Whitelighter

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Whitelighter

Leo Wyatt, Whitelighter to the Charmed Ones.
First appearance Thank You For Not Morphing
Last appearance Forever Charmed
Created by Constance M. Burge
Statistics
Species Name Whitelighter
Subspecies Future Whitelighters; Whitelighter-witches; Elders
Traits Good natured; can be bossy; heroic.
Notable powers
Notable examples

Whitelighters are fictional characters on the WB television series Charmed.

Contents

[edit] Description

Whitelighters are "guardian angels". They watch over their charges and intervene when necessary to help them along their path and keep them safe; they can also be called by their charges. They can constantly hear the lives of their charges in their heads, and if one of them calls their Whitelighter's name, he/she can usually show up at a moment's notice.

Whitelighters are people who were previously somehow connected to the magical world or who were generally good people that have died. They are given the choice to become Whitelighters and given the powers of a Whitelighter (such as orbing, healing, immortality, etc.) instead of moving on to the afterlife. Their bodies are replicas of their former human bodies, but are composed of orbs which are described as white lights (hence the term Whitelighter) that have a healing sense to them. If struck by a power that would usually kill a mortal (for example, an energy ball or particle acceleration), their bodies will explode into orbs then reform relatively unharmed; they can, however, be knocked unconscious. After becoming a Whitelighter, the person's DNA will have three helices that of like witches and demons, not just two like normal humans.

[edit] Powers

Whitelighters have the ability to orb, a kind of magical teleportation. This comes in handy for visiting their many charges around the world, and in special circumstances (as Leo Wyatt stated in Season 1 that it was "against the rules") to orb others with them. They can also orb objects around. Orbing is not an exact science and can be disrupted by magic, sending someone to a place they did not intend to go. Whitelighters can use their ability to sense the people they are trying to find before going anywhere.

Whitelighters are the messengers between the Elders and witches. Leo helps the Charmed Ones by asking the Elders for help whenever they need information not provided by the Book of Shadows.

Healing is another special ability granted to Whitelighters, and is used when their charges have been injured. As long as there is the faintest breath of life left in a person, they can be healed from any injury, whether the injury is magical in origin or not, though they cannot heal self-inflicted damage. However, this power is channelled directly from the Elders. If the Elders do not wish for someone to be healed, a Whitelighter can do nothing about it. If the person being healed is resisting, the Whitelighter cannot heal their wounds until the person allows them to.

Whitelighters are normally not allowed to have relationships with witches as it is deemed to be too complicated and dangerous by the Elders. There are several half-Whitelighters due to this rule being broken or lifted in special circumstances by the Elders. The four known half-Whitelighters (three in the Halliwell family) are Paige Matthews, Wyatt Halliwell, Chris Halliwell and Sir Simon Marks. All four display most of the abilities of Whitelighters. Wyatt is able to heal, Chris cannot, and Paige apparently could channel Leo's power; during the 8th season, she gained the healing ability for herself. Sir Simon, on the other hand, is a mystery; little is known about him. What is known is that he has the ability to orb himself and he can orb objects with his mind. Whether or not he possesses the ability to heal is unknown.

Because they are pacifists, Whitelighters traditionally avoid fighting, except when desperately needed to protect their charges, but are absolutely not allowed to kill. Leo tries to force Chris into a hearing with the Elders after he suspects (correctly) that Chris killed two warriors in Valhalla, and Leo himself brings balance back into the world of magic by doing a "Great Evil" in killing Gideon the Elder.

