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** Several scenes in Cole's introductory episode hint at his demonic identity and motives. He's introduced as an ordinary ADA tasked with prosecuting a mortal killer protected by a Guardian Demon. There's no hint at an accomplice besides the supernatural one, but Cole gives him a veiled speech telling him to "tell the one protecting you that I'm coming for him" which doesn't make much sense without the context. When Phoebe accidentally attacks him, he's able to easily block her kick (which he plays off as a MeetCute). When Piper selectively freezes the innocents in the courtroom, he seems to freeze, only to reveal to the audience later that he didn't. None of the other demonic entities froze, but neither did they ''pretend'' to freeze like Cole did, which shows that he's aware of and ready for Piper's powers and capable of playing a long game to get to them. Then of course, there's his line to the judge before vanquishing him: "I'll take it from here."
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** In the season 2 episode "That Old Black Magic," the villain of the episode finds a lost hiker with a camera who got separated from his friends making a documentary about the [[Film/TheBlairWitchProject Blair Witch]]. She later comes across the other two, one of whom is a girl repeatedly screaming "Joshua!"
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** Way back in season 2, long before Piper ever considered having kids, she visits the future and meets her daughter, Melinda. Though, when she actually does get pregnant, the name she's decided on is ''Prudence'' Melinda, because [[spoiler: Prue's dead in this timeline]]. Then the baby winds up being a boy anyway, which means they have to come up with something new.
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** Way back in season 2, long before Piper ever considered having kids, she visits the future and meets her daughter, Melinda. Though, when she actually does get pregnant, the name she's decided on is ''Prudence'' Melinda, because [[spoiler: Prue's dead in this timeline]]. Then the baby winds up being a boy anyway, which means they have to come up with something new. When Piper's third baby is a girl, she goes back to her original plan of naming her Melinda.
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** Notably, the same does not apply to her ''second'' pregnancy. Holly Marie Combs was pregnant herself at the time and wanted to depict a more realistic pregnancy.
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** Notably, the same does not apply to her ''second'' pregnancy. Holly Marie Combs was pregnant herself at the time and wanted to depict a more realistic pregnancy. The reason for the difference is explained InUniverse as Chris having different powers. Piper can also still cast spells and use her [[StuffBlowingUp own powers]], so [[DownplayedTrope this trope isn't totally absent]].
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** Notably, the same does not apply to her ''second'' pregnancy. Holly Marie Combs was pregnant herself at the time and wanted to depict a more realistic pregnancy.
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** Way back in season 2, long before Piper ever considered having kids, she visits the future and meets her daughter, Melinda. Though, when she actually does get pregnant, the name she's decided on is ''Prudence'' Melinda, because [[spoiler: Prue's dead in this timeline]]. Then the baby winds up being a boy anyway, which means they have to come up with something new.
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The house HAS been in the family since the beginning; in the episode that first featured the Nexus, the girls realize the house is in the middle of a pentagram (star), with the five points all near an element. They figure the house was probably purposefully built their by one of their ancestors.
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The house HAS been in the family since the beginning; in the episode that first featured the Nexus, the girls realize the house is in the middle of a pentagram (star), with the five points all near an element. They figure the house was probably purposefully built their by one of their ancestors. There's also a theory that, since the Nexus is too dangerous to fall into evil's hands, the Powers That Be might be subtly influencing things to ensure the house stays in the sisters' control.
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** When a warlock from Puritan times is brought to the present, he attacks a lawyer (he had the last name Halliwell, and the warlock was looking for Prue) who, not realizing he's magical, threatens to sue him for everything he's worth. The warlock says that it's comforting that lawyers haven't changed in all this time.
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* DoorClosesEnding: This is the idiosyncratic way of ending ''every'' season. See the OnceASeason entry below. The first episode ends this way too.
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* DoorClosesEnding: This is the idiosyncratic way of ending ''every'' season. See the OnceASeason entry below. The first episode ends this way too. As does the intro. Really, they're rather fond of this one.
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* CastingGag: Creator/CharismaCarpenter had played Cordelia Chase, a human who willingly became part-demon, in ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}''. Here, her character Kyra is a reversal od Cordelia, because she is a demon who wants to become human.
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* CastingGag: Creator/CharismaCarpenter had played Cordelia Chase, a human who willingly became part-demon, in ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}''. Here, her character Kyra is a reversal od of Cordelia, because she is a demon who wants to become human.
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** Their ancestor, Melinda Warren, was burned at the stake after a warlock revealed her as a witch.
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** There's one episode where the "password" into a demonic hideout is... killing one of the two guards. Sure, maybe it's a case of IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten, but surely it would be more efficient (and better for morale) to keep an Innocent or two around for that purpose.
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* AlliterativeFamily: The Halliwell sisters and other members of the family too. In fact, when Patty (daughter to Penny and mother to Prue, Piper, and Phoebe) gave up Paige for adoption, her only request to the nun was that her name start with P. There's no explanation given (the founder of their line is named Melinda, so it isn't in her honor), and when they go back to before Phoebe was born, their Grams dismissively scoffs "Another P, what do you know?" implying that it wasn't her intention.
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* AlliterativeFamily: The Halliwell sisters and other members of the family too. In fact, when Patty (daughter to Penny and mother to Prue, Piper, and Phoebe) gave up Paige for adoption, her only request to the nun was that her name start with P. There's no explanation given (the founder of their line is named Melinda, so it isn't in her honor), and when they go back to before Phoebe was born, their Grams (Penny) dismissively scoffs "Another P, what do you know?" implying that it wasn't her intention.intention.
** Melinda Warren wasn't an example herself, but she did set the trend. She named her daughter Prudence. It's never stated (or strongly implied), but it could be that her descendants are carrying on the tradition for that reason (it is implied that Prue is directly named after Prudence Warren, at least).
** Piper winds up breaking the tradition. The episode "Morality Bites" shows her potential future daughter named Melinda. After [[spoiler: Prue's death]], she does attempt to amend it to "Prudence Melinda," but then she winds up having a boy she names Wyatt (his father's surname). Her second son is named Chris (though he was introduced before being identified as a KidFromTheFuture, so maybe giving him a "P" name would have spoiled that plot twist).
** Melinda Warren wasn't an example herself, but she did set the trend. She named her daughter Prudence. It's never stated (or strongly implied), but it could be that her descendants are carrying on the tradition for that reason (it is implied that Prue is directly named after Prudence Warren, at least).
** Piper winds up breaking the tradition. The episode "Morality Bites" shows her potential future daughter named Melinda. After [[spoiler: Prue's death]], she does attempt to amend it to "Prudence Melinda," but then she winds up having a boy she names Wyatt (his father's surname). Her second son is named Chris (though he was introduced before being identified as a KidFromTheFuture, so maybe giving him a "P" name would have spoiled that plot twist).
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* AliceAllusion: In the season 8 episode of Charmed "Malice in Wonderland" teenagers, all of whom are named with some variation of the name “Alice” (Alicia, Alexis, Alistair) are being lured down a manhole by a demon, who either shape-shifted into a white rabbit or was wearing a t-shirt with a white rabbit on it inviting them to a garden party and telling them they are very late. They turn up later with no memory and appear to have gone insane from the Wonderland-inspired illusions they experienced “down the rabbit hole”.
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* AliceAllusion: In the season 8 episode of Charmed "Malice in Wonderland" teenagers, all of whom are named with some variation of the name “Alice” (Alicia, Alexis, Alistair) are being lured down a manhole by a demon, who either shape-shifted into a white rabbit or was wearing a t-shirt with a white rabbit on it inviting them to a garden party and telling them they are very late. They turn up later with no memory and appear to have gone insane from the Wonderland-inspired illusions they experienced “down the rabbit hole”. The demon was actually [[InvokedTrope invoking]] this; she didn't believe the Charmed Ones were actually dead, and she knew they couldn't resist investigating something so obvious.
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* ThemeTuneCameo: "How Soon Is Now" plays in the background at P3 (Piper's new club) in the episode "The Devil's Music."
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%% * ThirdEye
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* ThirdEye: The warlock in "The Truth Is Out There And It Hurts" has a third eye. It doesn't signify any sort of insight. He just uses it to kill people.
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%%* PestEpisode: In the B-side to an episode, Piper was trying to catch rats in her club, after reports of their being present. She doesn't succeed, and it turns out the rats were actually demons.
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* PestEpisode: In the B-side to an episode, Piper was trying to catch rats in her club, after reports of their being present. She doesn't succeed, and it turns out the rats were actually demons.
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** Type 4: [[AllYourPowersCombined The Power of Three]], the Elders, the Cleaners, [[UltimateEvil the Source]], the Triad, the Nexus, Zankou, [[WellIntentionedExtremist individual Avatars]], [[NighInvulnerable the Tall Man]], [[ChosenOne Wyatt Halliwell]], [[RealityWarper Billie Jenkins]], Shakti and Shiva individually.
** Type 5: [[PhysicalGod Gods and Titans]], the Tribunal, the Avatar Collective, [[TheCorruption the Hollow]].
** Type 5: [[PhysicalGod Gods and Titans]], the Tribunal, the Avatar Collective, [[TheCorruption the Hollow]].
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** Type 4: [[AllYourPowersCombined The Power of Three]], the Elders, the Cleaners, [[UltimateEvil the Source]], the Triad, the Nexus, Zankou, [[WellIntentionedExtremist individual Avatars]], [[NighInvulnerable the Tall Man]], [[ChosenOne Wyatt Halliwell]], [[RealityWarper Billie Jenkins]], Shakti and Shiva individually.
** Type 5:[[PhysicalGod Gods and Titans]], the Titans, Shakti and Shiva individually]].
** Type 5: The Tribunal, the Avatar Collective, [[TheCorruption the Hollow]].
** Type 5:
** Type 5: The Tribunal, the Avatar Collective, [[TheCorruption the Hollow]].
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* ChildOfForbiddenLove: Love affairs between witches and Whitelighters are strictly forbidden. Whitelighters can end up [[{{Reincarnation}} recycled]] for breaking this taboo while witches, [[GuiltByAssociation their families]], and any children born from the union can be stripped of their magic. Whitelighter-Witches are usually hidden after birth, which is why Paige's existence was originally unknown even to her older sisters. Paige was originally thought to be the first of her kind, but Season 8 introduces another Whitelighter-Witch who was born the year before she was; it is implied that Whitelighter-Witches are more common than anyone originally thought, and Paige's part in the Power of Three opened the door for others to come out of hiding.
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* ChildOfForbiddenLove: Love affairs between witches and Whitelighters are strictly forbidden. Whitelighters can end up [[{{Reincarnation}} recycled]] for breaking this taboo while witches, [[GuiltByAssociation their families]], families, and any children born from the union can be stripped of their magic. Whitelighter-Witches are usually hidden after birth, which is why Paige's existence was originally unknown even to her older sisters. Paige was originally thought to be the first of her kind, but Season 8 introduces another Whitelighter-Witch who was born the year before she was; it is implied that Whitelighter-Witches are more common than anyone originally thought, and Paige's part in the Power of Three opened the door for others to come out of hiding.
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* ChildOfForbiddenLove: Love affairs between witches and Whitelighters are strictly forbidden. Whitelighters can end up [[{{Reincarnation}} recycled]] for breaking this taboo while witches, [[GuiltByAssociation their families]], and any children born from the union can be stripped of their magic. Whitelighter-Witches are usually hidden after birth, which is why Paige's existence was originally unknown even to her older sisters. Paige was originally thought to be the first of her kind, but Season 8 introduces another Whitelighter-Witch who was born the year before she was; it is implied that Whitelighter-Witches are more common than anyone originally thought, and Paige's part in the Power of Three opened the door for others to come out of hiding.
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** Chris, being the resident KidFromTheFuture. Hell, he even tries to bring about his own conception as he messed up the dates by being there.
** Phoebe also gets one when she time travels to meet her pregnant mother, who remarks how obvious it is that she would choose another P name and that "it's not too late to change it."
** Phoebe also gets one when she time travels to meet her pregnant mother, who remarks how obvious it is that she would choose another P name and that "it's not too late to change it."
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** Chris, being the resident KidFromTheFuture. Hell, he even tries to bring about his own conception as he messed up the dates by being there. \n It is briefly mentioned that in the unaltered timeline he was named after his paternal grandfather.
** Phoebe also gets one when she time travels to meet her pregnant mother, who remarks how obvious it is that she would choose another P name and that "it's not too late to change it."" She also briefly mentions that she must have named Phoebe after her favorite aunt.
** Phoebe also gets one when she time travels to meet her pregnant mother, who remarks how obvious it is that she would choose another P name and that "it's not too late to change it.
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** "Charmed Again": [[spoiler:there is a fourth sister.]]
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* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: When ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' moved from television to comics the sisters' different witch powers evolved and became much more showy in the comics. Notably, Paige gained the power to make orb forcefields and Piper gained the power to melt and set fire to objects.
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* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: When ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' it moved from television to comics the sisters' different witch powers evolved and became much more showy in the comics. Notably, Paige gained the power to make orb forcefields and Piper gained the power to melt and set fire to objects.
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* LongLostRelative: Not only a [[Characters/{{Charmed}} character trope]] but also a narrative one. It is basically the only thing that saved the show after [[spoiler:Prue was killed off]]. And the fact that Patty Halliwell's affair with her Whitelighter was mentioned before is the only thing that saved this from being an AssPull.
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* LongLostRelative: Not only a [[Characters/{{Charmed}} [[Characters/Charmed1998 character trope]] but also a narrative one. It is basically the only thing that saved the show after [[spoiler:Prue was killed off]]. And the fact that Patty Halliwell's affair with her Whitelighter was mentioned before is the only thing that saved this from being an AssPull.
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* TroubledButCute: Cole Turner. Possibly counts as a [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds deconstruction]]. See: UnintentionallySympathetic in the [[YMMV/{{Charmed}} YMMV tab]].
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* TroubledButCute: Cole Turner. Possibly counts as a [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds deconstruction]]. See: UnintentionallySympathetic in the [[YMMV/{{Charmed}} [[YMMV/Charmed1998 YMMV tab]].
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* AshesToAshes: Lazarus Demons can teleport and resurrect themselves using ash.
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* ActorAllusion:
** [[Recap/CharmedS2E18ChickFlick "Chick Flick"]]: Creator/AlyssaMilano was the visual model for ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' character Ariel when the actress was sixteen. Here, her character Phoebe wears a Miami High Mermaids shirt.
** [[Recap/CharmedS3E9CoyotePiper "Coyote Piper"]]: Creator/ShannenDoherty played an AlphaBitch in ''{{Film/Heathers}}''. Here, her character Prue turns out to have been very popular in high school, bordering on AlphaBitch.
** [[Recap/CharmedS5E1AWitchsTailPart1 "A Witch's Tale"]]: Creator/AlyssaMilano was the visual model for ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' character Ariel when the actress was sixteen. Here, her character Phoebe is turned into a mermaid.
** [[Recap/CharmedS8E19TheJungAndTheRestless "The Jung & The Restless" ]]: Creator/RoseMcGowan was filming ''Film/DeathProof'' and ''Film/PlanetTerror'' with Creator/QuentinTarantino during this season. Here, her character Paige wonders why she never has dreams involving Tarantino.
** [[Recap/CharmedS8E22ForeverCharmed "Forever Charmed"]]: Creator/FinolaHughes was the host of the TV show ''Series/HowDoILook?''. Here, her character Patty says to Victor, "How do I look?" when she meets him in the future.
** [[Recap/CharmedS2E18ChickFlick "Chick Flick"]]: Creator/AlyssaMilano was the visual model for ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' character Ariel when the actress was sixteen. Here, her character Phoebe wears a Miami High Mermaids shirt.
** [[Recap/CharmedS3E9CoyotePiper "Coyote Piper"]]: Creator/ShannenDoherty played an AlphaBitch in ''{{Film/Heathers}}''. Here, her character Prue turns out to have been very popular in high school, bordering on AlphaBitch.
** [[Recap/CharmedS5E1AWitchsTailPart1 "A Witch's Tale"]]: Creator/AlyssaMilano was the visual model for ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' character Ariel when the actress was sixteen. Here, her character Phoebe is turned into a mermaid.
** [[Recap/CharmedS8E19TheJungAndTheRestless "The Jung & The Restless" ]]: Creator/RoseMcGowan was filming ''Film/DeathProof'' and ''Film/PlanetTerror'' with Creator/QuentinTarantino during this season. Here, her character Paige wonders why she never has dreams involving Tarantino.
** [[Recap/CharmedS8E22ForeverCharmed "Forever Charmed"]]: Creator/FinolaHughes was the host of the TV show ''Series/HowDoILook?''. Here, her character Patty says to Victor, "How do I look?" when she meets him in the future.
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* CastingGag: Creator/CharismaCarpenter had played Cordelia Chase, a human who willingly became part-demon, in ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}''. Here, her character Kyra is a reversal od Cordelia, because she is a demon who wants to become human.
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The series successfully returned in comic book form in 2010 thanks to company Zenescope, receiving mixed to positive reviews from fans and critics alike. As with anything 90s and successful, there have been talks of a reboot since 2013. In 2017, it was announced that Creator/TheCW will be airing the new [[Series/Charmed2018 reboot]], and a year later, a pilot order was given and the remake is set to take place in the present day.
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The series successfully returned in comic book form in 2010 thanks to company Zenescope, receiving mixed to positive reviews from fans and critics alike. As with anything 90s and successful, there have been talks of a reboot existed since 2013. In 2017, it was announced that Creator/TheCW will be 2013 until finally a new ''[[Series/Charmed2018 Charmed]]'' series began airing the new [[Series/Charmed2018 reboot]], and a year later, a pilot order was given and the remake is set to take place in the present day.
2018.
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* JiggleShow: The Halliwell sisters have a noticeable preference for wearing [[{{Fanservice}} very low-cut and/or form-fitting tops]]. The actresses have been known to complain about the wardrobe choices in later interviews.
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** Paige grew up as an only child, never knowing who her family was and not knowing her place in the world. Much of her arc concern her trying to find herself and coincidently she has the power to teleport from place to place
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** Paige grew up as an only child, never knowing who her family was and not knowing her place in the world. Much of her arc concern her trying to find herself and coincidently she has the power to teleport from place to place place.
* PestEpisode: In the B-side to an episode, Piper was trying to catch rats in her club, after reports of their being present. She doesn't succeed, and it turns out the rats were actually demons.
* PestEpisode: In the B-side to an episode, Piper was trying to catch rats in her club, after reports of their being present. She doesn't succeed, and it turns out the rats were actually demons.
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* StrawFeminist: Penny Halliwell, the trio's grandmother. She outspokenly states her low opinion of men in general, and is openly antagonistic to most of the male characters in the series. When confronted with the fact that [[spoiler: a boy child is the heir to the Halliwell lineage and all its magic she is incensed and tries to convince Piper that the Wyatt is a cosmic mistake.]]
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** The role of the Book of Shadows and its connection to the Charmed Ones' powers varies widely throughout the seasons. Whether its the actual source of the Halliwell magic or just a useful tome depends on the episode.
** The nature of the Power of Three was also murky. One episode showed the sisters completely without powers (including spellcasting or scrying) when a fight between them severed the Power of Three, and yet [[spoiler: between Prue's death and Paige's activation]], Piper and Phoebe retained all of their powers.
** The nature of the Power of Three was also murky. One episode showed the sisters completely without powers (including spellcasting or scrying) when a fight between them severed the Power of Three, and yet [[spoiler: between Prue's death and Paige's activation]], Piper and Phoebe retained all of their powers.
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* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The episode "The Witch is Back" made the mistake of assuming that people were burned at the stake during the Salem Witch Trials.
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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charr_812.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''The Power of Three will set you free'']]
''Charmed'' is a show that ran from 1998-2006, wherein three UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco-based [[{{Action Girl}} girl-power]] witch sisters vanquish demons through the triple powers of CGI, rhymes, and lots of cleavage, whilst dealing with personal relationship drama. The show was created by Constance M Burge, inspired by the cult 90s film ''Film/TheCraft''. Having trouble getting networks to pick up the witchcraft concept, she made the characters sisters and the show was greenlit.
''Charmed'' can be divided into two sets of seasons. Seasons 1-3 are the 'Prue Years' featuring Creator/ShannenDoherty as the eldest Halliwell sister Prue. Doherty left the show after that season and Creator/RoseMcGowan was cast as sister Paige for seasons 4-8. The other two sisters were played by FormerChildStar Creator/AlyssaMilano (who helped carve out a successful career as an adult actress thanks to ''Charmed'') and ''Series/PicketFences'' actress Creator/HollyMarieCombs. Other cast members included a pre-''Series/NipTuck'' Julian [=McMahon=] and a pre-''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' Creator/KaleyCuoco.
A pretty successful show, ''Charmed'' ran for eight seasons and for a while was the longest running network TV show with female leads - until ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' caught up to it. The show is also known for its quite surprising tonal shifts between seasons - compare Season 2's slow-paced SliceOfLife plots to Season 3's action-packed arc-based story telling - the sisters' clothing getting HotterAndSexier with each year and quite a few continuity issues - just how many times was Penny Halliwell married anyway?[[note]]The final answer seems to be four, but one episode said six, and it later got clarified to four marriages and six engagements.[[/note]]
The series successfully returned in comic book form in 2010 thanks to company Zenescope, receiving mixed to positive reviews from fans and critics alike. As with anything 90s and successful, there have been talks of a reboot since 2013. In 2017, it was announced that Creator/TheCW will be airing the new [[Series/Charmed2018 reboot]], and a year later, a pilot order was given and the remake is set to take place in the present day.
----
!!''Charmed'' provides examples of the following tropes:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Tropes A-E]]
* ABNegative: This is Piper's blood type.
* AbortedArc: Season 8 got rid of the subplot of the sisters faking their deaths by having them exposed to the government, which was also neglected as a plot line. The government discovered that the sisters were witches and they offered to help cover up their faked deaths as a Homeland Security mission if they came to work for them. They spent a couple episodes performing a few missions for them and, despite the collaboration being extremely successful, they parted ways due to the sisters apparently being too hard to work with and the government's knowledge of the magical world is never acknowledged again.
* AboveGoodAndEvil: The Avatars present themselves as such.
* AcademyOfEvil: Two of them, both called The Academy. The first one appears in "Wrestling with Demons", and the second shows up in "Lost and Bound".
* AchillesHeel: For all their power, Whitelighters and Elders can be mortally wounded by arrows tipped with Darklighter poison. Additionally, a wounded Whitelighter/Elder cannot heal themselves in this event (but another, unwounded one can).
* ActionMom: Piper Halliwell.
* AdaptationExpansion: So far the comic book series is definitely a good example of this, in fact it seems to have taken a 5 year TimeSkip and has continued with the foreshadowing of the final season. This is helped by the fact that three of the original writers of the TV series were hired on by Zenoscope to continue the story. It's also helpful that a few of the first draft scripts for season 9 were recovered and part of those stories are being used to recreate the feel of the TV show.
* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: When ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' moved from television to comics the sisters' different witch powers evolved and became much more showy in the comics. Notably, Paige gained the power to make orb forcefields and Piper gained the power to melt and set fire to objects.
* AesopAmnesia:
** The Utopia arc in Series 7 has the sisters go along with the Avatar's plans to change the grand design, despite the ''numerous'' times beforehand they've seen how badly [[NiceJobBreakingItHero this tends to go]].
** In season 3 Prue learns multiple times not to focus too much on her witch duties and relax. Each time she goes back to being Superwitch by the next episode.
** Penny learns to let go of her StrawFeminist attitudes in "Necromancing The Stone". When she pops up again in "Witchstock", she's back to referring to men as 'utensils'.
** Post-Cole Phoebe has several relationships where she keeps things at a distance, and has to learn to allow herself to let go and fall in love. And then it repeats all over again come her next boyfriend.
* AkashicRecords: Featured [[spoiler:and destroyed]] in a season 2 episode.
* AlasPoorVillain: Lulu and Frankie, the ghosts who possessed Cole and Phoebe in "Paige from the Past". Despite being villains, you can't help feel sympathetic when it's revealed that their entire UnfinishedBusiness was simply wanting to get ''[[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes married]]''. Considering that they'd have likely moved on afterwards, Piper interrupting the ceremony comes across as kinda [[WhatTheHellHero a dick move]] on her part. Of course, sympathies are lessened somewhat by a line of dialogue that reveals that along with being robbers, they were also serial[=/=]thrill killers. It seems just sheer luck that they didn't kill anyone while in Phoebe and Cole's bodies.
* AliceAllusion: In the season 8 episode of Charmed "Malice in Wonderland" teenagers, all of whom are named with some variation of the name “Alice” (Alicia, Alexis, Alistair) are being lured down a manhole by a demon, who either shape-shifted into a white rabbit or was wearing a t-shirt with a white rabbit on it inviting them to a garden party and telling them they are very late. They turn up later with no memory and appear to have gone insane from the Wonderland-inspired illusions they experienced “down the rabbit hole”.
* AllAbusersAreMale:
** Almost every demon is male. The evil warlocks are mortal men who can use magic, while the good witches are mortal women who can use magic—and although the inverse does exist, most evil female witches on the show get away with not being called warlocks because they don't kill other witches to steal their powers.
** Subverted in the first episode of season 4. Paige's firm is dealing with a case about an abused child. Paige is convinced that the father is the abuser and gets manipulated by The Source into trying to kill him, to punish him for this. When her sisters stop her the man turns to his ''wife'' and says "I'm not covering for you anymore. Keep your hands off our son."
** Another episode features a pair of demonic bounty hunters who are abusive to a child with powers. One of them is female and is not portrayed sympathetically.
** Also subverted and lampshaded in the episode with the sisters' grandmother who dislikes the fact the Wyatt is male due to her own past experience with a demon she was in love with. The demon was evil and using her but also genuinely loved her. She comes to learn by the end of the episode that while some men are evil men in general are not inherently abusers and that her prejudice is wrong.
* AllMythsAreTrue:
** Angels? Check. Vampires? Check. Titans? Check. Human representations of the animals in the Chinese calendar? Sure, why the hell not?
** An interesting case occurs with PandorasBox. In the season 3 episode "Sin Francisco", Leo claims a box holding the seven deadly sins inspired the legend of Pandora's Box, implying it didn't exist. The season 7 episode "Little Box of Horrors" would have the Charmed Ones deal with the actual Pandora's Box.
** Many of the mythological figures are InNameOnly, because their function in the episode has little to do with their function in mythology. For example, Hecate as "Queen of the Underworld" (that was Persephone) and Kali as an evil spirit trapped in a mirror. [[Myth/HinduMythology Kali]] was one of Durga's war goddesses. And so on.
* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: It's that or magic. Prue's "split" persona in "Just Harried" - where her Inner Desires manifest as an alter ego that goes away with some CharacterDevelopment.
* AllergicToEvil: One cupid gets hurt every time the demon of hate unmakes a relationship he put together.
* AlliterativeFamily: The Halliwell sisters and other members of the family too. In fact, when Patty (daughter to Penny and mother to Prue, Piper, and Phoebe) gave up Paige for adoption, her only request to the nun was that her name start with P. There's no explanation given (the founder of their line is named Melinda, so it isn't in her honor), and when they go back to before Phoebe was born, their Grams dismissively scoffs "Another P, what do you know?" implying that it wasn't her intention.
* AllWitchesHaveCats: The sisters inherited a cat along with their powers. The cat later becomes human as a reward for being such a successful familiar.
* AllYourPowersCombined
* AlphabeticalThemeNaming
** The names of The Charmed Ones all start with a P. (Prue, Piper, Phoebe, Paige.) Not a requirement, but a conscious decision of their mother Patty and Patty's mother Penny. Averted when Piper started having ''sons'' of her own (the family previously had had exclusively female births for centuries), and started giving them [[AerithAndBob relatively ordinary names]].
** The eighth season also had the Triad members '''A'''smodeus, '''B'''aliel and '''C'''andor, with the demon '''D'''umain at their service. No wonder they didn't want the demon Xar among them...
** The seventh season featured Avatars known as Alpha, Beta and Gamma, although whether these are their real names or a hierarchical naming device is unclear.
** In the comic continuation, Phoebe has continued with the P name tradition, her currently named daughters are P.J and Parker.
* AmazonBrigade: The Valkyries in Season 6.
%% * AmnesiaDanger
* AndIMustScream: One demon, who is immortal and unvanquishable, gets turned into a tree.
** The buisnessman and Piper when possessed by Terra. This could also apply to other possessions in the series [[AmbiguousSituation (maybe)]].
* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: Examples are on the trope page.
* ArabianNightsDays: The episode "I Dream of Phoebe" - genie in a bottle? Check. Flying carpets? Check. Men with scimitars? Check. Magical desert city? Check.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: The sisters have a bad habit of scoffing at anything they haven't encountered. Subverted in "Once Upon a Time". Piper expresses disbelief over fairies and trolls, but her skepticism turns out to be based on her frustration with the Elders taking Leo away.
* ArtInitiatesLife: Young witch Kevin and his power of Thought Projection since he uses drawing as a focus.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Leo's explanation of how Piper's power works -- by slowing and speeding up molecules -- doesn't make sense. Completely slowing down molecules would not produce the effect that Piper's power has.
* AscendedDemon: Several characters attempt this in the series, all of which '''a)''' become close to Phoebe, and '''b)''' end up dead. Except the first, actually, who got close to Prue instead, and succeeded in ridding himself of his evil powers by becoming a priest.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Becoming a Whitelighter, an Elder, an Avatar etc. is this. Leo does it ''three times''.
* AstralProjection:
** This becomes Prue's second power. It never fully develops [[spoiler: before her death]], so her original body seems to go unconscious, and her main power of [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] is useless, as her astral clone can't use it and her original body is disabled. Miss Donovan in season seven learns to project a physical astral body in a similar manner.
** A second form of astral projection is the ability to create an intangible, invisible spectral form. This is used by a Season 1 villain Rex, who can implant hypnotic suggestions this way, and by Barbas, who uses this form to make people's fears reality.
* AttackReflector
** Initially Prue would move [[{{Fireballs}} fire]] and [[EnergyBall energy]] balls back at demons. Some {{deflector shields}} also acted as, well, reflector shields.
** Phoebe can reflect attacks with her empath powers as well.
* AuraVision: Grimlocks steal the sight of children specifically to gain this power.
* AuthenticationByNewspaper: A photo of Tony Wong holding his own death report.
* AuthorAvatar: Constance M. Burge stated that the Halliwell sisters were based off her and her own real life sisters. Three guesses which one [[CoolBigSis Prue]] [[HotWitch was]] [[BrainyBrunette based]] [[BoobsOfSteel on]].
* BabiesEverAfter: Paige and Phoebe are revealed to have three children of their own. And Piper finally gets the daughter she'd foreseen all the way back in Season 2.
* BadBoss: Demons are quick to kill their underlings for even the slightest infractions. They'll even kill their underlings for not saying exactly what they want to hear at the time. About the only way a demon can hope to last long is by having a skill that's really hard to replace.
* BadGuyBar: Not named, but there's the demonic strip club where Cole gets lap dances from a shapeshifting demon who morphs into Phoebe, and the demon bar where a collection of demons watch Witch Wars. There's even a 'normal' bar example where some biker types hang out and where Prue's astral self used to go to unwind and flirt with danger.
* BadHumorTruck: Inverted. The Ice Cream Man is actually a good guy, [[SealedEvilInACan and the truck is a prison for demon children]]
* BadPowersBadPeople: Done in the most annoying ways possible. For most of the show, there is no middle ground: if you have "evil" powers, then you are evil, period. Strangely, some good and evil powers are functionally the same -- orbing and blinking are both [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleporting powers]]. If a witch suddenly starts blinking, then she's obviously evil because blinking is a warlock-only power, and warlocks are all evil. Occasionally justified by the fact that powers are tied to a specific emotion, and it is hard (though not impossible) to do good things with a power that is powered by hate. It's also occasionally justified by the way one gets those powers. Evil powers generally get given to people who will abuse them while good powers end up with good people. That was the selection criteria for the Whitelighters and Darklighters. In general, bad ("demonic") powers tend to corrupt people; hence why Phoebe got DrunkOnTheDarkSide in the series 6 episode "Witch Wars" when she absorbed all those demonic powers from an athame.
* BalancingDeathsBooks: Whenever the Angel of Death shows up, the sisters usually have to learn AnAesop about this. His first appearance has Prue trying to stop him taking an innocent, and eventually learning that it's the man's time to go.
* BalefulPolymorph: The sisters get turned into other things quite often across the entire series. An evil-powered Piper turns a couple of people into pigs wearing blankets. Phoebe also turned a particularly chauvinistic advice columnist into a turkey twice and a pig once.
* BallOfLightTransformation: Orbing, the form of teleportation used by Whitelighters and Elders. A sufficiently powerful witch can affect the person while in orb form, as shown at the end of season five when Chris sends Leo to Valhalla. In season six, we also see Leo grab Chris OUT of an orb and bodyslam him.
* BanishingRitual: The show referred to this process as "vanquishing". The Halliwell sisters almost always had a spell to send demons away. In one episode, this was reversed, and in another, a demon threatens to manifest anyways and is told that there's "dead" and then there's [[DeaderThanDead Dead.]]
* BareYourMidriff: Phoebe's belly button deserved its own billing in the credits. The other sisters weren't so shy about it either.
* BarredFromTheAfterlife: This is Cole Turner's final fate - he ends up stuck in limbo, too good for Hell but too bad for heaven. [[spoiler:In the after comics, he is offered a chance at full redemption by working with Prue]].
* BathtubMermaid: The second half of the season 5 premiere had Piper and Paige hide Phoebe (who turned into a mermaid) in their bathtub because Phoebe has a television interview, and they didn't want to risk exposing her as a mermaid.
* BattleCouple: Piper and Leo (after he becomes an elder). Lightning bolts and explosions everywhere!
* BazaarOfTheBizarre: There is a market for magical goods. It's run by demons, naturally.
* BeamOWar:
** Happens between Paige and [[EvilCounterpart her past self]].
** Also happens between Leo and ''his'' EvilCounterpart.
** And again at the end of Season 8 [[spoiler: with the Halliwells on one side, and Billie and Christy on the other, with everyone boosted by the power of the Hallow]].
* BeardOfEvil: Many demons sport goatees. So do {{Evil Counterpart}}s of good characters.
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Although the respective characters change due to CharacterDevelopment and cast changes. The first seasons have Prue (Brains), Piper (Brawn) and Phoebe (Beauty). In later seasons, it's Piper (Brains, after she got promoted to eldest sister), Phoebe (Brawn, especially when she uses SheFu) and Paige (Beauty, being the sister with the least experience). More accurately, it started out in the ways described, but the SheFu turned out to be infectious (except for Piper, though she has her exploding power) and they're all played by Hollywood hotties anyway, so really it ends up being the one with the ''most'' of X quality.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In the episode titled "Be Careful What You Witch For", the sisters make simple idle wishes which a JerkassGenie inevitably twists - Piper wishing Dan could get on with his life leads to [[RapidAging Dan aging extremely quickly, for example]].
* BecomingTheMask: Belthazor, who was originally charged with stealing the Book of Shadows and/or killing the Charmed Ones, manipulates Phoebe in order to get close enough to do so. Over time, he ends up falling in love with her and does (an albeit temporary) HeelFaceTurn.
* BellyButtonless: "Size Matters" has a demonic construct who demonstrates to Paige that he's not like ordinary people by showing her that he lacks a belly button. [[NotWhatItLooksLike Leo and Piper walk in just as Paige is on her knees, leaning in for a closer look]].
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Leo is a peaceful healer who often gives words of advice to the Charmed Ones. But people forget that he was a medic during World War II and if anyone threatens Piper, he will kill. He has killed an elder and even helped a magical group wipe out free will (though he didn't ''quite'' realize this at the time).
* BewitchedAmphibians: There are many jokes over the course of the show about turning people into frogs and toads. Piper actually follows through in one episode, on a rather unruly Magic School student. [[LosingYourHead And she did it without even having a body!]]
* BigBad: There's one for each season, except season 2.
** Season 1: Rex Buckland and Hannah Webster, for the first half of the season
** Season 3: The Triad, for the first half of the season
** Season 4: The Source of All Evil[[spoiler:/Cole]], though he's really just a pawn being manipulated by [[spoiler:the Seer]].
** Season 5: Cole, for most of the season.
** Season 6: [[spoiler:Gideon, although he isn't mentioned or appear until about halfway through the season]]
** Season 7: The Avatars for the first half of the season and Zankou for the second.
** Season 8: The Triad[[spoiler:, succeeded by their protegé, Christy]].
* BiggerIsBetterInBed:
** Phoebe and Piper are trying to conjure up magical lovers in "Dream Sorcerer", and they make lists of what they want the perfect man to be. Phoebe misreads "employed" as "endowed" on Piper's list.
--->'''Phoebe:''' And I think it goes without saying that we both want a man who is well... employed.
** Then again, when Phoebe and Paige want the perfect man to accompany Piper on her birthday in "Prince Charmed", they make another list of attributes:
--->'''Paige:''' Has a ''really'' big...\\
'''Phoebe:''' Paige?\\
'''Paige:''' Ehh, this the perfect guy, or what?\\
'''Phoebe:''' ({{beat}}) All right, throw it in.
* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: [[KidFromTheFuture Chris]] dies and is then born. (ItMakesSenseInContext.)
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: You are either good or you are evil. Yes, you have to choose and then there's nothing in between. The only ones who don't follow this are the [[TrueNeutral Angel of Death]] and the [[WellIntentionedExtremist Avatars]], but they are an entire class of their own, ''not'' something in between. To break it down: witches are good, demons are bad. More specifically, anyone who are allies with the Charmed Ones and they like them, they are good. Anyone else is bad. Even the neutral ones because you can't trust anyone who is neutral. Also, all witches after they first get their powers, must decide if they are good or evil within 48 hours.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst:
** The two black Elders we see die in their first episodes, while white Elders survive. The [[TwoferTokenMinority black and female]] Avatar Beta is the one whose death makes their defeat possible. And while various witches [[RedShirt die left and right]], the few black ones we see are always killed, while the few that are saved are all white.
** Then again, the two cops are white Andy and black Daryl. Andy dies at the end of Season 1, Daryl survives the series. Daryl comes close to dying several times but never does.
* BlackEyesOfEvil: Some demons, like the Source, have them. As do anyone possessed by the Shadow/Hollow/Nexus.
* BlackMagic: Practically all dark witches, warlocks, demons, dark lighters, and so forth have used one form of evil-based magic spell one way or another.
* BlahBlahBlah: Paige once had a date that was so immensely boring that all she heard ''was'' blah blah blah; when something more interesting came up she heartily answered "blah!" and happily ran off.
* BlessedWithSuck: Leo, as a Whitelighter/Elder, has considerable power, but almost never does anything except orb and heal. Until he [[TookALevelInBadass Takes a Level in Badass]] and learns how to shoot lightning.
* BloodKnight: Paige, who's the most vocal about killing Cole in Series 5 and often the first one to suggest resorting to violence to solve a problem. Her tendency to do this lead ''Television Without Pity'' to jokingly [[FanNickname refer]] to her as "[[AxeCrazy Raige]]".
** "[[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Paige is proposing violence against the monkey!]]"
** Fittingly, she wound up becoming the Goddess of War in the Titans two-parter.
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: The season 5 finale turns the sisters into Greek Goddesses. Paige had red hair at the time and Phoebe's was turned blond with Piper keeping hers brown. Paige hersef also cycled through all the colors having black hair in season 4, red in season 5, blond in Season 6 and brown for the rest of the series.
** When two nymphs turn Paige into a nymph in season 5, they fall into this trope. Amusingly enough the redhead is killed off and Paige is the one they pick to replace her.
* BodyguardCrush: Leo and Piper, and Sam and Patty before them.
* BodySurf: The Source kept switching between bodies in order to lure Paige to evil. [[IdiotBall Right in front of her, with her seeing the switch in flames every time]].
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Every other week.
* BreastExpansion: Paige, "Hell Hath No Fury", due to her [[PersonalGainHurts misuse of magic]]. She "borrowed" the Book of Shadows in order to right some wrongs, but being a new witch, she didn't get to read the [[PersonalGainHurts No Personal Gain clause]].
-->'''Piper:''' You are so... ''[[GagBoobs busted]]''?
* BroughtDownToNormal: The sisters get their powers stolen on occasion. So did Wyatt. Cole too, and he did not take it very well.
* BulletTime
** Though not a straight example, Piper's ability to seemingly [[TimeStandsStill stop time]] demonstrates this when she freezes bullets, and that tends to happen on occasion. The same goes for Cole when he's stockpiles up on demonic powers in Season 5.
** In a second season episode, a hired hit-woman goes after the Sisters and attempts to gun them down. The action momentarily slows down to show Prue using her [[MindOverMatter powers]] to stop and repell the woman's bullets back at her. And in a seventh season episode the action slows down again while Kyle has Phoebe hostage, a gun pointed at her head as he demands to talk to Avatar Leo. Time slows when Leo throws lightning at Kyle, Kyle throws a vanquishing potion at Leo, and Phoebe just barely dodges the bullet fired from Kyle's gun.
* BurnTheWitch: Phoebe really did get burned at the stake in "Morality Bites". Though it's averted when the sisters get sent back to the 1700s and when they're outed as witches they get hanged instead.
* CallBack: The episode "All Halliwell's Eve" had a scene where Phoebe is told her true love's name begins with a C. At the time, she thought it meant Cole, but it turns out at the end to mean a Cupid named Coop.
* CaptainMorganPose : Dr. Griffiths takes this stance during his TV interview in "All Hell Breaks Loose."
* CanisLatinicus: One of the most egregious examples in fiction.
* CardCarryingVillain: Pretty much every bad guy in the show is one of these, if they are not pretending to be human. The Underworld is fully comfortable with being Evil and openly admits to it. The head of the Underworld is even called ''"The Source of All Evil"''.
* CassandraTruth: Happens a few times. Most notable being Paige's mistrust of Cole through latter season 4; though she's about 50% right and wrong about what's going on there, the conclusion that he does have to be stopped is part of what she's right about.
* CatsAreMagic: In one episode a witch's {{Familiar}} turned on her and became a Warlock.
* CelebrityParadox: In one episode Phoebe makes a quip asking "Where's Series/{{Buffy|TheVampireSlayer}} when you need her?" There are no less than ''fifty four'' actors who have appeared on both ''Charmed'' and ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''.
* CharacterDevelopment:
** The most dramatic example is Piper, who in the first two seasons was the [[TheQuietOne quiet]], [[ShrinkingViolet shy, mousy]] [[MiddleChildSyndrome middle sister]] content to fade into the background while Prue and Phoebe took center stage. During Season 3, and especially into Season 4, circumstances, including [[spoiler:the death of Prue]] and her acquiring a newer, ''much'' more aggressive [[StuffBlowingUp power]], she was forced to adopt a no-nonsense, take-charge attitude about things and become [[TheHero the matriarch of the family]]. She never got over [[IJustWantToBeNormal her desire for a normal, magic-free life]], but she became much more adaptable to the perpetual crises the family faced.
** Prue began as an uptight and humourless grudging TeamMom. As her powers increased, she became friendlier to her sisters and less like a nagging parent - not to mention she TookALevelInBadass to become a CombatSnarker.
** Phoebe goes from immature NaiveNewcomer to successful businesswoman and confident witch. After suffering from a bad case of LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces she's [[spoiler: HappilyMarried by the finale]]. Likewise, while she has problems abusing her powers, she eventually overcomes them and matures.
** Paige began as an outsider constantly comparing herself to Prue, eventually establishing an identity in her own right and learning to balance witch duties with her personal life.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: A few examples:
** Prue's character in Season 1 is extremely at odds with Seasons 2 and 3. She's portrayed as an uptight stick in the mud who is very humorless. Come Season 2 and she becomes much quippier and NotSoAboveItAll. Part of it is down to her loosening up as her bond with her sisters grows but some of the superwitch tendencies are quite jarring.
** Paige was introduced with an artistic side in Season 4 - her room in the manor having paintings displayed for instance. Come Season 5 and this trait never appears again.
*** She was also introduced as a lawyer and a social worker. By Season 5, seems she forgot she had a degree and went on a series of temp jobs because she supposedly had no career possibility outside of being a witch.
** Elise Rothman was the boss from hell in her season 4 appearances, getting a BitchAlert introduction. By season 5 this trait had vanished and she was good friends with Phoebe.
** Henry was rather cynical and had JadeColoredGlasses in his debut episode. None of his following appearances feature this. Additionally his and Paige's SlapSlapKiss dynamic was dropped after that episode.
** Piper's DeadpanSnarker side didn't really emerge until season 2.
** When Leo is revealed to be a whitelighter, he's able to restore the sisters' magic[[note]]They had given up their powers with a spell[[/note]] by using his healing powers on the Book of Shadows. Whitelighters are later established to only heal injuries and Leo doesn't reference how he healed the book the next time that plot resurfaces. Or how he managed to heal the P3 sign.
