Charmed (1998– )
Trivia
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Spoilers (36)
Alyssa Milano liked the drawings made for the Book of Shadows so much that she had the artist paint murals on her walls at her house.
Holly Marie Combs is the only actress to appear in every episode of this show, including the unaired pilot.
Brian Krause (Leo Wyatt), Julian McMahon (Cole Turner), and Kerr Smith (Agent Kyle Brody) had auditioned for the role of Inspector Andy Trudeau, played by Ted King in season one.
The actress with the most Charmed fan mail was not one of the main stars of the show. Finola Hughes, who played Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige's mother, received the most fan mail from Charmed series viewers.
Rose McGowan revealed in an interview in October 2014 that she thought she had signed up for two seasons. She was told this by the producers, and was happy doing those episodes. When the ratings kept going up, and the show was renewed for more seasons, she found out she had signed for five seasons.
Jennifer Rhodes (Penny Halliwell) (Grams) appeared in every season of this show, for at least one episode.
The make-up design for the demon Belthazor was based on the same make-up style used for the character of Darth Maul in "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)."
According to Aaron Spelling, the show was renewed for a full season of twenty-two episodes after only two episodes had aired.
The opening theme, "How Soon is Now" is a cover by Love Spit Love of a song by '80s British band The Smiths. It originally appeared in "The Craft (1996)," also about witches. The song can also be heard in "The Wedding Singer" when Adam Sandler's ex-fiancee is walking toward his house.
During the first few seasons when Constance M. Burge was executive producer, the series had more focus on sisterly ties and the young women discovering their witchly heritage. That changed when producer Brad Kern took helm and the focus shifted to vampy outfits and consistent relationship issues.
Michael Bailey Smith played multiple demons in season three of this show, including Belthazar, Shax, The Source, and one of the Grimlocks in season three, episode four, "All Halliwell's Eve".
Holly Marie Combs married an ex-Charmed key grip, David W. Donoho. They met on the set, were married in 2004 and have three children. Sadly though, in 2011, they filed for divorce.
In the first season, Prue is employed at an auction house called Bucklands. The Bucklands, Raymond and Rosemary, were considered to be the first people to bring the religion of Wicca to North America.
The show's creators wanted pictures of Prue around the house, and in flashbacks, but network executives said they would have to pay Shannen's salary for her image use, thus they never used any, and had to choose a picture of Prue in the finale, or bring back old guest stars.
Cole was originally written for a seven-episode arc, but the producers were so happy with Julian McMahon's performance and chemistry with Alyssa Milano that they ended up making him a regular.
Shannen Doherty has stated numerous times that the on-set fight between her and Alyssa Milano was due to both growing up as child stars and both promised the lead role, causing a riff when it was switched around to reflect one another each season. But since then, tension has cooled and they became friends. Coincidentally Shannen Doherty previously appeared on Beverly Hills, 90210 and Alyssa Milano previously appeared in its spin-off Melrose Place.
Although the city depicted in the show was San Francisco, the show was filmed in Los Angeles. All of the aerial shots and background shots that are shown, are stock footage.
The house used for the exterior shots of Halliwell Manor is located at 1329 Carroll Avenue, Los Angeles, California. The same house was used for the exterior of the tall woman's house in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) and as Hank Pym's (Michael Douglas) residence in Ant-Man (2015). It is located only 350 feet (170 meters) from Angela and Ithyle, Inc. 814 E Edgeware Road which was Joe Hallenbeck's office in "The Last Boy Scout (1991)."
During the hiatus between seasons two and three, producers discussed possible storylines for season three. Executive producer Brad Kern wanted to bring in a season-long love interest for Phoebe who started out bad, but becomes good. Fellow executive producer, and show creator, Constance M. Burge was against the idea, as Piper already had a convoluted season-long relationship storyline, and she wanted to focus back to the sisterly dynamic of the show. After realizing that she wasn't going to win the debate, Burge left the series, and full production reins fell to Kern.
Only four members of the main cast appeared in the fiftieth, one hundredth, and one hundred fiftieth episodes, Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano, Brian Krause, and Julian McMahon.
In season six, episode twelve, "Prince Charmed", the Leader of the Order says "I find your lack of faith disturbing". This is a quote from "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" (1977), originally said by Darth Vader.
