"The Gem was born of evil's fire,
The Gem shall be his portal,
He comes to claim, he comes to sire,
The end of all things mortal!"
"Go forth and conquer. One by one world shall fall, until every being in this entire dimension bows down to worship Trigon the Terrible!"
Trigon is Raven's demonic father. Trigon is an inter-dimensional demon who sought to take over the universe. He is the primary antagonist of the fourth season, and is widely considered the most powerful and impure villain of the entire show. He has had six appearances, though has had vastly significant and lasting impacts on the plot, storyline and characters through these appearances.
Raven's Rage in the form of Trigon
Character Biography and Personality
All that is truly known of Trigon is that he is the manifestation of pure evil. Bent on world domination, he will do anything and use anyone in order to achieve his ends. Deceptive and cunning, Trigon is capable of subtly manipulating even the sharpest of minds, such as Slade, into doing his bidding and fooling them into believing his sincerity.
Much like his minion, Slade, the only person for whom he looks out is himself. He cares nothing for Raven or Slade, and uses them both in order to achieve world domination and destroyed the entire Earth (similar the concept of the 2009 film "Knowing") but for unknown reasons, we do not know why he wanted to achieve the Earth other than destroying the civilization.
His evil nature and lack of concern for anyone else caused him to be hated by his daughter, Raven, all of her life. Overcoming this hate, she channeled it in order to send him back to his domain at the end of "The End Part 3." It is unclear whether or not he still exerts any sort of influence on her.
Trigon made his first unofficial appearance in Season one episode "Nevermore" (voiced by Keith Szarabajka) as the main villian. Trigon later appears as the main antagonist in the fourth season story arc (now voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, and looking very different from his first appearance). In the fourth season, Trigon resurrects the Titans' foe Slade (as an undead being) from his molten burial to inform Raven of his coming and how she is his portal to the "world of mortals". In the three-part finale, "The End", Trigon finally emerges when Raven finally succumbs to his mental torment and believes she can no longer conceal her evil and fight her fate, thus willingly fulfilling the prophecy. Trigon turns everyone into stone, except for the Titans who are protected by one last gift of Raven's. Trigon also regresses Raven to the age of a 9-year-old in order to carry out his evil plans. The Teen Titans, along with Slade launch an all-out assault on Trigon, but in the end, after all the opposing forces have fallen, it is Raven who uses her powers to restore her age and obliterate Trigon, while renouncing him as her father, by far her most impressive feat in the entire series. Trigon's destruction also revoked all of the damage he caused to Earth. In the series, he is also known as "Scath", and is confirmed to be feared all around the universe by Starfire, who claims that her planet of Tamaran knows of him and fears him.
Raven's mental image of Trigon also made an appearance in Teen Titans Go! #5, where her stress, aggravation and frustration, none too well eased by the playful mockery of the other Titans over her zit, created it; this occurred some point after The End, for Cyborg was well aware of the fact that he was called Trigon and he was her father. Raven manages to dispel this form of Trigon through intense joint meditation with her friends. Trigon is also mentioned in Teen Titans Go! #44.
Powers and Abilities
In the animated continuity Trigon wielded vast magical and energy manipulation abilities to an uncertain though incredibly high extent, stated by Raven to be impossible to fight, let alone defeat, deemed by her to be "the incarnation of evil, the source of all darkness," and thus far beyond even the most formidable villains she and her team had ever encountered. As such, Trigon can be considered perhaps the most powerful non-divine entity in their entire reality. Such was his power that Raven, aware of it, succumbed to near-total despair and surrendered her own soul, and her world's, because she feared she possessed innate evil and was destined to fulfill what was meant to be. Trigon was also highly cunning and gifted with his own words, even to the point of forcing Raven to give in after endlessly tormenting her mentally, preventing her from meditating, and insisting that as he was the one who fathered her, she is corrupt within and cannot hide her corruption forever. He manifested in a physical form of enormous strength and durability, though it is possible, with enough willpower, to harm and temporarily stun him. Trigon and Raven share a deep bond of darkness, with the demon part of her being and emotions, capable of manifesting if stress or rage consumes the latter. Trigon had enough power to destroy entire dimensions, such as he did with the realm of Azarath, and nearly so with "Earth-T", the entire reality of the Teen Titans. Trigon also can produce and control flaming lesser-demon creatures to serve as his personal soldiers, with the demons capable of high-speed flight, extreme durability and stamina and the ability to generate and control fire at will. Trigon also possesses extremely powerful magical sensory abilities through his four eyes that enable him to be aware of nearly everything that occurs, a power nearing that of virtual omniscience.
Trigon was able to reshape the surface of the planet at will and turned the all its residents, human, animal, plant or superhuman, into stone statues. He was able to unleash bursts of energy, raise energy shields potent enough to withstand a direct blast of his own dark energy with no damage, seal the four Titans in a sphere of red energy, paralyzing them in midair and negating the use of their powers, and could find a creature's dark side and give it form and substance, which would then serve Trigon, granted with a copy of the creature's powers at a superior level. He could also rip portals to alternate places, even to the rest of the universe, with one gesture, and alternate dimensions, as he was said to evoke his own power to cross over to Earth through Raven by Slade. He could bring the dead back to life as a servant under his control by placing on the corpse's head a symbol called the Mark of Scath bringing the person back to life, giving them manipulation and control over all forms of heat (such as fire and electricity) to utilize as direct attacks, obstacles, barriers or to melt through solid objects, virtual indestructibility and considerable regenerative abilities, high degree of immunity to other forms of dark magic stemming from himself, flight, teleportation to other realms and points within the same dimensional plane, and vastly increased physical strength; Trigon was capable of also removing such powers at will, though his powers cannot directly kill one who bears a Ring of Azar. As even Raven's own powers stemmed from him, Raven claimed he was also capable of rendering her powerless now that her role had been fulfilled, though she somehow retained "some trace" of his power which she used to restore herself, reverse his destruction, and destroy him forever. Trigon also appears to have access to life itself, as it seems it was only through his wicked trickery that Slade was not given his flesh back, rather than inability; it was through the gate in Trigon's realm that Slade was able to fully restore himself.
Trivia
- It is unclear how Earth managed to survive the terror of Trigon in the possible future portrayed in How Long is Forever? as Raven was shown intact and the stain of Trigon was not seen on the planet.
- Strangely, Trigon is in Tiny Titans, a young-children's comic book series, even though he's VERY evil.
- In the comics, Trigon was sometimes stated as the DC equivalent of Satan himself, indicating vast and truly terrible power; however, thankfully, eventually Trigon there was also destroyed.
Sources
TitansGo.net