* ChainmailBikini: Paige has one from "my moshpit days". She wears it for protection when there's no magic.
* ChekhovsGunman: A retroactive example. Season 2 reveals that Patty had an affair with her whitelighter Sam. In Season 4 when they have to introduce Paige as a long-lost sister, Sam being her father prevented it from being a complete AssPull.
* TheChosenOne: Rather The Chosen One''s'' or The [[TitleDrop Charmed]] Ones. Wyatt is also called the Chosen One, disregarding his ability to wield Excalibur.
* CityOfAdventure: The Source of all Evil, along with the Avatars and everyone else, seems to focus entirely on San Francisco.
* ClassReunion: Piper had one in "Coyote Piper" and Phoebe's in "Hyde School Reunion".
* ClipShow: Framed as a time-travelling memory spell in "Cat House". Other episodes such as "Someone To Witch Over Me" and "Engaged And Confused" followed the same formula with other characters reliving their lives.
* CloseEnoughTimeline: In "Cat House", Phoebe and Paige go time-traveling through Piper and Leo's past, thanks to a botched spell. They manage to figure out how to fix most of the changes they cause, but they accidentally break Piper and Leo's wedding-cake topper and the episode ends with it still broken.
* CollectorOfTheStrange: Gammil in "Size Matters" makes statuettes out of witches.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience
** PlayedForLaughs briefly, when Paige in Season 5 tries to colour-code the pages of the Book of Shadows with sticky tabs for more efficient research. Piper is not amused.
-->'''Piper:''' ''(ranting)'' "Beings of evil are red, creatures of good are white." Oh, yeah? Well, what's a Bunyip? Because it's not good or evil, so what the hell color is that? ''(finds the page with a red '''and''' white tab)'' Oh. Well that's confusing.
** In the season one episode "Which Prue Is It Anyway?", Phoebe tries to color-coordinate a trio of Prues.
* ComicBookAdaptation: In 2010 they continued with Season 9 and 10 in Comic book form, which has been very successful.
%% * ComesGreatResponsibility
* CompositeCharacter: A variation. When the Greek Gods are recreated in Season 5, only the three sisters get powers - but obviously contain elements of several different gods. Piper is described as an Earth Goddess, which would make her Gaia or Demeter. She also clearly has elements from Athena, as the voice of reason. Paige is the Goddess of War, making her a female version of Ares. She also carries Poseidon's trident and shoots lightning out of it, giving her some of Zeus. She also has a bit of Artemis in her. Phoebe meanwhile is the Goddess of Love, making her mainly Aphrodite. However she also has some of Hera's queenly ways. While empowered, Phoebe shows a fondness for flowers, likely a reference to Persephone too.
* ConflictBall: In Season 5, the sisters (especially Phoebe) were distrustful of Cole and constantly expressed as much. It didn't matter that Cole was constantly trying to do good, either. The stated reason was because of Cole's turn as the Source of All Evil, but these episodes overlooked that Cole didn't choose to be the Source at all. (Instead, he had been driven mad by the power of the Source and overtaken with it.) The sisters themselves were even told as much by the wizard ("He didn't die. He was reborn into a new sorry ass.") and Cole's new personal assistant/failed seductress ("You've ruined him. Made him pathetic, weak, good.") near the end of Season 4. Their distrust was rooted in a severe case of NegativeContinuity.
* ContinuityDrift: The show is famous for its numerous continuity mistakes. Some highlights:
** Victor is said to have walked out on the girls when they were only toddlers. Other episodes show him and Patty frequently breaking up and reconciling before Phoebe is even conceived. Despite Patty temporarily leaving him for an affair with Sam, they are implied to have reconciled before her death. It's later suggested that it was disagreements with Penny that drove him away after Patty's death.
** Penny's love life. Some episodes say she was married six times and others four. It's accepted as canon that she was engaged six times but only married four.
** Witches are implied to be entirely female for the first three seasons (and warlocks entirely male). Season 4 introduces the concept of male witches, and female warlocks are seen occasionally. The show never draws a distinction between evil witches and female warlocks.
* ContinuityNod:
** Sometimes when they're flipping through the Book of Shadows you may notice pages that came from earlier episodes or even seasons. It gets a little more obvious that each page added for an episode never got taken out, because the book seems to get noticeably thicker by the end of the series. This works though, because the Sisters had by the later seasons started adding their own stuff to it. When Paige goes back to 1967 in "Witchstock", the book is appropriately much thinner.
** A minor gag in Season 1's "Love Hurts" has Prue teasing Phoebe for being nicknamed 'Freebie' in high school for making out with a boy under the bleachers. When she goes to her high school reunion in Season 6, we meet the guy in question.
* CoolestClubEver: P3. Although after neglecting it for a bit, Piper has to work to make it popular again.
* CouncilOfAngels: The Elders.
* CourtroomEpisode: "Crimes and Witch-Demeanors" has the Charmed Ones arguing for Darryl's life before a tribunal that's charged to keep magic secret, and has manipulated reality to frame him for murder in order to do so.
* CowboyEpisode : "The Good, The Bad, & The Cursed" has Prue and Cole traveling to the Old West.
* CrapsackWorld: Whether you are born powerless and easy prey for demons and warlocks, with good powers but often too weak to be useful and are targeted by same demons and warlocks, with bad powers that are useful but with no real choice but to be evil or find a way to get rid of your powers, or are born with strong good powers like the Charmed Ones, earning you constant assassination attempts by the various forces of evil for the rest of your life. You lose regardless, with the temporary exception of the Charmed Ones who still lost a sister to even achieve a temporary truce.
* CreepyChild: In "We All Scream For Ice Cream" reveals the existence demonic children who are incredibly powerful.
* CreepyGood: The MirrorUniverse version of Barbas, the Demon of ''Hope''. Despite being good, he's ''still'' creepy as hell.
** ''Everyone'' in "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World Part 2", due to an overabundance of good throwing off the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil.
* CuckooNest: "Brain Drain"
* CurseCutShort
** "But why me? I have nothing against that little fu--[[EnfantTerrible fetus]]."
** Also:
-->'''Phoebe:''' Wait, if you know then that means ''they'' know. And if they know then we are fu--\\
'''Grams:''' ''Fine''.
** And
-->'''Phoebe:''' Who's Natalie?\\
'''Piper:''' She's a f--\\
'''Leo:''' Fellow whitelighter. See, we finish each other's sentences.\\
'''Piper:''' [[LampshadeHanging That wasn't what I was gonna say]].
%% * CurtainCamouflage
* CuttingTheKnot: When Paige wants to take the Book of Shadows, she is told that can't pass the door. So she [[ExactWords throws it out the window.]]
* DarkWorld: The Charmed Ones had once traveled into a dark version of their world created to keep balance with their 'light' version.
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Concerning Phoebe.
-->'''Paige:''' I can understand wanting to take a break from guys, but c'mon already, she's gonna wear out the batteries.
** "Do you think Prue will have sex with someone other than herself this year?"
* DatingCatwoman: Or in Phoebe's case, being married to the source of all evil.
* DeadAlternateCounterpart: In the 100th Episode Paige gets transported to a world where she was killed before meeting her sisters and learning she was a witch.
* DeadlyUpgrade: Happens when people who aren't meant to be Empaths take (or are given) a legit one's power anyway. However, Prue really turns it UpToEleven: powers in Charmed are fueled by emotion, and the more emotional you become the stronger your powers become. So, when Prue gets the empathy power she feels more emotions (specifically, those closest to her), so her empathy power becomes stronger. Its area of effect therefore increases, so she feels more (further off) emotions, so her empathy power becomes stronger again, so her area of effect increases again--positive feedback continues ad infinitum. Unfortunately, on top of the fact that these power boosts occur quicker than she has time to adjust to them (making them exponentially unstable), she still has her original powers, which logically "piggy-back" on the gains made by the empathy feedback loop. Given that one of them is telekinesis, the result is ... [[SuperPowerMeltdown interesting]].
* DeadpanSnarker
** Piper, Piper, oh ''Piper''.
** Though the other sisters are no strangers to the trope, particularly Paige.
* DeadPersonConversation: They can summon the dead at any moment, [[PutOnABusToHell except Prue]].
* DeadPersonImpersonation: At the end of "Wicca Envy", Andy finds out that Rex and Hannah simply took the identities of two different dead people, and may have been the ones who actually killed them.
* [[DealWithTheDevil Deal With the Wizard]]
** Inverted. Drake [[PunnyName dè Mon]], played by Billy Zane, makes a deal with a sorcerer to become human (as in, to ''gain'' a soul rather than lose one) but keep his demonic powers with the condition that using them offensively will cause him to be sent to purgatory (as in, he's forced to be ''good'' rather than bad). The deal only lasts for one year, after which Drake will die anyway (as in, the only thing this means for his place in the world is that ''he's now on a clock to die''), but as it turns out the whole deal was made with help from Cole as part of a BatmanGambit to restore Phoebe's faith in love (as in, the underlying force behind the deal was doing something ''good'').
** Another inversion, Cole was willing to transfer the essence and powers of the Source to a Wizard. Only for the deal to be ruined by Phoebe under the influence of the Seer and the unborn Source kid.
** A more traditional Faustian DealWithTheDevil happens in the episode "Soul Survivor".
* DeathTakesAHoliday: And he recruits Piper to do his job for a while. The punny episode title of "Death Takes a Halliwell" comes from the trope namer but does not feature this.
* DecadeThemedParty: One episode had a 1940s Night being held at P3. The lady wanted the 50s but the sisters convinced her that it was overdone.
* DeceptionNoncompliance: Piper is possessed by a demon without other people being aware that she [[NotHimself isn't herself]]. She warns the demon that her boyfriend "Tom" will see right through it, causing the demon to address said boyfriend as Tom and expose the deception.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Billie thought she was this when [[spoiler:Christy turned her against the Charmed Ones]].
* DefenseMechanismSuperpower: This is usually the way witches first learn about their powers. Piper used to have to get stressed or scared before being able to freeze things.
* DeflectorShields: Most notably used by baby (and unborn) Wyatt. There are assorted people and magical items that project energy shields as well.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Downplayed with Elise Rothman; either this or CharacterisationMarchesOn. In Season 4, she's the boss from hell. By the end of Season 5, she and Phoebe appear to be good friends.
* DeliverUsFromEvil: Inverted with Phoebe's pregnancy, where her demonic child was turning her evil.
* DemonicPossession: With demons becoming the main enemies on this show, there were bound to be plenty of examples. Isis, Frankie and Lulu, Imara, Zile and Dantalian, and of course The Source itself has gotten in on the action. Heck, the Source alone has pulled off this trope on Paige's boyfriend Shane, engaged in TheCorruption after its power got into Cole, and another demon used possession to obtain a guise to lure Wyatt into a plot to revive him.
* DenserAndWackier: The first two seasons leaned more towards {{Melodrama}} with the supernatural stuff as mainly a bit of flavouring. Season 3 made it more action-packed and tongue-in-cheek, with many of the more outrageous magical stuff getting {{Lampshade Hanging}}s. By the fifth season, several episodes would literally revolve around one of the sisters getting turned into a magical creature that required a SexyWhateverOutfit. This got reversed in the seventh and eighth seasons which were more serious - but not as much as the first two.
* DePower: Leo. First he became a Whitelighter, then an Elder, then an Avatar, then finally BroughtDownToNormal permanently. TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers.
* DerailingLoveInterests: A unique case with Phoebe and Cole where ''both'' lovers were derailed. First was Phoebe at the start of season 5 when she suddenly decided Cole was responsible for everything that was bad in her life and blamed him for all her problems. She even went so far as to try and make a vanquishing potion for him. Afterwards he became a villain again, kidnapping Phoebe and even rewriting history to keep them together.
* DeusExMachina: Paige, whose existence was only revealed in Season 4 after Prue dies, in order to Complete the Power of Three.
* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: One of Paige's boyfriends says this when he falls under the effects of the truth spell and inadvertently blurts out the fact that he's married.
* DieOrFly
** When Paige develops healing power to save Henry.
** More literally than not in the case of Phoebe, who spontaneously levitates out of danger (indeed, its how she got the power to begin with).
** In fact, all the sisters have developed at least one power this way: Piper learnt to freeze time initially when Jeremy tried to stab her in the face, Prue got her empathy under control just as a demon was about to murder her sister, Paige orbed for the first time in the just as she was about to crash into a lorry (as well as the aforementioned healing) and Phoebe's levitation has already been discussed. In Season 9, [[spoiler: when the source attacks, not only does Piper's molecular combustion power also develop radically but Paige gains the power to form an "orb shield" (basically a force field with added sparkles)]].
* DisappearedDad: Three times. Victor was forced away because he didn't want [[spoiler:his daughters to use magic]], Sam had to abandon Paige to save her from [[spoiler:the Elders]] and Chris missed his father when the latter was busy as [[spoiler:an Elder]]. At least in the former two cases, [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou Daddy Had A Good Reason For Abandoning Them]].
* DiscardAndDraw: Cole's powers change completely as he goes from being a half-demon to [[spoiler:the Source of All Evil, then to coming back from the Wastelands with all the powers accumulated there, then to an Avatar]].
* DistractedByTheLuxury: Prue gleefuly dons Ms. Hellfire's expensive outfits and marvels at her jewelry while she and Piper investigate.
* DivergentCharacterEvolution:
** When Piper became the lead witch, her desire for a normal life helped differentiate her from Prue when she was the main character.
** Paige likewise was differentiated from Prue by being treated like an outsider by Piper and struggling to live up to Prue's reputation.
* DoesNotLikeMen: Grams repeatedly demonstrates this, [[FreudianExcuse supposedly]] because her four failed marriages have left her a little bitter towards men. Season 6 reveals that her first marriage was TheLostLenore - as he was killed by a warlock friend of hers.
* DominoRevelation: Witches are the first we learn but then we get demons, ghosts, angels, and others to come out.
* DoorClosesEnding: This is the idiosyncratic way of ending ''every'' season. See the OnceASeason entry below. The first episode ends this way too.
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale:
** Prue would frequently use her telekinesis to cause slapstick injuries to Andy or other men who annoyed her.
** Subverted in the Season 4 premiere, where a suspected abusive father turns out to be covering for his wife.
** Deconstructed in Season 8 where Billie - believing women are the superior sex - accidentally causes all the girls in her class to beat up the boys. She's horrified by what she's done and it's presented as wrong.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Another whitelighter, Natalie, briefly serves as this in "Blinded by the Whitelighter" for the sisters when she prepares them for battle. Unlike Leo, she refuses to coddle them, leading them to half-jokingly suggest vanquishing ''[[TheNeidermeyer her]]'' at one point.
* DrivenToSuicide:
** Cole had attempted to get the Charmed Ones angry enough at him to want to vanquish him. However, he had become [[NighInvulnerability invincible]] by then, and was so powerful that [[ICannotSelfTerminate he couldn't even use his many powers to kill himself]].
** There was a bad guy who would drive specific people to suicide by giving them bad luck and making them think their situation was hopeless.
* DropInCharacter: Dan and Jenny Gordon, especially in the first episodes of season 2. Later partly justified in that Dan dated one of the sisters, but he still often use the excuse of YourDoorWasOpen.
* DrunkOnTheDarkside: Phoebe, in the S6 episode "Witch Wars", where she gets a crap-ton of demonic powers and promptly goes on a demon murder spree. [[EvilFeelsGood And she enjoys it]].
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness
** The first episode mentions the Three Essentials of Magic: timing, feeling, and the phases of the moon. It's never brought up again, nor is there any indication in the rest of the show that the moon's phases have any effect on their magic. With the exception of an episode where, under a strange occurrence involving a blue moon, the witches are turned into ferocious beasts who maul Whitelighters. It's also commonly pointed out that their powers are linked to their emotions.
** Prue's telekinesis power operates quite differently in the first few episodes. Notably, in the pilot she teleports creamer into a cup of coffee. In the second episode, she barely struggles to move an entire elevator full of people up several floors. She also uses it unintentionally on objects out of her line of sight, without realizing she's even doing it. It's pretty jarring to rewatch and see the difference, since she typically uses her power to deflect energy balls or toss demons around.
** Seasons 1 and 2 have a drastically different tone. Season 1 is rather bleak, with a lot of melodrama. Season 2 nearly phases out the magic completely, with emphasis on SliceOfLife episodes. Both seasons were a bit dark and brooding, with a lot of the material being played very seriously. Seasons 3 and 4 were more action-packed, with more witty one-liners and LampshadeHanging (not to mention more {{Fanservice}}).
** In the second episode one of the shape-shifting demons held on the book and tried to get it out of the house by carrying it. Never once did it shock him like the evil sensing and shocking book that would come later. It's heavily implied that the shapeshifter's powers confused the book at first: whilst it allowed him to carry it, the book did refuse to leave the house, flying out of his hands when he tried to force it through the door, and sliding away when he tried to reach for it again. Likewise, the book is shown to be connected to the sister's powers, and it becomes steadily savvier, and more aggressive to evil as the series goes on. It's therefore implied that it's just the book's defensive capabilities strengthening as the sisters' powers do, as opposed to a complete non sequitur.
** In the later episodes just about every magical being, good or evil, has at least one of the dozens of teleportation powers. In earlier episodes they aren't as common. It's quite jarring to go back and see chase sequences with the [[MonsterOfTheWeek demon of the week]] running after them, as opposed to just teleporting away.
** Alyssa Milano's acting in the first two seasons is remarkably different to how she portrays Phoebe later on. She functions more as TheHeart and often delivers her lines a lot more dramatically. By Season 3, they realised Alyssa's gift for comic timing and retooled Phoebe slightly to make her a bit of a GenkiGirl. It's a similar case with Piper; while she retained more dramatic moments than Phoebe in later seasons, her DeadpanSnarker persona wasn't really touched upon until Season 3.
** Initially spells were inspired by real life Wicca and neo pagan practices (the show was inspired by ''Film/TheCraft'', which used similar ideas). By as early as Season 2, more emphasis was placed on the active powers and vanquishing potions.
** Prue mentions to Andy upon her confession as a witch that her children will only inherit her powers if they are girls. This is before they have interacted with any male witches, and there haven't been any in the family so far.
** The seasons with Constance M Burge in charge leaned more towards the FemaleAngelMaleDemon tropes. Cole and Leo becoming season regulars gave the show a more gender neutral edge. Also Prue frequently got lots of Girl Power moments - before they became less {{Anvilicious}}.
** Warlocks were the initial threat on the show, with only demons occasionally turning up. The warlocks were the human-looking enemies while demons looked more alien. By Season 4, warlocks were just {{Mooks}} and demons were the main antagonists - often appearing as humans in black leather. This was given a justification in the show; the more powerful upper level demons were the ones able to take a human form. So as the sisters' powers grew, the more evil (and therefore human-looking) demons came after them.
** Blinking is mentioned in "The Witch Is Back" to be a power that was copied from a witch. Later on blinking is considered the default warlock power - to the degree that Phoebe and Piper doing it in Season 3 is an indicator that something is wrong.
* EarnYourHappyEnding
** By the end of season four, the sisters have lost one of their own, but in the process defeated the Triad far earlier than they were supposed to. The Angel of Destiny offers them a life without magic as reward, but they refuse. In Season 8, Leo was supposed to have been killed, and the grief would spur them to fight much like the loss of Prue did. Piper, however, convinced the Angel of Destiny to only temporarily take away Leo, who was eventually returned to them. This time the Triad, among others, were KilledOffForReal.
** Piper and Leo's entire relationship has been filled with so many trials and tribulations of both the romantic and the magical kind, they're the epitome of this trope for ''Charmed''.
* EarthMother: Piper's role when she gets temporarily turned into a goddess.
* EarWorm: In-universe example: Prue gets the jingle for an ice cream truck stuck in her head. It turns out this was the demon's chord, which attracts demon children so that the ice cream man [[SealedEvilInACan can seal them away]]. Prue remembers it because she was mistakenly trapped by the ice cream man when she was younger.
* EatingTheEyeCandy: Phoebe has to be physically pulled away from watching Bane Jessup put on his clothes.
* EggSitting : Piper tries to take care of a crying electronic baby, in "Black as Cole."
* EiffelTowerEffect: There are many ''many'' shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid, just to remind you that yes, the show is set in San Francisco. In fact, the episodes usually start off with some shots of San-Fran in the morning after the opening credits and then with some night-time ones much later for the "final thought" at the end.
* EldritchAbomination: The Hollow, an entity that exists only to consume power. It can't be controlled and it can't be stopped, and Good and Evil had to join forces to [[SealedEvilInACan seal it away]]. It would consume everything in existence if it was allowed to be free. [[spoiler: It is vanquished with The Power of Three in the series finale]].
* ElementalPowers:
** AnIcePerson: Prue's past self was able to create freezing clouds of ice/mist.
** BlowYouAway: Shax and the guardian of PandorasBox are able to create air blasts. Shax travels by whirlwind.
** CastingAShadow: The Hollow and the Nexus seem to be a cross of this and The PowerOfTheVoid.
** DishingOutDirt: Piper as an EarthMother goddess is able to create earthquakes, sealing the Titans underground.
** LightEmUp: Light is the domain of Elders and Whitelighters. A few whitelighters in TheSixties would use their abilities [[MundaneUtility to create magical light shows]]. They aren't seen using them as an offensive power in the series, but they have been used in that manner in the comics.
** MakingASplash: The Water Demon that killed the sisters' mother, and the sea hag. May or may not be the same person.
** PlayingWithFire: Fire is seen as a [[BadPowersBadPeople mostly evil power]], so most of the characters who get fire based powers are evil: fireball-throwing demons, Phoebe both in her evil past life and influenced by her demon baby, Evil Future Wyatt, Kali (who lends it to Aviva), Christy, The Source, and so on. There are good characters who use fire powers though, like the witch in the pilot and the firestarter kid.
** ShockAndAwe: Lightning bolts are a trademark of Elders and Avatars. Energy balls are also electrically based. The shocker demon is an actual being made of electricity.
* ElSpanishO: When the Elders send a Unicorn as a baby present to Piper, Paige reads the tag, which is torn at the "From:" part to say just "El" and assumes the sender is Spanish.
* EnemyMine: When the sisters have to work with the [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse four horsemen]], everyone gets on edge.
** In a last ditch effort to get an advantage against Zankou, the sisters try to ally with a Vampire Queen, being desperate enough to offer her and her coven immunity (the Charmed Ones won't bother them afterward, no matter what they do). Unfortunately, Zankou got to her first, and offered a sweeter deal.
* EnergyBall
** The preferred power of demons everywhere. Just as much as {{Fireballs}}. Cole in particular really really misses being able to use them when he fully turns human for a while.
** Strangely one family of witches, Richard's, seems to be able to blast electrical balls at will.
* EmotionalPowers: The sisters' powers are tied to their emotions - Prue's powers seem to be triggered most strongly by anger. The triggers for whitelighters and darklighters are love and hate, respectively. Piper's freezing is triggered by fear, as is Paige's orbing.
* TheEmpath
** Phoebe develops this power.
** Prue has it for an episode, as well. [[MySkullRunnethOver It doesn't go over nearly as well for her]].
* EndangeredSouffle: When Leo walks into the kitchen, Piper, who is baking one, threatens to blow him up if her soufflé falls.
* EndlessCorridor: There's one in Hogwa-err, [[WizardingSchool Magic School]].
* EnthrallingSiren: The villain of seaso 5's "Siren Song" - a demon that seduces married men with her song and then kills the couple in a fire.
* EscapedFromHell: [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Cole]] manages to escape Hell by [[PowerCopying absorbing the powers of other fallen demons]] until he became {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le, even becoming able to kill the massive worm that feasted on the souls of the damned there. Unfortunately for him, since his newly-obtained powers were [[BadPowersGoodPeople evil by nature]], Phoebe, the woman he loved and married, ended up divorcing from him because he now brought her more harm than good, leaving him [[ICannotSelfTerminate unable to even kill himself]] out of the grief.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Zig-Zagged; Cole mentions that evil cannot love, yet he himself has some evil inside him and has loved Phoebe. There are also demons and darklighters that have fallen in love with mortals.
** In the season 6 finale with the evil alternate dimension, even the evil versions of the sisters love each other. Evil Phoebe comforts Wyatt the same way Good Phoebe would.
* EverybodyHatesHades
** The show never used Hades (except for a rather dishonorable mention as the father of the demon Nikos in the novel), but Hecate, another underworld god, came off particularly badly, being [[http://charmed.wikia.com/wiki/Hecate turned into a demon]]. (Way to go, have witches fight the patron of witches.)
** Yama also got this treatment, becoming the totally amoral gatekeeper of Chinese hell who tried to snatch whatever spirits were not "properly buried" and drag them to hell, regardless of whether they were good or evil.
** The Angel of Death on the other hand, is portrayed more or less sympathetically, especially during his first appearance.
* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Although both naturally brunet, Phoebe and Paige dyed their hair blond (Phoebe in Season 3, Paige in Season 6) and their characters fit the trope. It's worth noting that Prue's future self was shown to be blond, where she was the sexy, powerful and successful business woman. Piper also wore a blond wig when she dressed up as Glinda.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood
** Cole's secretary Julie suggests casting a spell to let her carry Phoebe's baby so that he would "be free to rule without her [Phoebe's] love holding him back", not realising that Cole doesn't want an heir, he loves Phoebe and is excited to be a father.
** PlayedForDrama with Kyra the Seer. She is a demon and cannot feel human emotions, but her visions allow her to experience them somewhat, so she wishes to be turned into a human so she can feel them properly.
** The trope is also inverted with Kyra's example. The sisters wonder why a demon would give up her powers just for the things they as humans take for granted.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: Especially notable in the season 6 finale. Evil Phoebe has a mohawk, Evil Paige has thick bangs, Evil Leo has SpikyHair and a beard while Evil Chris has a ponytail. All of them of course wear black clothing that's either revealing (in the sisters' case) or shaggy (the men's case). Their evil selves tend to have facial piercings as well.
** A very straight example with future Wyatt in "Imaginary Fiends". His evil self wears a black t-shirt, ripped jeans, has long hair and a beard.
* EvilCounterpart
** They fought an evil trio of warlock brothers who were even called "The Evil Charmed Ones". One of them wanted to be a priest, because doing so would remove his warlock half.
** Yet another trio of evil siblings, sisters this time, appear in the episode "The Power of Three Blondes". They went as far as to actually steal the identities of the Charmed Ones in order to form their own evil version of the Power of Three. Their [[DumbBlonde pettiness]] did them in.
** Darklighters are this to Whitelighters. And like Leo, one (Alec) fell in love despite the rules and norms.
** The [[TomeOfEldritchLore Grimoire]] to the [[GreatBigBookOfEverything Book of Shadows]], complete with the main force of evil/good having the main version that's called THE book.
* EvilLawyerJoke: Paige lampshades it.
** A variation appears in Season 1's "Thank You For Not Morphing": When a group of shapeshifters tries to enlist the cooperation of Victor, the Charmed Ones' father, one of them threatens to "rip him into a thousand pieces and dance on his entrails." In response, Victor quips "Ah, so you're lawyers."
* EvilPowerVacuum: The Charmed Ones are rather good at bringing about the death of whichever leader the underworld has, so several times demons scramble around trying to consolidate power and allies in order to become the new leader. Cole and Zankou are just a couple of the higher profile demons that try to do this over the years.
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: In episode 12 season 7 "Extreme Makeover - World Edition," The Avatar want to create utopia by curbing free will. In the end, in episode 13 season 7, "Charmageddon," the evil side saves the day. In season 2 episode 21 "Apocalypse Not" Leo explains why evil loves free will.
* EvilVersusOblivion: Both the Shadow and the Source are MadeOfEvil and can be defeated by good™. But the only way to stop the Hollow from destroying Heaven, Earth and Hell alike is a YinYangBomb spell.
* EvolvingCredits: Starting from season 2, the title sequence was regularly updated so that actors not appearing in the episode were not shown in the opening credits. Plus, the opening sequence for the pilot episode doesn't show the sisters' individual powers so that they aren't revealed in advance.
* ExcaliburInTheStone: "Sword and the City" features {{Excalibur}} as being protected by the Lady in the Lake ''and'' gets stuck in a stone afterwards. Piper gets DrunkWithPower by wielding it, believing herself to be the new KingArthur of sorts, but it turns out she's supposed to be its new guardian, being more like a new Lady of the Lake, and that it's Wyatt who's supposed to use it.
* ExpendableClone: Subverted in "Which Prue is it Anyway?": Prue's clones are [[LiteralSplitPersonality skewed towards her "fun side" and "businesslike side",]] but each one of them has all of Prue's abilities and memories. They are used as expendable decoys when the villain kills them, but Prue experiences every excruciating moment of their death, and feels like she's dying herself.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange:
** All three sisters get this when they travel to the future in Season 2. Piper's hair becomes curly, Phoebe's grows to waist length and Prue's turns blonde - all to signal how different each of them have become.
** Across the series, Prue's hair begins in a bob but is waist length by season 3 as her witch powers grow.
** Phoebe has blonde highlights when her relationship with Cole first begins. As it gets serious, the colour darkens. When they get engaged, her hairstyle changes and it gets darker. [[spoiler: While he is corrupted by the Source's power]] her hair goes to shoulder length and then turns black [[spoiler: when she becomes his Queen]]. By season 5 when she has moved on from Cole, her fringe has grown longer. Her short hair in season 6 isn't an example (as Alyssa Milano simply wanted to cut it for her 30th birthday) but it does coincide with her gaining empath powers. By season 8 her hair has grown out long to reflect her desire to find love. Her future self [[spoiler: who is finally a mother]] is shown with waist-length hair.
** Paige has black hair in season 4. In season 5 when she has jumped into her witch duties, her hair is now red (as a result of a potion blowing up on her). In season 6 she's trying to find herself through various temp jobs, reflected through strawberry blonde hair. When she stops going to the jobs, her hair becomes brown.
** Piper is unique in that her hair doesn't change very much in the series. It grows to waist length during the second season and stays that way - but she does give herself bangs around the time she and Leo have some marriage issues.
* ExpressDelivery: Phoebe has a nightmare that this happens, but it was AllJustADream.
* {{Expy}}:
** Cole is clearly an expy of Angel in ''Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}}''. Reformed demon starts a love affair with female hero, then reverts to evil. Then good again. Then semi-evil (see season 2 ''Angel'' series). Aaron Spelling obviously agrees with the saying 'good writers borrow from other writers; great writers steal from them outright'.
** The feuding '''Mon'''tana and '''Ca'''lloway families from season 6 are the '''Mon'''tague and '''Ca'''pulet families from ''RomeoAndJuliet'', complete with StarCrossedLovers '''R'''ichard Montana and Olivia Calloway.
* ExtremeDoormat: Darryl Morris has done everything for the Charmed Ones. He even forgave them after Phoebe and Paige [[spoiler:stole his soul]]. He had managed to grow a spine after getting put through the wringer one too many times without a thank you and put some distance between him and the girls. [[{{Jerkass}} They didn't understand why]].
* EyeBeams: The villain from "The Truth Is Out There, And It Hurts" has a ThirdEye that sends out a beam of burning energy. It targets the same area that the victim's third eye would be. Javna also steals the life force of his victims this way.
* EyeScream: There's an episode where a man cursed with blindness sends his son out to steal a pair of eyes for him. The eyes removed from the bodies are just... [[{{squick}} eeeew]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes F-J]]
* FailPolish: The sisters' clothing in season 1 was quite plain and average with only Phoebe being anywhere close to fashionable. By season 3 the sisters always wore the latest fashions and had much more flattering hairstyles. FridgeBrilliance - they can afford fashionable clothes by this time thanks to Piper's club being busy and Prue bringing in plenty of money as a photographer.
* FakeShemp: We see "Prue" from behind during a Season 5 episode.
* FakingTheDead
** Phoebe had fake-vanquished Cole because while the sisters had found out that he was really Belthazor, Phoebe was still in love with him.
** In the season seven finale, the sisters and Leo faked their deaths in order to live normal lives. By season eight, though, they couldn't keep up the ruse and eventually reverted to their old identities.
* FalseInnocenceTrick
** There was an episode where the sisters try to save a man trapped in a painting, but it turns out he was evil all along.
** Another episode sees the sisters trying to save some kids from their Ice Cream Truck prison. Turns out, [[EnfantTerrible demon children]].
** And in "Primrose Empath", the demon cursed with empathy pretends to be an innocent human hiding in an old tenement and tricks Prue into taking his power so he can once more wreak havoc. The fact the demon had been given the power by a priest so as to trap him may possibly be a ShoutOut to the ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Twilight Zone]]'' episode "The Howling Man".
** "I Dream of Phoebe" has the supposedly docile genie Ginny turn out to be a demon that was turned into a genie as punishment.
* {{Familiar}}: An episode dealt with familiars; they can become human either by good work, or by betraying/killing their charges. The Charmed Ones' familiar cat, Kit, was rewarded with human form.
* {{Fanservice}}: To the point that, whenever any (or, indeed, all) of the girls ends up in a [[InstantCostumeChange costume]] as part of the plot, lampshades are inevitably hung.
-->'''Phoebe:''' Why am I always the one that winds up with the wig?\\
'''Piper:''' Trust me, you're not.
:: To their credit, it's [[MsFanservice Equal]] [[MrFanservice Opportunity]] {{Fanservice}}, too.
* FanDisservice: Some of the outfits and situations the girls got into in the later seasons (like Phoebe performing for the Egyptian guy) were seriously skeevy.
* FanServicePack: Piper opens up a night club in season 2 which provides plenty of opportunities to see the sisters dolled up and wearing something sexy in most episodes. Later seasons, most of the transformations the sisters undergo end up with them in skimpy outfits. And there's also the female demons with tend to go for the fanservice version of HellbentForLeather.
* FantasticAesop: Too many to count.
* FantasticRacism: There was a ''lot'' of this towards Cole's demonic half.
** Witches, of course. In one episode, Creator/BruceCampbell appeared as a Witch Hunter who was such a fanatic that he was willing to kill a woman who all evidence suggested was not a witch (her mother was apparently one, and that was good enough for him).
** The Dark Side had a lot of infighting, especially after the Source was killed. Vampires are immensely disliked (to the point of being banished from the Underworld) and Warlocks are viewed with disdain by several other evil entities (going by "Muse to My Ears").
** The whole idea that demons cannot love, in how it fluctuates throughout the show, almost functions as an unintentional analogue to internalized prejudice.
* FantasyKitchenSink: Lampshaded a couple of times.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Demons and the like come from the Underworld, but when they get vanquished, they go to the Wasteland. They lose their human forms and face being devoured by a beast under the ground. [[spoiler:Cole - having retained his human form because he's only half-demon - kills the beast in Season 4, though]].
** What will happen in Season 2, episode 10 if the Demon of the Week succeeds in his plot. Cupid even says so.
* FearfulSymmetry: In "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World Part 1", where Phoebe and Paige fight their MirrorUniverse counterparts.
* FeatherBoaConstrictor: A demon in the season two finale "Be Careful What You Witch For" has one.
* FemaleGaze: Piper and Phoebe spent quite a bit of time ogling Leo's butt as he's fixing something in the fireplace.
--> '''Phoebe:''' Quite possibly the finest glutes in the city.\\
'''Piper:''' In the state.\\
'''Phoebe:''' In all the land.
** Prue walks in on Leo in the shower, and takes a second to look at Leo and remark "nice orbs" before being driven out by Piper.
%% * FeministFantasy
* FetusTerrible
** Played straight for Phoebe's child, who was the offspring of a Charmed One turned (temporarily) evil, and the Source of all evil. It was slowly corrupting Phoebe, even granting her a power she had in her past evil self.
** Inverted with Piper's, however. Not only would hers become a powerful force for good, but Wyatt would protect Piper even when he was still in the womb.
* FeudingFamilies: Paige had to deal with this in season six. Interestingly, not only is the reason for their feuding something concrete and recent (the death of one family's daughter) rather than something vague that happened generations ago, but the feud is resolved relatively peacefully after it's [[TheReveal revealed]] that the reason everything was escalating was because [[spoiler:the ghost of the dead girl was keeping it going out of a displaced sense of vengeance]]. Paige's LoveInterest from this episode (the same one the ghost wanted) even hangs around for a while, alternately being a source of help or danger depending on the episode, until his attempt to get rid of his family's bad karma ended up [[HalfwayPlotSwitch endangering Phoebe]] (and even [[TwoLinesNoWaiting exposing the magical world to her boyfriend]]).
* FingerSnapLighter: Many, many demons. However, the very first flaming finger seen was being used by a good witch to light candles, all the way in the first episode.
* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Not all the underworld looks like this (most of it being just dark caverns and tunnels), but select places do.
* FireBalls: Demons love to pitch fireballs, but then again so do some of the not-so-nice beings. There are more good characters that use fireballs than {{Energy Ball}}s, though.
* FiremenAreHot: Piper briefly dates hot fireman Greg in the sixth season. This particular fireman being hot is a problem, as Chris notes that Piper is "insanely sexually attracted" to him, and his conception date is coming up.
-->'''Chris:''' If mom and dad don't screw, ''I'm'' screwed!
* FirstLawOfResurrection: Oh boy. Over the course of 8 seasons, Piper and Phoebe die 9 times each. Paige reaches the same number of deaths within just 5 seasons and Prue has 3 deaths to show. And of course, being the main characters, they all get better. Well, except for [[spoiler:Prue at the end of season 3]].
* FlashBack / FlashForward: The nature of Phoebe's power of premonition is that she sees visions of what might happen, and sometimes what had already happened. Then there are spells that have been cast by others to see scenes from both the past and the future.
* {{Flanderization}} / EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / SeasonalRot: ''Something'' changed after Constance M. Burge left. Originally the show tried to hang on to the spirit of Neopaganism and Wicca, with various levels of success, whereas afterward it became much more about simple "Hocus Pocus" magic (see FantasyKitchenSink), alongside other things. It's just hard to classify what it would be called since it was very abrupt (Flanderization is usually more gradual) and fairly evenly balanced (three seasons on one side, five on the other.) And while Burge tried to focus on the relationship between the sisters, the show became more and more about their various romantic relationships.
** A couple of things that happened only in the first season: The ColdOpen would fade to black before the theme song and opening credits, and there was a more uptempo piano piece that was sometimes used as the ending theme.
* FluffyCloudHeaven: "Up There", as it's called, looks exactly like the page picture. Although this isn't actually heaven; it's just where whitelighters have headquarters.
* FlyingBroomstick: The Charmed Ones are thoroughly modern witches, so this only happens once, in the past.
* FogFeet: Demons made of smoke.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: A good number of examples.
** "Be Careful What You Witch For" foreshadows Piper's CharacterDevelopment and eventual leadership role from Season 4 onwards.
** "Death Takes A Halliwell" foreshadows that [[spoiler: Prue could die]] if she keeps relentlessly fighting evil all the time.
** "That 70s Episode" foreshadows that it's possible to recreate the Power of Three using ancestors. This comes in handy with the spell to [[spoiler: vanquish the Source]] and again in the finale [[spoiler: to destroy the Hollow]].
** "Is There A Woogy In The House" and "Pardon My Past" foreshadow how easily Phoebe can be tempted towards evil.
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: The spirit board, which was used for all of three episodes before disappearing in season three until it finally resurfaced for one last use in season 8, and the numerous spells from the Book of Shadows that would be incredibly useful in practically every situation, but are never used, such as the truth spell, which forces others to answer questions truthfully (this [[DramaPreservingHandicap may be intentional]]), evil-detecting glasses, spell to multiply powers (which also clones the caster), spell to hear hidden thoughts, and many more.
%% * FortuneTeller
* FountainOfYouth: One is being guarded by nymphs, but is really more of a HealingSpring. Another one shows up, and this one actually looks like a stone fountain. Irritatingly enough, Piper says "But that's just a myth!" when confronted with the second one, even after having come across the first one, possibly because she and her sisters had promised the nymphs from the first fountain that they would keep its existance a secret.
* FourGirlEnsemble: Although not all four Charmed Ones were on the show at he same time (since Prue [[McLeaned died]] before Paige was introduced), the sisters still fit this trope. Paige was TheDitz, Piper was the DeadpanSnarker, Phoebe was the [[InformedAttractiveness sexy one]], and Prue was the wise CoolBigSis. Before Paige, Phoebe played a combination of the sexy one and The Ditz. Once Prue passed away, Piper took on her role as the wise Cool Big Sis but still had her Deadpan Snarker traits intact.
* [[TheSixthRanger The Fourth Sister]]
** Paige
** OneShotCharacter Aviva tries to be this in a season 1 episode with this title. [[spoiler:Of course, she was under MoreThanMindControl…]]
* FreakyFridayFlip: Phoebe and Paige in "Enter the Demon".
* FreudianSlip: In the episode about the Sandman, Piper lets it slip that dreams are just "harmless, [[ThatCameOutWrong erotic]]--exotic fun".
* FriendsRentControl: Three twenty-something women own a large, three-story Victorian manor with a yard in San Francisco, a very dense urban area with some of the most expensive real estate in the US. The issue is supposedly [[HandWave handwaved]] that it has been in the family for generations and has been inherited, but the Halliwells would likely not be able to even afford the property tax on a home that would likely sell for at least million, assuming it's not in a wealthy or desirable part of town.\\\
No need to invoke the AWizardDidIt trope in this case: the house has been in the family for centuries (most likely since it was built) and the start of the series Piper has a job as a cook in a posh restaurant and Prue is a well paid art appraiser for a big auction house. Later they own a very popular night club and Phoebe becomes a famous columnist. A couple of episodes have had the sisters mention the need for a proper regular income. Piper has said to Phoebe on one occasion that they depended on her salary (as P3 was seeing lean times and Paige was unemployed) in order not to lose the house.\\\
The house HAS been in the family since the beginning; in the episode that first featured the Nexus, the girls realize the house is in the middle of a pentagram (star), with the five points all near an element. They figure the house was probably purposefully built their by one of their ancestors.
* FriendToAllChildren: The Halliwell's are all shown to be very fond of children, such as when they willingly take in an abandoned infant to protect him from a vengeful ghost, and being open and supportive of their young neighbor Jenny for the short time she lived next door. Other examples include Prue going to the rescue of a young witch when he signals for help and acts as a guardian and mentor. Piper helps a young fire starter to accept and learn to control his magic while protecting him from demonic bounty hunters. Paige worked for Child Services and was shown to be very affected by the plight of some of her cases. But of them all Phoebe seemed to be the most compassionate, comforting a hospital bound boy, getting a little girl being hunted by trolls to safety and using her empathy to understand her infant nephew's struggles.
* TheFunInFuneral: The season 8 premiere has the sisters holding a funeral for themselves. Phoebe tries to hit on a guy who was mourning her. Paige is meanwhile annoyed at the lack of people mourning her - so she Glamours into Janice Dickinson and gives a big dramatic speech about how Paige was Janice's best friend.
%% * FunctionalMagic
* GadgeteerGenius: Magical Version: [[TheScrappy Billie]] managed to "[=MacGyver=] up" a magical potion from the contents of a hostage's purse, despite the show always stating that potion ingredients are quite specific.
* {{Gaslighting}}: Source!Cole does it to Paige, along with having a demon possess her with a demonic power with a side effect of temporary insanity. He uses demon powers around her, and erases the evidence, so she can't be sure she's seen anything.
* GenderBender: Prue is transformed into a man in one episode in order to defeat a female demon who preyed on men.
* GenerationXerox:
** It's implied in the last episode that Chris and Wyatt are going to follow in the footsteps of their parents and aunts. So much potential spin-off material wasted...
** Piper with her mother, right down to the ability to freeze people and the forbidden romance with a Whitelighter. This actually comes up as a plot-point in the Season 5 opener, when Piper realises the similarities between herself and her mother after [[spoiler:getting pregnant]], and becomes afraid that she will die young and leave her family ([[spoiler:particularly her child]]) behind.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Every other episode when one of the sisters has a date or talks about a relationship.
** "Be Careful What You Witch For" brings us Prue announcing a date with a man named [[PunnyName Dick]]:
-->'''Phoebe:''' Prue, you are too hot to have to duty-date.\\
'''Prue:''' Yeah, well, all demon-hunting and no play has made me a lot less picky. I gotta figure out a way to [[YouNeedToGetLaid put some more balance]] in my life.\\
'''Piper:''' Yeah, but you don't need Dick...
* GhostlyGoals[=/=]UnfinishedBusiness: Played straight in regards to Phoebe's classmate Charlene in "Ex Libris", who can't move on until she helps bring a murderer to justice. Subverted in the case of Mark Chao in "Dead Man Dating", when there is actually no problem with him moving on to the afterlife - he just doesn't want to, because his spirit will be taken to hell unless his body is given a proper burial. He still manages to get justice for himself, and have Piper fall in love with him in the process.
* GhostTown: In "The Good, The Bad and The Cursed", there's an old abandoned wild west town that has a StableTimeLoop making it seem like it's haunted.
