WHEW!!!! After everything that has kept popping into my mind about this for weeks, I can finally, FINALLY say the following words:
Okay. We're here.
This superpost (you have been warned) is basically combining both of cyma's season 7 posts here (both the initial season 7 post describing how this whole Utopia thing gets set up and the last one with the combination plot) to serve as my frame of reference in order to put my thoughts and additions to everything together.Here’s me trying my hand at Season 7. Like season 6, season 7 also had potential to be something great, but yet again, the good ideas and the talents of the actors were wasted because for some reason, Kern and company believed audiences were more interested in watching things like the sisters finding men, going on dates, Piper whine aabout kids and normal life and Leo, etc.
Avatars were actually a very good concept. Much better than Zankuo which was the same old recycled plot in leather pants and even the Billie and Christy concept in season 8. I say concept not execution. The concept of fellow witches and the magical community turned against the Charmed Ones was good, but Billie and Christy, the Triad and whatever the hell happened was…even awful would be an understatement.
I'm glad you mentioned the concept surrounding Billie as an example of one of
Charmed's good ideas gone awry. She is one character whose premise I will totally defend even though much of the fandom hates her guts, because I think she could've worked really well had the "creative team" applied her character in a way that made sense and that played to Kaley Cuoco's strengths as an actress. In fact, you kind of inspired my decision to bump the old Billie and Christy thread there.
That said, we're here to talk about the Avatars, a concept that worked in every way except the lack of a fight that came once the truth was revealed. Here's a small detail mechanic that I kinda want to address before we move forward with the actual story.
The Avatars are shown though scenes in their observatory to have room 12 members. Yet only three of them are introduced with a name. Also, Tony Todd of
Candyman and
Final Destination fame, who played the "Avatar of Force" from "Sam, I Am", and Bianca Chiminello, the unidentified Avatar summoned in "Vaya Con Leos", are not among the 12 seen in observatory scenes; instead the show opted for using crew members as stand-ins. Consider the fact that we plan on using the Avatars as the final villains for this version of
Charmed, and, well, this will simply not do. Mr. Todd is brought back, and Ms. Chiminello is brought in, for this. Furthermore, several of the actors the show uses for demons and other assorted characters through seasons 7 and 8 will instead be used for the other Avatars.
Now, going by the three that are actually named, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, we can surmise that the Avatars' names and/or call-signs are based on the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet. Being that we have 12 Avatars and 24 letter names to choose from, this allows for interchangeability in regards to the names. This gives me what I've come up with for this.
Avatar | Actor/Actress
| Played in the show
|
Alpha | Joel Swetow
| Same |
Beta | Patrice Fisher
| Same |
Gamma | Ian Anthony Dale
| Same |
Delta original name Cole Turner
| Julian McMahon
| Same (was never given a call-sign as an Avatar in the show)
|
Epsilon | Tony Todd
| Same (was only identified as the Avatar of Force in "Sam, I Am")
|
Zeta | Bianca Chiminello
| Same (previously unidentified in "Vaya Con Leos")
|
Theta | Elizabeth Greer
| Female Possessor Demon ("Desperate Housewitches")
|
Iota | Michelle Hurd
| Katya ("Little Box of Horrors")
|
Kappa | Julian Ovenden | Novak ("12 Angry Zen") |
Lambda | Kristen Miller
| Lady Godiva ("The Bare Witch Project")
|
Xi | Reynaldo Gallegos
| Antosis ("Rewitched")
|
Omicron | Steven J. Oliver
| Asmodeus (season 8 Triad)
|
Sigma | Leland Crooke
| Candor (season 8 Triad)
|
Upsilon | Søren Oliver
| Baliel (season 8 Triad)
|
Omega | Oded Fehr
| Zankou (season 7 big bad)
|
"But that's not 12, that's 15!"
Logical explanation for this. Cole isn't the only Avatar that dies and needs replacing.
• What I found unrealistic was the consequences of two things: Chris’s death and Gideon. Losing a sister is one thing, but losing a child no matter what their age should be devastating to not only Leo(seeing Gideon was his mentor), but Piper as well. Paige and Phoebe should also be affected in some way. So the whole ‘meh we stopped Gideon, Chris is alive’ attitude was kind of ridiculous in S7. There should be worries and doubts of Chris facing the same fate again. It should even make all of them regret continuing on instead of accepting Angel of Destiny’s offer. I mean they’ve been fighting demons this whole time and what gets one of their kids(well actually both their kids) wasn’t a demon, but an Elder. So their whole world should be shaken by this incident.
• Gideon trying to kill Wyatt and having killed Chris, not to mention one of the Magic School teachers too shouldn’t just impact the Halliwells. But much more. He was the headmaster of Magic School. Apart from Wyatt, other children also attended. So other parents naturally would fear the same happening, wouldn’t they? A Headmaster kidnapped one of the children and then attempted to kill him and killed one of the teachers when he tried to warn people. It’s ridiculous other parents and teachers wouldn’t care. On top of that, Elders are mysterious beings to most witches and this incident should have them questioning and wondering more about who or what they really are and things like the fate of other hybrid babies not to mention what would the Elders done to Paige if she was discovered? So thanks to Gideon and even the Elders’ actions, their reputation will slowly crumble infront of witches and the rest of the magical community. Then in step the Avatars offering a better world.
It's incredible how only Leo registered anywhere on the give-a-crap-o-meter after this all happened. Of course, this was what caused him to be amenable to the Avatars' way, which they indeed took advantage of. Taking it to its logical conclusion, there should be a lot more people that they would be able to reach with enough convincing. And that's what we're here for.
That said, as we pretty much discussed, all the Halliwells would be devastated for all the reasons mentioned above, though modified in regards to Paige and Leo due to the idea of Chris being Paige's son.
Going back to cyma's earlier ideas surrounding Paige keeping her social services job, I could see her meeting Henry through the job, falling in love with him, and being able to trust him with her secret all happening in season 6. Them getting engaged, let alone married, however…not happening yet. In fact, I can see the devastation over losing Chris, as well as the lack of understanding as to why she seems to be taking it harder than anyone else (at least, if we go with my idea of her not being told yet that Chris is her son), causing her to not only distance herself from Henry a little bit, but also to start drowning her sorrows in alcohol (remember, she is a recovering alcoholic as stated in season 4). I see these particular issues starting to get resolved with an episode in which she first gets Mitchell Haines as a charge, then has a heart-to-heart with Henry, before the Avatars' movement starts becoming credible, but it would serve as foreshadowing for the difficulty it takes in waking her up.
With Leo, it's a bit more complicated, but certainly no less powerful. As I just mentioned to Es, his mentor betrayed him and his charges/family, killed his nephew from the future, tried to kill his son, and pretty much shot his faith in the very people (Elders) that gave him the second chance at life which got him all these people in the first place. He has got a lot of bitterness to work through. This version of the Elders, though, fortunately wouldn't be jerks and try to force him to leave either the council or his family. They might counsel and confront him in concern, to which he'd tell them to shove off, as well as publicly oppose the Avatars' pitch in its initial stages and be met with questioning and hostility from the magical community as a result, but that would be about it. Now, if we include the whole "Barbas paranoid/fearmongering leads to Leo killing Zola" thing, a little more creativity might be required on this front.
• Of course at first no one would believe them. But when demons start popping into the Charmed Manor wanting to be human(among them the Seer Kira and Drake), and Kira shows vision of good winning and a demon-free world, something Elders couldn’t do in thousand years and after having sacrificed other witches and their loved ones as well, Charmed Ones and Leo will be tempted by the Avatars offer. So will the rest of the magical community. Seeing the Avatars want to change the whole world, it makes sense to involve other witches and magical beings also this season, besides the Charmed Ones to make such a decision.
