Main Characters (Atsuko "Akko" Kagari | Diana Cavendish) | Luna Nova | Other Characters
Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Laura Post (English)Other Languages
Appearances: Little Witch Academia | The Enchanted Parade | TV Series
"Magic is sacred, using it to show off is an extremely stupid idea and should never be condoned."
"Real magic is cultivated by traditions and countless hours of intensive study. It's not something someone simply intrigued by a fad can ever hope to learn."
Luna Nova's top student and a member of the prestigious Cavendish family, Diana is a haughty, cold, stuck-up girl who is out to prove the greatness of witches and has no time for nonsense. She tends to look down on Akko for her troublemaking tendencies and naïveté, as well as her love of Shiny Chariot, who she claims to be a fraud. Because of this, the two have a complicated relationship, with Akko viewing her as her "rival" (which is mostly one-sided on her part).
Still, in spite of her snobbish attitude, she isn't without her noble qualities and deep down, she does genuinely care about the well-being of her peers, including Akko, who she has more in common with than she would care to admit.
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A-J
- Academic Alpha Bitch: She is the top student of Luna Nova and an incredibly intelligent and powerful witch from an old and prestigious family. However, she is also an incredibly haughty, unsympathetic, cold and stuck up Jerkass who tends to berate and look down on others for not living up to her standards of a witch (Akko being her most frequent target), on top of frequently putting herself on a pedestal and thinking she knows best due to her background. This was toned down after the franchise got rebooted starting with the TV series, though it’s still present to an extent, particularly prior to her Character Development in the second half.
- Academic Athlete: Given that she is The Ace, this is to be expected. Besides being very intelligent, she is also a very talented broom flyer and her team has beaten Akko's team at volleyball in Keisuke Sato's manga.
- The Ace: An incredibly intelligent and powerful witch capable of spells even witches several times her senior are incapable of. On the flip side, though, this does lead to rash decisions and thinking she knows what's best.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Although Diana was undeniably the top student in the films, the TV series puts much more emphasis on her intellect compared to the films, as she is constantly shown studying in multiple episodes, and knows how to do certain things that even her professors don't (such as knowing ancient dragon). She also isn't as immature and/or reckless as she can sometimes be in the films.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- While she wasn't exactly the nicest person to begin with in the films, she was still a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who had some redeeming qualities. This is not the case in the Teri Terio manga, however, as the manga strips away most of her redeeming qualities and makes her into an even worse Alpha Bitch than in the films, with her attacking Akko with a Faux Flame spell while laughing at her misfortune, on top of outright telling Akko that there's no hope for her and to go back to her country in chapter 2, something that drives Akko into tears.
- Downplayed in the Keisuke Sato manga. She is mostly in line with how she is portrayed in the TV series pre-Character Development and she still has a heart of gold, but she is a bit more prone to insulting and belittling Akko compared to the TV series.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the films, Diana is an Academic Alpha Bitch who acts prejudiced against Akko for her love of Shiny Chariot, never misses a chance to berate her for lack of skill when it comes to magic, and refuses to help her when there's nothing for her to gain. In the TV series, Diana is helpful to the other students and a very hard worker when it comes to learning magic, while her criticisms of Akko come from a genuine (if slightly condescending) desire that she be a better student.
- Adaptational Personality Change: The films and TV series differ in her portrayal. In the films, she's more prone to causing accidents and is easily more flustered by Akko's antics. In the TV series, she's more well-put together and is hard to fluster, most likely due to the slower pacing slowly revealing the Hidden Depths she harbors.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: While she's still a Jerkass to her early on in the TV series, Diana is not as much of a bully towards Akko as she was in the films and she eventually becomes friends with her by the end, a development that never occurred in the films.
- All of the Other Reindeer: A line from Andrew implies she was ostracized for being a Shiny Chariot fan when she was younger:Andrew: "As I recall, you were preoccupied with some strange magic… The other children thought it was creepy and kept their distance."
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: While Diana's mother has been shown and is later revealed to have died, the whereabouts of her father and if he is still alive or not is not touched upon at all. Though Anna states to Akko that Diana lost both of her parents at a young age, implying that he passed away like Bernadette (though again, nothing is explicitly confirmed).