Among the other powers of Whitelighters are levitation, invisibility, and "cloaking" their charges (making others unable to sense them). Whitelighters can also empathically feel what their charges feel (which, if not controlled can actually hurt them), knowing if they are hurt or have been killed. They also have the ability to speak the language of their charges, whatever it may be, and their own sort of glossolalia. Leo is also seen "healing" household appliances, light bulbs, and pipes, and making Phoebe's tea hot again and refilling her water. In one episode during the first season where we first realize that Leo has powers (but not that he is a Whitelighter) we see him "heal" the Charmed Ones' Book of Shadows, which had been erased after the Charmed Ones used the spell to relinquish their powers to a demon, thus rewriting the entire book and giving back the sisters' powers. Whitelighters also have their own language, which sounds to human ears like a series of clicks and clacks but to them sounds like words. Whitelighters have also displayed the ability to "glamour", which allows them to take the physical form of others. Many tend to confuse this with shapeshifting. Glamouring casts an illusion around the being, making it look like another, while shape shifting actually transforms the being into another. Paige has this ability and surprisingly so do Phoebe and Piper Halliwell, leading us to believe that this is not a Whitelighter-exclusive power. Whitelighters also have the ability to mimic certain demonic powers such as energy-balls as Leo Wyatt did when he glamoured into the demon Belthazor to train the sisters and as Natalie did while training the sisters to kill a powerful warlock named Eames. (Natalie was a fellow Whitelighter and longtime friend of Leo Wyatt during both their Whitelighter years and human years when they fought together in World War II.) While Whitelighters have the ability to mimic demonic powers, they are not allowed to use them unless they are training their witch charges. It is unknown, however, if the demonic powers that they mimic have the same effect that they would if an actual demon were to use it. It is believed by many that because of their pacifism they are not able to mimic high-voltage energy-balls, for fear that it might hurt their charges while training them. Thus they can only mimic energy-balls and other demonic powers at a fraction of their power, making them safe to use in training. Elders, whose powers seem to be stronger versions of Whitelighter powers, can throw Lightning bolts. Lightning bolts are only used in extreme circumstances such as Leo Wyatt used when he committed a great evil to restore the balance of good and evil in the two mirroring worlds by killing the Elder Gideon when he tried to kill Leo's son Wyatt. The Elders used them when they tried to kill Leo after they viewed him as a threat after he disclosed to them that he was an Avatar.

Whitelighters can pass some, and perhaps in some cases, all, of these abilities on to their offspring. Chris and Paige are able to orb and sense others, channel the ability to heal through another Whitelighter, become invisible, heal on their own, and speak any language other than their own. Chris cannot levitate, though Paige can. They are, however, still very vulnerable to darklighter arrows. Paige healed Henry without channeling a Whitelighter's power during an emotional scene that unlocked her power(this could be the natural evolution of her witch powers that the Charmed all have). Until that time, it was thought that half-Whitelighters could not heal, but now it is possible that Chris will eventually gain the healing ability.

In the synopses on the back cover of the "Charmed" DVD sets, White Lighter is spelled as two separate words instead of the single Whitelighter.

[edit] Hybrid

The first Whitelighter hybrid ever to appear on Charmed was Paige Matthews. She is the first born Whitelighter and witch. She possesses both the powers of a Whitelighter, which range from orbing to healing, and also witch abilities, such as spellcasting and potion making. It is unknown if she or any of the other Whitelighter hybrids have the power to mimic demonic powers as regular Whitelighters do. Because Paige is of Warren blood and a Charmed One, she also possesses one of the three powers belonging to Melinda Warren. However, since she is also a Whitelighter, her telekinesis became telekinetic-orbing, which is the ability to call for an object and orb it to you. Many more generations of this hybrid will continue in the future.

List of Hybrids:

[edit] Modern Usage

"Whitelighter" is also a term used in the Neopagan community, particularly amongst Wiccans to describe those who see Deity only in the "good", but not in things unpleasant or unappealing. The term used in this sense is generally pejorative.

Charmed
Main: Season summaries | Episode guide | Broadcasters, DVDs & other media | Terms | Trivia
Locations and Artifacts: San Francisco Bay Area | Halliwell Manor | Magic School | The Nexus | Book of Shadows
Good beings: Charmed Ones | Close friends | Family and friends | Whitelighters | Elders
Evil beings: Darklighters | Warlocks
Neutral: Avatars | The Hollow | Firestarters
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