* GiveHimANormalLife
** This is the explanation for why the Halliwell Sisters grew up not being able to use their powers or knowing about them: Their mother and grandmother "bound their powers" in order to let them live a safe and normal life. This was never quite as much of an option with baby Wyatt, who is an even greater Chosen One than the Charmed Sisters themselves, but the Halliwell Sisters still had a tendency to wish that they could give Wyatt a normal life, particularly Piper.
** Often occurs so they can have conflict with the PowersThatBe who act like their bosses. One example that really stands out is a multi-part episode in which it was revealed that the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil is preserved by a MirrorUniverse -- if good wins in one universe, evil wins in the other and balances it out. Traveling between them disrupted the balance and made the normal universe "too good" -- the sun never sets, everyone is freakishly happy all the time, and [[DisproportionateRetribution minor crimes like leaving your cell phone on in a library are punished by mutilation]] ([[FridgeLogic instead of the suddenly-too-good people just leaving their cellphones turned off]]). A more reasonable person would consider mutilation to be evil. Somewhat tangential, but one shouldn't forget that in the similarly-disrupted evil balance, the same sort of [[DisproportionateRetribution mutilation]] was enacted for such trivial niceties as saying "Gesundheit" when someone sneezed. Essentially, the point being made was that Good and Evil cannot tolerate the others' existence, and therefore in a world dominated by one, any act (no matter how minor) that runs contrary to the ideals of either is punished harshly. It is the mix of the two that provides tolerance and temperance.
* GiveMeASign: The titular episode has Phoebe cast a spell to help Piper choose between Dan and Leo, which comes in the form of a whole lot of little coincidences that pop up throughout the day. It turns out that those signs were supposed to help them find Prue, who had been kidnapped by Bane earlier.
* GodInHumanForm: After becoming an Elder and then an Avatar, Leo eventually gets depowered and mindwiped and is plopped somewhere on earth to live as a human and find his purpose. Then one BatmanGambit would [[OutGambitted foil another]], and he would come back home.
* GodivaHair: Lady Godiva herself shows up in an episode and Phoebe dresses up as her at the end of the episode.
%% * GoodFeelsGood
* GoodGuyBar: P3 gets opened in Season 2 and most episodes usually have the epilogue there. There's always plenty of musical guests too.
* GoodIsNotNice: Grams, as well as Cole when he was a good guy. Both are [[JustifiedTrope justified]], with Grams toughening up after her first husband was murdered by warlocks and Cole being a half-demon who's spent a century as a trained killer.
* GooGooGodlike: Wyatt. Even in the womb, he was protecting Piper from a souped-up Cole. After he was born, his powers just kept growing.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Phoebe, hopped up on demonic powers, is supposed to get stabbed by an athame to get rid of them. Paige is just about to when the scene cuts to a post-battle celebration in magic school.
* GrandTheftMe: There is a lot of possession going on throughout the series.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The Book of Shadows is the former TropeNamer.
* GreenLanternRing: More like a ''Pink'' Lantern Ring, but Cupids' love ring functions as this.
* TheGrimReaper: The Angel of Death.
* GroundhogDayLoop: The final episode of season 1.
* HalloweenEpisode: Two, but neither one has an A-plot relating to the holiday. The season 3 episode ''[[Recap/CharmedS3E4AllHalliwellsEve All Halliwell's Eve]]'' has a B-plot where a couple of demons come back to life due to the holiday in question, but is otherwise a TimeTravelEpisode. The season 8 ''[[Recap/CharmedS8E6KillBillieVol1 Kill Billie: Vol 1]]'' has no plot relating to the holiday at all and just happens to take place on Halloween.
%% ** Infamous cases: Any demon portrayed by Peter Woodward.
%% ** Cole during his insanity spree certainly fell into this:
%% --->''(Piper instinctively freezes the guillotine)''\\
%% '''Cole:''' ''(exasperated)'' Can you at least let me...not die in peace.
* HappilyAdopted: Paige was adopted by a loving family when the Elders wouldn't let Patty and her Whitelighter Sam keep the child. Then the Powers That Be had to move the adopted parents out of the way in a more brutal fashion...
* HappilyMarried: Piper and Leo (for a while, and, if the epilogue is anything to go by, again).
* HeadlessHorseman: Almost causes the end of [[WizardingSchool Magic School]] in "The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell".
* HeadsTailsEdge
* HealingHands: Whitelighters and Elders. Inverted for [[EvilCounterpart Darklighters]], who can kill through touch.
* TheHeart: Piper. Best said by [[spoiler:the girls' mother]] on her wedding day: "I always knew you would by the first to get married; you're the heart of this family, Piper."
* TheHeartless: The Shadow, the Source and the Hollow. Cole became host to each power once.
* TheHecateSisters: Explored in the episode, well, "The Three Faces of Phoebe". She summons herself from two different points in time - young Phoebe is the maiden, who immediately has a crush on Cole and still believes in the "someday my prince will come" fantasy, present Phoebe is the mother because of her impending marriage (and deciding whether to follow through is the reason Phoebe cast the spell), and elderly future Phoebe is the crone, who is bitter and angry because she ''didn't'' marry Cole, and has spent her life wondering WhatCouldHaveBeen if she did.
** This also applies to the sisters together with their mother Patty and grandmother Penny: The sisters are the maidens, who are new to the craft. Patty is the mother, who is kind, supportive, and patient with teaching her girls whenever they summon her for advice. Penny is the crone, who is the most experienced and powerful of them all even in death, is quite bitter with regards to men (she was quite disapproving of young Wyatt initially), and is also somewhat demanding on her granddaughters given their legacy.
** This is again formed in the series finale to [[spoiler: vanquish The Hollow for good]]. Piper is the maiden, Patty is the matron and Penny is the crone.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Cole/Belthazor.
* HellBentForLeather: Especially in later seasons. Demons went from actually looking kind of demonic to just being dark-haired people in leather. It is explained early on in the show that [[BishonenLine upper-level (i.e. more powerful) demons tend to appear human]] so as to be able to hide in plain sight. It would make sense that as the sisters grow stronger, more powerful (and devious) demons would come after them. Furthermore, it reinforces the idea that anyone you meet can be a threat, leading to some very nice ParanoiaFuel. Phoebe actually lampshades it at one point.
-->'''Phoebe:''' Remember when demons looked like demons and innocents looked like innocents? Who changed the rules on us?
* HeroicWannabe: Billie -- she sucks at being a hero and a [[spoiler:villain]].
** Prue in "Sin Francisco". Getting infected with the sin of Pride has her recklessly charging into dangerous situations, desperate to show off how heroic and selfless she is.
* HideousHangoverCure: Paige is shown making one, with the requisite raw egg thrown in with who knows what else in a blender, to give to Piper.
* HideYourPregnancy: Creator/HollyMarieCombs, until they decided to write in her pregnancy. And the baby was born in less than six months. The show did note a six-month time jump between the episode where Leo and Piper conceive Chris and the very next episode, which justifies how quickly Piper was pregnant and showing. Or would have, if HMC wasn't obviously pregnant long before they wrote the pregnancy in. She also delivered six weeks premature.
* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Phoebe does this to a corrupt slumlord in the episode "Witches In Tights", where she and her sisters get turned into superheroes.
* HockeyMaskAndChainsaw: One a Phoebe's nightmares.
* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: Apparently are created by, answer to, and can only be destroyed by the Source.
* HotMenAtWork: Leo first poses as a handyman. By season two we have Dan the baseball player-turned construction worker, and suddenly Piper has dueling sexy handymen fighting for her affections.
* HotWitch: All four sisters, as well as most of the other demons and witches who appear.
* {{Housewife}}: Phoebe gets turned into a Samantha Stevens-esque housewife by way of a magical ring. She did mention that ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' was her favorite show.
* HowDoIShotWeb: It usually takes the sister a variable length of time to master their powers when they're revealed. Particular credit goes to: Phoebe, who never was able to fully master her empathy power before it was taken from her; and Paige, who took ''5 whole seasons'' before she learnt how to heal.
* HumanMomNonhumanDad: It depends on whether you view the sisters as human or nonhuman. If they're nonhuman, the trope is inverted in the case of Prue, Piper, and Phoebe (human dad/nonhuman mom). If they're human, the trope is played straight in the case of Paige (human mom/nonhuman dad). If they are human, Piper's sons and Phoebe's children have this trope apply to them, as well. Whether they're human or not, the trope is inverted in the case of Paige's children, since she married a "mortal" human, Henry, and is half Whitelighter (and thus, technically, nonhuman). Of course, Paige, as well as Piper's sons Wyatt and Chris, is half dead person, so I'm not sure how that works, but their fathers are still nonhuman. Brandon, the half-warlock from the first season, played this trope straight as well. It was inverted in the case of Cole, whose mother was a demon and his father a human.
* HybridPower: A common witch power is telekinesis and a common power for [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Whitelighters]] is [[TeleportersAndTransporters orbing]]. Paige, Chris, and Wyatt, who are all half-witch/half-whitelighter, they each combine these powers into orb-telekinesis.
* {{Hypocrite}}s:
** The sisters, especially Phoebe, towards Cole.
*** She and her sisters turn evil because of some magical factor or some manipulation of their powers, it's just a Halliwell thing. The love of her life turns evil because of some magical factor or some manipulation of his powers, she's contemplating his murder. Seen at least twice.
*** You know how Prue was quick to speculate that Cole was playing Phoebe into a trap after finding out he was Belthazor and never really trusted him since? [[IdiotBall Turns out she was the one who felt Phoebe and Cole's love for each other and convinced Phoebe to get with him about a month earlier]] [[BlessedWithSuck while she was cursed with]] [[MySkullRunnethOver a massive dose of]] [[TheEmpath empathy]].
*** In "Wrestling with Demons", Prue finds out Cole is still alive. She constantly criticizes Phoebe for lying to her and for supposedly risking them all, as well as refuses to listen that the half-human demon could have any good in him. However, in the earlier "When Bad Warlocks Go Good," Prue risked everything to help a half-human Warlock because she sensed good in him. Not to mention how this is the episode where Prue is actively trying to save an '''ex'''-boyfriend (who [[OneShotCharacter never appears in the series again]]) from a [[DealWithTheDevil contract with a demonic trainer]] while he's only one kill away from becoming a full demon. Unlike the other examples here, Prue is called on this hypocrisy by Phoebe (obviously well-before her own hypocrisy became evident), and the final scene of the same episode hints that Prue was more angry by Phoebe's lying about vanquishing Cole than the non-vanquish itself, so she still has a leg to stand on.
*** Throughout Season 5, the sisters blamed Cole for becoming the Source. This despite the fact that he was corrupted by a power he couldn't handle, in the process of saving their lives from the previous Source, was fighting to regain himself the entire time, suffered more than anyone else and ultimately died from the entire ordeal, and would have given up the Source's powers if Phoebe hadn't vanquished the wizard who was going to receive the Source's powers, all specifically to force Cole into staying the Source. Predictably, Phoebe never bothered to acknowledge that she was the one who forced Cole to stay the Source.
*** In the second episode of Season 5, Cole decided to pack up and leave after Phoebe rejected him. However, Paige would browbeat him into staying to help save Phoebe by casting a spell that forced him to feel Phoebe's love for him, which ended up convincing him to stay for good. In both Seasons 4 and 5, Paige is even more vehemently against Cole than Prue ever was and repeatedly tries to vanquish him or help Phoebe vanquish him, despite that he was going to leave peacefully before she cast that spell.
*** And then there's the thing about whether powers can be inherently good or evil or not. One second the sisters are reassuring a young boy whose power is basically being groomed to be used for the Source that powers have no inherent morality and it's just what you do with them. The next they're mistrusting Cole for his demonic half, and after his corruption by the Source's power, which truly burned Cole more than anyone else, they're downright detesting and fearing Cole, to the point Phoebe pretty much desensitizes herself to him, for the simple fact of his having demonic powers. This only serves to expedite his SanitySlippage, to the point some fans see his character as little else but Phoebe's {{Yandere}} and some others decided in disgust that the show had [[JumpingTheShark jumped the shark]].
*** Particularly egregious is in the beginning of "Centennial Charmed". On the eve of Cole's 118th birthday, he entered his penthouse, sadly looking into a mirror and telling himself happy birthday because there's no one else that's gonna tell it to him. Only to be paid a visit by ''Paige'' sneaking into his home from behind while invisible, jumping into his body, and trying to kill him. That scream of agony after he booted her out of his house did not come from nowhere. To make things worse, she ''practiced this on '''Leo''' first!'' And despite Leo reconstituting after being blown up and outright telling her it's not gonna work on Cole, ''she insisted she was right and did it anyway!'' Isn't Cole supposed to be the cartoon villain here?
*** Of course, Leo became a hypocrite himself in season 8 when it turned out that he'd captured two Noxon demons who were made unvanquishable through Underworld science and had then imprisoned to be used for target practice by students in Magic School.
** In 'The Witch is Back' Melinda Warren explicitly states that the power of 'blinking' (basically instant teleportation) that the bad guy of the episode has, was stolen from another witch. Then, in 'Bride and Gloom', Piper claims that blinking is [[RetCon something only the evil guys do]]. Warlocks are outright stated to be known for stealing witches' powers, so if anything, there should be no such thing as evil powers at all, only just powers that were stolen or misappropriated for evil.
** Their tendency to assume anyone acting as the antagonist is evil gets wonderfully lampshaded by the Angel of Death, who points out to Prue that some supernatural entities aren't good ''or'' evil, they just ''[[AboveGoodAndEvil are]]''.
** How about the girl who felt herself get executed in an alternate future timeline where she used her powers for vengeance against a human being and came back realizing before her older sisters that everything that led up to that execution started with the spiteful use of magic to punish a man for his dog's defecation, being the same girl who years later was met at gunpoint by a mortal she used to be friends with in high school and could've easily told her younger sister to orb the freaking gun away so they could subdue him but instead had said younger sister glamour him into their future nephew so he could get killed by demons? Easily goes under both this and TookALevelInJerkass, and really approaches MoralDissonance territory.
*** Additionally, remember the example from "Sam I Am". Phoebe condemned Cole for killing those two criminals in the bar, who threatened to rob it and then shot up the place. Phoebe certainly didn't think he was in the right. She went as far to threaten to vanquish Cole over that — which makes this ''later'' event more suspicious.
*** When Charmed Ones were put on trial for revealing the existence of magic to the world, prosecuting Barbas brought up those two criminals and argued that it was Phoebe's fault for [[DrivenToVillainy driving Cole to this]]. StrawmanHasAPoint, indeed.
*** Before she set up her mortal ex-high school friend to be killed by demons, she turned a rival columnist into a pig. Unintentional {{Foreshadowing}}?
** Likewise in "Sam I Am", Phoebe starts complaining that Cole '''hadn't''' contacted her in a few weeks, before immediately jumping to the conclusion that this means he ''clearly'' must be up to something evil! Do you want him to leave you alone or ''not?!''
** In "Soul Survivor", Paige decides that individuals who have decided to sell their souls for wealth and power, will full knowledge that this will come at the expense of causing misery and suffering to others, are ''still'' considered innocent. This is despite this making the "victims", actually very little from the ''villain'' of the episode, who trades these ill-gotten souls to increase his own wealth and power!
* HypocriticalHumour: In "Trial by Magic" Piper gets squeamish when she and Leo see a rat. Later on Piper mocks Paige for being scared of a group of rats — and then immediately screams as well when she sees them devouring another rat.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Cole, having absorbed many [[PowerCopying powers from hell]] to return to Phoebe, only causes problems for her and her sisters, so she ends up divorcing him. He also finds that his powers have made him NighInvulnerable and, as such, rendered him unable to kill himself from the grief. So he starts causing trouble for the girls to get them to [[SuicideByCop vanquish]] him. Only to [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] this trope when he explains that [[spoiler:he just wanted to try whether he really was indestructable]] and goes AxCrazy for good after the confirmation. He wanted to die and was quite miserable that nothing could be done to make it happen. Now, he was told by the Avatars that this was the case and cryptically said as much to the sisters, but it was quite clear that Cole was hoping against hope that they were wrong.
* IdenticalGrandson: Though subverted in one episode where Leo attends a WWII veterans' reunion as his own identical grandson, even though he obviously wasn't.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The name of almost every episode was a {{pun}} that worked on more than one level; both peripherally relevant to the plot point, MonsterOfTheWeek, or most important sister in the episode, as well as playing off of a ShoutOut to another famous title or work, usually literature, rival TV, classic film, or well-known songs, often oldies.
* IdiotBall: The later the seasons, the more these tend to be thrown around.
** In season four, everyone seems to be holding to their personalized idiot ball. Paige jumps between using her powers very smartly, and very stupidly. The Source makes a big show of not trusting the Seer, tells her "the next time she betrays him will be her last" and then does nothing when she tells him to his face she will do the exact thing he forbade. Leo made a big show of "watching over" Paige when she lived away, but does no such thing for Phoebe in the penthouse even before Cole starts shuttering everything, and the possibility isn't even mentioned. Piper [[ForgotAboutHisPowers repeatedly doesn't use her freezing power]] when it would be extremely tactically advantageous, even though she still uses the power for very trivial things, with the crowning example being "We're Off to See the Wizard" where she does ''not'' freeze the wizard, allowing him to steal the book, even though she froze him just a while ago simply because he got on her nerves.
** The Vampire Queen in "Bite Me" deserves a special mention. Paige was bitten by a vampire. It was established that in order to be fully converted to a vampire a person must get their first taste of blood. Before that point, if the Vampire Queen is killed the person will be turned back to normal. After that point, if the Vampire Queen is killed the person will be killed along with her. In other words, before Paige had tasted blood the other Charmed Ones had every reason to kill the Vampire Queen. Once she'd tasted blood, it would be virtually guaranteed they wouldn't kill her so they could save their sister. So instead of simply giving Paige a little taste of blood as soon as she's bitten and ''then'' sending her after her sisters with a huge mental advantage, the Vampire Queen decides that her sisters should be her first taste of blood, thereby giving the sisters a reason to kill the queen and allowing them a window to rescue Paige.
* IfICantHaveYou: It seems this is the case with some evil characters who fall in love with mortals, like in the episodes "Love Hurts" and Magic Hour".
* IJustWantToBeNormal: All the FRICKIN' time! Yes Piper, I'm talkin' to you. Accounts for her gradual transition from TheHeart to SelfishGood.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Aviva's desire, which makes her easily manipulated by Kali.
* IJustWantToBeYou: Abbey admires Prue. So much so, that she's willing to kill her and take her place. Pity her stalking couldn't turn up the fact that Prue is a witch.
* TheILoveYouStigma: It's not that Phoebe is embarrassed about telling Jason "I love you"; it's that, as a result of her empath powers, she says "I love you ''too''" before he's actually says "I love you".
* ImColdSoCold: In the episode "All Hell Breaks Loose," when Piper is shot by a sniper and is close to death, she says, "Prue, I'm cold. [[ICantFeelMyLegs I can't - I can't - I can't feel my legs.]] [[PleaseDontLeaveMe Don't go.]] I love you."
* ImmuneToBullets:
** Most demons are immune to firearms. At best, they may incapacitate (however briefly) "small fries" like Wendigos, Grimlocks, or Succubi.
** There's also a spell that gives a person temporary invincibility, making bullets bounce off them and giving them SuperStrength a la Franchise/{{Superman}}.
* ImportantHaircut: Averted. Piper briefly comments on Phoebe's new hairstyle in the first episode of season 6, but that's only because Alyssa Milano showed up with an extremely short haircut right before they started filming that season.
* ImprobableAge:
** Despite being in her twenties, Prue is already in a prominent position at Bucklands' auction house after several years being a successful museum curator. There is a small justification since Rex and Hannah hired her and they're after her magic. After they're vanquished, Prue is in constant clashes with the senior members of the auction house.
** Piper sets up and is able to run a night club in her mid-20s too, despite her background being as a chef and bank teller.
** Phoebe and Paige are aversions; Phoebe is in college in the first three seasons and gets a job on a fluke in the fourth - and she still goes back to college to get extra understanding for her new career. Paige meanwhile is an intern who's still paying student loans back and when she gets promoted to social worker, she has to leave the job because she can't handle it.
** Billie can only be twenty at the oldest, and has already mastered her powers and developed a scrying system by hooking crystals up to her computer. All from reading a few books. This is lampshaded by Piper, who suspects that Billie may have got help from demons at first. It gets a hand wave later when Billie's mother reveals that her family line is of witches and she was just a MuggleBornOfMages.
* IncredibleShrinkingMan: In "Size Matters", a shrink wand-wielding demon named Gammil does this to witches to [[TakenForGranite turn them into figurines]].
* InformedAbility: Phoebe gets hired long-term to write the relationship advice column at a newspaper after a stint at ghostwriting it earlier because everybody thought she was so great at it, and gushing over her column continues afterwards. The examples that are shown of her advice is actually quite trite. She also guest hosts a talk show once, and again people are saying she was amazing, while her shown behaviour in the studio was shockingly amateurish.
* InformedAttractiveness: People on the show talked about Phoebe as if she were the most gorgeous creature to ever walk the Earth. While Alyssa Milano was certainly beautiful, she wasn't significantly more attractive than Rose [=McGowan=] or Holly Marie Combs. Their characters weren't praised for their looks nearly as much as Phoebe was (although she did have a tendency to show more skin than the others did, especially later on). Before that Prue got quite a lot if it as well. She had nearly as many one shot love interests as Phoebe (and she was only in '''three seasons''').
* IngestingKnowledge: In one episode, Phoebe uses a smart spell that allows her to absorb the knowledge of a book by waving her hands over it.
* InspectorJavert: Anderson. [[NotEvenHuman Rodriguez]]. Reece Davidson. [[HeelRealization Cortez]]. [[ArbitrarySkepticism Sheridan]]. Keyes. Even Darryl Morris started out this way, and even Andy Trudeau got suspicious of Prue for a cup of coffee, and the two of them were among the most reliable friends the sisters had. Needless to say, they got this a lot.
* InTheBlood: The ability to have powers is, obviously, inherit in all magical species. Crossing that blood with mortals is [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity very]] [[TheVirus dangerous]].
* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: P3 H2O [[spoiler:is a subversion as it was likely not written as one at the time. Nonetheless, the episode states that Patty and her Whitelighter Sam had an affair - thereby creating the opportunity for Paige to be bought in and allow the show to continue after Prue's death]].
* InvisibleToNormals: Ghosts seem to be only visible to magical beings, unless they make a concentrated effort.
* {{Invisibility}}: Some magical beings are invisible by default, like muses and cupids.
* InvisibilityCloak: The vainishing spell, which Paige seems to use a lot. Gideon can turn invisible, and so can Leo when he becomes an elder, but it's not quite clear if this is an innate power or if there's some sort of spell or artifact that does it.
* IronicEcho: When the sisters confront a Darklighter.
-->'''Alec:''' (pointing crossbow at Phoebe) Never used this on a witch before.\\
(Alec gets thrown into a bathroom stall, dropping his crossbow)\\
'''Prue:''' (picks up crossbow) Never used this on a Darklighter before.
* {{Irony}}:
** The episode "All Halliwell's Eve" opens with Phoebe talking about how much she hates the stereotype of witches as wearing pointy hats and cackling while riding broomsticks. Later on in the episode when the sisters are in the 17th century Virginia colony, they need to ward off a group of men with muskets and Phoebe declares "I'm embracing the cliche" and puts on the hat and flies on a broomstick, cackling for good measure to scare the men away. Yep, she may well have reinforced the very stereotype she was complaining about.
** An unintentional example but Prue Halliwell, the in-universe "Super-Witch" of the first three seasons, ended up [[spoiler: [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed off offscreen]], never to return again]].
* IUhYouToo: Piper and Phoebe not that Prue always responds to their I love yous with an "uh huh" or "you too". [[spoiler:This is revealed to be a psychological hangup caused by "I love you" having been the last words Prue said to their mother before she was killed]].
* IWasQuiteALooker
** The CollectorOfTheStrange VillainOfTheWeek from Season 4 modeled his handsome golem after himself as a young man.
** The sisters' Aunt Gail from season 2 as well when she got her youth restored.
* JerkassGenie: Genies are tricksters and will try and twist wishes to serve their needs (usually to gain their freedom). There are two genie-centric episodes with both [[LiteralGenie literal]] and [[JackassGenie jerky]] genies: "Be Careful What You Witch For", and "[[Series/IDreamOfJeannie I Dream of Phoebe]]".
* JerkassHasAPoint: In "Crimes and Witch Demeanours", Barbas argues his case that the Charmed Ones should he stripped of their powers, due to their recklessness and selfish abuse of their abilities, nearly breaking the masquerade on a regular basis and putting innocents into situations where they've gotten killed. Turns out, the Tribunal actually ''agree'' with most of his argument and decide to strip Phoebe's active powers, due to her being the worse repeat-offender.
** Made even more telling when in the very ''[[AesopAmnesia next]]'' episode, Paige abuses magic for her own personal gain, which naturally ends up going horribly, horribly wrong. However this time, everyone [[WhatTheHellHero calls her out]] on her reckless behaviour and Phoebe is understandably livid.
** Barbas also correctly pointed out during the trial that the Charmed Ones repeatedly fail to adhere to any of the rules set in place to protect the magical community (unless those rules benefit them), believe that being the Charmed Ones means not being held accountable for their actions and often treat both their magical and non-magical allies as glorified servants, having the gall to act insulted when said allies express dissatisfaction with being told to put their own lives on hold or head into danger to fix their messes.
* JokerJury: The Charmed ones stood accused of interference in mortal matters by the Whitelighters. Standing in for the prosecution was Barbus, the (get this) ''Demon of Fear'' and longtime enemy of the Halliwells. Numerous others foes were present as witnesses.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes K-O]]
* KidFromTheFuture
** Chris, whose arc is about trying to prevent a BadFuture. Wyatt's future self occasionally pops up too.
** They also were this themselves in "That '70s Episode".
* KillAndReplace: Prue's stalker intends to do this and replace her as a one of the sisters. She didn't know, though, that Prue had magical powers.
* KilledOffForReal: Prue. Due to a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot, when her actor left the show. She refused to come back, preventing her character from retuning, even as a white lighter (explained in show that she couldn't appear to her family or it would mess with their grieving process).]]
* KillTheOnesYouLove: Phoebe needs to overcome her emotions and vanquish Cole. Twice. The first time she doesn't do it, instead faking his death. The second time wouldn't have happened if she hadn't taken the IdiotBall an episode earlier. The third time he's vanquished is an aversion, as she hated him by then.
* KingArthur: Briefly mentioned in "Sword and the City", Piper pulled the sword [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Excalibur]] from the stone in a very Arthurian-style and later became corrupted by it.
* KlingonPromotion: Standard operating procedure with demons.
* KnightInShiningArmor: One was summoned from a magic kingdom by Paige on accident.
* KnightTemplar: Witch Doctors, it's their job to clean up residual evil energies but they'll destroy good beings if they are a threat to the magical community.
* KungFuWizard: Phoebe is a Kung-Fu Witch. She learns martial arts because she's the only one without an active power (and gets bummed when Prue gets [[AstralProjection another one before she did]]). Eventually she learned how to levitate, which helped out her martial arts skills a bit.
* LamarckWasRight: Wyatt Halliwell inherits both his mother's molecular freezing and combustion powers and his father's whitelighter abilities. Chris also receives whitelighter abilities, but has powers equivalent to Prue's. In general, the children of whitelighters all seem to inherit their abilities, even though whitelighters themselves are made, not born.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Memory dust. Leo expresses reservations on using it because it isn't quite so precise.
* LaserHallway: Complete with acrobatics from Phoebe. They were actually moving lasers, but having the power to stop time comes in handy during burglary.
* LastOfHisKind: The last [[SquishyWizard wizard]] in existence was trying to kill the Source, who just happened to be Cole. Clearly subverted. Not only was that little guy not the last wizard (though he may not have known this at the time), he was trying to ''become'' the Source.
* LastSecondWordSwap: In "Chick Flick", Piper drinks a potion and then proclaims "Ugh, it tastes like ass...phalt."
* LatinLover: One gets conjured up as a birthday present for Piper in "Prince Charmed".
* LawfulStupid: In the show's mythology, this is how our world would be if there wasn't ''some'' evil in it to balance things out.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall
* LeaveYourQuestTest:
** Happens at least OnceASeason. Chances are ''very'' good that [[IJustWantToBeNormal Piper]] will be the most tempted by it.
** Probably the most vicious attempt at this was an episode in the 4th season that took place in an insane asylum... [[spoiler:[[MindScrew inside Piper's mind]]]].
* LesbianVampire: The Queen in "Bite Me".
* LieToTheBeholder: The sisters faked their deaths at the end of season seven. In the beginning of season eight, they cast a spell to make them appear as different people to everyone but family.
* LifeDrinker: Javna. He needed to regularly steal the youth of his victims, aging them into old people, in order to retain his youthful form. If he doesn't, he ages rapidly.
* LighterAndSofter: Later seasons. Also as the Charmed Ones get more powerful there's generally less of a sense of jeopardy. All the sisters "die" and are saved in multiple episodes.
* LiteralGenie: Two of them: an unnamed JerkassGenie in "Be Careful What You Witch For", and an ex-demon named Jinny in "I Dream of Phoebe".
* LiterallyShatteredLives: When Piper gets influenced by evil her freezing powers become not-so HarmlessFreezing, and when she puts Leo on ice, he gets shattered into a million gruesome-looking red icy pieces. Since he's already dead, though, he gets better at the end of the episode.
* LiteralSplitPersonality
** In the episode "Which Prue Is It Anyway?" Prue makes two clones of herself that display different aspects of her personality.
** Done again in the episode "Just Harried" when Prue's id decides to get a little action via astral projection.
* LivingShadow: Cole has one.
* LongLostRelative: Not only a [[Characters/{{Charmed}} character trope]] but also a narrative one. It is basically the only thing that saved the show after [[spoiler:Prue was killed off]]. And the fact that Patty Halliwell's affair with her Whitelighter was mentioned before is the only thing that saved this from being an AssPull.
* LosingYourHead: Sigmund, a teacher at Magic School, is first introduced as his head is chopped off. Since his body was still at Magic School when it happened, though, he's still alive. All three of the Charmed Ones eventually have their heads cut off too. They still manage to cast a few spells even without their bodies, however.
* LouisCypher: Hecate's human alias is Jade D'Mon, and Billy Zane plays a former demon named Drake dé Mon.
* LoveCannotOvercome
** After Prue confesses to her first season boyfriend Andy that she's a witch, he admits that he can't handle it and probably wouldn't be able to no matter how long she gave him to get used to the idea.
** This may also have been the reason that the girls' father left.
* LoveFreak: Cupids, naturally. Leo to a lesser extent.
* LoveGoddess: Phoebe was a Goddess of Love for an episode. She even wanted to form her own male harem.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Cole jumps off the deep end when Phoebe refuses to take him back.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: More than once. Phoebe willingly becomes the Queen of the Underworld to stay with Cole. Later, Cole absorbs all sorts of demonic powers to be reunited with Phoebe, only to be corrupted by them again. Also, Leo willingly becomes an Avatar to save his wife and before that, he killed an elder to save his son.
* LoveRedeems
** A human recruited to be a demon keeps his humanity by being reminded of his love for his mother.
** Subverted in Cole's case. Initially his love for Phoebe leads him to do good, but it wasn't enough to make up for all the evil he had done. Absorbing a whole lot of demonic powers didn't help.
* TheLowestCosmicDenominator
* {{Lunacy}}: In "Once in a Blue Moon", when two Blue Moons occur in a year, weird things happen. Including The Charmed Ones turning into ''[[{{Werewolf}} werewolves]]''. And yes, it did coincide with "that time of the month".
* MadeOfPlasticine: Lower level demons tended to be like this. One got stabbed with a one inch spike and immediately burst into flames.
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Played straight in early seasons, especially "Is There A Woogy In The House?" where Phoebe dresses modestly at the start - but starts wearing less clothes when she gets possessed. Otherwise averted in later seasons as while evil females could usually be portrayed as trashy, the sisters themselves still provided plenty of Fanservice and had active sex lives.
* MagicalDatabase: The Book of Shadows is a magical tome the girls inherited which conveniently has listings for whatever monster they might be fighting that week, along with the appropriate counterspells to use. Justified though because of the generations of witches before them adding all they could to the book and the sisters adding to it themselves.
* MagicalGesture: Binding witches' hands to their backs often makes them unable to use their powers, even if some have learned to "point" with the eyes instead.
* MagicalSeventhSon: In the episode "That Old Black Magic", a seventh son of a seventh son is revealed to be The Chosen One.
* MagicCarpet: Shows up in "I Dream of Phoebe".
* MagicPants: ZigZagged:
** Piper is wholly naked after she transforms back to human form after being a Wendigo.
** Same goes for Phoebe after she changes from mermaid back to human.
** On the other hand, Prue is wearing the same clothes when she turns back from a being a dog to human.
** Same for all three sisters are also wearing clothes after they change back from being beasts during a blue moon.
* MagicallyRegeneratingClothing: This is used whenever whitelighters heal anyone.
* MakeAWish
* MakeThemRot:
** There was an episode that dealt with a demon of vanity that could de-age others and make them young and healthy again. He then shows that he can also reverse this and rapidly ages two women into piles of dust.
** A later bad guy uses a spell to accomplish the same feat on a minor of his that has disappointed him.
%%* MaleGaze:
* MamaBear: Piper, whenever Wyatt is in danger. In fact, all three sisters dove into this right after he was born.
* ManIFeelLikeAWoman
** When [[GenderBender Prue gets turned into a man]] and hides in the bathroom, Phoebe muses "Do you think she's touching herself?"
** An evil witch possesses a mortal man in one episode, and really does touch himself, albeit briefly.
* MarriedInTheFuture: In a Season 2 episode, the sisters travel ten years into the future where they discover that Piper and Leo had been married, had a daughter together, and then divorced during the ten intervening years. After returning to their own time, Piper and Leo do get married in Season 3, but the divorce never happens and the daughter only comes after two sons and they are shown to still be happily married 30-40 years later in the series [[DistantFinale finale]].
* {{Masquerade}}: The mortal world cannot know of the magical one. When the Masquerade is broken, the consequences are serious.
* TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife: A RunningGag is that you're not a Halliwell if you haven't dated a demon. And keeping this big of a secret from a {{Muggle}} boyfriend is impossible, so all the Charmed ones finally end up with magical love interests. Subverted by Paige. Her magical love interest was not only not the guy she ended up with, he wasn't even the next best thing she had.
* MeaningfulName / ShownTheirWork: The auction house where Prue works is named ''Buckland'''s. Raymond ''Buckland'' is credited with introducing Wicca to North America.
** Also, this could be a coincidence but Phoebe, who gets visions as part of her powers, shares her name with a Titan from Myth/GreekMythology who was associated with prophesy.
* MeetCute: In a ClipShow episode, Coop describes Phoebe and Cole's meeting as this. It consisted of Phoebe nearly roundhouse kicking Cole, who catches her leg.
* MemoryWipingCrew: The Cleaners.
* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Mostly averted. Demons are just as likely to go after male and female victims without discriminating. Any time an innocent is killed it's treated as a bad thing. From season 3 onwards villains are just as likely to be female too.
** The one time this trope does show up, it's being invoked knowingly. A StrawFeminist witch advises her demon croney to attack a female innocent to draw Billie out - due to the spell she's under the influence of.
* MesACrowd:
** A mild example in "Which Prue is it Anyway?" when Prue creates two magical clones of herself to both multiply her power and avoid someone trying to kill her.
** A much more extreme example happens in "Vaya Con Leos", where, under the threat of the Angel of Death coming for Leo, she casts a spell to try and confuse him. However, in the process, she turns ''every man in San Francisco'' into a clone of Leo.
** Piper also clones herself in one of the novels, "A Tale of Two Pipers". One of them relaxes, or tends to the home, and the other is busy at P3.
* MindOverMatter: Prue's power, then Paige's.
* MirroredConfrontationShot: Between good Phoebe and evil Phoebe, which makes it into the opening credits.
* MirrorMatch: The season six two-part finale has Paige and Phoebe fighting their {{evil counterpart}}s. Eventually they realize they're too evenly matched and call a truce.
* MirrorUniverse: Featured in the double episode "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World".
* MissingMom: Patty was drowned by a Warlock when the main characters were very young. Prue saw her die and Phoebe was too young to remember her at all. Paige never knew her since she was raised by MuggleFosterParents. They meet her in the past and some episodes feature her as a SpiritAdvisor, though.
* MistakenForGay: [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry Piper and Phoebe are fighting over Leo]] in the first season episode "The Fourth Sister", and Leo is led to believe that Phoebe and Aviva are partners thanks to Piper's not-so-subtle hints.
* MonkeyMoralityPose:
** In the episode "Astral Monkey", a doctor experiments with samples of the Halliwell's blood on monkeys. Each of the monkeys had a power from each of the sisters. In an AnimalReactionShot, the monkeys make this pose, which Prue claimed to have taught to them.
** The Crone uses a monkey totem with three monkeys in this pose in the episode "Sense and Sense Ability". It turns into a monkey which then steals Piper's sight, Phoebe's hearing, and Paige's voice by covering their eyes, ears, and mouth, respectively. When Leo tries to figure out what's wrong, Piper facepalms, Paige grabs her head, and Phoebe covers her mouth, and Leo gets it immediately.
* MonsterOfTheWeek: Utilized this, although it became less prevalent in later seasons.
* MoodWhiplash:
** The season 3 episode "Sin Francisco" starts out as a fairly comedic episode showing the antics the sin does to the sisters. Towards the end it turns serious when the cop infected with Anger attacks the sisters at the Manor.
** The season 4 episode "Hell Hath No Fury". Funny jokes about Paige messing with magic and getting an accidental BreastExpansion one minute, a serious story about Piper literally losing herself in rage and grief over Prue's death the next. One of the better-acted episodes in the series, oddly enough.
* MoralityChain: Many characters have explicitly stated that Phoebe plays this role in making sure that Cole remains good. In fact, Cole's well-known tendency for being a HeelFaceRevolvingDoor is pretty much a function of his relationship with Phoebe -- that is, Phoebe and Cole are constantly breaking up and reestablishing their relationship, and every time this happens, it has a major effect on Cole's status as evil or good. Although Phoebe is very much aware of her power to be Cole's MoralityChain, [[WhatAnIdiot she usually seems to be merely yanking his chain based on her own emotions, rather than consistently using her influence to make sure Cole becomes and remains a redeemed demon]].
* MotherhoodIsSuperior: There's an aversion in an episode where Piper was depressed because Leo and her sisters were better at taking care of Wyatt than she was.
* MrFanservice
** The aforementioned Cole and Leo are the two greatest examples, and two sides of the same coin. Cole is a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]], and fits the handsome bad boy type. Phoebe gets to play the fantasy of turning the bad boy good. By contrast, Leo is quite literally an [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]]. He plays the nice guy, and is all about [[LoveFreak love and goodness]]. And yes, both of them have had {{Shirtless Scene}}s.
** While Cole and Leo were both fairly developed and well-rounded characters, the pure MrFanservice would have been Dan from Season 2. Hunky former baseball player turned handyman next door, he seemed to only exist to stand around in tank tops and be that nice guy that Piper saw as her perfect life that she couldn't have with Leo at that point.
* MsFanservice: Phoebe. Not that the other girls are ''completely'' innocent, mind you.
* MuggleAndMagicalLoveTriangle: Paige has one, briefly in the last season, between Henry (muggle) and Simon (magical).
** Before that, Piper had one between Leo (magical) and neighbor Dan (muggle). Though Leo had been temporarily stripped of his powers at the time, which is actually how he has the time to dedicate to competing for Piper's affection, he's symbolic of her powers and responsibilities, whereas Dan is symbolic of the normal, easy life she craves.
* MuggleFosterParents: Paige Matthews was given to normal parents after her birth and didn't know her true heritage until her powers started manifesting thanks to a spell Piper had cast to bring Prue back.
* MuggleMageRomance: Over the course of the show, the sisters had relationships with ordinary men, with varying degrees of success.
* {{Mundanger}}
** In "Sight Unseen", a mysterious stalker turns out to be an ordinary human and not a demon at all.
** And in "Dream Sorceror", the titular villain isn't actually a sorceror, but a scientist who built a machine that can project himself into other people's dreams and kill them, [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger style]]. Apparently if you die in your dreams you die in real life.
** Barbas, apparently learning that if you confront the sisters directly with magical threats, instead hires a hitman to have them done away with.
* MyGirlIsNotASlut
** The second episode has Prue going through the "I'm not a slut" panic after she slept with Andy on the first date (they had previously dated in school and had not seen each other in years).
** Creator/RoseMcGowan had a reaction like this around mid-season 5 when she noticed Paige acquiring quite a few Men of the Week and so went to the writers saying "Paige isn't a Ho".
** Averted by Phoebe and her long list of love interests, played straight by the Fandom who hurl the word "slut" at her while ignoring that the majority of her love interests were steady boyfriends.
* MyGrandsonMyself
* {{Necromantic}}: Inverted in "Necromancing The Stone". Apparently Grams fell in love with a Necromancer, whom she had to vanquish. He was stealing spirits in order to keep himself firmly on the living side of the line between life and death. When he comes across Grams, he tries to convince her to let both of them be resurrected by using the spirits of the Halliwel line during baby Wyatt's Wiccaning.
* NeverSayDie: Although "kill" and "destroy" belong to their vocabulary, the sisters seem to prefer to "vanquish" demons. Also a clear note of WhatMeasureIsANonHuman.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The main characters showcase a number of powers throughout the series which only appear in an episode or two and are never brought up again. For example Prue is able to cause a demon to explode by entering its body with her astral projection, and Leo can make himself look like other people. When the latter first appears its main use is to fake out the ''audience'' into thinking the sisters are fighting Cole, when in fact it as Leo altering his appearance for training purposes.
* NiceGuy: Leo Wyatt
* NiceJobBreakingItHero
** WellIntentionedExtremist Gideon was so determined to prevent Wyatt from [[FaceHeelTurn turning evil]] he was willing to do anything and work with anyone (even [[EmotionEater Barbas]]!) to make it happen. But where he crossed firmly both past the MoralEventHorizon and into this territory was the two-part season finale of season six where he was willing to completely upset the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, work with his evil MirrorUniverse counterpart, and almost destroy the sisters, all in the name of his goal...but it turns out ''he was the cause of the very thing he was trying to prevent'', with all of his [[DealWithTheDevil machinations]] and attempts to kidnap, control, and remove Wyatt from the picture being what turned him evil in the first place. (At least until later, when other events [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed kept trying to make Wyatt that way]]. [[StatusQuoIsGod They all failed, though]].)
** The one that might also take the cake: Cole is about to give the evil powers within him to a wizard, so he can finally be free and with his love Phoebe. A minute before he succeeds, Phoebe succumbs to the Seer's trickery and her unborn baby's instincts and kills the wizard -- essentially forcing herself to have to choose between her husband and her sisters. She chose him. Now, after this decision, he did have the Seer issue her a poisonous tonic to drink which enhanced her evil side so as to suppress her internal conflict with being surrounded by evil and having abandoned her sisters. But when he told her the truth, she chose to take the tonic anyway -- before spitting it out and changing her mind to help the sisters destroy him. Yet she [[{{Hypocrite}} has the nerve to gradually shun him forever as a result following choices that a) were manipulated by outside forces, and b) that SHE made]].
** Cole's FaceHeelTurn in Season 5 is even worse. In the season 4 finale, Cole manages to come back from the wasteland with a host of demonic powers in time to save Phoebe's life from a witch hunter as well as inform her of his resolve to get back together. Phoebe, conflicted between love and fear, ends up turning into a mermaid shortly after his full-on return to San Francisco ruins her plans for a quick divorce. When informed about this and led to believe it was out of hatred for him he's was halfway out the door to leave the city forever until ''Paige tugs him back and tells him that Phoebe loves him -- which Phoebe later admits along with her fear while still insisting it's over between them''. From thereon, while yes, stubborn and motivated by a foolhardy desire to earn Phoebe back, Cole generally tries to do good -- either helping the sisters outright or just keeping to himself. However, the sisters (especially Phoebe) don't trust him and repeatedly [[HeelFaceDoorSlam make that clear to him no matter what he does]]. Unsurprisingly, this and his legion of powers that don't belong all help wear down on his willpower and sanity. When Cole does in fact go JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, [[JerkSue Phoebe even has the nerve to ask him why]]. Like the fact that co-workers at a law firm that had him for a few months were the closest anyone came to treating him like a person rather than as something to be feared or a tool for power the entire time he was back couldn't possibly have anything to do with it.
* NighInvulnerable
** In season five, Cole and Piper. Piper reveled in it ("I'm unbreakable, dude!"). Cole? [[ICannotSelfTerminate Not so much]]. They were blasting each other in the episode "Y tu Mummy Tambien" and Leo [[LampshadeHanging mentions how pointless it was]].