• After everyone agrees(perhaps an untoward incident occurs like Kira and Drake being killed), world is changed, unknown the price they paid. Their freewill. Unlike in the show, Leo will also be affected. You think after what happened with Cole, the Avatars would learn their lesson. So save for demons and Elders, the world is unaware of the cost they paid.
I actually mapped out a plotline for this part which would span across…probably four episodes.
First off, the demons would not be operating separately yet just all happening to go to the Halliwells and all happening to have the same goal in mind of wanting to be made human. That would be too much of a coincidence. They would have to have united together as part of a faction. For simplicity's sake, we'll call it the Gathering. The way I'm figuring it, they would consist of 13 demons.
- Kira, the Seer with the vision of Utopia.
(BTW. I'm still confused as to which one is the correct spelling, Kira or Kyra—first I thought it was Kira, then I heard a copy of the BoS spelled it as Kyra and I've been going by that for years, now I'm finding out that apparently I got this backwards and the Book of Three guide goes Kira…WTH is going on?)
- Drake Mercier, a Mercury demon with a passion for art and a zest for human life.
(NOTE: this pun is far more clever and human-passable than the lame "dè Mon" they gave him in the show.)
- OC Maes Chandler, a rogue vampire warrior who's been close to Kira for decades.
(I see him being portrayed by Adam "Edge" Copeland. Yes, the recently-retired pro wrestler who's taken up a recurring role on Syfy's Haven. Not exactly a Hollywood blockbuster actor, but he's better than you'd think if you haven't seen him.)
- Aku and Sarpedon, two of the most powerful Celerity demons. Aku is Sarpedon's mentor.
- Pilar, Phoenix, Patra, and Savard, former servants of a demonic Slave King. Savard is the mentor of the other three, who are all sisters.
- Pator and Rondok, two Noxon demon brothers who were experimented on and made invincible.
- Emrick, a Krychek demon.
- OC Nikita Ferham, a self-proclaimed "badass" teenaged warlock looking for a little peace and quiet.
(This character is just a way to give Scout Taylor-Compton some love as something other than a fairy.)
Now, for the plotline.
The first episode introduces these folks with a conversation with the Avatars which shows Kira receiving the vision of Utopia from Alpha. At close to midway through, they all appear before not only the Charmed Ones, but also the rest of the magical community (through a meeting at the now-abandoned old castle that once belonged to the Evil Enchantress that was Paige's past life), making their pitch about wanting to become human and carrying the vision. Kira and Drake are the main ones speaking for the group because Kira has the vision and she and Drake are the best at being personable and diplomatic. At the same time, Paul Haas's faction from the show's season 8 gets an early introduction, and Haas instructs them to "stop this little coalition of traitors before they can do any lasting damage." About ten of the faction's lesser members set out to attack the magical community as well as the Gathering, but everybody's ready for it, including the Charmed Ones. Result: not only do Haas's mooks fail to kill anyone, only four of them escape with their lives. When they come back, though, Haas declares that he has a plan.
The second episode features the Halliwells, especially Phoebe, gradually bonding with Kira and Drake and accepting that the Gathering are honest, with the Avatars looking on pleased from their observatory chamber. As the magical community and the Gathering meet at the old castle again, the four remaining lower members of Haas's faction arrive in secret and start sneaking around to pick them off one by one, but only manage to kill three fairies and a leprechaun before the plan is intercepted. The intruders teleport away, but Savard and his three charges decide to go after them, the rest of the magical community promptly leaves the castle, and the Halliwells take Kira, Drake, and Maes to the Manor. This leaves the Noxons, Emrick, Nikita, and Aku and Sarpedon together waiting on the return of the others.
Our heroes quickly go to the attic, where it's decided that Kira should show Phoebe the vision of Utopia. She does, which basically goes how it does in the show. Except, right when they get to the end, Kira and Phoebe are suddenly both stabbed from behind…by two demonic ninjas with bladed gloves like the Celerity demons, who quickly shimmered and sped in without warning. A quick fight breaks out, during which the Celerity ninjas are able to knock Paige out, as well as draw both Drake and Maes into the Underworld. Drake and Maes are able to a) unmask them as not being Aku and Sarpedon, and b) kill one of them in battle. Leo heals Phoebe while this is going on, but his attempt to heal Kira is having very little effect because her demon physics are rejecting it and Paige can't add her power to it cause she's out of commission. Right as Drake and Maes return to the Manor, Leo's power gives out; Maes and Phoebe immediately rush to Kira's side as she succumbs to her wounds and inevitably flames into ashes.
While Leo feels guilty that his power wasn't enough to save her, Maes is devastated and out for blood. He tells Drake to take him back to the castle so they can get the rest of the Gathering together to avenge Kira. Drake doesn't like the idea, but agrees that the others do need to know what happened, so they go over there. But the only demons there are Aku and Sarpedon. Suddenly, in come Paul Haas, Black Heart, Elkin, and former Brotherhood of the Thorn member Klea…who suddenly form a circle including Aku and Sarpedon, surrounding Drake and Maes. It was all a setup; Aku and Sarpedon were double agents working in league with Haas's faction and their fellow Celerity demons, and the rest of the Gathering are all dead. Maes tells Drake to go back to the Manor and tell the Charmed Ones while he fights them all alone to make sure they don't track and follow; Drake reluctantly agrees to this, and in the end, Maes is overwhelmed and killed by the numbers. The six demons talk about getting ready for an imminent battle against the Charmed Ones. Speaking of the Halliwells, they've become warmer to the Avatars' vision as a result of all this.
The third episode has an early scene with the demons which finally reveals some of what's going on here. The Celerity demons, and namely a "higher being" associated with them, were the ones who warned Paul Haas about "the threat of the Avatars", and when they heard about the Gathering, Aku and Sarpedon volunteered themselves to infiltrate the group, and help destroy it from within if necessary. Unfortunately, with Phoebe Halliwell "seeing the Avatars' vision through rose-colored glasses" thanks to Kira, they have to go after them too. Their plan to do this starts by picking off Paige's charge Joanna, Phoebe's school classmate Tim Cross, and Piper's friend Wendy. This ticks the sisters off enough to lure them into a fight back at, yes, the old castle again. Except this time it's been magically booby-trapped so that non-demonic powers are subject to backfire here. This puts the Halliwells at a disadvantage, as not only are they outnumbered now even including Leo and Drake, everyone except Drake is basically reduced to physical prowess and potion vials.
Our heroes end up gradually overwhelmed in this battle, only narrowly escaping death several times, but then comes a timely assist from two Avatars, Epsilon and Zeta. Aku and Sarpedon start to reach into their pockets, but the Avatars shoot and kill them just as they pull out what turns out to be the ancient anti-Avatar potions, which still break on the ground and seep into the two of them through the nose, killing them. This buys the sisters enough time to pull out their vanquishing spell; unfortunately, it only works on Elkin and Black Heart, as Haas and Klea got away. The Avatars witness all this in their chamber through two scenes. In one, they express disappointment at losing the Gathering's alliance, but eventually conclude that their purpose was served. In another, which comes after the end of the battle, they lament the sacrifice that Epsilon and Zeta had to make, along with the resulting drain to the collective, but comfort themselves keeping the Charmed Ones alive was a top priority and that they have others in waiting that can replace their fallen brothers. Finally, Omega speaks for the first time, saying that the preparations are ready and all that's left is to meet with the sisters and implement their new world.
