| Patricia Halliwell | |
|---|---|
| Charmed character | |
| First appearance | Thank You for Not Morphing (Portrayed by Alyssa Milano) From Fear To Eternity (Portrayed by an Unknown Actress) That 70's Episode (First True Appearance after Finola Hughes took over the role) |
| Last appearance | Forever Charmed |
| Created by | Constance M. Burge |
| Portrayed by | Finola Hughes Alyssa Milano in Thank You for Not Morphing[episodes 1] |
| Information | |
| Aliases | Patty Halliwell |
| Species | Witch Ghost |
| Family | Penelope Halliwell (mother; deceased) Allen Halliwell (father; deceased) |
| Spouse(s) | Victor Bennett (ex-husband) Samuel Wilder (lover) |
| Children | Prue Halliwell (daughter; deceased) Piper Halliwell (daughter) Phoebe Halliwell (daughter) Paige Matthews (daughter) |
| Notable Power(s) | Molecular immobilization |
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.
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Patty was born on April 5, 1950[episodes 2] She was the only child of Allen Halliwell and Penelope Johnson. 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.[episodes 3]
Patty married the mortal Victor Bennett, and gave birth to Prue, Piper, and Phoebe.[episodes 4] 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.[episodes 5] 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.[episodes 4]
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".[episodes 6]
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.[episodes 5]
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.[episodes 7]
She is allowed to become corporeal again when she tells Piper and Phoebe about their fourth sister, Paige Matthews, after Prue's funeral.[episodes 6] 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.[episodes 8]
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.
Regarding the taping of her last appearance on the series, actress Finola Hughes noted that she has
. . . been on the set of "Charmed" for this last week. Hours have been long. Those girls work so hard. They are the funniest when they are all together, I love working on sets that are so relaxed, this show has always been like that. This episode is going to be quite amazing, lots of special effects, and a great ending. I am already plotting how I can steal the cute Juicy hoody that Alyssa is wearing in the final episode. It has a frilly bustle, and puffy sleeves. I wannit! I'm thinking I can sneak into wardrobe on the last day. Well, they won't need it again, right? You wait till you see it, you'll want it too. Though perhaps you are not quite as obsessive about the puffy sleeve movement as I am. Cannot get over how stunning the 'Charmed Ones' are. Rose, with her ridiculous porcelain skin, Alyssa with perfect bone structure, and the radiant, gorgeous Holly, they are the main reason the show has been this huge hit, their camaraderie and chemistry. I return as the mom (well dead, you know) and get to wear these fab '70's togs. Everything is vintage that wardrobe found for me, the pants are crazy cords that sweep the ground, really funny! Has anyone read this? I thought it was great and very sweet Love Finola.[1]
Aside from the basic powers of a magical witch, such as spellcasting and scrying, Patty possesses the gifts of:
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