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Ishta

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“ Don't worry! I'm here to help. So you don't make the same mistakes we did!... My sisters and I. ”
— Ishta[src]


Ishta, also known as the Guardian, was an ancient witch who became the eldest sister of the first sisterhood of the Charmed Ones after Inara, Ishani and herself drank from the Unity Bowl in order to defeat the first Conqueror. Eventually, she and Ishani betrayed their sisterhood by entombing a power-hungry Inara alive. As punishment, Ishta was bound to the Black Amber Tree underneath the Command Center for millennia and dedicated herself to guard the past and protect the future. In 2022, after Inara was resurrected, the first Charmed Ones were eventually able to reconcile their sisterly bond, and Ishta sacrificed herself along with Ishani and Inara to save the magical world from destruction.

Ishta was a witch with heightened abilities, due to her being a Charmed One. Along with her basic witch abilities (casting spells and brewing potions), Ishta had the ability to project a field of light. Furthermore, she could also access the Power of Three, the collective power of the Charmed Ones, allowing them to vanquish the most powerful of evil beings. However, she had long since lost access to the Power of Three, when she and Ishani entombed a power-hungry Inara alive and began the cycle of destruction for generations of Charmed Ones to come.

History[]

Early Life[]

Ten thousand years ago, during the time of either the 8th or 9th millennium B.C.[2], when magic was everywhere, Ishta joined with two other witches, Inara and Ishani. Together, they drank from the Unity Bowl and became the first Charmed Ones in order to defeat the first Conqueror, a power-hungry mortal who wanted to steal all magic for himself.[3] As a fail-safe in the event where the Power of Three failed to stop him, they also created the Nebron Root Bomb to destroy his magic, though they managed to defeat him without resorting to the bomb. After their battle, the first Conqueror and the first Charmed Ones were remembered in legend. However, Ishta and her fellow Charmed Ones also drifted apart as they no longer had a common purpose, for while they chose to become Charmed, they never chose to be sisters.

Eventually, Inara wanted to restore the stolen power of the Conqueror, to put magic everywhere. Ishta and Ishani disagreed, knowing it would continue to create temptation for another Conqueror to rise. So, they combined the power in one place and hid it so no one could find it, thus creating the Sacred Flame/The Source of All Evil. However, the argument still tore the Charmed Ones apart, with Inara growing power-hungry and wanting to take on the Source's power for herself, which resulted in Ishta and Ishani entombing her alive south of Baghdad in the Akahtu Mines, at the cost of betraying their sisterhood and creating a vicious cycle of destruction. As a punishment, Ishta was bound to the Black Amber Tree to serve as its guardian, acting as surveillance in hopes of meeting future Charmed Ones to help them break the cycle, while Ishani was forced to wander the Earth alone for all eternity, watching events play out from the sidelines.[4]

Some of the many incarnations of the Charmed Ones were put by Ishta through a test to "speak the unspoken" in order to try and help them break the cycle. Placing the Command Center into lockdown, those tested were surrounded by deadly laser beams in some kind of "escape room" and forced to reveal to each other the innermost secrets that they wouldn't even admit to themselves in order to "unlock their way."

Throughout the Series[]

In "Breaking the Cycle", the Guardian revealed herself to Macy Vaughn, Mel, and Maggie Vera when they found the secret place that she was guarding. She evasively told them that they had a difficult fate ahead of them and would eventually break the vicious circle or fail, just like all the previous generations of the Charmed Ones before them. Wishing the Vera-Vaughn sisters luck, the Guardian flew off in an unknown direction.

In "Unsafe Space", the Guardian and her fellow Charmed Ones were briefly mentioned when Celeste discussed her concerns with Harry about Julian Shea being the new Conqueror.

In "Someone's Going to Die", the Vera-Vaughn Charmed Ones visited the Guardian to warn her about the tree being in danger, as well as to acquire her guidance. She explained to them about the Conqueror and what would happen if a human touched the black amber pool in the chamber. Mel suggested sealing the room with a spell, but the Guardian warned them that doing so would cut them off from the power of the black amber, including access to the board and portals. The catastrophic situation caused Maggie to suffer from panic attacks and pass out.

In "Triage", the severely ill and diminishing Guardian explained to the Charmed Ones that all magical beings were tied to the fate of the Black Amber Tree, which had been desecrated by Vivienne Laurent's action. When the last leaf fell, all magic would die, and not even the Charmed Ones could survive that, and the only way to save the tree is to acquire "the greatest power and the greatest sacrifice." After telling Mel and Maggie (both of whom were confused) to ask Macy for clarification, the Guardian flew off in an unknown direction.

In "I Dreamed a Dream…", the Guardian appeared to the dying Macy in her own dreamworld, and as soon as Mel and Maggie recognized her, they tried to prevent Macy from talking to her, believing that she would take Macy to the afterlife. Macy told her sisters what the Guardian had told her, and eventually, coming to terms with what had happened, Mel and Maggie took the dying Macy to the Black Amber Tree room. There, the Guardian informed Macy that her time had come. When Macy touched the Guardian, her soul separated from her dying body, becoming a new guardian.