In the series 'Grey's Anatomy', season 16 episode 3 ('Reunited') Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs appear as sisters, with their third sister in a hospital bed, unrecognizable. The three sisters each have a name, starting with the same first letter (in this case not a P, but an H).
Cole has, on numerous occasions, saved the Charmed ones with either his demonic powers or his knowledge of the other side. From the time when he first assisted Phoebe in tackling Dantalian the Dark Priestess, Cole has often been the "Deus Ex Machina" that saved the power of three.
Lori Rom was originally cast as Phoebe, but after the pilot was shot, she bowed out for personal reasons, and was replaced by Alyssa Milano, with whom Rom's scenes were re-shot upon casting.
Whenever an actor or actress stood at the front door of the Halliwell Manor, it is obvious that there is no central hallway in that house, since a wall is right behind the actor or actress. The inside of the real house was used for the pilot show. However, every other show was filmed on a much larger set on a soundstage.
Charmed actresses would have a huge impact on the Me Too Movement. Rose McGowan was one of the first actresses to out Harvey Weinstein as a serial rapist and she first filed a lawsuit against the megaproducer, which was settled behind closed doors. Later she would speak about her experiences to journalist Rowan Farrow, who wrote an explosive article about this which blew the lid off the rape culture in Hollywood at large and all the sexual assault that has been happening in the culture. Right after that, Alyssa Milano, who also starred on Charmed, went on Twittter and admitted she had also been a victim of sexual assault and encouraged all other women (and men) who had been victimized to speak out and air their greivances on line by announcing "Me Too" online and to the media. Nobody could have predicted what would have happened next, a chain reaction where about 400 male public figures were outed on social media by hundreds of accusers, many of them losing jobs, careers, and gaining notoriety; forcing America to become accountable for it's own rape culture. McGowan and Milano were both instrumental in this. Interestingly though, McGowan does not support her sister in feminism: She told the women at the View that she doesn't like Milano. She told Joy Behar and the other panelists that Milano is part of the problem. Her husband, Dave Bugliari, is one of the vice president's of Creative Artists Agency, one of the largest marketing and represetative groups in Hollywood, who she says has been "perpetuating the rape problem in Hollywood for years."
The show's popularity inspired toy company SOTA Toys to create six-and-a-half-inch action figures of the characters: Piper, Phoebe, Paige, and Belthazor, which come with interlocking attic walls, and a miniature Book of Shadows. Originally, an alternate toy of Prue was to be made, but Shannen Doherty declined to the offer to have her likeness made into a Charmed doll.
The season three finale, "All Hell Breaks Loose", was a cliffhanger, so they would have options about whether Prue or Phoebe would be leaving.
When Dorian Gregory was fired from the show after the seventh season, his absence was explained by having Darryl taking a special assignment on the east coast, and having Sheila and Darryl, Jr. move with him.
Outside the window of the magic school, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge as if the magic school is floating in mid air.
Season four, episode thirteen, "Charmed and Dangerous", was originally meant to be the fourth season finale, with the following storylines used for the fifth season, and season four, episode twenty, "Long Live the Queen", was to be the one hundredth episode.
It was a challenge to find male co-stars that wouldn't dis-empower the women: Cole was suppose to stick around for only seven episodes.
Warlocks in paganism and witchcraft means "oath breaker" not male witch. Though some men in paganism do prefer to call themselves "warlock" because of various reasons. In Wicca and other forms of Witchcraft, a male witch is traditionally called a witch. The term "witch" is gender neutral in English, but no in other languages.
This is the second time that Holly Marie Combs was involved in a project involving witchcraft. She played an uncredited role in "The Craft" (1996).
In season one, Rebecca Balding played Aunt Jackie in episode seven, "The Fourth Sister". She also played Phoebe's editor-in-chief at the Bay Mirror, Elise Rothman.
During some of Julian McMahon's episodes, you can hear his Australian accent coming through when he talks.
Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty) and Penny "Grams" Halliwell (Jennifer Rhodes) appeared in Heathers (1988). In further connection to the movie, the character "Jason Dean" (Eric Dane) is introduced. Jason Dean (also known as "J.D." for short) is the name of Christian Slater's character in Heathers (1988). The church, in which Paige's friend Glen is about to be married, is also the same one where Heather Chandler's funeral was held in Heathers (1988)
Writer Krista Vernoff said during an April 2021 interview that showing Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) in the mermaid outfit with her breasts barely covered (season 5, episode 1) led to her quitting the show. Because of that scene, there was a huge spike in male viewers, and according to Vernoff, "And then every episode after, the question would come from the network, 'How are we getting the girls naked this week?'" She said she originally signed on because Charmed was a girl-power show, but after the edict to keep attracting male viewers by sexualizing the girls, she felt she was now creating something "bad for this world" and left even though they offered her a lot of money to stay. Alysa Milano and Holly Marie Combs tweeted a few days later that they disagreed with her comments. Milano said, "I think we gave permission to a generation of women to be themselves and to be strong and own their sexuality. I'm so proud of what this show meant to so many." Combs agreed by saying, "I can attest 1000% Charmed was not bad for the world. The reasons and people are too long to list. Maybe it was bad for Krista's world at the time. End story."
Phoebe didn't own a car of her own until season five. Before then she either rode her bike, used public transport, or had to ask her sisters for transportation.
During the eighth season, in January 2006, Spelling Television and producer Brad Kern claimed that Charmed had become the longest-running drama series with all-female leads, surpassing Charlies Angles.
In Hungary, the original script translator of the series was fired after the first ten episodes, after fans had pointed out three hundred serious translation errors in those episodes alone.
Beginning with season seven, the Charmed set moved from its previously smaller Canoga Park, California studio lot to the more grand scale Paramount Studios lot.
In season 1, season 2 and season 6, it is implied that the Halliwell sisters had many adventures, and vanquished some demons, off-screen.
Many people complained the show did not follow Wiccan theology to the letter. In a very early interview, Holly Marie Combs admitted "Charmed" takes many artistic licenses. She also admitted that by doing so, fans of the show and true Wicca followers felt a bit upset about such licenses.
Before Shannen Doherty or Rose McGowan were on this show, they played Val-Chick 2 and Val-Chick 3, respectively, in a short cameo in Nowhere (1997). (Their dialogue together is listed on the Memorable Quotes page for that movie.)
At the end of the pilot episode, the newspaper Prue is holding shows the same headline that inspired Robin Williams' character Daniel to use name Mrs. Doubtfire in "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993). "Police Doubt Fire Was Accidental". However, it is not the same newspaper. Prue is holding the Gazette, whereas Daniel was reading the Chronicle.
The eighth season budget was cut so low that they couldn't film on-location, had to cut back Brian Krause's role, and dropped Dorian Gregory altogether.
During the course of the show, the sisters drove the following vehicles: Prue drove a Mazda Miata, and later a BMW X5. Piper drove a Jeep Cherokee, and later a Jeep Grand Cherokee, Phoebe drove a Mini Cooper, and Paige drove a Volkswagen New Beetle.
Holly Marie Combs appeared in "Dr. Giggles (1992)." Among the cast were Darin Heames and Keith Diamond. Darin played a Tracer demon in season five, and Keith had a recurring role as Inspector Reece Davidson.
One of some The WB hits from the same period that continued in comic book form, along with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)," "Angel (1999)" and "Smallville (2001)."
In a screening of the reality medium program Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead (2006), Lisa was asked to visit an address to investigate a possible haunting. The house she visited was on the same street in Los Angeles as the Halliwell Manor. The house can be seen in the background as Lisa is filmed exiting her vehicle.
Piper's career change resembles that of fictional character Louisa Trotter; the main character from the BBC series "The Duchess of Duke Street" (1976). Both she and Piper initially aspired to become great chefs, but wound up the proprietors of well-known (non-food related) establishments.
Shannen Doherty (Prue) met Wes Ramsey (Wyatt) and Drew Fuller (Chris) when giving interviews to "Charmed" fan-base worldwide (videos can be found in YouTube).
In 2017, director Andrew Fleming stated this series ripped off "The Craft (1996)." Fleming actually wrote a pilot based on his film for "Fox" which The WB was also strongly interested. It was his idea to have "How Soon Is Now" as title theme. The pilot was not picked up and the following year, "Charmed" premiered. Furthermore, Robin Tunney stated the rip off was "completely obvious to the point that people would think I was on 'Charmed' for years after."
Producer Brad Kern never asked Shannen Doherty back. He thought it wasn't worth it, and wanted to focus on the other leads.
Shannen Doherty already was famous worldwide as Brenda Walsh from Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990). Unfortunately, she was forced to leave that television series as well after just a few seasons, exactly like this show.
