The 5x5 Curse was a curse that was placed upon an ancestor of Jordan Chase by the witch, Florence. The curse focused on the male members of the Chase Family, ensuring that they died before they reach their 26th birthday. One hundred and thirty-two years later, it was finally broken by Jordan who was able to balance the scales of justice.
History[]
Origins[]
Florence was head of the Tulipe Institute in Seattle in the late 1800s. To the outside world, the place was an asylum for crazy women, but in truth it was a safe haven for witches. The institute housed twenty-five witches when the Witchfinder General, Lawrence Mortimer Chase, exposed them and had them all burned at the stake. Florence begged for his mercy, but he refused, angering Florence to curse his family before she died: twenty-five women were burned and so every male family member in the Chase line would be condemned to die at the age of twenty-five.
Sometime later, Lawrence died of an "accidental death" on December 1st, 1889. Rudolph Chase became the Witchfinder General after his father fell ill, and held the position until his untimely death at the age of 25 in 1911. Rudolph's son, Herman Chase, died on July 3rd, 1930. Percy Mortimer-Chase died on September 3rd, 1955. Jordan Chase's grandfather died in the Vietnam War, Jordan's uncle in a car crash and Jordan's father died of a brain aneurysm.
Throughout the Series[]
In "When Sparks Fly", while holding Jordan Chase's family ring, Maggie Vera began to have visions of the future involving Jordan being in danger or getting hurt.
In "Past is Present", Maggie stole Jordan's sport wristband containing his sweat residue as required for a spell that would reveal what type of magic was present in him. It revealed that he was cursed by the dying breath of a witch. Later, after Harry Greenwood cloned Jordan's family ring and stole the original, Macy Vaughn performed a spell to reveal the most significant moment of the ring's history. It revealed that Lawrence Mortimer Chase, also known as the Witchfinder General and an ancestor of Jordan's, was cursed by Florence after sentencing her to death. The curse seemingly caused all of the males in Chase's family to pass away before their 26th birthday.
In "The Rules of Engagement", Maggie Vera saw an extended version of her past vision and realized that her distraught ex-fiance Parker Caine is the one who would come to kill Jordan Chase. She decided to save Jordan.
Jordan was angry when he saw that Parker was abusing Maggie. He tried to protect her from Parker, but he, having a demonic advantage, threw Jordan into the wall, causing him to lose consciousness and get a concussion. Later, Maggie managed to save Jordan, preventing the fatal outcome of the curse this time.
In "Curse Words", while at Jordan's 26th birthday party, Maggie began to wonder if Jordan could still be cursed. Soon, Maggie had a vision of a neon sign falling on top of Jordan and killing him. She was able to prevent this from happening by tackling Jordan and knocking him out of the way just before the sign fell. When asked about his immediate family by Maggie, Jordan revealed that his paternal grandpa died in the Vietnam War, his father had an brain aneurysm and his uncle died in a car crash all before the age of 26. Soon after, Maggie was greeted by the vengeful ghost of Florence, who planned to kill Jordan herself as Maggie had thwarted the curse long enough. Maggie was then able to trap Florence's ghost in a mirror, but the ghost was eventually able to bust her way out.
Florence then possessed the SafeSpace, Seattle employee, Swan, and used her to go after Jordan. Florence/Swan was subdued by Maggie and she and Jordan escaped into the room that leads to the Command Center. However, the possessed Swan was eventually able to break in, causing Maggie to reveal the door to the Command Center and escape with Jordan inside. Maggie was then forced to reveal that her and her sisters are witches.
Eventually, Jordan decided to return the ring that had been stolen from her by Lawrence so long ago, and this act and the words of Maggie were able to calm her anger. She left Swan's body and was able to rest in peace. Before Florence moved on to the afterlife, she gave Maggie a hint for Jordan so that he could free his family from the curse. Florence said that Jordan must "balance the scales of justice" for the curse to be lifted and his life and that of his male descendants to be spared.
In "Dance Like No One is Witching", Jordan continued to search for a way to break the curse, because despite the fact that death no longer threatens him, all future generations of men in his family are still in danger.
In "Sudden Death", Abigael Jameson-Caine told Jordan that the descendants of those burned witches are alive, and if he helps them, he might be able to properly break the curse.
In "The Enemy of My Frenemy", Jordan fell into a death-like trance and encountered Florence's spirit. He asked her about Abigael's idea, which she confirmed was correct, but would also be dangerous. She then imparted a riddle to him: Many were lost, few can be found. And those who remain can be unbound. For where sisters lurk, danger resounds. The trio of dark and light shall be found.
In "No Hablo Brujeria", Macy and inadvertently Jordan, after he jumped in front of her, were spelled into a magical dimension focusing on Jordan's repressed thoughts and memories by Joséfina Reyes. Jordan's curse collided with the spell's magic and it began to become destabilized. Eventually, Jordan saw Lawrence Mortimer Chase and chased after him to the auditorium of his old high school. There, after revealing his frustrations, Lawrence and Florence appeared. Florence begged Jordan to save her. Jordan immediately fought his ancestor and eventually came out victorious, but refused to kill him at Florence's urging. Florence whispered her release of the Chase family's curse, which was proven true when Macy finds herself no longer repelled by him.
Incantation[]
- No matter how long your seed may strive,
- it shall never take hold nor stay alive,
- cursed to wither five by five.
- I curse you, Lawrence Mortimer Chase!
Trivia[]
- Jordan Chase is the first and only male of his family in 130 years who has been able to survive this curse. Thus, he is also the only male in his family in that time to live past the age of twenty-five.
- In the original series, there is a similar curse - To Kill An Evil Witch, which is meant to kill an evil witch and curse her future incarnations to the same fate so that they die the same date at the exact same age, regardless if they were good or evil.
- The curse is similar to a blood malediction from the Harry Potter franchise.
Gallery[]
