Molecular Manipulation[1] (also coined Matter Mastery[2]) is the power to manipulate matter on a molecular level. Apparently, this power involves manipulating the speed of molecules: from slowing them down to the point where things freeze to speeding them up to induce heat or vibration.
This is the secondary power of Charmed One, Mel Vera. In late 2019, after her dominant active powers were rendered dormant, she developed this power through exposure to black amber.
Overview[]
This power allows the user to manipulate the speed of molecules to cause effects such as cooling things down, by slowing down molecules or heating things by speeding them up, and a few more applications.
Some users are shown to be immune or resistant to this power, such as the Second Monster, as it was completely unfazed by this power's heating effect and could later, easily break through ice created by utilizing this power.
Effects of Molecular Manipulation[]
Molecular Acceleration[]
Molecular Acceleration is the ability to speed up the movement of molecules, causing them to become disordered and, in most cases, rapidly heat up. This ability allows the user to cause things to heat up, boil water quickly, and thaw out ice.[2]
The user can also speed up molecules in order to heat a specific area of an object, such as heating up a gun without discharging it or creating a vibration effect without causing the object to heat up, possibly by vibrating the air around it as well as some part of the object itself.[3][4] With enough control over this power, someone can use it to heat up metal and cut through it without external assistance, such as a door's metal hinge.[5] This ability can also be used to make beings explode, by overheating them.[6]
Molecular Inhibition[]
Molecular Inhibition is the ability to slow down or completely stop the movement of molecules, causing them to lose their energy and solidify, resulting in ice, presumably by utilizing the water molecules in the air.
This aspect can be used to freeze an entire being in a sheet of ice.[1] It can also be used to slow down molecules and cause objects to lose their elasticity and shatter.
The user can shoot blasts of frost from their hands or even create sharp icicles and keep them floating by their hands.[7][8]
Another way this power can be used is to turn a liquid's surface into solid without completely freezing it, such as making a spilled potion resemble liquid mercury. However, this could have been specific to the Yew Potion, as it already had a somewhat silvery reflective appearance.[9]
History[]
In "The Rules of Engagement", Mel Vera discovers the roots of a black amber tree growing upside-down in the Command Center. Since the amber sap was used to make Jordan Chase's ring, which awakened Maggie Vera's ability to foresee the future, Mel tries to use it to channel her freezing power, but it doesn't work. Later on, while trying to save Jordan from Parker Caine, Mel tries to freeze Parker out of habit and to her surprise, Parker momentarily freezes in a sheet of ice before breaking out. Harry Greenwood reveals that the power is called "Molecular Manipulation."
As she practiced her powers in "Guess Who's Coming to SafeSpace Seattle", Mel showed she could rapidly boil water, while also suggesting her power should be called "Matter Mastery". She later demonstrated her powers to her father, Ray Vera, by freezing his drink before it spilled, and unfreezing it after turning the glass right-side up.
In "Curse Words", Mel was able to cause a gun to heat up like a burner on a stove, burning the hand of a female black market dealer who was threatening her father and causing her to drop the gun. Mel attempted to use her powers to stop the dealers from escaping with a vial of black amber, though she was stopped by Ray out of fear of exposure.
In order to stop Harry from killing her with a knife after he contracted a demonic illness in "Dance Like No One is Witching", Mel manipulated the knife's molecules to vibrate enough to knock it from Harry's hand. Mel later used her freezing aspect of this power to freeze one half of Maggie's baton, in conjunction with Macy Vaughn using her pyrokinesis on the other half, to create an electrical current to restart Jordan's heart.
In "Sudden Death", Mel used her powers to partially melt a candle during their attempt to restore the Power of Three. She later used her powers to heat up and cut through a locked door's hinges like a blowtorch. After the monster that had been created by the experiments of Vivienne Laurent's organization escaped from its containment and tried to destroy the bottle holding Jimmy, Mel used her powers to attempt to freeze the magic amalgamation.
