S5-5 WITCHES IN TIGHTS

[vandergraafk]

Ar-non, a demon, encourages Kevin, a young male with a penchant for drawing comic book characters and bringing the them to life, to create a character, the Aggressor. The Aggressor can help Kevin deal with the intimidation he daily experiences from the local bullies. And, the Aggressor can help Ar-non attain the power he seeks from a retiring Elder, Raemus. Though Kevin appreciates the encouragement, he distrusts Ar-non who poorly disguises his violent predilections.

Kevin complies, but is unaware that dispatching the Aggressor to obtain the powers of Raemus will bring his creation into conflict with the Charmed Ones. Surprised by an attack, the Charmed Ones recover enough to chase away the Aggressor. Raemus has been saved, but now questions abound. "Who was that masked man," Phoebe demands to know.

Ar-non is displeased with the result and demands that Kevin create an even more powerful Aggressor. Kevin, instead, endows the Charmed Ones with even more powers and turns them into the Protectors, i.e., witches in tights. He hopes that the Protectors will not only thwart the Aggressor, but kill the character, too. The Charmed Ones do, but as the dying Aggressor reverts to Kevin, they summon Leo to save the boy.

Hoping that Ar-non is not yet aware that the Aggressor has failed again, Kevin and the Charmed Ones visit the demon's airport lair. Kevin is sent in to lure Ar-non into the trap, but indeed Ar-non has gotten wind of this. He compels Kevin to draw a new improved Aggressor and tears up the drawing of witches in tights. The Charmed Ones go back to their old selves, rescue Kevin and come up with a plan to defeat Aggressor Ar-non. By tearing up the drawing which Ar-non the Aggressor has hidden in his left boot, the sisters will only have to defeat a relatively powerless demon.

At the manor, the Charmed Ones confront the Aggressor, but only after Ar-non has succeeded in stealing powers from the Elder Raemus. Before Raemus dies, he warns Ar-non that the victory will be short-lived. Paige orbs the boot where Ar-non has hidden Kevin's drawing. After tearing the drawing in two, the Charmed Ones easily defeat Ar-non. The stolen powers are released and enter the body of Kevin, the nascent Elder to whom the powers were to be entrusted and passed onto during the Equinox.

[vandergraafk]

This episode further conflates the terms "angel" and "whitelighter". Both Piper and Raemus refer to Leo as an angel, while Leo indicates that the Elders are sort of like kings. As tantalizing as these references are, they do not help settle the question, but only add further confusion.

In previous episodes, Piper has referred to Leo as an angel. So, the fact that she describes Leo as an angel is no surprise. We know from Primrose Empath that Leo has already dismissed this as incorrect when he dismissed Piper's claim as not really true. Yet, why then would Raemus refer to Leo as an angel, especially a passive angel, after Leo has stepped out of character to save Raemus from attack? This is puzzling indeed, when a retiring Elder should know better.

The ascension of the young Kevin to Elder status confuses the Charmed Ones and the audience as well. In the past, it seemed as if Elders were wiser, more experienced entities in the hierarchy of good. Though their rules were irksome, the Charmed Ones couldn't just ignore them, although Piper did her best to break them when she could. The Elders possessed authority, an authority perhaps based on their past experience as whitelighters. With Kevin, though, we learn that some are born to be Elders. No experience is necessary, but special powers, such as the one that Kevin had to conjure mental pictures into being through the act of drawing, may be required.

So, who are the Elders and what powers do they have? Were some of them witches at one time? Were others whitelighters who have moved on? The answers to these questions may explain how Gideon and Odin obtained their magical powers. It may also explain how Leo acquired his powers when he became an Elder. Yet, the answers to these questions are not obvious.

[vandergraafk]

This comment brought forth this response:

He just meant that people can become elders at a young age just as princes can become kings at a young age.

Which is absolutely correct, as was pointed out:

That's exactly what he meant given that he clarified: "Elders are like kings, they can be any age."

Which led vandergraafk to respond as follows:

I will grant you that as the intended meaning. It does not, however, clarify the status of the Elders. How does one get to be an Elder? The ascension of Kevin to this status means that some are born - or predisposed - to be Elders. Moreover, they may have come from the ranks of witches, as Kevin clearly has some powers.

