Charmed/Piper Halliwell

Piper Halliwell
Charmed
Actor	Holly Marie Combs
First Appearance	1x00 - Pilot
Last Appearance	8x22 - Forever Charmed
Series Billing
Episode Count	178

Basic Information

Piper is the eldest (initially the middle) sister of the witchly triumvirate known to the magical community as the Charmed Ones. As a witch, she possess the ability to "freeze" objects, allowing things to temporarily cease motion with a wave of her hand. Conversely with the same gesture, this ability advances so that she can detonate objects and demons at will. Powerful demons such as Zankou and the Source have some protection against these powers, managing the ability to fight through freezes and merely being propelled away or reincorporating oneself when she tries to blow them up.

Character History

Piper Halliwell, the middle sister, has two concerns about being a witch who freezes things, and though she soon dispels the idea that she's evil, she never stops wanting to be normal. To stay sane, she persues an ordinary life that incorporates fighting evil only as necessary. Luckier in magic than love, Piper has brief romances with a warlock, a ghost, and her nieghbor, Dan Gordon. She finally finds true love with her Whitelighter, Leo Wyatt. But the Elders forbid it and order Leo to stay away from Piper. When Piper's anger over losing Leo almost costs them an Innocent, she realizes her Charmed duties are more important than her personal happiness, and the Elders send Leo back to her. After proving to the Elders that their magical duties won't suffer if they marry, Piper ironically almost cancels the wedding. But the Elders, rules, and even a rampaging Astral Prue can't stop what is meant to be.

Piper is an accomplished chef and successful businesswoman. after a year of managing the resturant Quake, Piper opens her own nightclub, appropriately called P3, for the three sisters who are co-owners. But she never forgets her main job is being a Charmed One. Piper's powers grow so that she can not only freeze things, but also blow them up. she initially rejects the new gift - until she gets the hang of it. She also rejects the responsibilities of being the oldest sister when Prue dies, but later eases into them when she needs to help Paige adjust. Piper truly accepts her destiny when she refuses a legitimate offer to give up her powers for a normal life, because she knows she can't stop being who she is.

Pregnancy brings joy and panic because of Piper's old fear that the worst happens when everything seems to be going right. However, since baby Wyatt can protect himself, she focuses on being a loving wife and mother-until her fears are realized. Leo's destiny leads him to become an Elder, causing him to leave his family. For Wyatt's sake Piper allows Leo to erase her pain. She returns home to face a life without him, and seemingly ready to take whatever fate has in store.

Devastated when Leo leaves for a higher calling, Piper is determined to have the normal life she's always wanted. She dates other men, but being a Charmed One and the mother of a mischievous toddler witch makes romance and an ordinary existence impossible. Although fate seems determined to keep her and Leo apart, she knows he's the only man she'll ever love. The warm relationship that develops with adult Chris helps Piper through rough times. His birth provides a new beginning for Piper, Leo, and their family.

However, after Gideon tries to kill Wyatt, Piper is haunted by the prospect of losing the people she loves. Wyatt and Chris have protective powers, but Leo is plagued by self-doubt and threats. After living without him Piper will not give him up again-not to preserve the Avatar's demon-free world nor to appease the Elders. Her love is so strong she dies, touching Leo's heart despite the Elders' influence. With a new identity following her fake death, Piper looks forward to a life without demon attacks and growing old with her husband.

Piper's demon-free life as "Jenny" and "Jamie" is marred by guilt for the innocents she's not helping and a sense of loss for who she is: a witch, a wife, a mother, and a businesswoman. Juggling so responsibilities is hectic, but she's relieved to be herself again. After weathering a few marital bumps, Piper settles into a familiar routine that takes a cruel twist: Leo is frozen and will not be revived unless the Charmed Ones prevail in the Ultimate Battle. When the battle goes badly, Piper refuses to accept her sisters' deaths. Stubborn and undaunted, she changes the past to fix the future and save the present-as well as saving Leo, Phoebe, and Paige.

Over the next half-century, Piper became a mother for the third time, giving birth to a daughter named Melinda and opened up the restaurant that she has always dreamed of having. The series ends with an eighty-three-year-old Piper reading the Book of Shadows to her youngest granddaughter, which chronicles their triumphs and struggles since becoming witches fifty-eight years earlier and during this time, she is still happily married to Leo.

Memorable Moments

• Prue's death
• Wyatt's birth

Trivia

• Piper hates lima beans.