When Bruce, a member of the organization, pulled a gun on Maggie in "Third Time's the Charm", Mel used her powers to heat up his gun, causing him to drop it. After Bruce unveiled a second magic-infused monster, Mel attempted to speed up the monster's molecules. However, he is immune to her heat powers. Later, when battling the monster again, Mel tried to freeze him, encasing his head in ice momentarily before he broke out of it.
Mel used her ability in "Search Party" to heat a potion that Abigael was making, which caused a minor explosion.
To infiltrate the Fort Easton Power Site in "Don't Look Back in Anger", Mel manipulated the molecules of a door control panel to burn out the circuitry, allowing her, her father, and Maggie to get in. She later went to use her powers against Julian Shea and his men, but Ray told her not to, as there were too many of them.
While fighting Chupa-Alma in "You Can't Touch This", after Macy immobilized the creature and Maggie calmed it down, Mel used her powers to heat Chupa-Alma. As she kept her concentration up, the creature eventually exploded.
In "Yew Do You", Mel manipulated a puddle of spilled Yew Potion to change it into a liquid mirror. This led to the being she and her sisters were facing, Omon, to touch his reflection, vanquishing him.
Due to Abigael asking her for help, as she was being attacked in her sleep repeatedly in "Private Enemy No. 1", Mel agreed to stay at Abigael's apartment to find out what was attacking her. However, Mel was briefly distracted and saw Abigael's bedroom had been set alight. Mel shouted for Abigael to wake up, before shooting ice toward the fire to extinguish it. Mel would later use her freezing power to counteract a burst of flame sent at her by Abigael, who was still asleep and in her demonic form, before managing to overpower the flames and knock Abigael back.
In "O, The Tangled Web", while believing Abigael had sent a demon after a witch named Kyra, Mel demands to know what demon it was. Despite Abigael's continuous claims that she doesn't know, Mel threatens to attack by forming icicles above her hands, forcing Abigael to brace for an attack with a fireball until Harry orbs in to tell her it was a witch who hurt Kyra. That night, Willow and Kyra are in the middle of an argument. Mel, having had enough of their bickering, sends a weak projectile of ice to calm them down.
In "What to Expect When You're Expecting the Apocalypse", Abigael and her half-sister had a badly heated argument and were about to turn violent. Mel then used her power to stop them simultaneously, telling them she could not handle two extra children when she already had one to worry about.
In "Hashing It Out", Mel used it to fight against members of the Unseen who had infiltrated the Command Center to steal the Unity Bowl.
Known Users[]
- Through spell, artifact, power stealing, etc.
- Mel Vera (acquired through exposure to black amber)
Trivia[]
- In the original series, this was an ability that was broken into several branches. In the rebooted series, however, the power appears to be more of a cohesive ability that provides two separate effects.
- Also in the original series, this was Piper Halliwell's main power, as her freezing and explosion powers were based on the manipulation of molecules, as opposed to Mel Vera's original power being based on the manipulation of time.
- Much like Piper in the original series, Mel's molecular powers are not affected by her wearing gloves.
- Mel's ability to literally freeze things by slowing down molecules until they are completely motionless is similar to when Piper briefly became a Warlock in the episode, Bride and Gloom, of the original series where her powers turned evil and as such encased beings in ice.
- Unlike her powers over time, Mel's power over molecules is shown to be able to affect other witches.
- It is believed that Molecular Acceleration can be used to incinerate an object, as in "Ripples", Mel believed herself to have done that to a clock. However, as it was later proved to be another power that made it disappear, it is uncertain if this advancement can be achieved through Molecular Manipulation.
- Based on this power's visual effects, it can be presumed that it allows the user to utilize air molecules to transfer energy to objects and manipulate them, instead of manipulating the objects' molecules themselves. For example, when Mel freezes things, she propels frost from her hands towards an object, instead of cooling down the object immediately. And when she heats up things, waves of heat are seen emitting from her hands towards objects or beings.
- This theory can further explain Mel's ability to make icicles hover, for if she manipulated the molecules of the air, she could cause waves and vibrations to keep the icicles in the air.
