You don't realize it, Raven, but you're actually the most hopeful person I've ever met. From the day you were born, they said you were evil, that you were created to do unspeakable things. But you wished for more. You dared to hope that you could be a hero.
- ―Robin in The End - Part 3[src]
Raven is a young super-heroine and one of the five founding members of the Teen Titans.
Personality
Raven reading a book, or at least trying to.
Raven is one of the most mysterious characters throughout the Teen Titans series. She is cold, quiet, emotionless, studious and sarcastic, she always has a witty remark, specifically in reply to most of Teen Titans' antics and attempts at humor. Her appearance and attitude appears to be that of a typical modern goth female. However, as much as she may seem distant and anti-social, producer Sam Register describes her as, "She's a dark character - but a character everyone can relate to. She's a recluse and sort of to herself. We thought that would be a good dynamic with the rest of the team. She does have a dark background in the comic."
Raven meditating
Raven is often portrayed as the most mature member of the group, often giving sage advice to the others about various subjects, and generally stays calm even in desperate situations. She is, however, also the most emotionally-restrained of the Titans, appearing secretive and distant; she initially does not allow any of her fellow Titans into her room and spends most of her time by herself, usually meditating or reading one of her numerous books. The reason for her emotional restraint is due to the adverse effects her emotions have on her powers. If her emotions become out of control, her powers can become erratic and spontaneous, becoming active without her will. In the course of the series, however, she gradually, if only slightly, seems to warm up to her teammates. As shown through her quick suspicion of Terra, it is difficult for Raven to build trust for anyone, and even more difficult to truly forgive if that trust should be broken, even not hesitating to kill (or at least attempt to do so to the very best of her ability) the one who had betrayed her trust.
In several instances throughout the show, contrary to her usual behavior, she does show more emotion - such as making "heart eyes" along with Starfire at the appearance of Aqualad in "Deep Six" -, though this is mostly used for comedic effect. She also shown to be considerably less withdrawn and reclusive towards Robin. This is depicted several times throughout the series, perhaps most notably in one instance in which Robin states there is a special bond between them, due to the fact that Raven has been, literally, inside of Robin's mind. In "The End" Parts 1, 2 and 3, Robin and Raven are the two prominently featured characters, in which Robin attempts to journey into a figurative "Hell" in order to save Raven from being wiped from existence. Another such instance is shown when Raven unfreezes only Robin from the stopping of time, in order to help her escape from Slade's relentless pursuit (though possibly his sheer proximity, and the high risk of his being crushed to death were additional factors to her decision).
Raven’s own character is deeply complicated: for example, her fear of the fact that she truly was evil within led her to abandon her life, her world, her friends, to fulfill the prophecy, despite knowing what it would mean for not only Earth, but all of existence, all of purity. However, Raven also appeared to still have retained some hope that Trigon could be stopped, as she forcibly injected each of her friends with a portion of her own dark power to shield them and give them one last chance to save the day and the world. It was almost ironic that it was what had motivated her to surrender nearly all hope that ultimately destroyed Trigon.
Character history
Little is known of the precise circumstances in which Raven was conceived by Trigon and Arella, her birth parents in the Teen Titans series, but at some point, Raven left the safety of her birthplace, Azarath to go to that of her mother's, Earth. Apparently Trigon had already mated with Arella, who somehow reached Azarath to help herself and her daughter and to spare Earth, likely with the aid of the benevolent monk Azar, part of the ancient mystic order who first banished the demon. Raven's childhood on Azarath was mostly spent training with the monks in the art of meditation and magic in order keep the dark powers she inherited from her father under control, as such she was forced to repress any intense emotion resulting in a stoic demeanor and unemotional personality.
