T*Witches

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

T*Witches was originally a book series by H.P. Gilmore and Randi Resenfield about two twin girls who were separated at birth, find each other later in life, and discover that they have magical powers. Made into a Disney Channel original movie in 2005.

Tropes used in T*Witches include:

Original Novel

  • A God Am I: Used playfully with Ileana who insists that you call her "Goddess" instead of her real name. Karsh humors her, but doesn't take it seriously at all.
  • Badass Grandpa: Karsh.
  • Break the Cutie: Alex got the short end of the stick.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Alex. She is playfully sarcastic with her friends, but becomes quite bitter after her adoptive mother dies. This is not helped after Karsh takes her to the upper-middle-class city Marble Bay, where Alex sticks out like a sore thumb. However, she is given leeway by the people who know of her situation, and becomes less antisocial after a while.
  • Different As Night and Day: Cam and Alex are literally representative of the sun and the moon.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: Alex has a dream concerning in which she is called Artemis and told that someone was in danger. She shrugs it off as having read a (long overdue) library book on Greek myth, and being worried about her mother who has been suffering from terminal lung cancer.
  • Elemental Powers: Cam draws her power from the sun with fire-related powers. Alex derives hers from the moon, with ice-related powers.
  • Five Stages of Grief: Played realistically with Alex. Denial and Bargaining were displayed briefly, before Sara's death, but asking someone else for help was mentioned to be an extreme blow to Alex's pride. She then swung between anger in the form of increased irritability with everyone, and denial again by trying not to think about it and avoiding discussion of it. Acceptance comes at the end of the first book.
  • From a Certain Point of View: Cam is quite angry with her parents for most of the first book after discovering that she was adopted. Karsh points out that even if they had lied about adopting her, they had not lied about being good people who kept her safe, loved her unconditionally even after having a child of their own, and were still open to allowing Alex to stay with them. As they were, for all intents and purposes, treating Cam like their daughter, there was no real reason that she should not call them her parents simply because they weren't biologically related.
  • Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: Many of the battles Cam and Alex have with Coventry residents.
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Both of them are averted with Sara. She is mentioned to have been unable to quit smoking. However, it causes no particular tension in her relationships other than minor distress from Alex, and there is no moral given to the reader after Sara dies of lung cancer.
  • Happily Adopted: It's ambiguous as to whether Alex knew she was adopted, but during the first book she is too preoccupied with grieving over Sara after she dies to particularly care that she has a twin sister. Cam was happy, but hadn't known she was adopted, and her discovery of it causes tension for a while.
  • Incurable Cough of Death: Sara. Justified, as it is specifically stated to be lung cancer.
  • Initiation Ceremony: The main event of the tenth book.
  • Loners Are Freaks: Averted. When Cam's mother finds out she has a twin, she expects her to be social and outgoing like Cam. When Alex actually interacts with them, Cam's mother begins to worry that she's "antisocial" and is some sort of delinquent. Eventually, she realizes that Alex is simply a good person who's different from Cam and grieving over the loss of her adopted mother.
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Cam is extremely popular, pretty, and well liked, generally played as sympathetic. However, she equates "learning that she was adopted" with "grieving over the death of a parent" and is told off for it by Karsh.
  • Meaningful Name: Cam and Alex (whose birth names are Apolla and Artemis) are named after the twin gods Apollo and Artemis from Greek mythology, who were associated with the sun and the moon.
  • Puberty Superpower: Cam and Alex discover their powers at age 14.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: Sara.
  • Separated at Birth: Apolla and Artemis were separated at birth, adopted into different families, and given the names Cam and Alex to keep them safe from the evil Thantos until they were of age.
  • Sugar and Ice Personality: Alex is hardened by having her father walk out and growing up in extreme poverty. However, she fiercely loves her mother and friends, and is quite nice to children.
  • There Are No Therapists: Averted. After being preoccupied with saving various peoples' lives despite his old age, Karsh finally helps Cam deal with learning that she was adopted, and counsels Alex with the grief of losing her mother at the end of the novel.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Alex and Cam, respectively. The mythology gag is in full force here, as Alex is named after aloof huntress Artemis, while Cam is named after the emotional god of creativity Apollo.
  • Totally Radical: This series employs an exhaustive amount of teen slang never used in real life.
  • Twin Telepathy: Cam and Alex have this at convenient times.
  • Unperson: Thantos' fate in the last book.
  • Vain Sorceress: Ileana.
  • Valley Girl: Cam and Beth, and arguably most of the Six Pack.
  • Wicca: Many of the rules behind Coventry magic including the holidays they observe and the year and a day initiation ceremony are pulled from Wicca.
  • Witch Species: All the witches have strange eye colors (usually Gray Eyes) and live on an island together.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: In every single book, Alex has a new wild hair color. In the first book, she has red hair with blue streaks.

Film Version

  • Actor Allusion: Tia and Tamera Mowry play twin sisters seperated at birth and then reunite as teenagers. Where have we heard that before?
  • Adaptation Dye Job: In the book series, Cam has red hair and Alex has whatever color hair suits her at the time. Both are Caucasian. In the movie, both girls have dark hair and are black.
  • Composite Character: Thantos in the film is a combination of Thantos and Fredo from the books.
  • Race Lift: The redheaded Caucasian twins of the series are portrayed by Tia and Tamara from Sister, Sister in Disney's version.
  • Wonder Twin Powers: Cam and Alex have these as long as they stay together.