Gwen Tennyson (Classic)

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Tennyson is Ben Tennyson's cousin (the two share the same birthday). Throughout the original series, she constantly bickers and insults him with dry wit and sarcasm. Gwen was first introduced in "And Then There Were 10". She uses her laptop to research any strange people and/or creatures they might come across.Half way through the orginal series Gwen starts to use a spell book she took from Charmcaster to use in combat, casting spells to help Ben while fighting. Gwen has an older brother named Ken. In Ben 10 Alien Force we find out her grandmother is an Anodite, her alien blood line is the reason she has powers, not because of magic.

=Original series= In the original series, Gwen shares a birthday with Ben, insulting him with dry and most of the time, in part due to their shared birthday. She uses her laptop to research any strange people and/or creatures they might come across, and is a capable gymnast and has had some training in martial arts. She has also shown an almost innate skill in using various complicated devices or objects, such as in the "What If?" episode "Gwen 10", when Gwen gained the Omnitrix instead of Ben and proved to be far more adept in its use than he initially was. She is depicted as snobbish and very mean due to her young girl attitude.

Overall, her most notable skill is her innate, if latent, ability at magic. Having within her what Charmcaster calls a "magical aura", Gwen is capable of using various magical artifacts, charms, talismans and spells. When using the magical, luck-giving Charm of Bezel, she was able to activate it instinctively, whereas Hex did or could not. Later on, when she takes and uses his staff, she was able to make it fire an yellow-colored energy blast—according to Charmcaster, only someone

of Hex's skill should have that ability. Gwen starts tapping into her magical powers when she procures a small book of spells from Charmcaster in the episode "A Change of Face".



On two occasions, Gwen uses the Charms of Bezel's incredible and unique powers and abilities to become a superhero by the name of "Lucky Girl." At first, her ability drew from the luck-granting Charm of Bezel, which innately gave her perfect luck and the abilities and powers of probability manipulation. While wearing the charm, any action she took would result in a Rube Goldberg-style chain reaction benefiting her original intent, but usually injuring Ben in the process. She later brought back her superhero identity after obtaining the legendary Keystone of Bezel, which greatly strengthened and increased her natural abilities to superhuman levels (possibly to Level 20) rather than just affecting her luck. Both times, Gwen was forced to retire when the Charms of Bezel were destroyed.

Coyote Gwen
Coyote Gwen is Gwen's alter ego in Ben's dream world in the episode Perfect Day. She has the head of a coyote, but does have a costume identical to Ultra Grandpa's and Ultra Ben's. She has a devastating bite, but it is unknown if Ben gave her any other powers besides that.

=Ben 10: Alien Force= In the sequel series Ben 10: Alien Force fifteen-year-old Gwen has grown into a calm and collective teenager, and she and Ben get along much better and are no longer openly hostile towards one another. In this version, Gwen wears a plain, white shirt, loosely-buttoned blue sweater, a black skirt with black tights, her hair is much longer and darker, her eyes are much darker, and her lips are more visible. Gwen is now a black belt (taking classes in Tae Kwon Do, according to dialogue in "Simple"), but tends to favor using her powers. She is able to create energy constructs for nearly any purpose, usually creating platforms to levitate herself (and others), beams to grab enemies, circular blasts to knock enemies back, projecting beams from her eyes that seem to simulate heat vision, and opening up interdimensional portals. She also has a wide range of other loosely defined supernatural abilities, such as dowsing, limited telepathy, and clairvoyance. Her powers are revealed to be alien in origin; her grandmother, Verdona, is an energy being known as an Anodyte and surprisingly she is the only descendant of hers who inherited Verdona's powers. Verdona tells Gwen that what she and others originally thought of as "magic" was actually the manipulation of mana, a substance of magic - making Anodytes a magic-wielding race. Verdona offers to take Gwen to her home planet and train her in the mystical ways of the Anodytes, but Gwen prefers to remain on Earth with Ben and Kevin. She hates being called an "energy being", referring to her Anodyte heritage. In the episode "In Charm's Way", it's implied that highly gifted humans like Charmcaster can also be trained to utilize mana.

In the episode "Unearthed", an alien creature is able to see her as an Anodyte, in which she looks exactly like her grandmother's true form, but slightly shorter. In "War of the Worlds", when Kevin was threatened by a Highbreed commander, she assumes her Anodyte form for the first time and easily defeated the commander. She was almost overwhelmed by her own power before Kevin snaps her out of it.

During the course of the series she has developed a romantic relationship with Kevin. They have also been shown to have arguments, usually starting with Gwen always trying to force Kevin to "Ask her out." and him always answering "Don't push me.". In the episode, Fool's Gold Kevin appears to be avoiding her because he is ashamed of his recent mutation due to accidentally absorbing a massive feedback pulse as a result of trying to hack the Omnitrix. He gives her a locket of he and Gwen when he was in human form, asking her to remember him as he was. Gwen says she doesn't care what he looks like, and he replies "But I do."

In the season three premiere, Gwen has altered her wardrobe, gaining a red shirt, a black vest with gray pants, and a ponytail. Ben and Gwen seem to have revived their infamous rivalry from the original series, in part due to Ben's cockiness and inflated ego; in the third season, Gwen pours a smoothie over Ben's head, and he nearly returns the favor. Despite their rivalry, they both still have a strong bond, visible in "In Charm's Way", when Ben defends Gwen and informs Kevin that she has been spending all of her spare time in order to find a cure for Kevin's condition. It is shown in both "Vengeance of Vilgax" and "Inferno", respectively, that Gwen suffers from both arachnophobia and claustrophobia. In the episode Time Heals, it was revealed that Gwen kept her Lucky Girl costume.