At some point in her childhood, Raven learned of her dreadful destiny connected to her birth, and eventually seeking to flee it, she arrived in Jump City, where she met several super-powered youths fighting a rampaging alien girl. Raven managed to discern the girl's true reason for her demolition work and convinced the others into a more peaceful approach, which won them the alien's friendship. Despite Raven's obvious insecureness, the others invited her into joining them defeat the truly hostile aliens in this game - namely the Gordanians, who had attempted to enslave the girl -, and her presence proved ultimately essential to the motley crew's triumph over the Gordanians. Afterwards, the group decided to stay together and formed the original Teen Titans.
Though Raven, still feeling alienated from her new friends, remained distant to them, the other Titans soon came to learn more about her origins. First, Beast Boy and Cyborg inadvertently ended up stranded inside Raven's own mind, where they met the personifications of her separated emotional aspects and also encountered and fought the manifestation of Trigon's heritage inside her. Soon afterwards, a backfired plot by the Puppet King left Raven and Starfire stuck in each other's body, creating a new sense of empathy between the girls. Finally, when Robin was haunted by a drug-induced hallucination of his enemy Slade, Raven linked with his mind and saw glimpses of Robin's past, including his initiation by Batman and the death of his parents.
Raven helped the Titans for years, working alongside the other four and uniting her power with theirs to secure Jump City from villainous menaces, invaluable to their success. Eventually, however, Raven's past caught up with her: On her birthday, Slade (who had been presumed dead at the time) reappeared, wielding new powers and marked with a symbol which Raven could not fail to recognize. Slade deliberately led the Titans to the place where Raven's true destiny was to be fulfilled: to serve as a living portal for Trigon to conquer Earth. Seeing no other choice, Raven finally told her teammates the truth about her past - but instead of being rejected, the other Titans remained with her and took the greatest pains to prevent this from happening.
Finally, Slade and an army of Trigon's fire demons attacked Titans Tower to fetch Raven. The Titans decided to fight him, but Raven, unwilling to see her dearest friends hurt on her behalf, knocked them out of the fight, but also imbued her with some of her powers to protect them from the apocalypse to come. When the portal was opened, Raven was apparently consumed, but in fact her human half remained alive in Trigon's hellish domain, regressed to childhood and left powerless. Left in a world turned into a living hell, the Titans still refused to give up without a fight, and with some help from Slade, who had been betrayed by Trigon, Robin made his way to Raven and took her back to the surface, even though Raven was spiritually shattered by her role in the shaping of events.
Finally, the Titans and Slade faced Trigon in a final onslaught. But even as they were struck down, Raven realized that all was not hopeless, and this sparked her low spirits back into life and let her regain her powers and her true age. Under her new-found righteous wrath, she used the sum of her powers to destroy Trigon, reverting Earth back to the way it was and finally ridding herself from the last vestiges of her dread fate.
Powers and Abilities
The Power of Raven.
Raven is arguably the most powerful of the Teen Titans. She has many potent magic powers, the most commonly employed being telekinesis, which manifest as Dark Energy, and serves as her primary means of attack and defense. She is shown to singlehandedly defeat many formidable villians, such as Malchior, Slade, and even her all-powerful father, Trigon.
Telekinesis: Raven can move objects with her mind, projecting her Dark Energy upon them, once telling Cyborg that she places a part of herself into the object she moves, implying this may be an extension of her soul-self. Though the upper limits of this ability has not been tested, Raven is capable of lifting and throwing objects many dozen times her own body weight.
Empathy: Raven can sense and manipulate the powers of others to glean an idea of their thoughts, control her own emotions, and heal people.
Levitation: Raven can levitate off the ground and fly, without visible projection of her dark energy as is shown when she utilizes telekinesis. Her power is also sufficient to enable her to counter the gravitational pull of other planets.
