Raven, the Empathetic Sorceress Part 3
Here's the final part of Raven's TT03 powers aligned with her NTT powers. And if you came here after Part 1 and Part 2, thanks for sticking around lol
In NTT, Raven could heal others, more specifically absorbing the people's pain to induce their healing.
The scope of what Raven can heal has varied in NTT but traditionally, it's more limited in scope: she can't heal diseases or severe injuries
(Tales of New Teen Titans #2- Young Raven learns of her ability to heal by saving a dove's life. The Goddess Azar tells Raven that Raven ability to heal is fairly limited, and Raven explains that to the team as well as absorbing other's pain add to her suffering and is painful.)
Raven was known in NTT for being a healer because, she didn't like conflict (aside from knocking people out unconscious*lol)
There is a misconception around TT03 that Raven never healed. On one hand, this is understandable because it wasn't as dramatic or grandiose as in the comics or the DCAMU when Raven healed Damian. However this isn't the case.
TT03 Raven was a healer as well; her ability just hewn closer to the original limitations of her healing.
Raven healed several times in the show:
Healed a limping Beast Boy in the pilot
(Teen Titans 1x01 "Final Exam"- After being defeated by the HIVE, Raven helps a limping Beast Boy returning to Titan Tower and heals his injury and telling him they had to accept what happened, a sign of Raven's maturity and wisdom)
2. Reduce a major injury Robin had to a minor fracture (a sign of her healing abilities being limited)
(Teen Titans 2x07 "Fractured"- In a fight against Johnny Rancid, Robin is seriously injured with a broken arm but Raven is able to reduce the serious injury to a minor fracture.)
3. Healing Herself After Being Attacked By Adonis
(Teen Titans 3x09 "The Beast Within"- After Raven was seriously attacked by Adonis, Raven went into a trance to heal herself)
Here are other times which I think count but I understand if people don't want to:
4. Attempt to Heal Robin's Mind
(Teen Titans 3x05 "Haunted"- After finding Robin, Raven enters his mind to try to show Robin the truth to soothe his troubled mind)
In "Haunted", when Robin escaped after suffering a breakdown, Raven used her soul-self to find Robin and enter his mind. Raven tries to convince him that Slade isn't physically there to calm him down. This, to me, is Raven trying to heal Robin's mind by addressing the root cause of Robin's mental issues- Slade's existence- to free from the stress he is under. This is similar to NTT #14 where Raven tries to find the root of Mento's mental distress so he can be free from the mental illness plaguing him.
(NTT (1980) #14- Finding a disoriented Mento, Beast Boy's dad, Raven sense an emotional disturbance in Mento and try to soothe his pain but couldn't)
I know this is seemingly a unexpected choice because Raven uses her soul-self to knock Plasmus out unconscious, but when you consider Plasmus's character, this is an act of empathy & healing in my opinion.
(Teen Titans 4x11 "The End Part 1"- Raven recites Azarath Metrion Zinthos, summoning more of her power, and knocks out Plasmus granting him the peace he deserves)
Plasmus, real name- Otto Von Furth, is a tragic figure in TT03. He can't control his transformation into Plasmus, and has to remain in a stasis tank or be permanently unconscious to remain human & not transform into Plasmus. Otto readily accepts this sad fate to stay human. When Slade forcibly wakes him up in "Divide And Conquer" (Teen Titans 1x02- Plasmus 1st appearances), Otto begs to be put to sleep, but Slade mocks him and ignores his cries. TT03 Raven using her full astral form can form a soul-link with someone (e.g. with Robin in "Haunted" which she later mentions in "Birthmark" that after entering Robin's mind, she and Robin share a soul-link), so she, in her astral form, likely realized Otto's desires after ending Plasmus's mind, and so with the natural abilities of her soul-self, granted Otto's wish for rest. This act of healing a distressed person is similar to Raven putting Mark, a distressed man having an episode, to rest in NTT #35.
(NTT (1980) #35- Raven comforts and puts to rest Mark, Sarah Simms' ex who has having an mentalepisode and started a hostage situation)
(This was in Teen Titans 5x12 "Titans Together", but I am not going to post the scene because it is essentially the same scene as the one in "The End Part 1")
Thus, Raven healed someone at least once a season. Again, I don't blame people for the misconception, but it was a kid's show so they won't going to have people with major injuries but whenever they need a healer, Raven was there.
Part 1 already covered how TT03 Raven is an empath, but how does she used her empathy in practice outside of healing?
