Ishani

**Ishani** was an ancient witch who became the youngest sister of the first sisterhood of the Charmed Ones after Ishta, Inara and herself drank from the Unity Bowl in order to defeat the first Conqueror. Eventually, Ishani and Ishta betrayed their sisterhood by entombing a power-hungry Inara alive. Since then, she had been cursed to wander the Earth alone for millennia. In 2022, the first charmed Ones were finally able to reconcile their sisterly bond, and Ishani sacrificed herself alongside her sisters to save the magical world from destruction.

Ishani was a witch with heightened abilities, due to her being a previous Charmed One. Aside from her basic witch abilities (casting spells and brewing potions), Ishani was also a manifestor with the ability to manifest objects, beings and realistic illusions into reality. 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 Ishta betrayed their sisterhood 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 Millenium B.C., when magic was everywhere, Ishani joined with two other witches, Ishta and Inara. 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. 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, Ishani 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, 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 further punishment, Ishta was bound to the Black Amber Tree to serve as its guardian following her death, acting as surveillance in hopes of meeting future Charmed Ones to help them break the cycle, while Ishani was forced to wander the Earth for all eternity, watching events play out from the sidelines.

### Throughout the Series

* Season 2
* Season 3
* Season 4

In "*Breaking the Cycle*", Ishani was briefly mentioned when Ishta explained to the Vera-Vaughn Charmed Ones about the Destruction of the Sisterhood.

In "*Unsafe Space*", Ishani 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*", Ishani and her fellow Charmed Ones were referenced when the Vera-Vaughn Charmed Ones recalled the Conqueror's story, as well as Ishta's warning about the Power of Three ending with the destruction of the sisterhood.

In "*Divine Secrets of the O.G. Sisterhood*", Ishani made her first official appearance, using magic to cause Kaela's bus to break down and Kaela's repair tools to disappear. Then, she alighted from a truck labeled "OG'S AUTO SHOP, ROAD SERVICE, SEATTLE, WA", dressed as a mechanic, and offered to help Kaela. While Kaela was initially confused, she came to recognize Ishani through her name tag, and Ishani aroused her interest by citing that her trio were not biological sisters (which was not mentioned in Kaela's history lesson from Harry). After tricking Kaela into eating a drugged banana fritter that caused her to go into a trance and draw the story of the first original Charmed Ones on her bus, Ishani released Kaela from the trance, and went on to explain the story in detail to Kaela through the drawings, concluding with the warning that Inara would be freed unless the Vera-Danso sisterhood could stop her. When Kaela pondered over why she was chosen to be a Charmed One, Ishani explained that there were no such things as *"flukes"* where witches like them were concerned, that she was the only one out of the six people who received Macy's stem cells to become a Charmed One, that forces more ancient and potent than the Power of Three had chosen Kaela due to who she was deep down, and that she had to make a choice about whether she wanted to be Mel's and Maggie's sister.

In "*The End Is Never The End*", Mel and Kaela tracked Ishani down at a bowling alley, drunk and trying to encourage an elderly couple to open their relationship. While she recognized them as the current Charmed Ones, and her attitude was still as peppy as it was in the original timeline where Kaela first met her, she was as uninterested as Ishta was in helping them with Inara, which led to Kaela challenging her to a bowling competition to distract her. Mel eventually got Ishani to snap out of it by hugging her and commiserating with her on the loss of her sisterhood, but also told her that the Vera-Danso sisterhood could help her *"get unstuck"*. However, this did not stop Ishani from getting into a heated quarrel with Ishta 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 impact of the bomb's explosion. Mel even shamed Ishta's, Inara's, and Ishani's legacy as "a sisterhood that ruins the world". At this, the three 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

During Kaela's history lesson from Harry, he described Ishani and her fellow Charmed Ones as "brave", and during her and Kaela's first meeting, she was shown to be witty and humorous with a peppy attitude, but could still be serious when the need arose. She was also exceptionally intelligent and persuasive, first having Kaela paint the story of the first original Charmed Ones on her bus (*"in a language I figured you'd understand best"*), then explained the story in a concise and effortlessly understandable way, and finally got Kaela to realize that, while she was not biologically related to Mel and Maggie, her place was still with them as their sister and fellow Charmed One. Later on, it was revealed that despite her peppy attitude, Ishani actually suffered from a great deal of pain and grief over what she and Ishta had done to Inara eons ago, as well as what it had done to her own sisterhood, and it constantly haunted her, leading her to drown her sorrows in sex, drink, and bowling (which she claimed to have invented).

