Paige Matthews

Paige Matthews is a fictional character, and one of three female leads, on the WB television series Charmed. She is played by actress Rose McGowan.

Paige enters the Charmed storyline at the beginning of season four, after the death of her elder half sister Prue. As the youngest sister, Paige tends to be adventurous, independent, and strong-willed.

Background

Paige Matthews was the 4th child of Patricia Halliwell, a good witch who lived in San Francisco. Unlike the first three daughters Patty had with her husband Victor Bennet, Paige was fathered by Patty's guardian angel, a whitelighter Sam Wilder. Victor had left Patty and their children and never knew of Paige. On August 2, 1977 Patty and Sam left the newborn baby to a nun named sister Agnes at a local church, fearing repercussions if the forbidden affair between a witch and a Whitelighter was ever discovered. They left the baby with a blanket and asked that her name start with a P, like all women of her family.

The baby was named Paige, and adopted by the Matthews family. Eventually her adopted parents died in a car crash. She saved herself from that accident orbing out of the car. Paige took it hard and did a huge turn around. She stopped drinking and started to do well in school. After getting over that Paige attempted to track down her real family. She went to the police and learned of the church at which she was left. She checked around and suspected she was related to the Halliwell sisters, but she somehow never approached them about it, since their mother was dead.

In 2000 Paige started to go to the club called P3 because it was owned by Piper Halliwell. Paige started dating a man named Shane.

Revelation as a Charmed One

When Paige learned Prue Halliwell had died, she attended the funeral. At the funeral Paige shook hands with Phoebe Halliwell and Phoebe received a vision of Paige being attacked by the demon Shax, the demon that killed Prue. After the funeral Paige and Shane went to a rooftop to make out and they were attacked by Shax. Phoebe and her boyfriend Cole Turner observed the fight and that Paige orbed out of existence to avoid an attack by Shax. Her magical powers had been reawakened after Prue's death. Sadly Shane was not as lucky and was injured. Phoebe and Cole attacked Shax, but he and Paige both escaped. After checking on her boyfriend at the hospital and speaking to police, Paige went to the Halliwell manor. She was together with the Book of Shadows and her two sisters for the first time and they became the Charmed Ones. This reunion was interrupted by Shax, but Piper and Phoebe were able to get Paige to assist them in saying the spell which would vanquish him. Freaked out by what she saw, Paige ran off. Hoping he could turn Paige evil before she cemented any bonds with her sisters, The Source of All Evil possessed Shane in hopes of getting her to use her powers to hurt a man accused of abusing his child. Paige then went to meet the nun who she was given to as a baby, who told her angels left her at the church.

Paige was approached by Piper and Phoebe, who told her of her powers. Paige soon learned she could orb objects by calling for them verbally. Paige was then approached by a Source-possessed Shane, claiming someone was hunting him. She left with him, fleeing the sisters. The Source of All Evil then took Paige back to Shane's place where he tempted her to use her powers to kill the man who she thought was abusing his child. Later at work Paige was killing him by calling out his heart, but Phoebe and Piper were able to stop her and Leo orbed her to the Halliwell home. It was discovered that the man was innocent and it was his wife who was abusing the child. The Source of All Evil then dealt a mortal blow to Cole, leaving him to die slowly. Back at the manor Paige threw a fit, and The Source of All Evil attacked them. The Source of All Evil tried to tempt her into evil, but she chose to be with her sisters when The Source attacked Phoebe. The Source then boasted of killing Cole and tried to kill a police inspector who was spying on the sisters, but the inspector was saved by the healing powers of Leo Wyatt. The sisters and Leo then found Cole and were able to use the combined powers of Leo and Paige to heal him. Paige then reconciled with her sisters, but Shane, having jumbled memories of his possession, left Paige. Phoebe and Piper then took her back to their home and used a spell to summon the spirit of Patricia Halliwell to reunite the long separated mother and daughter.

Like Prue, Paige has the power of Telekinesis. However, it works differently due to her Whitelighter side, when she calls the name of an object it will orb to her. For instance if a Demon threw a fireball at her, she would hold out her hand toward it, yell "Fireball!" and be able to orb it away from herself, or even right back at the demon who threw it. She does not have to be terribly accurate with the words she uses, being able to orb away some acidic demon spit with the words "Icky stuff". She also orbs a shuriken away from Phoebe Halliwell with the words "Weapon..Thingy!" This is the first person ever known in good magic to have this power, as she was the first whitelighter/witch. This is called Telekinetic Orbing. She has shown signs of power advancement like when she orbed Excalibur without calling for it to the attic in a season six episode. However, this was one of the only times she did it. Also, in season eight, in the episode "Repo Manor" she could orb the dollhouse to the attic without saying anything. It is evident that Paige can now orb people and demons to any location by saying the location, for example, she orbed Phoebe back to the manor by saying, "Home!". Also, in season 8 episode "Hulkus Pocus" she orbed the demon Krychek to Magic School by saying "Magic School!" Another orbing advancement through the years came in her ability to orb things away and seemingly making them disappear.

