Animated Character Database
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A member of the Teen Titans.

History

Raven is usually depicted with a stoic expression on her face, and as somewhat of a stereotypical, apathetic "goth." Raven wears a blue hooded shroud which casts a shadow over much of her face, and a black leotard decorated with a belt. She has fair skin, violet-blue eyes, and a bob-cut hairstyle, with a mystical Chakra stone in the middle of her forehead. Shrouded in mystery even from her debut appearance, little is known about Raven and her past, and she is emotionally distant even from her fellow Titans much of the time, with only a few instances to the contrary. It is later discovered that this is intentional, due to the grave secrets Raven is carrying with her throughout the series.

Raven's chief powers are her flight, a studious mastery of magical powers, and her telekinetic and psychokinetic abilities, with her mind empowering her to manipulate and levitate objects enclosed in dark mystical energy. This ability often comes about after chanting the incantation, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," allowing her to make use of her powers in a myriad of forms (including but not limited to: forcefields, energy shields, means of teleportation, and in more extreme and unpredictable cases, manipulation of time, movement of larger masses such as skyscrapers, astral projection, and using said energy to destroy objects). Apart from the psychokinetic energy she wields, Raven is also a master of Extra-Sensory Perception, able to sense and read the minds of others. She also proves to be a formidable opponent in hand-to-hand combat. In the three-part episode "The End,"Raven reveals that she learned these abilities from what she considers her adoptive family, the Monks of Azarath; however, as Raven is ultimately forced to confess to in the conclusion of the episode "The Prophecy," the root source of much of her true power is her half-demon lineage.

Like Starfire, Raven's mystical abilities are controlled by her range of emotion, prompting her to keep her emotions stable for the safety of herself and those around her; these emotions are kept in balance through constant meditation, as mentioned in the episode "Nevermore." Later in the series, however, she begins to lose control of her anger, and the mental barriers which control it are torn asunder by an undead Slade, acting as a herald for Raven's biological father, Trigon the Terrible, the demon king of an alternate dimension. It is revealed that Raven was sired to act as a vessel for Trigon's emergence in the realm of Earth, a prophecy she is meant to carry out after reaching adolescence. Helpless to stop it, she follows through with the ritual, ending all life on Earth with the exception of the Titans, imparting a portion of her own powers in order to shield them from Trigon and to hopefully use as a weapon against him. She is still alive at this point, found by Robin in the bowels of the underworld of Trigon's dimension——rendered as a nearly powerless child. What little power she has left is ultimately used to save the Titans and allows for Raven to regain her full strength and defeat Trigon single-handedly.

Through her two battles with Trigon, one within her mind ("Nevermore") and one in the human realm ("The End part 3"), it is revealed that Raven's powers are at their zenith when the full spectrum of her emotions—much like a dispersive prism—unite to transform her into White Raven.

Trivia

  • Child by Rape: Raven from Teen Titans, with the specifics depending on the version. The very first origin (written before Marv Wolfman and George Perez got their act together), Trigon took Arella as his bride while using a human guise, and didn't reveal himself until much later, making her a child of rape by fraud. The second origin, which is generally considered to be the canon (by this point, Wolfman and Perez had long settled down in their thing), Trigon brutally raped Arella. In the latest origin (written by Geoff John), it used the fraud explanation.

Screenshots

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