Sam Wilder's History
Samuel "Sam" Wilder was the Whitelighter and lover of a witch named Patty Halliwell and is the biological father of the Charmed One, Paige Matthews.
Not much is known of his life as a mortal, but he did receive the New York's Teacher of the Year Award for 1872.
Whitelighter:
After his death, Sam chose to become a Whitelighter at the behest of the Elders. One of his charges was Patty Halliwell. During the end of her marriage to her husband, Victor Bennett, Patty fell in love with Sam and he fathered her fourth child. Fearing repercussions if their relationship were to be discovered by the Elders, as relationships between Whitelighters and their charges were forbidden, Sam and Patty took their newborn daughter to a church and gave her up to a nun. They requested only that she be given to a good home and that her name starts with a "P", like the rest of the members of the Halliwell family. That daughter later on grew up to be the Charmed One, Paige Matthews.
Becoming Mortal:
When the Water Demon began attacking innocents in the lake at Camp Skylark, Sam told Patty not to interfere because it was too strong. However, Patty didn't heed his warnings and went to try and vanquish the demon anyway. She sent him a warning in hopes of keeping him safe, but he refused to stay back and went to stop her instead. Patty was forced to freeze Sam when he came to the dock of the lake, but in the time it took her, the water demon attacked Patty and drowned her from the inside. Blaming himself for the death of his charge and lover, Sam "clipped his wings" and stayed to live out his days at the camp, in hopes of preventing the same fate from befalling Patty's oldest three daughters.
While living near the camp, Sam made a living out of doing odd jobs, watching the lake but never interfered with the drowning incidents, which continued after Patty's death, though not as often since the camp shut down in 1978.
Facing His Demons:
When Patty's oldest three daughters, the Charmed Ones, started to investigate the Water Demon, Sam decided to use memory dust to wipe their minds of the situation, in order to protect them. However, the sisters broke the spell and returned to the lake after discovering who Sam really was and his relationship with their mother. Together, Prue, Piper, Phoebe, their Whitelighter Leo, and Sam were able to use Patty's plan of electrocuting the water demon to vanquish it.
Sam, however, was mortally wounded during the fight, but with the help of Prue, he succeeded in vanquishing the demon by sacrificing himself. Leo tried to heal Sam, but couldn't because he was not meant to. Sam was content to die and was reunited with Patty, whom he saw as a specter, returning to greet him and take him into the afterlife.
Reuniting With Paige:
Following his death, the Elders made Sam a Whitelighter again. Just as before, however, he lost a charge, and subsequently abandoned his powers. He didn't "clip his wings", but nonetheless abandoned his duties, and ended up becoming a self-pitying, drunken bum. In a plot to get Sam back on his feet and back on their "radar", the Elders assigned his long-lost daughter, Paige, to him as her first charge. After discovering who she was, Sam attempted to leave before she discovered his true identity. However, Paige was then attacked by a Darklighter's arrow and Sam was the only one who could save her. Through his love of Paige, Sam gets over his self-pity, regains usage of his powers, and heals Paige just in time. The two have an awkward but heartwarming conversation before Sam re-embraces his duties.
Three years later, Paige has once again given up on her biological father because they hadn't seen each other since their last encounter. Sam contacted his daughter when a charge of his who disappeared in the 1950's, J.D., somehow re-emerged not a day older and requiring help. He later admitted that he hadn't dropped by because he wasn't sure how to fit into Paige's heart as her father because he was never there for her. When the conflict was resolved, he promised to keep in touch more often so he can find a place in his daughter's heart.
Fighting Neena:
Nearly two years later, Sam was called by Phoebe to try to heal Paige's dormant body while her soul lingered between life and death after facing Neena, the first witch. However, Sam was unsuccessful in his efforts but tried to comfort his son-in-law Henry Mitchell who was worried for Paige's life, and was starting to get cold feet about being involved and having children in the dangerous life that being married to a witch brought. Sam later assisted in the battle against Neena along with the Warren witches and the Elders.
