Charmed
Register
Advertisement

"Well, with genies there's always a catch, an unseen consequence. For example, say a man wishes for a car, the next day his dad'll die and he'll inherit a car."
Leo Wyatt explaining how genies operate.[src]

Genies are magical tricksters who grant three wishes to their "master", the current owner of their bottle. Due to their nature, making a wish with a genie can be very dangerous, as it may come with an unseen consequence. For this reason, one must be very careful and specific when making a wish. When all three wishes are granted, the Genies are freed from their current master.

The only way to reverse the wishes is to return the Genies to their respective bottles.

History[]

First Genie[]

Main article: Unnamed Genie

In 2000, the Council sent a Dragon Warlock after the Charmed Ones and freed a Genie from his bottle to assist him. The Genie suggested distracting the sisters by granting them their wishes. When the sisters found the bottle on their doorstep, they freed the Genie, though Leo quickly warned them the dangers of making wishes.

However, the Genie was eventually able to trick all three sisters into making a wish: Prue wanted to feel like she was in love for the first time again, which turned her into a powerless 17-year-old version of herself. Piper wished for Dan Gordon to move on, which caused him to rapidly age. Phoebe wished for an active power, after which she gained the power of flight from the Dragon Warlock.

After the Dragon Warlock killed Prue, the Genie felt guilty over the part he played and reversed the wishes by returning to the bottle. This caused Prue to return to her adult self, but did not bring her back to life. When the Dragon Warlock attacked, Phoebe released the Genie and wished for Prue to be alive. The sisters then vanquished the Dragon Warlock. The sisters decided to give the Genie his freedom by making him mortal, though before they do, Piper wished Dan would forget everything about magic. After becoming mortal, the Genie left to start a new life. All wishes granted this time caused no consequences.

Jinny[]

Main article: Jinny

In ancient times, a powerful sorcerer wanted to marry a demon named Jinny. When she refused, he cursed her to become a Genie and trapped her in a bottle. Over the centuries, she passed from one demonic owner to another, eventually finding her way to Bosk.

Jinny reached out to Phoebe through her column and was taken to the manor. When Bosk attacked, Phoebe wished for Jinny to be free. Back to her demonic self, Jinny vanquished Bosk while Phoebe became trapped in the bottle as the new genie. When Chris picked up the bottle, he became the new master. The bottle later came into possession of Richard Montana and he became the new Genie by wishing Phoebe free. Jinny then obtained the bottle and wished the Charmed Ones dead, though Phoebe was able to possess her as a spirit and wished Richard free, causing Jinny to become a Genie once more. Her bottle was then given to the Elders after Richard wished the Charmed Ones alive again and to re-bury the lost city of Zanbar.

Powers and Abilities[]

Active Powers
  • Projection: The ability to grant the wishes of their master and thus alter reality as they desire.
  • Whirling: The ability to teleport through a colorful swirling cloud.
  • Shrinking: the ability to change size. Genies automatically shrink when they return to their bottles.
  • Possession: The ability to temporarily possess another living being.
Other Powers
  • Immortality: The ability to have an infinite lifespan and an arrested aging process.

Gallery[]

Notes and Trivia[]

  • In the 1960s, a popular television show "I Dream of Jeannie" was based on astronaut Major Nelson and a genie he found named Jeannie. When Phoebe was turned into a genie, Paige couldn't help but joke "Don't you need to go help Major Nelson." ("I Dream of Phoebe")
  • The television show "I Dream of Jeannie" clearly inspired both the episode title and genie garb in "I Dream of Phoebe", as well as Phoebe's blonde wig. Not to mention the bottle itself of course.
  • Alyssa Milano uses her outfit she wore as a genie as on of the link pictures on her website.
  • The genie in "Be Careful What You Witch For" seemed to have a lot more freedom than the genies in "I Dream of Phoebe", suggesting that different genie bottles can have different rules.
  • Becoming a genie causes some personality changes. When Phoebe was turned into a genie, she was compelled to refer to Chris as her "master" and became very helpful towards those around her, even if it was too much for their liking.
  • Like Leo said in "Be Careful What You Witch For" genies are not evil by nature, meaning that once someone becomes a genie, they are considered good, despite what they were before. As seen when the Jinny, formerly and demon, was able to touch the Book of Shadows while she was a Genie.
  • In most pieces of fiction, the wishes a Genie can grant are limited by a few rules. The three common rules are that Genies cannot kill, cannot bring someone back from the dead and cannot make a person fall in love. Genies in Charmed don't appear to follow these rules, as they have both killed and resurrected someone based on wishes.
    • However, the first Genie did say that he was incapable of creating world peace.
  • The first genie's wishes could be undone by being sent back into his bottle. In the second one, the wishes could only be undone by another.
  • Presumably, the genie also still lives in the lamp from the fairy tale "Aladdin." ("Happily Ever After")

Appearances[]

Genies appeared in a total of 2 episode throughout the course of the series.

References[]

  1. Limited to granting wishes.
  2. The First Genie used this ability to possess Dick.
Advertisement