The theme song (by a different artist) used in this show, is the same song used in The Craft (1996), a movie about four witches.
Some claim Chris Perry was the first male adult witch in the show, but this is arguably incorrect. In the charmed universe, warlocks are by definition "evil witches", and they have been around since season one.
In the original credits, Shannen Doherty was first, Holly Marie was second and Alissa was the third. When Shannen left and Rose McGowan arrived, Milano got the first credit, Rose the second one and Combs the third plus a - As piper- reference.
At one point, Lindsay Lohan, Michelle Trachtenberg and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were considered for the role of Jenny Gordon, but she was each turned down the role, and Karis Paige Bryant eventually got cast instead.
The magical theology on this show differs from established norms outside of its reality. Mainly certain beings play roles differing from commonly accepted ones, such as warlocks. By definition, a warlock is merely a man who practices Wicca (or a male witch) but on this show, warlocks are an entirely different immortal race. It is established early in the series, that warlocks are essentially evil witches, and can also be women. While all warlocks are evil, not every evil witch that the sisters encounter on the show, are warlocks; they merely devote their craft to evil.
In season two, episode eleven, "Reckless Abandon", Shannen Doherty was reunited with Stephanie Beecham, who guest starred several times as Dylan McCay's mother on "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1991), another Aaron Spelling show on which Shannen starred.
Jennifer Rhodes (Penny Halliwell) is too young to be the grandmother of the real-life actresses who play the Charmed Ones (She is only 6 years older than James Read, who plays the father).
-Blessed be- is a Wiccan greeting used a few times in Charmed {See -The Witch is back- and -Necromancing the Stone-}. Fans of the show not related to Wicca might not be aware of the origin of this phrase.
James Read (Victor B.) and Finola Hughes (Patty H.) are too young to be the parents of the real-life actresses who play the Charmed Ones (Unless they were teenage parents).
Among the actors that achieved success in Hollywood after their participation in Charmed are: Julián McMahon, Kaley Cuoco and Amy Adams.
Finola Hughes (Patty) and Wes Ramsey (Older Wyatt) appear on the show as Grandmother and Grandson. Years later they would appear together on "General Hospital". Finola portraying Alex Marick/Anna Devane who are revealed to be the biological mother and aunt, respectively of Wes' character Peter August.
Spoilers
Holly Marie Combs was shot mainly in close-ups and wore baggy clothes for most of season six. The show attempted to hide her real-life pregnancy until it was written into the storyline to explain Chris' conception and birth. This storyline was planned prior to Holly Marie Combs' pregnancy.
In season one, when Phoebe's premonition power grows, and she is able to see the past for the first time, she sighs and says, "Somehow I thought I was gonna get to fly". Later, in season three, she gets the power of levitation, which was later cut out, due to dangerous and expensive stunts, and replaced with the power of empathy.
In season three, episode four, "All Halliwell's Eve", it is revealed that the name of Phoebe's true love would begin with the letter "C". Later, in season eight, when it was announced that the show was in its final season, they brought in the cupid character "Coop" for Phoebe, meaning that "Cole" was never Phoebe's true love, only her first love.
Kit the cat, turned out to be the Charmed Ones' familiar; spirit guide. Since being adopted by the Halliwells, Kit would disappear from time to time and not be seen for days. A possible explanation was given in season five, episode eighteen, "Cat House", when Paige mentions that a cat like Kit used to hang outside of her loft. Most likely, Kit was keeping an eye on Paige due to her charmed heritage, even though she was not yet a part of the power of three.
In season two, episode fourteen, "Pardon my Past", we see the Warren family tree. It shows P. Baxter as the mother of Penny Halliwell (née Johnson). P. Baxter was Piper's past life, meaning she was Grams' mother in her past life.
Every season ends with a door closing. It is usually the manor's door shutting, but the sixth season ends with the hospital door shutting after Chris was born. In the last season, the door is shut by Piper and Leo's granddaughter using telekinesis, the same way Prue used to do.
Although he was only a regular in one season, Drew Fuller (Chris Perry Halliwell) appeared in four seasons of this show.
Due to budget cuts in season eight, Brian Krause (Leo Wyatt) was written off the show temporarily, and Dorian Gregory (Darryl Morris) was axed from the show completely.
