- "Your power comes from your emotions."
- — A famous Leo Wyatt quote.
Emotions are the feelings of every being in the universe, whether magical or non-magical. Within the magical world, emotions play a fundamental role as the foundation for all magic. Without emotions, magical beings cannot access and use their powers. With them, they can amplify them, depending on the strength of the emotion.
Leo often says powers come from one's emotions, although each power might require a different trigger. When Prue and Piper first received their powers, their triggers were anger and fear, respectively. Alternatively, a Whitelighter must trigger the love they feel for a charge in order to heal them, while some demons and Darklighters must feel rage and hate respectively.
Whitelighters and Cupids are connected emotionally to their charges. Whenever their charge is in a panic, scared or in pain, they feel it and if their charge is killed, the connection is then broken permanently.
While mortals can handle the entire rainbow of emotions, demons can't. In fact, it kills them. Some beings are said to have no emotions and in the case of pure blooded demons, they possess limited undesirable emotions.
Human Beings[]
- "You have a once in a life time opportunity to feel the world's emotions. All it means to be human. The good and the bad. Don't be afraid."
- —Father Thomas to Prue Halliwell.[src]
Although it is said that humans can handle the entire rainbow of emotions, they can't handle all of them at once. They will be driven insane if they are forced to experience multiple emotions and in worst cases, be killed. However, a mentally strong person can learn to embrace the emotions and project them into strength. Prue Halliwell was able to do this when she temporarily became an Empath.
Magical Beings[]
The way magical beings access, use, and strengthen their powers is through their emotional conditions. Without them, they are rendered powerless. They can also be weakened if they experience negative emotions and lose faith in themselves. Like humans, magical beings can handle the entire rainbow of emotions, but some species have been known to not be able to experience certain emotions.
Demons[]
Demons are the only beings who cannot handle human emotions. Since most of them have no soul, they do not feel. However, they seem to be able to feel pain, hate, anger, and all other bad emotions.
Spirits[]
Earthbound spirits who hold a grudge can channel their emotions (usually anger) to make their spirit form able to interact with physical objects. Neophyte ghost Charlene Hughes learned to manifest her ability within a day after her death. Rick and Nathan Lang's hatred was so deep-seeded that they could make their bodies temporarily visible to the living.
Manipulating Emotions[]
Controllers and Manipulators[]
Phoebe manipulates Cal Greene's emotions to kill him.
Those beings capable of controlling and channeling emotions into their powers are very powerful. Empaths, for example, can use emotions to control and use powers of other beings by use of their Empathy power. If they can evolve their power to an advanced form Psychic Reflection, Empaths can eventually manipulate emotions to kill their opponents.
Phoebe Halliwell did this in an alternate future, where she killed baseball player Cal Greene, who had murdered a close friend of hers. Phoebe manipulated Greene's emotions by forcing him to feel his magnified anger and the pain of his victims.
Killing[]
Barbas reading fear.
Both Good and Evil make use of emotions to kill. Some examples are:
- Barbas, the Demon of Fear, who uses fear to kill witches.
- Banshees elevate their call into a scream, which can kill their victim.
Repression Demons[]
Lord Dyson explodes after feeding on Leo Wyatt's rage.
Many demons feed on undesirable emotions, such as rage and anger, to make themselves stronger and more powerful. However, they can overdose and explode if they absorb too much, proving that even emotions that demons desire and can handle can also be lethal to them.
Lord Dyson, a repression demon, is one of the many demons that has this power. Unfortunately, he made the ill-fated decision to feed on Leo Wyatt's pent up rage and hostilities and it proved fatal, killing him in a huge explosion. This proves the age old cliché that too much of a good thing can prove to be a bad thing.
Conversion[]
Banshees[]
Phoebe as a Banshee.
Banshees are able to convert a witch into a Banshee with their scream. While their screams kill mortals, it turns a witch by zeroing in on the pain of that witch. The conversion can only be reversed before the first kill. The person who caused the turned witch emotional pain, has to express clearly how they feel. This will allow the turned witch to turn back to her normal state.