Astral Projection: Raven can project her soul from her corporeal form at will, usually in an energy form of her physical shape or as a black raven. In her soul-self, Raven is capable of traversing through dimensional boundaries, transporting herself and four others over vast distances, phase through almost all kinds of physical barriers, ranging from solid obstacles to walls of fire, disperse visions of the future, dispel physical manifestations of suppressed fears, overwhelm projectors of vast psionic energies, mentally attack and stun another, enter and see into the mind of another, including observing their emotions and memories and communicate to the person, take control temporarily over a willing person’s body and experience whatever the person is experiencing, escape from perilous situations by flying away, physically grasp others in midair or assail others, reach back in time through a swirling lightning-filled vortex-portal back five millennia to return another back to the time and place he originated from, project the soul-self as a physical solid barrier capable of deflecting rain (a form of energy-umbrella), while simultaneously retain her own soul within her body. The soul-self has been known to gain red [1] and black [2] when Raven releases a particularly great surge of power through it or when she is unleashing emotions of intense rage or fear, as well as appear in a shape identical to that of Raven’s physical form, albeit composed of pure dark energy. A smaller version of the soul-self in green can be conjured by Raven without projecting her own spirit after an intense positive emotional upsurge and being tutored in centuries of potent mystical lore. Raven’s powers can take on the form of white energy, as shown in four separate occasions, from the breaking of her inner mind from insanity without friendship, Raven’s soul-self takes on a pure-white form to envelop Trigon, forever cleansing his stain on her world and Arella’s, undoing all the harm he had wrought, her greatest feat in the entire series. Furthermore, Raven is capable of extending the soul-self’s individual body parts through her own corporeal body. Raven at times uses her mantra to project the soul-self, yet many times has been shown to be capable of projecting it through mere will alone.
Teleportation: Raven can teleport herself and other long distances in the shape of a giant raven or by simply traveling through dark energy using portals.
She uses the incantation "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" as a focus in battle. However, Raven has displayed far greater powers, but seems reluctant to make use of said powers; On one occasion, Slade taunted her with his knowledge of her terrible destiny; to escape him, she halted the passage of time.
Raven is the most emotionally withdrawn of the Titans, due to her formidable powers being directly controlled by her every emotion - in order to use her powers without causing excessive collateral damage, she must exercise intense control over her emotions. To maintain this control, she makes use of potent magical artifacts such as her mirror, which enables her to directly manipulate her complex mental landscape, and spends much of her time in meditation.
Some of the other powers not mentioned are:
'Intangibility In the movie "Trouble in Tokyo" as well as certain episodes throughout the seasons, including the first one, it is shown that Raven could go through objects.
Dark Energy Constructs In many episodes, it is shown that Raven can make a variety of energy constructs from her dark energy, ranging from walls to flying platforms to claws to projectiles to shields (usually dome-shaped), with these constructs temporary and subject to her will. In the episode "Trouble in Tokyo", it is also showed that she can make these fields into platforms and move them. Raven is able to raise shields with an extremely high degree of imperviousness to damage from nearly any kind of assault, be it physical or energy-based (magical or not) in nature, though the durability of these shields have been shown to vary due to a variety of unclear factors.
Above-Average Physical ConditionThough perhaps not the most physically talented of the fivesome, Raven is nonetheless a skilled hand-to-hand fighter, having received at least some degree of physical training and reasonable human physical capabilities, as she has displayed in several episodes during combat, such as Forces of Nature, Switched and Hide and Seek. In Titans East - Part 2, when the brainwashed Speedy attacked Raven, with physical might at the peak of mankind's due to his extreme athletic prowess, Raven was able to catch his bow and even hold it back against Speedy's own strength, until Speedy managed to catch her off guard with a sweeping kick that unbalanced her. In Apprentice - Part 2 she also jumped in the air and did a one rotation flying kick on Beast Boy.
Raven’s powers have been shown to be equal to that of Psimon’s when the two fought.
Multilingualism (Septilingualism) In Trouble in Tokyo, Raven reveals that she is a skilled polyglot, capable of fluently speaking English, German, Latin, Romanian, Ancient Sumerian, and Sanskrit.
"White" Raven
The Light Within.