Throughout the series, the sisters continually lose and gain powers, swap and share powers with demons, and experience short periods of newfound powers. Season one, episode twenty-one "Love Hurts" is unique, as it is the only episode in the series where any of the sisters exchange powers amongst each other. In season seven, episode eleven, "Ordinary Witches", Piper and Phoebe attempted to swap powers. But an interruption from an unforeseen attack caused their powers to land in two unsuspecting people.
During casting, Shannen Doherty said she would not do the show if they didn't cast Holly Marie Combs on the show with her, and later Holly was the one that ended up doing the show without Shannen.
Telekinesis is the most common power in the Halliwell line. Carriers include Melinda Warren, Prue, Penny, Chris, Wyatt, Paige, and the granddaughter from the series finale, "Forever Charmed". Piper's freezing power has only recurred in her mother (apart from Melinda Warren) and one of Piper's past lives, and Phoebe is the only witch that is known of (apart from Melinda Warren) to receive the premonitions power. Although, once in season one, Patty Halliwell spoke of having a premonition the day that she found out she was pregnant with Phoebe, also the same day the sisters travelled back in time to change their futures. Patty's premonition came from the fetal Phoebe.
The concept of Cupid was introduced in season two. In season eight, Phoebe is assigned her own Cupid, as the Elders fear she has lost hope about love. In the series finale, her nephews from the future inform her that the Elders assigned Coop, her personal Cupid, with hopes that she would fall in love with him, and in the final sequence, their wedding is briefly shown.
Wyatt's powers were never fully listed. But some of the powers that he's shown using on the show are orbing, conjuring (without casting spells) summoning the dead (at will), pyrokenesis, telekinesis, power swapping, dematerialization, prescience, shrinking, putting up force fields, and healing.
In June 2001, executive producer Aaron Spelling announced after several auditions, and many considered actresses (including Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Joy Brown, Tiffani Thiessen, Soleil Moon Frye, Susan Ward, and Eliza Dushku) that Rose McGowan had won the role of Paige Matthews, the long-lost, baby half-sister of Prue, Piper, and Phoebe.
Prue and Phoebe's past lives are the only witches in the line not to receive Warren powers. Phoebe had pyrokinesis (the ability to create fire) and Prue had cryokinesis (the ability to generate ice). Similarly, Paige's past life could control the elements, although we only saw her control wind and fire.
Before the character of Paige Matthews was created, there was some consideration of re-casting the role of Prue Halliwell. Tiffany Thessien and Jennifer Love Hewitt were offered the role, but turned it down. In the end, it was decided to kill Prue off instead.
In season two, episode four, "The Devil's Music", when the girls are in P3, if you listen closely, you can hear the theme song to the show playing in the background.
The Charmed Ones coven never learned that Cole had joined the Avatars years before they became aware of them. At the time, Cole realized that the Avatars needed a great power like his; possibly for his invulnerability. The way the Avatars power collective works, is by pooling great sources of power; with their common goal as a possible "anchoring point". Like this, the collective operated almost like single body with each Avatar as limbs and organs. Their only weakness, was the ancient potion which can kill them. In the case of Cole Turner's addition to the collective, The Avatars may have been able to share in his invulnerability; eliminating the threat of the potion, and making them truly unstoppable.
Until the appearance of the character Chris Perry in the season five finale, "Oh My Goddess", the only male witches shown on the series have all been under age. Richard Montana was the only other male witch, until he gave up his powers for a fear of being controlled by them, and eventually turning evil.
After the show ended, it was suggested a spin-off about Wyatt (Wes Ramsey) and Chris (Drew Fuller) fighting demons as adults. But the idea was rejected because CW already had Supernatural (2005), a show about two brothers fighting evil creatures.
Among the many stages of the magical hierarchy, it's possible that The Tribunal is the highest level. Composed of a high council of Elders and Demons, they serve to protect all forms of magic. Other magical entities such as The Angel of Death and The Angels of Destiny, operate on their own (without answering to either side) and serve to keep balance in the cosmos. The Avatars existed entirely outside of this. Their powers maintained the cosmos in a way beyond good and evil, but cost people their free will.
After Prue quit Buckland's Auction House, she was employed as a photographer at "415 Magazine", whose title is also the area code for San Francisco telephone numbers. The magazine was mentioned at other times throughout the remainder of the series including when Phoebe, as the writer of the "Ask Phoebe" column, posed for the magazine.
