CREATING AN ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE

[vandergraafk]

In Centennial Charmed, Cole accepts the Avatars' offer to become one of them if and only if Cole can clean up loose ends. The loose end, of course, entails the creation of an alternative universe, one where Paige does not exist and Cole and Phoebe live happily ever after.

Unfortunately, the events of Centennial Charmed do not bear out Cole's vision. Yes, Paige is dead. He even knows where she is buried. But, Phoebe and Cole lead separate, adulterous lives held together only by Phoebe's desire to protect Piper from vanquish at the hands of the Source.

Exactly what did Cole intend in this alternative universe? Was it merely a means for him to accomplish "suicide by witch"? Was he the sole originator of this alternative universe? Or, did the Avatars play a role? The debate below exposes these fault lines.

[vandergraafk]

Fourever Charmed gets us started by quoting whitelightertony (who quoted ljones) in the Charmed Cafe. In so doing, she suggests an interesting line of thought.

Quoting whitelightertony: "If Cole had created the alternate universe, surely he could have made himself THE SOURCE. You did claim that he craved power more than anything [ljones' comment]."

Thereafter, whitelightertony countered: "Well, Cole needed the Avatars' help in creating the alternate universe, so the other Avatars might have had some control over some of the details of its alternate history. Maybe they prevented Cole from inserting himself as the new Source in the timeline -- in order to prevent Cole from being too powerful?

They did want Cole to eventually choose to leave that alternate universe on his own and rejoin their collective, after all."

Then, Fourever Charmed made this interesting suggestion:


"That raises an interesting point. I know vandergraafk says that he believes Cole killed Paige in that timeline, which is why he and Phoebe are evil.

However, given that Cole did need the other Avatars' collective power to create the world, and they did want him to come to his senses, could they have perhaps added their own "touches" to that world to make it undesirable to Cole in the hopes that he'd return to them? For example, Cole and Phoebe being evil and having their own demonic affairs could simply be a plant by the other Avatars to change Cole's mind instead of actually being how things would've turned out if Paige had actually been killed."

[vandergraafk]

Some background might help clarify this. In an earlier thread in the Charmed Cafe, I noted that Cole probably had killed Paige. Ljones commented on this when she noted, after quoting me:

"In theory, it should follow that to assuage the Source - for partly betraying him - Cole had Paige murdered, especially since he knew where she was buried. [vandergraafk's comment]"


Ljones then wrote:

"I have a problem with this. In fact, I have a problem with "Centennial Charmed" in general. Although the Source had claimed that was willing to take Cole back as a minion in "All Hell Breaks Loose", in "Charmed Again", that willingness had vanished. And this was before the sisters were aware that Paige was somehow special. I think it was due to the fact that Leo had helped both Cole and Phoebe escape from the Source's Realm. After that incident, Cole should have been on top of the Source's hit list. I found it hard to believe that he would give a second chance. The Source never struck me as the type.

And this is the main problem I had with the plot for "Centennial Charmed". I believe that Cole should have been dead or allied with Phoebe and Piper . . . not back to being a minion of the Source again."

Vandergraafk replied and noted the following:

"As for the Source giving Cole/Belthazor a second chance ...

First, I don't believe Leo rescues Cole and Phoebe. Cole does.

Second, who said that the Source would enrust Cole/Belthazor with a hit job on Paige? Why wouldn't Shax carry that out? After all, he was available and had already taken out Prue and thus ended the power of three?

Third, Cole/Belthazor learns of Paige's existence and rubs her out before Shax can attack. That's how he survives with respect to the Source. He (Cole) is rewarded, but not necessarily trusted, as the Seer and a Vixen demon are sent to monitor Cole in the Overworld."

[vandergraafk]

In responding to Fourever Charmed's suggestion, I noted:

"Conniving Avatars? Avatars with a hidden agenda? Intriguing ideas!

I wouldn't need to abandon my assumption that Cole killed Paige in order to stave off vanquish from the Source for Cole's betrayal of him and rescue of Phoebe from the Underworld. Yet, there is no necessary reason to assume that a Phoebe, unaware of Cole's dastardly deed. indeed unaware even that she had a half-sister, would not remain loyal to Cole. Until then, there hadn't really been a history of ditching a loved one for casual hook-ups on Phoebe's part. Yes, she had had a string of casual hook-ups and did bust up a few relationships since high school. But, in Charmed she never betrayed a loved one. Thus, it is plausible to suggest that the Avatar's may have added that little twist.

To win back Cole by showing him the futility of his alternative universe? Possibly. Rather, I see it as a tails I win, heads you lose proposition. If Cole returns to the fold upon discovering that life is not any better in his alternative universe, then the Avatars win. If, on the other hand, Cole pursues suicide by witch, the Avatars still gain Cole's powers after he is banished to an astral plane."

[vandergraafk]

In the Charmed Cafe, ljones raised some rather interesting objections, points that have not yet been adequately addressed. She wrote:

"Why would Cole have to kill Paige? All he had to do was keep himself from saving her life. Shax would have easily done the job. If Cole had not accompanied Phoebe to that area where Paige and Shane were meeting, Paige would have been a dead woman.

Why even bother killing Paige in the first place? Cole's troubles had started when that woman used that potion on him and stripped him of his powers. He could have changed the timeline through that little incident without killing anyone."

Vandergraafk responded as follows:

"You ask, legitimately, I believe, why Cole would choose to reinvent his world predicated upon the death of Paige. We have discussed this issue a bit, but not to my satisfaction at least. So here goes.

Cole states in Centennial Charmed that he was happy to learn that he had assumed the role of Belthazor/Cole in this alternative universe. "That's when we were at our best," Cole proclaims. Of course, we shouldn't assume that's true just because Cole said so. He could have been mistaken. But was he?

For example, why not create an alternative universe predicated on the post Black as Cole events? After all, Cole was free of his demon past. He no longer posed a threat to the sisters or Phoebe. Yet, how could that be appetizing to Cole? He was frustrated in the real time line at his lack of powers. He could no longer assist or protect the Charmed Ones. Why would he wish to return to that time, especially when Cole knew that the Source would attack?

No, it was far better for Cole to eliminate the threat to the Charmedless two by returning to a period when the threat to the Source was eliminated and he (Cole) could avoid retaliation at the hands of the Source for his betrayal of the Source. That's why, I believe, it behooved Cole to engineer the destruction of Paige. This would curry favor with the Source and allow him to remain above world with Phoebe.

When would Cole have killed Paige? Clearly, it would have been between the attack by Shax on Paige and Shane and before Cole reported his findings to the Charmed Two and Leo.

Was Cole capable of such instrumental reasoning? Of course. If you allow the events of mid-Season 5 to be a guide, Cole exhibits instrumental reasoning all of the type. He is prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal - suicide by witch - in Sam I Am, The Importance of Being Phoebe, etc."