Wilhelmina "Will" Vandom

Wilhelmina "Will" Vandom is a fictional character and protagonist of the W.I.T.C.H. comics and animated series.

Will is the leader of the Guardians (known as W.I.T.C.H.), a group of magic guardians who guard Kandrakar and of the veil, the center of the universe.

Appearance
Will is a fourteen-years old eighth grader and has bright red, short hair in a bob cut. Her eyes are brown and big. She usually goes dressed in practical clothes, like wide, not-too-saggy pants and hoodies with zippers.

Will's guardian outfit consists of a purple, midriff-bearing, cropped top with long, poet sleeves, a teal mini-skirt, turquoise and green-striped tights, and purple, high-heeled shin-high boots.

In the New Power Arc, her skirt changes into a pair of tight shorts, which connect with her top and form swirls on her thigh area. Her sleeves shrink and become three-quarters length, and she wears long, black, finger-less gloves. Her hair stays in a bob, but two strands of her hair have grown longer in the front. Her symbol is displayed across her chest on her top.

Personality
Will is a tomboy, but is also sensitive towards other people's feelings. She is known to have a fiery and unstable temper, just like her mom, but she has the personality of a great leader. Will has issues with trusting people because she is scared of being let down or rejected like, with her old friends in Fadden Hills. Her favorite subject is science, especially biology. Her hobby is swimming, and she's in Sheffield Institute's competitive team. She loves animals in general, but she is especially crazy about frogs. She collects anything that's frog related, except the amphibian itself (instead, she has a dormouse). She's allergic to nettles. Will had a crush on Matt Olsen, which leads her to work at his grandfather's pet shop for a while, and, who later in the series becomes her boyfriend. He also encouraged her to adopt a pet dormousethat had been hurt by Uriah. Will also struggles with jealousy issues, such as when she believed that Matt and Mandy were dating after her astral drop saw them hugging (as old friends).

Will's full name shifts between "Wilhelmina" and "Wilma". Her birthday is given as January 19th in the comics, but is changed to the fall (possibly somewhere in November) in the animated series. In the comics, her star sign is Capricorn.

She is the leader of W.I.T.C.H. and holds the Heart of Kandrakar, a pink glowing jewel sphere that converts the five elements into pure energy, allowing the girls to transform and magnify their powers. Will has the power of Absolute Energy, also known as Quintessence (the power of life force manipulation), and can be seen in the form of lightning bolts. Her theme color is hot pink and her symbol is a pink, curved equal sign.

Abilities
Will is the host and keeper of the pendant known as the Heart of Kandrakar and she possesses the power of Quintessence, also known as Aether, the fifth element of pure life energy and lightning/electricity. In the series, this power resembles pure whitish-blue lighting and electricity which contain pure life energy within. She is the strongest out of the five Guardians and one of the most powerful characters in the series.

In the comic books, Will could wield the power of Absolute Energy ever since she became a Guardian of the Veil. This power and ability manifested itself in hot-pink energy blasts, which Will later learned to use as a barrier or shield. In addition, her powers allowed her to talk to inanimate objects and electrical appliances and even give them names. That's how she discovered all of them have a personality of their own.

Will also possesses other Guardian powers such as glamouring, teleporting, sensing magical phenomena, and empathy towards animals. Will also is the first one to learn how to make herself invisible and has special abilities due to her status as Keeper of the Heart of Kandrakar that her four fellow Guardians do not possess. For instance, she can contact the Heart's past Keepers and transform the girls between their Guardian and human forms. During the time of the Veil, Will could open portals. When she is in a desperate situation, Will can sometimes allow the Heart to improvise and help her out.

Will's empathy towards animals works this way: animals are empathic to Will, and react to her mood, for example, when Will is happy, the animals around her are happy. Animals can also read Will's mind, as seen in one issue. This is noticed by Matt and his grandfather at the pet shop.

With the Heart of Kandrakar, Will can also create astral drops that are exact physical copies of the girls; but they have a catch: they're totally mindless. For example, Will's astral drop kissed Matt then slapped him in the graphic novel Meridian Magic.