The fourth episode starts with the unvanquishable Noxon demons locked up in a dungeon, when Paul Haas appears to tighten the loose end that is their still being alive…by introducing Helen Jenkins and her daughters Billie and Christy, who in this version are Phoenix witches, to banish the Noxons with a spell. Meanwhile, back at the Manor, the Charmed Ones and company call on the Avatars, and when Alpha, Beta, and Gamma show up, they tell them they're ready for Utopia, at which point the Avatars take them to Magic School, where the magical community are gathered along with the school staff. A leprechaun speaks representing the community, who are overall united in approval of Utopia but have some questions for the Avatars—this leads to the explanation behind the mechanics of implementing Utopia, which are basically the same as in the show.
The Elders summon Leo to the Golden Gate Bridge, and when he gets there Odin and Sandra basically try to counsel him that even though they have to let Utopia happen for now he should still stay alert and not let his emotions cloud his judgment, but as he's still bitter about his mentor's betrayal, he basically tells them to shove it and fix their own problems. Back at their observatory, Xi and Iota enter and introduce the rest of the Avatars to their two new members, Kappa and Lambda, who speak of a disturbance they noticed before coming. This points them towards a scene with Paul Haas and the Jenkins family in the Underworld, where Haas is explaining to the ladies that their next targets are the Charmed Ones and the Avatars, and Klea shimmers in and says she's found where all the ancient anti-Avatar potions are being kept. Kappa and Lambda then head to Magic School and inform the Halliwells and the figurehead Avatars about this, following which the community leaves until the coast is clear and Leo orbs away and comes back with potions for himself and the sisters to drink so they can fortify their powers from any traps like what happened last time. The meeting is adjourned, and the rest of the magical community decide to leave until the coast is clear.
The five assailants all teleport in and immediately throw Avatar-killing potions, but the Avatars quickly leave before the potions can touch down. This leads to a five-on-five battle, which at first seems even but then slowly become advantage team Halliwell, with team Haas eventually being surrounded in the middle of the hall…at which point they chant an incantation to activate a heat energy trap centered around setting up five athames in the shape of a pentagram to create a circle protected from the trap. Five rays of light suddenly hit the athames, reversing the trap and allowing the sisters to kill their enemies with the Power of Three spell—except for the Jenkins sisters, whose mother knocked them out of the field with energy balls to save them. As three of the Avatars—Omicron, Sigma, and Upsilon—enter the scene now, Christy is enraged enough to still want to kill the COs, but Billie tries to beg her off, not wanting to lose her too. Christy refuses to listen and so does the pressure point thing to knock Billie out, then launches a fireball of all things at Paige, who's forced to deflect it back as it hits Christy and kills her.
After discussing what to do about Billie, our heroes decide to let her live, but these Avatars kill her instead with their energy waves (the rays of light), feeling that leaving her alive for the chance to seek revenge is too dangerous, The rest of the Avatars, including Alpha and co. as well as Omega, return to Magic School, meaning all twelve appear before the Charmed Ones for the first time, along with the rest of the magical community. The Avatars create a circle of their own, and instruct the Charmed Ones to stand in the center. Once they do, the Avatars lead them in casting the world-changing spell.
Once cast, literally everyone falls asleep except for the Avatars, as the change sweeps over the world.
Utopia is born.
• Now for waking up the Charmed Ones from their freewill states, instead of sequence flashbacks by Phoebe by touching the book, I would really prefer a dream sequence like scenario like what we saw in S8 Jung and the Restless. Except instead of their desires, like to see them dealing with physical manifestations of pain and loss….and accepting it before they break-free of the Avatars hold on them. I want Cole to be involved in the waking up the Charmed Ones operation as he was the one who was an Avatar and with this knowledge he becomes invaluable and something the Elders resurrect temporary when they learn about Cole’s brief stint as an Avatar. So instead of Leo, Cole snaps Phoebe out of it who then does the same for her sisters.
One question, though: do the Elders actually
HAVE that power? The only time we ever see them get involved in resurrection is making someone a whitelighter immediately after said someone's been killed. I feel like full-on resurrection, especially years after someone's death, has got to be a bit more creative than "let the Elders wave their hands and it's done." In fact, my favorite candidates for reviving Cole would be closer to the Valkyries. If I recall correctly, they can make spirits solid by breathing on them in Valhalla. Which may sound like just as much of an easy copout, except it requires getting him to Valhalla. Bear with me, I'm going somewhere with this one.
In Norse mythology, as well as the Marvel franchise, Valhalla is supposed to be this great hall in a celestial world called Asgard, whose main race, the Æsir (typically called Asgardians), are seen as gods.
Charmed's Valhalla isn't shown to be part of Asgard, and in fact seems to be more an Amazon-themed concept using Norse/Asgardian names, but it can still be used in a way that somewhat hearkens to the original mythos while simultaneously connecting more dots that didn't need to be separated. Here's how.
Have Valhalla be connected to both the physical plane and the cosmic void between life and death. This would explain both the Valkyries' power to corporealize spirits and the magic that hides Valhalla from outside eyes and makes it inaccessible to anyone without pendant portals and/or powerful magic. Also, have some kind of powerful artifact hidden in the island's underground which can be manipulate to allow Valhalla to immerse itsself fully into either the physical plane or the cosmic void and back into the middle. Let's call this artifact the Bifröst Passage.
In context of this storyline, Freyja would probably have a Valkyrie or two join the magical community meetings as an observer; they would come back to her explaining the details they were able to glean about Utopia. Deducing from the information that Valhalla needs to be protected from its effects, Freyja would immerse her world into the cosmic void via the Bifröst Passage. In addition, she'd have her spies tell her when Utopia is imminent in order to time this move to just before Utopia happens. It's while Valhalla is immersed fully into the cosmic void that Cole is able to find and access the island.
• Charmed Ones are supposed to be the
most powerful force of good the world has ever seen. So it made sense after losing invincible Cole, Avatars set their sights on them. They targeted Leo in the show, made him an Avatar and even erased him afterwards for causing conflict. Which is strange seeing after one of their Avatars was killed by Kyle, why erase Leo? Why make themselves more weaker? Even if Utopia was achieved, there were still threats out there. Then when they saw the Charmed Ones had woken up and were planning to work with Zankuo against them, they didn’t erase a hair on the sisters’ head and instead retreated and obediently did what the girls said. To change the world back to what it was.
• So here’s my spin on it. The Avatars need the Charmed Ones to actually be the potential for unlimited power. They needed them to create Utopia and will need them to continue to maintain it too. And hence the Avatars can’t just erase the Charmed Ones after stealing their powers, seeing it’s not just the Charmed Ones individual powers which made them so powerful, it was so many other things, one being their sisterly bond and the Power of Three. Also learning from their mistakes with Cole—who had freewill and who then ended up using the Avatars instead—they keep the Charmed magic under their control by brainwashing the sisters along with the world.
Why erase Leo? I think precisely because of what you mentioned with Cole. When he became an Avatar, then used that power for himself without their consent, it took something from their own collective power. When they got Leo they thought they had a true believer, but after they implemented Utopia he was suddenly causing conflict as if to disrupt their own vision.
Aside from their "erase anyone who causes conflict" policy, there's the fact that Leo could've very well turned at least part of their own power against them, which might've been worse than simply losing that power. I think it's plausible to suggest that the Avatars may have felt that they were actually mitigating possible damage here.