Later that night, Mel and Maggie found Harry Greenwood looking sadly at where Macy last stood. When Mel and Maggie mourned over how the destruction of the sisterhood had overtaken them after all and wondered if it meant that their time as Charmed Ones was over, the Guardian appeared and shocked the sisters and Harry with the statement that there was another woman out there somewhere who would help them restore the Power of Three.

In "Not That Girl", six months had passed since the Guardian told the Vera sisters and Harry Greenwood about the other. Due to their lack of success, Harry came to believe that the Guardian was wrong until he, Mel, Maggie meet Kaela Danso.

In "Unlucky Charmed", the Guardian and her fellow Charmed Ones were mentioned during Kaela's history lesson from Harry.

In "Cats and Camels and Elephants, oh my…", Harry entered the Veil through the body of the Tallyman's older brother in an attempt to find Macy, but found the Guardian instead. The Guardian commiserated with him, but also assured him that Macy was at peace, and shot down his idea of going into the tree to be with Macy as non-feasible. After Maggie got him to snap out of it, the Guardian explained to them that she had started frequenting the Veil to find out what she can about the Lost One, and also revealed herself to be one of the first original Charmed Ones. When the other spirits sensed Maggie's and Harry's presence in their realm, and tried to return to the living world through them, the Guardian helped them to escape from the Veil by immobilizing the angry ghosts, but not before warning Maggie and Harry that they must stop the Lost One from rising, for it was responsible for how the destruction of the sisterhood came about.

In "Divine Secrets of the O.G. Sisterhood", it was revealed that the Guardian's name was Ishta, and that she and the other two original Charmed Ones—Inara and Ishani—were neither sisters nor related in any biological way but had chosen to join one another to become Charmed to stop the first Conqueror. However, when the battle was over, the three of them drifted apart due to their lack of a common purpose, and, ultimately, their disagreements over the Source's power tore them apart. After Ishta and Ishani entombed a power-hungry Inara alive, they were both punished for betraying and cursing the sisterhood for all future generations to come, with Ishta being bound to the tree to serve as Guardian to future Charmed Ones, while Ishani was forced to wander the Earth alone forever, always watching from the sidelines.

In "The End Is Never The End", Maggie and Jordan found Ishta at a demon boxing club "blowing off steam", uninterested in helping the Vera-Danso sisterhood due to her guilt and regret over her previous actions against Inara, as well as what had become of her own sisterhood as a result. Maggie eventually got Ishta to snap out of it, though it did not stop her from getting into a heated quarrel with Ishani over who was to blame for their situation with Inara. Their quarrel was cut short by Harry's revelations about Inara's new plan being the Nebron Root Bomb, which rendered them both worried and anxious as they knew what that meant for them and, by extension, all of magic. With no other alternative, Ishta and Ishani watched as the Vera-Danso sisterhood resurrected Inara, who scoffed at her fellow Charmed Ones' sincere apologies and expressed her unwillingness to help, only for the three of them to be told off by the Vera-Danso sisterhood, who were perfectly willing to make the ultimate sacrifice even after Ishta explained that it was the only way to stop the bomb's explosion's impacts. Mel even shamed Ishta's, Inara's, and Ishani's legacy as "a sisterhood that ruins the world". At this, the three first original Charmed Ones finally saw sense, and sacrificed themselves to save the Vera-Danso sisterhood and, by extension, the entire magical world, having a spiritual and emotional reconciliation as they did so.

Personality[]

Ishta was a friendly ghost with a high sense of duty and responsibility, and she provided the occasional assist to the Vera-Vaughn sisterhood with her wisdom and her extensive knowledge of magic. During Kaela's history lesson from Harry, he also described Ishta and her fellow Charmed Ones as "brave," and she commiserated with him on his grief over Macy's death but also assured him that Macy was at peace and helped Maggie to force him to realize that he needed to truly move on with life. Later on, it was revealed that Ishta was deeply traumatized by what she and Ishani had done to Inara eons ago and actually harbored a great deal of guilt and regret over it, as well as what it had done to her own sisterhood. However, she was also too stubborn to admit it, as evidenced by her quarrels with Ishani and a resurrected Inara over who was to blame for their sisterhood's failure. After Mel forced the three original Charmed Ones to truly realize what their legacy had done to future generations of Charmed Ones and even the magical world, Ishta and her sisters proved to be truly brave and truly self-sacrificing—they respectively took the Vera-Danso sisterhood's places to absorb the bomb's energy (Ishta taking Maggie's place) and shared a spiritual and emotional reconciliation as they and the bomb were all destroyed, with Ishta nodding reassuringly at Inara and Ishani as they died.

Physical Appearance[]

Ishta was a black woman with long brown hair worn in braids and gray-brown eyes. At the time of her death, she appeared to be in her thirties or forties.