At the beginning of the New Power Arc, Matt, on the orders of the Oracle, steals all of Will's original powers and abilities, as well as the Heart of Kandrakar. This is so that she, and the other Guardians, would be able to receive the immense power and ability of the five elements in their purest form, giving them the strength to defeat the Dark Mother. The Heart of Kandrakar reappeared at the end of this story arc, and was presented to Yan Lin when she became the new Oracle of Kandrakar.

In season one, Will is shown not having any power other than flight, opening and closing portals in the Veil, and the ability to unite and transform herself and her fellow Guardians by holding out the heart and calling out "Guardians unite!". It is unknown as to why she had no elemental power, although it can be debated that she either had not known that she had any power (note that Yan Lin had not specified that Will had the power of Quintessence or Energy: "One of the five binds the others, and with the Heart of Kandrakar, unites them, summoning and magnifying their powers"), or her powers are not fully developed. However, she can improvise by summoning flashes of pink light from the Heart of Kandrakar, as shown in the episodes "Divide and Conquer" and "The Battle of Meridian Plains." It was also shown in The Battle of Cavigor that she could shoot out powerful blasts of energy from the Heart of Kandrakar.

In season two, Will is finally granted her own elemental ability of Quintessence (also referred to as Aether). Quintessence manifests itself in whitish blue lightning, which she can use to animate inanimate objects, fire offensive lightning bolts and produce a full body pulse, shockwave or discharge of electrical power and energy. In addition, her powers grant her the ability to talk to electrical appliances.

It's also possible for Will to literally become one with her element, as well as becoming one with the nymph Xin Jing, the original possessor of Quintessence, becoming a being of pure electric energy, greatly increasing and strengthening all of her powers and abilities to their absolute zenith. However this is risky and dangerous as it costs Will her humanity, both her human form, heritage and memory, which she managed to literally find with Matt and the other's help. This occurred for the first and the last time in the season two finale "Z is for Zenith" as a last resort when the Guardians found no other way to defeat the enhanced Lord Cedric.

As the Keeper of the Heart of Kandrakar, Will has the power to channel the magic of the Aurameres into the Heart and therefore enter the Guardians greatly strengthening and amplifying all of their powers and abilities and transforming them into their Guardian form with colorful blue-and-pink costumes, different hairstyles, and pixie-like wings which they can all use to fly. Will can use the power of the Heart to close, and, as the series progresses, open portals in the Veil, releasing a blinding pink light from the Heart, project a force field of pink energy, create numerous fake copies that would disappear in a flash of light, reveal the true form of another, locate other Guardians using their Aurameres and show images of places and people. The Heart of Kandrakar, has a telepathic connection with Will able to instinctively respond and act on its own will when the Guardians are in danger and can absorb, activate, and merge with other magical items. When the Veil was taken down, Will soon learned how to open folds in space and time to traverse different dimensions. Unlike the comics, Will does not keep the heart fused inside of her actual heart, but in her backpack or around her neck, unless she is transformed.

Will has a sensitivity to magic and supernatural writing and phenomena. She has empathic abilities with animals as they seem to reflect her mood and has a natural affinity for tele-transportation, being the one to wield this universal Guardian ability.

Besides control over Quintessence, a Guardian Leader's standard powers are:

Quintessence Powers:
Customarily, the Guardian of Quintessence is selected as the keeper of the Heart of Kandrakar (unless they become corrupt, like Nerissa), thus enhancing or adding to their elemental abilities, such as:

