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- Where Do Raven’s Powers Come From?
- Who is Raven’s Father?
- Where is Raven From?
In the original Teen Titans anime, all five of the young, crime-fighting superheroes in Titans Tower have their dark and brooding moments. Robin grows obsessed with defeating the ominous and elusive Slade; Starfire faces betrayal from her sister and culture shock on Earth; Cyborg reckons with the question of whether he is more machine or man. Even the playful Beast Boy is firm in his veganism and defense of animals. The show is visually and thematically dark, challenging its characters, and through them, its audience.
However, no Titan is as blatantly troubled as the morose and monotone Raven. With gray skin and a signature navy blue hooded cloak, Raven says little and smiles even less. She seems to participate in team leisure activities only begrudgingly, taking up solitary pastimes of meditation and retreating to her room. The Titans generally accept her and leave her to her own devices, though their conflicting demeanors sometimes leave her and Beast Boy at odds. Nonetheless, Robin will remind Beast Boy when necessary that Raven is “complicated”, but still their friend. So what is Raven’s story and what exactly makes her so complicated?
Where Do Raven’s Powers Come From?
In a season one episode titled “Nevermore”, Raven is at her most vulnerable. The episode opens with a familiar scene of the Titans fighting crime downtown. However, the villainous Doctor Light is proving to be a dangerous opponent, incapacitating the rest of the gang. Raven, now the last line of defense, summons a darkness the rest of the group has never seen before. Her face grows dark and demonic as tentacles swell out from beneath her cloak and envelop Doctor Light. He’s on the brink of death- a line the Titans don’t cross- when Robin regains his bearings and snaps Raven out of it.
The group doesn’t get an explanation for what they just witnessed. Raven stalks away and continues to be cold the next morning. Beast Boy cheerfully offers her breakfast, which she promptly explodes before returning to her room. At the insistence of the others, Beast Boy timidly approaches Raven’s door to apologize, but gets no answer. When Cyborg, forcing the issue, knocks himself, the entire door falls down. Beast Boy and Cyborg find themselves exploring Raven’s room, and the two come across a hand mirror. A set of four frightening red eyes appear on the mirror before a demonic hand reaches through the glass and pulls the boys inside.
Beast Boy and Cyborg find themselves in a desolate, frightening land complete with scary birds offering cryptic messages to “turn back”. Despite the warnings, the land itself forms a clear path that the boys follow. As they make their way along the path, they encounter Raven a few different times. The first time, her cloak is pink and she’s in a happy-go-lucky mood, even laughing at Beast Boy’s jokes. Not only that, but she claims that she’s always found him funny. Back at Titans Tower, Robin and Starfire let a meditating Raven know that her bedroom door has been knocked down, and she responds with an uncalled for, uncharacteristic explosion of giggles.
Beast Boy and Cyborg lose track of Raven and are forced to continue on their own, much to Beast Boy’s discontent. They stumble upon Raven again, who is now wearing grey, and Beast Boy lets out all his frustrations towards her. This time, Raven cowers, full of shyness, apologies, and insecurity. She again leaves them alone where they are forced to battle a stone monster with those glowing red eyes. All is almost lost when Raven returns, clad in green and suddenly fearless. When all the other two Ravens join her, Cyborg realizes where they are and what’s going on.
The mirror has transported the boys into Raven’s mind, and each incarnation of her that they’ve encountered is an authentic representation of a piece of her personality. The complete Raven, alerted by Robin and Starfire and in her signature navy blue, confirms that the mirror is a tool for her to regulate her subconscious.
The mirror you found is for meditation. It’s a portal into my mind. NOT A TOY!
She goes on to explain that something bad “got loose” within herself, resulting in the scene of rage and cruelty towards Doctor Light. She insists that it’s dangerous, and she’s proven correct when, instead of a red-cloaked version of herself representing anger, the trio comes face to face with a manifestation of Trigon, Raven’s red-eyed demonic father. Raven is fearful, unsure if she can subdue him, but Cyborg and Beast Boy insist that she can with the help of her friends and the combined forces of every facet of her personality, all equally important. They successfully contain Raven’s rage, returning it to a more manageable incarnation of Raven herself, like the others they encountered.
Not alone, but what about together? They’re all part of who you are, right?
While the reveal of Raven’s nonhuman father indicates a supernatural source of Raven’s raw abilities, the quest Cyborg and Beast Boy witness in “Nevermore” suggests that mindfulness is an equally important component in Raven’s use of her powers. The impact of Raven’s father on her psyche demonstrates the line she is constantly straddling between good and evil. While some of her emotions are darkly intense and need to be kept in check, others individually are too weak to do so. It’s only with perfect harmony, concentration, and balance, that Raven is able to harness the abilities passed down to her from her father- and use them for good.
Who is Raven’s Father?
Raven is the daughter of Trigon, a demon. With a human mother, Raven is half demon, half human. From the events of “Nevermore”, it’s clear that while her demon blood is the source of her powers, Trigon frightens Raven, and so do the pieces of him that she sees in herself. As is the nature of demons, Trigon is evil, and Raven’s focus on meditation and mindfulness is essential in containing the demonic power and rage that exists within her. While the human influence in her genealogy makes Raven vulnerable, it also makes her good. It’s only the combination of both human pureness and demon power- and the entire range of her thoughts and emotions- that equip Raven to be a superhero, rather than a super villain.
Where is Raven From?
While Starfire is literally an alien from another planet, Raven’s origins have more to do with planes of existence and dimensions of consciousness. Trigon is a demon of the parallel dimension of Azarath, and this is also where Raven was born. While the landscape in “Nevermore” was a foray into Raven’s subconscious, Trigon’s presence there further suggests that the appearance it took is a further representation of Azarath.
The look and feel of the geography changed greatly depending on which side of Raven was present (the pink, giggly Raven revealed a bright and cheery path), though the situation maintained its mysterious, eerie quality. The emotionally volatile yet ever-ominous environment within Raven’s mind implies that these are qualities of Azarath as well. Accessing her home dimension requires both a mental toughness, and a supernatural entity such as the mirror or Raven herself.
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Race |
Cambion (human/demon hybrid) |
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Place of Birth |
Parallel Dimension of Azarath |
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Father |
Trigon (demon) |
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Mother |
Arella (human) |
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