Teen Titans: Raven / Characters

Raven

^{Click here to see Pre-New 52 Raven}

Alter Ego: Rachel Roth

Abilities: Empathy, healing, flight, telepathy, sorcery, amongst others

First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #26 (October, 1980)

"My mind is a battleground, whipped and ripped asunder, torn from the very fabric of reality."

Raven is a DC Comics superhero created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez, first appearing in the October 1980 issue of DC Comics Presents.

Born when a human woman named Angela (or Arella) became involved with a cult and was raped by Trigon, to protect the world from her and her father, Raven was raised in the distant land of Azarath, where the Goddess Azar taught her to control her emotions to suppress her demonic powers. After Azar's death, Raven tried and failed to mobilize the pacifistic people of Azarath against Trigon. Still swearing to stop him, Raven traveled to Earth for help. She first went to the Justice League, but due to Zatanna sensing the evil power within her, she was rejected. Still desperate, Raven instead sent telepathic messages to previous Teen Titans members Dick Grayson/Robin, Wally West/Kid Flash, and Donna Troy/Wonder Girl, and new heroes Koriand'r/Starfire, Victor Stone/Cyborg, and Garfield Logan/Beast Boy, uniting them as the new Teen Titans. While at first distant, Raven eventually began to accept them as her new adoptive family and began opening up to them.

Trigon is a recurring foe of the Titans, as he cannot be killed. Raven keeps Trigon's influence within her, and eternally struggles not to let him free by accident. Partially because of this, Raven is extremely prone to the Heel–Face Revolving Door and fluctuations between life, death, and undeath, even for a comic book character.

In the New 52, Raven first appears as a confused normal girl the Phantom Stranger hands over to Trigon. She reappears later as "The Black Bird of Terror", and eventually prayed for both the Gods of light and dark to grant her and her friends strength that Justice Will Prevail.

Between the New 52 and Teen Titans (Rebirth), Raven had a self-titled miniseries (see below for tropes from that series). A direct sequel to that series, Raven, Daughter of Darkness, received a 12-issue run in 2018.

In Infinite Frontier Raven and her teammates Dick Grayson/Nightwing, Donna Troy/Wonder Girl, Koriand'r/Starfire, Victor Stone/Cyborg and Garfield Logan/Beast Boy are now teachers for the young students at the new Teen Titans Academy, created in honor of Roy Harper/Arsenal.

Raven is prominently featured in the Teen Titans (2003) cartoon, which made her a fan-favorite. She is also a prominent character in Teen Titans Go! and its movie. She is one of the playable Titans in Injustice: Gods Among Us (along with Nightwing and Cyborg) and appears in the prequel comic of the same name. She made her live-action debut in the DC Universe series Titans, played by Teagan Croft.

Raven provides examples of:

open/close all folders

A-H

Adaptation Species Change: Raven is usually half-demon in most continuities, but in Teen Titans: Earth One she appears to be entirely human, albeit not a normal one.
Adaptational Consent: The exact details of her conception have varied from writer to writer, with the main difference being whether Trigon first seduced her mother Arella using a human guise or brutally raped her without any pretense.
Adaptational Heroism:
- Both of her incarnations in the Teen Titans (2003) cartoon and DC Animated Movie Universe universe are much less willing to go through the Trigon-induced Heel–Face Revolving Door than her comics counterpart.
- In the New 52, Raven is a brainwashed Heel forced into fulfilling her evil demonic father's wishes of universal domination, and otherwise has an interest in helping people for genuinely benevolent reasons.
Alternate Company Equivalent: DC hired two Marvel writers for the book and like most New Teen Titans, Raven takes a few nods from X-Men, Jean Grey/Phoenix in particular. The twists are that a different bird is her motif, the symbiotic relationship with her cosmic figure is inherently corrupting rather than externally corrupted, Raven is empath instead of a telepath and Raven is a human hybrid instead of a mutant.
All-Encompassing Mantle: Raven's cowl often covers everything besides her eyes, and Raven often keeps to herself, closed off from other people for their own safety.
Alliterative Name: Her mother's surname is Roth, which would make her full name Raven Roth. Her fake civilian name Rachel Roth is also an alliterative alias.
Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Her aunt and uncle become this to her, though she doesn't seem to mind too much.
Animal-Themed Superbeing: Type 2, Animal Alias, with a raven theme present in her name, her costume, and the appearance of her powers.
Anti Anti Christ: She is the daughter of Trigon, a god-like demon and Dimension Lord who gave birth to her for the sole purpose of preparing his invasion of Earth. Her mother didn't approve, however, so she had her daughter raised in the city of Azarath, where she learnt to keep her demonic side in check. Raven eventually joined the titular team in an effort to fight her father.
Apocalypse Maiden: Her father conceived her to destroy the world.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence:
- At the end of the "Terror of Trigon" arc, a purified Raven rises from the ashes of the battlefield and departs for places unknown, leaving her teammates wondering if she had died. She's later found, but falls into the hands of Brother Blood first.
- At the end of New Titans, Raven's pure soul was somehow extracted from Starfire offpanel (following the defeat of her corrupted Trigon-self) and existed in a ghostly golden "spirit advisor" form. She made a few more cameos in team events, but then vanished and the Titans assumed this had happened to her. However, it turned out that she was resurrected in a new mortal body by the new Brother Blood.
Astral Projection:
- Through the use of her soul-self, Raven can project her consciousness into the mind, for therapeutic purposes (to aid in her own meditation, or to help calm an agitated ally), or for offensive attacks, rendering her enemies unconscious.
- Raven can manifest a bird made of black energy referred to as her "soul-self". It can travel long distances, become intangible, communicate telepathically and act as a shield.
Bad Powers, Good People: She is the daughter of the demonic Trigon and was intended to serve in destroying the world with her dark powers. Instead, she opposes him and fights for good with the other Titans.
Birds of a Feather: The New 52 Cosmic Retcon altered Beast Boy and Raven to have more similar life experiences and reclusive personalities, to facilitate romance that would have previously been awkward between the two.
Blue Is Heroic: Her outfit is mostly blue, and while she has had stints as a heel, they are due to her losing control of herself due to her demonic bloodline. She's good at heart.
Break His Heart to Save Him: When she turned down Beast Boy, he asked if she was doing this. She denied it. He... took it well.
Broken Bird: DC Rebirth Raven realizes there's another half of her that wants to destroy the world/help demons take it over, and thus Raven feels she does not deserve to have friends or happiness because she is a bad person deep down.
