Charmcaster (also known as Hope) is one of the antagonists in the Ben 10 series, and the niece and apprentice of Hex and a nemesis of Gwen. Like her paternal uncle, she depends on magic to fight. Though like most villains, she despises Ben, but her hatred is mostly turned towards Gwen for their shared affinity in magic, mirroring Ben's and Kevin's rivalry in the original series. Charmcaster played a key role in the series, as it was by stealing her spell book Gwen learnt to use her own magical powers.
She was voiced by Kari Wahlgren.
History
Alien Force
In "Time Heals", in the alternate future, Charmcaster rules the Earth with Hex, and with Kevin as her henchman.
Ultimate Alien
In "Hit 'Em Where They Live", Charmcaster joins forces with Zombozo and Vulkanus in order to go after Ben's family. In the end, Kevin manages to defeat her.
Personality
Charmcaster is a complex and impenetrable person who has grown up without the guidance of her father. Her only role model was her uncle Hex, which had caused her to develop a delinquent, obstreperous, and uncontrollable attitude and a lust for power. As shown in "A Change of Face", Charmcaster had spent some time in Juvenile Hall, (being the target of bullies), which only made growing up more difficult. Due to the harshness and misfortune that has befallen her with every encounter with Ben, and especially Gwen, Charmcaster had become quite offended, vituperative, resentful, bitter, and abusive. To compensate for her insecurities, she always acts very rude, arrogant, manipulative, and egotistical, striving to prove her superiority over others, Gwen above all, whose magical talents and power that she is highly jealous and possessive of.
Though she seemed to have found some measure of redemption after defeating Adwaita and avenging her father's death, she ends up becoming fraudulent, mischievous, and corrupted again, due the nature of Ledgerdomain and the power of the Alpha Rune. She began to improve after her father told her she was living her life wrong, but the faithlessness of Darkstar and manipulation of Adwaita, who is now her prisoner, have caused her to stray from her path once more.
Despite her faults, Charmcaster can be extremely communicative, friendly, kind, and sociable when she feels like it. This is especially seen when she teams up with Ben's team in Ledgerdomain and Anur Transyl. In the latter instance, she has also relaxed and has more of a sense of humor than before, only dropping it when under the influence of the Alpha Rune's power. She has also become more childish than before, with both the cheerful innocence and the petty cruelty that comes along with it.
Appearance
In the original series, Charmcaster wears a magenta coat with purple at the ends, underneath she wears purple pants with black straps around them. She still wears her Magical Charm Bag around her waist which is the main tool for her battles.
In Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Charmcaster now wears a purple dress with a pink ribbon around her waist and a black crown on her head, in addition to that she wears black gloves. At the top of her dress, she has a fuchsia gem with a gold border, and she also wears tight black leggings with black shoes. In the original series, Charmcaster wore her silver hair in a low ponytail, with two strands of hair out and lavender and light pink eyes, along with light purple lipstick. In Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien she wears her silver hair laid out that extends to her thighs, orchid eyes, and dark purple/black lipstick. She looks slightly thinner, much taller, and her ears are a lot pointier.
In Omniverse, her appearance is a combination of elements from both previous ones: the ponytail, purple eyes, normal ears, and the pink coat from the former, and black lipstick, gloves, leggings, shoes, the fuchsia gem, and shirt emblem from the latter.
Powers and Abilities
- Magic: Charmcaster is a skilled which, but she not as powerful as her uncle Hex.
- Divine, Dark, Pure Magic: Being a witch, Charmcaster is skillful with kinds of magic such as dark magic, mysticism, and magic books.
- Spell Casting: Charmcaster can cast various spells from her spellbook.
- Mana Manipulation: Charmcaster can manipulate Mana energy for blasts, shields, and other various needs.
- Levitation: Similar to Hex, Charmcaster can use magic to lift herself into the air.
- Telekinesis: Charmcaster can manipulate objects using magic.
- Mind Control: Charmcaster can mind control others by using a amulet.
- Elemental Control: Charmcaster can use magic to control the elements such as water and plant-like.
- Shape-Shifting: Charmcaster can alter her appearance using magic.
- Animation: Charmcaster can bring inanimate objects to life.
- Transmogrification: Charmcaster can alter her staff into a snake and turn beings into totems.
- Summoning: Charmcaster can use magic to summon and control Rock Creatures.
- Teleportation: Similar to Hex, Charmcaster can use magic to teleport to another location.
- Portal Creation: Charmcaster can use magic to open portals to any location by using magic.
- Reanimation: Charmcaster can use magic to animate dead animals such as small octopuses.
- Energy Beam Emission: Charmcaster can fire powerful energy beams from her hands.
- Magic Drain: Charmcaster can use magic drain a another being's magic.
- Aura Reading:
- Lighting Bolt Projection: Charmcaster can project lighting bolts from Hex's Staff.
- Firework Projection: Charmcaster can project fireworks using magic.
- Body Switching: Using a spell called "Transfera Identica", Charmcaster can trap someone in a energy bubble and then swap bodies, but she will need a potion in order to make the spell.
- Dragon Transformation: Charmcaster is able to use magic to transform into a dragon.
- Staff Proficiency:
- Child Prodigy:
- Enhanced Strength:
Gallery
Trivia
- She is very similar to Maleficent from Disney's 16th full-length animated feature film, Sleeping Beauty.
- Both transform into dragons.
- Charmcaster and Hex are actually humans from an interdimensional world (specifically Yahwahtacsip, referred to as Ledger Domain/Ledgerdomain as revealed in Where the Magic Happens), thus explaining their immense magical powers and abilities. Her father was Spellbinder, an incredibly strong and powerful magician who was ruthlessly murdered while opposing the destructive Adwaita.
- Charmcaster is one of the few Ben 10 villains whose character alignment is prone to changing from show to show or from episode to episode. Sometimes she is a villain, other times an anti-hero, and sometimes a completely neutral party.
- According to Duncan Rouleau of Man of Action, both Kevin and Charmcaster were created specifically to be foils for Ben and Gwen, to reflect more personal conflicts within them based around their youth, and who would gradually shift from villains to anti-heroes. If Gwen had received a spin-off series, then Charmcaster would have joined her side just as Kevin joined Ben's.