The "white" form that Raven has assumed under unique circumstances four times throughout the series for multiple reasons is Raven's most primal, significant and powerful version of herself, mostly shown as a symbol of her highest hidden power and her inner purity against the consuming evil of her father.
Raven unleashing her full powers to destroy Trigon.
Raven defeating Trigon.
- The first instance, in Nevermore, occurs within the multidimensional realm of Raven's own mind, an ethereal place where Raven's separate emotional forms are capable of independently existing. When Raven, her emotions unbalanced and her rage unleashed from within during the Titans's brief but powerful clash with Doctor Light earlier, discovered that Beast Boy and Cyborg, having initially meant to bring apology but further exploring her own private bedroom after Cyborg inadvertently knocked down her door with a tap, in hopes of learning more about her to deem whether she was worthy of their trust, had come upon her mystical mirror, a meditation tool enabling anyone who holds it to be drawn into her mind, and had used it access her own subconscious. After encountering three different emotional forms of Raven (with each symbolically wearing a different color), Raven herself enters and confronts them, though shortly her rage form, manifesting physically as Trigon, attacks them all. Though Raven insists the two leave, Beast Boy and Cyborg instead choose to stay, holding off Trigon while Raven, on a suggestion from Beast Boy who said they were all part of who she was, summons all her emotional forms and merges them with herself, thus creating a "white" form, who then projects a stream of energy from her hands at Trigon, overwhelming him and merging him back into her soul, becoming her original blue self once again and leaving her mind, having not only gained victory, but two true friendships.
- The second instance the modern-day Raven is not responsible for herself, for it had occurred in an alternate future, one which Starfire prevented from becoming the true future of the Titans by returning to her own time era, in How Long is Forever?, after the high-tech, time-traveling genius Warp goes back a millennia to Jump City to steal a clock, to be met with the Teen Titans. Starfire manages to leap into Warp's time portal and damage his vortex regulator, thus stranding them both at two decades in the future instead of ten. After encountering a far older and more damaged Cyborg, who gives her the current whereabouts of Beast Boy and Raven. Raven is alone in a pure-white room, her sanity having been lost and her mind broken from her loss of friendship, in a white form, shielding Starfire away from her because she thought she was yet another "figment." Though Starfire eventually manages to find Nightwing (Robin), who gathers the Titans once again to defeat Warp and regress him back to an infant, with Raven's telekinetic abilities contributing to their prevailing, Raven is still seen in her white form as Starfire returns with the clock back to her own time and recounts her experiences to the Titans, Raven included.
- The third instance takes place during the events of Spellbound, when Raven, feeling isolated from the other Titans because of her "creepy" nature and different interests, takes solace in Malchior, apparently a benevolent yet powerful wizard who vanquished the dread dragon Rorek a thousand years ago with the same enchanted book that fell into Raven's possession. With her own mystical powers unable to break the curse that had apparently trapped Malchior within the book by Rorek's last curse, Raven is offered to simply "talk" with him, and, being guided by Malchior, prepares a potent spell to release his soul from the book in the form of its pages in the shape of a human body, though he is still bound. Attached to Malchior and seeking to help free him fully, Raven asks to be taught far more powerful magics from millennia of magical knowledge and over six thousand pages of such spells; Malchior eventually magically transfers all the lore into her chakra and mind, enabling her to master the mystic arts and project a green version of her raven soul-self. This emotional upheaval through her intense love for Malchior, love which she had not yet felt as deeply for anyone else, possibly combined with the vast augmentation of her powers and arcane lore, changes her back to the "white" Raven yet again. Raven now possesses vast powers at her command, but is unable to exert great control over them, as shown during a rematch with Kardiak; Raven discovers that this is "dark magic" but Malchior tells her that it is simply "power", called only by those who fear it "dark" and convinces her to free him using the spell he had taught her. However, Malchior reveals himself as actually the dragon, not the wizard, having changed the names secretly, and battles Raven after defeating the other four Titans, with only darkness in his heart and malice for her. Raven uses Rorek's spell to again imprison him within the book, reverting back to blue after she does so.