Conventional Use of Empathy
Now as an empath, Raven can alter and manipulate people's emotions.
In TT03, Raven doesn't manipulate emotions to the extent NTT Raven, which is understandable because on a kid's show, you don't want to condone manipulating emotions. Also, NTT Raven also eventually stops manipulating emotions without consent because she realized how messed up it was.
(1st image: NTT (1980) #4 - Zatanna reveals to Wally that Raven forced her to fall in love with her so Raven can use Wally in the fight against Trigon; 2nd image: NTT (1980) #14- Raven apologizes to Wally saying she now realizes that manipulating people's emotions to force them to do what you want is wrong)
This doesn't mean TT03 Raven can't manipulate emotions, but rather TT03 Raven only does so in a 'break-in-case-of-emergency' situation:
(Teen Titans 3x04 "Crash"- After Gizmo refused to help the Titans to fix Cyborg, Robin gives Raven the go-ahead to exploit Gizmo's fears and force him to help them )
What Raven did in "Crash": sense Gizmo's fears and exploit them to pressure him into saving her friend as a last resort is similar to what NTT #14 stated she can do as an empath.
(NTT (1980) #14- After Mento for a lack of a better word went bersek and attacked the Titans, Raven exploit Mento's love for his dead wife, Rita, to get her to calm down)
Sensing People & Emotions
Because of her empathic ability, Raven can sense things, such as people's presence to find them.
(NTT (1980) #1- Raven sense Starfire's arrival and ask Titans to follow her to help save Starfire)
TT03 Raven uses this ability to find Starfire such as the TT03 prequel episode- Teen Titans 5x10 "Go" in a scene reminiscent of NTT #1 (1st scene in GIF below)
As well to try to find the White Monster the Titans were chasing in the series finale (Teen Titans 5x13 "Things Change") (2nd scene in GIF above)
This sensing ability of TT03 Raven not only extends to sensing people's presence, but also even more specifically the distress of others, particularly those of she cares about.
For example in "Haunted" (shown in the GIF below) when Raven felt Beast Boy's pain after he was attacked by Robin, Raven's sensing ability caused Raven to sense Beast Boy's distress and thus wake up from her healing trance.
This TT03 scene is reminiscent of NTT (1980) #10 (image below) when Beast Boy was severely injured and almost killed by Deathstroke. Raven sensed Beast Boy's immense pain and immediately teleported to him.
TT03 Raven, like NTT Raven, can also sense strong emotions of others. For example in Titans 2x08 - "Titans Rising" (GIF below), Raven sensed the strong, conflicting emotions of Terra after Terra rejoined the team, triggering a premonition, another ability of NTT Raven. This premonition revealed Terra's allegiance to Slade and subsequently betrayal which ultimately caused TT03 Raven to not completely trust Terra, similar to comic Raven's mistrust of Terra in Judas Contract.
TT03 and NTT Raven's ability to sense emotions as an empath is why Raven is known as a healer. Again, going back to the example with Robin and Plasmus, because she can sense their emotional disturbances, TT03 Raven can heal or attempt to heal people's minds- another conventional use of her empathy.
Grounded Use of Empathy: Understanding
In this long series breaking down TT03 Raven's powers, this might be my favorite section because this is so underrated about TT03 Raven. Though TT03 had Raven use her empathy in more conventional ways, TT03 really honed in on having Raven use her empathetic ability in a grounded sense.
Again Raven was an empath who felt everything yet had to deny her emotions and pretend not to feel anything (Part 1).
Yet underneath that faux cold demeanor & layer of sarcasm (which was always overrated imo), Raven was always to provide emotional support, be a shoulder to lean on & to vent your internal struggles (something that was all too easy for her to understand).
Raven and Beast Boy's relationship was complicated, to say the least. Complete opposites, Raven struggled with Beast Boy's strong emotions, immaturity, & need for external validation. So Beast Boy thought Raven didn't like him. In turn, Raven thought BB hated her.
But Raven was there to provide comfort when Beast Boy needed someone, particularly at his lowest moment.
Teen Titans 3x09 The Beast Within - Beast Boy gets pushed too far by Adonis & thus unleashes his inner beast on him to win. Afterwards this battle, Beast Boy acts abnormally, eats meat & diary, and is awful to everyone, especially Raven. Beast Boy is ultimately turned into a out-of-control primal werebeast and Beast Boy's friends turn on him after believing he hurt Raven. Titans discovered Adonis also transformed into a werebeast & Beast Boy, in his primal werebeast form, was trying to save Raven & defeat Adonis who was obsessed with Beast Boy and Raven. Beast Boy eventually succeeds.