=Possible Future= In "Ben 10,000", Future Gwen Brought Gwen and Ben (in Ben 10) to the future during Max's birthday,it all worked out fine celebrating Max's birthday in the end.

In "Ken 10", a hologram of Gwen was seen on Ken's birthday just to say happy birthday to Ken. In the future, she also have the Charms of Bezel on her possession.

=Powers & Abilities=

Energy Manipulation
Given her Anodite heritage, Gwen is capable of bright pink glowing energy manipulation. She also has a wide range of other magic- abilities, such as dowsing, telepathy and clairvoyance.

In the episode "What Are Little Girls Made?" her powers are revealed to be alien in origin; her grandmother, Verdona, is an energy being known as an Anodite from the distant planet Anodyne. Verdona tells Gwen that what she and others originally thought of as "magic" was actually the manipulation and control of a Force-like energy called life energy, most commonly known as mana. Verdona offers to take Gwen to her home planet Anodyne and train her in the magical mystical ways of the Anodites, but Gwen prefers to remain on Earth with Ben and Kevin. She hates being called an "energy being", referring to her Anodite heritage. In the two-part season two finale "War of The Worlds" when Kevin was threatened by a Highbreed commander she assumes her Anodite form for the first time and easily defeats the commander with an exeedingly strong and powerful blast of bright pink glowing energy. She was almost overwhelmed by her own power before Kevin snaps her out of it.

Gwen can also conjure up dimensional portals, wormholes, vortexes, stepping stones, energy blasts, energy bolts, shields, barriers, telekinesis, memory manipulation and other mana-related abilities all composed of pure bright pink glowing energy.

Note: Gwen's mana or magic is bright glowing pink in color. Mana is the very source of magic itself, therefore making Anodites a magic-wielding race.

"Magic"


In the original series, Gwen's powers first manifested in the form of what she originally believed to be "magic", thus enabling her to use various magical artifacts and spells (see Gwen's Spells). When using the magical, luck-giving Charm of Bezel, she was able to activate it instinctively, whereas Hex did or could not. Later on, when she takes and uses his staff, she was able to make it fire an energy blast—according to Charmcaster, only someone of Hex's skill should have that power. Gwen starts tapping into her magical powers when she procures a book of spells from Charmcaster in the episode "A Change of Face". On two occasions, Gwen used the Charms of Bezel to become a superheroine by the name of Lucky Girl. At first, her ability drew from the luck-granting Charm of Bezel, which innately gave her perfect luck. While wearing the charm, any action she took would result in an Rube Goldberg-style chain reaction benefiting her original intent, but usually injuring Ben in the process. She later brought back her superhero identity in the episode "Tough Luck" after obtaining the legendary lost Keystone of Bezel, which greatly increased and heightened her natural abilities to superhuman levels rather than just affecting her luck. Both times, Gwen was forced to retire when the Charms of Bezel were destroyed.

In Ben 10: Alien Force, despite fifteen-year-old Gwen's current preference for direct forms of mana manipulation & control, she is still able to use "magic" in the more traditional sense. Gwen mentions to both Charmcaster and Kevin in the episode "In Charm's Way" that she still has Charmcaster's old spell book, and is currently looking through it constantly to find a cure for Kevin's mutation.

In the episode "Time Heals" Gwen borrows the spell book known as The Archamada Book of Spells (the only spell book mentioned, seen and used in the original series) in an attempt to use a time-travelling spell that will take her back to the time when Ben and Kevin tried to hack the Omnitrix, resulting in Kevin's present rock-like form, hoping to return him to his human form. However she returns home only to discover that her time-traveling resulted in both Hex and Charmcaster ruling the world. After finding and freeing Ben she recasts the time-traveling spell to return everything back to the way it was. Back in her room she puts The Archamada Book of Spells away on her shelf and is apparently not willing to use it for some time.

Note: Gwen's magical powers and abilities are a glowing bright blue in color, matching the color of her shirt in the original series. While in "Ben 10: Alien Force" her powers are a bright glowing pink due to the fact that she no longer uses magic but pure mana energy attacks.

Athletics
Gwen is a capable gymnast and has had some training in martial arts. At the age of fifteen it is revealed that she has already received a black belt in tae kwon do and has even started teaching Ben.

Intelligence
Gwen is shown to be quite intelligent and knowlegdeable (if more so than Ben). Before discovering her powers she would often use her "brains" to help Ben. She is shown to be a bit of computer/tech wiz as well.

Trivia

 * In the original series, Gwen is voiced by Meagan Smith.
 * In Ben 10: Alien Force, Gwen is voiced by Ashley Johnson.
 * In the episodes "Ben 10,000" and "Ken 10", Gwen is voiced by Tara Strong. Incidentally, Strong also voices the 10-year-old Ben.
 * In the live-action movie, Ben 10: Race Against Time, Gwen was played by Haley Ramm.
 * In the live-action movie, Ben 10: Alien Swarm, she is played by Galadriel Stineman.
 * Gwen's magical powers, abilities and even her name might have been inspired by the Sibyls from Chris 'D Lacey's series of books,The Last Dragon Chronicles. In the series, Sibyls are able to command the supernatural, and they are the descendants of a powerful generation of highly-skilled high-level magic users, Gwendolen.
 * Gwen does not use any of her powers in Ben 10: Race Against Time, opting to rely on her skills instead.
 * Gwen's Lucky Girl suit looks similar to Hellcat from Marvel.
 * The Cat logo on Gwen in the first series looks very similar to Sly Cooper's logo.
 * Gwen's Lucky Girl suit was used again (larger and bigger size) hen she took the Archamada Book of Spells.
 * Among the uses of her mana powers in the live-action movie Ben 10: Alien Swarm include circular blasts, dowsing, clairvoyance, and stepping stones.