Powers and Abilities[]

Basic Powers
Active Powers
  • Photokinesis: Ishta's witch power is the ability to generate light. The full extension of this power is unknown, however she was able to project a field or wave of light that was capable of halting and harming the spirits within the Veil.[5]
  • Flight: The ability to defy gravity and propel oneself in any direction through the air. Ishta is able to break up into wispy, spectral energy.
  • Technopathy: The ability to communicate with modern technology and control it. Ishta uses this to operate the system of the Command Center and to provide the various protective measures.
  • Dream Walking: The ability to project oneself into the dreams of another and manipulate them. Ishta was able to project herself into Macy Vaughn's dreamworld to converse with her shortly before her death.
  • Dimension Crossing: Ishta, as a spirit and the Guardian, can travel through planes of existence. While she can exist as a ghost, she can also manifest herself into the physical world, as well as travel to other dimensions, such as the Veil.
Passive Powers
  • Immunity: Being a witch, Ishta was inherently immune to certain magical abilities (e.g. the sirens' songs and to pixie dust).

Former Powers[]

  • The Power of Three: The collective power of the Charmed Ones, which stems from their sisterly bond. Ishta and her sisters were the first to wield that power and came together to stop the first Conqueror. Evidently, there are certain spells that require the Power of Three and cannot be cast by even the most powerful witches, like Charity Callahan. Following entombing Inara alive, Ishta and Ishani lost their connection to the Power of Three.
    • Resistance: Presumably through the Power of Three, the Charmed Ones were able to resist the effects of having their memory erased to a certain extent, allowing the memories to slowly bleed back through.

Abilities[]

  • Combat skills: Ishta was shown to be skilled in close combat, able to hold her own against demon fighters and Maggie.[2]

Former Weaknesses[]

  • Mortality: Despite being a witch, Ishta was still mortal and still had many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural humans (e.g. age, decapitation, disease, heart-failure, suffocation, snapped neck, etc.), until her death.
  • The Destruction of the Sisterhood: Being the first Charmed Ones, Ishta and her sisters were susceptible to the cycle of the sisterhood's destruction, where one Charmed One of each generation dies of unnatural causes due to the Power of Three. Inara's entombment by Ishta and Ishani was what started the cycle that destroyed every sisterhood.
  • Death of Magic: As a witch, Ishta was tied to the power of the Black Amber Tree. If the tree was ever poisoned, all of magic would dies along with it, including Ishta.

Trivia[]

  • It was unknown how she knew about Kaela Danso.
    • However, given Ishani's explanations about how she was "bound" to the Black Amber Tree to serve as Guardian to future Charmed Ones, it was likely that she shares a connection to the current set of Charmed Ones while watching them from the shadows and so sensed Macy's death, resulting in the awakening of Kaela's powers and destiny as a new Charmed One. It was also possible that Ishani had kept tabs for her, though given her and Ishani's initially terse relationship, this is unlikely.
  • It is unknown what her native language was or place of habitat. With her and her sisters being over ten thousand years old, it is very likely to have been some ancient dead language and civilization.
    • Her name comes from the Sanskrit word ishta (इष्ट), which means desired, beloved. However, her age pre-dates the Sanskrit language.
    • According to Ishta's actress' own race and origin, Ishta is possibly of South African origin.
    • As the Unity Bowl is inscribed with ancient Persian, it is possible that she and her sisters inhabited one of the regions that are now known as Iran, parts of Central Asia, or the Caucasus region, as these are the regions where the language was spoken.
      • However, as, once again, their ages predate this language and civilization, it is still unknown where exactly they lived and what language or languages they spoke.
  • According to Joey Falco on Twitter, Ishta was the oldest sister in her sisterhood of Charmed Ones.[6] This makes her similar to Prue Halliwell from the original series. However, this is their only similarity.
  • Prior to learning her name, she was simply known as the Guardian.
    • It was also implied that the Originals had their names written in the Book of Elders.
  • Just like how Maggie Vera tried to deal with Macy's death by taking out demons, Ishta also tried to cope with what she and Ishani had done to Inara by boxing with demons.
  • The final episode of the series, The End Is Never The End, contradicts information previously given about Ishta. For instance, Ishta was presented in Season 2 and 3 as a guardian spirit connected to the Black Amber Tree and the Command Center. However, in the final episode, this is seemingly retconned as she is able to roam the physical world and is apparently no longer a spiritual being. Although it is possible that she somehow, perhaps through her connection to the Black Amber Tree, was able to freely roam between the physical and spiritual planes.

Appearances[]

Quotes

“ Macy: You died? Because you were a Charmed One?

Ishta: No. Because of the Power of Three.

”
— Macy and Ishta[src]


Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Breaking the Cycle
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The End Is Never The End
  3. ↑ Unsafe Space
  4. ↑ Divine Secrets of the O.G. Sisterhood
  5. ↑ Bianca Writes' Twitter (Broken link: At some point in 2023, Bianca deleted her Twitter account through which she gave most of the information about the show.)
  6. ↑ Joey Falco's Tweet (Broken link: In the fall of 2023, Falco deleted his Twitter account through which he gave most of the information about the show.)
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