Cain and Abel: Whenever Raven is given a sibling she's the Abel to their Cain.
- In the second Titans volume the villains of the opening arc were six previously unknown half brothers by Trigon who stole their dad's powers and tried to get Raven to join them. Their powers were based on the Seven Deadly Sins with Raven's evil side manifesting as Pride.
- In the non-canon New Teen Titans: Games graphic novel, one of the Gamesmaster's playing pieces is revealed to be an unnamed half sister who was abandoned and cast to Earth when she was a baby. The child grew up inside Arkham Asylum and her abilities made the insanity of the other inmates even worse. Raven manages to purge her sister's madness just before she dies thanks to the self destruct device implanted in all of the playing pieces, but before she dies Raven is able to give her a name so her soul can rest in peace: Azara.
Casting a Shadow: She can control pure shadows and darkness.
Chekhov's Gift: Her rings, gifted by Azar at her death, turned out to be much more powerful than readers thought. They destroyed Trigon during The Terror of Trigon.
Child by Rape: She is this with the specifics depending on the version.
- In the very first origin (written before Marv Wolfman and George Perez got their act together), Trigon took Arella, her mother, as his bride while using a human guise and didn't reveal himself until much later, making her a child of rape by fraud since Arella never would have agreed had she known what he really was.
- 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 a later take on her origin (written by Geoff Johns), it used the fraud explanation, but still counts as this trope.
Clever Crows: Raven is a Dark Is Not Evil hero (when not being possessed or mind-controlled by her Eldritch Abomination father) whose magical powers often use a corvid motif.
Color Motif:
- Blue: Raven wears a blue dress and cloak in her first appearances. They symbolize her kindness, empathetic nature and powers and melancholy.
- Black: Her soul-self, and, in the animated adaptations, the color of her psychokinetic powers. In the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, Raven even wears a black cloak instead of a purple one. Black also fits her name, animal motif and half-demon nature.
- White: Her white dress and cloak symbolize her new freedom and purity after being purified from her father's presence in her soul.
- Purple: In the animated adaptations, Raven wears a purple cloak, and has purple hair and eyes. Like blue and black, it's her signature color.
- Red: Her skin and eyes turn red when she unleashes her demon part or gets possessed by her father Trigon.
Compulsory School Age: She wound up in high school at one point. However, it was a deliberate decision on her part, because she wanted a taste of the "normal" teenage life she never got to experience.
Damsel in Distress: In New Teen Titans, Raven, dear God in Heaven! Her being a pacifist, it kind of makes sense that she'd have trouble fighting with kidnappers.
Dark Is Evil: In the New 52 Raven is more embracing of her destructive nature.
Dark Is Not Evil: Raven has darkness based powers, and a Dark and Troubled Past, but is at heart a hero — unless she's in one of her "daddy's girl" phases, which unfortunately happens a lot.
Darkness Von Gothick Name: Raven is a more gothic name.
Demonic Possession: Occasionally, thanks to Trigon. And when that happens, terrible things tend to follow.
Depending on the Artist:
- As originally drawn by George Perez, her face was rounder and softer-featured. As he continued to draw her, he decided to make her appearance stand out from the other two women on the team. She wound up developing a more narrow face with visible cheekbones, larger lips, and a rather high forehead. These changes were later noticed in The Terror of Trigon arc. After Perez left the series, Eduardo Barretto gave Raven a look more akin to Perez's original style, though later artists would give her back her narrow features.
- After her resurrection in TT volume 3, she appeared as a younger teenage gilr. The "new" Raven also seemed to alternate between looking in her mid-late teens to looking a little closer to her '20s.
