Witch Combination?

[peytonmarie]

(Inspired by the Prue or Paige? thread. Let me know if this has come up before.)

All Hell Breaks Loose left the door open to all possibilities. So, which combination of The Charmed Ones do you think had or would have the best dynamic? Or would you prefer to see all four sisters together somehow?

[summerreading]

I think this has come up before a few times. I just cannot find said threads.

I'll always go the original three in a heartbeat.

[Esmeralda]

Due to the changes in the characters, I'd go Prue, Piper and Paige, so my Phoebs can remain my Phoebs while Prue can remain the Oldest, Piper the Heart and Paige the Only Child she was raised as, since they wouldn't want her to be just like Phoebe.

Now if I could only have one set for the entire series then it would have to be the original.

Although if it could be what we've been discussing - Piper and Leo powerless, Paige both a Charmed One and their whitelighter (they meet her during Season Three and she becomes their friend and innocent and then she's the one who dies during 'All Hell Breaks Loose'...) with Prue and Phoebe - especially if there would be no need for the horrible changes in characters that happened, that would be perfect.

[peytonmarie]

Nov 25, 2018 15:31:53 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Due to the changes in the characters, I'd go Prue, Piper and Paige, so my Phoebs can remain my Phoebs while Prue can remain the Oldest, Piper the Heart and Paige, the Only Child she was raised as, since they wouldn't want her to be just like Phoebe.

Now if I could only have one set for the entire series then it would have to be the original.

Although if it could be what we've been discussing - Piper and Leo powerless, Paige both a Charmed One and their whitelighter (they meet her during Season Three and she becomes their fiend and innocent and then she's the one who dies during 'All Hell Breaks Loose'...) with Prue and Phoebe - especially if there would be no need for the horrible changes in characters that happened, that would be perfect.

100% agree.

I think most fans could agree, even if you don't like Prue specifically, the ramifications of her death took the show downhill. It's a shame she was written out for BTS reasons and not storytelling ones. Properly planned, it could've worked out a lot better.

[universalcharmed]

I would rather see all 4 but if I had to have 3 I would choose Piper, Phoebe and Paige because they were more well rounded as a witch trio. Piper had the fire power, Phoebe had the info, and Paige had the teleportation plus healing. I don't get why some people don't like later season Phoebe? To me Phoebe became more mature and interesting. She can a career, her and Coles relationship became 10x more interesting, she began to find her own and she gained an active power that was powerful. Same with Piper I find her 100x more compelling in the later seasons. Her character gained more depth as the oldest sister. Her dealing with the loss of Prue and Leo were some of Pipers most compelling moments. I think Oldest sister Piper is a more powerful character than Middle sister Piper.

[Esmeralda]

Dec 23, 2018 21:33:02 GMT -5 universalcharmed said:

I would rather see all 4 but if I had to have 3 I would choose Piper, Phoebe and Paige because they were more well rounded as a witch trio. Piper had the fire power, Phoebe had the info, and Paige had the teleportation plus healing. I don't get why some people don't like later season Phoebe? To me Phoebe became more mature and interesting. She can a career, her and Coles relationship became 10x more interesting, she began to find her own and she gained an active power that was powerful. Same with Piper I find her 100x more compelling in the later seasons. Her character gained more depth as the oldest sister. Her dealing with the loss of Prue and Leo were some of Pipers most compelling moments. I think Oldest sister Piper is a more powerful character than Middle sister Piper.

That set was anything but balanced. Piper was too powerful, able to take out demons without any need of her sisters, unlike Prue's TK, which couldn't kill. With the first set, you had Phoebe to see what needed to be done, Piper who could freeze when they were in trouble and Prue who could defend. But offense? That was the Power of Three, something practically unneeded with the second set. Paige also had much too many powers (if I had my way, she'd have TK which works just like Prue' and that would be it, since she's just the daughter of a whitelighter and) not a whitelighter herself since she'd not dead - which also means Wyatt would only have one power), which all kinda left Phoebe extremely weak especially when she hardly used her premonitions at all.