That said, I want to talk about their erasure ability for a second. It's a part of their reality warping power for sure, but to me…it really should only work cleanly on mortals. For them to be able to just blankly erase anyone, including a fellow Avatar, is a story breaking power. The show…generally got this one right, as the only time any Avatar has been seen actually killing demons it was Leo using energy waves, and Beta even used Force lightning in the sequence in which she and Kyle, a human, killed each other. (Yes, I know,
Charmed calls it electrokinesis at least according to the complicated Wiki, but Force lightning, thanks
Star Wars, is a simpler and cooler title for it.)
But then there was that one time they came and erased Leo. Now, you could argue that Utopia gave them the power to be able to do that, but again. Story breaking power. Me no likey. If they could do that, they wouldn't need the Charmed Ones or anyone else to enforce it. In fact it makes the show's own conclusion to the Avatar storyline, where they just give up as soon as the COs say change it back, make even less sense. So they would have to at least actually shoot an energy wave down from the sky to kill a witch or a demon trying to cause conflict, even with Utopia in place.
• Unlike the show when they wake up, the Avatars don’t just bend backwards and surrender. So once they’ve awoken, the whole world would be against them along with Leo also….who was the most in pain after Future Chris’s death and betrayal by Gideon and doesn’t want to deal with the pain. Not dealing with pain means you’re still under Avatars control. So waking up the world wouldn’t be an easy task. Especially when the world and Avatars give them the same treatment as for demons. Which is annihilation.
Two things. First off, obviously, add Paige to this via the "Chris is Paige's son" idea. Got into more detail about that in the second section of this post. Secondly…maybe that becomes the way that she and Leo are both kept on the Avatars' side and even potentially serve as allies to the Evil Charmed Ones for a bit, who I think are my next point to get to.
• Now when Cole tries to free them, the Avatars know it was only a matter of time their Utopia will crumble no matter how many demons or brainwashed magical beings they send after the Charmed Ones. They can’t outright erase the Charmed Ones as they’re actually the key to unlimited power. So their solution is to replace them. So enter the Evil Charmed Ones
• I’m still trying to figure out what exactly could the Avatars promise them in return. I can’t imagine them wanting to live in Utopia and being brainwashed would just make them fight against the Avatars if they woke up. Since Avatars prey on people’s grief, so a promise to bring a loved one back or something? Like Phoetus or something? But the thing is, if Phoebe and her sisters are evil, they already would’ve tried and succeeded in resurrecting the deceased or vanquished. Now if Evil Phoebe isn’t strong enough only because her sisters are good and won’t assist her, then I could see Avatars swoop in with an offer to make her deepest desire come true. Then they go into another alternate reality, find Piper, promise her something in return and then so on for Paige. So basically three sisters each from different realities coming together to form the Power of Three. And just to be on the safe side, not to mention make it more harder for the good version of the sisters, I imagine them getting an Evil Prue as well(or she could also be the loved one Evil Piper wanted bought back to life). I guess there's still a lot of work needed trying to figure out the background of the alternate sisters for this to properly work.
• Seeing the original Charmed Ones would never accept to pay the high price of the world’s freewill to get their lost loved ones back or even get rid of those who stand against the Avatars, it makes sense to summon Evil counterparts of the girls. Even with so much power, Avatars seem more like the brain sort of beings than the brawns one. So it makes sense they would leave the dirty work to others. Also who else would be better to control and command the desperate demon army than Evil Charmed Ones? Or evil Prue?
• So now the key to defeating the Avatars lies in defeating the Evil Charmed Ones and unlike the original Charmed Ones, I can imagine them individually be stronger power-wise too.
Yep, I was right. This is the next point.
Oddly enough, I think the perfect alternate reality to use here is one in which the Charmed Ones are actually all together. Namely, the would-be reality of the Morality Bites future had our girls not time-jumped their way into it. Between Prue becoming what today would be known as the archetypical One Percenter as the boss of Buckland's, Piper having a daughter with Leo yet becoming jaded enough that she not only divorced him, but agreed to give him the girl, and of course Phoebe becoming the murderer that necessitated the time travel job in the first place, it pretty much seems like the perfect fit. I think it's quite likely that the execution scene Phoebe saw in her premonition would've ended in those Charmed Ones all breaking out of jail together using their powers on live television.
Okay, so why would she have gotten the premonition warning her about this back then? Simple. The masquerade would've been broken, they sisters would become public enemy number one, and they'd be on such an "us against the world" trip that they would try to take over whatever's left of the entire magical world, both good and evil, and recruit them all in a war against the humans. I say whatever's left because they would've killed more beings than they would in our timeline, what with the additional years, advanced powers, and punishing-the-guilty mentality. And I say try because most of their would-be "recruits" would probably reject their rulership, knowing these Charmed Ones cared for no one but themselves and could easily turn against them at any time. Basically, they would've betrayed everything they're supposed to be all about, exposed magic to a super-hostile public, and lived miserably on the run at this point.
What these Halliwells wouldn't have done yet, however, is discover their fourth sister.
Enter the Avatars.
The Avatars could send two of their number to make a play at winning these Charmed Ones over by convincing them of the existence of Paige, then finding her for them and introducing her to them. By 2009, assuming alter!Paige continues on with her job as a social worker, it's a near-safe assumption that she would end up discovering her powers in some way or another. If she's far enough on the dark side herself, they would get her to join them. However, it's more likely that she'd either be "too much of a goody two shoes" and/or she simply wouldn't trust them, at which point they would probably kill her to keep her from ratting them out. The Avatars could then use this to send her powers into Prue, knowing that alter!Prue wouldn't be under any threat of merging with our reality's Paige and planning to use her as the general of their supporting army. Her telekinesis would still work the same, but give off a light effect similar to orbing, and speaking of which, she can now orb, too—though the light would be distorted as an effect of both the Avatar's manipulation and Prue's warped personality.
At this point the Avatars would officially have these Halliwells' attention. Now what could they actually offer them? Well, number one, stability. Here's a reality where the girls wouldn't be getting hunted down by humans anymore. One where Piper would have Leo as well as a child with him, where Phoebe would have a "demonic sweetheart" in Drake, both built-in. And as for Prue…well, the Avatars could easily rewrite into Utopian consciousness that not only was Prue's death somehow "faked", she's in control of Buckland's like in her own life, so no questions about that to follow.
Number two involves deliberately feeding their egos. The Avatars could offer the girls a much better chance of amassing a magical/demonic army under their command in the mainline reality than in their own world. Not to mention they'd explicitly come out with the truth that they need the help of the powerful Charmed Ones in order to maintain all this. Prue especially would be susceptible to this appeal strategy, whereas Piper and Phoebe would be content to let her take the lead as long as they can enjoy their own personal lives—exactly as the Avatars would be counting on.
These girls are individually more powerful than the Charmed Ones we know, would have far less care for the rest of the world's freewill due to their embittered nature, and they actually have a Power of Three gong on already. Furthermore, the Avatars are presenting them with a total win-win situation that doesn't rely on any empty promises they have no intent to fulfill, so these Charmed Ones would see no reason to ever become dissatisfied with the Avatars. Frankly, they're the perfect versions to use in my book.
Add the fact that the Leo and Paige from this reality are both hurt and jaded enough that Cole's attempts to wake all five of them up would only work on Piper, Phoebe, and Drake (he may be a demon, but he's not in the Underworld when Utopia is launched and I can imagine he'd feel at least a little bit of grief for his Gathering comrades, especially Kira and Maes), and the two of them in fact may even align themselves with the Evil Charmed Ones as unwitting pawns for awhile…you have yourself a formidable hurdle for the good guys to get through.
