personality and power connection

[Elle Em]

I saw a theory on another site about how the sisters' powers might be connected to the way their personalities formed. I think birth order also plays a big role, but this person's idea was that by Grams binding each of their powers, it caused a deficit in their personalities related to those powers.

For example, Phoebe came to be known as someone with no vision of the future when, ironically, that was her power all along: it was just dormant while she was growing up. Prue had control issues because she didn't have the ability to control things with her mind, and also because she didn't seem to have an outlet. We saw this in the first episode when she used TK in the pharmacy and her headache went away. And for Piper, her neuroticism may have been because she wasn't able to freeze time and get more of a handle on situations. She may have always felt a bit rushed without her power. 

Again, birth order makes for a lot of personality development, but it's interesting to think of how they might have been different if they had grown up with their powers. It would obviously also change things like their abilities to fight evil, their plans for their professional and romantic lives, and so much more.  

[gzv969]

If they grew up with their powers. Andy may have known of their abilities earlier in life seeming how close he was to them and maybe grown to accept and love prue for who she really was.

Though I would imagine the three of them in school. Especially piper and prue being sort of mischievous. Using their powers secretly to get things or revenge though grams would have been all over them for using their powers like this. Phoebe may have learned to get premonitions on demand and probably might have been wiser with her choice in guys. Plus her powers may have grown to be stronger by the time she was an adult. “The eyes have it”. And if grams lived longer she may have taught them to fight demons earlier and become more seasoned witches in their adulthood.

Would have been interesting if on their trip to the past in “that 70s Episode”, that they got to patty before she made the deal with Nicholas and grams ended up never binding their powers. What type of future would they have gone back to?

[Elle Em]

They would definitely be so different if they always had powers. I think Phoebe would be affected the most. She was also always the one who most liked magic, so I can see her growing up to be quite a different person. Maybe she would have started the show more as her season 2 self, more mature and less selfish, but still fun.

Prue and Piper might still resent the idea of being witches. I can see Prue being angry about it and Piper being scared. But knowing about it and having their powers might make up for that somewhat.

I wonder also if they would have not grown apart so much if they always had powers. It might have caused them to put aside personality differences in favor of their safety, and it would have given them something else in common.

[sonja]

I love this, especially the part about Phoebe. I always thought that their powers are based on their personalities or vice versa, at least from a writing standpoint, not necessarily as part of the lore (their personalities didn't determine which power they'd get).

The concept of them growing up with their powers is really interesting too. My first thought is that they'd definitely be entirely different people, but maybe not everything would have to change. I agree that Prue and Piper might still not like being witches, especially Prue, thinking it was what killed Patty so young. But I think young Phoebe might still have her rebelliousness, but in a different way. She's the one who loves being a witch and a Charmed One and she might have a phase where she gets a little reckless with magic, annoyed by Prue and Piper who want to keep it to a minimum. She's frustrated with Prue who is being overly protective out of fear of losing her sisters like she did her mother. I agree though that having powers could bring them closer together though. 
Their romantic lives would've probably been a lot different. I'm sure Piper & Leo would've never been a thing in this timeline, if Leo was their Whitelighter since they were kids. The thought of baby Piper knowing adult Leo and growing up next to him just seems creepy...
Andy would've found out about them being witches much sooner. They'd probably also be friends with lots of other witches and magical beings.