By
Paul
The
age of Endora and Samantha is a question that is never answered directly,
but on many occasions a reference is made to a time of birth, or to
someone from history who one of the witches knew. The premise used here
is that if a witch goes back into the past to before the time of her
birth she has no powers. This premise is one of the few consistent situations
that is carried throughout Bewitched.
Endora
In # 3, Endora makes reference to
having known Diogenes (400 BC).
In # 5, Endora makes reference to
having known Julius Caesar.
In # 23, Endora says she cooked
for the Roman Emperor, Claudius.
In # 24, Endora makes reference
to having known Helen of Troy (1180 BC).
In # 160, Serena tells Phyllis
that Endora admits to 1000.
In # 168, Maurice says he and Endora
knew Atilla the Hun (450 AD).
In # 210, Endora says she has changed
her mind many times in 3000 years.
On
the other hand:
In # 171, Endora says she went
to Shakespeare's plays as a little girl.
In # 175, Endora refers to being
a child bride when Samantha was born.
In # 203, Endora again says she
was a child bride. This time she defines it as being in 1670.
In # 230, Endora says she was not
born at the time of King Henry VIII (1570).
How
fast do little witches grow? Tabitha, who was part mortal, seemed to
grow at a normal rate, but would this apply to Samantha? If a witch
becomes grown in 21 years, there is one set of rules. If it takes witches
over 100 years to reach maturity, then another set of rules apply. The
length of time to maturity for witches is never discussed, so only guesses
can be made.
Samantha
In # 119, Samantha, in Old Plymouth,
has her powers. This puts her birth prior to 1620.
In # 144, a picture of Samantha
and Serena is shown. They appear to be close to the same age. Serena
appears taller, which may indicate that she is slightly older.
In # 203, Samantha says that she
was a little girl at the time of the Salem witch trials (1690), so
her birth would have been around 1675-1680 (unless she was a child
for 100 years). An over-simplified solution would be to have Samantha
being born between 1570 and 1600, and take over 100 years for her
to reach maturity. This meets all of the known conditions and criterion
that are given.
In # 204, Samantha says that she
was a little girl when Endora brought Sir Walter Raleigh home (1600).
This puts Samantha's birth before 1600. However, in # 161,
Samantha denies ever knowing Raleigh, and Serena backs her up.
In # 219, Serena says she cooked
for King Henry VIII, so Samantha must have been born before that time
(1570).
In # 229, Samantha has no powers
in King Henry's Court, so she was born after 1570.
On
this same topic, Esmeralda is assumed to be about 900 years old. In
# 232, Esmeralda says that she was
around 100 when she made the Leaning Tower of Pisa lean and later says
that she hadn't been to Pisa for more than 800 years. |