Loveday Writing

Definition of Good and Evil according to Charmed:

According to the Charmed Wiki website, Good and Evil is a set affiliation, as if they are political parties of the supernatural world, not a matter of perception or a label for a particular pattern of behaviour. Each side has a hierarchy, agents and an agenda.

Definition of Neutrality according to Charmed:

According to the Charmed Wiki website, neutral beings are “not aligned with either Good or Evil, and do not participate in the eternal struggle between them. Instead they perform other functions in maintaining the Grand Design, or are free to pursue their own agendas.” The website also stated that it should be noted that neutrality is not an affiliation; it only indicates a lack of affiliation with Good or Evil.

This definition perfectly sums up neutral beings, why they exist, and why they are needed in the Charmed universe. This four-part analysis will look at three types of neutral beings: the Angel of Death, the Cleaners, and the Avatars. This part will look at the Angel of Death.

The Angel of Death

The Angel of Death in Death Takes a Halliwell:

The Angel of Death makes his first appearance in the season three episode, Death Takes a Halliwell.

In this episode, Prue notices that not only is she being followed by Andrea, a rookie inspector working with Reece Davidson (the latter is an inspector who has been investigating Cole), but that a shadow is following Andrea. Prue eventually realises that she is the only person that can see the shadow and follows Andrea around, eventually to her apartment. When Prue eventually gets to Andrea’s apartment, she hears screams and finds her dead inside after being attacked by demons. It is at this moment the shadow materialises and introduces himself to Prue and the audience as the Angel of Death.

When Prue tells her sisters, Leo and Cole about her interaction with him, Leo tells her that the Angel of Death can’t be stopped as he always gets who he comes for. Prue doesn’t listen and still goes out of her way to protect Davidson, going so far as to astral project to the mausoleum to assist Cole with protecting Davidson from the Seekers. The Angel of Death appears again over Davidson’s body to take him, but Prue tries to stop him by kicking him to no avail. When the Seekers retreat, the Angel of Death disappears and Prue thinks she won, but Leo again informs her that she can’t beat him.

Rather than wait for him to show up again, Prue summons the Angel of Death to her. Once he gets there, the Angel of Death immediately brings up her mother, Patty’s, death, and calls her out for her anger towards him for taking her mother, and her motives for trying to protect Davidson – by saving Davidson from dying she believes she has beaten not only the Angel of Death but the concept of Death itself.

The Angel of Death tells her it’s Davidson’s time to die and tells her to take his hand. He takes her to the mausoleum, to witness Davidson being killed by the Seekers. Prue turns her back while the Seekers kill him as the Angel of Death tells her it’s his time and she needs to stop fighting him, while Piper and Phoebe watch on as they have been locked outside by the Seekers.

After the sisters vanquish the Seekers, Prue finally learns the lesson that death is not the evil. At the end of the episode, Death comes to see Prue and informs her that she was on his list, next after Davidson, until she stopped fighting him, which is why she was the only person who could see him in his shadow form. He tells her that focusing her anger towards him leaves her vulnerable to the real evils of the world. Prue tells him that she has been mad at him since Patty died and she doesn’t know how else to be. The Angel of Death tells her to grieve and then move on.

The Angel of Death in Styx Feet Under:

The Angel of Death appears again in the season seven episode, Styx Feet Under.

This time, the Angel of Death’s neutrality and purpose is truly focused on, as the sisters inadvertently create a bottleneck or backlog of death, after Paige casts a protection spell on their innocent, Arthur Casey.

Paige’s protection spell prevents Arthur from dying after he is hit by an energy ball thrown by Sirk, a half-human, half-demon who is killing his family members to become a full demon. The Angel of Death comes to see the sisters (the first time all of them and Leo have been able to see him) to figure out why he can’t collect Arthur’s soul even though he is dead. Paige tells him about the spell and he orders her to reverse it, however Piper refuses as they still need to find and vanquish Sirk. The Angel of Death tells them Sirk isn’t his problem as he is neutral and only cares about maintaining the grand design, which he can’t do if he can’t collect souls in order.

The Angel of Death eventually discovers the unintended consequences of Paige’s spell when he goes to the hospital to collect another soul, only to find he can’t. It is Sirk who tells him that the sisters created a bottleneck or backlog of death. He offers to help the Angel of Death correct this problem. It is revealed the Angel of Death has accepted Sirk’s help as the protection spell has been lifted and he is able to take Arthur’s soul. Piper accuses him of helping Sirk, but the Angel of Death maintains he is neutral as Sirk helped him. Piper says it’s not the sisters’ fault he can’t do his job. The Angel of Death takes Piper’s soul to make her another Angel of Death to get her help with the backlog.

