T*Witches was originally a book series by H.P. Gilmore and Randi Resenfield about two twin girls who were separated at birth, find each other later in life, and discover that they have magical powers. Made into a Disney Channel original movie in 2005, which received a sequel, T*Witches Too, in 2007.
In its various forms, this story provides examples of:
Original Novel
- Deadpan Snarker: Alex. She is playfully sarcastic with her friends, but becomes quite bitter after her adoptive mother dies. This is not helped after Karsh takes her to the upper-middle-class city Marble Bay, where Alex sticks out like a sore thumb. However, she is given leeway by the people who know of her situation, and becomes less antisocial after a while.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Alex has a dream in which she is called Artemis and told that someone is in danger. She shrugs it off as having read a (long overdue) library book on Greek myth, and being worried about her mother who has been suffering from terminal lung cancer.
- Elemental Powers: Cam draws her power from the sun with fire-related powers. Alex derives hers from the moon, with ice-related powers.
- Five Stages of Grief: Played realistically with Alex. Denial and Bargaining were displayed briefly, before Sara's death, but asking someone else for help was mentioned to be an extreme blow to Alex's pride. She then swung between anger in the form of increased irritability with everyone, and denial again by trying not to think about it and avoiding discussion of it. Acceptance comes at the end of the first book.
- From a Certain Point of View: Cam is quite angry with her parents for most of the first book after discovering that she was adopted. Karsh points out that even if they had lied about adopting her, they had not lied about being good people who kept her safe, loved her unconditionally even after having a child of their own, and were still open to allowing Alex to stay with them. As they were, for all intents and purposes, treating Cam like their daughter, there was no real reason that she should not call them her parents simply because they weren't biologically related.
- A God Am I: Used playfully with Ileana, who insists that people call her "Goddess" instead of her real name. Karsh humors her, but doesn't take it seriously at all.
- Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: Many of the battles Cam and Alex have with Coventry residents.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Both of them are averted with Sara. She is mentioned to have been unable to quit smoking. However, it causes no particular tension in her relationships other than minor distress from Alex, and there is no moral given to the reader after Sara dies of lung cancer.
- Happily Adopted: It's ambiguous as to whether Alex knew she was adopted, but during the first book she is too preoccupied with grieving over Sara after she dies to particularly care that she has a twin sister. Cam was happy, but hadn't known she was adopted, and her discovery of it causes tension for a while. In the first book, they consider the possibility Sara was their birth mother.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Sara. Justified, as it is specifically stated to be lung cancer.
- Kaleidoscope Hair: In every single book, Alex has a new wild hair color. In the first book, she has red hair with blue streaks.
- Loners Are Freaks: Averted. When Cam's mother finds out she has a twin, she expects her to be social and outgoing like Cam. When Alex actually interacts with them, Cam's mother begins to worry that she's "antisocial" and is some sort of delinquent. Eventually, she realizes that Alex is simply a good person who's different from Cam and grieving over the loss of her adopted mother.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Cam is extremely popular, pretty, and well liked, generally played as sympathetic. However, she equates "learning that she was adopted" with "grieving over the death of a parent" and is told off for it by Karsh.
- Mage Species: All the witches have strange eye colors (usually grey eyes) and live on an island together.
- Meaningful Name: Cam and Alex's birth names are Apolla and Artemis; they are named after the twin gods Apollo and Artemis from Greek mythology, who were associated with the sun and the moon.
- Night and Day Duo: Alex, the misfortunate Deadpan Snarker of the pair, is associated with the night, being active when the moon is up and owning a moon-shaped charm. Bubbly and lucky Cameryn, meanwhile, is represented by the sun. Their birth names are Artemis and Apolla, respectively.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Cam and Alex are literally representative of the sun and the moon.
- The Power of Family: In the film version, upon learning that Alex and Cam are long lost twins, both have magic powers and have been separated due to the dark forces that are threatening them and their loved ones, both unite and manifest the power of familial love to defeat the shadows that cover their birthplace.
- Puberty Superpower: Cam and Alex discover their powers at age 14.
- Separated at Birth: Apolla and Artemis were separated at birth, adopted into different families, and given the names Cam and Alex to keep them safe from the evil Thantos until they were of age.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Alex is hardened by having her father walk out and growing up in extreme poverty. However, she fiercely loves her mother and friends, and is quite nice to children.
- Superior Twin Teamwork: Cam and Alex are capable on their own, each having an affinity with magics related to either the sun (Cam) or the moon (Alex) in a Solar and Lunar contrast. However, when they are together, their magic gets stronger and they can even cast spells they can't do when they're alone
- There Are No Therapists: Averted. After being preoccupied with saving various peoples' lives despite his old age, Karsh finally helps Cam deal with learning that she was adopted, and counsels Alex with the grief of losing her mother at the end of the novel.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Alex and Cam, respectively. The mythology gag is in full force here, as Alex is named after aloof huntress Artemis, while Cam is named after the emotional god of creativity Apollo.
- Totally Radical: This series employs an exhaustive amount of teen slang never used in real life.
- Twins Are Special: Alex and Cam are powerful witches whose births were prophesized generations ago. They have opposing elemental magical abilities and their magic gets stronger when they are together.