- The fourth and last known transformation into her "white" form occurs during the considerably darker fourth series, when it is revealed that she is daughter to Trigon, malevolent demon lord who seeks to destroy Earth and the entire universe it. As shown in Birthmark and The Prophecy, Raven, born in Azarath, was foretold to be doomed to a terrible fate: the "gem" and "portal" of Trigon directly into the Earth dimension. With their old adversary Slade resurrected and empowered with terrible demonic magic granting him sufficient might to rival the combined forces of the Teen Titans, and Raven fearful of her own fate and that of all existence's, Raven reveals her tragic past and future to the Titans, who strove to prepare against the oncoming tide of evil that would besiege the world and their old friend, unknown to a secretly hope-dead Raven. As the sun is eclipsed in shadows, Raven collapses, unable to hold back horrified tears at what is happening, and the planets align to ready the position of the Portal to Earth, the Titans place Raven in a state-of-the-art security room reinforced with the united efforts of all their resources and shielded by an additional layer of protection with Raven's own mystic runes from her books, but Trigon's bond with Raven proves far too potent and deep to be blocked by any means within their grasp, taunting her and insisting it was her destiny to bring him forth into the world, that she could not hide her fate and her friends were still fighting for her at their expense. The Titans attempt to attack Slade and his forces, but are quickly defeated despite all their desperate efforts and determination, to be saved from complete destruction by Raven's intervention, when she agrees to go with Slade to grant Trigon access to Earth's dimension, giving the four Titans a farewell blessing in the form of a portion of her own powers as a final defense. Shortly afterwards, the Titans try to dissuade Raven from sacrifing her life to act as a gateway for her father, whose very presence conquers all of Earth and disables everyone except for the remaining Titans, whom are led to Slade, who had been betrayed by Trigon and stripped of his powers.Slade tells them that there is still hope of saving the world with Raven's help. After Slade and Robin fighting their way through a "Hell" of Trigon's demonic minions, depending on the other three Titans to divert Trigon's attention, the two part ways, knowing that this would be the last time they were ever to join forces as one, with Slade reclaiming his life and flesh fully and Robin, following the raven, finding a younger version of Raven, garbed in white, under a gray cloak. Though Raven initially appears to not know or trust her former friend and attempts to flee from him, claiming she was "lost", Robin convinces her to place her faith in both him and herself. Raven has retained at least some part of her memory, but tells Robin the situation is still hopeless, with her powers having originated primarily from Trigon's. "The story you were telling...I can see it. Bits and pieces. You...our friends...my father...like it was a dream. A nightmare. Whatever it was, it's over....Nobody can stop him." After a perilous journey to the ravaged realm above, Robin and Raven meet with the other three Titans and all the Titans except for the regressed Raven engage in a last clash with Trigon, Slade coming to their aid at a crucial moment, their joined forces even managing to hold their own against him and physically injure him, but the demon's power is too great and they are all completely overwhelmed, with only Raven remaining. An attempted death-blow to permanently finish his child is foiled by her own power inexplicably, and as Trigon cruelly tells Raven that she lives only because of his allowing it and she is powerless still against him, despite whatever small fraction of power she still bore, Raven taps into more of her power and actually returns to her previous form, albeit still clothed in white, telling Trigon coldly that he may have created her, but never was he her "father." Raven attacks Trigon, knocking him back, and with a final declaration of Trigon not being welcome to her home and that of her friends, unleashes her white soul-self to envelop and obliterate Trigon, cleansing the dark stains he had left upon Earth forevermore and reverting back to her original blue form, saying to Robin, perhaps fittingly, that "in the end, there really is no end--just new beginnings," and marking the start of a future she would carve out by herself freely, shaped only with her friends and having conquered the destiny she believed she would be eternally bound by.
