Medusa

**Medusa** was a witch before being transformed into a gorgon. She had since become a vengeful monster who attacked those who had wronged other women and those who turned a blind eye. It can be presumed that Medusa can be summoned by anger of these women and she is coming to them through water surfaces.

## History

### Early Life

Around 800 B.C., during the time of Ancient Greece, Medusa was one of three sorceress sisters before she was raped by the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, in the temple of Athena and wrongfully turned into a gorgon by the goddess to cover up his misdeeds, so that no one would see her pain. According to legend, Medusa was eventually beheaded by the son of the god Zeus, Perseus.

### Throughout the Series

In "*Switches & Stones*", Medusa started turning male students into stone at Hilltowne University. The Vera-Vaugh Charmed Ones found out what all of the victims had in common: they were all members of Phi Delta Upsilon. It was soon revealed that the gorgon was accidentally summoned by Daphne, a Kappa spring rushee who had been slut-shamed after one of the Phi Delts, Brett, had posted provocative photos of her and refused to take them down, leading to Medusa being summoned and promising to make him and anyone else involved pay for their misdeeds. Eventually, at a Phi Delt Greek party, she managed to petrify everyone at the party, including Parker Caine, Harry Greenwood, and Charity Callahan, though, excluding the Charmed Ones, who protected themselves with a Spell Blocking Shield.

Before the Charmed Ones could behead her, however, Macy Vaughn noticed that Medusa had only petrified the ones who looked away from her, meaning that she wanted people to see her pain. Macy tells Medusa that she saw her pain and promised her that she and her sisters would do everything they could to set things right, allowing Medusa to finally let go of her pain and vanish.

## Personality

Medusa initially appeared to have the typical characteristics of a demon; inconsiderate of others, vindictive, and perfectly willing to harm others. However, this was simply an outer layer she projected, as she felt pity for Daphne, who had inadvertently summoned her through her pain, and resolved to use her powers to punish those who had hurt Daphne, and only petrified those who turned away from her, since she truly only wanted someone to see her own pain.

## Physical Appearance

Medusa is a beautiful woman wearing a dark dress with a golden ornamental neck SB's shoulder piece. Unlike the myths, she does not have many snakes for hair. She has only one snake that coils around the top of her head and hair. When she uses her ability, her eyes turn vivid green with snake-like pupils.

## Powers and Abilities

### Current Powers

*Active Powers*
* **Gorgon Form:** The ability to shift between human and gorgon form. Her hair turns into a snake. Medusa only has one snake rested on her head in the form of a ponytail.
* **Petrification:** The ability to change another being into a form of organic stone. Medusa uses her power with her eyes and turns other beings into stone if they look away, after staring at her.
* **Sensing:** Medusa had a powerful sense of smell that allowed her to sense that Macy, Maggie, and Mel were in the fraternity house and that they were witches. She was able to feel Daphne's anger, even though she wasn't anywhere near her.

*Passive Powers*
* **Immortality:** The ability to live a potentially eternal life. Medusa has apparently been alive for thousands of years and maintained the form of a young woman.
	+ **Self-Resurrection:** The ability to come back to life upon being killed. Medusa came back to life after being killed by Perseus, and was even able to regenerate her head after she was beheaded. The only proper way to kill her is probably to heal her inner pain.

### Former Powers

*Basic Powers*
* **Spell Casting:** The power to cast spells and perform rituals.
* **Potion Making:** The power to brew and concoct potions, remedies and elixirs that have supernatural properties.

*Other Powers*
* **Unknown Individual Power:** As a witch, Medusa possessed an individual magical power. It is unknown what this power was and if she kept it after turning into a gorgon or if it has any relevance to her gorgon powers. It is possible that her power of Petrification was her witchly power, which became distorted along with the rest of her after she was transformed, though this is unconfirmed.
* **Immunity:** All witches without exception are immune to the effects of pixie dust, the sirens' songs and to being frozen in time. Medusa lost her immunity after turning into a Gorgon, as she could be frozen in time.

## Book of Shadows Entry

### Medusa

*The most powerful known gorgon*

*Medusa was one of three sorceress sisters– Medusa, Stheno & Euryale. She was renowned for being an enchanting beauty Poseidon could not resist her and raped her in Athena's temple. To punish her for this she was transformed into a demon with serpents hair. No one could ever look upon her beauty again; One look into her eyes and the onlooker would turn to stone.*

*The hero Perseus was sent by the King Polydectes of Seriphus to destroy a sleeping Medusa. He used the reflection of her in his shield he recieved from Athena to guide and behead her. Her severed head retained its powers and so Perseus used it as a weapon in battle to turn his foes from being into stone.*

*Decapitation is the only known method of vanquishing Medusa should she be summoned. The use of mirrors or other reflective materials is advised to avoid her destructive gaze.*

## Trivia

* Medusa is a major character in Greek mythology. She was a monstrous Gorgon who could turn others to stone if they looked into her eyes. She would be beheaded by Perseus, the son of Zeus, who was able to do so by gazing at her through his shield.
* Medusa's backstory in the reboot mirrored the one in the e-book novel of the original series, *Let Gorgons Be Gorgons*.
* Unlike the usual myth and legend, Medusa's power affected only those who looked away from her, instead of the opposite, because of her desire to be seen by people who know her pain.
	+ She also only had one snake that rested atop of her head in Gorgon form, despite the common depiction of having many snakes for hair.
* If the mythology serves correct, it is unknown how Medusa was summoned as she should have already been vanquished after being beheaded by Perseus thousands of years ago.