Book of Shadows (Charmed)

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The Book of Shadows

The Book of Shadows, atop its stand in the attic

First appearance "Something Wicca This Way Comes"
Last appearance "Forever Charmed"
Created by Constance M. Burge

Statistics
Title The Halliwell Book of Shadows
Status In tact
Classification Magical tome
Ownership or Affiliation It was created by Melinda Warren, and protected and enhanced by her descendants since
Notable traits The Book of Shadows is an enchanted tome, which contains a lot of information and power. Being magical in nature it has a wide range of abilities relating to itself and the sisters (covered in the Powers, Abilities and Uses section).
Uses The Book of Shadows is a compendium of information on magical creatures/objects/forces of every variety, especially those that members of the Warren line had encountered, or believed would be useful to future generations. It is considered by most to be the most complete book of magical information in existence.

Summary

The Book of Shadows is a large, leatherbound grimoire seen on the television series Charmed, which is owned by the Charmed Ones. It contains spells, potions, and information on their enemies. The Book has been enchanted to protect itself, causing it to move away whenever any evil being attempts to touch it. It has a large triquetra set on its front cover, symbolizing the Power of Three.

The ancestor of the Charmed Ones, Melinda Warren began the Book of Shadows in the late 1600s. When Melinda was burned at the stake for being a witch, her book was passed to her daughter Prudence. The book was then handed down from mother to daughter for more than three hundred years, until it was inherited by Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige upon the death of their grandmother Penny.

The book has grown with each witch who has possessed it, and by the late 1960s, it had about one hundred pages. It continues to grow as the Charmed Ones add more information to it. In the final episode, Piper tells her granddaughter that the book will one day be hers.

The contents of the Book of Shadows are much too vast to be listed here. However, complete references to the Book of Shadows for each episode are listed in each episode summary.

Appearances

The Book of Shadows is a thick green leather book with a red triquetra sign on the front. The triquetra symbol has been able to manipulate, usually according to some change in the sisters powers/emotional state. The Book is somewhat worn due to its centuries of use, but is completely intact, most likely due to the magic that protects the book.

Powers, Abilities and Uses

The Book of Shadows can:

Flip its own pages or act as a means of communicating with the dead
Identify evil
Protect itself from evil
Harm evil
Try and keep itself within its home
It seems to get new pages as they are required to write on
The book seems to have a consciousness, or at least an essence
Change according to the status of The Charmed Ones

Due to its link with the Charmed Ones:

It can lose its entire content if the sisters powers are stripped
Its spells will become evil counterparts if the sisters turn evil
If the sisters are under emotional distress, its power to protect itself is diminished

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