Raven often says the phrase "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" as a primal focus for her vast powers, which can cause untold havoc if completely unleashed without control. Though Raven has been shown to be rendered powerless when unable to complete this incantation, Raven has also been shown at certain times to activate her mystical abilities even without resorting to such means; for example, in Fear Itself, when an technologically animated video-tapes wind rolls of tape to bind her, restricting movement and serving as gags, Raven appeared to be capable of dispelling them using her powers through sheer willpower.
Azarath is the dimension in which she was born and raised, and where she learned her powers from the monks. Apparently it serves as at least one source of her power, as implied when David Slack commented "Whenever Raven was in trouble, she called on the power of Azarath; So when Raven is in the greatest trouble of her life, it seemed like we should take her to Azarath."[3] The words "Metrion" and "Zinthos" were created by Glen Murakami for the spell, and do not have any meaning. These words also serve as her mantra for her daily meditations, which she performs to keep her emotions in check so they do not clash with her conscious self control. When Raven is highly upset, her soul-self can also transform her half-demon body's physiology to alter her appearance to a variety of demonic forms and sizes. When she cannot control her anger, she transforms into a demonic Raven, usually with four glowing, red eyes (a trait inherited from her demon father, Trigon, with two glowing red eyes were only seen in the episode "Nevermore") and sprouting black tentacles from under her cloak. She has little control over her actions in this state, shown especially in the episode Nevermore when she was attacking a terrified Dr. Light even after he was begging for mercy. Somewhat oddly, when Cyborg was infected with a virus, she threatened Gizmo into helping by lifting and then pulling down her hood. The face was not shown, but, judging by the shadow, it appeared to be a dragon's head with tentacles, though this could be a mental manipulation. However, in the battle against Terra in the first part of Aftershock, her form streches similarly to the attack on Dr. Light.
Raven also possesses a number of powerful mystical items, such as books detailing many subjects from Earth's ancient history to doomsday prophecies, as well as a "magical mirror, a personal meditation tool used as a portal into the multidimensional world of her mind." It is unclear what the circular red gem at her neck is of, but it seems to flash with light when there is trouble or an alert (Terra and Birthmark), though it appears to be from Azarath, as she had it before she even met the other Titans. It is functional even three decades into the future, as shown in How Long is Forever?, used by Nightwing to unite the Titans once again.
In Fear Itself, Raven so fiercely suppressing her own feelings of intense fear and terror, even to herself, was subconsciously spawning so much more of it that it found another way out: through her powers. Raven was unable to connect with them until she admitted to herself that she indeed had felt true fear, yet also realized fear alone could not prevent her from fighting back, undoing all the supernatural chaos inflicted upon herself and her friends by symbolically expunging her own soul and absorbing the darkness she had unknowingly freed.
It is implied that Raven may have eventually fallen in love with fellow teammate Beast Boy; the creators and writers initially dismissed this, but eventually appeared to support such a theory. Though Raven had an affinity for mysticism, possessed reasonable arcane lore with many books and items of occult nature, and her powers stemmed from demonic magic, Raven had yet to immerse herself with more extensive and complex spell-casting for a greater variety of effects. Raven has shown herself capable of piling up many dozens of boulders to impede a Radiation Monster’s path while simultaneously levitating herself and a dozen more boulders. After purging Trigon’s impurity from her soul and the world’s, Raven has yet to demonstrate the incredible amount of power she used to easily wipe away Trigon from existence (though she had given herself a chance to heal, the evil of her father would stain her soul forevermore, if but in a less primal form) and undo all the damage he had caused. Raven’s dark energy constructs vary in degrees of strength, shape, size and durability. Raven’s quickly made shields in Switched and Snowblind were easily pierced by the physical assault of a tiger Beast Boy and intense amounts of radioactive energy, while her larger barrier just prior to her assumption of her destiny of the Portal could not be damaged by the combined efforts of all the other Titans together.