Her Whitelighter side allows her to use Whitelighter powers such as orbing, glamouring (changing one's appearance), sensing her charges and sisters, and healing (after the recent episode "Payback's a Witch," Paige gained this ability. This is a major advancement because for a long time the show explained her inability to heal with being a "half-whitelighter." But due to the fact that she has started to work for the Elders as a whitelighter, it is likely that that is the reason for the advancement), and sensing people. Due to her being a Charmed One, Paige can write and cast powerful spells as well as make potions.

Charmed Life

Early Training

Paige was working as a social worker at the time. Having to deal with harassing co-workers, Paige tried to turn to magic to make things better. She borrowed the Book of Shadows, but found it difficult to control. She cured a co-worker of his acne and did other minor spells, which worked okay. When she cursed a harassing co-worker with unwanted attention from women, the spell backfired and made her breasts grow to enormous size, giving her the same unwanted attention. Phoebe was able to reverse the effects in time for the two of them to confront Piper, who was being turned into a Fury.

Paige then started her witch training. She learned potion basics under Piper, but when practicing a potion she accidentally created a spell that swapped her soul with Phoebe's. Although they tried to keep it a secret while they swapped souls back again, they had to confront the evil zen student Yenlo trying to kill his former master. They traveled to limbo and defeated Yenlo after swapping souls back.

Having learned that magic and supernatural evil were real, Paige decided to investigate an old house that had always creeped her out. In doing so she learned it was really the home of the demon Gammill and that her friend Finn was Gammill's golem creation. She tried to protect Finn, but Gammill killed his creation for helping Paige. The demon was a collector of ceramic figurines made of shrunken women. He shrunk Phoebe and later got Piper and Paige too, but the three sisters were able to defeat and vanquish him, which returned them to their original size.

Paige then started dating a man named Glen, who she told a story she thought she remembered from her childhood about an Evil Enchantress who stole the love of a prince with magic. Meanwhile, a Shocker demon started hunting the Charmed Ones. When Paige looked the Evil Enchantress up in the Book of Shadows, she discovered an entry on her and the spell used to control the prince. Upon speaking the spell, the prince was called forward in time to be with Paige, who he thought was the Enchantress, and he loved dearly because of the spell. Phoebe and Piper then reasoned that Paige was the Enchantress reincarnated. The Evil Enchantress then went forward in time, following her prince. She attacked the Charmed Ones and took the prince back to her time, but was followed by Phoebe and Piper. Phoebe and Piper were captured because they lacked powers in the past. Paige was able to craft a spell to bring herself and Leo back to their time. Leo freed Piper and Phoebe as Paige used the Enchantresses powers against her. The sisters then bound the Enchantress' powers and returned to their own time. Paige later moved into the Halliwell Manor.

Paige was helping a woman named Carolyn regain custody of her child after getting out of an abusive relationship. Paige used magic to help Carolyn. Paige got promoted for her work with Carolyn, but had to turn it down for fear of using her magic for personal gain. Paige shortly after this started practicing orbing herself over distances, a task she would master in a few months time.

Full-Time Witch

During this series Paige naturalizes somewhat to being a witch, quits her full time career as a social worker and turns her attentions to full time witchcraft, determined to play catch-up on her more experienced sisters. Paige was briefly transformed into a super hero by a witch with the power to make his drawings come to life. In this form she had super speed, strength, was able to stop bullets and had superior hearing. At one point in time Paige felt sympathy for Cole as he was getting delusional and couldn't tell if everyone was a demon.

While Piper brews potions and Phoebe writes spells, Paige is most adept at using crystals. Using telekinetic orbing, Paige can simply say, "Crystals, ring," instantly setting up a forcefield around a demon. She can also easily remove a forcefield, by orbing one of the crystals to her.

The Elders decided to assign Paige her first "Charge", who was actually Sam Wilder, her biological father. The Elders were only using her to find Sam since he was made into a whitelighter, again. Though she resents him for abandoning her, she stills love him and hope to see him once again.

When Paige tried to vanquish Cole to give Phoebe peace, Paige had wound up in the river with a cold. Whenever she sneezes, she orbs. When Cole managed to change reality, Paige was caught in the warp, and was transported to the alternate reality. Paige was able to reunite her sisters to vanquish Cole, for good, and Paige was returned to her reality, and informed her sisters that Cole was gone forever.

When the Halliwell home started to suffer from hauntings due to all the past evil killed there, Piper summoned a witch doctor to cleanse the home. Although the witch doctor did his job, he was worried about the power the sisters commanded and their susceptibility to all that evil. The council of witch doctors decided it was best for the world if they got rid of the sisters, so they cast a voodoo spell on them, hoping their obsessions would destroy them. Paige became obsessed with marrying her old boyfriend Glen, going so far as to kidnap his bride-to-be and impersonating her.

She also helps Piper deliver her nephew Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, with his middle name being taken from Paige after she went to great lengths to save him from a demonic attack.

Leo turned Paige into the Goddess of War, like Eris and Enyo, to battle the Titans. When she was a war goddess she displayed enhanced physical abilities, the ability to teleport, a trident that shot out lightning, near-invulnerability and a comprehensive knowledge of combat tactics. She also formed a strong bond with Chris Halliwell, her nephew who had travelled back from the future to prevent his older brother Wyatt from being turned to evil.

