Penelope Gardiner

Penelope Gardiner
Biographical information
Name:	Athena Browning
Age:	Over 100 years old
Home:	East Haven
Species:	Witch
Status:	Deceased
Relationships
Relatives	Archibald Browning † Dash Gardiner Killian Gardiner
Appearance
Portrayed by:	Virginia Madsen
Portrayed by:	Virginia Madsen
Seasons:	1
Seasons:	1

“	To a wedding no one will forget.	”
	— Penelope, ready to set her dark plan into motion.

Penelope Gardiner, born Athena Browning, was the daughter of Archibald Browning, a cult leader at the beginning of the XX^th century who was intent on reopening the Portal to Asgard. She disappeared for almost a century before coming back to East Haven as Penelope Gardiner, the mother of Dash and Killian Gardiner in the Witches of East End series.

Physical appearance

Penelope is a quite petite woman with a heart-shaped face, light green eyes and long, wavy blond hair. She is rich and really likes to show it off, often wearing expensive clothes and jewelry.

Biography

Archibald's death

Athena Browning was born a few years before 1900, to Archibald Browning and an unknown woman. She lived with her father in Fair Haven, where he was leading a cult of Witches with reckless use of magic and a desire to return to their original dimension, Asgard. Athena was very fond of his father's new fiancee, Ingrid Beauchamp. The night Ingrid and Archibald were planning to run away with the Cult, Wendy Beauchamp intercepted them and killed Ingrid accidently by trying to kill Archibald. When Joanna discovered it, she killed Archibald and chased Wendy away. She also erased East Haven of Athena's memory, and let her go away with Caliope, another member the cult. Joanna thought she died in the 1960s.

Planning her revenge

At some point, Athena managed to come around Joanna's memory spell and remembered the events of that night of 1906. Desiring to take revenge on Joanna for murdering her father, and knowing that the Beauchamp woman was keeping an eye on her from afar, Athena set up the first phase of her plan and succeeded in convincing Joanna that she died in the 1960s. However, Athena, just like any other witch, was immortal and lived on, now free of Joanna's surveillance.

Athena then moved on to the next phase of her plan and managed to defeat Joanna's protection spell and to locate the well-hidden town of East Haven. But, to compete with the powerful Beauchamp matriarch, Archilbald's daughter stole the magical powers of her 1980s-born sons, and raised Dash and Killian as mortals, without telling them anything of their history. Meanwhile, she also researched and contacted old enemies of Joanna, and came upon Vidar - another shapeshifter who had a grudge against the Beauchamp witch.

Finally, a century after her father's death, Athena returned to East Haven with her eldest son, Dash, and coincidentally, he fell in love with Freya Beauchamp, Joanna's youngest daughter, which turned out to be the perfect occasion to get close to her enemy.

Powers and Abilities

So far, Penelope has shown to be a very talented witch with a vast amount of knowledge of witchcraft and dark magic. But perhaps her desire for vengeance is what triggered her craving for more power, to the extent of stealing both her sons' magic powers to equal the magic of Joanna. It can be implied that, even though she showed great abilities, she would never have been able to normally counteract Joanna without the power of three Witches combined.

Penelope even managed to steal the magic of Freya, an action that dramatically increased her power and allowed her to set into motion the final step of her evil scheming. By stealing one of the Beauchamps' powers, who are assumed to be among the most powerful Witches on Earth, Penelope was finally able to overpower Joanna in "single-combat".

Basic powers

• Spellcasting: The act of changing and controlling events by magical influence. 
• Potion making: The act of brewing and concocting supernatural elixirs and potions that contain mystical properties.
• Telekinesis: The act of controlling and manipulating the movements of objects and persons.
• Elemental manipulation
  • Atmokinesis: The act of controlling and manipulating the weather.

Personal powers

• Immortality: Being over 100 years old, Penelope yet retains the appearance of a middle-aged mortal.
• Shapeshifting: The act of shapeshift into another person; Penelope's trademark ability, which enabled her to imitate Joanna's appearance on several occasions and to frame her.
• Smoke manipulaion: Penelope used this power when she tried to kill Joanna as the shifter to dodge a knife that Freya threw at her with her mind and escaped ino the fireplace.

Relationships

• Relatives
• Enemies
• Others

Relatives

Enemies

Others

Quotes

You and your family mean so much to me. I have big plans for you.

— Penelope to her would-be daughter-in-law Freya.

Miscellaneous

Gallery

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Appearances

Witches of East End: Season 1
Pilot Appears	Marilyn Fenwick, R.I.P. Absent	Today I am a Witch Absent	A few good talismen Appears	Electric Avenue Appears
Potentia Noctis Appears	Unburied Appears	Snake Eyes Appears	A Parching Imbued Appears	Oh, What a World! Appears

Notes

• Farryn VanHumbeck portrayed the young Athena Browning in Potentia Noctis.
• As the mother to Dash and Killian, it is unknown if she will be the book counterpart to Frigg, Odin's wife.
• She is revealed to be Archibald Browning's daughter, Athena, coming to take her revenge on the Beauchamp family.
  • Her identity is revealed thanks to the cut on her back, when Joanna accidentally hurt her with a knife and then healed her.
• It is unknown if Athena really died in 1960 and was reborn or if she was immortal as Joanna is. It is also unknown how she came around the spell that Joanna placed on her so that she would never find East Haven again.