• Haven’t figured out more, but I do want the Avatars to not hand over their perfect world without a fight so they later change their minds from annihilating demons to using them to get rid of the Charmed Ones and anyone who's helping them. Charmed Ones join forces with Elders, few demons and rest who didn’t see from the Avatar point of view. We could even have Prue, Grams and Patty(the ones responsible for informing the Elders about Cole) and other Halliwell witches to help them. Good and evil fighting together to get rid of Avatars and save--or rather wake the world up, well for evil it’s to save themselves from extinction. And hence we have our Ultimate Battle.
"Haven't figured out more" line has obviously been rectified, so that notwithstanding, that mention of Prue, Grams, and Patty being responsible for informing the Elders about Cole makes this the perfect opportunity to segue into the second part of my Valhalla plan—which not only leads to Cole's role in waking the sisters up, but also puts together the team I need for the cast of my would-be spinoff idea, the Outbranch. To do this, I must first introduce an original character of my own: Edunnia.
Lady Edunnia is an independent demi-goddess closely related to the Valkyries, who's always looking for some kind of cause that involves "breathing life into soething", even if she has to defy convention and bend rules to do so. As a matter of fact, Edunnia once was a Valkyrie, but her powers were altered by an incident with an evil witch, removing her superhuman agility and combat skills but giving her the power to water-teleport across the realms without use of a pendant portal. Her name comes from the Norse goddess Iðunn/Iduna, who guards the Asgardian apples of immortality and is thus hailed as a goddess of spring and rebirth, and the realm of Edenia from the
Mortal Kombat franchise, which itself was named and styled after the Biblical Garden of Eden. Because I love irony, Lady Edunnia would be played by none other than Geri Halliwell, once again rocking the red-and-yellow mixed hair color from her Ginger Spice days.
Edunnia would be introduced in the first episode after Utopia is implemented, though a scene in the Demonic Wasteland where Billie is looking for her mother and sister, but by the time she finds them they're already in trouble, battling two of the serpent beasts of the Wasteland to avoid being devoured—thus establishing that there's more than one beast. Billie tries to come and help, but before she can do so, Christy and Helen are surrounded by the entry of two more beasts. Christy and Helen, noticing Billie, try to tell her to leave for her own safety, but are quickly devoured in front of her eyes. Billie, afraid and hopeless, turns and runs as soon as the beasts turn her way. They give chase and almost catch her, when Edunnia appears and captures her spirit in a soul jar. Not recognizing Edunnia as any sort of evil, the beasts stop their pursuit and turn away.
Later in the same episode, a scene with Kira appears, where she calls out to Maes and the other Gathering demons for help in a tired voice, before collapsing on her knees and seemingly giving up. Two beasts appear off in the distance, one of whom gets to where she is and eventually dives at her, before she's tackled away—by Maes. Once they're both on their feet, Maes quickly grabs a spear out of his warrior trenchcoat and sticks it in front of the beasts threateningly to make them think twice about attacking. Edunnia appears behind them and watch as they back up, and Maes throws the spear only to completely miss the beasts, who finally charge at him and Kira—but again, Edennia captures the two in soul jars, and the beasts don't recognize her as any sort of evil to devour and so they go away.
In the same episode, Patty, the real Prue, and Grams meet with some of the Elders about stopping Utopia, as they can all see the drawback in the Avatars' plans, seeing hundreds of erasures of still- troublesome mortals and nonchalant reactions to such events across the world (two of which would take place in San Francisco and be shown on-screen). Prue mentions and tell them about Phoebe's ever-loving ex-husband Cole being a former Avatar, who may be able to help stop Utopia. Initially the idea is brushed off, with Cole having been vanquished close to two years ago and probably long devoured by the Demonic Wasteland by now, but one of the Elders reminds the rest that Cole was vanquished in the alternate reality of his own creation and thus probably became a walking soul of the cosmic void. They wonder if there's any way they can reach him, when Odin, who I have in this version as being a former champion of Valhalla whose relationship with the Valkyries is rather contentious, starts getting an idea.
The next episode features Odin appearing in Valhalla using a Valkyrie portal pendant they gave him to honor his service to them in the past. After exchanging "pleasantries" with Freyja, Mist, and Kára, he tells them that he knows they activated the Bifröst Passage to stick their realm in the cosmic void because he tried accessing them using his Elder powers and it didn't work. Which means he knows they know what's going on with Utopia. He then proceeds to tell them about Cole Turner, who they need to find and use their powers to "revive" so he can help wake the Charmed Ones up from their "intellectual zombie state". Later, the three head Valkyries venture out into cosmic!San Francisco, and eventually find Cole wandering around outside his favorite mausoleum. They first try to talk to him, he goes "not interested" until Freyja says she knows he wants to reawaken Phoebe from what's happening, offering to both explain it to him and give him a way he can help.
That's when he comes to Valhalla, and she both explains the situation to him and breathes solid life back into him. She also briefly uses Bifröst to bring Valhalla back to its in-between state, so he can safely dust out to the physical plane, however quickly reverts the Bifröst back to cosmic mode after he's gone to keep their island safe. This frees him to go and approach Phoebe, convincing her to undergo a vision quest to help her see the truth, which of course leads to the Avatars hatching
Operation: Evil Charmed Ones.
Valhalla, the Valkyries, and Edunnia return a few episodes later, after Cole successfully reawakened Phoebe and started her up in doing the same for her sisters. Cole finds himself waiting on the shore of the Indian ocean, when Edunnia water-ports next to him and offers to take him where he wants to go: Valhalla. Once there, Freyja, shocked to see her, utters her name for the first time in the series. Cole asks if they know each other, to which Mist and Kára explain to him that she used to be one of them until her powers suddenly changed and she decided to venture out on her own. Oh, and she likes bending the rules. Which he would soon find out anyway, as she breaks out the three soul jars featuring Billie, Maes, and Kira.
She asks Freyja to breathe life back into her three catches because the Valkyries are going to need them in order to help the Charmed Ones win the battle against the forces of Utopia. Freyja reminds Edunnia that this battle isn't the Final World Battle they've been training for, but Edunnia, with help from Cole, is able to convince her that Ragnarök isn't the only major battle worth asking Valhalla to fight. Despite the objections of Kára and one of their faithful warriors, Freyja agrees and breathes the three back to solid form.
From there…I try my hand at writing an actual scene. Or group of scenes, as it would be:
- [Freyja blows a smooth whistling breath at Maes, Kira, and Billie. Their bodies become solid. They immediately proceed to feel themselves, staring in astonishment at Freyja.]
- Maes: [points at Freyja tentatively] "Okay…who are you? What the hell's going on here?"
- Freyja: "Welcome to Valhalla. My name is Freyja. Most of the others you see before you are my fellow Valkyries."
- Edunnia: "My name's Edunnia. Charmed to finally meet you all without any serpent beasts chasing your tails."
- Cole: "And I'm—"
- Kira: [interrupting] "Cole Turner, formerly known as the once great and terrible demon Belthazor. We know. We've heard of you."
- [Cole looks at her, surprised at her quick wit and knowledge.]
- Kira: "Hey, I may look young and pretty, but I've been around a lot longer than you think."
- Maes: "She has, trust me."
- Kira: "Besides, don't look so surprised. Anyone who knows anything about what's going on in the magical world would've heard of you over the last few years."
- Kára: "Alright, since you guys are supposed to be our new friends, would care to introduce yourselves?"
- Kira: "Huh? Oh yeah, sure! I'm Kira the Seer. Been around for centuries."
- Maes: "Maes Chandler, vampire warrior. Been like this for 30 years."