** An invincibility spell shows up in the episode "Little Monsters". Paige cast it on Darryl, and it made him pretty much ImmuneToBullets. While one wonders why they don't use it more often, it also had the side effect of inflating one's ego, reminiscent of when Prue was infected with the sin of Pride nearly killing her. Plus it turned his strength up to beyond Herculean levels and when we last see him before Paige goes to fix it is surrounded by his broken things in his office because he couldn't control his new found strength.
* NippleAndDimed: Part of Phoebe's nipple actually made it on the air in the episode "Sight Unseen". In a scene at the club, the dress she's wearing fails to cover her up and part of the nipple is visible.
* NobleDemon: The Council of the Cleaners is made up of two Elders and two powerful demons. Either both or one of them agreed with the decisions regarding [[spoiler:at first letting the Charmed ones off free but at the cost of Morris' life (this was reversed before he was killed) and then agreed to punish Phoebe only for her trying to use magic to short-cut her path to finding a husband]].
* NoBodyLeftBehind: Demons disappear after they get vanquished.
** Subverted in "The Day the Magic Died." After killing a demon mook while all magic is tempoarily down, Phoebe and Paige have to figure out what to do with the body and hide it in a closet.
* NoCureForEvil: Whitelighters can't heal evil. This becomes an issue when Leo tries to heal Cole -- it cues Leo in that Cole isn't quite human.
** Averted when good Gideon and evil Gideon heal each other.
* NoirEpisode: "Charmed Noir". They even have parts of it in black and white.
* NotEvenHuman: It appears rather often, and in one case the whole episode ("Mr. and Mrs. Witch") plays itself out without the Charmed Sisters ever becoming aware of it. The MonsterOfTheWeek is in fact a demon, but he appears to be a human CorruptCorporateExecutive. The demon is quite aware that the Charmed Ones won't kill him as long as they think he's human, and in fact the Charmed Ones never do find out. The demon is still vanquished by his superiors for [[YouHaveFailedMe failing to accomplish their evil plan]]; and in fact, the Charmed Sisters read about this evil executive's "suicide" in the newspaper, without ever being the wiser that this was a demon who they could have dealt with by vanquishing him.
* NowIKnowWhatToNameHim
** Chris, being the resident KidFromTheFuture. Hell, he even tries to bring about his own conception as he messed up the dates by being there.
** Phoebe also gets one when she time travels to meet her pregnant mother, who remarks how obvious it is that she would choose another P name and that "it's not too late to change it."
* OccultLawFirm: Cole gets employed by a few of these.
* OfCorsetsSexy : Several corsets are worn in Season 3.
* OffWithHisHead: The sisters get their heads chopped off in one episode. This doesn't kill them. Not quite so when the HeadlessHorseman escapes Magic School and lops off a criminal's head, though.
* OhCrap: Piper mutters a quick one in Season 6's "Sword and the City", right after Mordaunt welcomes her to her "new destiny" as [[spoiler:the new Lady of the Lake, since she pulled Excalibur (meant for Wyatt) out of the stone.]]
* OminousLatinChanting: For the most part, practicioners of Good Magic cast spells in English Rhyme, whereas Dark Magic was done in Latin.
* {{Omniglot}}: Whitelighters on the job have this ability (Paige doesn't seem to have it, though she was able to speak [[UsefulNotes/NewZealand Maori]] in "Imaginary Fiends"). Lampshaded when Piper became a Whitelighter in "Siren Song" when she automatically gained the ability.
-->Woman: (in French) Please, you have to help, they're after me.
-->Piper: (in French) Calm down, I'll protect you. (in English) [[DoubleTake Whoa]], was that French?
* OneHourWorkWeek: Somewhat acknowledged as many episodes have the sisters struggle to balance demon hunting with their work schedules. Subverted later on in the show; Prue works as a freelance photographer after quitting her job at Bucklands. She's at least seen with a camera in various episodes, with references to various photoshoots. Piper is justified because she owns a nightclub and so doesn't have to be there all the time; she has people to help her run it. She's also frequently shown bartending at night - allowing her to hunt demons during the day. Phoebe doesn't work until late season 4 and by season 6 she has billboards and is making appearances on talk shows - so her working on the column from home is acceptable. Paige is frequently shown at her social worker job in season 4 but quits to focus on her witch duties. She does temp jobs in Season 6 and a lot of magical problems seem to revolve around the jobs themselves. In season 7 she's working at Magic School - so no one there will question a Charmed One rushing out to fight demons.
** Lampshaded in "Size Matters" where Phoebe goes to a job interview and asks for a really flexible work schedule. She doesn't get the job.
* OneSteveLimit:
** Invoked by a villain in Season 1. He poses as the head of Bucklands auction house, and takes on the identity of a man who has Buckland as his last name.
** There's an innocent called Billy in season 1, Billy Appleby is the hero of Phoebe's favourite movie and Billie Jenkins is a cast member in Season 8.
** Jenny Gordon is a cast member in Season 2. Jenny is also an alias that Piper uses in Season 8.
* OnceASeason: In nearly every season finale, the last shot is the front door of the Halliwell Manor closing.
** Seasons 1 and 2: Prue closes the door.
** Season 3: The demon Shax slams it.
** Season 4: The Angel of Destiny closes it.
** Season 5: Chris [[spoiler: with telekinesis]].
** Season 6: The only exception -- we see the closing doors of a hospital room after [[spoiler:baby Chris is born]]. Though there is a scene where Chris magically closes the door, but it happens in the middle of the episode.
** Season 7: It magically closed itself. [[WildMassGuessing Judging by the sound heard before the door closed, some fans believe it was Prue's spirit who closed the door]].
** Season 8: It's closed by [[spoiler:[[BabiesEverAfter Piper's granddaughter]] with telekinesis]].
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: ''Charmed'' was Julian [=McMahon=]'s second role that required him to use an American accent, and as such his native Australian accent breaks through a few times in the early Cole episodes. It tends to happen on the last word or two of his lines.
* OpenSesame: In the Arabian-themed episode "I Dream of Phoebe", which also includes [[LiteralGenie Genies]], {{Magic Carpet}}s, and [[Literature/ArabianNights The Forty Thieves]].
* OrganicBra: All mermaids have scales covering up the chest area.
* OutsideGenreFoe: Whitaker Berman, the man who called himself "the Dream Sorcerer" from the same titled episode. A completely human SerialKiller, he used science and technology to threaten the lives of innocents by entering their dreams and killing them.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Whitelighters.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Mermaids are immortal creatures who have "hearts as cold as the ocean". If a mortal professes his love to one, she turns human. The mermaid in question made a deal for an enchantment that would give her legs - but would revert to her mermaid form if they got wet.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: They have social hierarchy similar to bees.
* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: In "The Courtship of Wyatt's Father," Paige refers to Chris as "one of my two favorite nephews." At this point in her life, she only knows she has two nephews (and [[TimeyWimeyBall Chris himself hasn't even been conceived yet]]).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes P-T]]
* PainfulRhyme: Invoked, and then averted. Phoebe is tasked with creating a spell to nullify [[AttackReflector a demon's deflection power]], and comes up with "I'm rejectin' your deflection". When DrillSergeantNasty Whitelighter Natalie inspects it, everyone expects her to dismiss it and have Phoebe think of a new one, but she just says it's fine.
** The girls' mother's ghost once casts a spell to remove one their grandmother's ghost cast on them (ItMakesSenseInContext). The spell rhymes "in the book" with "what was took." She wrote it when she was nine.
* ParentalAbandonment: Complete with MissingMom, DisappearedDad, RaisedByGrandparents, and MuggleFosterParents.
%% * PartTimeHero
* PersonalGainHurts: [[{{Anvilicious}} Oh, how they drill this one in...]]. It's practically the TropeNamer.
* PersonalityPowers: Loosely applied in the first season with the sisters.
** Prue, who is motherly but also very controlling, gets the power of [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]].
** Nervous, meek, and insecure Piper gets the power to [[TimeStandsStill stop time]], giving her an opportunity to calm down.
** Phoebe, the youngest and most impulsive who lacks forethought, gains the power to literally [[PsychicPowers see the future]].
** Later Prue essentially gains the power to [[SelfDuplication clone]] herself, when she feels the need to be in two places at once; Piper gains more confidence and learns to [[StuffBlowingUp blow stuff up;]] and a more caring Phoebe becomes TheEmpath.
** Caring Leo was a former medic and in death he became a [[OurAngelsAreDifferent whitelighter]] with the power to heal others. Later, after being promoted to Elder, he goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and gains the ability to [[ShockAndAwe throw lightning]].
** Paige grew up as an only child, never knowing who her family was and not knowing her place in the world. Much of her arc concern her trying to find herself and coincidently she has the power to teleport from place to place
* PhonyPsychic: Phoebe applies for a position like this, noting that it would be the last place anyone would expect to find a ''real'' psychic like herself.
* {{Pirates}}: Type 1. They're also [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean magical undying cursed pirates]], of course. The films are given a ShoutOut when Phoebe asks if they're "hot Creator/JohnnyDepp pirates".
* PizzaBoySpecialDelivery: There's a stripper with this schtick that was the entertainment for a bachelorette party in "The Wedding From Hell". The demon bride and her bridesmaids ate him.
* PlaceOfPower: Halliwell Manor conveniently sits atop a nexus of magical power. Several times demons have broken in and tried to take it for themselves.
* PlayingCyrano: Coop, for one of Phoebe's coworkers.
* PlotHole:
** In Season 5, the sisters constantly referred to Cole as having betrayed them and becoming the Source of All Evil. The problem is, the latter half of Season 4 made it quite clear that Cole had been possessed by the essence of the Source and was overtaken. The sisters were told as much by a wizard and a seductress, and their dialogue (especially Phoebe's) in the episode after his vanquish clearly establishes that they understand the difference between "Cole the human" and "Cole the Source", so their distrust is [[strike:completely]] highly unwarranted in the presented context.
** The Cleaners are this, as well. Creator/ShannenDoherty may have wanted off the show, but still doesn't explain their only showing up NOW.
* ThePollyanna: The ditzy Nymphs from "Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun".
* PortalPool: Zen Masters can use water to go any place.
* PostScriptSeason: Season 8 is exactly this. See SeriesFauxnale on this page.
* PowerIncontinence: Phoebe is practically the queen of this trope (not that the other sisters are entirely innocent): She doesn't have any sort of control over her premonitions until ~season 6 (and even then she never learns how to turn it off), the flying power she accidentally stole from the dragon in season 2 was unreliable to say the least and she never learned to control her empathy power ever. In act neither did Prue when she [temporarily] became an empath. Also happened to Piper "Exit Strategy", where her ability to freeze time is upgraded to StuffBlowingUp too. Plus, Paige has struggled with this in her orbing ever since she was a high-schooler.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: The "Power of Three" relied on ThePowerOfFriendship to work. At one point the sisters intentionally used their powers on each other in a heated argument, which immediately caused the loss of their powers.
* ThePowerOfHate: Darklighters' powers are fueled by hate and have the power to kill through touch, as they're the EvilCounterpart of [[ThePowerOfLove Whitelighters]].
* ThePowerOfLove: The greatest of all powers. Greater even than [[RuleOfThree The Power of Three]].
* PowerPerversionPotential
** Piper has frozen Leo on more than one occasion during sex. The first time was accidental, the next ones, not so much. Leo doesn't mind.
** The season 1 villain Rex uses his astral projection power to spy on Prue changing her clothes. Then, he plants a subliminal message in his lover Hannah to make her take off her dress.
* PowersAsPrograms: There are demons that collect and exchange powers so they can ''broker'' them.
* PowersThatBe: The Angel of Destiny and the Elders to some extent.
* PowerTrio: The trio...
* PowerWalk: In "Valhalley of the Dolls", the season six premiere, where the sisters get turned into {{Valkyries}}.
* PregnantBadass: Piper. It helps when your unborn child has healing powers and strong {{deflector shields}} to help you out, basically making you NighInvulnerable.
* ProfessionalKiller: "Ms. Hellfire". Prue is only too happy to impersonate her, Phoebe notes.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles:
** Brian Krause as Leo.
** Also Drew Fuller as Chris during season six (he was credited as guest during the fifth season finale).
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality:
** Anyone who is against the sisters are declared evil. Except on the occasion where they're just misguided. That said occasionally has the one of the sisters do something stupid or evil and get called for it. The show has a general problem with moral issues, often ripe with Unfortunate Implications. The morality is sometimes exclusively protagonist-centered, sometimes [[JerkassGods Elder]]-centered, and sometimes even single-sister-centered. Examples include the Elders forcing Piper through all levels of emotional anguish, suffering and self-sacrifice, Phoebe's infamous glamouring of her boyfriend, and numerous situations between the sisters when an apology that should have gone both ways only went one way.
** In early seasons, Phoebe would do things that got criticised when Prue would do the same and be portrayed as in the right. Phoebe would frequently be scolded for using her powers for personal gain, whereas whenever Prue did the narrative would justify it. Prue would frequently be put on the moral high ground despite being just as bad as her sisters - and sometimes even worse.
* PsychoForHire: A lot of the later demons.
* PubertySuperpower: Some powers manifest at puberty, such as the firestarter kid in "Lost and Bound".
* PunBasedTitle: Many episode titles are puns, especially puns that involve the words "witch," "charmed," etc., or the names of the characters.
* PutOnABus
** Darryl who was present in all seasons but the last.
** Also, Leo who left the show during the middle of the final season.
* RaisedByGrandparents: Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were raised by their grandmother after their mother's death and father's abandonment.
* RapidAging: Javna's victims suffer accelerated aging. Dan was a victim of this in the season two finale thanks to a JerkassGenie.
* RapunzelHair
** Piper's hair grew to waist length during the second season and stayed that way for the rest of the series.
** Prue's future self got waist-length blonde hair.
** Paige got Rapunzel Hair when she was turned into Snow White and again into a wood nymph.
** Phoebe also got Aphrodite's floor-length tresses when she was turned into a Goddess of Love. Her future self from season 7 onwards was portrayed with hair past her waist, to signal her character's motherly nature.
* RealSongThemeTune: The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" As covered by Love Spit Love, the same recording that was used in the movie ''Film/TheCraft''.
* RealityShow: Witch Wars, featured in the episode of the same name. There are many {{take that}}s to reality shows in the episode, and ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' in particular, probably because it was beating ''Charmed'' in ratings.
-->'''Clea (demonic game show host):''' You'd think demons would've invented reality television. Somehow humans beat us to it.
* RealityWarper: The power of Projection in all its forms.
* RecycledInSpace: The episode ''The Magic Hour'' is ''Film/{{Ladyhawke}}'' in California with good witches. It is even lampshaded when one asks if they saw a movie with this scenario.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Used on Inspector Rodriguez [[spoiler: to confirm him as an upper-level demon]].
* ReformedButRejected: Cole after returning from the Demonic Wastelands. No matter how much he protests that he's ''[[DarkIsNotEvil not]]'' evil and attempts to use his [[BadPowersGoodPeople demonic powers for good]], he's treated as irredeemably evil by everyone.
* RefugeInAudacity: In "Sin Francisco" Phoebe makes a pass at her Ethics professor while under the influence of Lust and gets kicked out of class. How does she cover for herself when the sin crisis is resolved? By submitting a paper on sexual politics and passing the incident off as an ethical experiment.
* {{Repower}}: Phoebe gains the ability to levitate and control electricity in the future in a second season episode, but ultimately only learns to levitate when that future was averted. This was also discussed during "Is There A Woogy in the House?" when the woogyman/Hollow/Shadow temporarily possesses Phoebe; Piper mentions that their powers are supposed to progress, and not grow in random, in response to Phoebe suddenly being able to will objects into existence.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: The ability to create fire seems to come with being fireproof.
* RetCon:
** A rare case of this being reversed. Penny was first said to have been married four times. This was retconned to being ''six'' times. Later seasons clarified this as only being engaged six times and married four.
** Season 6 introduces a school for young witches to practice their powers. Never seen before or referenced, not even when the sisters were trying to figure out their own powers.
** Season 6 also introduces the Cleaners - whose job it is to cause a CosmicRetcon to prevent magic from being exposed. They would have been really useful in the Season 3 finale.
* RevisitingTheRoots: The series' SortingAlgorithmOfEvil became somewhat more akin to a bell-curve. The first three seasons dealt with them battling warlocks and demons, the fourth had them battling the very Source Of All Evil, the fifth ended with them battling the classic Greek Titans, the sixth had them go against a WellIntentionedExtremist Angel, and the seventh had them end destroying a past contender of the Source. By the eighth and final season, WordOfGod says that Billie and Christy, sibling female witches like the protagonists, was a great way to ground the show.
* {{Revival}}: The series was brought back from limbo by comic book company Zenoscope as a scheduled two-year publication.
* RevivalLoophole: Used to defeat the MonsterOfTheWeek in "The Power of Two".
* RightInFrontOfMe: When Prue first applies for the job at Buckland, she complains about the "stuffy old auction house" on the phone to Phoebe while in an elevator, with Rex nearby. He pulls off an IronicEcho when they formally meet in his office.
* RippleEffectIndicator: An expanded universe book shows changes in the Halliwell family home, Phoebe's appearance, and Wyatt disappearing as the BigBad changes events in the past.
* RippleEffectProofMemory: In the first season finale "Déjà Vu All Over Again" , Tempus the demon of time tries to help another demon, who is masquerading as an Internal Affairs agent named Rodriguez, kill the Charmed Ones. Whenever Rodriguez dies, Tempus would rewind time in a GroundhogDayLoop of sorts until Rodriguez would learn enough about his mistakes to successfully kill all three sisters. Phoebe, however, also retains the memory of each day due to her power to see the past and future, which is something Tempus doesn't know about. Eventually the sisters defeat Rodriguez and Tempus permanently, but not without losing Andy.
* RubberForeheadAliens: Lots of demons' inhuman forms resemble this trope.
* RuleOfThree: "The Power of Three" is what makes these girls some of the most powerful witches ever. [[spoiler:Revealed in the comics, because Prue's soul hadn't moved on, when Paige joined the Charmed Ones, the girls were actually held back from achieving their full power]].
* RunningGag: The poor grandfather clock is destroyed a lot, and every time Piper thinks: "Damn it, we just got that thing fixed." And she actually says it in "Brain Drain" (4x07).
* SadlyMythtaken: In "Oh My Goddess!" it's said that the Greek gods were actually mortals the Elders infused with power in order to stop the Titans. This is not a problem in itself -- the problem is that Gaea was stated to be one of these mortals, when in mythology she wasn't an Olympian, but the ''mother of the titans''.
* SalemIsWitchCountry: The "The Witch is Back" episode shows that one of the Halliwell ancestors was [[CriticalResearchFailure lined up to be burned at the stake in Salem]].
* SceneryPorn: Every episode shows several flyover shots of San Francisco right after the opening credits. They're rather fond of showing the fog/clouds rolling around the Golden Gate Bridge.
* {{Seer}}:
** Phoebe
** Then there were two demonic seers, played by Debbi Morgan and Creator/CharismaCarpenter.
* SeductiveMummy: In "Y Tu Mummy Tambien", the Egyptian demon Jeric had the ability to put his dead wife's soul into the body of a hot mortal woman, thus turning her into a seductive mummy. He targeted Phoebe and Paige for this vessel.
* SeeYouInHell
** Cole, in response to a cowboy using the trope, says "Been there, done that."
** Also, the similar exchange of Prue crying "Go to hell!", with Rex responding, "I'd love to, dear. Miss it terribly."
** Something like that seems to be the default warlock/demon response whenever anyone tells them to go to hell. You'd think sooner or later the witches would learn to ''stop doing it''.
* SelfGuardingPhlebotinum:
** The Charmed Ones' [[SpellBook Book of Shadows]] won't let you touch it if you happen to be evil.
** There were also various amulets and charms which protected against evils including crystals that when placed in a circle formed a cage of energy that one couldn't cross, whether to get in or out.
** Also once when Piper pulled {{Excalibur}} from the stone, the sword would let no-one else [[[EmpathicWeapon but]] [[LoyalPhlebotinum her]] touch it, though a demon used a spell to amass a bunch of power and take it from her.
** In season 7, PandorasBox protects itself by teleporting to its next guardian when its current protector dies.
** And yet again, the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Grimoire]], the EvilCounterpart to the Halliwell's Book of Shadows would not let any good being come in contact with it.
* SenseLossSadness:
** "Primrose Emphath" has Father Thomas, who passed his power of empathy into a demon in order to stop him and ended up in a psych ward due to the depression and insanity that followed.
** "Sense and Sense Ability" has an old demon woman stealing a sense from each of the sisters through a cursed [[MonkeyMoralityPose monkey totem]], although the result isn't so much "sadness" as it is "[[HilarityEnsues hilarious confused antics]]".
** "Witchness Protection" has the reveal that the seer Kyra is incapable of feeling strong emotion (whether this is legit or her personal case of InformedFlaw due to demonic conditioning is uncertain) and wants to solve this problem by helping the Charmed Ones in return for a spell to [[BroughtDownToNormal turn her into a human]].
* SequelEpisode: The consequences from the season 2 episode "Awakened" are explored near the end of the season in the episode "Astral Monkey".
* SerialRomeo: Phoebe initially, though it's Deconstructed as the show goes on. The endless stream of failed relationships leaves her broken and terrified of love and when she [[spoiler: finds out she will have a baby in the future]] she resorts to using her premonition powers to see if a relationship will go anywhere on the first date (for which she is punished by the Elders). This then gets Reconstructed as Phoebe considers getting a sperm donor but then realises that she doesn't just want a baby, she wants love as well and a Cupid is sent to help her out.
* SeriesContinuityError:
** In "Desperate Housewitches", the sisters have to face the threat of a resurrected Source. Paige asks Piper and Phoebe how the Source was vanquished last time... as if she wasn't there... which she was... [[ItMakesSenseInContext for technically three times]]. No-one on the writing staff caught this?!
** "Chris Crossed" flashes back to Chris travelling back in time. He draws a portal on the attic wall and goes through - when he orbed in for his debut episode. There's also no mention about the Titans in "Chris Crossed" - which is who Chris goes back specifically to help the sisters vanquish. His clothes and hair are also drastically different.
* SeriesFauxnale: End of Season 7. It ends with Darryl promising his wife he wouldn't help the Charmed Ones anymore, them [[spoiler:destroying their own source of power]] to kill the BigBad and finally [[spoiler:changing their faces]] and starting living normal lives! Also Prue was mentioned a lot, and even the episode title was a mirror of the title of the pilot episode. But then [[PostScriptSeason they got renewed]]...
* SevenDeadlySins: The episode "Sin Francisco" had a demon hitting people with concentrations of these. Needless to say, the main cast got hit, with Phoebe getting {{Lust}}, [[CompressedVice Piper]] getting [[VillainousGlutton Gluttony]], [[OutOfCharacterMoment Leo]] getting [[LazyBum Sloth]], and [[TakeThat Prue]] getting {{Pride}}. The only way to overcome the sin is to be selfless. Pride had a clever twist where Prue was unable to purge herself of the sin - as any heroic act she did would just be her showing off how selfless she was. She had to be saved by someone else to lose the sin.
* SheFu: Even before she got an active power, Phoebe was the KungFuWizard of the group. Gaining the power to levitate meant that she could now execute more impressive physical moves. Prue was also using her power of telekinesis to amplify her combat skills - she pulls off a wall-backflip in "Blinded by the Whitelighter" while practice fighting.
* ShirtlessScene: Many ''many'' demons simply eschew upper body covering. Mortals and warlocks sometimes even get in on the action too.
* ShooOutTheNewGuy: The second season introduced Jenny Gordon, neighbor to the main characters. Beyond living with her hot uncle (a convenient love interest for Piper), she was apparently important enough to get mentioned in the opening credits, but moved away to live with her parents before she actually did anything important.
* ShoutOut
** In other possible shout-outs to Website/TelevisionWithoutPity, recapper Demian at least once per recap expressed his dislike of the character Leo, referred to the supposedly omnipotent Elders as "the ever-useless Elders" due to their apparent inability or unwillingness to help the protagonists. In the episode "Lucky Charmed," Piper refers to the "Fricking ever-useless Elders!" In "The Courtship of Wyatt's Father," the demon-of-the-week is determined to kill Leo, and is named "Damien." [[http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/charmed/the-courtship-of-wyatts-father/4/ And oh, didn't he love that.]]
** This show gave a shout to ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' during the episode "The Power of Two". Prue and Phoebe are in a mausoleum and have this conversation:
-->'''Prue:''' Ohh, I hate cemeteries at night.
-->'''Phoebe:''' I hate cemeteries at day. What was that?
-->'''Prue:''' Uh ... huh. Probably a zombie or vampire.
-->'''Phoebe:''' Great. Where's Buffy when you need her?
** An even better example is when Paige is attacked by a vampire in the fourth season, after ''Buffy'''s ChannelHop from Creator/TheWB to Creator/{{UPN}}.
-->'''Piper:''' Vampires? That'd be different.
-->'''Phoebe:''' No, that's not possible.
-->'''Paige:''' Why not?
-->'''Phoebe:''' Well, because as far as I know, vampires attack in human form and not as a swarm of bats. You know, it's gotta be something else.
-->'''Leo:''' It's true, vampires have been ostracized from the underworld for centuries. As far as I know they're apart of a whole different network now.
** They also do a shout to ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' when in a season 2 episode Piper is pursued by a serial killer from a movie.
-->'''Piper''': I am being stalked by psycho killers and I hide in the shower?!
** The girls' one-shot "superhero" costumes in Season 5 are reminiscent of the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}, with a dose of then-current Franchise/XMen outfits for flavor. Piper's in particular seems like an updated version of the original [[FadSuper Dazzler]] costume. This may or may not be intentional.
** In the season five finale, Paige gets turned into a goddess of war -- more a genderswapped version of Ares rather than Athena, but with Poseidon's trident. Phoebe asks her whether she was done being a [[Series/XenaWarriorPrincess Warrior Princess]].
** One demon actually says the line [[Franchise/StarWars "I find your lack of faith... disturbing."]]
** Another shout out happens in several episodes with Leo (Brian Krause) & Piper (Holly Marie Combs) about their real life dating when Leo quotes he always fancied a stronger woman like a "Bethany" he refered to his then wife Beth Bruce (who he later divorced) and Piper spat back with 'Well to bad your not a Don or David' which refers to her eventual real life husband David Donoho (also later divorced), who she was just casually seeing at the time.
** In Season 8, "The Jung and the Restless" there is a shout out to Creator/QuentinTarantino, by Rose [=McGowan=] who at that time had done the movies ''Film/DeathProof'' and ''Film/PlanetTerror'' with him.
** In early seasons, Prue works at the Buckland Auction House. The name comes from Raymond Buckland, who introduced the religion of Wicca to the United States.
** The S:3 E:2 episode "Magic Hour" is almost a carbon copy of the plot from ''Film/{{Ladyhawke}}'' about two lovers who are cursed to become animals at different parts of the day by a jealous ruler. Prue [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it with "I feel like I've seen this in a movie somewhere."
** The season 6 episode "I Dream of Phoebe" is of course full of them to ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie''. The genie bottle is the same as Jeannie's and Phoebe's genie costume is modelled after Barbara Eden's (complete with hairstyle too). When Paige sees Phoebe in the costume she also asks "shouldn't you be helping Major Nelson?"
*** In a first season episode, Phoebe also wore a costume reminiscent of Jeannie's when she worked (briefly) as a psychic.
** In Season Four, Phoebe says "What good is being a witch if I can't just [[Series/{{Bewitched}} twitch my nose]] and make the laundry fold itself?"
** Theatre/TheCrucible has to be mentioned, courtesy of the character ''Mary Warren'', housemaid of John Proctor. The ancestral mother of the Halliwell clan, who is said to be executed during the Salem witch trials, was named ''Melinda'' Warren.
* ShowingOffTheNewBody: Twice; once when Piper was possessed, and again with Phoebe.
* SignatureMove: Initially it was the power of three spell ("the [[RuleOfThree Power of Three]] will set us free"). As the series continued they began using the "To call a lost Witch" spell more and more.
** Purportedly, the actresses actually did not enjoy reciting the Power of Three spell because they found it a bit silly.
* SingleLineOfDescent
** A rare female example. The Charmed Ones are three sisters who are the descendants of 17th century witch Melinda Warren. Apparently, up until the birth of the protagonists, there never were three daughters per generation.
** Kind of subverted in season 4 when we find out about [[LongLostRelative Paige]]. But of course nobody had thought of her yet in season 1 when the trope was established. Unless you accept that there is no limit to the number of siblings as long as there is at least three sisters. Otherwise providence would have to wait until the mother reached menopause to grant the powers to the sisters, because more siblings might still be born. Besides we find out in "That '70s Episode" in season 2 that the sisters had their powers from birth -- presumably because they were always going to be witches, it's just the ''Charmed'' gimmick that wasn't (and couldn't be) established until Phoebe's birth.
* SinisterMinister: Averted with most of the clergy on the show. However, Cole's marriage to Phoebe following his accession as the Source has to be a "Dark Ceremony" officiated by a "Dark Priest", who remarks <creepy voice>"It is a long time since I had a human soul dropped in my collection plate."</creepy voice>
* SleuthDatesCop: Andy for Prue in the first season. This then becomes something of an attraction for Paige: she has Kyle Brody in season seven, an unnamed cop in season eight, and Henry in the same season, [[spoiler: who she then goes on to marry]]. For Paige, at least, she meets all of them because of her Charmed duties.
%% * SmiteMeOMightySmiter
* TheSocialDarwinist: [[BadFuture Evil Future]] [[TheChosenOne Wyatt]]
* SquishyWizard: Averted. An illusionist wizard was actually quite competent in battling a sword-wielding Cole with his staff. Of course, being the LastOfHisKind may have given him a lot of determination.
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: "The Wedding from Hell"
* SpiritAdvisor: The main characters can summon their dead relatives if they need help. Well, everyone except [[spoiler:Prue, of course.[[note]]Justified because she isn't fully dead, as revealed in the comics[[/note]]]]
* StalkerShrine: Prue's stalker keeps it in a journal [[spoiler:at her employee locker at P3]].
* StatusQuoIsGod: No matter what happened, or what kind of creature the sisters got turned into (be them vampires, warlocks, valkyries or even demons), by the end of the episode the transformation was undone.
** Subverted in "Crime and Witch-demeanors" where [[spoiler:Phoebe is stripped of her powers, not regaining her premonition until the next season]].
* StepfordSmiler: Leo casts a spell on Piper turning her "psychotically chipper" as Paige puts it.
** Phoebe becomes this (and also black-and-white) because of Grandma's enchanted (by HER) wedding ring.
* StepfordSuburbia: What our world would be like without sufficient evil to balance it out -- sure, everybody would be friendly and nice, but parking your car in the wrong place is a capital offense and using your cellphone in a hospital gets your hand lopped off.
* AStormIsComing: The Arc Words for season 7 are "the gathering storm."
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Ooh boy...
** The mermaid outfit has Phoebe's nipples only barely covered, while Mylie was reasonably covered up.
** Phoebe possessed by Isis wears a skimpy BellyDancer outfit.
** Paige as a wood nymph.
** The sisters as Valkyries.
** Phoebe's genie outfit. Notable that when Richard is turned into a genie, [[DoubleStandard his outfit is modest]].
** Billie's Amazon outfit.
* StuffBlowingUp: The ability to blow things up is actually Piper's second power. It's explained as the natural progression of her first power [[TimeStandsStill to stop time]]: at first she halted molecular movement, and now she can accelerate it.
* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: Most of the spells rhyme, however "Lost and Bound" has Paige try a Main/{{haiku}} out:
-->The brutal winter gives way to flowers of spring
-->[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ludlow is vanquished]]
* SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat
** Despite Phoebe having trained in martial arts, the third season shows auctioneer/photographer Prue surpassing her in martial arts skills she has never learned.
** Also, in "That '70s Episode", Phoebe suddenly reveals the ability to pick locks. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Prue, who rhetorically asks, "Why am I not surprised that you know how to do this?" (She ''had'' been the rebellious one in their teen years...)
** In Season 8, Paige showed that she knows martial arts as well ''despite the fact that we never saw her train in hand-to-hand combat''. [[AWizardDidIt Must be a witch thing]].
* SubbingForSanta
** When Piper became the Angel of Death.
** Paige was once turned into a nymph to replace one that just died.
** ''Charmed'' also had many inversions of demons and warlocks and other bad guys [[VictorGainsLosersPowers stealing the powers]] of good magical creatures for their own gain. Just to name a few:
*** A Demon steals Cupid's ring and starts breaking up relationships in revenge.
*** A warlock steals a ring which allowed him to harness the powers of Muses.
*** A warlock stole the powers of a Whitelighter in order to get into heaven and kill all the elders.
*** A demon once used a Sandman's dust in order to bring the Charmed One's dreams to life.
* SuperCellReception: While in a parallel world, Paige and Evil!Paige's phones both pick-up the call from Evil!Piper while they are in the Underworld.
* SuperHeroSpeciation
* SuperhumanTransfusion
** One episode dealt with a doctor [[FreakLabAccident accidentally]] getting injected with the Charmed Ones blood. [[AllYourPowersCombined he gained all their powers]] but was [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity driven insane by them]].
** Crossing mortal blood with a magical creature's come back in a later episode where it creates [[TheVirus a deadly virus]].
* SupernaturalFearInducer:
** Barbas, the Demon of Fear, is able to read the worst fear of his targets, and make them believe they are living it through illusions. He's even able to kill his victims his way.
** Inverted by Barbas's flipped-universe counterpart, who is a hippie who lives in a beautiful garden and inspires the emotion of [[CareBearStare hope]].
* SuperPowerMeltdown: Subverted. Prue comes dangerously close to having one of these when she accidentally becomes an Empath in season 3 but following a pep talk from Leo promptly gets her shit together.
* SuperSargassoSea: In one episode, the sisters cast a spell to "[[ExactWords find lost things]]" -- and it backfires to the point that ''everything'' they ever lost came back, thus turning their house into this.
* SuperSenses: The Charmed Ones became superheroes in the episode "Witches in Tights".
* SuperSpeed: The above episode. Also, some magical beings naturally have SuperSpeed, such as Dwarves and Leprechauns.
* SuperWeight
** Type 0: Sheila Morris, Adam Prince, Victor Bennett, the Ice Cream Man, [[VictimOfTheWeek Innocents]].
** Type 1: Andy Trudeau, Darryl Morris, Bane Jessup, [[BroughtDownToBadass de-powered Leo and Cole]].
** Type 2: [[SinglePowerSuperheroes Weaker Witches]], lower-level [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons]], Seers, Cupids, [[{{Wendigo}} the Wendigo]].
** Type 3: [[WitchSpecies Witches]], [[EvilCounterpart Warlocks]], upper-level Demons, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]], [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Whitelighters]], Darklighters, Wizards, [[PowerTrio the Halliwell Sisters]], [[FantasyKitchenSink etc]].
** Type 4: [[AllYourPowersCombined The Power of Three]], the Elders, the Cleaners, [[UltimateEvil the Source]], the Triad, the Nexus, Zankou, [[WellIntentionedExtremist individual Avatars]], [[NighInvulnerable the Tall Man]], [[ChosenOne Wyatt Halliwell]], [[RealityWarper Billie Jenkins]], Shakti and Shiva individually.
** Type 5: [[PhysicalGod Gods and Titans]], the Tribunal, the Avatar Collective, [[TheCorruption the Hollow]].
** Type 6: Angels of Death, Angels of Destiny, Shakti and Shiva together.
** Type 7: The All.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Barbas mumbles this when his mole revealed itself when captured.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Paige, when Prue left the show.
* SweaterGirl: The girls wear quite a few.
** In one episode, Phoebe wears a white sweater with [[PrettyInMink fur-trimmed sleeves]].
* TakeOurWordForIt: In season 5, Phoebe becomes a successful advice columnist, has her own billboard ads, gives radio interviews and is generally said to be really funny. Of course the audience never hears more than a single sentence from her columns. She also ends up sleeping with the boss. We got a little insight when Phoebe first got the job. The person wrote in saying she was still living with her parents and was afraid of living alone. Phoebe's response, which seemed like something of an AssPull, was that she should get a dog for a companion. The previous columnist praised this for being proactive (it actually got her out of the house) and for being nonjudgemental. Both her (and Piper's) response was simply "Get a therapist, and get a life." The columnist said hers was better and handed the job over, so she must have done something right.
* TakenForGranite: Robert Englund plays a CollectorOfTheStrange who shrinks witches and turns them into clay figurines.
* TakeThat: In season 3, they seemed to be throwing these toward Creator/ShannenDoherty as Prue is PutOnABusToHell. In "Sin Francisco", she was possessed by the Deadly Sin of Pride, turning her into a raging egomaniac. "Look Who's Barking" turns her into a literal female dog, and she also was responsible for destroying Piper's wedding in "Just Harried." It seemed like everybody was grateful to see her leave.
* TakingUpTheMantle: The Ice Cream Man who fight the demonic children know when their time is coming and go looking for the truck.
* TalkLikeAPirate: Pirates show up eventually in season seven. And the episode they appear in? "[[PunBasedTitle Charrrmed!]]"
* TallDarkAndHandsome: Bane Jessup. Or, as Phoebe describes him, the tall dark and naked trap.
* TemporarilyAVillain: ''Charmed'' has many episodes where one of the Halliwell sisters will go to the dark side for a day before switching back by the end of the episode.
** A particularly notable one early on has all three sisters turn evil by the end of the episode, only for Leo to save them.
** Also, the episode where Paige does a spell to conjure up a 'Mr. Right' for 24 hrs which inadvertently also produces a 'Mr. Wrong' who she allows to seduce her with his seductive naughtiness.
* TheresNoBInMovie: Phoebe's favorite movie is a B-horror movie called "Kill It Before It Dies"; in one episode, a demon's powers cause the characters to become real, then the sisters to be trapped in the movie.
* ThanatosGambit: Leo let the other Avatars kill him in order for the sisters to snap out of the spell bringing about Utopia cast on them.
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: Lots of things. From the woogy in the basement, to the poltergeists that haunt the manor, to the gremlins that cause havoc at Paige's job.
%% * ThirdEye
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Barbas needed thirteen witches killed on a Friday the thirteenth in order to regain his full strength.
* TheThreeFacesOfEve: With Prue's death, Piper becomes the wife, eventually growing from insecure middle sister to capable eldest sister. She is also the first one to actually get married and have children. Paige is the child, being the youngest, newest member of the family and the least experienced in the ways of magic. Phoebe is the seductress, having the most active love life of the sisters.
* ThirdActStupidity: Any demon who survives that long. The most disappointing example was WorthyOpponent Zankou who probably could have defeated the sisters if he hadn't been goaded into a situation he knew full well was a trap.
* TimeMaster
** Tempus, the demon of time, trapped the sisters in a GroundhogDayLoop in season one.
** The Avatars and The Cleaners could stop and rewind time.
** Piper is a lesser example, able to stop and accelerate time in a very localized area/target. In a season two episode where the sisters go into the future, her powers have grown to almost the same level as the Avatars and Cleaners, at least as far as her freezing powers.
* TimeStandsStill: Piper's first power. It's later discovered that she only thought it was time, but because of ScienceMarchesOn she was actually freezing molecules instead.
* TimeTravel: The Charmed Ones use time travel quite a bit. Chris went back to before he was born to alter the future.
* TimeTravelTenseTrouble: Rampant. The series finale contains the immortal line, "Something very bad has happened in the future."
* TokenWholesome: Compared to her other sisters (and that includes Prue too) Piper was rarely used for {{Fanservice}}. The only times she really got in on the SexyWhateverOutfit theme was whenever all three sisters did (Valkyries, Goddesses etc). She only had one blatant Fanservice episode ("Coyote Piper") in contrast to the other three. Her clothing was always more modest too.
* TomeOfEldritchLore: The Grimoire, which is the [[EvilCounterpart demon equivalent]] of the Book of Shadows.
* TookALevelInBadass:
** Piper began as the meek middle sister with a defensive power, unsure of her position in their destiny. After Prue's death, Piper had to assume the lead witch role and become the eldest sister. She also gained a more offensive power, with the result that she could be a OneWomanArmy depending on the episode.
** Phoebe likewise just had premonitions in the first season. But she started training in martial arts, gained a levitation power and was much more effective in combat.
** In the season 2 episode with the BadFuture, the sisters get a taste of what their powers will be like in ten years. Prue destroys the attic with a casual wave of her hand, Piper freezes everyone on a crowded street and Phoebe can generate electricity.
* TookALevelInJerkass:
** Phoebe became significantly nastier in Season 5, blaming Cole for all that had gone wrong in her life and refusing to accept responsibility for her own actions. She also began misusing her powers, resulting in the Elders punishing her. She remained in this persona until Season 8, where she TookALevelInKindness.
** Even Leo himself wasn't innocent of this trope. He had to solve the overarching crisis of season 6 by killing his mentor in cold blood, which he himself [[LampshadeHanging acknowledged was "a great evil"]]. Later he became part of a cult of {{reality warper}}s in season 7 and eventually convinced the sisters to help them get their way thinking it would lead to demon-free lives, only stopping when the demon who would become the show's most dangerous BigBad had to educate him that this meant the elimination of free will. Oh, and a throwaway subplot in a season 8 episode reveals that he'd even stopped being above such things as capturing perceived enemies, holding them prisoner, and getting magic students to use them as crash test dummies, without even adding context to justify this torture beyond the victims [[FantasticRacism being demons]].
* TookALevelInKindness: Prue was very cold and aloof to most of the other characters in Season 1. Starting with "Out of Sight", she started to loosen up and become a lot more fun-loving.
* TotallyRadical: In Season 4 Piper's attempts to have P3 revamped result in this.
--> "It's five minutes away from being 'so five minutes ago'."
* TouchTelepathy: Phoebe needed to touch things to get a vision. Her empath powers, however, didn't require touch, just proximity.
* TrackingSpell: Scrying, a magical tracking technique that all witches are capable off. A witch has to hold a crystal pendant over a map of the area in which the person or object she hopes to find is presumably located, and move it around untill the pendant eventually pinpoints the exact location of the object or person by pulling down on to a spot on the map.
* TrainingTheGiftOfMagic: Witches are born with their abilities, and plenty of people are shown as being unable to use magic. And while you're born with your specific gift (other than the ability to cast spells and scry, each of the witches has their own skill — telekinesis, empathy, etc.), you have to learn to use your abilities and hone your skills.
* TroubledButCute: Cole Turner. Possibly counts as a [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds deconstruction]]. See: UnintentionallySympathetic in the [[YMMV/{{Charmed}} YMMV tab]].
* TrueLovesKiss: What kills the villain in "Magic Hour", by undoing the curse he sets.
* TruthSerums: The truth spell. Unfortunately it affects everyone in the vicinity, something Prue didn't account for.
* TwentyFourHourPartyPeople: Done a few times. First with Piper's baby shower and later would be done for every birthday party Piper's children had. You could probably also count Prue's funeral and [[spoiler:the funeral Piper, Phoebe, and Paige had when they faked their deaths]].
%% * TwoLinesNoWaiting
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes U-Z]]
* UltimateEvil: The Source of All Evil, The Triad, The Ultimate Power...
* UnholyMatrimony: Quite literally if someone wants to remain aligned with Evil in marriage. It must be performed with a Dark Priest, at night, in a cemetary.
* {{Unicorn}}: One shows up as a present to Piper and Wyatt.
* UnlimitedWardrobe: Though averted in "We're Off to See the Wizard" where Phoebe wears the same blue shirt as in the fourth season premiere.
** The clothes and hairstyles are very trendy, making the show an UnintentionalPeriodPiece, as well.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The viewpoint held by The Avatars (see WellIntentionedExtremist).
* VainSorceress: One shows up and soul-swaps herself into Phoebe's body. She has a lot of fun looking at herself, especially since her original face is terribly ugly.
* {{Valkyries}}: Yup, they exist too.
* VampireEpisode: "Bite Me", with Page turned temporary into one.
* VaporWear: Half of the time the sisters don't seem to have any concept of bras.
** Lampshaded in season three by their temporary Whitelighter/magical coach Natalie and Prue:
-->'''Natalie:''' You need outfits that are loose and move. That means no more braless, strapless, fearless attire.\\
'''Prue:''' Okay, but then I have nothing to wear.
%% * VerbedTitle
* VictorGainsLosersPowers: Demons and warlocks and some other magical entities naturally able to steal the powers of other magical beings by killing them.
* VillainBall: In the season 4 the Source might have [[spoiler:turned Paige to his side, but then went and did some blatantly evil things, like shocking Phoebe and throwing Inspector Cortez onto a coat hook, badly wounding the man]].
* VillainHasAPoint: Christy [[spoiler: sways Billie to her side]] by claiming the Charmed Ones are using her to do their dirty work for them, and that they're selfish and haven't consistently helped innocents in quite some time. Not only is this not wholly inaccurate, but the heroines themselves even briefly begin to wonder if they're selfish.