The limited abilities include teleportation (both of people and objects), telepathy, time manipulation, summoning and merging with her other emotional forms within her mind, precognition, rapid healing (of herself and others, though this ability cannot fully mend severe injuries, as shown when, despite her ability to reduce Robin's broken arm into merely a minor fracture, she could not completely enable it to recover), extremely powerful magic spells (mostly with the aid of a spellbook), temporary biological manipulation of herself (increasing her own size) and the (accidental) creation of various monsters under the denial of fear. Raven’s magic appears to be incompatible with the reality-bending power of the enchanted finger of “Larry” (the extra-dimensional version of Robin), for she stated that a mixing of the two forces “could destroy the dimensional boundaries and nullify all existence.”
Raven also possesses powerful extra-sensory abilities along with her telepathic power. Though unable to detect the unnamed creature that was the last new opponent shown in the series, she could sense the nearby presence of Starfire, as well that nothing controlled Robin’s mind when he was forced to defect over to Slade. Raven also appears to possess some form of precognition, though relatively vague, for though she became more wary upon experiencing a short vision flashing through her mind as Terra ran by, she was unable to tell its entire true meaning and what it forewarned, even becoming friends with Terra despite it, due to its unclear meaning.
Tutored in what she deems "dark magic" by the master of sorcery known as Malchior (disguised as Rorek) for an entire week and mystically having been given millennia of magical knowledge through hundreds of arcane tomes and scrolls, Raven's powers were magnified to heights unimagined, bringing out her tremendous innate magical potential to vast scales, enabling her personal abilities to be greatly enhanced and for her to gain new powers. Raven once transformed Beast Boy from a fly into a rat through mere concentration, without spell, gesture or artifact, upon being tutored for a week and having millennia of magical knowledge (with over six thousand pages of spells, charms, and incantations, ranging from rudimentary magic from the Book of Nord, the Endreal Verses, the Romanomicon and the Bursean Chronicle to more advanced and powerful magics from the Galleon Scrolls and the works of the ancient and potent mystic O'Riordan the Strange) being transferred into her chakra and through it, her mind, in extensive ancient magic of various kinds that considerably augmented her own abilities (though not to a point that she could directly use them to overpower Malchior alone) and allowed her to produce a greater variety of magical effects, including transfiguration of other super-powered individuals. Raven again uses magic in the episode The Prophecy with a spellbook, a ring of mystical sand, and lit candles arranged around the ring, opening a dimensional aperture enabling her to transverse dimensional boundaries to realms such as Azarath, though after the destruction of Trigon Raven demonstrates the ability to reach other dimensions she has never been to through projecting her soul-self. It is assumed that Raven has retained her skill in this brand of pure magic, though she does not utilize such magic ever again. This indicates Raven's abilities are indeed primarily mystical in nature, and all come from such a source.
In addition to an affinity for magic and spellcasting, Raven possesses powerful telekinetic abilities which manifest in the form of dark energy (possibly an extension of her Soul-Self, due to her comments of her abilities to Cyborg) serving as her primary means of attack and defense. She can use her abilities to levitate objects (and also herself), project concussive blasts, and form simple shapes like grappling hands and razor sharp plates to use as barriers, projectiles and/or restricting binds. Raven is also capable of teleportation (both of people and objects), telepathy, time manipulation, summoning and merging with her other emotional forms within her mind, precognition, rapid healing (of herself and others, though this ability cannot fully mend severe injuries, as shown when, despite her ability to reduce Robin's broken arm into merely a minor fracture, she could not completely enable it to recover), extremely powerful magic spells (mostly with the aid of a spellbook), and the (accidental) creation of various monsters under the denial of fear. Raven has also been able to transfer her portions of her power into Earth humans, human mutates, cyborgs and Tamaraneans at will, enabling them to activate this power through her own mantra and intense emotion and use it to fly, generate dark energy as a force blast, and raise shields, though this forced injection of power will cause the receptors to temporarily lose consciousness for some time. Her power level is highly dependent on her emotional state, but even when calm her telekinesis is powerful enough to shred steel, lift a hundred pieces of stone and hurl them with ease, lift a massive boulder weighing about two tons and throwing it a short distance and throw large cars and trucks.