- Cole: [turns to Billie] "And you are…?"
- Billie: "Billie Jenkins, Phoenix witch, sick to death of this place already."
- [Cole notices that Maes is looking around, as though curiously surveying the area.]
- Cole: "Don't worry, I've been in here before. This…throne room of Freyja's may not have any doors, but it does have plenty of shade."
- Billie: "Okay, so, now that we all know each other's names, care to explain to us why we're on some frigid-toned mythical island in the middle of nowhere?"
- Cole: "Long story short, we're gonna need all of you to fight against the Avatars."
- Kira: "Huh?"
- Maes: "Hold on. Against the Avatars? What about Utopia?"
- Cole: "Oh, they misled you on that big time."
- [Kira and Maes look at each other, seemingly in disbelief.]
- Kira: "Of all the nerve…!"
- Maes: "You gotta be kidding me."
- Cole: "Okay, what exactly did they tell you?"
- Kira: "Well, they told us…no, they showed us, that they were gonna make the world into a paradise that evil can't possibly mess with. And by showed, I literally mean they showed me a vision. It involved Phoebe, some cute little kids, some no-more-demons talk, and most importantly, they all looked like they were in absolute heaven. They even offered to turn us and a bunch of other demons like us human in exchange for me showing my vision to Phoebe!"
- Cole: "Number one, that 'absolute heaven' thing is an absolute lie. The whole way it works involves the removal of free will. All they do is paint magical smiles on every soul in the physical plane and then kill anyone who still has a care in the world."
- Maes: "How do I know you're telling the truth."
- Freyja: "Within the first day, they've erased hundreds of people all across the world over the slightest complaint." [One of the Valkyries approaches her and gives her a small box. She opens it, revealing a strange set of cards, which she hands to Kira.] "These are the identification cards of those taken away in the United States alone. You're a seer. You have the power to check for yourself."
- [Kira closes her eyes and traces her thumb around the first ID card. When her thumb hits the vacant image window, a vision suddenly hits her, with the same atmosphere as the vision the Avatars gave her, indicating that it's of the same world. The vision shows the man arguing with a cop about a parking ticket, suddenly vanishing as Avatar Kappa, watching on, waves his arms. Snapping out of the vision, she quickly opens her eyes, looking at Maes in crestfallen disbelief.]
- Kira: "He's telling the truth. I saw it."
- [Maes starts slowly seething in anger, having to close his eyes and breathe deeply to calm himself down.]
- Maes: "Damn it!"
Scene continues in Act 2:
- Billie: "So these guys really are bad news. I thought that Haas demon who hired us to take them out along with the Charmed Ones was just out to cover his own behind."
- Cole: "Trust me, he was. The Avatars' brave new world isn't exactly a thriving haven for demons. Or young Phoenix witches, for that matter."
- Edunnia: "Wait, you said something about them saying they would make you human?"
- Maes: [turns towards her] "Yeah. Th…they showed us. They promised us that they could do it, they showed that they have the power to do it."
- Edunnia: "And what did they say about how they would do it? Or even what they meant by making you human?"
- [Maes looks down, as though struggling to come up with the answer.]
- Kira: "Actually…I don't think they did say anything."
- Cole: "Okay, so what does it mean to you to become human? Other than becoming the Avatars' useful idiots?"
- Kira: "How about feeling things?"
- Cole: "Feeling things?"
- Kira: "Yes. And not the typical emptiness, power, rage, lust, and whatnot that comes with being a demon. I mean real feelings. For example; love, happiness, companionship, empathy for others. I've felt those feelings in my visions for so long, yet I can never have them for myself. And quite frankly, I'm sick of it."
- Maes: "Then there's me. I have a constant hunger for blood, and I can't stand in the sun for a second with feeling like I'm getting burned to death. Do you know how hard it is to manage that without becoming a threat to innocent people? Trust me, it sucks!"
- Cole: "I've worked with your kind in the past. I know how it is. But you're handling it, right? Or at least you're actually trying?"
- Maes: "Yeah. And I'm getting real sick of it."
- Cole: "That's more than can be said for 98% of vampires. And demons in general, in fact."
- Kira: "Exactly. That's why we needed the Avatars to help us."
- Cole: "No, you didn't. You're the exceptions to the rule already. You don't need to be turned into anything."
- Maes: "Wait, say that again?"
- Cole: [sighs] "Look. Kira. All those good feelings you said demons can't have, are things we've been taught that we can't have by the demons around us. But the truth is, the demonic culture's been drilling those feelings out of us since the day we were born. That's because the nature of our powers often conflicts with those emotions, so they're seen as weaknesses. But not only are they still possible for some of us to have, we can use them to channel the emotions that do work with our powers so they make us even stronger."
- Billie: "How does that make any sense? Demons are evil. It's the whole reason you guys are called demons."
- Cole: "No, it makes perfect sense. Just think for a minute."
- Kira: "What, because you fell in love with Phoebe? You're half-human."
- Cole: "And what about your bond with Phoebe?"
- Kira: "What?"
- Cole: "Being stuck in a cosmic void has its perks. I've been able to watch your little Gathering develop. For all your talk about having no feelings, you bonded with Phoebe because you two were kindred spirits and you both cared about each other. Chandler here is endlessly devoted to you, and anyone who's seen you two for more than a cup of coffee can see it." [Maes starts to open his mouth, Cole swiftly turns to him] "Don't bother retorting, I'm actually helping you." [Cole turns back to Kira.] "And then there's Drake Mercier, the purest exception to everything you believe about your moral limits as a demon. He's been staring you two right in your faces this whole as time as a member of the Gathering."
- Kira: "You saw that much?"
- Cole: "Yes. And based on what I saw, you don't understand what's going on with yourself. You're not disqualified from being good people just because you're demons. It's an uphill battle for sure, but you're fighting it, [he starts pointing animatedly, first at Kira, then towards the ground] it can be won, and you don't need to let a bunch of brainwashing black-robed reality-warping tyrants steal your powers in order to do it!"
- [Everyone is stunned in silence at Cole's declaration. Kira is especially taken aback, seemingly looking inside herself. Maes tentatively eyes her, then puts an arm around her as if to offer comfort. Edunnia, meanwhile, is starting to slowly creep on a grin.]
- Edunnia: "Well, I'll be."
Scene continued in Act 3:
- Kára: "So the bastards just wanted all their powers?"
- Edunnia: "Considering the lies the Avatars have already fed the lot of them, it wouldn't shock me if that's all their plan to supposedly turn these two human really was."
- Cole: "Exactly."
- Maes: "But…more importantly…" [he nods his head towards Kira]
- Kira: "So…" [looks up at Cole, hopefully] "…you're saying that…I can learn how to feel good things even now as a demon?"
- Mist: "I think he's saying something more. I think he's saying you already can feel good things, you just need to get a grasp on it."
- Edunnia: "It'll take some trying, of course, since you are still a demoness and all. But it is doable in your case."
- Billie: "Okay, hold up. This is all very heartwarming and everything, but maybe Mr. Pep-talk here can say something to spruce me up about bringing my family back from the dead?"
- Edunnia: "Were they devoured by the serpent beasts?"
- Billie: "Yeah, but—"
- Edunnia: "Then there's no reliable way to bring them back."
- Billie: "Yes, there is."
- Maes: "Yeah, sure. Can we ask how?"
- Billie: "I've done my homework. I know all about that time that demon from the astral plane cast the Charmed Ones' vanquishing spells backwards and brought their dead demons back to life."
- [Cole stares at her incredulously.]
