Raven

Raven's mother, was chosen to become the bride of the demonic Trigon. Abandoned by the demon, Arella was bent on suicide (while carrying Raven) when she was taken in by the pacifistic disciples of Temple Azarath, a group who had centuries earlier forsaken life on Earth to pursue their own nonviolent lifestyle. In their inter-dimensional world, Raven, Arella's daughter by Trigon, was born. Fearing that the child would bring evil among them, Juris, a magistrate of Azarath, attempted to cast the infant Raven into Limbo, only to be destroyed himself. Azar, the spiritual leader of the temple, then took the young Raven under her personal tutelage, instructing her in the truth of her parentage, and in pacifism, meditation, and the submergence of her emotions to resist Trigon's influence, while perfecting her powers of teleportation, astral projection, and empathic healing.

Later, after Azar's death (in which she entered another plane of existence), when Raven was plagued by prophetic dreams of Trigon and, defying her teachers, she confronted her demon father in Limbo at his bidding. Trigon spared her and Arella after satisfying himself that, upon his return when she reached adulthood, he could seduce Raven into becoming his ally. When Raven turned sixteen, she sensed Trigon's power returning and fled to Earth. Raven arrived at Jump City, where she met several super-powered youths fighting a rampaging alien girl (Starfire). 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 insecurity, the others invited her to join them in defeating the truly hostile aliens the Gordanians, who had attempted to enslave the girl and her presence proved ultimately essential to the motley crew's triumph over the Gordanians. Afterward, 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.

Personality and traits: Raven is one of the most mysterious characters throughout the series. She is quiet, reserved, troubled, brooding, grim, moody, seemingly emotionless, intelligent, studious and sarcastic. She can always come up with a smart remark, specifically in reply to most of the Teen Titans' antics and attempts at humor. Her appearance and attitude appear to be that of a typical modern goth female. However, as much as she may seem slightly distant and anti-social, producer Sam Register describes her as a "...dark character, but a character everyone can relate to. She is 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." Robin also said that she is "the most hopeful person [he has] ever known."

Raven is often portrayed as the most mature member of the group, often giving her own advice to the others about various subjects, and generally staying cool, stoic and 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. Even though she is serious and cautious about her emotions, just like she was trying to tell Doctor Light saying, "Don't come any closer." 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 was to be broken. Eventually, she was able to forgive Terra.

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 does ease up to have some fun on a few occasions, such as forcing Cyborg to go through 'initiation' again with Beast Boy and Robin in the episode "Deception". Furthermore, Raven is known to sometimes be shocked at trivial things. One occasion in which this occurs is in "Overdrive", when Cyborg defeats Raven in a game of chess after installing the Maximum 7 in his brain. At this occasion, her entire face and outfit turn white (also probably for comedic effect). In "Revved Up", she is also shocked at the sudden drop-in of Red X on the bus she is driving but quickly regains her monotone and determined stature when she realizes who it is. Another instance is when Raven, while playing a game of cards, comically gasps at the impressive sets of cards the rest of the Titans have at their disposal during "Winner Take All". She can lose her temper easily, and most of the time with Beast Boy.

Raven is often shown to make sarcastic remarks about almost everything and can be seen as rather rude at times, but there is a slight chance this personality was not always who she was. When the Titans first met, Raven appeared to be more innocent and insecure. She declined Beast Boy's offer to get pizza, probably because she is afraid that he would not like her, and because of him, feels as if she does not fit in with the others. Both Cyborg and Robin were not hesitant to accept her as a friend, even when she was not so sure herself. She was the first one to verbally recognize the others as friends, and even openly admits to Beast Boy being funny, which no sooner than a moment later, seems to regret making that statement. Her pessimistic and sarcastic attitude is then likely derived from having to put up with Beast Boy's constant corny jokes and immaturity. Despite her seemingly unfriendly attitude, Raven does indeed care greatly about the people she is attached to, as prominently displayed when she is put in charge of three children.[1] Initially having little or no patience with Melvin, Timmy Tantrum, and Teether, Raven grows to love (or at least, enjoy) them, risking her own life to protect them from the Brotherhood of Evil, even calling them her kids. She also comes to regard the rest of the Titans as her closest friends and family. When the day she is destined to end the world finally came, she wanted nothing more than to ensure her friends' last day on Earth was perfect. This shows that despite everything that has ever happened, she truly cares about her friends and their interests. Finally, there are many instances where Raven is portrayed as the most understanding friend among the Titans. While seemingly uninterested towards Cyborg's T-Car, Raven is ultimately the only one who approaches and comforts him, even going as far as to assist in rebuilding the destroyed car.[2] Overall, Raven is not cold-hearted, merely introverted, caring deeply about those close to her. While Raven seems to not care one bit about their hobbies and personalities, she does show her friends that she does care about them and values their friendship when it matters most.

Raven is often portrayed as the most pessimistic and insensitive member of the Titans, and she generally regards everything in a "black and white" manner. For example, when Beast Boy desperately asks Raven for words of comfort after their crushing defeat against the members of the H.I.V.E. Academy, Raven tersely states that the Titans have to accept the situation, no matter how grave it is. She also reacts to Cyborg's leaving of the Titans with little to no resentment, stating that people come and go by. When Raven surrenders herself in to her demonic father Trigon in order to fulfill the prophecy that she thought she had no way to prevent, however, Raven also appeared to still have retained hope to a certain degree that the lord of evil could be stopped, as she forcibly injected each of her friends with a portion of her own power to shield them and give them one last chance to save the world. It is then ironic that it was what had motivated her to surrender nearly all hope that ultimately destroyed Trigon. After banishing away Trigon from her soul and the Earth, Raven's personality seems to change for the better, as she grows to be less pessimistic and less anti-social. However, she still despises Beast Boy's corny jokes and enjoys reading in solitude, implying that her personality was not significantly affected by her semi-demonic origin.

Raven also appears to dislike conflict, at least amongst her teammates, deeming it to be “pointless”. Whenever an argument breaks out, Raven is usually the one who tries to get her teammates to stop fighting and focus on the task at hand. In "Revolution" after Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy descended into all out bickering over what to do about Mad Mod, it was Raven who yelled at her teammates, reminding them at arguing solves nothing and that they needed to figure out a plan.

Due to her demonic side and unstable emotions, Raven is potentially the most brutal and ruthless of the Titans, with some villains ending up severely traumatized or nearly dead should they anger her. In "Nevermore", for instance, she almost certainly would have killed Dr. Light if her friends hadn’t stopped her, and the encounter has since left him with a crippling fear of her. Thankfully, this is only the case after she has been sufficiently enraged, and she generally does not lose her temper easily in battle. When she does lose her temper, it is generally because her friends are being threatened, and she will do anything she has to in order to protect what she values most. Of the three villains who have invoked the full brunt of Raven’s fury (Dr. Light, Slade, and Trigon), all three have harmed her friends shortly beforehand. This shows that, although Raven may take things too far sometimes, she is still a hero and protecting others is always her ultimate priority.