The following is a list of Will's powers, abilities, and other talents she posseses: Will's powers as her status as a Guardian and Leader:
 * Wield Absolute Energy with the Heart of Kandrakar.
 * Force Field: Project a force-field of pink energy.
 * Energy Blasts: Fire destructive blasts of pink energy from her hands.
 * Light Projection: Release a blinding pink light from the Heart.
 * Energy Projection: Produce a full body pulse, shockwave, or discharge of electrical power and energy.
 * Strength Augmentation: She can infuse her limbs with energy to strengthen her physical attacks.
 * Channel the magic of the Aurameres into the Heart and enter the Guardians.
 * Portal Generation: Open and close portals in the Veil.
 * Tracking: She has the power to track down the other Guardians via the Aurameres.
 * Superhuman Strength: Will has displayed the power of superhuman strength and toughness on several scales, able to use a tree like a baseball bat, catch a falling catapult like it was a football. She is even strong enough to break through steel or rock with a single punch as well as being able to easily destroy sturdy surfaces such as metal, stone, etc. with a single punch or kick. Also, she took down several of Takeda's robots on her own in a matter of seconds.
 * Superhuman Durability: Will has shown to be invulnerable. She can withstand vast amounts of physical harm without sustaining any injuries, such as being struck with a steel beam in "M is for Mercy". She was able to resist the black rose' magic in the graphic novel "Between Light and Dark" and thus survived without being turned into a black rose herself.
 * Astral Duplication: She can use the Heart of Kandrakar to create astral drops, but they are mindless copies.
 * Patch into radio signals.
 * Reveal the true form of another.
 * Hearth of Kandrakar Replication: Create multiple powerless copies of the Heart itself.
 * Reality Warping: She can warp reality and bring her fantasies to life.
 * Superhuman Stamina: She can exert herself for long periods of time before fatigue begins to impede her.
 * Technokinesis: Move and physically control technology of any kind.
 * Technopathy: Talk to and mentally control technology of any kind.
 * Flight: She can fly and hover in the air, being able to fly at the speed of light.
 * Superhuman Agility: Ability to be quick and graceful.
 * Intangibility: She can phase through solid objects.
 * Telepathy: She can read other people's thoughts, talk to her friends.
 * Electrokinesis: She has the ability to manipulate, control, and create electrical energy. This power allows her to control all forms of electrical power, be it static electricity, thunder and lightning, magnetic force, or electrical pressure. She can use this power for other many feats such as:
 * Electric Energy Blasts and Balls: She has the ability to conjure concentrated bolts of lightning into a straightforward attack, such as beams, rays, bursts, balls or blasts of lightning. She can also shoot lightning bolts from her eyes and hair, and physically capture lightning bolts and use them as weapons.
 * Electric Shields and Barriers: She has the ability to use electrical energy to act as a defense mechanism, such as a shield, force field, or a standard wall of energy.
 * Atmokinesis: She is able to summon lightning storms.
 * Electric Mimicry: She has the ability to become a being made purely out of electricity.
 * Animation: Bring electrical appliances and inanimate objects to life through the vocal summoning of Quintessence.
 * Telekinesis: She can move objects with her mind through Quintessence.
 * Enraged Manipulation: She is once angry manipulative of her father and his new girlfriend.
 * Resurrection: (via Quintessence).
 * Force of Life: (via Quintessence).
 * Quintekinesis: The newest ability to use quintessence energy and the power of the power-light level in the energy, the static shock or wave of the light.
 * Quintemancy: She can see vivid visions and scenes through energy.
 * Aura Energy: The new power of the human body is absorbing the energy of the people. Created by the power of human relationship and the "chakra" call "Body Electric".
 * Unite the Guardians with the command "Guardians Unite!".
 * Flight (only in the TV show).
 * Glamouring.
 * Teleportation.
 * Open folds in time and space.
 * Close portals in the veil.
 * Telepathy.
 * Ability to change the girls and herself back in to human form.

Weaknesses
The Star of Threbe: Will as well as the rest of the guardians was rendered powerless due to the power of the Star of Threbe, used to find Elyon. The star renders powerless anyone who might prevent her from returning home. Ironically the star was created with the Heart of Kandrakar.

Trivia

 * Her favorite color is fuchsia/magenta.
 * Her favorite subjects in school are Biology and Chemistry.
 * She is in the same class 8A as Cornelia Hale.
 * Her hobbies are collecting frog-like items and swimming in the school team.
 * She likes good swimming practices, a Cobalt Blue concert, and romance, even having romantic nights with Matt Olsen.
 * Will has the closet relationship with her sibling out of any of the guardians except perhaps Taranee.
 * She hates quizzes, fighting with her mom, and being clumsy.
 * She absolutely hates when things don't go as planned.
 * Her favorite band is Cobalt Blue or 'Wreck 55' as it is in the animated series.
 * Wilhelmina is a name originating from the German language, meaning "willing to protect".
 * Will is the only one not to have hair down to her lower back in her new Guardian form from the New Power Arc.
 * When in zenith power level, Will bears the least resemblance to her normal human form besides Cornelia.
 * In the series, the episode "Happy Birthday Will" says she turns 13, this propably suggests she is 14 in the second season.