* VillainTeleportation: Demons usually either shimmer or use flames. Warlocks would just disappear or "blink". Also, note while villains have the most varieties of teleportation, it's the good kind of teleportation -- orbing -- that appears most often.
* WakingUpAtTheMorgue: Piper does this in "Styx Feet Under". Since the FBI agent who's been following them for the last few episodes is in the room when it happens, it's the event that finally allows him to penetrate TheMasquerade.
* WeatherManipulation: Piper essentially gets turned into Gaea[=/=]MotherNature in the season five finale, and has the ability to control the weather.
* WeddingSmashers:
** "Prue, get your astral ass ''back here!''" yells Phoebe, just as Prue ruins Piper's wedding.
** A Lazarus demon fighting an invisible Paige ruins Phoebe's wedding to Cole. Like Piper, though, she gets married in a less formal ceremony at the end of the episode.
* TheWeirdSisters: The Charmed Ones are a group of three sisters (or half-sisters), Piper, Prue and Phoebe, who are the most powerful witches of their day. While there are actually four of them, only three are ever the Charmed Ones at any given time. [[spoiler: Paige was brought in after Prue's death]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist
** The Avatars;
** [[IDidWhatIHadToDo Gideon]];
** Agent Brody and [[SmugSnake Odin]] also count.
** Dr. Williamson after he became infected with the sisters' blood.
* WhamEpisode
** "All Hell Breaks Lose": [[spoiler:The episode where Prue dies]]
** "Love Hurts": Two policeman investigates Andy and Darryl at a loud construction where one of the men ascertains that they're talking about Prue. His confused colleague asks how did he know [[spoiler:only to turn to see the first man with red eyes and utter a sonic scream, which kills the second man and confirms the first man as the BigBad of the first season finale]].
** "We're Off to See the Wizard": [[spoiler:Phoebe is pregnant and joins Cole (now the Source of all Evil) as his queen]].
* WhamShot: In "All Hell Breaks Lose" where Piper and Prue are panicking over being outed as witches. Prue frets that "Our entire future, our entire destiny could be wiped out just like that". [[spoiler: Piper gasps and the camera pans down to reveal a bloody gunshot wound passing through her chest]].
* WhatDoTheyFearEpisode
** Whenever Barbas is the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Demon Of The Week]], this is the basis of the episode. Well, he ''is'' the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Demon of Fear]].
** Also inverted in "Its a Bad, Bad World", where Barbas is the Demon of ''Hope''
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In Season 3, it was hinted that Cole was working for the Triad for something in return. At the end of the season, it was revealed to be his father's soul, which they had somehow acquired years earlier. However, after obtaining his father's soul, it is never stated what Cole did with it and is never mentioned again. [[spoiler: Until season 10 comic that is.]]
** In one episode, when trying to interrogate a demon Piper had frozen, Phoebe suggest simply unfreezing his head and leaving his body frozen. It ''worked,'' and despite the potential usefulness of this, [[ForgotAboutHisPowers it's never mentioned again]].
*** She does it again in Season 8 in the episode where she's arrested as the person she stole her fake face from.
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: In the season 5 finale, the sisters are given powers of the Greek Gods. Piper becomes the Goddess of Earth, Paige the Goddess of War and Phoebe...the Goddess of Love. Really? To fight a pair of insanely powerful Titans? They couldn't have made her the Goddess of Wisdom perhaps or some other skill that would actually prove useful? And of course Phoebe ultimately does nothing to help in the fight against the Titans, save for providing a load of {{Fanservice}}.
** HeartIsAnAwesomePower: It looked like they were going some way with this at the start of the episode. Phoebe runs a scenario where she tries to seduce the Titans and get them to fight over her. It doesn't work and they don't use her power again, turning it into a subversion.
** Phoebe's empathy power is this too. As BlessedWithSuck as it is to feel every other person's emotions all the time, it does help when Phoebe is able to tap into demons' emotions - since their ''powers'' are tied to them.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Played with throughout the series -- originally, [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons were humans]] who had [[DealWithTheDevil intentionally given up their souls]], but as time wore on, more variations occured: a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-manticore]] child, families of demons who were [[AlwaysChaoticEvil apparently born that way]], and of course Cole Turner. The sisters end up killing them all at some point anyway.
** Played straight (painfully so) in a later season, with a demon [[HeelFaceTurn trying to help the sisters]] in return for a soul. [[StuffedInTheFridge Needlessly killed]] by the BigBad before she can become human again, but [[RedemptionEqualsDeath after holding up her side of the bargain]]. And they were so close to turning her again, too. Her borrowing one of Phoebe's dresses in her last minutes showed just how ready they had gotten for it, and even caused question as to whether they actually pulled it off. This only made her vanquish even more painful.
** Completely subverted in an episode where the sisters were hunting what they thought was a demon going after an innocent baby. Turned out the 'demon' [[MonsterIsAMommy was actually the baby's father]], who had learned magic and transformed himself [[IDidWhatIHadToDo so as to have the power to protect his son from his mother and her kind]]. (This baby would be the half-manticore child mentioned just above here.) Not only did the sisters give the fellow a chance to explain the truth (despite him being willing to kidnap and endanger them), they stopped the real demons, saved his life (after his brush with death [[ThisWasHisTrueForm restored him to his human self]]), and got his son back for him. All of this despite the Elders telling them that 'the baby was a (half) demon and [[AlwaysChaoticEvil can never be raised to be anything else]]'. Score a major hit for the heroes, [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism idealism]], and {{Happy Ending}}s!
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue
* WhiteMagic: All good beings like good witches, white lighters, elders, fairies, and so forth use some form of holy-based spell casting in one form or another.
* WidowWitch: Grams for her first husband, Allen. To the point she's basically had the whole family keeping his name.
* WitchSpecies: There are three known species of humanoid magic users: Witch, wizard and sorceror.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity
** Anyone humans who gains a power. They will be unable to handle it and eventually turn demonically insane.
** Also those who gain Empathy when they weren't supposed to (especially for demons who cannot handle emotion).
* WizardingSchool: The latter seasons featured one shortly after ''Literature/HarryPotter'' started getting popular. Young witches just coming into their powers in the earlier seasons had to do without it. There's also a [[EvilCounterpart demonic training academy]].
* WhoYouGonnaCall: The Charmed Ones, of course, but when ''they'' need to get rid of evil spirits that plague the manor, they call upon the services of a witch doctor. He is actually described as someone who gets rid of the ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Two notable ones.
** Season 3's "Pre-Witched" shows the sisters six months before the start of the series right before their grandmother died.
** Season 6's "Chris-Crossed" is a flashback of Chris's past, which is technically a ''flash-forward'' since Chris is from the future. Doubles as a WhamEpisode in that it's revealed that not only is Chris actually [[spoiler:half-witch/half-whitelighter like Paige, but also in the future Wyatt is an evil overlord]].
* WholePlotReference:
** Season one episode "Dead Man Dating" is one of ''Film/{{Ghost}}'', where Piper helps a murder victim she loves [[GhostlyGoals take revenge on his murderers]] [[UnfinishedBusiness and pass on to the afterlife.]]
** Season three episode "Magic Hour" is basically the plot of ''Film/{{Ladyhawke}}'', where two lovers are cursed into [[BalefulPolymorph animal forms]]. A [[LampshadeHanging lampshade is hung]] when Prue mentions having seen the situation before in a movie.
** Eighth season episode "Mr. & Mrs. Witch" is a sendup of ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith2005'', but with Billie and Christy's parents as the assassins.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Piper is afraid of tarantulas. This tends to come up whenever recurring villain Barbas (the demon of fear) puts his hand in...
* WildMagic: The Hollow.
* WordsDoNotMakeTheMagic: A spell doesn't get cast unless it is said by a being with magical power. In the episode "Animal Pragmatism", it is shown though that even the ''recording'' of a voice - this one being Phoebe's - that says a spell, as long as it's by someone with magic, can cast it.
* WrestlingMonster: At one point the sisters come across a camp training demons to be wrestlers. Maybe that is how they hide if they don't feel like posing as lawyers.
* YinYangBomb: Prue and War get temporarily displaced when the Charmed Ones and the Four Horsemen accidentally combine powers. It takes another combination, this time intentional, to bring them back.
* YoYoPlotPoint: Phoebe going through a string of boyfriends/one-night-stands, giving up on love and deciding to concentrate on work, meeting someone who makes her rediscover love, then going through a string of boyfriends and one-night-stands again... It finally ended with [[spoiler: her marriage to Coop, along with the show itself]].
* YouDoNOTWantToKnow: The Council of two Elders and two powerful demons who control the Cleaners. When asked what happens if it becomes a tie, the Sisters are told this trope.
* YouLookFamiliar:
** Rebecca Balding, who plays Phoebe's newspaper boss Elise, was the aunt of a young witch in the Season 1 episode "The Fourth Sister".
** Michael Bailey Smith plays at least two different characters: Belthazor/Demon Cole, and Shax, the demon who killed Prue. He was in heavy makeup for both, though.
** Brian Thompson plays one of the Four Horseman and the Titan Cronus in season 5.
* YouNeedToGetLaid: Piper, Phoebe and Prue all get told this at least once by the others.
* YoungestChildWins: Phoebe is the youngest. She is the one that discovers the sisters' powers and gets the ability to sense evil. It's also inverted in that Phoebe is the easiest sister to tempt towards evil because she was born in the manor. Of course since [[spoiler: Paige is revealed to be the youngest]], it ultimately counts as a subversion.
** Also inverted in that Prue as the eldest got the strongest power. And Wyatt as Piper's first son got much more power than Chris.
** Billie however is the youngest and she is the Ultimate Power, while her older sister Christy is just the key to the power.
* YourWorstNightmare: The episode "Sand Francisco Dreamin'" pits the protagonists against their worst nightmares come to life after the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Demon Of The Week]] gets his hands on some Sandman sand.
[[/folder]]
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[[caption-width-right:300:''The Power of Three will set you free'']]
''Charmed'' is a show that ran from 1998-2006, wherein three UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco-based [[{{Action Girl}} girl-power]] witch sisters vanquish demons through the triple powers of CGI, rhymes, and lots of cleavage, whilst dealing with personal relationship drama. The show was created by Constance M Burge, inspired by the cult 90s film ''Film/TheCraft''. Having trouble getting networks to pick up the witchcraft concept, she made the characters sisters and the show was greenlit.
''Charmed'' can be divided into two sets of seasons. Seasons 1-3 are the 'Prue Years' featuring Creator/ShannenDoherty as the eldest Halliwell sister Prue. Doherty left the show after that season and Creator/RoseMcGowan was cast as sister Paige for seasons 4-8. The other two sisters were played by FormerChildStar Creator/AlyssaMilano (who helped carve out a successful career as an adult actress thanks to ''Charmed'') and ''Series/PicketFences'' actress Creator/HollyMarieCombs. Other cast members included a pre-''Series/NipTuck'' Julian [=McMahon=] and a pre-''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' Creator/KaleyCuoco.
A pretty successful show, ''Charmed'' ran for eight seasons and for a while was the longest running network TV show with female leads - until ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' caught up to it. The show is also known for its quite surprising tonal shifts between seasons - compare Season 2's slow-paced SliceOfLife plots to Season 3's action-packed arc-based story telling - the sisters' clothing getting HotterAndSexier with each year and quite a few continuity issues - just how many times was Penny Halliwell married anyway?[[note]]The final answer seems to be four, but one episode said six, and it later got clarified to four marriages and six engagements.[[/note]]
The series successfully returned in comic book form in 2010 thanks to company Zenescope, receiving mixed to positive reviews from fans and critics alike. As with anything 90s and successful, there have been talks of a reboot since 2013. In 2017, it was announced that Creator/TheCW will be airing the new [[Series/Charmed2018 reboot]], and a year later, a pilot order was given and the remake is set to take place in the present day.
----
!!''Charmed'' provides examples of the following tropes:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Tropes A-E]]
* ABNegative: This is Piper's blood type.
* AbortedArc: Season 8 got rid of the subplot of the sisters faking their deaths by having them exposed to the government, which was also neglected as a plot line. The government discovered that the sisters were witches and they offered to help cover up their faked deaths as a Homeland Security mission if they came to work for them. They spent a couple episodes performing a few missions for them and, despite the collaboration being extremely successful, they parted ways due to the sisters apparently being too hard to work with and the government's knowledge of the magical world is never acknowledged again.
* AboveGoodAndEvil: The Avatars present themselves as such.
* AcademyOfEvil: Two of them, both called The Academy. The first one appears in "Wrestling with Demons", and the second shows up in "Lost and Bound".
* AchillesHeel: For all their power, Whitelighters and Elders can be mortally wounded by arrows tipped with Darklighter poison. Additionally, a wounded Whitelighter/Elder cannot heal themselves in this event (but another, unwounded one can).
* ActionMom: Piper Halliwell.
* AdaptationExpansion: So far the comic book series is definitely a good example of this, in fact it seems to have taken a 5 year TimeSkip and has continued with the foreshadowing of the final season. This is helped by the fact that three of the original writers of the TV series were hired on by Zenoscope to continue the story. It's also helpful that a few of the first draft scripts for season 9 were recovered and part of those stories are being used to recreate the feel of the TV show.
* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: When ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' moved from television to comics the sisters' different witch powers evolved and became much more showy in the comics. Notably, Paige gained the power to make orb forcefields and Piper gained the power to melt and set fire to objects.
* AesopAmnesia:
** The Utopia arc in Series 7 has the sisters go along with the Avatar's plans to change the grand design, despite the ''numerous'' times beforehand they've seen how badly [[NiceJobBreakingItHero this tends to go]].
** In season 3 Prue learns multiple times not to focus too much on her witch duties and relax. Each time she goes back to being Superwitch by the next episode.
** Penny learns to let go of her StrawFeminist attitudes in "Necromancing The Stone". When she pops up again in "Witchstock", she's back to referring to men as 'utensils'.
** Post-Cole Phoebe has several relationships where she keeps things at a distance, and has to learn to allow herself to let go and fall in love. And then it repeats all over again come her next boyfriend.
* AkashicRecords: Featured [[spoiler:and destroyed]] in a season 2 episode.
* AlasPoorVillain: Lulu and Frankie, the ghosts who possessed Cole and Phoebe in "Paige from the Past". Despite being villains, you can't help feel sympathetic when it's revealed that their entire UnfinishedBusiness was simply wanting to get ''[[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes married]]''. Considering that they'd have likely moved on afterwards, Piper interrupting the ceremony comes across as kinda [[WhatTheHellHero a dick move]] on her part. Of course, sympathies are lessened somewhat by a line of dialogue that reveals that along with being robbers, they were also serial[=/=]thrill killers. It seems just sheer luck that they didn't kill anyone while in Phoebe and Cole's bodies.
* AliceAllusion: In the season 8 episode of Charmed "Malice in Wonderland" teenagers, all of whom are named with some variation of the name “Alice” (Alicia, Alexis, Alistair) are being lured down a manhole by a demon, who either shape-shifted into a white rabbit or was wearing a t-shirt with a white rabbit on it inviting them to a garden party and telling them they are very late. They turn up later with no memory and appear to have gone insane from the Wonderland-inspired illusions they experienced “down the rabbit hole”.
* AllAbusersAreMale:
** Almost every demon is male. The evil warlocks are mortal men who can use magic, while the good witches are mortal women who can use magic—and although the inverse does exist, most evil female witches on the show get away with not being called warlocks because they don't kill other witches to steal their powers.
** Subverted in the first episode of season 4. Paige's firm is dealing with a case about an abused child. Paige is convinced that the father is the abuser and gets manipulated by The Source into trying to kill him, to punish him for this. When her sisters stop her the man turns to his ''wife'' and says "I'm not covering for you anymore. Keep your hands off our son."
** Another episode features a pair of demonic bounty hunters who are abusive to a child with powers. One of them is female and is not portrayed sympathetically.
** Also subverted and lampshaded in the episode with the sisters' grandmother who dislikes the fact the Wyatt is male due to her own past experience with a demon she was in love with. The demon was evil and using her but also genuinely loved her. She comes to learn by the end of the episode that while some men are evil men in general are not inherently abusers and that her prejudice is wrong.
* AllMythsAreTrue:
** Angels? Check. Vampires? Check. Titans? Check. Human representations of the animals in the Chinese calendar? Sure, why the hell not?
** An interesting case occurs with PandorasBox. In the season 3 episode "Sin Francisco", Leo claims a box holding the seven deadly sins inspired the legend of Pandora's Box, implying it didn't exist. The season 7 episode "Little Box of Horrors" would have the Charmed Ones deal with the actual Pandora's Box.
** Many of the mythological figures are InNameOnly, because their function in the episode has little to do with their function in mythology. For example, Hecate as "Queen of the Underworld" (that was Persephone) and Kali as an evil spirit trapped in a mirror. [[Myth/HinduMythology Kali]] was one of Durga's war goddesses. And so on.
* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: It's that or magic. Prue's "split" persona in "Just Harried" - where her Inner Desires manifest as an alter ego that goes away with some CharacterDevelopment.
* AllergicToEvil: One cupid gets hurt every time the demon of hate unmakes a relationship he put together.
* AlliterativeFamily: The Halliwell sisters and other members of the family too. In fact, when Patty (daughter to Penny and mother to Prue, Piper, and Phoebe) gave up Paige for adoption, her only request to the nun was that her name start with P. There's no explanation given (the founder of their line is named Melinda, so it isn't in her honor), and when they go back to before Phoebe was born, their Grams dismissively scoffs "Another P, what do you know?" implying that it wasn't her intention.
* AllWitchesHaveCats: The sisters inherited a cat along with their powers. The cat later becomes human as a reward for being such a successful familiar.
* AllYourPowersCombined
* AlphabeticalThemeNaming
** The names of The Charmed Ones all start with a P. (Prue, Piper, Phoebe, Paige.) Not a requirement, but a conscious decision of their mother Patty and Patty's mother Penny. Averted when Piper started having ''sons'' of her own (the family previously had had exclusively female births for centuries), and started giving them [[AerithAndBob relatively ordinary names]].
** The eighth season also had the Triad members '''A'''smodeus, '''B'''aliel and '''C'''andor, with the demon '''D'''umain at their service. No wonder they didn't want the demon Xar among them...
** The seventh season featured Avatars known as Alpha, Beta and Gamma, although whether these are their real names or a hierarchical naming device is unclear.
** In the comic continuation, Phoebe has continued with the P name tradition, her currently named daughters are P.J and Parker.
* AmazonBrigade: The Valkyries in Season 6.
%% * AmnesiaDanger
* AndIMustScream: One demon, who is immortal and unvanquishable, gets turned into a tree.
** The buisnessman and Piper when possessed by Terra. This could also apply to other possessions in the series [[AmbiguousSituation (maybe)]].
* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: Examples are on the trope page.
* ArabianNightsDays: The episode "I Dream of Phoebe" - genie in a bottle? Check. Flying carpets? Check. Men with scimitars? Check. Magical desert city? Check.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: The sisters have a bad habit of scoffing at anything they haven't encountered. Subverted in "Once Upon a Time". Piper expresses disbelief over fairies and trolls, but her skepticism turns out to be based on her frustration with the Elders taking Leo away.
* ArtInitiatesLife: Young witch Kevin and his power of Thought Projection since he uses drawing as a focus.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Leo's explanation of how Piper's power works -- by slowing and speeding up molecules -- doesn't make sense. Completely slowing down molecules would not produce the effect that Piper's power has.
* AscendedDemon: Several characters attempt this in the series, all of which '''a)''' become close to Phoebe, and '''b)''' end up dead. Except the first, actually, who got close to Prue instead, and succeeded in ridding himself of his evil powers by becoming a priest.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Becoming a Whitelighter, an Elder, an Avatar etc. is this. Leo does it ''three times''.
* AstralProjection:
** This becomes Prue's second power. It never fully develops [[spoiler: before her death]], so her original body seems to go unconscious, and her main power of [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] is useless, as her astral clone can't use it and her original body is disabled. Miss Donovan in season seven learns to project a physical astral body in a similar manner.
** A second form of astral projection is the ability to create an intangible, invisible spectral form. This is used by a Season 1 villain Rex, who can implant hypnotic suggestions this way, and by Barbas, who uses this form to make people's fears reality.
* AttackReflector
** Initially Prue would move [[{{Fireballs}} fire]] and [[EnergyBall energy]] balls back at demons. Some {{deflector shields}} also acted as, well, reflector shields.
** Phoebe can reflect attacks with her empath powers as well.
* AuraVision: Grimlocks steal the sight of children specifically to gain this power.
* AuthenticationByNewspaper: A photo of Tony Wong holding his own death report.
* AuthorAvatar: Constance M. Burge stated that the Halliwell sisters were based off her and her own real life sisters. Three guesses which one [[CoolBigSis Prue]] [[HotWitch was]] [[BrainyBrunette based]] [[BoobsOfSteel on]].
* BabiesEverAfter: Paige and Phoebe are revealed to have three children of their own. And Piper finally gets the daughter she'd foreseen all the way back in Season 2.
* BadBoss: Demons are quick to kill their underlings for even the slightest infractions. They'll even kill their underlings for not saying exactly what they want to hear at the time. About the only way a demon can hope to last long is by having a skill that's really hard to replace.
* BadGuyBar: Not named, but there's the demonic strip club where Cole gets lap dances from a shapeshifting demon who morphs into Phoebe, and the demon bar where a collection of demons watch Witch Wars. There's even a 'normal' bar example where some biker types hang out and where Prue's astral self used to go to unwind and flirt with danger.
* BadHumorTruck: Inverted. The Ice Cream Man is actually a good guy, [[SealedEvilInACan and the truck is a prison for demon children]]
* BadPowersBadPeople: Done in the most annoying ways possible. For most of the show, there is no middle ground: if you have "evil" powers, then you are evil, period. Strangely, some good and evil powers are functionally the same -- orbing and blinking are both [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleporting powers]]. If a witch suddenly starts blinking, then she's obviously evil because blinking is a warlock-only power, and warlocks are all evil. Occasionally justified by the fact that powers are tied to a specific emotion, and it is hard (though not impossible) to do good things with a power that is powered by hate. It's also occasionally justified by the way one gets those powers. Evil powers generally get given to people who will abuse them while good powers end up with good people. That was the selection criteria for the Whitelighters and Darklighters. In general, bad ("demonic") powers tend to corrupt people; hence why Phoebe got DrunkOnTheDarkSide in the series 6 episode "Witch Wars" when she absorbed all those demonic powers from an athame.
* BalancingDeathsBooks: Whenever the Angel of Death shows up, the sisters usually have to learn AnAesop about this. His first appearance has Prue trying to stop him taking an innocent, and eventually learning that it's the man's time to go.
* BalefulPolymorph: The sisters get turned into other things quite often across the entire series. An evil-powered Piper turns a couple of people into pigs wearing blankets. Phoebe also turned a particularly chauvinistic advice columnist into a turkey twice and a pig once.
* BallOfLightTransformation: Orbing, the form of teleportation used by Whitelighters and Elders. A sufficiently powerful witch can affect the person while in orb form, as shown at the end of season five when Chris sends Leo to Valhalla. In season six, we also see Leo grab Chris OUT of an orb and bodyslam him.
* BanishingRitual: The show referred to this process as "vanquishing". The Halliwell sisters almost always had a spell to send demons away. In one episode, this was reversed, and in another, a demon threatens to manifest anyways and is told that there's "dead" and then there's [[DeaderThanDead Dead.]]
* BareYourMidriff: Phoebe's belly button deserved its own billing in the credits. The other sisters weren't so shy about it either.
* BarredFromTheAfterlife: This is Cole Turner's final fate - he ends up stuck in limbo, too good for Hell but too bad for heaven. [[spoiler:In the after comics, he is offered a chance at full redemption by working with Prue]].
* BathtubMermaid: The second half of the season 5 premiere had Piper and Paige hide Phoebe (who turned into a mermaid) in their bathtub because Phoebe has a television interview, and they didn't want to risk exposing her as a mermaid.
* BattleCouple: Piper and Leo (after he becomes an elder). Lightning bolts and explosions everywhere!
* BazaarOfTheBizarre: There is a market for magical goods. It's run by demons, naturally.
* BeamOWar:
** Happens between Paige and [[EvilCounterpart her past self]].
** Also happens between Leo and ''his'' EvilCounterpart.
** And again at the end of Season 8 [[spoiler: with the Halliwells on one side, and Billie and Christy on the other, with everyone boosted by the power of the Hallow]].
* BeardOfEvil: Many demons sport goatees. So do {{Evil Counterpart}}s of good characters.
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Although the respective characters change due to CharacterDevelopment and cast changes. The first seasons have Prue (Brains), Piper (Brawn) and Phoebe (Beauty). In later seasons, it's Piper (Brains, after she got promoted to eldest sister), Phoebe (Brawn, especially when she uses SheFu) and Paige (Beauty, being the sister with the least experience). More accurately, it started out in the ways described, but the SheFu turned out to be infectious (except for Piper, though she has her exploding power) and they're all played by Hollywood hotties anyway, so really it ends up being the one with the ''most'' of X quality.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In the episode titled "Be Careful What You Witch For", the sisters make simple idle wishes which a JerkassGenie inevitably twists - Piper wishing Dan could get on with his life leads to [[RapidAging Dan aging extremely quickly, for example]].
* BecomingTheMask: Belthazor, who was originally charged with stealing the Book of Shadows and/or killing the Charmed Ones, manipulates Phoebe in order to get close enough to do so. Over time, he ends up falling in love with her and does (an albeit temporary) HeelFaceTurn.
* BellyButtonless: "Size Matters" has a demonic construct who demonstrates to Paige that he's not like ordinary people by showing her that he lacks a belly button. [[NotWhatItLooksLike Leo and Piper walk in just as Paige is on her knees, leaning in for a closer look]].
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Leo is a peaceful healer who often gives words of advice to the Charmed Ones. But people forget that he was a medic during World War II and if anyone threatens Piper, he will kill. He has killed an elder and even helped a magical group wipe out free will (though he didn't ''quite'' realize this at the time).
* BewitchedAmphibians: There are many jokes over the course of the show about turning people into frogs and toads. Piper actually follows through in one episode, on a rather unruly Magic School student. [[LosingYourHead And she did it without even having a body!]]
* BigBad: There's one for each season, except season 2.
** Season 1: Rex Buckland and Hannah Webster, for the first half of the season
** Season 3: The Triad, for the first half of the season
** Season 4: The Source of All Evil[[spoiler:/Cole]], though he's really just a pawn being manipulated by [[spoiler:the Seer]].
** Season 5: Cole, for most of the season.
** Season 6: [[spoiler:Gideon, although he isn't mentioned or appear until about halfway through the season]]
** Season 7: The Avatars for the first half of the season and Zankou for the second.
** Season 8: The Triad[[spoiler:, succeeded by their protegé, Christy]].
* BiggerIsBetterInBed:
** Phoebe and Piper are trying to conjure up magical lovers in "Dream Sorcerer", and they make lists of what they want the perfect man to be. Phoebe misreads "employed" as "endowed" on Piper's list.
--->'''Phoebe:''' And I think it goes without saying that we both want a man who is well... employed.
** Then again, when Phoebe and Paige want the perfect man to accompany Piper on her birthday in "Prince Charmed", they make another list of attributes:
--->'''Paige:''' Has a ''really'' big...\\
'''Phoebe:''' Paige?\\
'''Paige:''' Ehh, this the perfect guy, or what?\\
'''Phoebe:''' ({{beat}}) All right, throw it in.
* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: [[KidFromTheFuture Chris]] dies and is then born. (ItMakesSenseInContext.)
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: You are either good or you are evil. Yes, you have to choose and then there's nothing in between. The only ones who don't follow this are the [[TrueNeutral Angel of Death]] and the [[WellIntentionedExtremist Avatars]], but they are an entire class of their own, ''not'' something in between. To break it down: witches are good, demons are bad. More specifically, anyone who are allies with the Charmed Ones and they like them, they are good. Anyone else is bad. Even the neutral ones because you can't trust anyone who is neutral. Also, all witches after they first get their powers, must decide if they are good or evil within 48 hours.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst:
** The two black Elders we see die in their first episodes, while white Elders survive. The [[TwoferTokenMinority black and female]] Avatar Beta is the one whose death makes their defeat possible. And while various witches [[RedShirt die left and right]], the few black ones we see are always killed, while the few that are saved are all white.
** Then again, the two cops are white Andy and black Daryl. Andy dies at the end of Season 1, Daryl survives the series. Daryl comes close to dying several times but never does.
* BlackEyesOfEvil: Some demons, like the Source, have them. As do anyone possessed by the Shadow/Hollow/Nexus.
* BlackMagic: Practically all dark witches, warlocks, demons, dark lighters, and so forth have used one form of evil-based magic spell one way or another.
* BlahBlahBlah: Paige once had a date that was so immensely boring that all she heard ''was'' blah blah blah; when something more interesting came up she heartily answered "blah!" and happily ran off.
* BlessedWithSuck: Leo, as a Whitelighter/Elder, has considerable power, but almost never does anything except orb and heal. Until he [[TookALevelInBadass Takes a Level in Badass]] and learns how to shoot lightning.
* BloodKnight: Paige, who's the most vocal about killing Cole in Series 5 and often the first one to suggest resorting to violence to solve a problem. Her tendency to do this lead ''Television Without Pity'' to jokingly [[FanNickname refer]] to her as "[[AxeCrazy Raige]]".
** "[[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Paige is proposing violence against the monkey!]]"
** Fittingly, she wound up becoming the Goddess of War in the Titans two-parter.
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: The season 5 finale turns the sisters into Greek Goddesses. Paige had red hair at the time and Phoebe's was turned blond with Piper keeping hers brown. Paige hersef also cycled through all the colors having black hair in season 4, red in season 5, blond in Season 6 and brown for the rest of the series.
** When two nymphs turn Paige into a nymph in season 5, they fall into this trope. Amusingly enough the redhead is killed off and Paige is the one they pick to replace her.
* BodyguardCrush: Leo and Piper, and Sam and Patty before them.
* BodySurf: The Source kept switching between bodies in order to lure Paige to evil. [[IdiotBall Right in front of her, with her seeing the switch in flames every time]].
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Every other week.
* BreastExpansion: Paige, "Hell Hath No Fury", due to her [[PersonalGainHurts misuse of magic]]. She "borrowed" the Book of Shadows in order to right some wrongs, but being a new witch, she didn't get to read the [[PersonalGainHurts No Personal Gain clause]].
-->'''Piper:''' You are so... ''[[GagBoobs busted]]''?
* BroughtDownToNormal: The sisters get their powers stolen on occasion. So did Wyatt. Cole too, and he did not take it very well.
* BulletTime
** Though not a straight example, Piper's ability to seemingly [[TimeStandsStill stop time]] demonstrates this when she freezes bullets, and that tends to happen on occasion. The same goes for Cole when he's stockpiles up on demonic powers in Season 5.
** In a second season episode, a hired hit-woman goes after the Sisters and attempts to gun them down. The action momentarily slows down to show Prue using her [[MindOverMatter powers]] to stop and repell the woman's bullets back at her. And in a seventh season episode the action slows down again while Kyle has Phoebe hostage, a gun pointed at her head as he demands to talk to Avatar Leo. Time slows when Leo throws lightning at Kyle, Kyle throws a vanquishing potion at Leo, and Phoebe just barely dodges the bullet fired from Kyle's gun.
* BurnTheWitch: Phoebe really did get burned at the stake in "Morality Bites". Though it's averted when the sisters get sent back to the 1700s and when they're outed as witches they get hanged instead.
* CallBack: The episode "All Halliwell's Eve" had a scene where Phoebe is told her true love's name begins with a C. At the time, she thought it meant Cole, but it turns out at the end to mean a Cupid named Coop.
* CaptainMorganPose : Dr. Griffiths takes this stance during his TV interview in "All Hell Breaks Loose."
* CanisLatinicus: One of the most egregious examples in fiction.
* CardCarryingVillain: Pretty much every bad guy in the show is one of these, if they are not pretending to be human. The Underworld is fully comfortable with being Evil and openly admits to it. The head of the Underworld is even called ''"The Source of All Evil"''.
* CassandraTruth: Happens a few times. Most notable being Paige's mistrust of Cole through latter season 4; though she's about 50% right and wrong about what's going on there, the conclusion that he does have to be stopped is part of what she's right about.
* CatsAreMagic: In one episode a witch's {{Familiar}} turned on her and became a Warlock.
* CelebrityParadox: In one episode Phoebe makes a quip asking "Where's Series/{{Buffy|TheVampireSlayer}} when you need her?" There are no less than ''fifty four'' actors who have appeared on both ''Charmed'' and ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''.
* CharacterDevelopment:
** The most dramatic example is Piper, who in the first two seasons was the [[TheQuietOne quiet]], [[ShrinkingViolet shy, mousy]] [[MiddleChildSyndrome middle sister]] content to fade into the background while Prue and Phoebe took center stage. During Season 3, and especially into Season 4, circumstances, including [[spoiler:the death of Prue]] and her acquiring a newer, ''much'' more aggressive [[StuffBlowingUp power]], she was forced to adopt a no-nonsense, take-charge attitude about things and become [[TheHero the matriarch of the family]]. She never got over [[IJustWantToBeNormal her desire for a normal, magic-free life]], but she became much more adaptable to the perpetual crises the family faced.
** Prue began as an uptight and humourless grudging TeamMom. As her powers increased, she became friendlier to her sisters and less like a nagging parent - not to mention she TookALevelInBadass to become a CombatSnarker.
** Phoebe goes from immature NaiveNewcomer to successful businesswoman and confident witch. After suffering from a bad case of LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces she's [[spoiler: HappilyMarried by the finale]]. Likewise, while she has problems abusing her powers, she eventually overcomes them and matures.
** Paige began as an outsider constantly comparing herself to Prue, eventually establishing an identity in her own right and learning to balance witch duties with her personal life.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: A few examples:
** Prue's character in Season 1 is extremely at odds with Seasons 2 and 3. She's portrayed as an uptight stick in the mud who is very humorless. Come Season 2 and she becomes much quippier and NotSoAboveItAll. Part of it is down to her loosening up as her bond with her sisters grows but some of the superwitch tendencies are quite jarring.
** Paige was introduced with an artistic side in Season 4 - her room in the manor having paintings displayed for instance. Come Season 5 and this trait never appears again.
*** She was also introduced as a lawyer and a social worker. By Season 5, seems she forgot she had a degree and went on a series of temp jobs because she supposedly had no career possibility outside of being a witch.
** Elise Rothman was the boss from hell in her season 4 appearances, getting a BitchAlert introduction. By season 5 this trait had vanished and she was good friends with Phoebe.
** Henry was rather cynical and had JadeColoredGlasses in his debut episode. None of his following appearances feature this. Additionally his and Paige's SlapSlapKiss dynamic was dropped after that episode.
** Piper's DeadpanSnarker side didn't really emerge until season 2.
** When Leo is revealed to be a whitelighter, he's able to restore the sisters' magic[[note]]They had given up their powers with a spell[[/note]] by using his healing powers on the Book of Shadows. Whitelighters are later established to only heal injuries and Leo doesn't reference how he healed the book the next time that plot resurfaces. Or how he managed to heal the P3 sign.
* ChainmailBikini: Paige has one from "my moshpit days". She wears it for protection when there's no magic.
* ChekhovsGunman: A retroactive example. Season 2 reveals that Patty had an affair with her whitelighter Sam. In Season 4 when they have to introduce Paige as a long-lost sister, Sam being her father prevented it from being a complete AssPull.
* TheChosenOne: Rather The Chosen One''s'' or The [[TitleDrop Charmed]] Ones. Wyatt is also called the Chosen One, disregarding his ability to wield Excalibur.
* CityOfAdventure: The Source of all Evil, along with the Avatars and everyone else, seems to focus entirely on San Francisco.
* ClassReunion: Piper had one in "Coyote Piper" and Phoebe's in "Hyde School Reunion".
* ClipShow: Framed as a time-travelling memory spell in "Cat House". Other episodes such as "Someone To Witch Over Me" and "Engaged And Confused" followed the same formula with other characters reliving their lives.
* CloseEnoughTimeline: In "Cat House", Phoebe and Paige go time-traveling through Piper and Leo's past, thanks to a botched spell. They manage to figure out how to fix most of the changes they cause, but they accidentally break Piper and Leo's wedding-cake topper and the episode ends with it still broken.
* CollectorOfTheStrange: Gammil in "Size Matters" makes statuettes out of witches.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience
** PlayedForLaughs briefly, when Paige in Season 5 tries to colour-code the pages of the Book of Shadows with sticky tabs for more efficient research. Piper is not amused.
-->'''Piper:''' ''(ranting)'' "Beings of evil are red, creatures of good are white." Oh, yeah? Well, what's a Bunyip? Because it's not good or evil, so what the hell color is that? ''(finds the page with a red '''and''' white tab)'' Oh. Well that's confusing.
** In the season one episode "Which Prue Is It Anyway?", Phoebe tries to color-coordinate a trio of Prues.
* ComicBookAdaptation: In 2010 they continued with Season 9 and 10 in Comic book form, which has been very successful.
%% * ComesGreatResponsibility
* CompositeCharacter: A variation. When the Greek Gods are recreated in Season 5, only the three sisters get powers - but obviously contain elements of several different gods. Piper is described as an Earth Goddess, which would make her Gaia or Demeter. She also clearly has elements from Athena, as the voice of reason. Paige is the Goddess of War, making her a female version of Ares. She also carries Poseidon's trident and shoots lightning out of it, giving her some of Zeus. She also has a bit of Artemis in her. Phoebe meanwhile is the Goddess of Love, making her mainly Aphrodite. However she also has some of Hera's queenly ways. While empowered, Phoebe shows a fondness for flowers, likely a reference to Persephone too.
* ConflictBall: In Season 5, the sisters (especially Phoebe) were distrustful of Cole and constantly expressed as much. It didn't matter that Cole was constantly trying to do good, either. The stated reason was because of Cole's turn as the Source of All Evil, but these episodes overlooked that Cole didn't choose to be the Source at all. (Instead, he had been driven mad by the power of the Source and overtaken with it.) The sisters themselves were even told as much by the wizard ("He didn't die. He was reborn into a new sorry ass.") and Cole's new personal assistant/failed seductress ("You've ruined him. Made him pathetic, weak, good.") near the end of Season 4. Their distrust was rooted in a severe case of NegativeContinuity.
* ContinuityDrift: The show is famous for its numerous continuity mistakes. Some highlights:
** Victor is said to have walked out on the girls when they were only toddlers. Other episodes show him and Patty frequently breaking up and reconciling before Phoebe is even conceived. Despite Patty temporarily leaving him for an affair with Sam, they are implied to have reconciled before her death. It's later suggested that it was disagreements with Penny that drove him away after Patty's death.
** Penny's love life. Some episodes say she was married six times and others four. It's accepted as canon that she was engaged six times but only married four.
** Witches are implied to be entirely female for the first three seasons (and warlocks entirely male). Season 4 introduces the concept of male witches, and female warlocks are seen occasionally. The show never draws a distinction between evil witches and female warlocks.
* ContinuityNod:
** Sometimes when they're flipping through the Book of Shadows you may notice pages that came from earlier episodes or even seasons. It gets a little more obvious that each page added for an episode never got taken out, because the book seems to get noticeably thicker by the end of the series. This works though, because the Sisters had by the later seasons started adding their own stuff to it. When Paige goes back to 1967 in "Witchstock", the book is appropriately much thinner.
** A minor gag in Season 1's "Love Hurts" has Prue teasing Phoebe for being nicknamed 'Freebie' in high school for making out with a boy under the bleachers. When she goes to her high school reunion in Season 6, we meet the guy in question.
* CoolestClubEver: P3. Although after neglecting it for a bit, Piper has to work to make it popular again.
* CouncilOfAngels: The Elders.
* CourtroomEpisode: "Crimes and Witch-Demeanors" has the Charmed Ones arguing for Darryl's life before a tribunal that's charged to keep magic secret, and has manipulated reality to frame him for murder in order to do so.
* CowboyEpisode : "The Good, The Bad, & The Cursed" has Prue and Cole traveling to the Old West.
* CrapsackWorld: Whether you are born powerless and easy prey for demons and warlocks, with good powers but often too weak to be useful and are targeted by same demons and warlocks, with bad powers that are useful but with no real choice but to be evil or find a way to get rid of your powers, or are born with strong good powers like the Charmed Ones, earning you constant assassination attempts by the various forces of evil for the rest of your life. You lose regardless, with the temporary exception of the Charmed Ones who still lost a sister to even achieve a temporary truce.
* CreepyChild: In "We All Scream For Ice Cream" reveals the existence demonic children who are incredibly powerful.
* CreepyGood: The MirrorUniverse version of Barbas, the Demon of ''Hope''. Despite being good, he's ''still'' creepy as hell.
** ''Everyone'' in "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World Part 2", due to an overabundance of good throwing off the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil.
* CuckooNest: "Brain Drain"
* CurseCutShort
** "But why me? I have nothing against that little fu--[[EnfantTerrible fetus]]."
** Also:
-->'''Phoebe:''' Wait, if you know then that means ''they'' know. And if they know then we are fu--\\
'''Grams:''' ''Fine''.
** And
-->'''Phoebe:''' Who's Natalie?\\
'''Piper:''' She's a f--\\
'''Leo:''' Fellow whitelighter. See, we finish each other's sentences.\\
'''Piper:''' [[LampshadeHanging That wasn't what I was gonna say]].
%% * CurtainCamouflage
* CuttingTheKnot: When Paige wants to take the Book of Shadows, she is told that can't pass the door. So she [[ExactWords throws it out the window.]]
* DarkWorld: The Charmed Ones had once traveled into a dark version of their world created to keep balance with their 'light' version.
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Concerning Phoebe.
-->'''Paige:''' I can understand wanting to take a break from guys, but c'mon already, she's gonna wear out the batteries.
** "Do you think Prue will have sex with someone other than herself this year?"
* DatingCatwoman: Or in Phoebe's case, being married to the source of all evil.
* DeadAlternateCounterpart: In the 100th Episode Paige gets transported to a world where she was killed before meeting her sisters and learning she was a witch.
* DeadlyUpgrade: Happens when people who aren't meant to be Empaths take (or are given) a legit one's power anyway. However, Prue really turns it UpToEleven: powers in Charmed are fueled by emotion, and the more emotional you become the stronger your powers become. So, when Prue gets the empathy power she feels more emotions (specifically, those closest to her), so her empathy power becomes stronger. Its area of effect therefore increases, so she feels more (further off) emotions, so her empathy power becomes stronger again, so her area of effect increases again--positive feedback continues ad infinitum. Unfortunately, on top of the fact that these power boosts occur quicker than she has time to adjust to them (making them exponentially unstable), she still has her original powers, which logically "piggy-back" on the gains made by the empathy feedback loop. Given that one of them is telekinesis, the result is ... [[SuperPowerMeltdown interesting]].
* DeadpanSnarker
** Piper, Piper, oh ''Piper''.
** Though the other sisters are no strangers to the trope, particularly Paige.
* DeadPersonConversation: They can summon the dead at any moment, [[PutOnABusToHell except Prue]].
* DeadPersonImpersonation: At the end of "Wicca Envy", Andy finds out that Rex and Hannah simply took the identities of two different dead people, and may have been the ones who actually killed them.
* [[DealWithTheDevil Deal With the Wizard]]
** Inverted. Drake [[PunnyName dè Mon]], played by Billy Zane, makes a deal with a sorcerer to become human (as in, to ''gain'' a soul rather than lose one) but keep his demonic powers with the condition that using them offensively will cause him to be sent to purgatory (as in, he's forced to be ''good'' rather than bad). The deal only lasts for one year, after which Drake will die anyway (as in, the only thing this means for his place in the world is that ''he's now on a clock to die''), but as it turns out the whole deal was made with help from Cole as part of a BatmanGambit to restore Phoebe's faith in love (as in, the underlying force behind the deal was doing something ''good'').
** Another inversion, Cole was willing to transfer the essence and powers of the Source to a Wizard. Only for the deal to be ruined by Phoebe under the influence of the Seer and the unborn Source kid.
** A more traditional Faustian DealWithTheDevil happens in the episode "Soul Survivor".
* DeathTakesAHoliday: And he recruits Piper to do his job for a while. The punny episode title of "Death Takes a Halliwell" comes from the trope namer but does not feature this.
* DecadeThemedParty: One episode had a 1940s Night being held at P3. The lady wanted the 50s but the sisters convinced her that it was overdone.
* DeceptionNoncompliance: Piper is possessed by a demon without other people being aware that she [[NotHimself isn't herself]]. She warns the demon that her boyfriend "Tom" will see right through it, causing the demon to address said boyfriend as Tom and expose the deception.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Billie thought she was this when [[spoiler:Christy turned her against the Charmed Ones]].