- Ambiguously Gay: Due to the subtext she has with Akko:
- When she is stung by the Lovelove Bee, she confesses to Akko under its influence. As with the other victims of the bee's effects, there might be a grain of truth to her confession.
- She acts like a Tsundere to Akko in "Intellect and Sensibility" during their broom ride and official art from staff members detailing the broom ride
shows Diana blushing due to Akko hugging her. - She doesn't pay mind to Thomas and Frank's slight affection for her, but never states it's because she's supposedly gay as well.
- Animal Motif: The unicorn, which is what she summons in the Samhain Festival. The unicorn is also implied to be the Cavendish Family's house animal.
- Appeal to Tradition: While she isn't as biased towards it as Finnelan is (For one, she's opposed to the traditional witch parade in The Enchanted Parade and desires to get it cancelled entirely due to finding the parade to be offensive and humiliating to witches), Diana is a big proponent of preserving Luna Nova's traditions and rules as well as the traditional methods of studying magic, which is a constant source of conflict between her and Akko, who defies those traditions and rules on a daily basis. She is also keen on preserving and being true to her family's traditional values of kindness and affection.
- Ascended Fangirl: Like Akko, she's a fan of Shiny Chariot, and towards the end of the series, Diana has gotten to wield the Shiny Rod a few times herself most notably when she got to join Akko in unleashing the final Shiny Arc to save the world in the finale.
- Badass Bookworm: She has intimate knowledge of every text Luna Nova uses, to the point of even correcting a teacher, and is capable of reading witch text that is quite beyond her years. In "Pact of the Dragon", she interprets a contract written up in the ancient Dragonese language, something no professor has been able to do for 1,000 years.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The blonde to Hannah's redhead and Barbara's brunette.
- Blue Blood: The Cavendish family are descendants of one of the Nine Olde Witches and have ties to the Hanbridges, another aristocratic family. Their family estate is also, by all appearances, a castle. Not only that but it has its own, smaller, Sorcerer's Stone.
- Blue Is Calm: She is The Stoic who is very aloof, calm and rational compared to the rest of her peers. Fittingly, she is also frequently associated with the color blue, as she has Icy Blue Eyes and much of her attire is colored blue, including the ribbon on her school uniform.
- Blue Oni, Red Oni: She's collected and rational, while Akko is passionate and reckless. They even happen to be often associated with colors matching these roles.
- Break the Haughty: A light example as Diana isn't overly mean or boastful, but she clearly thinks she knows best and that she can do whatever she wants. In the films, she tends to cause more problems than she solves, though.
- British Stuffiness: Especially in the TV series. She's quite a serious, coolheaded young lady and seems to find the more boisterous characters (i.e. Akko, Amanda, etc.) annoying.
- Broken Ace: The TV series paints her as this. She is a highly respected, popular and skilled witch prodigy who can do things no other student can do, however, she is also an incredibly aloof, cold and distant person who lost both her parents at a young age, has a very bad relationship with her living relatives, and although skilled and passionate about her heritage, has lost almost all sight of why she fell in love with magic in the first place, thanks to being forced to grow up and having to live up to everyone’s expectations of her at an young age. On top of all of that, much like Akko, she also lost her magic at around the same time her mother passed, having to work it back up through years of hard work, distancing herself from everyone else in the process. Fortunately she does start to slowly improve thanks to Akko.
- Brutal Honesty: Will state her opinion without mincing her words. Much to Akko's displeasure.
- Bully Turned Buddy: While never exactly a "bully" in the TV series (at least, not to the extent of her teammates), she spends much of the first season antagonizing Akko for her love of Shiny Chariot and her general attitude towards magic. She would later become friends with Akko, however, after Akko saves her from Daryl's snakes and tries to help her stop Daryl in "Intellect and Sensibility".
- Catch a Falling Star: Stops Akko from falling to her death in both the first film and "Don't Stop Me Now". Akko returns the favor in the finale.
- Character Development: She isn't the nicest to Akko at first, but ends up being very good friends by "Intellect and Sensibility". Their friendship gets quite a bit bigger throughout "Yesterday" and "Changing at the Edge of the World" to the point that in "Changing at the Edge of the World", Diana cries at the thought of Akko dying.