Piper discovers the true neutral nature of being the Angel of Death when she becomes it herself. She is seen helping an elderly man cross over, and goes toe-to-toe with the Angel of Death when Phoebe’s name ends up on his list and she refuses to do the job, so he explains why Death is necessary to the grand design. Piper ultimately ends up having to take Paige’s soul after Sirk blindsides the sisters.

Phoebe eventually comes up with a plan to change the circumstances, a concept present throughout the episode. She simultaneously vanquishes Sirk and kills Kevin, and trades his soul for Paige’s as his name was not on the list. The Angel of Death agrees to this trade as it keeps the grand design in order. He then sends Paige’s and Piper’s souls back into their bodies.

This episode dug deep into the Angel of Death’s character, specifically his neutral nature and his purpose in the magical world and grand design. As mentioned earlier, he is neutral, while you could argue he wasn’t being neutral when he accepted Sirk’s help, he balanced this choice out by accepting Phoebe’s deal to trade Kevin’s soul for Paige’s. Piper also got a taste of his job and neutrality when he made her an Angel of Death when she had to collect souls, and couldn’t interfere or participate in the battles between Phoebe, Paige and Sirk. This episode also marks the first and only time a Charmed one has become a neutral being, albeit temporarily.

The Angel of Death in Vaya Con Leos:

The Angel of Death appears again in the season eight episode, Vaya Con Leos, this time to collect Leo’s soul.

Interestingly, due to his past interactions with the sisters, Piper is the first to see him across the street from a car sales yard she is at with Leo. Seeing him makes Piper paranoid, checking in on her sisters and Leo. Leo notices something is wrong and encourages her to figure out what to do rather than worrying about it. Following Prue’s lead in season three, she summons the Angel of Death, albeit in her own aggressive way, and he finally tells her he is taking Leo. He tells her that due to their past, he appeared to her to warn her. He interestingly states that with him it’s not a matter of how or why, but when.

Also like Prue, Piper tries to beat the Angel of Death by casting a spell to hide Leo from him. Moments later Piper gets a call from a hysterical Paige, which reveals that Piper’s spell made every man look like Leo. Piper eventually tells Leo what’s happening after he overhears a conversation about the situation between her and her sisters. Moments after she speaks with him, the Angel of Death appears to her again and he sees the effects of her spell. He warns her that he’ll eventually find Leo and magic can’t protect him forever. He does eventually find him while he’s waiting in a cab outside of the boys’ preschool.

Leo pleads for his life, pointing out that his first life ended prematurely and what he has given up for his second life. The Angel of Death tells him all life eventually ends and disappears, moments later a truck crashes into the cab, knocking Leo unconscious. Piper rushes to the hospital to see Leo before his surgery. After he is taken to surgery, Paige suggests that something demonic is going on as it’s not random and suggests if something magical is behind it all, something magical can fix it. Piper leaves, telling her she’s off to cheat death.

Piper tells the Angel of Death that he made a point of telling her that this happens for a reason and warning her. She asks him for his help to find out why this is all happening. He tells her he doesn’t know what the reason is but he knows there is one, and suggests talking to those who know more about the Grand Design. She summons both an Elder, and another neutral being, an Avatar, to get answers. They tell her neither one of them has the authority to tell her and reveal (off screen) that the Angel of Destiny (another neutral being) does. When the Angel of Destiny is summoned, the sisters tell her about their interactions with the Angel of Death, and Elder and an Avatar, and she remarks, “looks like I’m going to have to have a little chat with them,” which indicates that the Angel of Destiny is the top of the magical hierarchy, or controls the magical Grand Design.

How Neutral was the Angel of Death?

Overall, the Angel of Death mostly lived up to his neutral status by at first emphasising to Prue repeatedly that he is neither Good nor Evil, he is who he is. While in his first appearance to Piper, Phoebe and Paige, he greatly emphasised his neutrality. Yes he did accept a demon’s help, he also accepted a trade by the sisters to manage the Grand Design and ultimately give them what they wanted, so you could argue that the latter action balances the former action out. In his third appearance, he was somewhat less neutral as he outright helped the sisters due to their past interactions. Although he didn’t gain anything, he may have helped tipped the scales from Evil to Good, as the outcome of what happened in Vaya Con Leos motivates the sisters to fight harder against evil. That being said, he never crossed the boundaries set on him by the Angel of Destiny.

The next part of the Charmed & Neutrality analysis series will be released next week and will focus on the Cleaners.