* DefenseMechanismSuperpower: This is usually the way witches first learn about their powers. Piper used to have to get stressed or scared before being able to freeze things.
* DeflectorShields: Most notably used by baby (and unborn) Wyatt. There are assorted people and magical items that project energy shields as well.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Downplayed with Elise Rothman; either this or CharacterisationMarchesOn. In Season 4, she's the boss from hell. By the end of Season 5, she and Phoebe appear to be good friends.
* DeliverUsFromEvil: Inverted with Phoebe's pregnancy, where her demonic child was turning her evil.
* DemonicPossession: With demons becoming the main enemies on this show, there were bound to be plenty of examples. Isis, Frankie and Lulu, Imara, Zile and Dantalian, and of course The Source itself has gotten in on the action. Heck, the Source alone has pulled off this trope on Paige's boyfriend Shane, engaged in TheCorruption after its power got into Cole, and another demon used possession to obtain a guise to lure Wyatt into a plot to revive him.
* DenserAndWackier: The first two seasons leaned more towards {{Melodrama}} with the supernatural stuff as mainly a bit of flavouring. Season 3 made it more action-packed and tongue-in-cheek, with many of the more outrageous magical stuff getting {{Lampshade Hanging}}s. By the fifth season, several episodes would literally revolve around one of the sisters getting turned into a magical creature that required a SexyWhateverOutfit. This got reversed in the seventh and eighth seasons which were more serious - but not as much as the first two.
* DePower: Leo. First he became a Whitelighter, then an Elder, then an Avatar, then finally BroughtDownToNormal permanently. TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers.
* DerailingLoveInterests: A unique case with Phoebe and Cole where ''both'' lovers were derailed. First was Phoebe at the start of season 5 when she suddenly decided Cole was responsible for everything that was bad in her life and blamed him for all her problems. She even went so far as to try and make a vanquishing potion for him. Afterwards he became a villain again, kidnapping Phoebe and even rewriting history to keep them together.
* DeusExMachina: Paige, whose existence was only revealed in Season 4 after Prue dies, in order to Complete the Power of Three.
* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: One of Paige's boyfriends says this when he falls under the effects of the truth spell and inadvertently blurts out the fact that he's married.
* DieOrFly
** When Paige develops healing power to save Henry.
** More literally than not in the case of Phoebe, who spontaneously levitates out of danger (indeed, its how she got the power to begin with).
** In fact, all the sisters have developed at least one power this way: Piper learnt to freeze time initially when Jeremy tried to stab her in the face, Prue got her empathy under control just as a demon was about to murder her sister, Paige orbed for the first time in the just as she was about to crash into a lorry (as well as the aforementioned healing) and Phoebe's levitation has already been discussed. In Season 9, [[spoiler: when the source attacks, not only does Piper's molecular combustion power also develop radically but Paige gains the power to form an "orb shield" (basically a force field with added sparkles)]].
* DisappearedDad: Three times. Victor was forced away because he didn't want [[spoiler:his daughters to use magic]], Sam had to abandon Paige to save her from [[spoiler:the Elders]] and Chris missed his father when the latter was busy as [[spoiler:an Elder]]. At least in the former two cases, [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou Daddy Had A Good Reason For Abandoning Them]].
* DiscardAndDraw: Cole's powers change completely as he goes from being a half-demon to [[spoiler:the Source of All Evil, then to coming back from the Wastelands with all the powers accumulated there, then to an Avatar]].
* DistractedByTheLuxury: Prue gleefuly dons Ms. Hellfire's expensive outfits and marvels at her jewelry while she and Piper investigate.
* DivergentCharacterEvolution:
** When Piper became the lead witch, her desire for a normal life helped differentiate her from Prue when she was the main character.
** Paige likewise was differentiated from Prue by being treated like an outsider by Piper and struggling to live up to Prue's reputation.
* DoesNotLikeMen: Grams repeatedly demonstrates this, [[FreudianExcuse supposedly]] because her four failed marriages have left her a little bitter towards men. Season 6 reveals that her first marriage was TheLostLenore - as he was killed by a warlock friend of hers.
* DominoRevelation: Witches are the first we learn but then we get demons, ghosts, angels, and others to come out.
* DoorClosesEnding: This is the idiosyncratic way of ending ''every'' season. See the OnceASeason entry below. The first episode ends this way too.
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale:
** Prue would frequently use her telekinesis to cause slapstick injuries to Andy or other men who annoyed her.
** Subverted in the Season 4 premiere, where a suspected abusive father turns out to be covering for his wife.
** Deconstructed in Season 8 where Billie - believing women are the superior sex - accidentally causes all the girls in her class to beat up the boys. She's horrified by what she's done and it's presented as wrong.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Another whitelighter, Natalie, briefly serves as this in "Blinded by the Whitelighter" for the sisters when she prepares them for battle. Unlike Leo, she refuses to coddle them, leading them to half-jokingly suggest vanquishing ''[[TheNeidermeyer her]]'' at one point.
* DrivenToSuicide:
** Cole had attempted to get the Charmed Ones angry enough at him to want to vanquish him. However, he had become [[NighInvulnerability invincible]] by then, and was so powerful that [[ICannotSelfTerminate he couldn't even use his many powers to kill himself]].
** There was a bad guy who would drive specific people to suicide by giving them bad luck and making them think their situation was hopeless.
* DropInCharacter: Dan and Jenny Gordon, especially in the first episodes of season 2. Later partly justified in that Dan dated one of the sisters, but he still often use the excuse of YourDoorWasOpen.
* DrunkOnTheDarkside: Phoebe, in the S6 episode "Witch Wars", where she gets a crap-ton of demonic powers and promptly goes on a demon murder spree. [[EvilFeelsGood And she enjoys it]].
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness
** The first episode mentions the Three Essentials of Magic: timing, feeling, and the phases of the moon. It's never brought up again, nor is there any indication in the rest of the show that the moon's phases have any effect on their magic. With the exception of an episode where, under a strange occurrence involving a blue moon, the witches are turned into ferocious beasts who maul Whitelighters. It's also commonly pointed out that their powers are linked to their emotions.
** Prue's telekinesis power operates quite differently in the first few episodes. Notably, in the pilot she teleports creamer into a cup of coffee. In the second episode, she barely struggles to move an entire elevator full of people up several floors. She also uses it unintentionally on objects out of her line of sight, without realizing she's even doing it. It's pretty jarring to rewatch and see the difference, since she typically uses her power to deflect energy balls or toss demons around.
** Seasons 1 and 2 have a drastically different tone. Season 1 is rather bleak, with a lot of melodrama. Season 2 nearly phases out the magic completely, with emphasis on SliceOfLife episodes. Both seasons were a bit dark and brooding, with a lot of the material being played very seriously. Seasons 3 and 4 were more action-packed, with more witty one-liners and LampshadeHanging (not to mention more {{Fanservice}}).
** In the second episode one of the shape-shifting demons held on the book and tried to get it out of the house by carrying it. Never once did it shock him like the evil sensing and shocking book that would come later. It's heavily implied that the shapeshifter's powers confused the book at first: whilst it allowed him to carry it, the book did refuse to leave the house, flying out of his hands when he tried to force it through the door, and sliding away when he tried to reach for it again. Likewise, the book is shown to be connected to the sister's powers, and it becomes steadily savvier, and more aggressive to evil as the series goes on. It's therefore implied that it's just the book's defensive capabilities strengthening as the sisters' powers do, as opposed to a complete non sequitur.
** In the later episodes just about every magical being, good or evil, has at least one of the dozens of teleportation powers. In earlier episodes they aren't as common. It's quite jarring to go back and see chase sequences with the [[MonsterOfTheWeek demon of the week]] running after them, as opposed to just teleporting away.
** Alyssa Milano's acting in the first two seasons is remarkably different to how she portrays Phoebe later on. She functions more as TheHeart and often delivers her lines a lot more dramatically. By Season 3, they realised Alyssa's gift for comic timing and retooled Phoebe slightly to make her a bit of a GenkiGirl. It's a similar case with Piper; while she retained more dramatic moments than Phoebe in later seasons, her DeadpanSnarker persona wasn't really touched upon until Season 3.
** Initially spells were inspired by real life Wicca and neo pagan practices (the show was inspired by ''Film/TheCraft'', which used similar ideas). By as early as Season 2, more emphasis was placed on the active powers and vanquishing potions.
** Prue mentions to Andy upon her confession as a witch that her children will only inherit her powers if they are girls. This is before they have interacted with any male witches, and there haven't been any in the family so far.
** The seasons with Constance M Burge in charge leaned more towards the FemaleAngelMaleDemon tropes. Cole and Leo becoming season regulars gave the show a more gender neutral edge. Also Prue frequently got lots of Girl Power moments - before they became less {{Anvilicious}}.
** Warlocks were the initial threat on the show, with only demons occasionally turning up. The warlocks were the human-looking enemies while demons looked more alien. By Season 4, warlocks were just {{Mooks}} and demons were the main antagonists - often appearing as humans in black leather. This was given a justification in the show; the more powerful upper level demons were the ones able to take a human form. So as the sisters' powers grew, the more evil (and therefore human-looking) demons came after them.
** Blinking is mentioned in "The Witch Is Back" to be a power that was copied from a witch. Later on blinking is considered the default warlock power - to the degree that Phoebe and Piper doing it in Season 3 is an indicator that something is wrong.
* EarnYourHappyEnding
** By the end of season four, the sisters have lost one of their own, but in the process defeated the Triad far earlier than they were supposed to. The Angel of Destiny offers them a life without magic as reward, but they refuse. In Season 8, Leo was supposed to have been killed, and the grief would spur them to fight much like the loss of Prue did. Piper, however, convinced the Angel of Destiny to only temporarily take away Leo, who was eventually returned to them. This time the Triad, among others, were KilledOffForReal.
** Piper and Leo's entire relationship has been filled with so many trials and tribulations of both the romantic and the magical kind, they're the epitome of this trope for ''Charmed''.
* EarthMother: Piper's role when she gets temporarily turned into a goddess.
* EarWorm: In-universe example: Prue gets the jingle for an ice cream truck stuck in her head. It turns out this was the demon's chord, which attracts demon children so that the ice cream man [[SealedEvilInACan can seal them away]]. Prue remembers it because she was mistakenly trapped by the ice cream man when she was younger.
* EatingTheEyeCandy: Phoebe has to be physically pulled away from watching Bane Jessup put on his clothes.
* EggSitting : Piper tries to take care of a crying electronic baby, in "Black as Cole."
* EiffelTowerEffect: There are many ''many'' shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid, just to remind you that yes, the show is set in San Francisco. In fact, the episodes usually start off with some shots of San-Fran in the morning after the opening credits and then with some night-time ones much later for the "final thought" at the end.
* EldritchAbomination: The Hollow, an entity that exists only to consume power. It can't be controlled and it can't be stopped, and Good and Evil had to join forces to [[SealedEvilInACan seal it away]]. It would consume everything in existence if it was allowed to be free. [[spoiler: It is vanquished with The Power of Three in the series finale]].
* ElementalPowers:
** AnIcePerson: Prue's past self was able to create freezing clouds of ice/mist.
** BlowYouAway: Shax and the guardian of PandorasBox are able to create air blasts. Shax travels by whirlwind.
** CastingAShadow: The Hollow and the Nexus seem to be a cross of this and The PowerOfTheVoid.
** DishingOutDirt: Piper as an EarthMother goddess is able to create earthquakes, sealing the Titans underground.
** LightEmUp: Light is the domain of Elders and Whitelighters. A few whitelighters in TheSixties would use their abilities [[MundaneUtility to create magical light shows]]. They aren't seen using them as an offensive power in the series, but they have been used in that manner in the comics.
** MakingASplash: The Water Demon that killed the sisters' mother, and the sea hag. May or may not be the same person.
** PlayingWithFire: Fire is seen as a [[BadPowersBadPeople mostly evil power]], so most of the characters who get fire based powers are evil: fireball-throwing demons, Phoebe both in her evil past life and influenced by her demon baby, Evil Future Wyatt, Kali (who lends it to Aviva), Christy, The Source, and so on. There are good characters who use fire powers though, like the witch in the pilot and the firestarter kid.
** ShockAndAwe: Lightning bolts are a trademark of Elders and Avatars. Energy balls are also electrically based. The shocker demon is an actual being made of electricity.
* ElSpanishO: When the Elders send a Unicorn as a baby present to Piper, Paige reads the tag, which is torn at the "From:" part to say just "El" and assumes the sender is Spanish.
* EnemyMine: When the sisters have to work with the [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse four horsemen]], everyone gets on edge.
** In a last ditch effort to get an advantage against Zankou, the sisters try to ally with a Vampire Queen, being desperate enough to offer her and her coven immunity (the Charmed Ones won't bother them afterward, no matter what they do). Unfortunately, Zankou got to her first, and offered a sweeter deal.
* EnergyBall
** The preferred power of demons everywhere. Just as much as {{Fireballs}}. Cole in particular really really misses being able to use them when he fully turns human for a while.
** Strangely one family of witches, Richard's, seems to be able to blast electrical balls at will.
* EmotionalPowers: The sisters' powers are tied to their emotions - Prue's powers seem to be triggered most strongly by anger. The triggers for whitelighters and darklighters are love and hate, respectively. Piper's freezing is triggered by fear, as is Paige's orbing.
* TheEmpath
** Phoebe develops this power.
** Prue has it for an episode, as well. [[MySkullRunnethOver It doesn't go over nearly as well for her]].
* EndangeredSouffle: When Leo walks into the kitchen, Piper, who is baking one, threatens to blow him up if her soufflé falls.
* EndlessCorridor: There's one in Hogwa-err, [[WizardingSchool Magic School]].
* EnthrallingSiren: The villain of seaso 5's "Siren Song" - a demon that seduces married men with her song and then kills the couple in a fire.
* EscapedFromHell: [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Cole]] manages to escape Hell by [[PowerCopying absorbing the powers of other fallen demons]] until he became {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le, even becoming able to kill the massive worm that feasted on the souls of the damned there. Unfortunately for him, since his newly-obtained powers were [[BadPowersGoodPeople evil by nature]], Phoebe, the woman he loved and married, ended up divorcing from him because he now brought her more harm than good, leaving him [[ICannotSelfTerminate unable to even kill himself]] out of the grief.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Zig-Zagged; Cole mentions that evil cannot love, yet he himself has some evil inside him and has loved Phoebe. There are also demons and darklighters that have fallen in love with mortals.
** In the season 6 finale with the evil alternate dimension, even the evil versions of the sisters love each other. Evil Phoebe comforts Wyatt the same way Good Phoebe would.
* EverybodyHatesHades
** The show never used Hades (except for a rather dishonorable mention as the father of the demon Nikos in the novel), but Hecate, another underworld god, came off particularly badly, being [[http://charmed.wikia.com/wiki/Hecate turned into a demon]]. (Way to go, have witches fight the patron of witches.)
** Yama also got this treatment, becoming the totally amoral gatekeeper of Chinese hell who tried to snatch whatever spirits were not "properly buried" and drag them to hell, regardless of whether they were good or evil.
** The Angel of Death on the other hand, is portrayed more or less sympathetically, especially during his first appearance.
* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Although both naturally brunet, Phoebe and Paige dyed their hair blond (Phoebe in Season 3, Paige in Season 6) and their characters fit the trope. It's worth noting that Prue's future self was shown to be blond, where she was the sexy, powerful and successful business woman. Piper also wore a blond wig when she dressed up as Glinda.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood
** Cole's secretary Julie suggests casting a spell to let her carry Phoebe's baby so that he would "be free to rule without her [Phoebe's] love holding him back", not realising that Cole doesn't want an heir, he loves Phoebe and is excited to be a father.
** PlayedForDrama with Kyra the Seer. She is a demon and cannot feel human emotions, but her visions allow her to experience them somewhat, so she wishes to be turned into a human so she can feel them properly.
** The trope is also inverted with Kyra's example. The sisters wonder why a demon would give up her powers just for the things they as humans take for granted.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: Especially notable in the season 6 finale. Evil Phoebe has a mohawk, Evil Paige has thick bangs, Evil Leo has SpikyHair and a beard while Evil Chris has a ponytail. All of them of course wear black clothing that's either revealing (in the sisters' case) or shaggy (the men's case). Their evil selves tend to have facial piercings as well.
** A very straight example with future Wyatt in "Imaginary Fiends". His evil self wears a black t-shirt, ripped jeans, has long hair and a beard.
* EvilCounterpart
** They fought an evil trio of warlock brothers who were even called "The Evil Charmed Ones". One of them wanted to be a priest, because doing so would remove his warlock half.
** Yet another trio of evil siblings, sisters this time, appear in the episode "The Power of Three Blondes". They went as far as to actually steal the identities of the Charmed Ones in order to form their own evil version of the Power of Three. Their [[DumbBlonde pettiness]] did them in.
** Darklighters are this to Whitelighters. And like Leo, one (Alec) fell in love despite the rules and norms.
** The [[TomeOfEldritchLore Grimoire]] to the [[GreatBigBookOfEverything Book of Shadows]], complete with the main force of evil/good having the main version that's called THE book.
* EvilLawyerJoke: Paige lampshades it.
** A variation appears in Season 1's "Thank You For Not Morphing": When a group of shapeshifters tries to enlist the cooperation of Victor, the Charmed Ones' father, one of them threatens to "rip him into a thousand pieces and dance on his entrails." In response, Victor quips "Ah, so you're lawyers."
* EvilPowerVacuum: The Charmed Ones are rather good at bringing about the death of whichever leader the underworld has, so several times demons scramble around trying to consolidate power and allies in order to become the new leader. Cole and Zankou are just a couple of the higher profile demons that try to do this over the years.
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: In episode 12 season 7 "Extreme Makeover - World Edition," The Avatar want to create utopia by curbing free will. In the end, in episode 13 season 7, "Charmageddon," the evil side saves the day. In season 2 episode 21 "Apocalypse Not" Leo explains why evil loves free will.
* EvilVersusOblivion: Both the Shadow and the Source are MadeOfEvil and can be defeated by good™. But the only way to stop the Hollow from destroying Heaven, Earth and Hell alike is a YinYangBomb spell.
* EvolvingCredits: Starting from season 2, the title sequence was regularly updated so that actors not appearing in the episode were not shown in the opening credits. Plus, the opening sequence for the pilot episode doesn't show the sisters' individual powers so that they aren't revealed in advance.
* ExcaliburInTheStone: "Sword and the City" features {{Excalibur}} as being protected by the Lady in the Lake ''and'' gets stuck in a stone afterwards. Piper gets DrunkWithPower by wielding it, believing herself to be the new KingArthur of sorts, but it turns out she's supposed to be its new guardian, being more like a new Lady of the Lake, and that it's Wyatt who's supposed to use it.
* ExpendableClone: Subverted in "Which Prue is it Anyway?": Prue's clones are [[LiteralSplitPersonality skewed towards her "fun side" and "businesslike side",]] but each one of them has all of Prue's abilities and memories. They are used as expendable decoys when the villain kills them, but Prue experiences every excruciating moment of their death, and feels like she's dying herself.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange:
** All three sisters get this when they travel to the future in Season 2. Piper's hair becomes curly, Phoebe's grows to waist length and Prue's turns blonde - all to signal how different each of them have become.
** Across the series, Prue's hair begins in a bob but is waist length by season 3 as her witch powers grow.
** Phoebe has blonde highlights when her relationship with Cole first begins. As it gets serious, the colour darkens. When they get engaged, her hairstyle changes and it gets darker. [[spoiler: While he is corrupted by the Source's power]] her hair goes to shoulder length and then turns black [[spoiler: when she becomes his Queen]]. By season 5 when she has moved on from Cole, her fringe has grown longer. Her short hair in season 6 isn't an example (as Alyssa Milano simply wanted to cut it for her 30th birthday) but it does coincide with her gaining empath powers. By season 8 her hair has grown out long to reflect her desire to find love. Her future self [[spoiler: who is finally a mother]] is shown with waist-length hair.
** Paige has black hair in season 4. In season 5 when she has jumped into her witch duties, her hair is now red (as a result of a potion blowing up on her). In season 6 she's trying to find herself through various temp jobs, reflected through strawberry blonde hair. When she stops going to the jobs, her hair becomes brown.
** Piper is unique in that her hair doesn't change very much in the series. It grows to waist length during the second season and stays that way - but she does give herself bangs around the time she and Leo have some marriage issues.
* ExpressDelivery: Phoebe has a nightmare that this happens, but it was AllJustADream.
* {{Expy}}:
** Cole is clearly an expy of Angel in ''Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}}''. Reformed demon starts a love affair with female hero, then reverts to evil. Then good again. Then semi-evil (see season 2 ''Angel'' series). Aaron Spelling obviously agrees with the saying 'good writers borrow from other writers; great writers steal from them outright'.
** The feuding '''Mon'''tana and '''Ca'''lloway families from season 6 are the '''Mon'''tague and '''Ca'''pulet families from ''RomeoAndJuliet'', complete with StarCrossedLovers '''R'''ichard Montana and Olivia Calloway.
* ExtremeDoormat: Darryl Morris has done everything for the Charmed Ones. He even forgave them after Phoebe and Paige [[spoiler:stole his soul]]. He had managed to grow a spine after getting put through the wringer one too many times without a thank you and put some distance between him and the girls. [[{{Jerkass}} They didn't understand why]].
* EyeBeams: The villain from "The Truth Is Out There, And It Hurts" has a ThirdEye that sends out a beam of burning energy. It targets the same area that the victim's third eye would be. Javna also steals the life force of his victims this way.
* EyeScream: There's an episode where a man cursed with blindness sends his son out to steal a pair of eyes for him. The eyes removed from the bodies are just... [[{{squick}} eeeew]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes F-J]]
* FailPolish: The sisters' clothing in season 1 was quite plain and average with only Phoebe being anywhere close to fashionable. By season 3 the sisters always wore the latest fashions and had much more flattering hairstyles. FridgeBrilliance - they can afford fashionable clothes by this time thanks to Piper's club being busy and Prue bringing in plenty of money as a photographer.
* FakeShemp: We see "Prue" from behind during a Season 5 episode.
* FakingTheDead
** Phoebe had fake-vanquished Cole because while the sisters had found out that he was really Belthazor, Phoebe was still in love with him.
** In the season seven finale, the sisters and Leo faked their deaths in order to live normal lives. By season eight, though, they couldn't keep up the ruse and eventually reverted to their old identities.
* FalseInnocenceTrick
** There was an episode where the sisters try to save a man trapped in a painting, but it turns out he was evil all along.
** Another episode sees the sisters trying to save some kids from their Ice Cream Truck prison. Turns out, [[EnfantTerrible demon children]].
** And in "Primrose Empath", the demon cursed with empathy pretends to be an innocent human hiding in an old tenement and tricks Prue into taking his power so he can once more wreak havoc. The fact the demon had been given the power by a priest so as to trap him may possibly be a ShoutOut to the ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Twilight Zone]]'' episode "The Howling Man".
** "I Dream of Phoebe" has the supposedly docile genie Ginny turn out to be a demon that was turned into a genie as punishment.
* {{Familiar}}: An episode dealt with familiars; they can become human either by good work, or by betraying/killing their charges. The Charmed Ones' familiar cat, Kit, was rewarded with human form.
* {{Fanservice}}: To the point that, whenever any (or, indeed, all) of the girls ends up in a [[InstantCostumeChange costume]] as part of the plot, lampshades are inevitably hung.
-->'''Phoebe:''' Why am I always the one that winds up with the wig?\\
'''Piper:''' Trust me, you're not.
:: To their credit, it's [[MsFanservice Equal]] [[MrFanservice Opportunity]] {{Fanservice}}, too.
* FanDisservice: Some of the outfits and situations the girls got into in the later seasons (like Phoebe performing for the Egyptian guy) were seriously skeevy.
* FanServicePack: Piper opens up a night club in season 2 which provides plenty of opportunities to see the sisters dolled up and wearing something sexy in most episodes. Later seasons, most of the transformations the sisters undergo end up with them in skimpy outfits. And there's also the female demons with tend to go for the fanservice version of HellbentForLeather.
* FantasticAesop: Too many to count.
* FantasticRacism: There was a ''lot'' of this towards Cole's demonic half.
** Witches, of course. In one episode, Creator/BruceCampbell appeared as a Witch Hunter who was such a fanatic that he was willing to kill a woman who all evidence suggested was not a witch (her mother was apparently one, and that was good enough for him).
** The Dark Side had a lot of infighting, especially after the Source was killed. Vampires are immensely disliked (to the point of being banished from the Underworld) and Warlocks are viewed with disdain by several other evil entities (going by "Muse to My Ears").
** The whole idea that demons cannot love, in how it fluctuates throughout the show, almost functions as an unintentional analogue to internalized prejudice.
* FantasyKitchenSink: Lampshaded a couple of times.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Demons and the like come from the Underworld, but when they get vanquished, they go to the Wasteland. They lose their human forms and face being devoured by a beast under the ground. [[spoiler:Cole - having retained his human form because he's only half-demon - kills the beast in Season 4, though]].
** What will happen in Season 2, episode 10 if the Demon of the Week succeeds in his plot. Cupid even says so.
* FearfulSymmetry: In "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World Part 1", where Phoebe and Paige fight their MirrorUniverse counterparts.
* FeatherBoaConstrictor: A demon in the season two finale "Be Careful What You Witch For" has one.
* FemaleGaze: Piper and Phoebe spent quite a bit of time ogling Leo's butt as he's fixing something in the fireplace.
--> '''Phoebe:''' Quite possibly the finest glutes in the city.\\
'''Piper:''' In the state.\\
'''Phoebe:''' In all the land.
** Prue walks in on Leo in the shower, and takes a second to look at Leo and remark "nice orbs" before being driven out by Piper.
%% * FeministFantasy
* FetusTerrible
** Played straight for Phoebe's child, who was the offspring of a Charmed One turned (temporarily) evil, and the Source of all evil. It was slowly corrupting Phoebe, even granting her a power she had in her past evil self.
** Inverted with Piper's, however. Not only would hers become a powerful force for good, but Wyatt would protect Piper even when he was still in the womb.
* FeudingFamilies: Paige had to deal with this in season six. Interestingly, not only is the reason for their feuding something concrete and recent (the death of one family's daughter) rather than something vague that happened generations ago, but the feud is resolved relatively peacefully after it's [[TheReveal revealed]] that the reason everything was escalating was because [[spoiler:the ghost of the dead girl was keeping it going out of a displaced sense of vengeance]]. Paige's LoveInterest from this episode (the same one the ghost wanted) even hangs around for a while, alternately being a source of help or danger depending on the episode, until his attempt to get rid of his family's bad karma ended up [[HalfwayPlotSwitch endangering Phoebe]] (and even [[TwoLinesNoWaiting exposing the magical world to her boyfriend]]).
* FingerSnapLighter: Many, many demons. However, the very first flaming finger seen was being used by a good witch to light candles, all the way in the first episode.
* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Not all the underworld looks like this (most of it being just dark caverns and tunnels), but select places do.
* FireBalls: Demons love to pitch fireballs, but then again so do some of the not-so-nice beings. There are more good characters that use fireballs than {{Energy Ball}}s, though.
* FiremenAreHot: Piper briefly dates hot fireman Greg in the sixth season. This particular fireman being hot is a problem, as Chris notes that Piper is "insanely sexually attracted" to him, and his conception date is coming up.
-->'''Chris:''' If mom and dad don't screw, ''I'm'' screwed!
* FirstLawOfResurrection: Oh boy. Over the course of 8 seasons, Piper and Phoebe die 9 times each. Paige reaches the same number of deaths within just 5 seasons and Prue has 3 deaths to show. And of course, being the main characters, they all get better. Well, except for [[spoiler:Prue at the end of season 3]].
* FlashBack / FlashForward: The nature of Phoebe's power of premonition is that she sees visions of what might happen, and sometimes what had already happened. Then there are spells that have been cast by others to see scenes from both the past and the future.
* {{Flanderization}} / EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / SeasonalRot: ''Something'' changed after Constance M. Burge left. Originally the show tried to hang on to the spirit of Neopaganism and Wicca, with various levels of success, whereas afterward it became much more about simple "Hocus Pocus" magic (see FantasyKitchenSink), alongside other things. It's just hard to classify what it would be called since it was very abrupt (Flanderization is usually more gradual) and fairly evenly balanced (three seasons on one side, five on the other.) And while Burge tried to focus on the relationship between the sisters, the show became more and more about their various romantic relationships.
** A couple of things that happened only in the first season: The ColdOpen would fade to black before the theme song and opening credits, and there was a more uptempo piano piece that was sometimes used as the ending theme.
* FluffyCloudHeaven: "Up There", as it's called, looks exactly like the page picture. Although this isn't actually heaven; it's just where whitelighters have headquarters.
* FlyingBroomstick: The Charmed Ones are thoroughly modern witches, so this only happens once, in the past.
* FogFeet: Demons made of smoke.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: A good number of examples.
** "Be Careful What You Witch For" foreshadows Piper's CharacterDevelopment and eventual leadership role from Season 4 onwards.
** "Death Takes A Halliwell" foreshadows that [[spoiler: Prue could die]] if she keeps relentlessly fighting evil all the time.
** "That 70s Episode" foreshadows that it's possible to recreate the Power of Three using ancestors. This comes in handy with the spell to [[spoiler: vanquish the Source]] and again in the finale [[spoiler: to destroy the Hollow]].
** "Is There A Woogy In The House" and "Pardon My Past" foreshadow how easily Phoebe can be tempted towards evil.
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: The spirit board, which was used for all of three episodes before disappearing in season three until it finally resurfaced for one last use in season 8, and the numerous spells from the Book of Shadows that would be incredibly useful in practically every situation, but are never used, such as the truth spell, which forces others to answer questions truthfully (this [[DramaPreservingHandicap may be intentional]]), evil-detecting glasses, spell to multiply powers (which also clones the caster), spell to hear hidden thoughts, and many more.
%% * FortuneTeller
* FountainOfYouth: One is being guarded by nymphs, but is really more of a HealingSpring. Another one shows up, and this one actually looks like a stone fountain. Irritatingly enough, Piper says "But that's just a myth!" when confronted with the second one, even after having come across the first one, possibly because she and her sisters had promised the nymphs from the first fountain that they would keep its existance a secret.
* FourGirlEnsemble: Although not all four Charmed Ones were on the show at he same time (since Prue [[McLeaned died]] before Paige was introduced), the sisters still fit this trope. Paige was TheDitz, Piper was the DeadpanSnarker, Phoebe was the [[InformedAttractiveness sexy one]], and Prue was the wise CoolBigSis. Before Paige, Phoebe played a combination of the sexy one and The Ditz. Once Prue passed away, Piper took on her role as the wise Cool Big Sis but still had her Deadpan Snarker traits intact.
* [[TheSixthRanger The Fourth Sister]]
** Paige
** OneShotCharacter Aviva tries to be this in a season 1 episode with this title. [[spoiler:Of course, she was under MoreThanMindControl…]]
* FreakyFridayFlip: Phoebe and Paige in "Enter the Demon".
* FreudianSlip: In the episode about the Sandman, Piper lets it slip that dreams are just "harmless, [[ThatCameOutWrong erotic]]--exotic fun".
* FriendsRentControl: Three twenty-something women own a large, three-story Victorian manor with a yard in San Francisco, a very dense urban area with some of the most expensive real estate in the US. The issue is supposedly [[HandWave handwaved]] that it has been in the family for generations and has been inherited, but the Halliwells would likely not be able to even afford the property tax on a home that would likely sell for at least million, assuming it's not in a wealthy or desirable part of town.\\\
No need to invoke the AWizardDidIt trope in this case: the house has been in the family for centuries (most likely since it was built) and the start of the series Piper has a job as a cook in a posh restaurant and Prue is a well paid art appraiser for a big auction house. Later they own a very popular night club and Phoebe becomes a famous columnist. A couple of episodes have had the sisters mention the need for a proper regular income. Piper has said to Phoebe on one occasion that they depended on her salary (as P3 was seeing lean times and Paige was unemployed) in order not to lose the house.\\\
The house HAS been in the family since the beginning; in the episode that first featured the Nexus, the girls realize the house is in the middle of a pentagram (star), with the five points all near an element. They figure the house was probably purposefully built their by one of their ancestors.
* FriendToAllChildren: The Halliwell's are all shown to be very fond of children, such as when they willingly take in an abandoned infant to protect him from a vengeful ghost, and being open and supportive of their young neighbor Jenny for the short time she lived next door. Other examples include Prue going to the rescue of a young witch when he signals for help and acts as a guardian and mentor. Piper helps a young fire starter to accept and learn to control his magic while protecting him from demonic bounty hunters. Paige worked for Child Services and was shown to be very affected by the plight of some of her cases. But of them all Phoebe seemed to be the most compassionate, comforting a hospital bound boy, getting a little girl being hunted by trolls to safety and using her empathy to understand her infant nephew's struggles.
* TheFunInFuneral: The season 8 premiere has the sisters holding a funeral for themselves. Phoebe tries to hit on a guy who was mourning her. Paige is meanwhile annoyed at the lack of people mourning her - so she Glamours into Janice Dickinson and gives a big dramatic speech about how Paige was Janice's best friend.
%% * FunctionalMagic
* GadgeteerGenius: Magical Version: [[TheScrappy Billie]] managed to "[=MacGyver=] up" a magical potion from the contents of a hostage's purse, despite the show always stating that potion ingredients are quite specific.
* {{Gaslighting}}: Source!Cole does it to Paige, along with having a demon possess her with a demonic power with a side effect of temporary insanity. He uses demon powers around her, and erases the evidence, so she can't be sure she's seen anything.
* GenderBender: Prue is transformed into a man in one episode in order to defeat a female demon who preyed on men.
* GenerationXerox:
** It's implied in the last episode that Chris and Wyatt are going to follow in the footsteps of their parents and aunts. So much potential spin-off material wasted...
** Piper with her mother, right down to the ability to freeze people and the forbidden romance with a Whitelighter. This actually comes up as a plot-point in the Season 5 opener, when Piper realises the similarities between herself and her mother after [[spoiler:getting pregnant]], and becomes afraid that she will die young and leave her family ([[spoiler:particularly her child]]) behind.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Every other episode when one of the sisters has a date or talks about a relationship.
** "Be Careful What You Witch For" brings us Prue announcing a date with a man named [[PunnyName Dick]]:
-->'''Phoebe:''' Prue, you are too hot to have to duty-date.\\
'''Prue:''' Yeah, well, all demon-hunting and no play has made me a lot less picky. I gotta figure out a way to [[YouNeedToGetLaid put some more balance]] in my life.\\
'''Piper:''' Yeah, but you don't need Dick...
* GhostlyGoals[=/=]UnfinishedBusiness: Played straight in regards to Phoebe's classmate Charlene in "Ex Libris", who can't move on until she helps bring a murderer to justice. Subverted in the case of Mark Chao in "Dead Man Dating", when there is actually no problem with him moving on to the afterlife - he just doesn't want to, because his spirit will be taken to hell unless his body is given a proper burial. He still manages to get justice for himself, and have Piper fall in love with him in the process.
* GhostTown: In "The Good, The Bad and The Cursed", there's an old abandoned wild west town that has a StableTimeLoop making it seem like it's haunted.
* GiveHimANormalLife
** This is the explanation for why the Halliwell Sisters grew up not being able to use their powers or knowing about them: Their mother and grandmother "bound their powers" in order to let them live a safe and normal life. This was never quite as much of an option with baby Wyatt, who is an even greater Chosen One than the Charmed Sisters themselves, but the Halliwell Sisters still had a tendency to wish that they could give Wyatt a normal life, particularly Piper.
** Often occurs so they can have conflict with the PowersThatBe who act like their bosses. One example that really stands out is a multi-part episode in which it was revealed that the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil is preserved by a MirrorUniverse -- if good wins in one universe, evil wins in the other and balances it out. Traveling between them disrupted the balance and made the normal universe "too good" -- the sun never sets, everyone is freakishly happy all the time, and [[DisproportionateRetribution minor crimes like leaving your cell phone on in a library are punished by mutilation]] ([[FridgeLogic instead of the suddenly-too-good people just leaving their cellphones turned off]]). A more reasonable person would consider mutilation to be evil. Somewhat tangential, but one shouldn't forget that in the similarly-disrupted evil balance, the same sort of [[DisproportionateRetribution mutilation]] was enacted for such trivial niceties as saying "Gesundheit" when someone sneezed. Essentially, the point being made was that Good and Evil cannot tolerate the others' existence, and therefore in a world dominated by one, any act (no matter how minor) that runs contrary to the ideals of either is punished harshly. It is the mix of the two that provides tolerance and temperance.
* GiveMeASign: The titular episode has Phoebe cast a spell to help Piper choose between Dan and Leo, which comes in the form of a whole lot of little coincidences that pop up throughout the day. It turns out that those signs were supposed to help them find Prue, who had been kidnapped by Bane earlier.
* GodInHumanForm: After becoming an Elder and then an Avatar, Leo eventually gets depowered and mindwiped and is plopped somewhere on earth to live as a human and find his purpose. Then one BatmanGambit would [[OutGambitted foil another]], and he would come back home.
* GodivaHair: Lady Godiva herself shows up in an episode and Phoebe dresses up as her at the end of the episode.
%% * GoodFeelsGood
* GoodGuyBar: P3 gets opened in Season 2 and most episodes usually have the epilogue there. There's always plenty of musical guests too.
* GoodIsNotNice: Grams, as well as Cole when he was a good guy. Both are [[JustifiedTrope justified]], with Grams toughening up after her first husband was murdered by warlocks and Cole being a half-demon who's spent a century as a trained killer.
* GooGooGodlike: Wyatt. Even in the womb, he was protecting Piper from a souped-up Cole. After he was born, his powers just kept growing.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Phoebe, hopped up on demonic powers, is supposed to get stabbed by an athame to get rid of them. Paige is just about to when the scene cuts to a post-battle celebration in magic school.
* GrandTheftMe: There is a lot of possession going on throughout the series.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The Book of Shadows is the former TropeNamer.
* GreenLanternRing: More like a ''Pink'' Lantern Ring, but Cupids' love ring functions as this.
* TheGrimReaper: The Angel of Death.
* GroundhogDayLoop: The final episode of season 1.
* HalloweenEpisode: Two, but neither one has an A-plot relating to the holiday. The season 3 episode ''[[Recap/CharmedS3E4AllHalliwellsEve All Halliwell's Eve]]'' has a B-plot where a couple of demons come back to life due to the holiday in question, but is otherwise a TimeTravelEpisode. The season 8 ''[[Recap/CharmedS8E6KillBillieVol1 Kill Billie: Vol 1]]'' has no plot relating to the holiday at all and just happens to take place on Halloween.
%% ** Infamous cases: Any demon portrayed by Peter Woodward.
%% ** Cole during his insanity spree certainly fell into this:
%% --->''(Piper instinctively freezes the guillotine)''\\
%% '''Cole:''' ''(exasperated)'' Can you at least let me...not die in peace.
* HappilyAdopted: Paige was adopted by a loving family when the Elders wouldn't let Patty and her Whitelighter Sam keep the child. Then the Powers That Be had to move the adopted parents out of the way in a more brutal fashion...
* HappilyMarried: Piper and Leo (for a while, and, if the epilogue is anything to go by, again).
* HeadlessHorseman: Almost causes the end of [[WizardingSchool Magic School]] in "The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell".
* HeadsTailsEdge
* HealingHands: Whitelighters and Elders. Inverted for [[EvilCounterpart Darklighters]], who can kill through touch.
* TheHeart: Piper. Best said by [[spoiler:the girls' mother]] on her wedding day: "I always knew you would by the first to get married; you're the heart of this family, Piper."
* TheHeartless: The Shadow, the Source and the Hollow. Cole became host to each power once.
* TheHecateSisters: Explored in the episode, well, "The Three Faces of Phoebe". She summons herself from two different points in time - young Phoebe is the maiden, who immediately has a crush on Cole and still believes in the "someday my prince will come" fantasy, present Phoebe is the mother because of her impending marriage (and deciding whether to follow through is the reason Phoebe cast the spell), and elderly future Phoebe is the crone, who is bitter and angry because she ''didn't'' marry Cole, and has spent her life wondering WhatCouldHaveBeen if she did.
** This also applies to the sisters together with their mother Patty and grandmother Penny: The sisters are the maidens, who are new to the craft. Patty is the mother, who is kind, supportive, and patient with teaching her girls whenever they summon her for advice. Penny is the crone, who is the most experienced and powerful of them all even in death, is quite bitter with regards to men (she was quite disapproving of young Wyatt initially), and is also somewhat demanding on her granddaughters given their legacy.
** This is again formed in the series finale to [[spoiler: vanquish The Hollow for good]]. Piper is the maiden, Patty is the matron and Penny is the crone.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Cole/Belthazor.
* HellBentForLeather: Especially in later seasons. Demons went from actually looking kind of demonic to just being dark-haired people in leather. It is explained early on in the show that [[BishonenLine upper-level (i.e. more powerful) demons tend to appear human]] so as to be able to hide in plain sight. It would make sense that as the sisters grow stronger, more powerful (and devious) demons would come after them. Furthermore, it reinforces the idea that anyone you meet can be a threat, leading to some very nice ParanoiaFuel. Phoebe actually lampshades it at one point.
-->'''Phoebe:''' Remember when demons looked like demons and innocents looked like innocents? Who changed the rules on us?
* HeroicWannabe: Billie -- she sucks at being a hero and a [[spoiler:villain]].
** Prue in "Sin Francisco". Getting infected with the sin of Pride has her recklessly charging into dangerous situations, desperate to show off how heroic and selfless she is.
* HideousHangoverCure: Paige is shown making one, with the requisite raw egg thrown in with who knows what else in a blender, to give to Piper.
* HideYourPregnancy: Creator/HollyMarieCombs, until they decided to write in her pregnancy. And the baby was born in less than six months. The show did note a six-month time jump between the episode where Leo and Piper conceive Chris and the very next episode, which justifies how quickly Piper was pregnant and showing. Or would have, if HMC wasn't obviously pregnant long before they wrote the pregnancy in. She also delivered six weeks premature.
* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Phoebe does this to a corrupt slumlord in the episode "Witches In Tights", where she and her sisters get turned into superheroes.
* HockeyMaskAndChainsaw: One a Phoebe's nightmares.
* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: Apparently are created by, answer to, and can only be destroyed by the Source.
* HotMenAtWork: Leo first poses as a handyman. By season two we have Dan the baseball player-turned construction worker, and suddenly Piper has dueling sexy handymen fighting for her affections.
* HotWitch: All four sisters, as well as most of the other demons and witches who appear.
* {{Housewife}}: Phoebe gets turned into a Samantha Stevens-esque housewife by way of a magical ring. She did mention that ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' was her favorite show.
* HowDoIShotWeb: It usually takes the sister a variable length of time to master their powers when they're revealed. Particular credit goes to: Phoebe, who never was able to fully master her empathy power before it was taken from her; and Paige, who took ''5 whole seasons'' before she learnt how to heal.
* HumanMomNonhumanDad: It depends on whether you view the sisters as human or nonhuman. If they're nonhuman, the trope is inverted in the case of Prue, Piper, and Phoebe (human dad/nonhuman mom). If they're human, the trope is played straight in the case of Paige (human mom/nonhuman dad). If they are human, Piper's sons and Phoebe's children have this trope apply to them, as well. Whether they're human or not, the trope is inverted in the case of Paige's children, since she married a "mortal" human, Henry, and is half Whitelighter (and thus, technically, nonhuman). Of course, Paige, as well as Piper's sons Wyatt and Chris, is half dead person, so I'm not sure how that works, but their fathers are still nonhuman. Brandon, the half-warlock from the first season, played this trope straight as well. It was inverted in the case of Cole, whose mother was a demon and his father a human.
* HybridPower: A common witch power is telekinesis and a common power for [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Whitelighters]] is [[TeleportersAndTransporters orbing]]. Paige, Chris, and Wyatt, who are all half-witch/half-whitelighter, they each combine these powers into orb-telekinesis.
* {{Hypocrite}}s:
** The sisters, especially Phoebe, towards Cole.
*** She and her sisters turn evil because of some magical factor or some manipulation of their powers, it's just a Halliwell thing. The love of her life turns evil because of some magical factor or some manipulation of his powers, she's contemplating his murder. Seen at least twice.
*** You know how Prue was quick to speculate that Cole was playing Phoebe into a trap after finding out he was Belthazor and never really trusted him since? [[IdiotBall Turns out she was the one who felt Phoebe and Cole's love for each other and convinced Phoebe to get with him about a month earlier]] [[BlessedWithSuck while she was cursed with]] [[MySkullRunnethOver a massive dose of]] [[TheEmpath empathy]].