- Characterization Marches On: The films portrayed Diana as a more snobbish Academic Alpha Bitch who would go out of her way to insult Akko for her lack of talent. The TV series tones this down, instead portraying her more as The Stoic and borderline Stealth Mentor to Akko. Instead of being catty, Diana tends to lean more into the Brutal Honesty territory when criticizing Akko.
- The Chosen Wannabe: Diana's mother encouraged her to find the Words of Arcturus so she could build a bright future for magic and the Cavendish family. Unfortunately for her, the Claiomh Solais/Shiny Rod, the key to unlocking the Words, chose Akko as its wielder. That being said, it's more than implied she actually is the chosen one to carry on the altruistic Cavendish legacy and is even acknowledged by family founder Beatrix Cavendish herself.
- Closet Geek: For a witch who claims to ensure above such nonsense as Shiny Chariot and her magic shows, she does seem to possess a lot of knowledge about her. This is because she used to attend her shows when she was younger, going as far as taking international travel just to watch her idol.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Seems to see herself like this when it comes to Akko and her friends. She doesn't specifically dislike the girls and their quirks, and in fact, often seems concerned about them and willing to bail them out of trouble, but is not shy about calling them dangerous, untalented idiots. She's kinda right.
- Color Motif: Blue. She wears a blue belt, her eyes are blue and whenever she wears anything that isn't her school outfit, it's mostly blue.
- Compassionate Critic: Although Diana tends to be harsh and cold when critiquing Akko in the TV series, and she has no qualms pointing out her flaws, it is mostly out of a desire to see Akko do better as a student and be less of a troublemaker.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Once she and Akko begin to get a better understanding of one another and grow closer, she starts smiling a lot more often and showing more genuine care towards Akko's well-being and development as a witch. Sucy even lampshades that "she's grown soft".
- Depending on the Artist: While her hair color is consistently platinum blonde and lime in the films and TV series proper, in both promotional and staff art, Diana's hair color tends to switch between being platinum blonde and lime green as in the films and series, or gold and light gold, such as her artwork on the official site◊.
- Determinator: One thing she definitely has in common with Akko is that she's an incredibly determined witch who is focused on completing her goals by all means necessary, often to the point of being stubborn. In fact, it was Diana's sheer determination and willingness to work and study hard that led her to regain her magic and become The Ace after losing it at Chariot's show.
- Deuteragonist: As the TV series continues, Diana's importance grows more and more, being only second to the protagonist Akko.
- Didn't See That Coming: This, she argues, is the reason she finds Akko so interesting. Diana comes in, expecting things to go a certain way... and then Akko shows up and everything goes freakin' ballistic.
- Didn't Think This Through: Downplayed, yet something she has in common to Akko at times when it comes to her pride as a skilled student.
- Disappeared Dad: More like non-existent dad. He is never seen or mentioned at any point, and we know that the family butler acted as a father figure for her.
- Disappointed in You: In "Yesterday", Diana tells Ursula that she is more disappointed in Ursula/Chariot for abandoning Akko in her time of need than when Ursula/Chariot stole her magic.
- Early-Bird Cameo: In both the first film and the TV series' first episode, during Chariot's show, you can see her in the audience for a brief moment. This being anime, the one girl with green/blonde hair isn't too hard to spot.
- Establishing Character Moment: Flawlessly answering a high-level question in class, which immediately establishes her as The Ace.
- Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: She does a self-aggrandizing one when she and her Girl Posse leave the cafeteria in the first film.
- Everyone Has Standards: Although she is a major proponent of tradition and rules, she is completely against the traditional witch parade in The Enchanted Parade and desires to get it cancelled entirely, due to how degrading and humiliating it is towards witches.
- Exact Words: When she reads Akko's fortune in astrology class, she tells her that she's going to depart from the school. The class immediately assumes this means she'll be expelled, but it's actually inevitable no matter what happens. Even if she isn't expelled, the alternative is graduating which would also require leaving the school. When Akko hits the Despair Event Horizon due to The Reveal about her idol — who was her reason for attending Luna Nova — Akko does leave the school and goes missing.