Her and her sisters hid out in the Underworld; the magical community had turned their backs on them because of a spell cast by Billy and Christy. Paige was made to meditate on personal enlightenment, levitating on the Golden Gate Bridge. A leprachaun begged for help, but she orbed him into the bay. Afterwards, everything turned back the way it should be.

Professional Life

Temp Worker

Paige eventually decided to stop being a full time witch and started taking on temp work. In this capacity she comes across innocents to help in most of her positions.

In one of her temp jobs, Paige is traumatized when her boss, Larry, is killed by demons. Her sisters try to assure her that they cannot save every innocent, but Paige is convinced that she failed to save someone she was meant to help. At Richard's suggestion, Paige summons Larry's soul. Larry reveals that he made a Faustian Deal with a demon named Zahn – Larry sold his soul to Zahn in exchange for Zahn giving him financial success. Larry insts that Paige return his soul to Zahn so that the demon does not harm his wife, but Paige is determined to save Larry. Because of lack of support from her sisters, Paige turns to Richard who encourages her to follow her instincts. Paige summons Zahn and offers him a deal: in exchange for Paige selling her soul, Zahn will release Larry into his afterlife. Before Zahn can sell Paige's soul, Richard tells Piper and Phoebe what Paige has done and they storm Zahn's auction. Piper manages to destroy Zahn's Faustian contracts which sets all of the souls he had acquired, including Paige's, free, and the sisters vanquish Zahn.

Headmistress of Magic School

Realizing that there is not much excitement in her life and that Magic School was about to be closed, Paige decided to dedicate her time to saving it, as well as teaching the students the values and responsibility of magic. In doing that, the Elders had made her the headmistress of Magic School. During this time Paige had a romantic interest in Agent Kyle Brody. She had allowed him to know much about the magical world as they would exchange information about what they know so far about the Avatars.

Agent Brody was killed, but Paige learned that he was okay and had become a Whitelighter when he travelled back to see her briefly. Paige later resigned from being headmistress of Magic School and Leo took her place.

Whitelighter

Paige has recently began doing whitelighter duties. Paige and her sisters destroyed Zankou and the nexus. The sisters "glamoured," changing their appearances, names, and lives. Normal people and demons think they are dead. Paige's alias is Josephine "Jo" Bennet and everyone but her loved ones can see her "new look." After several episodes, the Charmed Ones, as well as Leo, reverted back to their former names and lifestyles.

Paige has a charge named Billie Jenkins who is a witch with the power of telekinesis and projection (which came later).

Romantic Life

Briefly Paige had a romantic interest in Richard Montana, a male witch who is related to the feuding family, the Montanas. It ended before their relationship lasted a full year.

Paige had once created her own Mr. Right to help her relax. Unbeknownst to her, by summoning Mr. Right, an evil duplicate of Mr. Right, Vincent, emerged. He used female demonic warriors to do his bidding, using the Charmed Ones' potions. After Mr. Right was made real and Vincent was vanquished, Mr. Right and Paige said goodbye and he left to live in the real world.

Paige also had a serious relationship with FBI Agent Kyle Brody, so much so she turned her back on her sisters for him. The relationship ended when Kyle was killed by the Avatar Beta. The Elders made Kyle a Whitelighter for his courage against the Avatars, and allowed him to say goodbye to Paige. After that, the pair could not see each other again. If Kyle had stayed in San Francisco mortals would know he was resurrected after his death.

A year later when Paige was trying to protect a future Whitelighter, she met Henry Mitchell, a charge's parole officer. Paige used her Whitelighter healing powers, for the first time by herself, to save Henry from a gunshot wound. Paige finally told Henry that she is a witch. Henry seems to have accepted it, as he asked Paige to marry him and Paige accepted. A witch named Sir Simon Marks says that Paige is destined to marry him. Paige refuses and says that she is in love with Henry. Simon and Henry fought for Paige and Henry wins. Soon after, Paige and Henry were married. Their marriage will bring them twin daughters and a son named Henry Jr.

Notable Occurances

• Paige was turned into a vampire during a struggle for power between Cole and the Queen of the vampires. While she was a vampire Paige displayed the standard abilities of one: She had fangs, enhanced strength, could cling to ceilings, transform into a large bat capable of flight, had enhanced hearing, and could sense the location of her prey from great distances.Also, Paige was vulnerable to sunlight and holy water, turned evil and was under the thrall of the vampire queen. Cole was able to kill the vampire queen before Paige was fully converted into a vampire, which saved Paige.

• Paige was transported to the 1960s by the Go-Go boots of her maternal grandmother Penelope Halliwell. She got to meet Penelope's younger self and her maternal grandfather.

• Paige was turned into a nymph by two wood nymphs.

• Paige and Phoebe traveled to the Parallel Universe to retrieve their Chris and Leo, until they came into battle with their evil duplicates. They combine forces to vanquish their Gideons on both sides of the universe.

External links

• Enchantress,fanlisting for Paige Matthews