Charlene Norma "Charlie" McGee is the daughter of Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson in the novel Firestarter. Her parents gained psychokinetic powers after being injected with the chemical drug Lot Six in a goverment sanctioned experiment.
Charlie was born with pyrokinetic powers. A secret government agency called The Shop, who were behind the experiment, wanted to capture Charlie for weapons research.
Firestarter (novel)
Charlie McGee was born on March 24, 1975, in Harrison, Ohio, to Andrew "Andy" McGee and Victoria "Vicky" Tomlinson with her abilities due to her parents having participated in a mysterious government-funded experiment during college. Both of her parents had been injected with unknown amounts of a drug known as Lot Six, which, among other things, had been proven to alter the subject's chromosomes and pituitary gland. During the experiment, they found out that they were in love with each other, which lead to their marriage and to the birth of Charlie.
Firestarter (film)
In the film, Charlie is played by Drew Barrymore.
Firestarter 2: Rekindled
In the miniseries, she was portrayed by Skye McCole Bartusiak as a child, and Marguerite Moreau as a 20-year-old.
Powers
Charlie was born primarily with the power of pyrokinesis, but she also had other powers that she inherited from her parents: Mental domination, telepathy, telekinesis and precognition. All of these powers were connected to her power to start fires. She sometimes had a hard time controlling her abilities, especially whenever she was upset or angry. However, as she got older, it did seem like her powers were growing and she was also getting better at controlling them.
It is later stated that, when Charlie grows older, she may be able to cause nuclear explosions by the sheer force of will, with some of the doctors responsible for the experiment believing that one day, she may be powerful enough to crack the whole planet in two. While her precise limits are currently unclear, she was sufficiently powerful enough to overload the power-sucking Cody to the point that he was greatly harmed from the strain of trying to absorb her power.
Unlike her parents, Charlie does not receive any strain from using her abilities.
Appearance
Novel
Charlie is described as having shoulder-length fine-spun blonde hair and wide-set blue eyes. She is very beautiful, looks like her mother, and is also tall for her age.
In the book, she primarily wears a green rayon blouse and red stretch pants.
During the kidnapping scene, she wears a salmon-colored shell top and jeans.
In the winter scenes, she wears a blue parka with fake fur and snowpants.
In the scene where she first meets John Rainbird, she wears a bright blue Danskin leotard.
Personality
Charlie is very stubborn, intelligent and strong.
At first, she didn't want to hurt anybody, but after her father's death, and all the events surrounding the novel and movie, she decides that she will use her power on people, but only if they are a threat to herself or others around herself.
Gallery
Appearences
- Firestarter
- The Tommyknockers - (mentioned)
- Film - Portrayed by Drew Barrymore
- Firestarter 2: Rekindled - Portrayed by Skye McCole Bartusiak (Young Charlie) and Marguerite Moreau (Adult Charlie)