- Twin Telepathy: Cam and Alex have this at convenient times.
- Valley Girl: Cam and Beth, and arguably most of the Six Pack.
Film Version
"Once upon a time, the magical kingdom of Coventry was besieged by the forces of darkness. In the midst of this battle, the twin daughters of Miranda and Aron were born. For their safety, the twins were separated and hidden away in another dimension. Twenty-one years later, the sisters were reunited. And returned to the land of their birth where they vanquished their evil uncle, Thantos. And destroyed the Darkness forever. Or did they?"
— Cam and Alex narrating the sequel's opening''
- Actor Allusion: Tia and Tamera Mowry play twin sisters separated at birth and then reunited as teenagers. Where have we heard that before?
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade:
- While in the books Cam didn't know she was adopted until she met Alex, which caused some angst for her, movie Cam already knows she's adopted and is perfectly fine with it.
- Downplayed with Alex. While Alex loses her mother during the book series, meaning she had to deal with both anticipatory and fresh grief, movie Alex lost her mother a year prior to the films. While still grieving and closed off, the pain isn't as fresh, and Alex is more emotionally mature in handling her emotions due to the Age Lift.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the book series, Cam has red hair and Alex has whatever color hair suits her at the time. Both are Caucasian. In the movie, both girls have dark hair and are Black.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Ileana is a genuinely sweet, if somewhat ditzy, friend to the girls, rather than the Vain Sorceress of the books.
- Adoptive Name Change: Cam and Alex's real names are Apolla and Artemis, respectively; they got their current names from the families who adopted them.
- Age Lift: In the book, Cam and Alex were 14 when they reunite and discover their powers; in the movie, they're 21.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Alex ends up the love interest of her sister Cam's ex-boyfriend Marcus, and Cam develops a crush on a prince Demetri who isn't actually of magic and broke 1,440 laws.
- Big Damn Reunion: Aron with Miranda, Cam and Alex at the end.
- Big "NO!": Thantos before his demise, in both films.
- Bond One-Liner: Cam and Alex deliver one to Thantos after defeating him in the sequel.Cam and Alex: Loser!
- Chekhov's Gun: The well that Cam and Alex discover in the castle. They use it to be rid of Thantos.
- Composite Character: Thantos in the film is a combination of Thantos and Fredo from the books.
- Dark Is Evil: Thantos wears a dark purple cloak when attacking Cam, Alex and the rest of Coventry.
- Disney Villain Death: Thantos' demise in the sequel.
- Intrafamilial Class Conflict: Cam and Alex, reunited at 21, clash over their very different upbringings. Cam grew up wealthy with a stable family, while Alex was raised by a single mom who she lost a year before the film, currently crashing with her friend's family and trying to find work. Cam is Innocently Insensitive to Alex's struggles until seeing her home, while Alex initially sees Cam as shallow and her neighborhood as snooty. However, they eventually bond and bring their respective families, plus their birth family, together.
- Mythology Gag: When Cam wonders if Alex's parents told her she was adopted, Alex says she only had a mother who adopted her. It's almost like a Take That! to her father for walking out on them.
- Noodle Incident: Cam's attempt to practice magic using her adoptive dad's car ended badly. With the car left in pieces and one of the tires found in the swimming pool.
- Not Quite Dead: The sequel deals with the twins uncovering evidence that their missing birth father Aron is still alive.
- Obsessed with Food: Ileana is eating in about half her scenes, and at the end brings up chicken wings as a reason for her and Karsh to stay on Earth with the girls.
- Orbital Shot:
- A really good one is used for Cam and Alex while they are defeating Thantos.
- Done again in the sequel as Alex and Cam are casting the vanquish spell.
- The Power of Love: How Alex and Cam defeat the darkness in the first film, as the opposite of darkness is love.
- Race Lift: The redheaded Caucasian twins of the series are portrayed by African-American Tia and Tamera Mowry from Sister, Sister in Disney's version.
- Rhyming Wizardry: Downplayed. While spells can be used without an incantation or with a simple command ("Drawer open"), the girls have fun using the rhyming spells Alex made up for her stories as a kid, now that they have the magic to actually make them work. Also Lampshaded:Cam: (reading from notebook) "To make an object disappear, tap it twice and say 'Oh dear'"?Alex: What? I was seven when I wrote that! Give me some credit that it even rhymed.
- Sequel Hook: An alternate scene revealed that Miranda's evil twin sister Minerva arrived at the wedding to cause trouble. Miranda sends her away but she vows to return, setting up for a potential third sequel.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Cam is a rich, curly-haired artist, more traditionally feminine, and associated with the sun. Alex is a straight-haired, working-class writer, more tomboyish, and associated with the moon.
- Significant Birth Date: Alex and Cam were born on Halloween.
- Spoiled Sweet: Cam was adopted into a wealthy family, and enjoys a luxurious and privileged lifestyle, but is nevertheless kind, gracious, and immediately welcomes Alex into her life.
- Wedding Finale: The sequel ends with Karsh and Ileana getting married.
- Wonder Twin Powers: Cam and Alex have these as long as they stay together.