- Cole: "You're not serious?"
- Billie: "Yeah, I'm dead serious. If you don't know about that, then you should—"
- Cole: "What I mean is, do you really think that plan would work?"
- Billie: [throws her hands up in frustration] "Yes! Do I have to scream it out loud or something?"
- Cole: "Two problems. First, the Charmed Ones' Book of Shadows will protect itself from being touched by evil. Phoenix witches are usually wild cards when it comes to being good or evil, but you do use Grimoires, so I'm pretty sure it wouldn't trust. Second, even if you could steal the Book, if your family was vanquished by the Power of Three spell, you're flat out of luck."
- Billie: "What do you mean?"
- Cole: "They've killed hundreds of demons and warlocks with that spell. You can't guarantee that it would bring back your family and not one of those other hundred demons, or that it wouldn't just bring back everyone they vanquished with it and make the world's problems even worse."
- Billie: "I don't care!"
- Cole: "You expect me to believe you wouldn't feel guilty at all if your actions caused hell on earth?"
- Freyja: "How exactly did your family get vanquished anyway?"
- Billie: "Well…" [pauses and sighs, clearly not liking talking about this] "My mom got vanquished by the Charmed Ones using that Power of Three spell, I think, along with Haas and his lady friend Klea. Christy and I didn't bite it then because mom hit us with small energy balls to knock us out of harm's way. Then Christy got up and attacked them with a fireball, and Paige deflected it back at her and…"
- [Tears start welling up in her eyes, and she begins to quietly sob, though it seems reserved as though she's trying to hold it back.]
- Kára: "So even the slick-talking Phoenix brat has a heart, huh?"
- [Freyja takes a few steps towards Billie, stopping right in front of her, then rests a hand on top of the younger girl's head, tilting her up to look at her.]
- Freyja: "Billie…"
- Billie: [sniffling, wipes her eyes] "Wh-what?"
- Freyja: "Your mother made sure that their last living acts were to protect you. And…Christy, who if I understand correct was your sister, [Billie nods in confirmation] died trying to avenge her despite your reservations on the matter. I won't claim to know them, but knowing what I do about people, I can guess that your family wouldn't want you to put your neck on the line jumping through hoops over the slimmest promise it would bring them back. They would want you to live, and to fight, and to accomplish great things so as to bring honor to their name. Do you understand?"
- [Billie looks at her, as though understanding what she's trying to do, yet still steeling herself as if to receive it.]
- Billie: "Yeah…I think so."
- Edunnia: "Alright, everyone. Calm your knickers. I…have an idea." [she says this glowingly, as if presenting something grand]
- Kára: [deadpan] "Oh, I wanna hear this one."
- Edunnia: [ignores Kára] "Anyway, here's my great master plan. How about you two blokes, [points to Cole and Maes] and you two birds, [points to Billie and Kira] form yourselves a faction and come work for me?"
- Maes: "Yeah, I was wondering when you'd finally ask that."
- [Kára puts on a sly smirk, appreciating the pointed response.]
- Edunnia: "Well, color yourself a genius, then. As I was getting ready to say, it's clear that all five of us have a need for this to work. Kira, you need a foothold to start you on the road to fighting for good. Maes, you clearly need to be near Kira. Billie, you need something to keep you ticking and to give you a new identity after losing your mum and your sister. And Cole, you more than anyone else need to start making up for your past sins. And I, of course, need a pack of warriors that can make life interesting for me."
- Kira: "And you think we're gonna be the ones who fill every single one of those needs?"
- Edunnia: "Correct. And of course, your first order of business…will be to assemble a magical army of both good and evil creatures who are awakened to the truth and prepared to help the Charmed Ones and the forces of Valhalla take everyone's future back from the Avatars. In fact, consider this your trial mission. If you lot don't form a dynamic that you like during all this, we can all go our separate ways after this is over. But if you do…"
- Maes: "Let me guess: if we do, we can consider it the start of a beautiful friendship?"
- Edunnia: "That you can."
- Kára: "Here we go again. She's found herself a cause to bend the rules for…as always…"
- Kira: "Just had a brainstorm. Since we're apparently all about bending rules, breaking conventions, and branching out from the status quo…I'd like to suggest a team name for us."
- Cole: [raises his eyebrows] "Already?"
- Maes: [chuckles] "You'd be surprised."
- Cole: "Not anymore. You just told me to expect anything."
- Kira: "Okay. Get this. What if we called ourselves…the Outbranch?"
- [Kira's would-be teammates all look to each other, then to her, as if considering the name together.]
- Billie: "That's…" [pauses briefly] "…actually, that name sounds pretty cool."
- Maes: "And yet it's to the point." [grins widely] "I think I like this one."
- Cole: [nods] "Well, there we have it, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Outbranch." [smiles widely]
I've written out scenes before, mostly for other fandoms in other places under different names, but don't think I've flexed that muscle this much in a long time. So there might be some "ring rust" in the way here. Also, I'm not sure if three scenes of talking in the same place is something that would actually be done. But apparently my brain absolutely insisted on having the practice.
That said, the general idea of this all cements the Valkyries and the Outbranch as the inevitable leaders of the resistance outside of the Halliwell clan. And finally, we understand what the heck my new sig and icon are about.
• Now when the Charmed Ones wake up, they find themselves utterly powerless as two versions can't share the same powers. Neither can they access the Power of Three. After experiencing so many moments of grief to break from Avatars’ control, they would be mentally weakened, enough for the Evil Charmed Ones to gain access to their magic. Reclaiming their magic won’t be as simple as reciting Power of Three a few times over the Book now.
• Also there’s another problem for the girls. As we saw in Centennial Charmed, two same beings seem to merge and only one set of memories and powers remain. Like Cole going from invincible back to demon, but having no memories of his alternate self. I guess two same souls can’t co-exist together, they have to merge eventually. The same would apply for the sisters. The only danger this time is that the victor might not be the original reality Charmed Ones once the two Charmed Ones merge together.
• I can totally imagine Cole preparing them against their evil counterparts. Both physically and mentally. Especially the mental battle as the guy has experience with battling one’s evil and demonic half from taking over you. So who better than to teach the Charmed Ones to not let their evil doppelgangers overwhelm and completely take over them once the merger takes place? And if they win, they get the Power of Three and hence defeat the Avatars too.
• So now we’ll have two battles going on simultaneously: One with all the witches, warlocks, Elders, ghosts, etc against evil working or brainwashed by the Avatars. And one mental battle between the two Charmed Ones for their existence. And it is the outcome of this battle which will determine the overall victory.
Precisely. Although, going by my plan, only Piper and Phoebe would have the mental battles in the sense that we're talking about because the original Charmed Ones would be the ones the Avatars brought back. So Paige would still have her powers. But, like Leo, she'd still be faithful to Utopia for awhile longer, again, because of her pain over losing Chris. That said, after Paige and Leo are both woken up, I could see both the resistance and the army of Utopia both being fully built up shortly thereafter. We know who the leaders of the good guys are, thanks to my brain deciding to write up an entire multiple-section scene. The Avatars' soldiers, on the other hand, I see being led by former Gathering members Savard and his three demon underlings, Pilar, Patra, and Phoenix—whose name I just realized we might want to change in context of everything. I can imagine that after killing Haas's four mooks, they would've resolved that they actually like having power, and they would approach the Avatars again and changing their offer from giving up their powers to seconding the Evil Charmed Ones in command of the army to enforce Utopia in exchange for the freedom of their people from the demonic Slave King.