- Family Honor:
- The reason why she takes studying magic so seriously. She wants to uphold the dignity of the Witch race, especially her own, as she is a pureblood witch who can trace her family back since before the Norman Conquest.
- When push came to shove and at the moment she would adopt the family legacy by performing the ritual during the Venus Eclipse, Diana chooses to save her aunt and cousins instead, missing the opportunity. They might have tried to pilfer the family treasure and impede her from performing the ceremony, but they're her only living family, and the Cavendish family legacy entails helping anyone in need, even enemies.
- Foil:
- To Akko — While the former is a Genki Girl with no prior experience in magic because she is a normal human girl and openly idolizes Shiny Chariot, Diana is a serious young lady who is The Ace in magic and comes from a 1500-year-old family of witches and claims to believe that Shiny Chariot was an insult to all witches. She's actually a Closet Geek of her
- The second season of the TV series even tries to imply both she and Akko are a foil to Croix and Chariot regarding the Shiny Rod. While Croix grew to dislike Chariot for the Shiny Rod choosing her over Croix, Diana, at least at first, was jealous of Akko inheriting it, until she came to the realization it was better off in Akko's hands than hers.
- A Friend in Need: She is the one who ultimately finds and helps Akko when Akko needs help most in "Yesterday".
- Generation Xerox: Diana and Akko's relationship, dynamic, and school performance heavily mirrors what Croix and Chariot once had in their Luna Nova days. For the final episode, both are even outfitted with the same white Custom Uniforms their predecessors often wore in the past.
- Golden Super Mode: Shares this with Akko in "Changing at the Edge of the World" to defeat the Noir Rod after it turned into an ICBM. It's a rather similar finale to Studio Trigger's other big TV series back when the show was first aired.
- Good Is Not Nice: Diana is a genuinely good and helpful person who cares about her fellow classmates, but she is also a rather cold, haughty and stuck up Academic Alpha Bitch who isn't afraid to insult and/or berate others she considers to be lowly and/or unworthy (Such as Akko), particularly in the short films. While she did start like this in the series as well (albeit more downplayed by comparison), she stops becoming this once she Took a Level in Kindness after "Intellect and Sensibility".
- Green-Eyed Monster: Diana admits to Akko in "Yesterday" that one of the reasons why she disliked Akko was out of envy over her open love of Chariot (as Diana couldn't express it due to the expectations placed on her) and being chosen by the Shiny Rod over her.
- Grudging "Thank You": When her family dispute is solved and they are on their way home, Diana murmurs a barely audible "Thank You" to Akko for coming after her. After a Beat, Akko screams in utter surprise and asks Diana to say it again, but she refuses to repeat it.
- Hair Color Dissonance: She has tea-green highlights in her platinum blonde hair.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Diana has platinum blonde hair and is shown to be a selfless, compassionate person in spite of her haughtiness.
- Hairstyle Inertia: She has the same wavy long hair with bangs swept to the left since she was a child.
- Hereditary Hairstyle: Diana and her Missing Mom both have wavy mid-back length platinum blonde hair with bangs swept to the left.
- Hero Antagonist: Was the closest thing to a reoccurring antagonist until Croix’s introduction. That said, while she is haughty, stuck up and cold, she is also a responsible, hard-working and goodhearted person who cares about the well-being of her fellow peers (including Akko, despite her dislike of her early on). She stops being portrayed as an antagonist entirely after she Took a Level in Kindness in the later episodes of the series.
- Heroic Lineage: Beatrix the Sage, one of the Nine Old Witches who founded Luna Nova and also the first Cavendish witch, thus making Diana her descendant.
- Hidden Depths:
- For someone who is so haughty and comes from a prominent family, Diana doesn't flaunt her status, nor does she join in on teasing and bullying Akko.note
- Diana tries to take responsibility for her mistakes and is frequently shown to be disappointed when she isn't able to tell people who actually achieved "her" accomplishments, i.e. saving the Jennifer Memorial Tree in "Papiliodia". When she can't tell someone the truth, she'll make up for it later on, as seen with her saving Akko from falling in "Don't Stop Me Now" and declaring her debt "repaid".
- If the mirror in "What You Will" is meant to show one's inner desires, then it's implied that Diana wishes she could be more laid-back and open with her emotions. This is outright confirmed in "Yesterday".
- Icy Blue Eyes: Her blue eyes establish her as haughty and untouchable, especially in early episodes.
- I Hate Past Me: It's eventually revealed that this is part of the reason why Diana initially disliked Akko so much. Akko's love of Shiny Chariot and claims that just believing is enough to be a witch reminded Diana of herself as a child, who didn't have any respect for the hard work and commitment learning magic actually required.
- Impoverished Patrician: The Cavendish family's assets have been on a decline because Diana's evil aunt, who is supposed to be the acting head, is busy selling off the family's artifacts to fund her lifestyle. That said, the family is still pretty well off in spite of the crisis.
- Informed Attractiveness: She's alleged quite the beauty.
- Insufferable Genius: Diana is the top student at Luna Nova and a teen prodigy who knows things that even the teachers don't and will gladly remind you of such and assert her superiority over those she deems to be lowly, especially in the short films. This has been toned down in the TV series, but she still has her moments.
- Irony: In astrology class, Diana prophecies that Akko will end up leaving Luna Nova. Some episodes later, Diana herself departs from the school before Akko has a chance to, and she, in fact, goes after Diana in an effort to bring her back.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- She is undeniably an Academic Alpha Bitch at times and her lectures toward Akko being a reckless and childish idiot who doesn't take magic and her studies seriously can come off as condescending, harsh and cold, but she isn't entirely wrong about the arguments and points she makes. Something that is occasionally acknowledged by the other characters.
- As dismissive as Diana is about Shiny Chariot and Akko's love of her, she is not wrong about her reputation, as Chariot's shows are indeed seen as making a mockery of magic amongst the magical community and Chariot having lost all of her former fame by the present day.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She often comes off as intimidating, proud, or cold and has no problems being a harsh and condescending jerk towards others, but in spite of her cold and haughty demeanor, she is a selfless and goodhearted person who cares deeply about her peers.
L-Y
- The Lancer: To Akko during the finale. She's the first one to voice her support of Akko's idea to stop the missile and flies the broom during the battle in the sky. She also takes down the missile together with Akko.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: She's a Jerkass in the films, but her status as Alpha Bitch seems to be more in Akko's perception of her in the TV series, as her Girl Posse fit the bill better than she herself does. She comes from a long line of master witches. As a result, she is a Perfectionist who acts stuck up, takes pride in being better than the other witches in training, has her own Girl Posse, and acts condescending to those she feels are unworthy of the title with cold disrespect. However, deep inside, she is really caring, wants what's best for the witches, and is a Closet Geek like Akko. When she makes mistakes, she usually owns up to them and tries to take responsibility as opposed to Akko, who shrugs her mistakes off with a simple "It's not my fault". She also has gone out of her way to save Akko twice.
- Love at First Sight: Quite literally and Played for Laughs in the TV series. She is stung by a bee that causes her to fall in love with the first person she sees, and the first thing she sees is Akko, and she immediately falls for her. When Diana is stung a second time, she sees a reflection of herself and falls in love with herself. She goes back to normal once the bee is killed.
- Meaningful Name: "Diana" is derived from an old Indo-European root meaning "heavenly, divine". This Diana comes from a famous family of witches and she is the resident Ace of Luna Nova.
- Mirror Character: She and Akko are actually quite similar, despite initial differences. Both have a "look before they leap" attitude, look up to Shiny Chariot, and attended Luna Nova because it was Shiny Chariot's school. They both also share the same passion and love for magic, though Diana does keep her feelings for it subdued. "Yesterday" goes into more detail. Both had their magic stolen by the Dream Fuel Spirit and realized that their idol is not whom they perceived her to be.
- Mystical White Hair: She has platinum blonde hair and is a witch.
- Narcissist: Parodied when she gets stung by a Lovelove Bee and then looks into a mirror, literally falling in love with her own reflection. Though, as with the other temporary magical infatuations, there's probably a grain of truth to it.
- Not So Above It All:
- As much as she tends to berate Akko for being reckless and immature, there are occasions where she can be a bit reckless and/or immature herself. Case in point, her actions in the first short film, where she recklessly unleashes a dragon by accident.
- While she tends to uphold the rules as much as possible and tends to call out others for causing trouble, she can be a bit of a troublemaker herself on occasion, as one of the bonus chapters of the Keisuke Satō manga has her get into trouble by Finnelan alongside Akko and co after she participated in a race against them for a special dessert menu and teams up with Amanda to steal a prototype of the shooting star in Chamber of Time.
- Not So Stoic: Diana usually appears very collected, be it when she's displaying her magical knowledge or berating Akko for her shenanigans, but...
- When she tries to guilt trip the faerie workers to accepting their current standards of living and Akko calls her out as a condescending aristocrat who can't relate with others just struggling to get by, she's seen shaking in anger. It's one of the few times something Akko says actually gets under Diana's skin and shuts down her lecturing.
- After she's had a little heart-to-heart with Akko about the Cavendish legacy and her own dreams, teary-eyed Akko grabs Diana's hand and tells her just how much she believes in Diana, while invading her personal space and while Diana looks very taken aback and unsure how to react to Akko's sudden encouragement.
- Ojou: She is from a 1500-year-old family of witches that both have a large influence in the magical world and access to knowledge even the faculty of Luna Nova does not know. She's very careful to live up to that noble heritage, in both behavior and achievement.
- The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: Prior to becoming friends with her, Diana couldn't stand Akko through the majority of the first year due to her childish and rebellious personality and a tendency to cause trouble, however even then, she admits to admiring Akko's sheer determination.
- The Only One: Her pursuit of magic stems from the fact that she's the only remaining member of her family that cares about the Cavendish family name and legacy. As such, her excelling at the practice is due to not only her own desires but also because she had to. She began just like Akko did after watching the Shiny Chariot exhibition, only that she had to put her whims aside when her parents died, forcing her to grow up and adopt her characteristic personality.
- Parental Abandonment: She lost her parents at a young age. Her mother likely to illness; her father unknown.
- Perpetual Frowner: Her default expression tends to be an angry or stoic frown in most situations, fitting her serious nature. She does occasionally smile, but rarely. She does begin to smile a bit more in the TV series once she begins to warm up to Akko.
- Phenotype Stereotype: She's a blonde, blue-eyed British girl.
- Plant Person: According to Word of God, her eventual fate when she passes on years from now. Like her ancestor, Beatrix, her powerful magical ability will cause her to turn into a tree.
- Preppy Name: The Cavendish family is a real noble house in the UK.
- Privileged Rival:
- Akko sees her as this. On top of being extremely talented, Diana is also the heiress to an old noble family. Diana herself mostly sees Akko as an Unknown Rival.
- In the first film, she gets upset with Hannah and Barbara for being afraid in the dungeon, saying that because they are witches, they should be the ones instilling fear instead.
- This is the reason why she's so against the Witch Parade in both the traditional form and in Akko's "Happy Time Project". On one hand, they're upholding a tradition that's done nothing but demean witches for centuries. On the other hand, going all out on special effects and making witches marketable seems like they're putting on the equivalent to a minstrel show for muggle entertainment.
- Proper Lady: She is The Stoic Ojou of an old noble family of witches, speaks politely, has proper manners, and proves to be Wise Beyond Her Years.
- The Proud Elite: Diana is certainly very proud of her heritage and has the sophistication and mannerisms of an aristocrat, which, upon first impressions, make her seem cold and arrogant. As the series goes on, though, it's made clear that Diana is a very caring and kind individual who only acts cold and arrogant because a) she's the heir to an ancient house of witches (so she's expected to behave a certain way in public) and b) she feels that Akko doesn't truly appreciate magic as an art and lifestyle (which she is right about, to a degree).
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Diana is often shown to be very proud of her heritage.
- Public Hater, Private Fan: Is this towards Chariot, trying to hide what a big fan she was of her as much as possible.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- She gives a light one to Ursula/Chariot after she finds out that the latter left Akko's side when Akko needed her most.
- She tends to constantly give these to Akko due to her lack of talent, her common disregard for traditions and rules, her idolization of Shiny Chariot and her often naive and immature behavior. She stops this in the TV Series by the 2nd cour however as she becomes friends with her.
- She gets to be on the receiving end of one by Akko after she attempted to stop the strike by guilt tripping them in "New Age Magic", as the latter chastises the former for being a cold aristocrat who looks down on others and who is absolutely blind to the real suffering of others and that she'll never know what it's like because of her receiving privileges and good fortune for much of her life. Notably, the latter actually manages to get under the former's skin and shatter her normal demeanor.
- The Reliable One: Given her talent and maturity, she is seen as a dependable person by her peers and teachers.
- The Rival: To Akko. Funnily enough, though, Akko is horribly outclassed by Diana. However, Diana actually likes that Akko is always challenging her, so she will go out of her way to antagonize her.
- Save the Villain: She could've gone on and done the ritual to become the head of her family. However, her aunt and cousins ended up trespassing on the ritual grounds while trying to stop her and would've been turned into trees as punishment. Despite their actions, Diana ultimately forgoes the ritual to save them. After all, she may not like them, but they are family.
- School Idol: Diana is the top student in Luna Nova and is widely adored by both the staff and most of the students for her reliability, her adherence to tradition, her high intellect and skill level, on top of her status as a member of the prestigious Cavendish family. Akko even mentions that she has fan clubs in the light novel.
- Sparkling Stream of Tears: As she's flying away from Luna Nova.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: As revealed in episode 5. Diana understands ancient dragon (which even the older professors don't understand) and has studied the language since she was 12. Because of this, she is able to translate the ancient dragon contract between Luna Nova and Fafnir, thwarting the latter's scheme in the process.
- Statuesque Stunner: Downplayed. Diana is a beautiful young lady, but she's not overly tall, standing at around 5'6". That said, she is the tallest amongst the blue, red, and green teams.
- Stealth Insult: Played with. When Akko confronts her for leaving the Academy by arguing that she won't stand to lose her rival, Diana tells Akko that she never considered her a rival. Akko takes it as an insult, assuming that Diana means that she was beneath notice. Diana, in turn, reveals that she never sought to antagonize Akko and she doesn't consider their relationship a "rivalry".
- Strong Family Resemblance: Diana and her mother have fair skin and platinum blonde hair with tea-green highlights.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Diana is haughty, prideful, and at times arrogant. However, she has a strong sense of duty and is concerned with Akko's safety.
- Talented, but Trained: While Diana is from a prestigious magic family and is an incredibly talented witch, it is revealed later on that much of her status as The Ace is the result of years of hard work and studying after losing her magic as a child and even in the present day, she continues to work hard and study as much as she can.
- Teen Genius: She's capable of easily doing magic that more senior witches have difficulty with. The teachers of Luna Nova will actually consult her in magic and Akko at one point mentions that when it comes to learning magic Luna Nova has nothing to offer Diana.
- Think Nothing of It: Her usual reaction whenever someone praises her or thanks her for helping is to brush off the compliments.
- Token Good Teammate:
- She’s this amongst her team in the TV series (not so much in the films). While she is stuck up, aloof and cold and can be an Jerkass at times, she’s the only member of her team to not bully and mock Akko and co like her teammates tend to do.
- To her family as well. While her aunt and cousins are willing to forgo tradition for their own selfish reasons and are quite snobbish, Diana is the exact opposite in both ways.
- Took a Level in Badass: Discussed. "Intellect and Sensibility" reveals that The Ace Diana, who is able to perform feats of extraordinarily difficult magic, was once unable to cast simple spells as a child. With the reveal in "Things We Said Today" that Chariot was harvesting Dream Fuel Energy - and by extension severely handicapping her audience's ability to use magic - at her shows, which Diana was shown to have attended, Diana losing her magical abilities as a child is almost certainly tied to that event. In which case, her taking this level in badass was foreshadowing that what Chariot did isn't totally irreparable.
- Took a Level in Kindness: While she remains a bit aloof and teasing, Diana becomes far kinder and supportive towards Akko after the events of "Intellect and Sensibility". This was lampshaded by Sucy in the episode after by stating that she's gone soft.
- Tritagonist: In addition to Akko's journey and Ursula's backstory, the main plot also allocates much focus on Diana's relationship with Akko and her own investigation on the Grand Triskellion, especially on the second course.
- True Blue Femininity: She's a Proper Lady from a prestigious family of witches, has Icy Blue Eyes and wears a Luna Nova uniform with a blue sash, blue-trimmed hat and shoes. In "Bee Affection", she wears a blue dress at Andrew's party.
- True Companions: In spite of them appearing to be riding hear coattails, Hannah and Barbara consider her a dear friend and are visibly hurt by her leaving the academy.
- Tsundere: A platonic one for Akko (maybe) and her friends, as she comes off as condescending towards them but also sometimes shows concern and appreciation. Moments include:
- The climax of The Enchanted Parade, when she cheers for them to beat the monster only to shut herself up quickly and blushes about it.
- Her specifically stopping by to tell them that they're still terrible witches, even if they can cast magical spells more powerful than hers. That might be as close to a "well done" as she can manage.
- She refuses to repeat her "Thank You" towards Akko when the latter can't believe she just heard Diana say that.
- Tsurime Eyes: She has narrow, upwards arching eyes, signifying her noble upbringing, dignity and pride. They occasionally shift to Tareme Eyes when she softens up and grows closer to Akko, although they remain Tsurime most of the time.
- The Unchosen One: Slips into this role late in the series. After coming to grips with the fact that she was NOT chosen to wield the Shiny Rod, Diana takes it upon herself to help out Akko in whatever way she can.
- Ungrateful Bastard: In the first film, neither she nor her teammates utter so much as a word of thanks to the red team for saving them from the minotaur, something that Akko points out irritably.
- Unknown Rival: When Akko tries to talk Diana out of leaving Luna Nova on the basis she can't just lose her rival, Diana claims she never saw Akko as such. However, when her knowledge about the Words or Arcturus and the Triskelion is brought up right after, she tells Akko that restoring the golden era of magic is all up to her now, because despite everything Diana's discovered, achieved and wished for, in the end the Shiny Rod chose Akko, not her.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: With the best intentions (but no small amount of pride), Diana has a tendency to cause magical catastrophes before thinking carefully throughout the films and the anime series.
- Upper-Class Equestrian: She is shown to partake in horse riding in "Cavendish".
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She used to be cheery and downright adorable as a child. Then she lost her mother...
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Once most of Diana and Akko's animosity towards one another goes away and both girls admit how much they respect the other's strengths, their bickering becomes more playful.
- What You Are in the Dark:
- She could have left her evil aunt and cousins for dead and become head of her house with no one but Akko being none the wiser, but doesn't hesitate to save them instead.
- A smaller moment happens in "Yesterday". After Diana tells Chariot that she has already figured out her identity, Chariot reveals to her what happened during the magic show where she used Dream Fuel Spirit, a.k.a. the same magic show Diana went to all those years ago which drained her magic. Judging by her shock and distraught expression, Diana clearly has other questions in mind, but refocuses back on Akko and her whereabouts. Even though Diana has every right to ask Chariot about the consequences of that action, she puts Akko above her own curiosity.
- When She Smiles: While not always stone faced, "Intellect and Sensibility" marks the first time we see her smile with positively child-like excitement. It's a radiant look on her.◊
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Aside from some impulsive decisions and actions, she's definitely a lot more mature and calm compared to other characters her age, has knowledge that even advanced witches don't know, and can cast magic on the same level as her professors and more. The death of her parents, being the only legitimate Cavendish heir, and having her magic crippled as a child most likely has a lot to do with this.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Diana fully supports Akko and moves her to continue the ideals that Shiny Chariot inspired them to live by.
- You Are What You Hate: She surmises that her reason for leaving Luna Nova could have been at least partially because she wanted to gain distance between herself and Akko, because she couldn't stand how Akko was able to be so open and carefree about her idol and her dreams, while Diana had those same feelings but had to keep them hidden.