Beast Boy was given an antidote so he wouldn't have uncontrollable transformations into a werebeast anymore nor act like a toxic jerk, but after the ordeal, Beast Boy was badly shaken.
Raven, all too familiar with the agonizing regret in the aftermath of losing control, tries to comfort Beast Boy telling him it wasn't his fault and he has regained control (GIF below).
But Beast Boy is still mortified of his inner beast.
Raven, all too familiar with fear of your inner beast (Trigon), reminds him that his inner beast saved her life & it wasn't all bad. What's important is knowing when to release that inner beast for good - that is what makes him mature and human, reassuring Beast Boy (GIF below)
Once she sense Beast Boy was okay, she put her usual veneer of sarcasm back down.
Raven carries a deep, internal shame of her demon heritage & of her father (as Teen Titans 1x06 "Nevermore" shown), so her willingness to discuss the lessons she learn from it & the good from it despite her usual reluctance because she saw a friend in deep pain, despite their conflicts, shows how she understands and cares.
Due to their similar personalities, Raven was very close with Robin & shared a deep sense of mutual respect with him.
As such, Raven was always willing to comfort Robin when he was in emotional distress, especially when Starfire wasn't there to provide emotional support.
(1st Scene - Teen Titans 3x05 "Haunted"- As soon as Robin became agitated after realizing the Titans do not believe him, Raven was the first one to try to calm him down & was careful to use a gentle, non-accusatory tone with Robin to figure what was going on with him; 2nd Scene- Teen Titans 5x05 "Snowblind" - Raven tries to comfort a clearly worried Robin after Starfire went missing)
Again, throughout "Haunted", Raven was the only Titan who never became agitated at or rude towards Robin during his mental breakdown, likely sensing Robin's severe emotional distress. She tried to find a physical cause and when that failed, tried to heal Robin's mind, learning all his memories & forming a soul-link between the two.
With the soul-link from her empathetic powers , she was able to truly understand the source of Robin's plight: that to him, Slade was real and was actually fighting him. She showed the other Titans, Robin was in true mental, and thus physical, distress & was not being delusional (GIF below).
Starfire always wore her emotions on her sleeve, and in her distress, either turn to Robin for emotional support or remove herself. But that doesn't mean Raven was never there when Starfire needed her.
In "How Long Is Forever", Starfire wanted to celebrate a Tamaranian Festival of Friendship with the other Titans but she was devastated when she discovered the other Titans were fighting, which ultimately result in her handcrafted festival necklaces being destroyed. Starfire, distressed at her broken necklaces, was upset at her friends fighting, worried this will cause their friendships to end. Raven with all the other Titans dismiss Starfire's concerns, saying it's normal roommate fights.
Then Starfire gets trapped in a wormhole & ends in a dystopian future where her worst fears have come and the Titans have split. Starfire is able to return to the present and tells her friends of the future. Other Titans were depressed at hearing their future, but Starfire suggests there is still hope to change their fate.
Sensing Titans' sadness at the potential end of their friendship & and sensing Starfire's quiet optimism & still burning desire for the festival, Raven suggest celebrating the Tamaranian Friendship Festival anyway, rebuilding the Starfire's beloved festival necklaces.
Uplifting All The Titans' Spirits but Especially Starfire's:
1st Scene - Teen Titans 2x01: "How Long Is Forever"; 2nd Scene: Teen Titans 3x03: "Betrothed"
The 2nd scene of the GIF above is from "Betrothed". In it, Raven tells Robin it's unfair to question Starfire's culture just because it's different from Earth's after Starfire is about to enter an arranged wedding. On the surface, this is another instance of Raven gently attempting to calm down an agitated Robin (which is true).
But this Raven quote encapsulates the deep respect and understanding she has for Starfire and her immigranthood.
Raven always felt like an outsider due to not only to her struggles to control her demon side, but also because her methods of control are from her home Azarath: an inter-dimensional society with practices (mediation, self-denial, mysticism) seemingly bizarre to Americans like Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy.
So like Starfire, Raven is an immigrant and understand the difficulty navigating cultural differences between your old home with your new one. Throughout the series, whenever Starfire perform a 'bizarre' Tamaranian cultural tradition or did something out-of-synch with conventional Earth culture (ie drinking mustard), Raven was the only Titan who rarely bat an eye. Although other Titans would never admonish Starfire for her naïveté around Earth custom or "strange" ones, but they were usually bewildered, but not Raven.