What was mature about someone who only thought of herself and used her powers just to find the man who could provide the sperm so she could have Ladybug? Prue's worse problem was doing everything so her little sisters never had to grow up. And Paige was too much of a ditz to help them do that. Such a shame since as an assistant social worker, she should've been able to do that.

[prudencehalliwell]

Dec 24, 2018 7:48:39 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Dec 23, 2018 21:33:02 GMT -5 universalcharmed said:

I would rather see all 4 but if I had to have 3 I would choose Piper, Phoebe and Paige because they were more well rounded as a witch trio. Piper had the fire power, Phoebe had the info, and Paige had the teleportation plus healing. I don't get why some people don't like later season Phoebe? To me Phoebe became more mature and interesting. She can a career, her and Coles relationship became 10x more interesting, she began to find her own and she gained an active power that was powerful. Same with Piper I find her 100x more compelling in the later seasons. Her character gained more depth as the oldest sister. Her dealing with the loss of Prue and Leo were some of Pipers most compelling moments. I think Oldest sister Piper is a more powerful character than Middle sister Piper.

That set was anything but balanced. Piper was too powerful, able to take out demons without any need of her sisters, unlike Prue's TK, which couldn't kill. With the first set, you had Phoebe to see what needed to be done, Piper who could freeze when they were in trouble and Prue who could defend. But offense? That was the Power of Three, something practically unneeded with the second set. Paige also had much too many powers (if I had my way, she'd have TK which works just like Prue' and that would be it, since she's just the daughter of a whitelighter and) not a whitelighter herself since she'd not dead - which also means Wyatt would only have one power), which all kinda left Phoebe extremely weak especially when she hardly used her premonitions at all.

What was mature about someone who only thought of herself and used her powers just to find the man who could provide the sperm so she could have Ladybug? Prue's worse problem was doing everything so her little sisters never had to grow up. And Paige was too much of a ditz to help them do that. Such a shame since as an assistant social worker, she should've been able to do that.

Wholeheartedly agree Es. 

They made Piper too powerful, Phoebe thinking too much of herself and Paige a ditz.

Paige and Phoebe were at an all time low in S6 and Phoebe completely forgetting the lesson she learned in Morality Bites.

[Ruth Marie]

Interesting question.

In terms of chemistry then the originals. What would have been the best choice moving forward Piper dies. No Piper means no Wyatt which means no Chris and Leo may well exit and become an Elder.

I'll just wonder how Piper dying affects Prue and Phoebe. This set might make the most fun from a story point of view. If Phoebe becomes Queen of the Underworld. Prue being in Piper's position.

But that depends how the characters are written.

I think the Prue, Piper and Paige set. Would at least allow Prue to still be the oldest and Piper still the middle and Phoebe still the baby while Paige truly has to be treated as the only child. The combination of Piper, Phoebe and Paige was just the worst. I'll never understand how just sibling placements changing magically forces a person into a role.

Piper should have failed to take charge and Phoebe failed to be in the middle of Piper and Paige. While Piper wonders how Prue would handle situations.

[Elle Em]

Yeah, Piper and Phoebe were well into their 20s when Paige came around. The dynamics of oldest, middle, and youngest really don't apply here, because they were all adults. Their personalities were formed because of their sibling dynamic growing up, but it shouldn't have fallen to Piper to be the new leader because she was the oldest of the group, or Phoebe the mediator because she was in the middle. Once they're all past the teenager stage, it makes no sense to categorize them like that anymore.

[Esmeralda]

Jan 12, 2019 13:42:57 GMT -5 Elle Em said:

Yeah, Piper and Phoebe were well into their 20s when Paige came around. The dynamics of oldest, middle, and youngest really don't apply here, because they were all adults. Their personalities were formed because of their sibling dynamic growing up, but it shouldn't have fallen to Piper to be the new leader because she was the oldest of the group, or Phoebe the mediator because she was in the middle. Once they're all past the teenager stage, it makes no sense to categorize them like that anymore.

I will always count that as Kern's worst mistake, along with creating halves and making females need to be married with three kids in order to be happy.

