Whitelighter

Whitelighters are a type of Guardian Angel featured on the WB Network television series Charmed. Whitelighters are not angels in the traditional sense in that they were creations of heaven, but rather, they are former mortals whose souls have been repurposed to serve a higher cause. The primary function of a Whitelighter is to take guardianship over a witch, or a coven of witches. Typically, the witches are unaware of the Whitelighter's true identity, or sometimes, even their presence. In the case of the Charmed Ones, the Whitelighter tasked with observing them was once a mortal named Leo Wyatt.

Whitelighters are people who were generally good people that have died. They are given the choice to become Whitelighters and given the powers of a Whitelighter instead of moving on to the afterlife. Their bodies are replicas of their former human bodies, but are composed of orbs which are described as white lights (hence the term Whitelighter) that have a healing ability to them. If struck by a power that would usually kill a mortal (for example, an energy ball or particle acceleration), their bodies will explode into orbs then reform relatively unharmed; they can, however, be knocked unconscious. Because their orbs make their bodies immortal, the only sure way to kill a Whitelighter is to poison them with a Darklighter arrow.