This is all the more apparent when the Titans visited Tamaran, Starfire's homeland in "Betrothed." Not only was Raven nonplussed compared to other Titans about seeing Tamaran's traditions in practice, but she was also willing to provide assurance to Starfire about her traditions' validity. When the Titans arrived to Tamaran and Starfire described it as beautiful despite seeing only ugly rock formations around, Raven was the only one who agreed about its beauty despite initial hesitation. When Starfire's husband-to-be Glgrdsklechhh was revealed, and all the Titans, including Starfire, were disgusted, Raven, after hesitation, tried to hearten Starfire's spirit by saying he's cute.
Both instances, there wasn't a hint of Raven's trademarked sarcasm, but rather kindness & reassurance because Raven likely sensed Starfire's excitement, nervousness & trepidation about this visit. All this is encapsulated by when Beast Boy express curiosity & excitement seeing the alien animals on Tamaran, Raven reminds him: "He's the alien here."
These instances sum up to Raven's understanding of being an outsider with Starfire, validating her cultural differences, and the deep respect she had for Starfire's culture & how her personality flows from it, despite their seemingly clashing personalities and cultures.
Raven & Cyborg's friendship is so underrated, especially since their friendship was where Raven's grounded empathy and understanding are arguably the most present.
In "Car Trouble", Cyborg took so much care to build T-Car, calling it his baby & was so excited to show the other Titans his creation, but Raven was the only Titan who didn't care (remember she can fly & teleport lol). Cyborg then loses the car & becomes extremely upset when Titans said they wanted to turn Overload over to the police before searching for the car. Raven becomes rather rude & said Cyborg's car is not a big deal because it was just a car; Cyborg then becomes furious & goes off to search for the car alone. Gizmo steals the T-Car and Cyborg becomes utterly dejected, believing the car is lost forever.
Raven, realizing her screw-up, goes to find Cyborg, but Cyborg tells her it's a lost cause & maybe she's right: it was just a car (GIF below).
(Teen Titans 1x13 "Car Trouble")
Sensing his love for the car, Raven disagrees and instead affirms that the T-Car was part of him, his baby, not just a car, so it does matters, raising Cy's spirits (GIF below).
Raven joins Cyborg to look for the T-Car, but eventually Overload finds it and overtakes it. So in order to defeat Overload, Cyborg has to destroy the car & naturally becomes dejected the T-Car is gone.
Raven reminds Cyborg what made the car special was his soul, not the parts, so he can always rebuild the T-Car. And then Raven assist him in doing just that (GIF below):
("Car Trouble" - What's Raven is pointing to in this GIF is a blue and black chip board that came from Cyborg that made T-Car functional- a physical representation of his soul. Raven goes on to spend hours rebuilding a car she admittedly doesn't care about just because it meant that much to Cyborg)
Raven's care and empathy for Cyborg shows up again in "Cyborg the Barbarian":
In "Cyborg the Barbarian", Cyborg gets stranded 5000 years in the past. He meets The Village, a tribe of warriors battling the Green Gruesomes. Despite his initial reluctance, especially due to his diminishing power battery, Cyborg decides to join the battle against the Green Gruesomes, assisting the Village and their beautiful leader, Sarasim.** However, before the battle is over, Raven rescues him, leaving Cyborg distraught. And a devastated Cyborg grabs Raven, pleading with her to send him back.
Instead of reacting harshly as she usually, especially due to being grabbed, Raven gently told him she can't send him back (GIF below):
(Teen Titans 4x04 "Cyborg the Barbarian")
Cyborg walks away from his friends distraught, saying that he didn't get to say goodbye, while Raven looks at Cyborg with sympathy.