*** In "Wrestling with Demons", Prue finds out Cole is still alive. She constantly criticizes Phoebe for lying to her and for supposedly risking them all, as well as refuses to listen that the half-human demon could have any good in him. However, in the earlier "When Bad Warlocks Go Good," Prue risked everything to help a half-human Warlock because she sensed good in him. Not to mention how this is the episode where Prue is actively trying to save an '''ex'''-boyfriend (who [[OneShotCharacter never appears in the series again]]) from a [[DealWithTheDevil contract with a demonic trainer]] while he's only one kill away from becoming a full demon. Unlike the other examples here, Prue is called on this hypocrisy by Phoebe (obviously well-before her own hypocrisy became evident), and the final scene of the same episode hints that Prue was more angry by Phoebe's lying about vanquishing Cole than the non-vanquish itself, so she still has a leg to stand on.
*** Throughout Season 5, the sisters blamed Cole for becoming the Source. This despite the fact that he was corrupted by a power he couldn't handle, in the process of saving their lives from the previous Source, was fighting to regain himself the entire time, suffered more than anyone else and ultimately died from the entire ordeal, and would have given up the Source's powers if Phoebe hadn't vanquished the wizard who was going to receive the Source's powers, all specifically to force Cole into staying the Source. Predictably, Phoebe never bothered to acknowledge that she was the one who forced Cole to stay the Source.
*** In the second episode of Season 5, Cole decided to pack up and leave after Phoebe rejected him. However, Paige would browbeat him into staying to help save Phoebe by casting a spell that forced him to feel Phoebe's love for him, which ended up convincing him to stay for good. In both Seasons 4 and 5, Paige is even more vehemently against Cole than Prue ever was and repeatedly tries to vanquish him or help Phoebe vanquish him, despite that he was going to leave peacefully before she cast that spell.
*** And then there's the thing about whether powers can be inherently good or evil or not. One second the sisters are reassuring a young boy whose power is basically being groomed to be used for the Source that powers have no inherent morality and it's just what you do with them. The next they're mistrusting Cole for his demonic half, and after his corruption by the Source's power, which truly burned Cole more than anyone else, they're downright detesting and fearing Cole, to the point Phoebe pretty much desensitizes herself to him, for the simple fact of his having demonic powers. This only serves to expedite his SanitySlippage, to the point some fans see his character as little else but Phoebe's {{Yandere}} and some others decided in disgust that the show had [[JumpingTheShark jumped the shark]].
*** Particularly egregious is in the beginning of "Centennial Charmed". On the eve of Cole's 118th birthday, he entered his penthouse, sadly looking into a mirror and telling himself happy birthday because there's no one else that's gonna tell it to him. Only to be paid a visit by ''Paige'' sneaking into his home from behind while invisible, jumping into his body, and trying to kill him. That scream of agony after he booted her out of his house did not come from nowhere. To make things worse, she ''practiced this on '''Leo''' first!'' And despite Leo reconstituting after being blown up and outright telling her it's not gonna work on Cole, ''she insisted she was right and did it anyway!'' Isn't Cole supposed to be the cartoon villain here?
*** Of course, Leo became a hypocrite himself in season 8 when it turned out that he'd captured two Noxon demons who were made unvanquishable through Underworld science and had then imprisoned to be used for target practice by students in Magic School.
** In 'The Witch is Back' Melinda Warren explicitly states that the power of 'blinking' (basically instant teleportation) that the bad guy of the episode has, was stolen from another witch. Then, in 'Bride and Gloom', Piper claims that blinking is [[RetCon something only the evil guys do]]. Warlocks are outright stated to be known for stealing witches' powers, so if anything, there should be no such thing as evil powers at all, only just powers that were stolen or misappropriated for evil.
** Their tendency to assume anyone acting as the antagonist is evil gets wonderfully lampshaded by the Angel of Death, who points out to Prue that some supernatural entities aren't good ''or'' evil, they just ''[[AboveGoodAndEvil are]]''.
** How about the girl who felt herself get executed in an alternate future timeline where she used her powers for vengeance against a human being and came back realizing before her older sisters that everything that led up to that execution started with the spiteful use of magic to punish a man for his dog's defecation, being the same girl who years later was met at gunpoint by a mortal she used to be friends with in high school and could've easily told her younger sister to orb the freaking gun away so they could subdue him but instead had said younger sister glamour him into their future nephew so he could get killed by demons? Easily goes under both this and TookALevelInJerkass, and really approaches MoralDissonance territory.
*** Additionally, remember the example from "Sam I Am". Phoebe condemned Cole for killing those two criminals in the bar, who threatened to rob it and then shot up the place. Phoebe certainly didn't think he was in the right. She went as far to threaten to vanquish Cole over that — which makes this ''later'' event more suspicious.
*** When Charmed Ones were put on trial for revealing the existence of magic to the world, prosecuting Barbas brought up those two criminals and argued that it was Phoebe's fault for [[DrivenToVillainy driving Cole to this]]. StrawmanHasAPoint, indeed.
*** Before she set up her mortal ex-high school friend to be killed by demons, she turned a rival columnist into a pig. Unintentional {{Foreshadowing}}?
** Likewise in "Sam I Am", Phoebe starts complaining that Cole '''hadn't''' contacted her in a few weeks, before immediately jumping to the conclusion that this means he ''clearly'' must be up to something evil! Do you want him to leave you alone or ''not?!''
** In "Soul Survivor", Paige decides that individuals who have decided to sell their souls for wealth and power, will full knowledge that this will come at the expense of causing misery and suffering to others, are ''still'' considered innocent. This is despite this making the "victims", actually very little from the ''villain'' of the episode, who trades these ill-gotten souls to increase his own wealth and power!
* HypocriticalHumour: In "Trial by Magic" Piper gets squeamish when she and Leo see a rat. Later on Piper mocks Paige for being scared of a group of rats — and then immediately screams as well when she sees them devouring another rat.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Cole, having absorbed many [[PowerCopying powers from hell]] to return to Phoebe, only causes problems for her and her sisters, so she ends up divorcing him. He also finds that his powers have made him NighInvulnerable and, as such, rendered him unable to kill himself from the grief. So he starts causing trouble for the girls to get them to [[SuicideByCop vanquish]] him. Only to [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] this trope when he explains that [[spoiler:he just wanted to try whether he really was indestructable]] and goes AxCrazy for good after the confirmation. He wanted to die and was quite miserable that nothing could be done to make it happen. Now, he was told by the Avatars that this was the case and cryptically said as much to the sisters, but it was quite clear that Cole was hoping against hope that they were wrong.
* IdenticalGrandson: Though subverted in one episode where Leo attends a WWII veterans' reunion as his own identical grandson, even though he obviously wasn't.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The name of almost every episode was a {{pun}} that worked on more than one level; both peripherally relevant to the plot point, MonsterOfTheWeek, or most important sister in the episode, as well as playing off of a ShoutOut to another famous title or work, usually literature, rival TV, classic film, or well-known songs, often oldies.
* IdiotBall: The later the seasons, the more these tend to be thrown around.
** In season four, everyone seems to be holding to their personalized idiot ball. Paige jumps between using her powers very smartly, and very stupidly. The Source makes a big show of not trusting the Seer, tells her "the next time she betrays him will be her last" and then does nothing when she tells him to his face she will do the exact thing he forbade. Leo made a big show of "watching over" Paige when she lived away, but does no such thing for Phoebe in the penthouse even before Cole starts shuttering everything, and the possibility isn't even mentioned. Piper [[ForgotAboutHisPowers repeatedly doesn't use her freezing power]] when it would be extremely tactically advantageous, even though she still uses the power for very trivial things, with the crowning example being "We're Off to See the Wizard" where she does ''not'' freeze the wizard, allowing him to steal the book, even though she froze him just a while ago simply because he got on her nerves.
** The Vampire Queen in "Bite Me" deserves a special mention. Paige was bitten by a vampire. It was established that in order to be fully converted to a vampire a person must get their first taste of blood. Before that point, if the Vampire Queen is killed the person will be turned back to normal. After that point, if the Vampire Queen is killed the person will be killed along with her. In other words, before Paige had tasted blood the other Charmed Ones had every reason to kill the Vampire Queen. Once she'd tasted blood, it would be virtually guaranteed they wouldn't kill her so they could save their sister. So instead of simply giving Paige a little taste of blood as soon as she's bitten and ''then'' sending her after her sisters with a huge mental advantage, the Vampire Queen decides that her sisters should be her first taste of blood, thereby giving the sisters a reason to kill the queen and allowing them a window to rescue Paige.
* IfICantHaveYou: It seems this is the case with some evil characters who fall in love with mortals, like in the episodes "Love Hurts" and Magic Hour".
* IJustWantToBeNormal: All the FRICKIN' time! Yes Piper, I'm talkin' to you. Accounts for her gradual transition from TheHeart to SelfishGood.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Aviva's desire, which makes her easily manipulated by Kali.
* IJustWantToBeYou: Abbey admires Prue. So much so, that she's willing to kill her and take her place. Pity her stalking couldn't turn up the fact that Prue is a witch.
* TheILoveYouStigma: It's not that Phoebe is embarrassed about telling Jason "I love you"; it's that, as a result of her empath powers, she says "I love you ''too''" before he's actually says "I love you".
* ImColdSoCold: In the episode "All Hell Breaks Loose," when Piper is shot by a sniper and is close to death, she says, "Prue, I'm cold. [[ICantFeelMyLegs I can't - I can't - I can't feel my legs.]] [[PleaseDontLeaveMe Don't go.]] I love you."
* ImmuneToBullets:
** Most demons are immune to firearms. At best, they may incapacitate (however briefly) "small fries" like Wendigos, Grimlocks, or Succubi.
** There's also a spell that gives a person temporary invincibility, making bullets bounce off them and giving them SuperStrength a la Franchise/{{Superman}}.
* ImportantHaircut: Averted. Piper briefly comments on Phoebe's new hairstyle in the first episode of season 6, but that's only because Alyssa Milano showed up with an extremely short haircut right before they started filming that season.
* ImprobableAge:
** Despite being in her twenties, Prue is already in a prominent position at Bucklands' auction house after several years being a successful museum curator. There is a small justification since Rex and Hannah hired her and they're after her magic. After they're vanquished, Prue is in constant clashes with the senior members of the auction house.
** Piper sets up and is able to run a night club in her mid-20s too, despite her background being as a chef and bank teller.
** Phoebe and Paige are aversions; Phoebe is in college in the first three seasons and gets a job on a fluke in the fourth - and she still goes back to college to get extra understanding for her new career. Paige meanwhile is an intern who's still paying student loans back and when she gets promoted to social worker, she has to leave the job because she can't handle it.
** Billie can only be twenty at the oldest, and has already mastered her powers and developed a scrying system by hooking crystals up to her computer. All from reading a few books. This is lampshaded by Piper, who suspects that Billie may have got help from demons at first. It gets a hand wave later when Billie's mother reveals that her family line is of witches and she was just a MuggleBornOfMages.
* IncredibleShrinkingMan: In "Size Matters", a shrink wand-wielding demon named Gammil does this to witches to [[TakenForGranite turn them into figurines]].
* InformedAbility: Phoebe gets hired long-term to write the relationship advice column at a newspaper after a stint at ghostwriting it earlier because everybody thought she was so great at it, and gushing over her column continues afterwards. The examples that are shown of her advice is actually quite trite. She also guest hosts a talk show once, and again people are saying she was amazing, while her shown behaviour in the studio was shockingly amateurish.
* InformedAttractiveness: People on the show talked about Phoebe as if she were the most gorgeous creature to ever walk the Earth. While Alyssa Milano was certainly beautiful, she wasn't significantly more attractive than Rose [=McGowan=] or Holly Marie Combs. Their characters weren't praised for their looks nearly as much as Phoebe was (although she did have a tendency to show more skin than the others did, especially later on). Before that Prue got quite a lot if it as well. She had nearly as many one shot love interests as Phoebe (and she was only in '''three seasons''').
* IngestingKnowledge: In one episode, Phoebe uses a smart spell that allows her to absorb the knowledge of a book by waving her hands over it.
* InspectorJavert: Anderson. [[NotEvenHuman Rodriguez]]. Reece Davidson. [[HeelRealization Cortez]]. [[ArbitrarySkepticism Sheridan]]. Keyes. Even Darryl Morris started out this way, and even Andy Trudeau got suspicious of Prue for a cup of coffee, and the two of them were among the most reliable friends the sisters had. Needless to say, they got this a lot.
* InTheBlood: The ability to have powers is, obviously, inherit in all magical species. Crossing that blood with mortals is [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity very]] [[TheVirus dangerous]].
* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: P3 H2O [[spoiler:is a subversion as it was likely not written as one at the time. Nonetheless, the episode states that Patty and her Whitelighter Sam had an affair - thereby creating the opportunity for Paige to be bought in and allow the show to continue after Prue's death]].
* InvisibleToNormals: Ghosts seem to be only visible to magical beings, unless they make a concentrated effort.
* {{Invisibility}}: Some magical beings are invisible by default, like muses and cupids.
* InvisibilityCloak: The vainishing spell, which Paige seems to use a lot. Gideon can turn invisible, and so can Leo when he becomes an elder, but it's not quite clear if this is an innate power or if there's some sort of spell or artifact that does it.
* IronicEcho: When the sisters confront a Darklighter.
-->'''Alec:''' (pointing crossbow at Phoebe) Never used this on a witch before.\\
(Alec gets thrown into a bathroom stall, dropping his crossbow)\\
'''Prue:''' (picks up crossbow) Never used this on a Darklighter before.
* {{Irony}}:
** The episode "All Halliwell's Eve" opens with Phoebe talking about how much she hates the stereotype of witches as wearing pointy hats and cackling while riding broomsticks. Later on in the episode when the sisters are in the 17th century Virginia colony, they need to ward off a group of men with muskets and Phoebe declares "I'm embracing the cliche" and puts on the hat and flies on a broomstick, cackling for good measure to scare the men away. Yep, she may well have reinforced the very stereotype she was complaining about.
** An unintentional example but Prue Halliwell, the in-universe "Super-Witch" of the first three seasons, ended up [[spoiler: [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed off offscreen]], never to return again]].
* IUhYouToo: Piper and Phoebe not that Prue always responds to their I love yous with an "uh huh" or "you too". [[spoiler:This is revealed to be a psychological hangup caused by "I love you" having been the last words Prue said to their mother before she was killed]].
* IWasQuiteALooker
** The CollectorOfTheStrange VillainOfTheWeek from Season 4 modeled his handsome golem after himself as a young man.
** The sisters' Aunt Gail from season 2 as well when she got her youth restored.
* JerkassGenie: Genies are tricksters and will try and twist wishes to serve their needs (usually to gain their freedom). There are two genie-centric episodes with both [[LiteralGenie literal]] and [[JackassGenie jerky]] genies: "Be Careful What You Witch For", and "[[Series/IDreamOfJeannie I Dream of Phoebe]]".
* JerkassHasAPoint: In "Crimes and Witch Demeanours", Barbas argues his case that the Charmed Ones should he stripped of their powers, due to their recklessness and selfish abuse of their abilities, nearly breaking the masquerade on a regular basis and putting innocents into situations where they've gotten killed. Turns out, the Tribunal actually ''agree'' with most of his argument and decide to strip Phoebe's active powers, due to her being the worse repeat-offender.
** Made even more telling when in the very ''[[AesopAmnesia next]]'' episode, Paige abuses magic for her own personal gain, which naturally ends up going horribly, horribly wrong. However this time, everyone [[WhatTheHellHero calls her out]] on her reckless behaviour and Phoebe is understandably livid.
** Barbas also correctly pointed out during the trial that the Charmed Ones repeatedly fail to adhere to any of the rules set in place to protect the magical community (unless those rules benefit them), believe that being the Charmed Ones means not being held accountable for their actions and often treat both their magical and non-magical allies as glorified servants, having the gall to act insulted when said allies express dissatisfaction with being told to put their own lives on hold or head into danger to fix their messes.
* JokerJury: The Charmed ones stood accused of interference in mortal matters by the Whitelighters. Standing in for the prosecution was Barbus, the (get this) ''Demon of Fear'' and longtime enemy of the Halliwells. Numerous others foes were present as witnesses.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes K-O]]
* KidFromTheFuture
** Chris, whose arc is about trying to prevent a BadFuture. Wyatt's future self occasionally pops up too.
** They also were this themselves in "That '70s Episode".
* KillAndReplace: Prue's stalker intends to do this and replace her as a one of the sisters. She didn't know, though, that Prue had magical powers.
* KilledOffForReal: Prue. Due to a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot, when her actor left the show. She refused to come back, preventing her character from retuning, even as a white lighter (explained in show that she couldn't appear to her family or it would mess with their grieving process).]]
* KillTheOnesYouLove: Phoebe needs to overcome her emotions and vanquish Cole. Twice. The first time she doesn't do it, instead faking his death. The second time wouldn't have happened if she hadn't taken the IdiotBall an episode earlier. The third time he's vanquished is an aversion, as she hated him by then.
* KingArthur: Briefly mentioned in "Sword and the City", Piper pulled the sword [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Excalibur]] from the stone in a very Arthurian-style and later became corrupted by it.
* KlingonPromotion: Standard operating procedure with demons.
* KnightInShiningArmor: One was summoned from a magic kingdom by Paige on accident.
* KnightTemplar: Witch Doctors, it's their job to clean up residual evil energies but they'll destroy good beings if they are a threat to the magical community.
* KungFuWizard: Phoebe is a Kung-Fu Witch. She learns martial arts because she's the only one without an active power (and gets bummed when Prue gets [[AstralProjection another one before she did]]). Eventually she learned how to levitate, which helped out her martial arts skills a bit.
* LamarckWasRight: Wyatt Halliwell inherits both his mother's molecular freezing and combustion powers and his father's whitelighter abilities. Chris also receives whitelighter abilities, but has powers equivalent to Prue's. In general, the children of whitelighters all seem to inherit their abilities, even though whitelighters themselves are made, not born.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Memory dust. Leo expresses reservations on using it because it isn't quite so precise.
* LaserHallway: Complete with acrobatics from Phoebe. They were actually moving lasers, but having the power to stop time comes in handy during burglary.
* LastOfHisKind: The last [[SquishyWizard wizard]] in existence was trying to kill the Source, who just happened to be Cole. Clearly subverted. Not only was that little guy not the last wizard (though he may not have known this at the time), he was trying to ''become'' the Source.
* LastSecondWordSwap: In "Chick Flick", Piper drinks a potion and then proclaims "Ugh, it tastes like ass...phalt."
* LatinLover: One gets conjured up as a birthday present for Piper in "Prince Charmed".
* LawfulStupid: In the show's mythology, this is how our world would be if there wasn't ''some'' evil in it to balance things out.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall
* LeaveYourQuestTest:
** Happens at least OnceASeason. Chances are ''very'' good that [[IJustWantToBeNormal Piper]] will be the most tempted by it.
** Probably the most vicious attempt at this was an episode in the 4th season that took place in an insane asylum... [[spoiler:[[MindScrew inside Piper's mind]]]].
* LesbianVampire: The Queen in "Bite Me".
* LieToTheBeholder: The sisters faked their deaths at the end of season seven. In the beginning of season eight, they cast a spell to make them appear as different people to everyone but family.
* LifeDrinker: Javna. He needed to regularly steal the youth of his victims, aging them into old people, in order to retain his youthful form. If he doesn't, he ages rapidly.
* LighterAndSofter: Later seasons. Also as the Charmed Ones get more powerful there's generally less of a sense of jeopardy. All the sisters "die" and are saved in multiple episodes.
* LiteralGenie: Two of them: an unnamed JerkassGenie in "Be Careful What You Witch For", and an ex-demon named Jinny in "I Dream of Phoebe".
* LiterallyShatteredLives: When Piper gets influenced by evil her freezing powers become not-so HarmlessFreezing, and when she puts Leo on ice, he gets shattered into a million gruesome-looking red icy pieces. Since he's already dead, though, he gets better at the end of the episode.
* LiteralSplitPersonality
** In the episode "Which Prue Is It Anyway?" Prue makes two clones of herself that display different aspects of her personality.
** Done again in the episode "Just Harried" when Prue's id decides to get a little action via astral projection.
* LivingShadow: Cole has one.
* LongLostRelative: Not only a [[Characters/{{Charmed}} character trope]] but also a narrative one. It is basically the only thing that saved the show after [[spoiler:Prue was killed off]]. And the fact that Patty Halliwell's affair with her Whitelighter was mentioned before is the only thing that saved this from being an AssPull.
* LosingYourHead: Sigmund, a teacher at Magic School, is first introduced as his head is chopped off. Since his body was still at Magic School when it happened, though, he's still alive. All three of the Charmed Ones eventually have their heads cut off too. They still manage to cast a few spells even without their bodies, however.
* LouisCypher: Hecate's human alias is Jade D'Mon, and Billy Zane plays a former demon named Drake dé Mon.
* LoveCannotOvercome
** After Prue confesses to her first season boyfriend Andy that she's a witch, he admits that he can't handle it and probably wouldn't be able to no matter how long she gave him to get used to the idea.
** This may also have been the reason that the girls' father left.
* LoveFreak: Cupids, naturally. Leo to a lesser extent.
* LoveGoddess: Phoebe was a Goddess of Love for an episode. She even wanted to form her own male harem.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Cole jumps off the deep end when Phoebe refuses to take him back.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: More than once. Phoebe willingly becomes the Queen of the Underworld to stay with Cole. Later, Cole absorbs all sorts of demonic powers to be reunited with Phoebe, only to be corrupted by them again. Also, Leo willingly becomes an Avatar to save his wife and before that, he killed an elder to save his son.
* LoveRedeems
** A human recruited to be a demon keeps his humanity by being reminded of his love for his mother.
** Subverted in Cole's case. Initially his love for Phoebe leads him to do good, but it wasn't enough to make up for all the evil he had done. Absorbing a whole lot of demonic powers didn't help.
* TheLowestCosmicDenominator
* {{Lunacy}}: In "Once in a Blue Moon", when two Blue Moons occur in a year, weird things happen. Including The Charmed Ones turning into ''[[{{Werewolf}} werewolves]]''. And yes, it did coincide with "that time of the month".
* MadeOfPlasticine: Lower level demons tended to be like this. One got stabbed with a one inch spike and immediately burst into flames.
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Played straight in early seasons, especially "Is There A Woogy In The House?" where Phoebe dresses modestly at the start - but starts wearing less clothes when she gets possessed. Otherwise averted in later seasons as while evil females could usually be portrayed as trashy, the sisters themselves still provided plenty of Fanservice and had active sex lives.
* MagicalDatabase: The Book of Shadows is a magical tome the girls inherited which conveniently has listings for whatever monster they might be fighting that week, along with the appropriate counterspells to use. Justified though because of the generations of witches before them adding all they could to the book and the sisters adding to it themselves.
* MagicalGesture: Binding witches' hands to their backs often makes them unable to use their powers, even if some have learned to "point" with the eyes instead.
* MagicalSeventhSon: In the episode "That Old Black Magic", a seventh son of a seventh son is revealed to be The Chosen One.
* MagicCarpet: Shows up in "I Dream of Phoebe".
* MagicPants: ZigZagged:
** Piper is wholly naked after she transforms back to human form after being a Wendigo.
** Same goes for Phoebe after she changes from mermaid back to human.
** On the other hand, Prue is wearing the same clothes when she turns back from a being a dog to human.
** Same for all three sisters are also wearing clothes after they change back from being beasts during a blue moon.
* MagicallyRegeneratingClothing: This is used whenever whitelighters heal anyone.
* MakeAWish
* MakeThemRot:
** There was an episode that dealt with a demon of vanity that could de-age others and make them young and healthy again. He then shows that he can also reverse this and rapidly ages two women into piles of dust.
** A later bad guy uses a spell to accomplish the same feat on a minor of his that has disappointed him.
%%* MaleGaze:
* MamaBear: Piper, whenever Wyatt is in danger. In fact, all three sisters dove into this right after he was born.
* ManIFeelLikeAWoman
** When [[GenderBender Prue gets turned into a man]] and hides in the bathroom, Phoebe muses "Do you think she's touching herself?"
** An evil witch possesses a mortal man in one episode, and really does touch himself, albeit briefly.
* MarriedInTheFuture: In a Season 2 episode, the sisters travel ten years into the future where they discover that Piper and Leo had been married, had a daughter together, and then divorced during the ten intervening years. After returning to their own time, Piper and Leo do get married in Season 3, but the divorce never happens and the daughter only comes after two sons and they are shown to still be happily married 30-40 years later in the series [[DistantFinale finale]].
* {{Masquerade}}: The mortal world cannot know of the magical one. When the Masquerade is broken, the consequences are serious.
* TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife: A RunningGag is that you're not a Halliwell if you haven't dated a demon. And keeping this big of a secret from a {{Muggle}} boyfriend is impossible, so all the Charmed ones finally end up with magical love interests. Subverted by Paige. Her magical love interest was not only not the guy she ended up with, he wasn't even the next best thing she had.
* MeaningfulName / ShownTheirWork: The auction house where Prue works is named ''Buckland'''s. Raymond ''Buckland'' is credited with introducing Wicca to North America.
** Also, this could be a coincidence but Phoebe, who gets visions as part of her powers, shares her name with a Titan from Myth/GreekMythology who was associated with prophesy.
* MeetCute: In a ClipShow episode, Coop describes Phoebe and Cole's meeting as this. It consisted of Phoebe nearly roundhouse kicking Cole, who catches her leg.
* MemoryWipingCrew: The Cleaners.
* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Mostly averted. Demons are just as likely to go after male and female victims without discriminating. Any time an innocent is killed it's treated as a bad thing. From season 3 onwards villains are just as likely to be female too.
** The one time this trope does show up, it's being invoked knowingly. A StrawFeminist witch advises her demon croney to attack a female innocent to draw Billie out - due to the spell she's under the influence of.
* MesACrowd:
** A mild example in "Which Prue is it Anyway?" when Prue creates two magical clones of herself to both multiply her power and avoid someone trying to kill her.
** A much more extreme example happens in "Vaya Con Leos", where, under the threat of the Angel of Death coming for Leo, she casts a spell to try and confuse him. However, in the process, she turns ''every man in San Francisco'' into a clone of Leo.
** Piper also clones herself in one of the novels, "A Tale of Two Pipers". One of them relaxes, or tends to the home, and the other is busy at P3.
* MindOverMatter: Prue's power, then Paige's.
* MirroredConfrontationShot: Between good Phoebe and evil Phoebe, which makes it into the opening credits.
* MirrorMatch: The season six two-part finale has Paige and Phoebe fighting their {{evil counterpart}}s. Eventually they realize they're too evenly matched and call a truce.
* MirrorUniverse: Featured in the double episode "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World".
* MissingMom: Patty was drowned by a Warlock when the main characters were very young. Prue saw her die and Phoebe was too young to remember her at all. Paige never knew her since she was raised by MuggleFosterParents. They meet her in the past and some episodes feature her as a SpiritAdvisor, though.
* MistakenForGay: [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry Piper and Phoebe are fighting over Leo]] in the first season episode "The Fourth Sister", and Leo is led to believe that Phoebe and Aviva are partners thanks to Piper's not-so-subtle hints.
* MonkeyMoralityPose:
** In the episode "Astral Monkey", a doctor experiments with samples of the Halliwell's blood on monkeys. Each of the monkeys had a power from each of the sisters. In an AnimalReactionShot, the monkeys make this pose, which Prue claimed to have taught to them.
** The Crone uses a monkey totem with three monkeys in this pose in the episode "Sense and Sense Ability". It turns into a monkey which then steals Piper's sight, Phoebe's hearing, and Paige's voice by covering their eyes, ears, and mouth, respectively. When Leo tries to figure out what's wrong, Piper facepalms, Paige grabs her head, and Phoebe covers her mouth, and Leo gets it immediately.
* MonsterOfTheWeek: Utilized this, although it became less prevalent in later seasons.
* MoodWhiplash:
** The season 3 episode "Sin Francisco" starts out as a fairly comedic episode showing the antics the sin does to the sisters. Towards the end it turns serious when the cop infected with Anger attacks the sisters at the Manor.
** The season 4 episode "Hell Hath No Fury". Funny jokes about Paige messing with magic and getting an accidental BreastExpansion one minute, a serious story about Piper literally losing herself in rage and grief over Prue's death the next. One of the better-acted episodes in the series, oddly enough.
* MoralityChain: Many characters have explicitly stated that Phoebe plays this role in making sure that Cole remains good. In fact, Cole's well-known tendency for being a HeelFaceRevolvingDoor is pretty much a function of his relationship with Phoebe -- that is, Phoebe and Cole are constantly breaking up and reestablishing their relationship, and every time this happens, it has a major effect on Cole's status as evil or good. Although Phoebe is very much aware of her power to be Cole's MoralityChain, [[WhatAnIdiot she usually seems to be merely yanking his chain based on her own emotions, rather than consistently using her influence to make sure Cole becomes and remains a redeemed demon]].
* MotherhoodIsSuperior: There's an aversion in an episode where Piper was depressed because Leo and her sisters were better at taking care of Wyatt than she was.
* MrFanservice
** The aforementioned Cole and Leo are the two greatest examples, and two sides of the same coin. Cole is a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]], and fits the handsome bad boy type. Phoebe gets to play the fantasy of turning the bad boy good. By contrast, Leo is quite literally an [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]]. He plays the nice guy, and is all about [[LoveFreak love and goodness]]. And yes, both of them have had {{Shirtless Scene}}s.
** While Cole and Leo were both fairly developed and well-rounded characters, the pure MrFanservice would have been Dan from Season 2. Hunky former baseball player turned handyman next door, he seemed to only exist to stand around in tank tops and be that nice guy that Piper saw as her perfect life that she couldn't have with Leo at that point.
* MsFanservice: Phoebe. Not that the other girls are ''completely'' innocent, mind you.
* MuggleAndMagicalLoveTriangle: Paige has one, briefly in the last season, between Henry (muggle) and Simon (magical).
** Before that, Piper had one between Leo (magical) and neighbor Dan (muggle). Though Leo had been temporarily stripped of his powers at the time, which is actually how he has the time to dedicate to competing for Piper's affection, he's symbolic of her powers and responsibilities, whereas Dan is symbolic of the normal, easy life she craves.
* MuggleFosterParents: Paige Matthews was given to normal parents after her birth and didn't know her true heritage until her powers started manifesting thanks to a spell Piper had cast to bring Prue back.
* MuggleMageRomance: Over the course of the show, the sisters had relationships with ordinary men, with varying degrees of success.
* {{Mundanger}}
** In "Sight Unseen", a mysterious stalker turns out to be an ordinary human and not a demon at all.
** And in "Dream Sorceror", the titular villain isn't actually a sorceror, but a scientist who built a machine that can project himself into other people's dreams and kill them, [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger style]]. Apparently if you die in your dreams you die in real life.
** Barbas, apparently learning that if you confront the sisters directly with magical threats, instead hires a hitman to have them done away with.
* MyGirlIsNotASlut
** The second episode has Prue going through the "I'm not a slut" panic after she slept with Andy on the first date (they had previously dated in school and had not seen each other in years).
** Creator/RoseMcGowan had a reaction like this around mid-season 5 when she noticed Paige acquiring quite a few Men of the Week and so went to the writers saying "Paige isn't a Ho".
** Averted by Phoebe and her long list of love interests, played straight by the Fandom who hurl the word "slut" at her while ignoring that the majority of her love interests were steady boyfriends.
* MyGrandsonMyself
* {{Necromantic}}: Inverted in "Necromancing The Stone". Apparently Grams fell in love with a Necromancer, whom she had to vanquish. He was stealing spirits in order to keep himself firmly on the living side of the line between life and death. When he comes across Grams, he tries to convince her to let both of them be resurrected by using the spirits of the Halliwel line during baby Wyatt's Wiccaning.
* NeverSayDie: Although "kill" and "destroy" belong to their vocabulary, the sisters seem to prefer to "vanquish" demons. Also a clear note of WhatMeasureIsANonHuman.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The main characters showcase a number of powers throughout the series which only appear in an episode or two and are never brought up again. For example Prue is able to cause a demon to explode by entering its body with her astral projection, and Leo can make himself look like other people. When the latter first appears its main use is to fake out the ''audience'' into thinking the sisters are fighting Cole, when in fact it as Leo altering his appearance for training purposes.
* NiceGuy: Leo Wyatt
* NiceJobBreakingItHero
** WellIntentionedExtremist Gideon was so determined to prevent Wyatt from [[FaceHeelTurn turning evil]] he was willing to do anything and work with anyone (even [[EmotionEater Barbas]]!) to make it happen. But where he crossed firmly both past the MoralEventHorizon and into this territory was the two-part season finale of season six where he was willing to completely upset the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, work with his evil MirrorUniverse counterpart, and almost destroy the sisters, all in the name of his goal...but it turns out ''he was the cause of the very thing he was trying to prevent'', with all of his [[DealWithTheDevil machinations]] and attempts to kidnap, control, and remove Wyatt from the picture being what turned him evil in the first place. (At least until later, when other events [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed kept trying to make Wyatt that way]]. [[StatusQuoIsGod They all failed, though]].)
** The one that might also take the cake: Cole is about to give the evil powers within him to a wizard, so he can finally be free and with his love Phoebe. A minute before he succeeds, Phoebe succumbs to the Seer's trickery and her unborn baby's instincts and kills the wizard -- essentially forcing herself to have to choose between her husband and her sisters. She chose him. Now, after this decision, he did have the Seer issue her a poisonous tonic to drink which enhanced her evil side so as to suppress her internal conflict with being surrounded by evil and having abandoned her sisters. But when he told her the truth, she chose to take the tonic anyway -- before spitting it out and changing her mind to help the sisters destroy him. Yet she [[{{Hypocrite}} has the nerve to gradually shun him forever as a result following choices that a) were manipulated by outside forces, and b) that SHE made]].
** Cole's FaceHeelTurn in Season 5 is even worse. In the season 4 finale, Cole manages to come back from the wasteland with a host of demonic powers in time to save Phoebe's life from a witch hunter as well as inform her of his resolve to get back together. Phoebe, conflicted between love and fear, ends up turning into a mermaid shortly after his full-on return to San Francisco ruins her plans for a quick divorce. When informed about this and led to believe it was out of hatred for him he's was halfway out the door to leave the city forever until ''Paige tugs him back and tells him that Phoebe loves him -- which Phoebe later admits along with her fear while still insisting it's over between them''. From thereon, while yes, stubborn and motivated by a foolhardy desire to earn Phoebe back, Cole generally tries to do good -- either helping the sisters outright or just keeping to himself. However, the sisters (especially Phoebe) don't trust him and repeatedly [[HeelFaceDoorSlam make that clear to him no matter what he does]]. Unsurprisingly, this and his legion of powers that don't belong all help wear down on his willpower and sanity. When Cole does in fact go JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, [[JerkSue Phoebe even has the nerve to ask him why]]. Like the fact that co-workers at a law firm that had him for a few months were the closest anyone came to treating him like a person rather than as something to be feared or a tool for power the entire time he was back couldn't possibly have anything to do with it.
* NighInvulnerable
** In season five, Cole and Piper. Piper reveled in it ("I'm unbreakable, dude!"). Cole? [[ICannotSelfTerminate Not so much]]. They were blasting each other in the episode "Y tu Mummy Tambien" and Leo [[LampshadeHanging mentions how pointless it was]].
** An invincibility spell shows up in the episode "Little Monsters". Paige cast it on Darryl, and it made him pretty much ImmuneToBullets. While one wonders why they don't use it more often, it also had the side effect of inflating one's ego, reminiscent of when Prue was infected with the sin of Pride nearly killing her. Plus it turned his strength up to beyond Herculean levels and when we last see him before Paige goes to fix it is surrounded by his broken things in his office because he couldn't control his new found strength.
* NippleAndDimed: Part of Phoebe's nipple actually made it on the air in the episode "Sight Unseen". In a scene at the club, the dress she's wearing fails to cover her up and part of the nipple is visible.
* NobleDemon: The Council of the Cleaners is made up of two Elders and two powerful demons. Either both or one of them agreed with the decisions regarding [[spoiler:at first letting the Charmed ones off free but at the cost of Morris' life (this was reversed before he was killed) and then agreed to punish Phoebe only for her trying to use magic to short-cut her path to finding a husband]].
* NoBodyLeftBehind: Demons disappear after they get vanquished.
** Subverted in "The Day the Magic Died." After killing a demon mook while all magic is tempoarily down, Phoebe and Paige have to figure out what to do with the body and hide it in a closet.
* NoCureForEvil: Whitelighters can't heal evil. This becomes an issue when Leo tries to heal Cole -- it cues Leo in that Cole isn't quite human.
** Averted when good Gideon and evil Gideon heal each other.
* NoirEpisode: "Charmed Noir". They even have parts of it in black and white.
* NotEvenHuman: It appears rather often, and in one case the whole episode ("Mr. and Mrs. Witch") plays itself out without the Charmed Sisters ever becoming aware of it. The MonsterOfTheWeek is in fact a demon, but he appears to be a human CorruptCorporateExecutive. The demon is quite aware that the Charmed Ones won't kill him as long as they think he's human, and in fact the Charmed Ones never do find out. The demon is still vanquished by his superiors for [[YouHaveFailedMe failing to accomplish their evil plan]]; and in fact, the Charmed Sisters read about this evil executive's "suicide" in the newspaper, without ever being the wiser that this was a demon who they could have dealt with by vanquishing him.
* NowIKnowWhatToNameHim
** Chris, being the resident KidFromTheFuture. Hell, he even tries to bring about his own conception as he messed up the dates by being there.
** Phoebe also gets one when she time travels to meet her pregnant mother, who remarks how obvious it is that she would choose another P name and that "it's not too late to change it."
* OccultLawFirm: Cole gets employed by a few of these.
* OfCorsetsSexy : Several corsets are worn in Season 3.
* OffWithHisHead: The sisters get their heads chopped off in one episode. This doesn't kill them. Not quite so when the HeadlessHorseman escapes Magic School and lops off a criminal's head, though.
* OhCrap: Piper mutters a quick one in Season 6's "Sword and the City", right after Mordaunt welcomes her to her "new destiny" as [[spoiler:the new Lady of the Lake, since she pulled Excalibur (meant for Wyatt) out of the stone.]]
* OminousLatinChanting: For the most part, practicioners of Good Magic cast spells in English Rhyme, whereas Dark Magic was done in Latin.
* {{Omniglot}}: Whitelighters on the job have this ability (Paige doesn't seem to have it, though she was able to speak [[UsefulNotes/NewZealand Maori]] in "Imaginary Fiends"). Lampshaded when Piper became a Whitelighter in "Siren Song" when she automatically gained the ability.
-->Woman: (in French) Please, you have to help, they're after me.
-->Piper: (in French) Calm down, I'll protect you. (in English) [[DoubleTake Whoa]], was that French?
* OneHourWorkWeek: Somewhat acknowledged as many episodes have the sisters struggle to balance demon hunting with their work schedules. Subverted later on in the show; Prue works as a freelance photographer after quitting her job at Bucklands. She's at least seen with a camera in various episodes, with references to various photoshoots. Piper is justified because she owns a nightclub and so doesn't have to be there all the time; she has people to help her run it. She's also frequently shown bartending at night - allowing her to hunt demons during the day. Phoebe doesn't work until late season 4 and by season 6 she has billboards and is making appearances on talk shows - so her working on the column from home is acceptable. Paige is frequently shown at her social worker job in season 4 but quits to focus on her witch duties. She does temp jobs in Season 6 and a lot of magical problems seem to revolve around the jobs themselves. In season 7 she's working at Magic School - so no one there will question a Charmed One rushing out to fight demons.
** Lampshaded in "Size Matters" where Phoebe goes to a job interview and asks for a really flexible work schedule. She doesn't get the job.
* OneSteveLimit:
** Invoked by a villain in Season 1. He poses as the head of Bucklands auction house, and takes on the identity of a man who has Buckland as his last name.
** There's an innocent called Billy in season 1, Billy Appleby is the hero of Phoebe's favourite movie and Billie Jenkins is a cast member in Season 8.
** Jenny Gordon is a cast member in Season 2. Jenny is also an alias that Piper uses in Season 8.
* OnceASeason: In nearly every season finale, the last shot is the front door of the Halliwell Manor closing.
** Seasons 1 and 2: Prue closes the door.
** Season 3: The demon Shax slams it.
** Season 4: The Angel of Destiny closes it.
** Season 5: Chris [[spoiler: with telekinesis]].
** Season 6: The only exception -- we see the closing doors of a hospital room after [[spoiler:baby Chris is born]]. Though there is a scene where Chris magically closes the door, but it happens in the middle of the episode.
** Season 7: It magically closed itself. [[WildMassGuessing Judging by the sound heard before the door closed, some fans believe it was Prue's spirit who closed the door]].
** Season 8: It's closed by [[spoiler:[[BabiesEverAfter Piper's granddaughter]] with telekinesis]].
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: ''Charmed'' was Julian [=McMahon=]'s second role that required him to use an American accent, and as such his native Australian accent breaks through a few times in the early Cole episodes. It tends to happen on the last word or two of his lines.
* OpenSesame: In the Arabian-themed episode "I Dream of Phoebe", which also includes [[LiteralGenie Genies]], {{Magic Carpet}}s, and [[Literature/ArabianNights The Forty Thieves]].
* OrganicBra: All mermaids have scales covering up the chest area.
* OutsideGenreFoe: Whitaker Berman, the man who called himself "the Dream Sorcerer" from the same titled episode. A completely human SerialKiller, he used science and technology to threaten the lives of innocents by entering their dreams and killing them.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Whitelighters.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Mermaids are immortal creatures who have "hearts as cold as the ocean". If a mortal professes his love to one, she turns human. The mermaid in question made a deal for an enchantment that would give her legs - but would revert to her mermaid form if they got wet.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: They have social hierarchy similar to bees.
* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: In "The Courtship of Wyatt's Father," Paige refers to Chris as "one of my two favorite nephews." At this point in her life, she only knows she has two nephews (and [[TimeyWimeyBall Chris himself hasn't even been conceived yet]]).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes P-T]]
* PainfulRhyme: Invoked, and then averted. Phoebe is tasked with creating a spell to nullify [[AttackReflector a demon's deflection power]], and comes up with "I'm rejectin' your deflection". When DrillSergeantNasty Whitelighter Natalie inspects it, everyone expects her to dismiss it and have Phoebe think of a new one, but she just says it's fine.
** The girls' mother's ghost once casts a spell to remove one their grandmother's ghost cast on them (ItMakesSenseInContext). The spell rhymes "in the book" with "what was took." She wrote it when she was nine.
* ParentalAbandonment: Complete with MissingMom, DisappearedDad, RaisedByGrandparents, and MuggleFosterParents.
%% * PartTimeHero
* PersonalGainHurts: [[{{Anvilicious}} Oh, how they drill this one in...]]. It's practically the TropeNamer.
* PersonalityPowers: Loosely applied in the first season with the sisters.
** Prue, who is motherly but also very controlling, gets the power of [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]].
** Nervous, meek, and insecure Piper gets the power to [[TimeStandsStill stop time]], giving her an opportunity to calm down.
** Phoebe, the youngest and most impulsive who lacks forethought, gains the power to literally [[PsychicPowers see the future]].
** Later Prue essentially gains the power to [[SelfDuplication clone]] herself, when she feels the need to be in two places at once; Piper gains more confidence and learns to [[StuffBlowingUp blow stuff up;]] and a more caring Phoebe becomes TheEmpath.
** Caring Leo was a former medic and in death he became a [[OurAngelsAreDifferent whitelighter]] with the power to heal others. Later, after being promoted to Elder, he goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and gains the ability to [[ShockAndAwe throw lightning]].
** Paige grew up as an only child, never knowing who her family was and not knowing her place in the world. Much of her arc concern her trying to find herself and coincidently she has the power to teleport from place to place
* PhonyPsychic: Phoebe applies for a position like this, noting that it would be the last place anyone would expect to find a ''real'' psychic like herself.
* {{Pirates}}: Type 1. They're also [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean magical undying cursed pirates]], of course. The films are given a ShoutOut when Phoebe asks if they're "hot Creator/JohnnyDepp pirates".
* PizzaBoySpecialDelivery: There's a stripper with this schtick that was the entertainment for a bachelorette party in "The Wedding From Hell". The demon bride and her bridesmaids ate him.
* PlaceOfPower: Halliwell Manor conveniently sits atop a nexus of magical power. Several times demons have broken in and tried to take it for themselves.
* PlayingCyrano: Coop, for one of Phoebe's coworkers.
* PlotHole:
** In Season 5, the sisters constantly referred to Cole as having betrayed them and becoming the Source of All Evil. The problem is, the latter half of Season 4 made it quite clear that Cole had been possessed by the essence of the Source and was overtaken. The sisters were told as much by a wizard and a seductress, and their dialogue (especially Phoebe's) in the episode after his vanquish clearly establishes that they understand the difference between "Cole the human" and "Cole the Source", so their distrust is [[strike:completely]] highly unwarranted in the presented context.
