Charmed
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Soul of the Bride is the 9th novel based in the Charmed series.

This novel is set sometime before Season 2 finale episode "Be Careful What You Witch For", since the story takes place in August and the episode is mentioned to be in October when Prue tells Piper she had been gone for a whole month in the following episode.

Summary

In a land, wandering souls.
Journey with care on the River Styx,
A prince of darkness plays his roles—
Protect the Charmed Ones from his tricks.

Prue's editor at 415 magazine offers her a challenge: if she takes a really fantastic photo, he'll run it on the cover. This could be Prue's big break—if she can come up with a killer concept. Then Prue gets the idea to shoot a group of models in the Halliwells' Victorian mansion. She'll even use an antique camera to capture the style of an old-time photo.

But when Prue snaps the shutter, all the models collapse into a deathly slumber! To rescue the innocents, the Charmed Ones descend into Hades, fighting underworld perils and uncovering an unholy plot. To rescue the missing models, they must match wits with the greatest of the ancient Greek gods—and one of the sisters might not be allowed to return to her mortal life.

Characters

Major

Support

  • Nikos: Hades's son. He tried to trick Phoebe into eating food in the Underworld to make her his lover for all eternity. As the son of a god, Nikos's powers were divine and extremely strong.
  • Mitchell Pearl: National Geographic journalist and Nikos's minion. His powers involved Shapeshifting and Luring.
  • Chloe: The model playing Artemis.
  • Zeus: The king of the Greek gods.

Minor

  • Nick Caldwell: 415 Magazine editor, and Prue's boss.
  • Professor Winters: Phoebe's art professor.
  • Joey: A model playing Ares.
  • Kurt: The model playing Apollo.
  • Madelaine: The model playing Hera.
  • Charon: The ferryman who takes souls across Rivers Acheron and Styx.
  • Jessica: The 'submissive' wife of Nikos's older brother, Philip.
  • Hades: The god of the Underworld, also known as "Hades".
  • "Zeus": The unnamed model who portrayed the Greek God Zeus.

Mentioned

Magical Notes

Book of Shadows

Cameras

Primitive cultures have long been mocked for their belief that a camera will steal one's soul. Little do most mortals know that cameras are classic portals to points beyond.
The soul is captured by an energy vortex in a spellbound camera. It must be retrieved through the same portal.

Spells

To Temporarily Remove a Witch's Power

For an instant may we be,
ordinary mortals three.:
Take us where we want to go,
Then back to our powers let us go.

To Send Someone to Mt. Olympus

A potion is to be made with the following:

Lavender, Thyme, Sage, Saffron,
red clay, rose thorns, scales
from a silver fish (e.g. salmon)
stone chipped from sculpture
Simmer it for four hours
in a base of red wine, water and song.

Once the potion is ingested, the sender will chant these words at sunrise to send the traveler off:

To the heavens, take this traveler,
As the sun rises, the sky shall have her.
One day she'll walk among the clouds,
Protect her with heaven's benevolent shroud.

To Unbind a Bond

Prue uses a treasured object of each of her sisters' to enact the spell with the Power of Three.

The bond which was not to be done,
Give us the power to see it undone.
And turn back time
To whence it was begun.

To Call Someone Back from Mt. Olympus

The spell must be cast by the sender at sunset.

From the heavens, bring the traveler,
As the sun sets, the sky shall no more have her.
One day she walked among the clouds,
Now cast her from heaven's benevolent shroud.

Incantation for Lost Souls

When a wandering spirit evades you,
Say thee this spell, for it will aid you:

Spirit oh spirit, where are you roaming,
Follow our call and return to us running.

To Accelerate Time

The bond which was not to be done,
give us the power to see it undone.
And move time forward,
for thee we shun.

Powers

Artifacts

  • Cursed Camera: Nikos's artifact, capable of sending any mortal's soul it takes a picture of to the Underworld, particularly Hades.

Notes and Trivia

  • Prue is able to cast a Power of Three spell using two symbolic items of her sisters.
  • Prue's boss doesn't have an August cover for the magazine, but the novel takes place during the middle of August. A large photo-journalism serial would have their cover photos ready weeks before if it was a monthly periodical in order to allow time for editing and printing. For Prue, it is July being 5 months before writing Christmas cards, as well as taking the photo before August.

Cultural References

Differences from the Show

  • Phoebe has the power of flight.
    • On the show, she develops the power of levitation in October.
  • Phoebe has dyed her hair blond.
  • The Season 5 finale shows that the ancient gods were actually mortals who had received their powers from the Elders.
  • The Sirens in this novel are described as having seagull bodies and kill with knives. However, in Siren Song, the Siren appears as a human and kills with a kiss of death.
  • The name of the magazine editor "Mr. Caldwell" was shown in the series to be the new head of Buckland Auction House as revealed in Ms. Hellfire.
  • Prue mentions Piper learned Latin in high school and knows a lot about mythology. On the show, Prue is the one who speaks it, and knows more about mythology than either of her sisters.

Errors

  • On the first page it has Piper paired with Nikos and then unpeeled from Phoebe, when she is paired with someone else and not unpeeled within the chapters of the book.

International titles

  • French: La fiancée de Nikos (The Bride of Nikos)
  • Russian: Duša njevjesty (Soul of Bride)
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