Melinda Warren

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

History

Melinda Warren is an ancestor of--but generally regarded as the first of--the Charmed Ones and was born October 31, 1670 outside of a rural village in the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, the daughter of a witch named Charlotte. She later moved to Salem, Massachusetts and had a daughter of her own named Prudence. She lived until the Salem witch trials of 1692, betrayed by her lover Matthew Tate, who was also a witch. Matthew tricked Melinda into allowing him to gain a copy of each of her three powers. Once he had copied all of her powers that is when he betrayed her.

Before her death, Melinda enacted her revenge on Matthew by cursing him to spend eternity trapped within a locket he had given to her as a gift. Only Melinda herself or a witch of blood kin could set Matthew free from the locket. On the day of her death Melinda 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 powerfull witches the world has ever known. They will destroy all kinds of evil and shall be called the Charmed Ones

Powers

Melinda herself possessed the three original powers that the Charmed Ones’ later develop separately; Telekinesis, Premonition, and Molecular immobilization.

Melinda's Return

Over 300 years after her death Melinda’s descendant, Prue Halliwell stumbled upon the cursed locket while working as an appraiser at Buckland’s Auction House. Not knowing of the curse Prue opens the locket and sets Matthew free. With his ability to copy powers the witch acquires a replica of Prue’s telekinesis and after discovering she is a descendant of Melinda Warren herself, Matthew has a new modus operandi; copying the powers of the Charmed Ones and then killing them, effectively destroying the Warren line and enacting the ultimate revenge against Melinda Warren for entrapping him for over 400 years.

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. Melinda brought back into this new time and age has some trouble adjusting to the modern world and a woman’s new place in it, but her “daughters” are there to help her every step of the way. Melinda helps the sisters concoct a potion just in time to banish the warlock back into the locket, but they aren’t quick enough to prevent Matthew from copying Phoebe’s power of premonition. Now all Matthew needs is a copy of Piper’s powers before he is powerful enough to kill the sisters and then Melinda as well.

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 for all of eternity.

After the battle Melinda returns to the afterlife, but 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…which proves that the Warren line will live on for years to come.

Trivia

• Piper Halliwell planned to name her first daughter (Melinda Halliwell) after her ancestor after seeing a potential future in the episode Morality Bites; in that future Melinda was her only child. Later Piper would become pregnant and expect a girl, only to have a son instead. Piper eventually had a daughter (her third child) in the episode Forever Charmed. Although her name was never mentioned, the shooting script had her named as Melinda Halliwell.
• The character is loosely named after Mary Warren who took part in the famous Salem witch trials.
• Melinda is most famous in her line for being the creator of the family Book of Shadows.
• Phoebe, who triggered Melinda's premonition of "many beautiful daughters" is the only sister to have all daughters; Paige and Piper have boys too.

Episodes

• The Witch Is Back (season one)
• All Halliwell's Eve (season three)