- The second version of "Evil Raven" in the '90s also had her appearance shift about a lot. Did she have antlers like her father? Was her skin red or simply a deep tan? Did she have four eyes or two? A gray streak in her hair or not? The extent of just how revealing her clothes were was yet another of these many variables.
- Raven's first dress and cloak were later mentioned in dialogue to be "black", after she made the switch to her white outfit. Yet in actuality, the dress and cloak were depicted as blue, possibly to save on black ink and as a stylization choice. Most modern depictions of Raven keep the outfit blue, although in a darker shade (though a pin-up for the volume 3 "Secret Files" depicted her dress as a violet-highlighted black).
Depending on the Writer: Raven's heritage is generally described as "evil" but the particulars tend to waver depending on whether Trigon is considered an evil Elder God from Another Dimension or a straight-up lord of Hell. Pre-Flashpoint, writers who placed Trigon as a demon from Hell also hooked him into a few demonic family trees, which inadvertently turned Raven into Etrigan's aunt.
Divine Parentage: She is the daughter of the demon Trigon and a human woman, something that causes her considerable angst.
Easily Forgiven: She destroyed Starfire's entire home planet. Starfire's forgiveness of her for this came jarringly quickly. When Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl and Impulse all join the group, they actually lampshade this, pointing out how bizarre it is that the older Titans members continuously accept Raven back even though she seems to turn evil and betray them with frightening regularity.
Emotionless Girl: At first. This was due to that fact that she had to keep her emotions under control lest her demonic father, Trigon, use those emotions to take control of her and invade her dimension. Due to the popularity of the cartoon, she eventually evolves into a more Deadpan Snarker.
The Empath: Raven has the psionic power to absorb and control feelings, sensations and emotions, enabling her to feel and enter into the subconscious minds of others. She can also heal minor injuries, at the cost of having to feel their agony; as well as instill and influence emotions in others, such as getting Wally West to believe he loved her. By volume 3, she'd developed the power to drain others of emotion as a way to help calm crowds.
Empathic Healer: She heals others by absorbing their pain and some degree of their injury into herself, a grisly take on healing powers.
Energetic and Soft-Spoken Duo: The Quiet Raven and spunky Beast Boy started out platonically in the 1980s comics. In the early 2000s, they were given a Relationship Upgrade and have stayed on-and-off love interests ever since.
Evil Costume Switch: After her evil persona was resurrected in a new body as "Dark Raven" in New Titans, she took to wearing a black Stripperiffic bikini and leather straps all over her arms and legs, along with thigh-high boots and a gray version of her cloak. She also displays a brief one-panel switch in Teen Titans volume 3, when her cloak and dress turn pitch-black when Brother Blood controls her to attack the Titans and send them to her soul-self's pocket dimension.
Evil Counterpart: Had this briefly with a fellow offspring of Trigon in New Teen Titans: Games. She managed to soothe the dying woman and name her "Azara", in order to give her meaning to her brief life.
Fad Super: She was once reworked to fit the Emo and Goth fads as well, with... varying levels of success.
Fanservice Pack: She actually started out as a somewhat average-looking superheroine before George Perez decided to give her with a more slimmer "dancer's build" and excessively gaunt look to differentiate her from the other female characters on the team. She mostly remained this way after he left, save for when Eduardo Barretto drew her. After her resurrection in volume 3, she was revamped as being more conventionally attractive, although that also meant giving her a somewhat more voluptuous body and much larger breasts.
Faux Action Girl: In Wolfman and Pérez's run, Raven is stated to have awesome powers that defy comprehension, yet she avoids fighting the Titans' enemies due to being both a pacifist and an empath. Once she starts succumbing to Trigon's corruption, her involvement in the team's missions further diminishes, as she begins to lose control of her soul self and is left extremely debilitated after using her healing powers. Raven herself acknowledges how worthless she is compared to the others in the first issue of volume 2.