Among the most powerful villains that the sisters face throughout the series are the opponents Barbas, The Triad, Cole Turner (in all of his forms), The Source, The Hollow, The Shadow, The Titans, Zankou, Billie, and Christy.
After the death of Prue, Piper (Holly Marie Combs) supposedly becomes the eldest Halliwell sister, followed by Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) as the middle child and Paige (Rose McGowan) as the baby sister. However, in reality, being born on Dec. 19, 1972 makes Alyssa Milano the eldest, followed by Rose McGowan, born Sep. 5, 1973, and "eldest" sister Holly Marie Combs is actually the baby of the cast, being born Dec. 3, 1973. Also, all three "sisters" are less than a year apart in age.
Each time Cole struggled with his evil side, he would become physically sick. (Such can be seen in each of the three seasons where Cole was featured; struggling against Belthazor, against the Source, and against the collective demonic powers he gained in the Astral plane.)
Throughout the series, a common motif surrounding Phoebe was that she was susceptible to giving up on love. In season 4 when she summoned her future self, she encountered a single, bitter woman with strong resentments who had subsequently never married Cole. Yet somehow this same woman was willing to sacrifice her life for him. Despite this, it seemed that Cole's ultimate betrayal left such a lasting impact on Phoebe and affected her future relationships in subtle ways; something that Cole took note of while watching her from the Cosmic void. In season 7, Cole chose to intervene through his pact with Drake and indirectly convince Phoebe (via Piper's & Leo's love) to never to give up on love. This eventually led to her meeting Coop, who became the love of her life. In summoning her future self, Phoebe changed her future of dying to save her old love, and made way for her to meet a new one.
Piper struggled to find a name for her first child that would start with "P" in order to retain the family heritage. But they came to the realization that they didn't have to follow that tradition, since the child was a boy. Since the child is a boy, they wanted to pay homage to the father's side, and Leo's surname becomes the baby's first name, Wyatt. She also uses Paige's adopted last name, Matthew(s), as Wyatt's middle name. Equally with the birth of her second son Chris, who was named after Leo's father.
Victor Bennett (James Read) was given three separate reasons for leaving home. One was he didn't want the girls to grow up around magic. Two was Patty's affair with her whitelighter. Three was an argument he had with Grams, causing her to kick him out.
Shannen Doherty left the series due to a feud she had with Alyssa Milano. Shannen Doherty revealed in a interview that she was not fired and she decided to leave so her departure could keep the show fresh and it was decided that Prue Halliwell was to be killed by a demon. Shannen Doherty's character of Prue was replaced by Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews.
Although is never explained, Penny Halliwell probably worked from Home as a needlewoman and a chef. After Patty died (she was a waitress) and is implied Victor didn't help financially (see S01E03), Grams' incomes probably came from needlework and cooking, which would also explains how she got time to take care of the girls.
The name of Piper and Leo's first son is Wyatt, Leo's last name. The name of their second son is Christopher(Chris) which is the first name of Leo's father. (Reveled in season six). So Leo's father's name was Christopher Wyatt.
Given the clues provided through season six, it seems Chris Perry (Drew Fuller) came from late 2026 or early 2027.
In season one, episode four, "Dead Man Dating", Mark (John Cho) says that according to Chinese mythology, if a proper burial isn't provided to the body, Yama drags him to Hell (really to Di Yu). In the episode, we see Yama riding a horse. However, in the Hindu religion, Yama rides on a buffalo, and sends the souls to Heaven or Hell based on their deeds. Of course, most Chinese are Buddhists. In that, Yama is part of the Buddhist concept of Naraka, combined with local afterlife beliefs. Incorporating ideas from Taoism and Buddhism as well as traditional religion in China, Di Yu is a kind of purgatory place which serves not only to punish but also to renew spirits ready for their next incarnation.
Of the four sisters, Phoebe's powers are the only one that don't progress one to another. Paige's powers are never shown to progress. She has telekinesis, but unlike Prue she has to call for an object to be able to move it. Piper starts with slowing down molecules (freezing objects) and progresses to molecular combustion (being able to blow things up) as well. Prue starts with telekinesis (moving objects with her mind) and progresses to Astral projection (moving her body with her mind.) Phoebe starts with premonition, then gains levitation, and finally empathy.