** The Cleaners are this, as well. Creator/ShannenDoherty may have wanted off the show, but still doesn't explain their only showing up NOW.
* ThePollyanna: The ditzy Nymphs from "Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun".
* PortalPool: Zen Masters can use water to go any place.
* PostScriptSeason: Season 8 is exactly this. See SeriesFauxnale on this page.
* PowerIncontinence: Phoebe is practically the queen of this trope (not that the other sisters are entirely innocent): She doesn't have any sort of control over her premonitions until ~season 6 (and even then she never learns how to turn it off), the flying power she accidentally stole from the dragon in season 2 was unreliable to say the least and she never learned to control her empathy power ever. In act neither did Prue when she [temporarily] became an empath. Also happened to Piper "Exit Strategy", where her ability to freeze time is upgraded to StuffBlowingUp too. Plus, Paige has struggled with this in her orbing ever since she was a high-schooler.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: The "Power of Three" relied on ThePowerOfFriendship to work. At one point the sisters intentionally used their powers on each other in a heated argument, which immediately caused the loss of their powers.
* ThePowerOfHate: Darklighters' powers are fueled by hate and have the power to kill through touch, as they're the EvilCounterpart of [[ThePowerOfLove Whitelighters]].
* ThePowerOfLove: The greatest of all powers. Greater even than [[RuleOfThree The Power of Three]].
* PowerPerversionPotential
** Piper has frozen Leo on more than one occasion during sex. The first time was accidental, the next ones, not so much. Leo doesn't mind.
** The season 1 villain Rex uses his astral projection power to spy on Prue changing her clothes. Then, he plants a subliminal message in his lover Hannah to make her take off her dress.
* PowersAsPrograms: There are demons that collect and exchange powers so they can ''broker'' them.
* PowersThatBe: The Angel of Destiny and the Elders to some extent.
* PowerTrio: The trio...
* PowerWalk: In "Valhalley of the Dolls", the season six premiere, where the sisters get turned into {{Valkyries}}.
* PregnantBadass: Piper. It helps when your unborn child has healing powers and strong {{deflector shields}} to help you out, basically making you NighInvulnerable.
* ProfessionalKiller: "Ms. Hellfire". Prue is only too happy to impersonate her, Phoebe notes.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles:
** Brian Krause as Leo.
** Also Drew Fuller as Chris during season six (he was credited as guest during the fifth season finale).
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality:
** Anyone who is against the sisters are declared evil. Except on the occasion where they're just misguided. That said occasionally has the one of the sisters do something stupid or evil and get called for it. The show has a general problem with moral issues, often ripe with Unfortunate Implications. The morality is sometimes exclusively protagonist-centered, sometimes [[JerkassGods Elder]]-centered, and sometimes even single-sister-centered. Examples include the Elders forcing Piper through all levels of emotional anguish, suffering and self-sacrifice, Phoebe's infamous glamouring of her boyfriend, and numerous situations between the sisters when an apology that should have gone both ways only went one way.
** In early seasons, Phoebe would do things that got criticised when Prue would do the same and be portrayed as in the right. Phoebe would frequently be scolded for using her powers for personal gain, whereas whenever Prue did the narrative would justify it. Prue would frequently be put on the moral high ground despite being just as bad as her sisters - and sometimes even worse.
* PsychoForHire: A lot of the later demons.
* PubertySuperpower: Some powers manifest at puberty, such as the firestarter kid in "Lost and Bound".
* PunBasedTitle: Many episode titles are puns, especially puns that involve the words "witch," "charmed," etc., or the names of the characters.
* PutOnABus
** Darryl who was present in all seasons but the last.
** Also, Leo who left the show during the middle of the final season.
* RaisedByGrandparents: Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were raised by their grandmother after their mother's death and father's abandonment.
* RapidAging: Javna's victims suffer accelerated aging. Dan was a victim of this in the season two finale thanks to a JerkassGenie.
* RapunzelHair
** Piper's hair grew to waist length during the second season and stayed that way for the rest of the series.
** Prue's future self got waist-length blonde hair.
** Paige got Rapunzel Hair when she was turned into Snow White and again into a wood nymph.
** Phoebe also got Aphrodite's floor-length tresses when she was turned into a Goddess of Love. Her future self from season 7 onwards was portrayed with hair past her waist, to signal her character's motherly nature.
* RealSongThemeTune: The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" As covered by Love Spit Love, the same recording that was used in the movie ''Film/TheCraft''.
* RealityShow: Witch Wars, featured in the episode of the same name. There are many {{take that}}s to reality shows in the episode, and ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' in particular, probably because it was beating ''Charmed'' in ratings.
-->'''Clea (demonic game show host):''' You'd think demons would've invented reality television. Somehow humans beat us to it.
* RealityWarper: The power of Projection in all its forms.
* RecycledInSpace: The episode ''The Magic Hour'' is ''Film/{{Ladyhawke}}'' in California with good witches. It is even lampshaded when one asks if they saw a movie with this scenario.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Used on Inspector Rodriguez [[spoiler: to confirm him as an upper-level demon]].
* ReformedButRejected: Cole after returning from the Demonic Wastelands. No matter how much he protests that he's ''[[DarkIsNotEvil not]]'' evil and attempts to use his [[BadPowersGoodPeople demonic powers for good]], he's treated as irredeemably evil by everyone.
* RefugeInAudacity: In "Sin Francisco" Phoebe makes a pass at her Ethics professor while under the influence of Lust and gets kicked out of class. How does she cover for herself when the sin crisis is resolved? By submitting a paper on sexual politics and passing the incident off as an ethical experiment.
* {{Repower}}: Phoebe gains the ability to levitate and control electricity in the future in a second season episode, but ultimately only learns to levitate when that future was averted. This was also discussed during "Is There A Woogy in the House?" when the woogyman/Hollow/Shadow temporarily possesses Phoebe; Piper mentions that their powers are supposed to progress, and not grow in random, in response to Phoebe suddenly being able to will objects into existence.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: The ability to create fire seems to come with being fireproof.
* RetCon:
** A rare case of this being reversed. Penny was first said to have been married four times. This was retconned to being ''six'' times. Later seasons clarified this as only being engaged six times and married four.
** Season 6 introduces a school for young witches to practice their powers. Never seen before or referenced, not even when the sisters were trying to figure out their own powers.
** Season 6 also introduces the Cleaners - whose job it is to cause a CosmicRetcon to prevent magic from being exposed. They would have been really useful in the Season 3 finale.
* RevisitingTheRoots: The series' SortingAlgorithmOfEvil became somewhat more akin to a bell-curve. The first three seasons dealt with them battling warlocks and demons, the fourth had them battling the very Source Of All Evil, the fifth ended with them battling the classic Greek Titans, the sixth had them go against a WellIntentionedExtremist Angel, and the seventh had them end destroying a past contender of the Source. By the eighth and final season, WordOfGod says that Billie and Christy, sibling female witches like the protagonists, was a great way to ground the show.
* {{Revival}}: The series was brought back from limbo by comic book company Zenoscope as a scheduled two-year publication.
* RevivalLoophole: Used to defeat the MonsterOfTheWeek in "The Power of Two".
* RightInFrontOfMe: When Prue first applies for the job at Buckland, she complains about the "stuffy old auction house" on the phone to Phoebe while in an elevator, with Rex nearby. He pulls off an IronicEcho when they formally meet in his office.
* RippleEffectIndicator: An expanded universe book shows changes in the Halliwell family home, Phoebe's appearance, and Wyatt disappearing as the BigBad changes events in the past.
* RippleEffectProofMemory: In the first season finale "Déjà Vu All Over Again" , Tempus the demon of time tries to help another demon, who is masquerading as an Internal Affairs agent named Rodriguez, kill the Charmed Ones. Whenever Rodriguez dies, Tempus would rewind time in a GroundhogDayLoop of sorts until Rodriguez would learn enough about his mistakes to successfully kill all three sisters. Phoebe, however, also retains the memory of each day due to her power to see the past and future, which is something Tempus doesn't know about. Eventually the sisters defeat Rodriguez and Tempus permanently, but not without losing Andy.
* RubberForeheadAliens: Lots of demons' inhuman forms resemble this trope.
* RuleOfThree: "The Power of Three" is what makes these girls some of the most powerful witches ever. [[spoiler:Revealed in the comics, because Prue's soul hadn't moved on, when Paige joined the Charmed Ones, the girls were actually held back from achieving their full power]].
* RunningGag: The poor grandfather clock is destroyed a lot, and every time Piper thinks: "Damn it, we just got that thing fixed." And she actually says it in "Brain Drain" (4x07).
* SadlyMythtaken: In "Oh My Goddess!" it's said that the Greek gods were actually mortals the Elders infused with power in order to stop the Titans. This is not a problem in itself -- the problem is that Gaea was stated to be one of these mortals, when in mythology she wasn't an Olympian, but the ''mother of the titans''.
* SalemIsWitchCountry: The "The Witch is Back" episode shows that one of the Halliwell ancestors was [[CriticalResearchFailure lined up to be burned at the stake in Salem]].
* SceneryPorn: Every episode shows several flyover shots of San Francisco right after the opening credits. They're rather fond of showing the fog/clouds rolling around the Golden Gate Bridge.
* {{Seer}}:
** Phoebe
** Then there were two demonic seers, played by Debbi Morgan and Creator/CharismaCarpenter.
* SeductiveMummy: In "Y Tu Mummy Tambien", the Egyptian demon Jeric had the ability to put his dead wife's soul into the body of a hot mortal woman, thus turning her into a seductive mummy. He targeted Phoebe and Paige for this vessel.
* SeeYouInHell
** Cole, in response to a cowboy using the trope, says "Been there, done that."
** Also, the similar exchange of Prue crying "Go to hell!", with Rex responding, "I'd love to, dear. Miss it terribly."
** Something like that seems to be the default warlock/demon response whenever anyone tells them to go to hell. You'd think sooner or later the witches would learn to ''stop doing it''.
* SelfGuardingPhlebotinum:
** The Charmed Ones' [[SpellBook Book of Shadows]] won't let you touch it if you happen to be evil.
** There were also various amulets and charms which protected against evils including crystals that when placed in a circle formed a cage of energy that one couldn't cross, whether to get in or out.
** Also once when Piper pulled {{Excalibur}} from the stone, the sword would let no-one else [[[EmpathicWeapon but]] [[LoyalPhlebotinum her]] touch it, though a demon used a spell to amass a bunch of power and take it from her.
** In season 7, PandorasBox protects itself by teleporting to its next guardian when its current protector dies.
** And yet again, the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Grimoire]], the EvilCounterpart to the Halliwell's Book of Shadows would not let any good being come in contact with it.
* SenseLossSadness:
** "Primrose Emphath" has Father Thomas, who passed his power of empathy into a demon in order to stop him and ended up in a psych ward due to the depression and insanity that followed.
** "Sense and Sense Ability" has an old demon woman stealing a sense from each of the sisters through a cursed [[MonkeyMoralityPose monkey totem]], although the result isn't so much "sadness" as it is "[[HilarityEnsues hilarious confused antics]]".
** "Witchness Protection" has the reveal that the seer Kyra is incapable of feeling strong emotion (whether this is legit or her personal case of InformedFlaw due to demonic conditioning is uncertain) and wants to solve this problem by helping the Charmed Ones in return for a spell to [[BroughtDownToNormal turn her into a human]].
* SequelEpisode: The consequences from the season 2 episode "Awakened" are explored near the end of the season in the episode "Astral Monkey".
* SerialRomeo: Phoebe initially, though it's Deconstructed as the show goes on. The endless stream of failed relationships leaves her broken and terrified of love and when she [[spoiler: finds out she will have a baby in the future]] she resorts to using her premonition powers to see if a relationship will go anywhere on the first date (for which she is punished by the Elders). This then gets Reconstructed as Phoebe considers getting a sperm donor but then realises that she doesn't just want a baby, she wants love as well and a Cupid is sent to help her out.
* SeriesContinuityError:
** In "Desperate Housewitches", the sisters have to face the threat of a resurrected Source. Paige asks Piper and Phoebe how the Source was vanquished last time... as if she wasn't there... which she was... [[ItMakesSenseInContext for technically three times]]. No-one on the writing staff caught this?!
** "Chris Crossed" flashes back to Chris travelling back in time. He draws a portal on the attic wall and goes through - when he orbed in for his debut episode. There's also no mention about the Titans in "Chris Crossed" - which is who Chris goes back specifically to help the sisters vanquish. His clothes and hair are also drastically different.
* SeriesFauxnale: End of Season 7. It ends with Darryl promising his wife he wouldn't help the Charmed Ones anymore, them [[spoiler:destroying their own source of power]] to kill the BigBad and finally [[spoiler:changing their faces]] and starting living normal lives! Also Prue was mentioned a lot, and even the episode title was a mirror of the title of the pilot episode. But then [[PostScriptSeason they got renewed]]...
* SevenDeadlySins: The episode "Sin Francisco" had a demon hitting people with concentrations of these. Needless to say, the main cast got hit, with Phoebe getting {{Lust}}, [[CompressedVice Piper]] getting [[VillainousGlutton Gluttony]], [[OutOfCharacterMoment Leo]] getting [[LazyBum Sloth]], and [[TakeThat Prue]] getting {{Pride}}. The only way to overcome the sin is to be selfless. Pride had a clever twist where Prue was unable to purge herself of the sin - as any heroic act she did would just be her showing off how selfless she was. She had to be saved by someone else to lose the sin.
* SheFu: Even before she got an active power, Phoebe was the KungFuWizard of the group. Gaining the power to levitate meant that she could now execute more impressive physical moves. Prue was also using her power of telekinesis to amplify her combat skills - she pulls off a wall-backflip in "Blinded by the Whitelighter" while practice fighting.
* ShirtlessScene: Many ''many'' demons simply eschew upper body covering. Mortals and warlocks sometimes even get in on the action too.
* ShooOutTheNewGuy: The second season introduced Jenny Gordon, neighbor to the main characters. Beyond living with her hot uncle (a convenient love interest for Piper), she was apparently important enough to get mentioned in the opening credits, but moved away to live with her parents before she actually did anything important.
* ShoutOut
** In other possible shout-outs to Website/TelevisionWithoutPity, recapper Demian at least once per recap expressed his dislike of the character Leo, referred to the supposedly omnipotent Elders as "the ever-useless Elders" due to their apparent inability or unwillingness to help the protagonists. In the episode "Lucky Charmed," Piper refers to the "Fricking ever-useless Elders!" In "The Courtship of Wyatt's Father," the demon-of-the-week is determined to kill Leo, and is named "Damien." [[http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/charmed/the-courtship-of-wyatts-father/4/ And oh, didn't he love that.]]
** This show gave a shout to ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' during the episode "The Power of Two". Prue and Phoebe are in a mausoleum and have this conversation:
-->'''Prue:''' Ohh, I hate cemeteries at night.
-->'''Phoebe:''' I hate cemeteries at day. What was that?
-->'''Prue:''' Uh ... huh. Probably a zombie or vampire.
-->'''Phoebe:''' Great. Where's Buffy when you need her?
** An even better example is when Paige is attacked by a vampire in the fourth season, after ''Buffy'''s ChannelHop from Creator/TheWB to Creator/{{UPN}}.
-->'''Piper:''' Vampires? That'd be different.
-->'''Phoebe:''' No, that's not possible.
-->'''Paige:''' Why not?
-->'''Phoebe:''' Well, because as far as I know, vampires attack in human form and not as a swarm of bats. You know, it's gotta be something else.
-->'''Leo:''' It's true, vampires have been ostracized from the underworld for centuries. As far as I know they're apart of a whole different network now.
** They also do a shout to ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' when in a season 2 episode Piper is pursued by a serial killer from a movie.
-->'''Piper''': I am being stalked by psycho killers and I hide in the shower?!
** The girls' one-shot "superhero" costumes in Season 5 are reminiscent of the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}, with a dose of then-current Franchise/XMen outfits for flavor. Piper's in particular seems like an updated version of the original [[FadSuper Dazzler]] costume. This may or may not be intentional.
** In the season five finale, Paige gets turned into a goddess of war -- more a genderswapped version of Ares rather than Athena, but with Poseidon's trident. Phoebe asks her whether she was done being a [[Series/XenaWarriorPrincess Warrior Princess]].
** One demon actually says the line [[Franchise/StarWars "I find your lack of faith... disturbing."]]
** Another shout out happens in several episodes with Leo (Brian Krause) & Piper (Holly Marie Combs) about their real life dating when Leo quotes he always fancied a stronger woman like a "Bethany" he refered to his then wife Beth Bruce (who he later divorced) and Piper spat back with 'Well to bad your not a Don or David' which refers to her eventual real life husband David Donoho (also later divorced), who she was just casually seeing at the time.
** In Season 8, "The Jung and the Restless" there is a shout out to Creator/QuentinTarantino, by Rose [=McGowan=] who at that time had done the movies ''Film/DeathProof'' and ''Film/PlanetTerror'' with him.
** In early seasons, Prue works at the Buckland Auction House. The name comes from Raymond Buckland, who introduced the religion of Wicca to the United States.
** The S:3 E:2 episode "Magic Hour" is almost a carbon copy of the plot from ''Film/{{Ladyhawke}}'' about two lovers who are cursed to become animals at different parts of the day by a jealous ruler. Prue [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it with "I feel like I've seen this in a movie somewhere."
** The season 6 episode "I Dream of Phoebe" is of course full of them to ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie''. The genie bottle is the same as Jeannie's and Phoebe's genie costume is modelled after Barbara Eden's (complete with hairstyle too). When Paige sees Phoebe in the costume she also asks "shouldn't you be helping Major Nelson?"
*** In a first season episode, Phoebe also wore a costume reminiscent of Jeannie's when she worked (briefly) as a psychic.
** In Season Four, Phoebe says "What good is being a witch if I can't just [[Series/{{Bewitched}} twitch my nose]] and make the laundry fold itself?"
** Theatre/TheCrucible has to be mentioned, courtesy of the character ''Mary Warren'', housemaid of John Proctor. The ancestral mother of the Halliwell clan, who is said to be executed during the Salem witch trials, was named ''Melinda'' Warren.
* ShowingOffTheNewBody: Twice; once when Piper was possessed, and again with Phoebe.
* SignatureMove: Initially it was the power of three spell ("the [[RuleOfThree Power of Three]] will set us free"). As the series continued they began using the "To call a lost Witch" spell more and more.
** Purportedly, the actresses actually did not enjoy reciting the Power of Three spell because they found it a bit silly.
* SingleLineOfDescent
** A rare female example. The Charmed Ones are three sisters who are the descendants of 17th century witch Melinda Warren. Apparently, up until the birth of the protagonists, there never were three daughters per generation.
** Kind of subverted in season 4 when we find out about [[LongLostRelative Paige]]. But of course nobody had thought of her yet in season 1 when the trope was established. Unless you accept that there is no limit to the number of siblings as long as there is at least three sisters. Otherwise providence would have to wait until the mother reached menopause to grant the powers to the sisters, because more siblings might still be born. Besides we find out in "That '70s Episode" in season 2 that the sisters had their powers from birth -- presumably because they were always going to be witches, it's just the ''Charmed'' gimmick that wasn't (and couldn't be) established until Phoebe's birth.
* SinisterMinister: Averted with most of the clergy on the show. However, Cole's marriage to Phoebe following his accession as the Source has to be a "Dark Ceremony" officiated by a "Dark Priest", who remarks <creepy voice>"It is a long time since I had a human soul dropped in my collection plate."</creepy voice>
* SleuthDatesCop: Andy for Prue in the first season. This then becomes something of an attraction for Paige: she has Kyle Brody in season seven, an unnamed cop in season eight, and Henry in the same season, [[spoiler: who she then goes on to marry]]. For Paige, at least, she meets all of them because of her Charmed duties.
%% * SmiteMeOMightySmiter
* TheSocialDarwinist: [[BadFuture Evil Future]] [[TheChosenOne Wyatt]]
* SquishyWizard: Averted. An illusionist wizard was actually quite competent in battling a sword-wielding Cole with his staff. Of course, being the LastOfHisKind may have given him a lot of determination.
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: "The Wedding from Hell"
* SpiritAdvisor: The main characters can summon their dead relatives if they need help. Well, everyone except [[spoiler:Prue, of course.[[note]]Justified because she isn't fully dead, as revealed in the comics[[/note]]]]
* StalkerShrine: Prue's stalker keeps it in a journal [[spoiler:at her employee locker at P3]].
* StatusQuoIsGod: No matter what happened, or what kind of creature the sisters got turned into (be them vampires, warlocks, valkyries or even demons), by the end of the episode the transformation was undone.
** Subverted in "Crime and Witch-demeanors" where [[spoiler:Phoebe is stripped of her powers, not regaining her premonition until the next season]].
* StepfordSmiler: Leo casts a spell on Piper turning her "psychotically chipper" as Paige puts it.
** Phoebe becomes this (and also black-and-white) because of Grandma's enchanted (by HER) wedding ring.
* StepfordSuburbia: What our world would be like without sufficient evil to balance it out -- sure, everybody would be friendly and nice, but parking your car in the wrong place is a capital offense and using your cellphone in a hospital gets your hand lopped off.
* AStormIsComing: The Arc Words for season 7 are "the gathering storm."
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Ooh boy...
** The mermaid outfit has Phoebe's nipples only barely covered, while Mylie was reasonably covered up.
** Phoebe possessed by Isis wears a skimpy BellyDancer outfit.
** Paige as a wood nymph.
** The sisters as Valkyries.
** Phoebe's genie outfit. Notable that when Richard is turned into a genie, [[DoubleStandard his outfit is modest]].
** Billie's Amazon outfit.
* StuffBlowingUp: The ability to blow things up is actually Piper's second power. It's explained as the natural progression of her first power [[TimeStandsStill to stop time]]: at first she halted molecular movement, and now she can accelerate it.
* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: Most of the spells rhyme, however "Lost and Bound" has Paige try a Main/{{haiku}} out:
-->The brutal winter gives way to flowers of spring
-->[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ludlow is vanquished]]
* SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat
** Despite Phoebe having trained in martial arts, the third season shows auctioneer/photographer Prue surpassing her in martial arts skills she has never learned.
** Also, in "That '70s Episode", Phoebe suddenly reveals the ability to pick locks. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Prue, who rhetorically asks, "Why am I not surprised that you know how to do this?" (She ''had'' been the rebellious one in their teen years...)
** In Season 8, Paige showed that she knows martial arts as well ''despite the fact that we never saw her train in hand-to-hand combat''. [[AWizardDidIt Must be a witch thing]].
* SubbingForSanta
** When Piper became the Angel of Death.
** Paige was once turned into a nymph to replace one that just died.
** ''Charmed'' also had many inversions of demons and warlocks and other bad guys [[VictorGainsLosersPowers stealing the powers]] of good magical creatures for their own gain. Just to name a few:
*** A Demon steals Cupid's ring and starts breaking up relationships in revenge.
*** A warlock steals a ring which allowed him to harness the powers of Muses.
*** A warlock stole the powers of a Whitelighter in order to get into heaven and kill all the elders.
*** A demon once used a Sandman's dust in order to bring the Charmed One's dreams to life.
* SuperCellReception: While in a parallel world, Paige and Evil!Paige's phones both pick-up the call from Evil!Piper while they are in the Underworld.
* SuperHeroSpeciation
* SuperhumanTransfusion
** One episode dealt with a doctor [[FreakLabAccident accidentally]] getting injected with the Charmed Ones blood. [[AllYourPowersCombined he gained all their powers]] but was [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity driven insane by them]].
** Crossing mortal blood with a magical creature's come back in a later episode where it creates [[TheVirus a deadly virus]].
* SupernaturalFearInducer:
** Barbas, the Demon of Fear, is able to read the worst fear of his targets, and make them believe they are living it through illusions. He's even able to kill his victims his way.
** Inverted by Barbas's flipped-universe counterpart, who is a hippie who lives in a beautiful garden and inspires the emotion of [[CareBearStare hope]].
* SuperPowerMeltdown: Subverted. Prue comes dangerously close to having one of these when she accidentally becomes an Empath in season 3 but following a pep talk from Leo promptly gets her shit together.
* SuperSargassoSea: In one episode, the sisters cast a spell to "[[ExactWords find lost things]]" -- and it backfires to the point that ''everything'' they ever lost came back, thus turning their house into this.
* SuperSenses: The Charmed Ones became superheroes in the episode "Witches in Tights".
* SuperSpeed: The above episode. Also, some magical beings naturally have SuperSpeed, such as Dwarves and Leprechauns.
* SuperWeight
** Type 0: Sheila Morris, Adam Prince, Victor Bennett, the Ice Cream Man, [[VictimOfTheWeek Innocents]].
** Type 1: Andy Trudeau, Darryl Morris, Bane Jessup, [[BroughtDownToBadass de-powered Leo and Cole]].
** Type 2: [[SinglePowerSuperheroes Weaker Witches]], lower-level [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons]], Seers, Cupids, [[{{Wendigo}} the Wendigo]].
** Type 3: [[WitchSpecies Witches]], [[EvilCounterpart Warlocks]], upper-level Demons, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]], [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Whitelighters]], Darklighters, Wizards, [[PowerTrio the Halliwell Sisters]], [[FantasyKitchenSink etc]].
** Type 4: [[AllYourPowersCombined The Power of Three]], the Elders, the Cleaners, [[UltimateEvil the Source]], the Triad, the Nexus, Zankou, [[WellIntentionedExtremist individual Avatars]], [[NighInvulnerable the Tall Man]], [[ChosenOne Wyatt Halliwell]], [[RealityWarper Billie Jenkins]], Shakti and Shiva individually.
** Type 5: [[PhysicalGod Gods and Titans]], the Tribunal, the Avatar Collective, [[TheCorruption the Hollow]].
** Type 6: Angels of Death, Angels of Destiny, Shakti and Shiva together.
** Type 7: The All.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Barbas mumbles this when his mole revealed itself when captured.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Paige, when Prue left the show.
* SweaterGirl: The girls wear quite a few.
** In one episode, Phoebe wears a white sweater with [[PrettyInMink fur-trimmed sleeves]].
* TakeOurWordForIt: In season 5, Phoebe becomes a successful advice columnist, has her own billboard ads, gives radio interviews and is generally said to be really funny. Of course the audience never hears more than a single sentence from her columns. She also ends up sleeping with the boss. We got a little insight when Phoebe first got the job. The person wrote in saying she was still living with her parents and was afraid of living alone. Phoebe's response, which seemed like something of an AssPull, was that she should get a dog for a companion. The previous columnist praised this for being proactive (it actually got her out of the house) and for being nonjudgemental. Both her (and Piper's) response was simply "Get a therapist, and get a life." The columnist said hers was better and handed the job over, so she must have done something right.
* TakenForGranite: Robert Englund plays a CollectorOfTheStrange who shrinks witches and turns them into clay figurines.
* TakeThat: In season 3, they seemed to be throwing these toward Creator/ShannenDoherty as Prue is PutOnABusToHell. In "Sin Francisco", she was possessed by the Deadly Sin of Pride, turning her into a raging egomaniac. "Look Who's Barking" turns her into a literal female dog, and she also was responsible for destroying Piper's wedding in "Just Harried." It seemed like everybody was grateful to see her leave.
* TakingUpTheMantle: The Ice Cream Man who fight the demonic children know when their time is coming and go looking for the truck.
* TalkLikeAPirate: Pirates show up eventually in season seven. And the episode they appear in? "[[PunBasedTitle Charrrmed!]]"
* TallDarkAndHandsome: Bane Jessup. Or, as Phoebe describes him, the tall dark and naked trap.
* TemporarilyAVillain: ''Charmed'' has many episodes where one of the Halliwell sisters will go to the dark side for a day before switching back by the end of the episode.
** A particularly notable one early on has all three sisters turn evil by the end of the episode, only for Leo to save them.
** Also, the episode where Paige does a spell to conjure up a 'Mr. Right' for 24 hrs which inadvertently also produces a 'Mr. Wrong' who she allows to seduce her with his seductive naughtiness.
* TheresNoBInMovie: Phoebe's favorite movie is a B-horror movie called "Kill It Before It Dies"; in one episode, a demon's powers cause the characters to become real, then the sisters to be trapped in the movie.
* ThanatosGambit: Leo let the other Avatars kill him in order for the sisters to snap out of the spell bringing about Utopia cast on them.
* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: Lots of things. From the woogy in the basement, to the poltergeists that haunt the manor, to the gremlins that cause havoc at Paige's job.
%% * ThirdEye
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Barbas needed thirteen witches killed on a Friday the thirteenth in order to regain his full strength.
* TheThreeFacesOfEve: With Prue's death, Piper becomes the wife, eventually growing from insecure middle sister to capable eldest sister. She is also the first one to actually get married and have children. Paige is the child, being the youngest, newest member of the family and the least experienced in the ways of magic. Phoebe is the seductress, having the most active love life of the sisters.
* ThirdActStupidity: Any demon who survives that long. The most disappointing example was WorthyOpponent Zankou who probably could have defeated the sisters if he hadn't been goaded into a situation he knew full well was a trap.
* TimeMaster
** Tempus, the demon of time, trapped the sisters in a GroundhogDayLoop in season one.
** The Avatars and The Cleaners could stop and rewind time.
** Piper is a lesser example, able to stop and accelerate time in a very localized area/target. In a season two episode where the sisters go into the future, her powers have grown to almost the same level as the Avatars and Cleaners, at least as far as her freezing powers.
* TimeStandsStill: Piper's first power. It's later discovered that she only thought it was time, but because of ScienceMarchesOn she was actually freezing molecules instead.
* TimeTravel: The Charmed Ones use time travel quite a bit. Chris went back to before he was born to alter the future.
* TimeTravelTenseTrouble: Rampant. The series finale contains the immortal line, "Something very bad has happened in the future."
* TokenWholesome: Compared to her other sisters (and that includes Prue too) Piper was rarely used for {{Fanservice}}. The only times she really got in on the SexyWhateverOutfit theme was whenever all three sisters did (Valkyries, Goddesses etc). She only had one blatant Fanservice episode ("Coyote Piper") in contrast to the other three. Her clothing was always more modest too.
* TomeOfEldritchLore: The Grimoire, which is the [[EvilCounterpart demon equivalent]] of the Book of Shadows.
* TookALevelInBadass:
** Piper began as the meek middle sister with a defensive power, unsure of her position in their destiny. After Prue's death, Piper had to assume the lead witch role and become the eldest sister. She also gained a more offensive power, with the result that she could be a OneWomanArmy depending on the episode.
** Phoebe likewise just had premonitions in the first season. But she started training in martial arts, gained a levitation power and was much more effective in combat.
** In the season 2 episode with the BadFuture, the sisters get a taste of what their powers will be like in ten years. Prue destroys the attic with a casual wave of her hand, Piper freezes everyone on a crowded street and Phoebe can generate electricity.
* TookALevelInJerkass:
** Phoebe became significantly nastier in Season 5, blaming Cole for all that had gone wrong in her life and refusing to accept responsibility for her own actions. She also began misusing her powers, resulting in the Elders punishing her. She remained in this persona until Season 8, where she TookALevelInKindness.
** Even Leo himself wasn't innocent of this trope. He had to solve the overarching crisis of season 6 by killing his mentor in cold blood, which he himself [[LampshadeHanging acknowledged was "a great evil"]]. Later he became part of a cult of {{reality warper}}s in season 7 and eventually convinced the sisters to help them get their way thinking it would lead to demon-free lives, only stopping when the demon who would become the show's most dangerous BigBad had to educate him that this meant the elimination of free will. Oh, and a throwaway subplot in a season 8 episode reveals that he'd even stopped being above such things as capturing perceived enemies, holding them prisoner, and getting magic students to use them as crash test dummies, without even adding context to justify this torture beyond the victims [[FantasticRacism being demons]].
* TookALevelInKindness: Prue was very cold and aloof to most of the other characters in Season 1. Starting with "Out of Sight", she started to loosen up and become a lot more fun-loving.
* TotallyRadical: In Season 4 Piper's attempts to have P3 revamped result in this.
--> "It's five minutes away from being 'so five minutes ago'."
* TouchTelepathy: Phoebe needed to touch things to get a vision. Her empath powers, however, didn't require touch, just proximity.
* TrackingSpell: Scrying, a magical tracking technique that all witches are capable off. A witch has to hold a crystal pendant over a map of the area in which the person or object she hopes to find is presumably located, and move it around untill the pendant eventually pinpoints the exact location of the object or person by pulling down on to a spot on the map.
* TrainingTheGiftOfMagic: Witches are born with their abilities, and plenty of people are shown as being unable to use magic. And while you're born with your specific gift (other than the ability to cast spells and scry, each of the witches has their own skill — telekinesis, empathy, etc.), you have to learn to use your abilities and hone your skills.
* TroubledButCute: Cole Turner. Possibly counts as a [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds deconstruction]]. See: UnintentionallySympathetic in the [[YMMV/{{Charmed}} YMMV tab]].
* TrueLovesKiss: What kills the villain in "Magic Hour", by undoing the curse he sets.
* TruthSerums: The truth spell. Unfortunately it affects everyone in the vicinity, something Prue didn't account for.
* TwentyFourHourPartyPeople: Done a few times. First with Piper's baby shower and later would be done for every birthday party Piper's children had. You could probably also count Prue's funeral and [[spoiler:the funeral Piper, Phoebe, and Paige had when they faked their deaths]].
%% * TwoLinesNoWaiting
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes U-Z]]
* UltimateEvil: The Source of All Evil, The Triad, The Ultimate Power...
* UnholyMatrimony: Quite literally if someone wants to remain aligned with Evil in marriage. It must be performed with a Dark Priest, at night, in a cemetary.
* {{Unicorn}}: One shows up as a present to Piper and Wyatt.
* UnlimitedWardrobe: Though averted in "We're Off to See the Wizard" where Phoebe wears the same blue shirt as in the fourth season premiere.
** The clothes and hairstyles are very trendy, making the show an UnintentionalPeriodPiece, as well.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The viewpoint held by The Avatars (see WellIntentionedExtremist).
* VainSorceress: One shows up and soul-swaps herself into Phoebe's body. She has a lot of fun looking at herself, especially since her original face is terribly ugly.
* {{Valkyries}}: Yup, they exist too.
* VampireEpisode: "Bite Me", with Page turned temporary into one.
* VaporWear: Half of the time the sisters don't seem to have any concept of bras.
** Lampshaded in season three by their temporary Whitelighter/magical coach Natalie and Prue:
-->'''Natalie:''' You need outfits that are loose and move. That means no more braless, strapless, fearless attire.\\
'''Prue:''' Okay, but then I have nothing to wear.
%% * VerbedTitle
* VictorGainsLosersPowers: Demons and warlocks and some other magical entities naturally able to steal the powers of other magical beings by killing them.
* VillainBall: In the season 4 the Source might have [[spoiler:turned Paige to his side, but then went and did some blatantly evil things, like shocking Phoebe and throwing Inspector Cortez onto a coat hook, badly wounding the man]].
* VillainHasAPoint: Christy [[spoiler: sways Billie to her side]] by claiming the Charmed Ones are using her to do their dirty work for them, and that they're selfish and haven't consistently helped innocents in quite some time. Not only is this not wholly inaccurate, but the heroines themselves even briefly begin to wonder if they're selfish.
* VillainTeleportation: Demons usually either shimmer or use flames. Warlocks would just disappear or "blink". Also, note while villains have the most varieties of teleportation, it's the good kind of teleportation -- orbing -- that appears most often.
* WakingUpAtTheMorgue: Piper does this in "Styx Feet Under". Since the FBI agent who's been following them for the last few episodes is in the room when it happens, it's the event that finally allows him to penetrate TheMasquerade.
* WeatherManipulation: Piper essentially gets turned into Gaea[=/=]MotherNature in the season five finale, and has the ability to control the weather.
* WeddingSmashers:
** "Prue, get your astral ass ''back here!''" yells Phoebe, just as Prue ruins Piper's wedding.
** A Lazarus demon fighting an invisible Paige ruins Phoebe's wedding to Cole. Like Piper, though, she gets married in a less formal ceremony at the end of the episode.
* TheWeirdSisters: The Charmed Ones are a group of three sisters (or half-sisters), Piper, Prue and Phoebe, who are the most powerful witches of their day. While there are actually four of them, only three are ever the Charmed Ones at any given time. [[spoiler: Paige was brought in after Prue's death]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist
** The Avatars;
** [[IDidWhatIHadToDo Gideon]];
** Agent Brody and [[SmugSnake Odin]] also count.
** Dr. Williamson after he became infected with the sisters' blood.
* WhamEpisode
** "All Hell Breaks Lose": [[spoiler:The episode where Prue dies]]
** "Love Hurts": Two policeman investigates Andy and Darryl at a loud construction where one of the men ascertains that they're talking about Prue. His confused colleague asks how did he know [[spoiler:only to turn to see the first man with red eyes and utter a sonic scream, which kills the second man and confirms the first man as the BigBad of the first season finale]].
** "We're Off to See the Wizard": [[spoiler:Phoebe is pregnant and joins Cole (now the Source of all Evil) as his queen]].
* WhamShot: In "All Hell Breaks Lose" where Piper and Prue are panicking over being outed as witches. Prue frets that "Our entire future, our entire destiny could be wiped out just like that". [[spoiler: Piper gasps and the camera pans down to reveal a bloody gunshot wound passing through her chest]].
* WhatDoTheyFearEpisode
** Whenever Barbas is the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Demon Of The Week]], this is the basis of the episode. Well, he ''is'' the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Demon of Fear]].
** Also inverted in "Its a Bad, Bad World", where Barbas is the Demon of ''Hope''
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In Season 3, it was hinted that Cole was working for the Triad for something in return. At the end of the season, it was revealed to be his father's soul, which they had somehow acquired years earlier. However, after obtaining his father's soul, it is never stated what Cole did with it and is never mentioned again. [[spoiler: Until season 10 comic that is.]]
** In one episode, when trying to interrogate a demon Piper had frozen, Phoebe suggest simply unfreezing his head and leaving his body frozen. It ''worked,'' and despite the potential usefulness of this, [[ForgotAboutHisPowers it's never mentioned again]].
*** She does it again in Season 8 in the episode where she's arrested as the person she stole her fake face from.
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: In the season 5 finale, the sisters are given powers of the Greek Gods. Piper becomes the Goddess of Earth, Paige the Goddess of War and Phoebe...the Goddess of Love. Really? To fight a pair of insanely powerful Titans? They couldn't have made her the Goddess of Wisdom perhaps or some other skill that would actually prove useful? And of course Phoebe ultimately does nothing to help in the fight against the Titans, save for providing a load of {{Fanservice}}.
** HeartIsAnAwesomePower: It looked like they were going some way with this at the start of the episode. Phoebe runs a scenario where she tries to seduce the Titans and get them to fight over her. It doesn't work and they don't use her power again, turning it into a subversion.
** Phoebe's empathy power is this too. As BlessedWithSuck as it is to feel every other person's emotions all the time, it does help when Phoebe is able to tap into demons' emotions - since their ''powers'' are tied to them.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Played with throughout the series -- originally, [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons were humans]] who had [[DealWithTheDevil intentionally given up their souls]], but as time wore on, more variations occured: a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-manticore]] child, families of demons who were [[AlwaysChaoticEvil apparently born that way]], and of course Cole Turner. The sisters end up killing them all at some point anyway.
** Played straight (painfully so) in a later season, with a demon [[HeelFaceTurn trying to help the sisters]] in return for a soul. [[StuffedInTheFridge Needlessly killed]] by the BigBad before she can become human again, but [[RedemptionEqualsDeath after holding up her side of the bargain]]. And they were so close to turning her again, too. Her borrowing one of Phoebe's dresses in her last minutes showed just how ready they had gotten for it, and even caused question as to whether they actually pulled it off. This only made her vanquish even more painful.
** Completely subverted in an episode where the sisters were hunting what they thought was a demon going after an innocent baby. Turned out the 'demon' [[MonsterIsAMommy was actually the baby's father]], who had learned magic and transformed himself [[IDidWhatIHadToDo so as to have the power to protect his son from his mother and her kind]]. (This baby would be the half-manticore child mentioned just above here.) Not only did the sisters give the fellow a chance to explain the truth (despite him being willing to kidnap and endanger them), they stopped the real demons, saved his life (after his brush with death [[ThisWasHisTrueForm restored him to his human self]]), and got his son back for him. All of this despite the Elders telling them that 'the baby was a (half) demon and [[AlwaysChaoticEvil can never be raised to be anything else]]'. Score a major hit for the heroes, [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism idealism]], and {{Happy Ending}}s!
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue
* WhiteMagic: All good beings like good witches, white lighters, elders, fairies, and so forth use some form of holy-based spell casting in one form or another.
* WidowWitch: Grams for her first husband, Allen. To the point she's basically had the whole family keeping his name.
* WitchSpecies: There are three known species of humanoid magic users: Witch, wizard and sorceror.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity
** Anyone humans who gains a power. They will be unable to handle it and eventually turn demonically insane.
** Also those who gain Empathy when they weren't supposed to (especially for demons who cannot handle emotion).
* WizardingSchool: The latter seasons featured one shortly after ''Literature/HarryPotter'' started getting popular. Young witches just coming into their powers in the earlier seasons had to do without it. There's also a [[EvilCounterpart demonic training academy]].
* WhoYouGonnaCall: The Charmed Ones, of course, but when ''they'' need to get rid of evil spirits that plague the manor, they call upon the services of a witch doctor. He is actually described as someone who gets rid of the ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Two notable ones.
** Season 3's "Pre-Witched" shows the sisters six months before the start of the series right before their grandmother died.
** Season 6's "Chris-Crossed" is a flashback of Chris's past, which is technically a ''flash-forward'' since Chris is from the future. Doubles as a WhamEpisode in that it's revealed that not only is Chris actually [[spoiler:half-witch/half-whitelighter like Paige, but also in the future Wyatt is an evil overlord]].
* WholePlotReference:
** Season one episode "Dead Man Dating" is one of ''Film/{{Ghost}}'', where Piper helps a murder victim she loves [[GhostlyGoals take revenge on his murderers]] [[UnfinishedBusiness and pass on to the afterlife.]]
** Season three episode "Magic Hour" is basically the plot of ''Film/{{Ladyhawke}}'', where two lovers are cursed into [[BalefulPolymorph animal forms]]. A [[LampshadeHanging lampshade is hung]] when Prue mentions having seen the situation before in a movie.
** Eighth season episode "Mr. & Mrs. Witch" is a sendup of ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith2005'', but with Billie and Christy's parents as the assassins.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Piper is afraid of tarantulas. This tends to come up whenever recurring villain Barbas (the demon of fear) puts his hand in...
* WildMagic: The Hollow.
* WordsDoNotMakeTheMagic: A spell doesn't get cast unless it is said by a being with magical power. In the episode "Animal Pragmatism", it is shown though that even the ''recording'' of a voice - this one being Phoebe's - that says a spell, as long as it's by someone with magic, can cast it.
* WrestlingMonster: At one point the sisters come across a camp training demons to be wrestlers. Maybe that is how they hide if they don't feel like posing as lawyers.
* YinYangBomb: Prue and War get temporarily displaced when the Charmed Ones and the Four Horsemen accidentally combine powers. It takes another combination, this time intentional, to bring them back.
* YoYoPlotPoint: Phoebe going through a string of boyfriends/one-night-stands, giving up on love and deciding to concentrate on work, meeting someone who makes her rediscover love, then going through a string of boyfriends and one-night-stands again... It finally ended with [[spoiler: her marriage to Coop, along with the show itself]].
* YouDoNOTWantToKnow: The Council of two Elders and two powerful demons who control the Cleaners. When asked what happens if it becomes a tie, the Sisters are told this trope.
* YouLookFamiliar:
** Rebecca Balding, who plays Phoebe's newspaper boss Elise, was the aunt of a young witch in the Season 1 episode "The Fourth Sister".
** Michael Bailey Smith plays at least two different characters: Belthazor/Demon Cole, and Shax, the demon who killed Prue. He was in heavy makeup for both, though.
** Brian Thompson plays one of the Four Horseman and the Titan Cronus in season 5.
* YouNeedToGetLaid: Piper, Phoebe and Prue all get told this at least once by the others.
* YoungestChildWins: Phoebe is the youngest. She is the one that discovers the sisters' powers and gets the ability to sense evil. It's also inverted in that Phoebe is the easiest sister to tempt towards evil because she was born in the manor. Of course since [[spoiler: Paige is revealed to be the youngest]], it ultimately counts as a subversion.
** Also inverted in that Prue as the eldest got the strongest power. And Wyatt as Piper's first son got much more power than Chris.
** Billie however is the youngest and she is the Ultimate Power, while her older sister Christy is just the key to the power.
* YourWorstNightmare: The episode "Sand Francisco Dreamin'" pits the protagonists against their worst nightmares come to life after the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Demon Of The Week]] gets his hands on some Sandman sand.
[[/folder]]
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