige as her sister. P3 is open for at least 7 years, though in the series finale we learn that Piper finally becomes a chef in her own restaurant, as she'd always dreamed.Not much is said about what happened to P3 after Piper becomes a chef again.

Death count

During the run of the series and her life as a Charmed One, Piper is shown to have clinically "died" 9 times. These are her deaths: