#Arella

[alexandriaellisart]

sunrise

[hood-ex]

People telling Dick he thinks too much vs. Dick ranting about why he always has to be the one to have a plan:

Flash Plus Nightwing

TNTT (Vol. 1) #25

The New Titans #77

[bourniebna]

[Character Study]

The Parallel Beauty and Grace of Raven and Arella

“She stands strong and regal, and even before her face can be seen, you know it is lovely beyond all measure…”

Undoubtedly, these praisings are devoted to Arella’s beauty and grace, with her stance portrayed and face revealed during the narrative. However, right after that, a full-body close-up portrait of Raven putting down her hood, revealing her face, is meticulously drawn.

This is also the first time we know what Raven looks like, despite her many previous appearances when she was gathering the Teen Titans. The question is, why now? Moreover, compared to Arella’s dimly lit face, no shades of shadow are casted on Raven’s soft features, as if to make an emphasis.

And I couldn’t help thinking that maybe the adoration of a “strong and regal” stance and a “lovely beyond all measure” face is also acclaimed for Raven by the authors in subtlety through Arella. After all, why not reveal her face before that? And why not choose a half-body portrait?

The only sound rationale for me is that it was a poetic, artistic choice to paint the parallel beauty and grace of Arella and Raven - the mother and the daughter.

[bbraefairy]

the doves were a forecast of death.

[amor-immortalem]

Something quick I did for his birthday

That year Arella gave him a sheep plushie~

[tzigone]

Raven and Arella

Which relationship dynamic do you like with Raven and Arella? I'm kind of fond of how I perceived the earliest one. They aren't close, really. Arella wasn't really her day-to-day parent and Arella then threw herself into the community in Azarath (arguably leaving one cult for another). But ultimately she chose her daughter over that life and fought Trigon and sacrificed herself to that end.

I'd like to have seen a different follow up when she was released, though - I thought her attitude towards Raven way too harsh and I don't find it consistent with her first representation (where Raven had to urge Arellato fight, and Raven was the more proactive). It also really bugged me that she wanted to see her parents when her not having a family was a significant part of her original origin.

However, the idea that after leaving Azarath and escaping when Trigon did that Arella would jump into "ordinary" life instead of getting to know Raven and spending time with her does kind ring true to me. Sort of because she did that before when Raven was an infant. And sort of from once when I read an article from a child raised in a cult but leaving in adolescence - her mother had an "ordinary" to come back, to a framework to live in, and could more easily feel like she belonged in the outside than the child could.

[joeysmuttonchops]

New Teen Titans (1980) #4

honestly the Raven and Arella relationship is one of the most important and powerful ones in early NTT period. Raven acts as the driving force this early into the book, but Arella is representative of the forces driving Raven

theres something there, that its as Raven ages out of childhood and begins to move on her own she finds a struggle-and she goes to her family and she goes to the system to ask for help, only to find that the resources aren't there for her anymore. that she has to manage on her own now. because she's changed, because she won't follow the rules, because the rules don't work for her the way they worked for Arella

and all Raven does in these early issues is ask for help. over and over again, no matter how many times she's denied it. she asks her mother and the people of Azarath and they say she's lost her way, she asks the justice league and not only do they deny her they demonize and threaten her. its not until she asks her peers that she's able to get help. i cant help but compare it to Arella being denied help from state agencies before being offered a new community on Azarath.

its not until Raven's peers ask her to that Arella changes her mind. Arella isn't able to change her mind until she's confronted with immediate danger, and outside thought. And there's something there too, that Arella wouldn't help when it was Raven asking but did when it was someone else. theres an immense seperation between the two: with Raven driving herself beyond a reasonable point and Arella needing external input to move at all.

[mellowpaperperfection]

Rae's mom

[ravensvirginity]

(CW: canon typical discussions of sexual assault)

Really niche fandom pet peeve but I hate when I see something that acts like the only thing that was wrong with what happened between Trigon and Arella was rape by deception. That did happen, and that on its own would be very bad (I'm absolutely in no way trying to say that that would be okay or anything but rape), but idk where the perception that he stopped assaulting her once he revealed his demon form comes from because that's very much not what happened.

This is Arella's account of what happened to her in her own words, and it seems pretty clear that Trigon kept her longer after she saw his true form. It's not hard to fill in the gaps.

This isn't even a misconception that can be blamed on non comic media. Obviously none of this was ever discussed in either of the CN cartoons, but it was in the DCAMU, and if anything it has more explicit confirmation than the NTT panels.

(The actual scene with the reveal is about 53 seconds in)

I'd guess where the misconception comes from is future retellings of Raven's origin that were condensed to be only a few panels. It doesn't matter all that much at the end of the day, but it just bothers me a little because it's not what happened.

I think it's also a little out of character for Trigon; as the sum of all of Azarath's evil, he's almost nothing but violence. I think that act being so violent is what made Arella find so much solace in Azar's teachings, and Raven hearing this story from her mother as her first exposure to anything related to sexuality made her internalize that her sexual desire is something dangerous and violent that she needs to keep tightly under control. The intended story fits the overall themes with Trigon and Arella better than the misrepresented version.

Arella as a character is so often misrepresented. DC doesn't seem very interested in that part of Raven's backstory at the moment, but I think the right writer could write a great story with her with a more modern tone if given the chance.

[fancyfade]

Forever at War and Mother by Fade31415

Just re-read NTT 1-6 so I wanted to do fanart... I chose to draw how I think the scene where Arella throws herself into the void after Trigon felt, even though she was clearly shown to be going in after him (rather than being pulled back).

Then of course I have more neutral colors + a quoteo I like for Raven (tho not from this arc)

Raven quotes I do like from this arc (or that are relevant for explaining the situation):

Now my mother guards the bridge as she must for all eternity. She, who believed in peace, must now be forever at war...

Perhaps you should have had me killed, because as I grew I could not be content with your passive approach to finding peace.

All my life I was taught the virtue of peace and the folly of battle. All my life I have believed that to fight was to cause your soul to wither and die. But my mother and the others in the temple azarath are wrong! life is too precious and too important to let you waste it so ignobly.

Refs used (link1, link2)

[momachan]

"Odd, this scene's not playing like I remembered. Hadn't I already gotten into my costume by the time I finished with Wally? Brrr... A cold tremor up my spine-- I... Dick's... shivering-- As if-- the past and present... are merging... This costume... No! Robin is dead-- Jason Todd is dead!"

Teen Titans. Secret Origins (1986-1990). Annual #3. "Pieces Of The Puzzle."

[alexandriaellisart]

[thebestestbat]

New Teen Titans (1984) #4 | Original Meme

[ID: A comic with two panels. In panel one, an angry figure points at distant houses and stick figures on fire. The figure has orange hair and green eyes (representing Lilith) and says, "She commited genocide." In panel two is an angry figure with long black hair, a yellow headpiece, and yellow earrings (representing Arella). She holds demon!Raven (drawn with red skin, four yellow eyes, long black hair, and a blue cloak). Arella shouts, "She was ovulating!!?" Demon!Raven has her face in her hands. End ID.]

generic version (for demon raven apologism) under the cut.

[ID: A comic with two panels. In panel one, an angry figure points at distant houses and stick figures on fire. They say, "She commited genocide." In panel two is an angry figure holding demon!Raven (drawn with red skin, four yellow eyes, long black hair, and a blue cloak). This figure shouts, "She was ovulating!!?" Demon!Raven has her face in her hands. End ID.]

[light-miracles]

Dick: I just don't know how to ask Raven out.

Bruce: That's alright Dick. The first time I had a crush on a girl I didn't know what to do either. Somehow I thought that sending her a note saying "get out of the city" was a good idea.

Angela:

Angela: Oh my God IT WAS YOU?!

[infpenguin19]

doodles today!

bonus:

[amor-immortalem]

Happy Valentine’s Day