Raven: Koriand'r, as friend and partner I have not only been useless, I have been more menace than aide.
Fetus Terrible: Raven is one of these, which is why her mom was spirited away to Azarath and allowed limited at best contact with her daughter. How well Raven can resist her "daddy's girl" tendencies determines which side of the Heel–Face Revolving Door she's stuck on for a story arc.
Fighting Spirit: She can manifest a bird made of black energy referred to as her "soul-self". It can travel long distances, become intangible, communicate telepathically and act as a shield.
Fleeting Demographic Rule: The writers of Teen Titans have maintained a consistent attachment to the concept "Raven goes evil because of her demonic father".
Flight: With her new body came new powers and new and stronger abilities, the ability to fly at supersonic speeds being one of them.
Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: This was Raven's main power when she used the white cloak during the Wolfman era. Purified from Trigon's evil side, and no longer forced to deny emotions, she enjoyed giving happiness to everybody. Both to enemies, to make them become good guys, and to mere bystanders.
Gonk: Although she started out with a smoother and more average face, George Perez gradually modified his take on Raven to give her a very narrow face with protruding cheekbones and a very high forehead. This was then explained away in-story as her demonic heritage showing. However, after Perez left, Eduardo Barretto drew Raven more like her initial appearance. While later artists would bring back her narrow face, the volume 3 artists drew her to be more human-like and more beautiful, eventually averting this completely.
Goth Girls Know Magic: Quiet, oftentimes emotionless, and sometimes snarky, she wears dark clothing and painted black nails even out of her superhero costume and can wield magic.
Grand Theft Me:
- Trigon's evil influence basically manifests as a completely separate persona within her in "The Terror of Trigon", leaving her to astral-project herself out of fear.
- After Raven died at the end of "Titans Hunt", her evil self manifested as her own persona and managed to implant herself into a metahuman to be the second incarnation of "Dark Raven". Luckily, the evil self unknowingly implanted the soul of the good/purified Raven into Starfire. Needless to say, both "halves" of her were still equally considered Raven (the pure soul and the Trigon avatar).
Happily Adopted: In the New 52. Raven is taken in by her human aunt and uncle at the beginning of her 2016 miniseries, and by the time it ends, she's shown to enjoy being part of their family.
Healing Factor: She is able to heal herself by drawing magical energy from the emotions of others. Even with this power, she still falls into comas while healing on a few occasions.
Healing Hands: She can heal people, but it comes with the catch that she has to absorb their pain and some degree of their injury into herself.
The Heartless: The second version of "Evil Raven", who dogged the New Titans books throughout the nineties and played Big Bad for the final arc of Wolfman's original run, consisted of the evil portion of Raven's soul. (The good portion of Raven's soul, it is revealed, was hidden in Starfire's body for protection).
Heel–Face Revolving Door: Raven's demonic blood seems to turn her evil at least once a year, or give her paranoia of doing so. In the New 52 she is actually still a Heel. The only difference is that Rachel has been brainwashed into being Trigon's sleeper agent in the Teen Titans, and was recently released from the mind control that was inflicted upon her, turning her to Face.
Heroic Bastard: She is the daughter of the archdemon Trigon and a human woman. Exactly how willing Arella was during Raven's conception has gone back and forth, with some accounts state that Trigon seduced Arella before revealing his demonic nature, and others stating that he raped her, but the two definitely weren't married.
Hidden Eyes: Her cloak's hood tends to obsure her eyes from sight when she wears it. This happens to Raven quite a bit in Teen Titans.
Human-Demon Hybrid: The half-demon daughter of Trigon.