In 2001, a Banshee was able to turn Phoebe Halliwell into a Banshee as well as she was sobbing over Cole Turner.
Furies[]
Piper as a Fury.
Furies kill their victims by breathing poisonous smoke into their victims. However, if they breath this smoke into a witch, it may open up a portal of unexpressed anger. The anger will eventually consume the witch's humanity, turning her into a fury. To turn a fury back into her former state as a witch, the portal of unexpressed anger must be closed.
In 2001, Piper Halliwell got smoked by a fury. Her unexpressed anger towards her late sister Prue caused her to turn into a fury.
World Creation[]
The Charmed Ones trapped in their own worlds.
Vortex Minions can create worlds based on their victims emotions, desires, and dreams. They then create a vortex, which traps their victim into that world. The victim can only escape by vanquishing the vortex minion. If not, the minion will kill the victim in their own world.
In 2003, a vortex minion by the name of Gith, trapped each of the Charmed Ones in their own worlds. Piper's world was magic-free; in Paige's world, everyone knew of magic and witches; and in Phoebe's world (which was actually based on Jason Dean's dreams), she was a successful columnist with her own TV show.
Spells[]
Certain spells are written to affect someone's emotions, however, the results are never desired and can be dangerous if the spell is not reversed in time. However, some spells can use emotions to help someone else.
Love Spells[]
A Love Spell in the Book of Shadows.
Love spells are some of the most dangerous spells. There are many of them, but none of them work the way they are intended, as they only conjure lust, not true love.
To Receive a Sign[]
This spell was written by Phoebe Halliwell in 2000. She created it in an attempt to assist her sister Piper in choosing between the two men in her life - Dan Gordon and Leo Wyatt.
To Reveal One's Emotions[]
A spell written by Paige Matthews in 2002. The spell allows to make a person feel the feelings of another person. Paige had written the spell to make Cole realize Phoebe's feelings for him.
Paige rewrote the spell a year later to fit Piper, when she was turned into a Valkyrie and could not express her true emotions, due to a Memory Spell. Phoebe, who had recently become an Empath, could feel her true emotions and this spell allowed for those emotions to float into Piper.
Fearless Spell[]
Piper writing the Fearless Spell.
A spell written by Piper Halliwell in 2002. Piper had the intention to remove her fears, but instead, the spell only suppressed it and made her act very recklessly.
Happiness Spell[]
Another spell written by Piper Halliwell. In 2004, when the world had turned hyper-happy and while she was in the hospital ready to give birth to Chris, Piper was worried that her sisters would be killed if they kept acting negatively and had written this spell in order to turn them overly happy like herself.
The Seven Deadly Sins[]
Officer Dean infected with anger.
The Seven Deadly Sins can have an effect on one's emotions. They work by magnifying a person's predisposition, which leads to the victim's self-destruction.
In 2001, a demonic infector named Lukas caused the Charmed Ones and their Whitelighter to be infected with sin balls. Prue was infected with Pride, Piper with Gluttony, Phoebe with Lust, and Leo with Sloth.
At a crime scene, Phoebe, under the influence of a sin ball, met officer Dean. The two were just about to have sex, when they were caught by Prue and Darryl. The officer was fired by Darryl, and Lukas infected the officer with the anger-sin ball. This caused him to go to the manor to kill Phoebe.
The only way to get rid of a sin ball is by performing a selfless act. The only sin that cannot be removed by the infected is Pride, since you can't be selfless in a prideful state.
Notes and Trivia[]
- Demons are repeatedly said not to be capable of feeling emotions, however, they were seen to at least be able to feel negative emotions such as anger, frustration and fear. They can also access magical powers, so it would appear that even evil beings can feel emotions.
- Phoebe Halliwell has also displayed on multiple occasions that she can channel the emotions of demons and deflect their powers, therefore confirming that they can feel emotions.