Sensing Cyborg's wallowing in his pain & regret, Raven visits Cyborg & shows him one of her books. The book reveals that Sarasim & the Village were ultimately victorious & commemorated Cy for his bravery. Raven then leaves the book with Cyborg, and seeing the return of his joy, smiles (GIF below):
Using her powers can put a strain on Raven, so you imagine using the full extent of her soul-self energy trying to pinpoint Cyborg across space and time would have done to her. Not only the strain of finding Cyborg but also using her soul-self energy to carry Cyborg 5,000 years through time. All this took a lot from Raven, and Cyborg not only didn't even thank her, but rather gripped her tightly, and begged to be send back, ignoring all that Raven sacrificed. But istead of expressing rage, frustration, or even sarcasm at Cyborg's lack of gratitude, Raven, seeing Cyborg's turmoil and pain, regretfully said she couldn't. So, Cyborg walked away, heartbroken and disappointed. And after this, Raven then searched her extensive ancient book collection, looking for the name Cyborg called out before he walked away from his friends dejected to give her friend some sense of comfort. Finding what she was looking and sensing his grief, Raven shows to Cyborg her book detailing how Sarasim and the Village won & how they never forgot what he did, like he will never forget them. After Raven provides Cyborg the closure he was searching for, Raven let Cyborg hold onto the book and read more of Sarasim's adventures. This was a big deal because Raven never let anyone touch her books since most are dangerous spell books that need to be handled, yet she let Cyborg keep one of hers just so he can gain much-needed peace. Raven did all this to a friend that was frankly ungrateful of what Raven sacrificed to save him because she understood Cyborg was reacting in pain and struggling with his sense of loss, not inherently trying to be rude.
The care she showed to the Titans shows that TT03 Raven was the most understanding Titan, sensing her friends' pain and go to many lengths to soothe them in her own way, trying to comfort them in a way she herself wanted to be comforted.
Raven and her relationship to magic is 2nd biggest misconception about TT03 and NTT Raven, and it's two-fold one: 1) that TT03 Raven only practiced magic & didn't use her empathy nor soul-self (those misconceptions were disproven in parts 1/2 and 2) that NTT Raven had no involvement with magic.
NTT Raven wasn't technically a witch*** (& she didn't like being called it lol), but that doesn't mean she had no involvement with the art of magic.
Raven was openly a mystic and was trained in Azarath mysticism.
Azarath was a mystic society, created & run by sorcerers- the ritual to purge themselves of evil created Trigon (as shown in the image from NTT (1980) #3)
NTT Raven was raised by mystics and sorcerers and thus was a mystic & sorceress too and was called such in the comic. Mystics & sorceress both utilize magic, and Raven's empathy powers and soul-self utilization were forms of sorcery, mysticism & thus magic.
(1st image: "Crisis On Infinite Earths"? - Full disclosure, I didn't screenshoot this image so I am not sure of the exact issue it came from, but I am positive it is from a Crisis on Infinite Earths tie-in. In this image, Raven is teleporting to site where the Earths are colliding and is called the mistress of mysticism as she does so. 2nd image: NTT (1980) #9- Raven teleports away before a mind-controlled Cyborg can attack her and is again called the Maid of Mysticism)
When Raven was created by Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, the editor, asked Wolfman to create a mystic character without conventional uses of sorcery to differentiate the character from Dr. Strange.
TT03 Raven didn't have the same restriction as Wolfman, so she could employ more conventional uses of sorcery & magic to augment her empathetic & soul-self powers which she did (Images on left-hand side below):
(Left column: 1st picture: Teen Titans 3x06 "Spellbound"- Raven using sorcery and spells to free Malchior, whom she believed to be Rorek, from the spell book he is bound to. 2nd picture: Teen Titans 4x07 "The Prophecy"- Raven, scared of Trigon's impending arrival, uses spells and incantations to return home to Azarath to find some way to defeat Trigon. Right column: NTT (1984) #31- Raven uses Brother Blood's sorcery to augment her own and defeat Blood)
And just to further drive the point home, NTT Raven did use magic outside of Azarath mysticism & sorcery. As the image on the right showed, she used Brother Blood's own magic to augment her own sorcery, free herself and the entire world from his mind control, and thus defeat him.
So, Raven always was a practitioner of magic, TT03 Raven made the connection to magic more explicit and stronger.
If you stayed around this long, thank you so much. I hope this series showed how TT03 Raven's powers align with NTT Raven's and TT03 just expands on NTT Raven's powers. If you want any more GIFs about the scenes I described here, please let me know; I would have add more images, but I went over the limit. This was really fun and let me know if you want me to do more of these posts and if so, which characters and subjects to cover!! This was so fun, especially seeing the care TT03 crew took to adapt Raven and her relationships which I didn't appreciate when I was younger.
Long Live Teen Titans 2003!!!
*Raven has a complicated relationship with violence lol & maybe I will do a post on it one day lol
**Sarasims is a cool callback to Vic's first NTT love, Sara Simms who sadly they couldn't make it work. And I especially loved that like the Sara Simms' role in the comics, TT03 Sarasims reminds Cyborg he is more than enough as is.
***Most definition of witch means either having innate magic ability or making forbidden pacts to gain magical powers, which sorcerers gain their power through study. And as you can see, Raven would technically be both a witch and a sorceress