I-Z

Idiot Ball: When Raven first came to Earth, she asked for help to the Justice League. They did not help her: Zatanna sensed a great evil in her. So, she created a new group, reuniting the disbanded Teen Titans. And, as she explained to them, the evil that Zatanna felt was that Raven is Trigon's daughter; even when she completely refuses him and tries as much as possible to prevent his arrival. Sounds fine... but didn't she tell that to the League? After all, she never denied or concealed on purpose her relation with Trigon, if it came as a reveal it was because she usually says very little.
- Raven herself makes constant dives for the Idiot Ball. The first time, chronologically, was when she saved Kid Flash from committing suicide via freezing to death in the Himalayas (points for creativity, Wally). She thought the best way to save his life was to make him fall in love with her using magic and then using the same magic to make him forget she did it. He went on with his life thinking she made him fall in love with her to get him on the team, not to save his life. Smooth move, Raven.
  - Not only that, after realizing what a mistake it was to hide Trigon's existence from the Titans, what did Raven do when she sensed Trigon would attack a second time? Confided the information with no one, not even her best friend. Needless to say, that didn't work out.
I Have You Now, My Pretty: The second Brother Blood pulled this on her when he tried to turn her into his bride. His goals were more destructive though since Raven is a daughter of Trigon and Brother Blood was his worshiper, he wanted to use their union to corrupt her and destroy the world with her powers.
Interspecies Romance: Between Raven (half demon) and Beast Boy/ (whatever he wants to be).
In the Hood: She loves the Hood; it somehow conceals her face just as well as a mask but without that pesky glue. It even stays on when she flies (the animated version provides a possible explanation for this by giving her telekinesis, a power she lacks in the comics.)
Lady of Black Magic: She's dark, aloof, and has many supernatural and sorcerous powers thanks to her half-demon heritage and her upbringing in the pacifistic parallel dimension Azarath.
Last Kiss: When Raven and Beast Boy had their First Kiss, Beast Boy asked if she did it just because they were facing "certain death". He also admitted that he did this with Firehawk, and didn't seem too happy about it. But why? She's hot!
Leg Focus: Raven was this while being rather slim, especially compared to Wonder Girl and Starfire. Her costume includes a long skirt that is slit to the waist to accentuate her legs.
Leotard of Power: Wore a unitard after the One Year Later timeskip that paid homage to her animated self's outfit (but covered her legs). It was later discarded in favor of her wearing a dress again.
Let Them Die Happy: In an early issue of New Teen Titans, she does this for the villain, Grant Wilson; as he lies dying she shows him a false vision of the Titans' lifeless bodies, letting him think he'd fulfilled his mission to kill them.
Liquid Assets: She "absorbs the pain" and apparently the physical wounds of whomever she heals. In one memorable scene, when her demon father Trigon put the "death stare" whammy on a little girl for being too childishly honest, Raven absorbed the "blood boiling" injuries from the child in a very painful-looking scene, becoming covered with welts and blisters until she could heal herself as well. Then Trigon vaporized the kid anyway.
Long-Lost Relative: She is not the only living child of the demon Trigon. She discovers her father Trigon mated with six other women giving her the younger half-brothers Greed, Gluttony, Wrath, Lust, Envy and Sloth (Raven represents Pride). Post-Flashpoint Raven has three older half-brothers via Trigon named Belial, Ruskoff and Suge. When Trigon was first introduced it was implied that over the ages he has had hundreds of children but they had been killed by his enemies.
Loving a Shadow: She feels this way for Nightwing for an arc in Teen Titans when she's permitted to feel emotions for the first time. Starfire has to pull her aside and explain that there are different kinds of love.
Man of Kryptonite: She turns out to be one to The Dawnbreaker in Dark Nights: Metal. His corrupted Power Ring can suck up all light in the area, and can create constructs of pure darkness and negative emotions. In turn, Raven's powers thrive on darkness and negative emotions, so Dawnbreaker can't really hurt her and she can effortlessly take control of his constructs.
Martial Pacifist: Although she has accepted that violence is necessary, she doesn't like it one bit.
Meaningful Appearance:
- After she defeated Trigon and wound up under Brother Blood's thrall, she began wearing white. After being freed by the Titans, she continued to wear white to symbolize her newfound purity and freedom. It didn't last.
- At the beginning of volume 3, the resurrected Raven is dressed in a white dress and cloak by the new Brother Blood. After Beast Boy helps her get back in control of her mind and powers, she rejects Blood and her uniform magically becomes blue.
The Medic: She functions as this for the Teen Titans as healing is her primary power and she is a pacifist who hates violence. These aspects are downplayed (though still present) in the cartoon.