[Granny Charmed]

Jan 12, 2019 13:42:57 GMT -5 Elle Em said:

Yeah, Piper and Phoebe were well into their 20s when Paige came around. The dynamics of oldest, middle, and youngest really don't apply here, because they were all adults. Their personalities were formed because of their sibling dynamic growing up, but it shouldn't have fallen to Piper to be the new leader because she was the oldest of the group, or Phoebe the mediator because she was in the middle. Once they're all past the teenager stage, it makes no sense to categorize them like that anymore.

I agree on that dear. And what if Paige came into the picture even later, say in a similar set-up where Phoebe died in the future. When by this point one of the sisters at least is married and has children of her own. They truly were formed into their personalities, and they just wouldn't change even more.

Jan 12, 2019 14:20:42 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Jan 12, 2019 13:42:57 GMT -5 Elle Em said:

Yeah, Piper and Phoebe were well into their 20s when Paige came around. The dynamics of oldest, middle, and youngest really don't apply here, because they were all adults. Their personalities were formed because of their sibling dynamic growing up, but it shouldn't have fallen to Piper to be the new leader because she was the oldest of the group, or Phoebe the mediator because she was in the middle. Once they're all past the teenager stage, it makes no sense to categorize them like that anymore.

I will always count that as Kern's worst mistake, along with creating halves and making females need to be married with three kids in order to be happy.

Some of Kern's worst decisions. I'm sure Connie would have done it all differently. I'm sure if she ever wanted any of the sisters to have a child, she'd let it be only *one* sister with a daughter who doesn't have any of the three Warren powers neat the end of the series or post-series or just Morality Bites.

I feel she may have wanted it to be Prue until they had to keep Leo in and Andy left. Because Secrets and Guys was an episode she had contributed too, I bet she was setting up Prue's arc (maybe based on her older sister who had a child) for wanting to have a child one day, that led into Morality Bites. We just never know enough about what she really wanted with the sisters at the end of the show.

[universalcharmed]

Dec 24, 2018 7:48:39 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Dec 23, 2018 21:33:02 GMT -5 universalcharmed said:

I would rather see all 4 but if I had to have 3 I would choose Piper, Phoebe and Paige because they were more well rounded as a witch trio. Piper had the fire power, Phoebe had the info, and Paige had the teleportation plus healing. I don't get why some people don't like later season Phoebe? To me Phoebe became more mature and interesting. She can a career, her and Coles relationship became 10x more interesting, she began to find her own and she gained an active power that was powerful. Same with Piper I find her 100x more compelling in the later seasons. Her character gained more depth as the oldest sister. Her dealing with the loss of Prue and Leo were some of Pipers most compelling moments. I think Oldest sister Piper is a more powerful character than Middle sister Piper.

That set was anything but balanced. Piper was too powerful, able to take out demons without any need of her sisters, unlike Prue's TK, which couldn't kill. With the first set, you had Phoebe to see what needed to be done, Piper who could freeze when they were in trouble and Prue who could defend. But offense? That was the Power of Three, something practically unneeded with the second set. Paige also had much too many powers (if I had my way, she'd have TK which works just like Prue' and that would be it, since she's just the daughter of a whitelighter and) not a whitelighter herself since she'd not dead - which also means Wyatt would only have one power), which all kinda left Phoebe extremely weak especially when she hardly used her premonitions at all.

What was mature about someone who only thought of herself and used her powers just to find the man who could provide the sperm so she could have Ladybug? Prue's worse problem was doing everything so her little sisters never had to grow up. And Paige was too much of a ditz to help them do that. Such a shame since as an assistant social worker, she should've been able to do that.

There is a difference between not liking something and thinking something is bad or worse. Think of this objectively. It would have been ridiculous for every time a low level demon or demons(In most cases) showed up that the power of three would be needed to vanquish them. That takes more from the crediablity of the show than adds to it. If they are suppose to be the most powerful witches the world had ever seen then why can't they take up a run of the mill low level demon by themselves? Second off if they power of three was needed to vanquish every demon it would be hard to show off the difference in power/threat between the demons because no matter how powerful or weak you are the same amount of power is supposedly require to vanquish them. Then it also creates a weak plot point in that if the charmed ones are the most powerful witches and all three are required to vanquish low level demons then how would any other witch vanquish any demon? This brings me to my last point which is taking out the charmed ones would be to easy if they were only a threat together because fun fact they aren't around each other 24/7. They have both professional and personal lives and realistic fact is they weren't going to live with each other for the rest of their lives. 


