@potterkid asked: What ( in your opinion) are the most traumatic things that have happened to the Charmed ones?
Alright, so I’ll answer this question sister-by-sister because, although the girls share certain traumas, I believe the most traumatic events for each individual sister differs.
I would easily say that Prue’s biggest trauma was witnessing her mother’s death at such a young age. As we see in P3H20, while Prue didn’t witness the initial attack from the demon, she did witness her mother’s corpse and saw the paramedics take the body away. As far as we see in the episode, Prue was alone when this happened, no adult or familial support to see her through the ordeal, and as the episode also showcases, Patty’s death and the trauma Prue suffered from it affects her long into adulthood, to the point where she has difficulty even going to the edge of the pier where the event took place.
Other episodes compound the effect of this trauma, such as From Fear To Eternity where we learn that Prue has difficulty expressing her love for/to her family, due to her mother dying shortly after Prue told her she loved her, and Death Takes A Halliwell, where we learn that Prue has a lot of anger and resentment towards Death, seeing it as something to be overcome rather than accepted, and that this attitude is a direct result of her mother’s untimely passing. Prue never really recovers from this trauma, although given that her own life was tragically cut short, it could be suggested that had she lived she could have overcome her trauma with more time, as she definitely takes a step towards it in Death Takes A Halliwell.
I would definitely list Prue’s death as Piper’s biggest trauma and I don’t think she ever fully recovers from the loss of her sister. While losing Patty was traumatic for all of the girls, I feel that losing Prue was more traumatic for Piper, given that she never truly gets over Prue’s death.
Even though Phoebe also lost and grieved for Prue, I feel that Prue’s death hit Piper much harder due to the closeness of the two older sisters, but also Piper’s hero-worship towards and mild co-dependence on Prue. Piper never thought of a life separate from or without her older sister, unlike Phoebe, who had a tempestuous relationship with Prue and had been shown to break away from the family before. Piper, however, is very family-oriented and absolutely adored her eldest sister, and so the hole left in her life after Prue’s death, coupled with the violent and abrupt nature of Prue’s passing, definitely makes this trauma the hardest one Piper goes through, and as we see over the rest of the show, she never really gets over this death, nor does she ever truly grow comfortable with her role as the Eldest Sister, most likely owing in part to this trauma.
IMO, Phoebe’s biggest trauma was her relationship with Cole and her having to vanquish him when he was The Source.
The entirety of her relationship with Cole seems to have left its mark on Phoebe, as we see in Season 5, as she struggles to move on from the darkness which invaded her life thanks to the relationship. Becoming pregnant with the Source’s child and taking on the mantle of Queen of the Underworld both left their mark on Phoebe, and as we see in the later seasons of the show, she remains terrified of turning back to that darkness, of letting it overtake her again. And, of course, having to choose between her sisters and her husband and making the choice to vanquish Cole definitely had a profound effect on her, and was probably one of the hardest and most heartbreaking decisions of her life.
Luckily for Phoebe, she learns and grows from this trauma, and her character arc following Cole’s influence on her is quite inspiring, as she overcomes the trauma of the relationship and moves towards light and hope.
Without a doubt, Paige’s biggest trauma was losing her parents at such a young age and in such a violent and abrupt manner. As we see in A Paige From The Past, she still carries the trauma, guilt and hurt from the car crash, and it is a deep enough trauma that the sight of another car crash triggers her PTSD and immobilizes her.
Paige’s trauma is thoroughly explored in the episode, as we see a glimpse of the reckless and somewhat self-centered teenager who lived to regret the harsh words she spoke towards her parents the night they died. Paige’s guilt only compounds her trauma, as she firmly believes that she caused the accident by distracting her father, not to mention the survivor’s guilt she experiences, being the only survivor of the crash. Leo taking her to confront her past is heartbreaking, as she re-lives the initial trauma, but seeing the events unfold differently only to reach the same end at least shows Paige that she is in no way responsible for her parents deaths, and after the episode, she is able to take steps forward, and start to heal and move on from the trauma which has obviously held her back for so many years. As with Phoebe, Paige is able to grow and learn from her trauma, and forge her own path ahead, free of guilt or regret.
