The Bowl of Unity, or simply the Unity Bowl, is an ancient magical artifact created thousands of years ago by the original nine clans of magic (pixies, Loveland frogs, mermen, leprechauns, elves, gremlins, hobgoblins, lamias, and trolls) when the Charmed Ones were first created.[1] Presumably after being broken into two pieces, it carried a curse that killed any human who disturbed it.[2] In 2022, it was placed within the Tomb of Chaos by Mel and Maggie Vera to keep it out of the hands of the Unseen. However, the group was able to create a new bowl after stealing the original Vera Book of Shadows.
Overview[]
The bowl is made of stone with writings of ancient Persian and a map of Northern Iran in the center. Any human who disturbed it would be cursed and eventually killed, but if drunk from the bowl, the water would undo any curse, supposedly including the one of a Necromancer. The Lost One could be freed or unbound by the Bowl of Unity. However, this required a great sacrifice—while also empowering the bowl in the process.
Mel translated some of the inscription: "Should this bowl be disturbed by human hands, death will be the outcome. Bonded by blood, bone, and hair, they unleashed the greatest power."
History[]
Origin[]
Ten thousand years ago, during the time of the 8th or 9th millennium B.C., the Bowl of Unity was created by the original nine clans of magic (elves, trolls, pixies, mermen, hobgoblins, Loveland frogs, leprechauns, gremlins, and lamias), who came together to fight the first Conqueror. The beings poured their powers into the bowl in order to forge an unprecedented ultimate power that would be able to defeat him. Knowing it was too much for one being to handle and only witches could bear such power, they asked Ishta, Inara, and Ishani to drink from the bowl. The magic turned them into the first Charmed Ones, splitting the power between the three of them to create the Power of Three. An unknown time later, the bowl was broken into two pieces to be kept separated.
Throughout the Series[]
In "Cats and Camels and Elephants, oh my…", Mel Vera and Jordan Chase found a piece of the bowl in Ray Vera's storage unit. Mel used the Tongue of Babel to translate the words and discovered the location of a resurrection ritual. Ray was cursed by the bowl, but Jordan managed to keep his condition stable by healing him every twenty-four hours.
In "Unveiled", Maggie Vera and Harry Greenwood try to locate the second half of the bowl. Though they haven't managed to find it, they did track its last known location to the shop of a Loveland frog. On the shop owner's list, Harry and Maggie find several names written in blood. Upon finding the listing for the bowl as being purchased by "DBV", Harry was shocked when his powers of Necromancy emit over the initials, realizing the last buyer was dead. Using his power of enter the Veil, Harry found that the initials belonged to Dexter Vaughn, Macy Vaughn and Maggie's father. He had tried to reassemble the bowl in order to break the Necromancer's curse that kept Macy and Marisol Vera apart, but died before he could.
In "Truth or Cares", while outside of the Veil, Dexter began to look around the Vera Manor for the second half of the bowl as he had been told that it lay "beneath the flower bed." He later realized that this actually was referring to Maggie, whose full name 'Margarita' means "daisy", and found the second half beneath her bed. By reuniting it with its other half and breaking the curse on it, they were able to cure Ray of his curse. Jordan then attempted to smash the bowl to pieces again, but it released a wave of energy that moved through the manor into the attic and conjured up new pages inside the Veras' original Book of Shadows.
In "Hashing It Out", using a marble stolen from a witch that had gone through Witchness Protection, the Unseen infiltrated the Command Center in search of the bowl. Mel wandered upon the bowl at the manor, surprised that it was still intact as Jordan had smashed it the previous night. Later, Mel and Maggie broke the bowl into pieces again to protect it with Mel taking half and Maggie taking half, so that the bowl could not reassemble itself. After defeating the Unseen, Mel and Maggie sent it into the Tomb of Chaos to keep it out of the wrong hands. However, the Unseen had stolen the Book of Shadows to their advantage.
In "Divine Secrets of the O.G. Sisterhood", it was revealed that the unprecedented ultimate power created from the clans' collective magic was the Power of Three itself, and that after a trio of witches (Ishta, Inara, and Ishani) drank from the bowl, they became the first original Charmed Ones, and used the Power of Three to defeat the first Conqueror (the enemy whom the clans had joined together to fight against). After using the Book of Shadows to create a new Unity Bowl, the Unseen made the ultimate sacrifice to resurrect Inara. By drinking from the bowl, Inara reclaimed the Power of Three, and then smashed the bowl to pieces, enacting a powerful spell that transformed all humans into trees and plants while magical beings lost their memories and fell under her control.
In "Be Kind. Rewind.", Harry watched countless videotapes at Infinite Home Video where every outcome ended with Inara smashing the bowl before finding one tape that showed static. Inara told Jordan when she smashed the bowl, the spell it cast allowed her to transform the world, but it could only be done once.
In "The End Is Never The End", after Kaela Danso and Maggie sent a videotape back in time to warn their past selves, they and Mel managed to steal back the second bowl and the Book of Shadows, but that didn't stop Inara from enacting another plan to destroy all magic with a Nebron Root Bomb.
Trivia[]
- The Unity Bowl is related to the Pink Moon, though the exact connection between the two was never made clear.
- Just like the Stone Tablet, the Bowl of Unity was broken into two pieces.
- It's currently unknown how the bowl was able to conjure new pages into the Vera's original Book of Shadows in Truth or Cares when Jordan Chase attempted to smash it again. The connection between the Unity Bowl and the Vera family's magical tome is unclear. Though, it is possible that the wave was released as part of an enchantment by Inara as she was connected somehow to the bowl, which would explain how the Unseen knew to steal the book and about the added pages.
- In the comics continuation of the original series, there was the Phosphorus Cauldron, a powerful artifact that was also used to gather magic from all kinds of magical beings, among which a mermaid, a leprechaun and a fairy were included.
- The Unity Bowl may be a reference to the incantation bowls produced in the Middle East during late antiquity from the sixth to eighth centuries, particularly in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria.
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