Is this the only path to becoming an Elder? Are whitelighters of a proven track record invited to join the ranks of Elderdom? If so, then this would explain why Elders from this source don't have powers. Leo is a problem, but his ascension to Elder status was rather exceptional and involved the invocation of forbidden powers.

One would think this could become clearer at some point. It's not, and that's why this whole notion of Elders with powers is frustrating. It's also why it's difficult to straighten out definitively this whitelighters versus angels mess.

[Xenith]

This is puzzling indeed, when a retiring Elder should know better.

Maybe he was getting senile in his old age

Or maybe he was just referring to how Leo really held to a virtuous non-violent stance like an "angel"?

Then again maybe it's just a matter of perception. Possibly Leo considered angels to be beings actually sent by God or at least answer to a much higher power than the Elders. Or maybe he viewed angels as only being those with a much grander purpose such as the Angel of Death or Angels of Destiny? By others perception whitelighters are angels, they are messenger beings and guardians. They were people chosen for the high virtues (or were at least supposed to be up until Young & Restless and the seemingly crackhead who somehow became an whitelighter because of her destiny to die to save Paige...aargh) Not to mention the whole "wings" thing from Seven Year Witch...


As far as Kevin who actually said he was the one truly meant to become the Elder? Possibly the Elder's power simply needed a host before it was extinguished, and quickly chose him out of its options much as the Hollow chose Leo in Scry Hard? And speaking of Kevin I wonder if he was killed in Oh My Goddess? Not many Elder's survived, and if he was one of them I would think he would have later stood up for Leo post Avatar debacle... So if he was actually destined to become an Elder then that sure was a short lived destiny wasn't it?

[Xenith]

And yes I meant Nexus not Hollow in my previous post...

One more issue to bring up is the idea that the Elder's can supposedly all see the future, that really makes there ever uselessness in future seasons really all the more pathetic doesn't it? And Leo knows about this yet apparently makes no attempts at future gazing when he became an Elder... Because couldn't that have saved a heck of a lot of trouble with Chris & the Avatars? Oy....

[vandergraafk]

Well, Raemus could apparently see into the near-term, i.e., foresee events that would immediately happen. I suspect that the Elders, at least those who shared Raemus's power, could see into the future but more and more dimly as events were temporally further and further removed. Apparently, the drop occurs rather quickly: perhaps a sort of inverse square law. In Oh, My Goddess, Part 1, the Elders apparently cannot sense or predict a threat to themselves that lies just around the ice cave.

For what it's worth, the Seer had greater clairvoyance. She could see further into the future than apparently could any of the Elders. And perhaps this is rightly so. Good depends on free will and trusts in individuals to make the correct choice, despite the temptation of Evil. Given free will, events can and must be less determinate. As events recede further into the future, they must surely appear more and more random.

Evil, on the other hand, despises free will to the extent that it surely knows that wise individuals would never side with Evil. Yet, Evil arrogates unto itself the belief that it can use its arsenal of tricks to seduce innocents into perverting free will by submitting themselves to the cutthroat underworld. Since the only consequences that Evil cares about are ones that gravely damage or advantage its side, the ability of Evil to foresee its own demise and to scout out avenues for triumph becomes especially pressing. Nevertheless, even armed with knowledge aforethought, Evil is done in by its own frailities. If ever a side were open to the Seven Deadly Sins, it is Evil. The Source was done in by pride. Zankou was done in by pride. Barbas got caught up in the greed of vengeance against the sisters in Sympathy for the Demon. Others are done in by lust, greed, sloth, etc.

[vandergraafk]

The character of Raquel is most problematic and could easily have been solved if Sam, her whitelighter father, had been called upon to save Paige. Imagine that Raquel had only been an Innocent and possible future whitelighter whose redemption from a life of drugs and alcohol had been facilitated by Paige's actions. In the dream state, Paige could have been torn between saving an Innocent and reconciling her dual personality. Ultimately, she would have chosen to save Raquel. To do so would have required her to demand release from her dream state and gone to Raquel's aid. There, she could have been ambushed by the darklighter. In her dying state, Paige could have reached out to her birth father for his help. This would have concluded the development in their relationship begun in Lost Picture Show and proven to Paige - once and for all - that Sam, although he did not always keep in contact, was always at the ready. Maybe then Paige could accept him as an important person in her life!