Talking about the Halliwells, I think it would be cool if we also saw a Prue vs. Paige battle, where they're not only fighting each other physically, but each trying to vocally encourage their own set of sisters in the battle in the centers of the minds.
Inevitably, the series finale would see the good Charmed Ones would win with intervention from Leo and Drake, following which they would use the Great Divide spell to finally summon the real Prue, who would then proceed to stomp alter!Prue in the mental merge battle. The Power of Three would still stick with Piper, Phoebe, and Paige, because Prue is in fact dead, but she would offer a rousing speech about how proud she is of her sisters' growth, including her long-lost sister Paige, and how they've overcome their stumbles and hurdles to be the truly strong women they are today, before returning to the ancestral plane of the Halliwell line, where they'll need her to be to finally vanquish the Avatars.
At the same time, the Outbranch and the the Valkyries are able to lead the forces of truth into victory against the Avatars' golden army, leaving nothing between our heroes and the Avatars but air and opportunity. Still, when the Charmed Ones give the Avatars two options to change the world back to what it once was—"you do it yourselves and we'll leave you in peace or we do it for you by destroying you"—Omega begins to lead the other Avatars in insisting that they not give it up, but then Theta steps up and calms him down, saying that Utopia will still happen in due time even if they give it up now. The Charmed Ones notice this and ask what she means, and immediately the Avatars realize she just said too much.
"I can answer that." Enter the Crone, with revelations regarding truth about Wyatt, the Twice-Blessed Child Prophecy, and the Bad Future, that change everything we thought we knew was going on in season 6.
The discovery she made when she peered into Wyatt's destiny didn't just show Wyatt becoming king of the world and turning everything into a dystopia under his role. It showed said dystopia eventually being changed into the Avatars' Utopia, with him becoming their figurehead leader. Obviously, Future Chris came from before this development concluded. Somehow, the Avatars had managed to secretly manipulate the pregnancy so as to maximize the amount of power the child could glean from both parents and then balloon that exponentially over time. This is the entire source of the prophecy of the Twice-Blessed Child who's supposed to be more powerful than the Charmed Ones put together, as well as the ultimate source of his gradual heel turn, not Gideon's betrayal as originally thought. (Remember, Bad Future Wyatt doesn't think he's being evil: he thinks good and evil are archaic concepts which he's ascended beyond and that this gives him the right to flex his power and rule with an iron fist. I'm just playing that to its logical conclusion—and explaining how Wyatt's prophecy came out of nowhere and completely defied the show's original premise.)
Our heroes start asking when the Avatars could've done this, but then Piper remembers something. When the "ghost of Patty" saved her from her shock and drowning torture at the hands of Necron. It was right after this that the baby started showing glimpses of its unreal power, healing her from the womb. Right there, she deduces the truth—
that wasn't mom! That was the Avatars' illusion!
Knowing the truth, the Crone devised a years-long plan to flush the Avatars out and lead to their victory. She was the one who put the fear of God into Gideon by showing him the prophecy of Wyatt's reign of terror which the Avatars had prepared, knowing that he wouldn't be able to process it properly and that he would try to kill the boy and end up failing. She essentially sacrificed Gideon's sanity and sanctity, Future Chris, and Leo's trust in the Elders, knowing that the Avatars would see an opportunity to expedite their plans and overzealously seek to install Utopia using the Charmed Ones instead of their manipulated Chosen One. Being a proud evil demon allows her not to think twice about causing such harm to the good guys in the process of fixing the problem, you see.
When the Avatars did indeed prematurely come forward and then use the Gathering demons to spread their message, she was the one who orchestrated the Celerity demons' anti-Avatar alliance with Paul Haas's faction, hoping that this alliance could destroy their hopes of forcing Utopia to begin with. However, her real focus was on setting up a course of action in case her minions fail at doing anything but buying her time. Knowing enough of the Charmed Ones' history to see that they had plenty of overseers and lost loved ones who would ensure they woke up to the truth, she figured that when they did, they would need an army behind them just in case the Avatars got one. She looked for the best development she could find in that regard—and found it when she read about the mysterious Lady Edunnia in an ancient demonic textbook.
She quickly sought out Edunnia, and once she found her, informed of her of the truth about the situation, trusting the demi-goddess to figure something out herself. This is when Edunnia first started getting the idea of rescuing demonic/villainous casualties from the Wasteland and enlisting them as part of a force whose first mission for her would be to help stop the Avatars' plans. Of course, the rest is history.
With this knowledge, there's only one way the Charmed Ones could finish this:
Prudence, Penelope
Patricia, Melinda...
Astrid, Helena
Laura and Grace
Halliwell Witches
Stand strong beside us
Vanquish this evil
from time and space
The Power of Three we now decree!
The Power of Three will set you free!
The Power of Three will DESTROY thee! The Avatars are destroyed, the world is reverted back to normal, and the second half of the episode would feature the aftermath.
• After the Ultimate Battle, seeing Avatars would’ve probably wiped out more than enough demons, we have our temporary truce between good and evil. And after that…well is there a reason for season 8 after this? Seeing the concept of fellow witches and magical community being against the Charmed Ones is already incorporated into season 7?
Adding to this, we have a few scenes among the Halliwells.
One, featuring Piper and Leo at home, watching Wyatt sleep. They talk about having to adjust to him not having as much power as he used to, but ultimately resolve they'll get through it together as a family.
Two, featuring Paige and Henry in the latter's office, where he gets down on one knee with a cubic zirconium ring (he'd say something about how diamonds are blood money and she's not a murderous person) and proposes to her. She tearfully says yes, then calls Phoebe with the news, who is ecstatic to hear it. This sets up…
Three, featuring Phoebe and Paige, who meet outside the Halliwell Manor. Phoebe congratulates her, and admires the ring, even amidst her own surprise when Paige tells her what it is. When she touches it, however, she gets a premonition of Paige holding a baby in her arms with Henry next to her, the both of them smiling…and calling him Chris. The OMG moment thus makes everything clear about what's been going on with Paige, who's now caught up in tears of joy as this is the happiest day of her life, knowing that Chris is going to be her son with Henry.
Four, involving a celebration at P³ including the Halliwells, their men, and the four members of the Outbranch. During this, Drake and Phoebe, enjoying a moment, see Cole sitting down alone in thought. Phoebe decides to go and talk to Cole, and he tells her that tomorrow he and his team will be leaving for another city along either the East or West Coast; even though he knows he's been registered as missing rather than dead, staying in San Francisco wouldn't be the best for either of them. He's come to terms with his mistakes and his need for redemption, figures that monitoring for signs of demons and other beings who may try to break the new truce between good and evil is a good place to start, and is happy for Phoebe and Drake, as he feels Drake is doing everything right for Phoebe that he did wrong. They embrace and wish each other good luck, concluding their story on good terms as Cole then turns his attentive gaze to his new "family."
Finally, the last scene in the series, begins with the sisters writing in the book, like in the show, except not to foretell their future, but to express what they look forward to accomplishing. Most notably, each one wants to continue to do good and help people whenever they can, whether that's with their powers or their simple human gifts. Conclude with the "struggles and heartaches, family of survivors, and that's why we've truly been Charmed" line. Right as Piper is finished writing those last words, Leo walks in with Wyatt, laughing about some cool thing they did while they were out shopping for supplies. The camera pans out to the front of the manor, showing the door closing by itself with the TK sound (to suggest that it's Prue), followed by the transition with the triquetra symbol to fade to black, finally concluding this version of
Charmed.
• And that concludes the last and final season
Thankfully, yes. Good God, I think my brain might be broken in half here…
*collapses*