Mind Control: Subjects Beast Boy to this in her first appearance in the New 52.
Mind over Matter: Raven has the ability to psionically move objects with mind, seen for example when she uses this ability to levitate children out of a burning hospital in Dakota and move herself through the flames.
Ms. Fanservice: The modern depictions of Raven have very voluptuous bodies, long shapely legs, and the tendency to wear attractive costumes (especially the dresses and unitard).
Multiple-Choice Past: While the Broad Strokes of her backstory are unchanged — Arella Roth fell in with a cult and was ultimately raped by Trigon — the details have changed several times.
- Marv Wolfman's early versions had Arella as an adopted or foster child who didn't know her actual parents or her birth name, and it stated that she attempted to get legal help and support after her rape until she fell into despair and was taken to Azarath.
- In Geoff Johns' take, Arella had the birth name of "Angela Roth" and lived in Gotham City, until she decided to run away from home to escape her violent Catholic father, who would strike her for her rebellious anti-religious outfits and music, inadvertently falling in with the Church of Blood. Johns rather accelerates through the rest of the backstory, indicating that the Trigon's rape of Arella, the ensuing pregnancy, at least one suicide attempt, and finally the arrival and hospitality of Azarath all happened in one night.
- And according to Rebirth, Angela ran away from home due to a hatred of her family's Catholicism, and began worshipping Azar before Trigon raped her.
- The Daughter of Darkness miniseries, written by Wolfman again, reconciles these different takes by having Arella make Broad Strokes alluding to Johns' take but also indicating that this is a blatantly Self-Serving Memory and that in reality Arella was constantly causing her own problems.
Mysterious Parent: Her mother stayed away from her until she was about ten years old. Since her Father is an inter-dimensional Demon, he doesn't show up until he's ready to use Raven as a portal to Earth.
New Powers as the Plot Demands: In her original portrayal, she was an empath and could teleport, along with inducing feelings in others. After her revival, Geoff Johns and other writers gave her the ability to fly (to tie in with her animated version), to completely deprive others of emotions, and gradually more previously-unseen magical powers for whatever type of story they wanted to tell.
Oh, My Gods!: She uses the name of the goddess Azar when surprised.
Opposites Attract: Raven and Beast Boy. One is an emotionally unstable daughter of a demon who has a tendency to sometimes turn evil and attack her friends quite frequently, one is a fun-loving, optimistic Manchild who can turn into just about any animal on the planet. Due to Raven's emotional issues and her desire not to harm people she cares about, the two are frequently on/off but always come back to one another due to Beast Boy refusing to take a hint. Prior to the New 52 reboot, Raven had recently made the decision not to ignore or suppress her feelings any longer and to embrace the future with Beast Boy. How they fared may never be known...
Power Crystal: She has a red crystal "Third Eye".
Power Floats: She often floats when accessing her powers or engaging in battle.
Prefers Proper Names: Raven refers to her friends by their names. She's one of the few who call Dick "Richard". This is due to her aloof personality and upbringing.
Primary-Color Champion: While mostly blue, she has red jewels on her belt and one on her cloak.
Progressively Prettier: Inverted, as Raven gets progressively uglier during Wolfman and Pérez's run. By volume 2, she has a pronounced forehead, bony cheeks and arched eyebrows, which are explained to be mutations associated to Trigon's corrupting influence.
Psychic Powers: She has powerful telepathic and telekinetic powers fueled by her emotions.
Race Lift: She is Caucasian in the main continuity, but is portrayed as a Native American in Teen Titans: Earth One.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Most depictions of Raven have her with fair skin and as a 'ravenette'.
Real Name as an Alias: She uses her rarely mentioned last name of Roth as part of her civilian identity Rachel Roth.
Resurrected Romance: After coming back from the dead during Geoff Johns' run, she began a long and troubled romance with Beast Boy (which roughly coincided with both of their cartoon selves becoming a Fan-Preferred Couple); they spent roughly a decade passing through Will They or Won't They?, and made it official when Flashpoint hit.
Ret-Canon:
- Following the One Year Later Time Skip from Infinite Crisis, she donned a similar costume to the one from the cartoon (modified to include a bird symbol and leggings).
- Downplayed with her on-and-off romance with Beast Boy, which actually began during Geoff Johns run during Teen Titans Vol. 3. However, the contemporary animated adaptation Teen Titans (2003) managed to generate a massive fanbase for the pairing, and as the comics began adapting elements and characterization from the show, the Beast Boy and Raven relationship came closer to resembling their dynamic from the show.
Second Love: She is this for Beast Boy, his first love being Jillian Jackson.
Semi-Divine: She is the daughter of a human woman named Arella and an inter-dimensional demon lord named Trigon. This often allows her father to take control of her.
