Gwen Tennyson (Classic)

Gwendolyn Tennyson, known simply Gwen, is Ben's cousin and a main character of the series.

Gwen was first introduced in And Then There Were 10, when her parents send her on a summer-long trip with her Grandpa Max and her cousin Ben.

Like Ben, she is a human/Anodite hybrid.

Original series
In the original series, Gwen 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.

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 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.In the episode Everybody Talks About the Weather, Kevin says she gets her powers from her alien bloodline, but she refuses to believe him. Little does she know that she would realize he was right in What Are Little Girls Made Of?. 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 Anodites a magic-wielding race. Verdona offers to take Gwen to her home planet and train her in the 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 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 Anodite, in which she looks exactly like her grandmother's true form, but slightly shorter. In War of the Worlds: Part 1, when Kevin was threatened by a Highbreed commander, she assumes her Anodite 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: Part 2 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.

Ultimate Alien
In Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Gwen is now sixteen years old. Her wardrobe changed once again wearing a combination of her outfits from Alien Force. She wears her old outfit from the first two seasons of Alien Force, but instead of a blue shirt it is now red and she also keeps her ponytail from the third season.

Possible future
In Ben 10,000, Future Gwen Brought Gwen and Ben 20 years into 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.

Mana manipulation
Gwen is descended from a free-spirited alien race known as Anodites from the distant planet Anodyne. These aliens have the incredible incomprehensible power and ability to manipulate and control life energy more commonly known as mana which is very substance of magic, therefore making Anodites a magic-wielding race. In the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"Gwen's powers are revealed to be alien in origin; inherited from her grandmother, Verdona, 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 with her back to her home planet of Anodine and train her in the magical mystical ways of the Anodites, but Gwen prefers to remain on Earth with Ben and Kevin.



Gwen's powers demonstrated as but are not limited to: summoning dimensional portals, wormholes, vortexes; creating stepping stones; conjuring energy blasts, energy bolts, shields, barriers; weilding telekinesis; memory manipulation and other mana-related abilities; all composed of pure magenta or fuchsia glowing energy.

In the two-part season two finale “War of the Worlds” when Kevin was threatened by a Highbreed commander, Gwen assumes her Anodite form for the first time and easily defeats the commander with an exceedingly strong and powerful blast of pure magenta/fuchsia energy. Kevin begs her to try to shut it down but she refuses, saying that she thinks she can defeat the Highbreed all by herself. Kevin reminds her that her grandmother said that it would seventy -years for her to fully master her powers. Gwen says that they don’t have seventy -five years. Kevin says that she’ll lose her humanity, that she won’t remember him or Ben, and tells her that Ben will find another way to win and wants her to come back to him because he can’t bear to lose her. Gwen then reverts back to her human form and she and Kevin embrace afterwards.

In the two-part series finale The Final Battle, Gwen used her powers and abilities in a way that is reminiscent to | Neji Hyuga's Rotation in the |Naruto Anime/Manga. Gwen does this using the spell "Turbo," which is commonly seen through out the show in different forms of an air-wind-related spell. Also in this episode, Grandpa Max gives Gwen her old spell book. She then uses a spell called, "Omento Aravelto" which allows the caster and others to travel through time and space.

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 super heroine 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-traveling 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.

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 knowledgeable (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.She has her own laptop to re-search on enemies mostly.

Kevin
Throughout the series,Gwen has Love relations to Kevin.After Ben's Omnitrix is destroyed, Kevin reverts back to human form, as it was the Omnitrix's power that kept him that way, and he and Gwen share their first kiss on-screen.

Trivia

 * Gwen and Ben share the same birthday.
 * In the episodes Ben 10,000 and Ken 10, Gwen is voiced by Tara Strong. Incidentally, Strong also voices the 10-year-old Ben.
 * According to Ben, and proved by Gwen, her favorite flowers are yellow roses.
 * In the movie Ben 10: Alien Swarm, Gwen says it's February, and Ben had told her birthday was two months before, revealing that their birthday is in December whichi is impossible since in the original series, their birthday was in the summer.