However, as she herself warned Mel, she was also realistic enough to acknowledge that her relationship with her fellow Charmed Ones had always been difficult, as evidenced by her quarrels with Ishta 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, Ishani 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 (Ishani taking Mel's place), and shared a spiritual and emotional reconciliation as they and the bomb were all destroyed, with Ishani turning left and right to genuinely smile at her sisters, and finally closing her eyes in solace, secure in the knowledge that she was reunited with her sisters, that they were all doing the right thing, and that they would never be parted again.

Apparently Ishani was also sexually uninhibited because she invited an elderly couple to consider opening things up with her.

## Physical Appearance

Ishani has shoulder-length black hair, olive skin, and facial features of a non-white American.

## Powers and Abilities

*Basic Powers*
* **Spell Casting:** The ability to cast spells and perform rituals.
* **Potion Making:** The ability to brew magical potions.

*Active Powers*
* **Manifestation:** Ishani's primary power as a witch was the ability to manifest things into reality. The full extent of her power was unknown, though it seemed that her source of inspiration was not the same as Kaela's - use of thought instead of art.
	+ **Conjuration:** As a branch of manifestation, Ishani was capable of conjuring things without the use of art, most likely just by thought.

*Passive Powers*
* **Immunity:** Being a witch, Ishani was inherently immune to certain magical abilities (e.g. the sirens' songs and to pixie dust).

### Former Powers

* **Immortality:** The power to live a potentially eternal life. As a consequence of her and Ishta entombing Inara alive, betraying their sisterhood, Ishani was forced to wander the Earth for all eternity, watching events play out from the sidelines.
* **The Power of Three:** The collective power of the Charmed Ones, which stems from their sisterly bond. Ishani 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. After entombing Inara alive, Ishta and Ishani lost their connection to the Power of Three.
	+ **Resistance:** Presumably through the Power of Three, the Charmed Ones are able to resist the effects of having their memory erased to a certain extent, allowing the memories to slowly bleed back through.

## Former Weaknesses

* **Mortality:** Despite being a witch, Ishani 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:** Despite the Power of Three being one of her greatest strengths, it is also a burden. Being the first Charmed Ones, Ishani 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.

## Trivia

* Ishani is the youngest sister and Charmed One, similarly to Phoebe Halliwell from the original series.
* 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 *ishani* (**ईशानी**), the feminine form of *ishana* (**ईशान**)which means *ruler*, *lord*. However, her age pre-dates the Sanskrit language.
	+ According to Ishani's actress' own race and origin, Ishani is possibly of East Asian 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, Ishani was the youngest sister in her sisterhood of Charmed Ones.
* In *The End Is Never The End*, it is unclear why Ishani left items - such as the drugged fritters - at the site that she had ambushed Kaela Danso in *Divine Secrets of the O.G. Sisterhood* as, due to the changes in the timeline, the two of them did not meet up at this location and thus it makes no sense why these items would have been present there in this timeline.
	+ Ishani also revealed that she had invented the game of bowling in this episode.
* Just like how Mel Vera tried to deal with Macy Vaughn's death by having sex and drinking, Ishani also tried to cope with what she and Ishta had done to Inara by doing the same (along with playing rounds of bowling).
	+ Unlike Mel, however, Ishani caused the destruction of her sisterhood herself, along with Ishta, the eldest sister.
	+ She was not blood-related to her other fellow Charmed Ones, just like how Mel and Maggie Vera are not blood-related to Kaela Danso. However, unlike Ishani and her sisters, Kaela was somewhat related to Macy and Maggie as she had Macy's stem-cells.
	+ Unlike Mel, Ishani was the youngest of her sisterhood, while Mel was the middle sister of the Vera-Vaughn sisterhood before becoming the eldest sister of the reconstituted Vera-Danso sisterhood after the passing of her eldest sister, Macy. Also, just like Mel, Ishani's eldest sister was also black-skinned.

## References

1. ↑ *The End Is Never The End*
2. ↑ *Unsafe Space*
3. ↑ *Divine Secrets of the O.G. Sisterhood*
4. ↑ Jeff Lieber's Tweet
5. ↑ Carrie Williams' Tweet
6. ↑ Joey Falco's Tweet