The Soulless: The first version of "Evil Raven", who served as Trigon's Herald and agent during The Terror of Trigon, was a People Puppet made from Raven's Empty Shell while in Trigon's Demonic Possession.
Spirit Advisor: At the tail-end of New Titans in the mid 90s, the Gainax Ending reduced Raven to the "good part of her soul", which appeared as Raven in human form, but pure gold. She remained this way through a few re-appearances under Devin Grayson's pen through Titans volume 1^note, but disappeared for several years. She was later fully reborn in the flesh (in a younger body, no less) in Teen Titans volume 3 by the Cult of Blood during Geoff Johns' run.
Statuesque Stunner: Zig-zagged over the years. She was originally listed at 1.81 m (5'11"). In the Rebirth continuity, however, she's 5'10" and quite easy on the eyes.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Her standard personality in the comics for years, usually being cold and distant towards everyone. However, she defrosts for Robin...Not that he notices.
Superpowered Evil Side: She has to maintain strict control over her emotions to the point of being The Stoic. If she doesn't, she runs the risk of manifesting the extradimensional demon side of her family tree and becoming Daddy's Little Villain. Whenever evil wins over Raven in some way, there is a serious chance that a (yes, a) Dark Raven will appear, who is much likelier to exhibit violent powers than Raven.
- The first Dark Raven, who served as The Herald for Trigon when he first came to Earth, was Raven's body filled up with Trigon's power.
- The second Dark Raven, the severed evil part of Raven's soul mixed up with the souls of some evil Azarathians, was a Depraved Bisexual who would infest her victims and lieutenants with Trigon Seeds.
Technical Pacifist: Being raised in the pacifistic land of Azarath, Raven does not like fighting, as it would also get her closer to reviving Trigon. However, if push comes to shove, she will fight on.
Teleportation: Using her soul-self, she can teleport herself and others over vast distances.
Tendrils of Darkness: She can manifest black tendrils or tentacles of darkness to grab or swipe an opponent.
Token Heroic Orc: She is the daughter of the demon Trigon but has long been an ally of the Titans, not counting the occasional Face–Heel Turn.
Token Wizard: She is usually the Token Wizard of the Teen Titans, with the only other spellcasters being Tempest and Omen, and neither started out as having magic.
True Blue Femininity: The color Raven has worn the most in the comics. The blue dress and cloak show her kindness, elegance and melancholy.
The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Her dad is Trigon, a hideously ugly demon with four eyes. Raven herself is considered beautiful in-universe.
Unstable Powered Woman: She is infamous in-universe for the number of times she has manifested a Superpowered Evil Side and betrayed the Teen Titans, often at the bidding of her father, Trigon. There have even been instances in the comics where people have regarded her as akin to a ticking time bomb, who is always at risk of being corrupted, controlled or seduced into betraying her friends.
Vague Age: She never quite ages out of the appropriate age of whatever current group of Teen Titans she is serving with even when her former peers have gone on to become adults.
What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: While not a complete Emotionless Girl, when purged of Trigon's influence for the first time, she had difficulty comprehending her suppressed emotions. Specifically the different branches of them. Because of this her powers were greatly influenced by her extreme emotional states. She assumed Nightwing's platonic love was no different than romantic love and this caused her powers to make him believe he was romatically in love with her without either of them knowing the true cause. Starfire caught on to this and helped her see through her mistake.
Will They or Won't They?:
- With Beast Boy. Settles on Official Couple just before the reboot too.
- In the NTT era, she had a similar relationship with Jericho with a more Unresolved Sexual Tension flair.
You Can't Fight Fate: Raven spent years knowing that Trigon would eventually assimilate her, and that she would eventually become a demon like him. It finally happened in The Terror of Trigon. Her soul was cleansed from Trigon's evil at the end of the story.
You Fool!: She has a rather interesting Catchphrase, she'd say "curse me for a fool" whenever she missed something blatantly obvious.
You Have to Believe Me!: She tries to warn the whole of Azarath and the Justice League about Trigon's return, but fails because of Azarath's pacifistic nature and Zatanna detecting the evil inside her and refusing to help.

Characters / Teen Titans: Raven

Raven

Alter Ego: Rachel Roth

Abilities: Empathy, healing, flight, telepathy, sorcery, amongst others

First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #26 (October, 1980)

Raven provides examples of:

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Teen Titans: Raven

Edit Locked

Raven

Alter Ego: Rachel Roth

Abilities: Empathy, healing, flight, telepathy, sorcery, amongst others

First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #26 (October, 1980)

Raven provides examples of:

Previous

Index

Next