The power of three should have only been used against high level demons for it to seem legit. I find it hard to believe that the charmed ones would stand any chance against the source if they couldn't even vanquish a minor demon without the power of three. That would be bad writing if that happened. 

Unfortunately I don't think you are looking at things objectively, and instead of looking at what you wanted to happen. I might not like every writing decision but I can objectively look at certain plot points deduce rather it was actually good or bad. I assume most of the people on her is grown, so I think we can leave the whole I didn't like the writing so it was bad mentally behind. That type of mentally is negative and has caused a lot of bad things in the world. 

[Elle Em]

I liked the original combination the best, but if that had to change, I would like for both Prue and Phoebe to be the ones to stay, and Piper be the one to exit. Piper played an important part as the heart of the family, so I'm not sure how long it could have stayed grounded without her. I'm also not sure if Prue and Phoebe played so well against each other only because Piper was there. From my own perspective, though, the Prue-Phoebe dynamic was the most interesting and had the most potential for growth and challenge, so those two need to stay.

I would also be interested to see what they did with Paige's character without forcing her to act as the youngest just because she happens to be that way according to their ages. If they had abandoned the whole age thing as a plot point and just had them all work as a team, their personalities would play a bigger part rather than just how old they all happen to be compared to one another. I could see a mid-20s Phoebe not wanting to be treated as the baby sister by Prue, and Prue being tired of being the oldest, especially after losing Piper. That plus Paige not accepting the title of youngest just because she's a bit younger than Phoebe could make for a more interesting dynamic.

I could also see this group as staying closer together than what we saw in the show if Cole still ends up leaving, only because Prue would probably be single at that time. Piper was already with Leo, and by the time Cole left for good, she and Leo were starting to have kids. If Prue wasn't there yet at all, her and Phoebe could take that time to repair their relationship and become closer.

And I think Prue would convince Paige to stay as a social worker more than anyone else. Phoebe was off in her own world at that point in the original, and didn't seem like she even cared. And Piper was too distracted with Leo and being newly pregnant, and didn't have enough experience as the oldest to give advice like Prue might have, considering Prue had had that role most of her life.

[West]

I agree Prue and Phoebe had the most interesting relationship and dynamic.

But Piper always had more plots where Prue and Phoebe got paired together and Piper was off on her own solo adventure or romantic arc. That out of all the sisters her stories were always tied to her romantic plots.

That in my last re-watch a few years back. I couldn't believe how often that happened.

But we've seen Piper being gone twice to see how Prue and Phoebe without Piper would work. Just hard to know how it would play out longterm. But has potential.

But I do think killing the heart of the family in Piper would create the most drama and really think that killing Piper would not only test Prue and Phoebe but give them the most growth and that with Paige.

But Prue might really be dealing with Piper's death hard. But the evil Phoebe arc plays out better if she's around. That it really brings to head all the building and conflict Prue and Phoebe faced for seasons.

Without Piper. Leo might be phased out and become an Elder and stay gone.

I can really see Prue trying to get Paige to stay a social worker. And your right Elle Em. Prue did have enough experience as the older sister to give advise.

The only good thing to come without Piper is all her family stories are out the door. That I'd bet a S5 would be sisterly centric in focus to that of S2. Unless of course Phoebe's child from Cole is kept.

But honestly I'd rather stick to the original set and no Paige. But no Piper if we had Paige has lots of promise.

[Elle Em]

Yeah, I'm not sure if taking Piper out of the show would just make it crash and burn, or if it would have long-term potential. If Prue and Phoebe could get over their issues and mend their relationship fully, it would be great. If not, I don't think they'd make it past a few weeks.

Paige really has a lot of traits of both Prue and Phoebe. She put herself through school and was living on her own, yet she's also the type to be late to work and a bit of a partier. I think she could fit in better with them once Prue was able to accept her. She'd have a lot in common with each of them.