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Raven (civilian name Rachel Roth) is a half-human/half-demon member of the Teen Titans. Raven fights crime using her magical abilities, which require her to keep a firm control of her emotions. She is the daughter of the demon Trigon and was prophesized to be the key to his conquest of Earth.

Origin

Raven was born the daughter of the inter-dimensional demonic lord Trigon and the human Arella in the realm of Azarath. During most of her life there she had been raised by monks and was taught how to use her powers and abilities and control her emotions, but at some unknown point in her life it was revealed to her that she would be used as a key element in her father's eventual take over of the universe. After this revelation she fled Azarath and went to Earth hoping to escape her fate.

Forming the Teen Titans

She soon arrived in a large city in California known as Jump City, but at the time of her arrival the city was in a current state of turmoil due to an invasion initiated by the Gordanian race who sought the escaped princess Starfire of Tamaran. While wandering the streets, Raven eventually came across the escaped princess who was currently in a battle with three renegade heroes (Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy). Raven attempted to end the fight peacefully, but the alien princess escaped.

The four remaining heroes decided to work together to find the princess and save the city from the Gordanians. The heroes found the princess and invited her to join them, which she accepted. The team invaded the Gordanian mother ship and defeated the menaces once and for all.

After the battle, Robin invited the other teenagers to make their partnership official - becoming the Teen Titans.

Teen Titans

In one of her first missions with the Teen Titans, Raven and the heroes were attacked by Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth, three graduates of H.I.V.E. Academy under orders from the mysterious malefactor Slade. Raven was defeated in battle twice by Jinx, causing the heroes to temporarily lose control over their headquarters. The Titans regrouped and defeated the H.I.V.E. graduates, solidifying their strength as a team.[2]

Trigon's Attack

Raven tried her best to keep the prophecy a secret from the rest of the Titans. Eventually, Raven did become the portal and gem to the city's demise, as was predicted. Robin found Raven, a shadow of her former self, and with the encouragement of Robin and the other Titans, gained the confidence she needed to defeat her father Trigon and reverse the damage he caused.

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Brotherhood of Evil

While recruiting an extended roster for the Teen Titans, Raven sensed a hero in an alternate dimension calling out for help. She reached into a portal and saved him, learning that his name was Kilowatt and that he was a member of the Teen Titans in his dimension. Raven invited Kilowatt to join their team, which he accepted. [3] After the defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil, Raven used her powers to send Kilowatt back to his home dimension but accidently sent him to the wrong reality. Realizing his mistake after he was captured by that reality's Teen Tyrants, Raven sent the Titans into the alternate reality to rescue him. Together with Herald, Raven successfully sent Kilowatt back to his own dimension, where he rejoined his own Teen Titans. [4]

Powers

  • Demonic Azarathian Hybrid: When embracing her dark heritage, Raven's appearance takes on a more demonic visage which includes an extra set of glowing red eyes. Also, her dark purple hair, purple eyes, gray skin, and chakra stone tend to give her away.
    • Magic: Raven has a wide range of various powers and abilities which appear to be rooted in the magical, mystical and supernatural. Though not required, Raven often speaks the phrase "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" to focus her abilities. Raven was once taught dark magic by Malchior but she refuses to use it due to its instability and intense power.[5]
      • Telekinesis: Raven demonstrates this power and ability most often, levitating boxes, buses, and other inanimate objects into the battle, all fully enshrouded in the same dark mystical energy that composes her soul-self. She has, on several occasions, demonstrated that she can use her telekinesis on living things, though she prefers to take control of inanimate things because, to use telekinesis, she has to put a little piece of her soul/spirit into her targets.
        • Flight: Apparently, Raven cannot fly traditionally. Instead, she uses her telekinesis to simply lift and hover her body so that she may float off the ground. [citation needed]
      • Empathy: Raven has also displayed the ability to sense others' emotions, which allows her to gain insight into her thoughts and intentions and even experience their own feelings. This also enables her to sense the mental state of others, as she has stated that she would know if someone's mind had been tampered with. [citation needed]
      • Intangibility: Using her dark powers and abilities, she melts into walls and floors, sometimes in the form of a giant black raven (which is the form her soul-self usually takes on).
      • Teleportation: She can teleport herself and others over short or long distances, but it seems to take a lot out of her. She almost always teleports with the use of her soul-self.
      • Precognition: Raven seems to be able to detect some vivid visions of the future. Raven once had a brief vision of Terra's future as she brushed by her. She can also receive flashes of the future when exposed to extreme emotion.[6]
    • Soul-Self: Although all her power is magical in nature she is able to use it with ease due to her Soul-Self. She is able to project her soul from her body into corporeal form (also known as astral projection), allowing her to use it to interact with the physical world, to affect others mentally, to teleport, and to traverse through time-space. Her soul-self takes the form of a double of her own body or more commonly, a large black raven.
      • Darkness Manipulation: Her soul-self also lets her manipulate, generate and become living shadow and darkness. through said darkness she can effect and assume control of her physical appearance or the material of the earthly environment around her by merging herself within her shadow around it,[7] erect constructs used for combat such as raven talons or tendrils with which to drag people into her personal void within the soul-self either transporting them from place to place[2] or simply trapping them in a nightmare world of her own design.[8]
      • Dimensional Travel: On a couple of occasions not only has Raven show she can utilize her soul self as a means of instantaneous or areal transport but has also used it to cross the borders between different dimensions, entering into alternate worlds at will.[9]
        • Dimensional Sense: Raven can sense things in other dimensions. Specifically, she has a connection with the alternate-reality hero Kilowatt and could sense when he was in trouble, even dimensions away. [10]
      • Healing: Raven has the power and ability to heal minor wounds and injuries, not only healing others[2][11] but herself as well.[12] Raven can absorb the pain of others into her own body in order to induce rapid healing for them and can heal herself by going into a trance of emotional calm.
      • Fear Projection: Raven, when stressed, can drag an enemy into her cape and show them their darkest fears.[8] Also, when Raven suppresses much fear, her own fears become real.[13]
    • Superhuman Durability: Raven is able to withstand lethal physical damage, as she was able to survive Terra's geokinesis attacks, Mammoth's physical attacks, Doctor Light and Lightning's energy beams.[14][15]

Abilities

  • Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic): Raven has been seen as a average hand-to-hand combatant, showing this ability against Jinx and Monsieur Mallah.[2][16]
  • Multilingualism: Raven is fluent in several languages including English, German, Latin, Romanian, Ancient Sumerian, and Sanskrit.[17]
  • Occultism: Raven is well-versed in the occult and is familiar with the magical and mystical rites from both her home dimension Azarath as well as Earth.
  • Mechanical Aptitude: Raven has enough knowledge of auto-mechanics to be able to assist Cyborg in building the T-Car.[18]

Weaknesses

  • Power Instability: Because of her demonic upbringing, Raven has severe emotional issues. Though she usually maintains a subdued demeanor, her full range of emotions have been personified within the environment of her soul-self. Each aspect was represented as wearing a different colored robe: green (brave), gray (timid), pink (happy), red (rage), orange (rude), yellow (wisdom), purple (love), brown (sloth), and white which represents having either full control or full suppression of all her emotions.


  • Titans head writer David Slack intentionally wrote Raven and Beast Boy as a "married couple", hence the relationship was one of deep loyalty and affection, but also laced with conflicting personality clashes. This "tough love" relationship between Beast Boy and Raven is continued in Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, also written by Slack.

Related

Footnotes


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Teen Titans member
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This character is or was primarily a member of the younger superhero team known as the Teen Titans, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Teen Titans members" category.

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