Melinda Warren

Melinda Warren
Charmed character
Tyler Layton as Melinda Warren
First appearance	The Witch Is Back
Last appearance	All Halliwell's Eve
Created by	Constance M. Burge
Portrayed by	Tyler Layton
Information
Species	Witch Ghost
Family	Charlotte Warren (mother) Lawrance Culter (father) William Jackson (husband) Prudence Warren-Wentwoth (daughter) Cassandra Warren (granddaughter) Penny Halliwell (Great-great-great granddaughter]] Patty Halliwell (Great-great-great-great granddaughter) Prudence Halliwell (Great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter) Piper Halliwell Wyatt (Great-great-great-great granddaughter) Phoebe Halliwell (Great-great-great-great granddaughter) Paige Halliwell Mitchell (Great-great-great-great granddaughter) Wyatt Halliwell (Great-great-great-great-great grandson) Chris Halliwell (Great-great-great-great-great grandson) <bt> Melinda Hallwell (Great-great-great-great-great granddaughter) Pruedence Johanna Halliwell (Great-great-great-great-great granddaughter) Peyton Alexa and Persephone Faith Halliwell (Great-grear-great-great-great granddaughters) Kat and Tamara Mitchell (Great-great-great-great-great granddaughters) Henry Mitchell Jr. (Great-great-great-great-great grandson)

Melinda Warren is a fictional character on the WB television series Charmed. She is played by actress Tyler Layton.

Character's background

Melinda Warren Is the founder of the Warren/Halliwell line of witches, and the creator of the Charmed prophecy.^{[episodes 1]} She is the great-great-great-great-great-grandmother of the Charmed Ones.

Melinda was born on October 31, 1670 outside of a rural village in the Colony of Virginia as the daughter of Charlotte Warren, a practitioner. An evil witch in the area, Ruth Cobb, had gotten word that Charlotte was due to give birth to a powerful magical child. Ruth kidnapped Charlotte, intending to raise her baby as evil. The Triad, seeing a chance to keep the Charmed Ones from being born (or possibly turn them evil), sent Cole Turner (Belthazor) to help Ruth. The members of Charlotte's coven tried to free her, but were repelled several times by talismans Ruth and Cole had enchanted. The Elders got wind of Ruth's plans, and sent the Charmed Ones through a time portal to help rescue Charlotte. Unfortunately, the Charmed Ones haven't been born yet, so they don't have their active powers. However, by tapping into the magic available in the 17th century, they are able to get past the talismans, rescue Charlotte and deliver the baby. It was only later that the sisters found out the baby was Melinda—and that by helping rescue Charlotte, they'd saved their own futures.^{[episodes 2]}

She later moved to Salem, Massachusetts and bore a daughter named Prudence Warren. Sometime in 1691 or 1692, she fell in love with a man named Matthew Tate. Melinda didn't know that Matthew was really a powerful warlock with the power of mimicry—the ability to copy any power used on him. He tricked her into using her powers on him so he could copy them, then outed her as a witch to the Salem town council to keep his own cover from being blown.^{[episodes 3]}

When Matthew visited Melinda in prison, Melinda cursed him to spend eternity trapped within a locket he had given to her as a gift, but not before somehow wiping out Matthew's copies of her powers. Only Melinda herself or a witch of blood kin could open the locket, but it was understood that Matthew would destroy the Warren line if he were ever freed.^{[episodes 3]} She was burned at the stake in the Salem witch trials of 1692. Melinda could have escaped, but chose not to do so for fear of exposing Prudence as a witch as well.^{[episodes 3]} On the day of her death, she foretold the prophecy of the Charmed Ones:

You may kill me, but you cannot kill my kind. I vow that with each generation of Warren witches will grow stronger, culminating in the arrival of three sisters. These three sisters will be the most powerful witches the world has ever known. They will destroy all kinds of evil and shall be called the Charmed Ones.

—Melinda, on the day of her death

Powers

Melinda possessed the three powers Telekinesis, Molecular Immobilization, and Premonition. Possibily Levitation, Empathy, and Astral Projection

Melinda's return

Over 300 years after her death, Melinda’s great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter, Prue Halliwell, stumbled upon the cursed locket while working as an appraiser at Buckland’s Auction House. Not knowing of the curse, Prue opened the locket and set Matthew free. Knowing that Prue couldn't have opened the locket unless she was related to Melinda, Matthew tried to take revenge by killing Prue, but Prue threw him across the room—unwittingly enabling Matthew to copy Prue's telekinesis. Matthew had a new modus operandi; copying the powers of the Charmed Ones and then killing them, effectively destroying the Warren/Halliwell line and enacting the ultimate revenge against Melinda.^{[episodes 3]}

Fearful for their lives, the Halliwell sisters cast a spell to bring Melinda back and into their time to learn how she originally cursed Matthew into the locket. She is gratified that the Halliwells have fulfilled her prophecy. Melinda brought back into this new time and age has some trouble adjusting to the modern world, but her "daughters" are there to help her every step of the way.^{[episodes 3]}

Before they can finish the potion with which they can curse Matthew back inside of the locket, Matthew himself arrives at Piper's restaurant, Quake, and copies Phoebe’s power of premonition. Matthew now only needs Piper's power to freeze time before he is powerful enough to kill the sisters and then Melinda as well.^{[episodes 3]}

Fortunately, the collective workings of the sisters and Melinda are enough to foil Matthew. Prue delivers the last ingredient to the potion, the feather of a spotted owl, and Melinda uses the completed potion and its adjoining spell to once again trap Matthew within the locket.^{[episodes 3]}

It turns out that Prue's boss, Rex Buckland, deliberately brought the locket to Prue; Rex and his assistant, Hannah Webster, are really warlocks out to steal the Charmed Ones' powers.

After the battle Melinda returns to the afterlife and takes the locket with her—presumably trapping Matthew for all eternity. Before the Halliwells release her spirit, Melinda receives a glimpse of a distant future with her power of premonition. She sees many more generations of "her daughters" through Phoebe (of whom she seemed fondest) ... which proves that the Warren line will live on for years to come.^{[episodes 3]}

Episode footnotes

1. ^ "Something Wicca This Way Comes". Charmed. The WB Television Network. 1998-10-07.
2. ^ "All Halliwell's Eve". Charmed. The WB Television Network. 2000-10-26.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "The Witch Is Back". Charmed. The WB Television Network. 1998-12-16.

References