Spells, Incantations and Artifacts
- Azarath Metrion Zinthos (Main spell and mantra commonly utilized by Raven to help focus, control and enhance her tremendous yet dangerous mystical powers, usually followed by projection of visible dark energy and any of a vast number of feats; if Raven is prevented from uttering this spell, at times she apparently is unable to activate her powers; also used by Raven and others in meditation)
- Necronom Hezberek Mortix! (A form of wild, uncontrollable but incredibly powerful dark magic taught to Raven by Malchior disguised as Rorek)
- Hezberek Et Morine...Gost Wenthen Verbis Nex...Ind Obrium Bis Pendrule...Paran Sic Cortis Rex! (An extremely potent spell taught by Malchior to Raven to revoke the binding enchantment that sealed him within Rorek's enchanted book; performed within a ring of open tomes and volumes while simultaneously gesturing over the spellbook that contains this spell, causing the books to shine with blinding white light which will enfold the one in mystical captivity and release him within seconds)
- Aldruon Enlenthra Nalthos Sola Narisnor! (A curse more ancient than Malchior himself used by Rorek to entrap him into his enchanted book by projecting a stream of white energy that overpowers Malchior's fiery breath and locked his entire being, body and soul, into the book, a lock neither Rorek's own magic over a millennia nor Raven's own powers before her training could unravel or bypass; Raven uses the same ten centuries later through her dark energy to again seal Malchior into the book)
- Azarath Metrion Zinthos...Carazon Rakashas Endere...Vaserix Endrien Azararth...Azarath, AZARATH! (An incantation utilized by Raven while sitting in a circle of magical sand from two flasks in her possession and a ring of lit candles around the circle, with bluish-white light pouring from the ring of sand and forming into a cylindrical barrier that reaches all the way to the ceiling of Raven's room, opening a swirling vortex-portal, which will bring Raven into a dimensional tunnel leading directly to Azarath, with this tunnel still susceptible to Trigon's attacks, though a magical seal will bar out all threats; Raven claimed even Trigon could not prevent her from "leaving", at least thus)
Items and Artifacts
- Raven's mirror
- Book of Azar (an ancient book from Azarath having some connection to the peaceful monk Azar, which came into Raven's possession and was carelessly used by Larry to fly around the living room of Titans Tower, to Raven's displeasure and her angry claims it was not a "toy")
References
Notes
Character Facts from the Comics
- Some time after her joining with the Titans, Raven was corrupted by the soul of Trigon, and became an enemy of the Teen Titans. In their last battle, Raven's physical body was destroyed and her soul freed.
- In the original DC comics, Raven had relationships with Beast Boy and Kid Flash. The most notable and deep relationship was with Beast Boy. Her relationship with Kid Flash however was the result of her using her powers to manipulate him into joining the team. She once had a romantic fixation on Robin, and a deep friendship with Jericho.
- Raven sometimes uses the alias "Rachel Roth" in the comics, which she invented so that she could anonymously attend high school. While Roth does happen to be her mother's original last name, it's unclear where she took the name Rachel from.
- Raven has 7 brothers, who were summoned by Trigon, are named after each deadly sin, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, and Pride. Each were sent out to attack the Teen Titans.
- When she is mad, her eyes will glow white.
- Raven originally could not fly (except when she was Evil Raven under her father's control) nor had telekinesis in the comics. These were later added following Raven's re-introduction into the comics after the TV show had already been on the air.
Trivia
- She is voiced by Tara Strong, also voices Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls.
- Raven calls Melvin, Timmy, and Teether "her" kids.