Characters / Rachel Griffin

Character sheet for the Rachel Griffin series.

Heroes

The Power Trio

Rachel Griffin

• Because You Can Cope: Rachel is allowed to keep certain powers and memories because she can be trusted with them.
• Conflicting Loyalties: Rachel faces this when she finds Gaius, the boy she has a crush on, is also her beloved older brother's bitter rival.
• Crush Blush: "My love" — which is a regional saying that means nothing — still turns Rachel's face hot enough to fry eggs on it.

• Heroic Lineage: Her grandfather was a general who personally fought and bound the demon Crowley; her father is a Secret Agent. as is her oldest sister.
• In Harm's Way: When charging into danger once more, she reflects that this does not help in trying to be an ordinary girl.
• Little Miss Badass: Exemplified by the actions which won her a boyfriend: Rachel is flying over the campus, warning students when an enemy hexes her broom out from under her, dropping her out of the sky. On the way down, she is able to identify and paralyze the enemy and summon her broom back with a spell she learned the day before, hits the ground rolling, vaults back on, and keeps going. Rachel is not to be trifled with.
• Obliviously Beautiful: Rachel has to logically work out that the stunningly cute girl in Siggy's memories is herself, and while she ponders her appearance for a time, it doesn't sink in; later, she considers other students, not herself, to be part of The Beautiful Elite, though another girl, reeling off a list of gorgeous students, includes Rachel without a blink.
• Photographic Memory: Rachel has perfect recall — absolutely perfect, which means she can, in memory, see through illusions and other spells that hid the truth from her at the time. Which also lets her conclusively determine whether such magic was used.

• Really 17 Years Old: Is thirteen; looks elevenish.

• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She decides to date a boy when she realizes that everything she's experienced herself with him has been good; all the bad things are rumors (and sometimes ambiguous even then).
• Stupid Sexy Friend: to Sigfried, whom she is very fond of and regards as a brother (and taken.) Even so, Rachel has to admit that he's very good-looking.
• Unreliable Narrator: Her worldview is limited by the fact that she is a thirteen year old girl.
• Walking the Earth: A chance to travel through dreams to foreign lands has her observe that her burning desire to know everything is also a burning desire to travel far.

Nastasia Romanov

The princess of Magical Australia.

• The Chains of Commanding: In Dreamland, she refuses to commit trespass like her friends because it would an international incident and not just kids if they were caught.
  • In book 4, Nastasia actively refuses to be friendly with Wulfgang Starkadder (who is crushing on her), because she is afraid of making any mistake that could leak information and harm their group or their cause.
• Determinator: Shows signs of becoming one, for the sake of protecting her friends.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: The group looks to her for leadership...which she is entirely unable and unequipped to provide.
  • Especially agravating to Rachel when her suggestions and ideas get attributed to Nastasia immediately.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's also a Princess Classic with long blonde hair.
• Honor Before Reason: Nastasia has trouble with the idea of distributing false information to find out who The Mole is, because it would involve lying.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Was made to forget her grandfather.
• Lawful Stupid: Getting a detention for saving lives by disobeying an order is fine by her. Indeed, she is disappointed when a teacher reveals it was really a subterfuge to get them out of the school.
  • Zoe flat-out asks Nastasia if she’s doing this on purpose.
• Princess Classic: Princess Nastasia of Magical Australia, to a fault.
  • Such a fault that her friends and family find her frustrating at times. Her siblings believe that she's over-compensating for her father's outrageous behavior.
• Proper Lady: To a tee. (and a fault.)

• Waif Prophet: At several points, she faints when she touches people from other worlds and has visions of where they came from. Also has prophetic visions — that avert Prophecies Are Always Right, since they inspire Big Damn Heroes to stop them, which are sometimes successful.
• Will Not Tell a Lie: Not even for vital reasons.

Sigfried Smith

A teenage dragonslayer who also becomes Rachel's friend.

• Big Eater: Sigfried, but played seriously: his upbringing has taught him the necessity of hiding caches of food.

• The Ditz: Sigfried cannot/will not concentrate on anything that does not pertain to blowing things up, stabbing them, setting them on fire, or other such knightly pursuits. It's only with difficulty he can be persuaded to think about saving the world.

• The Fettered: Book 4 reveals that he thinks this is an ideal condition for a knight.
• Good Name For A Rock Band: Announces he is going to name his rock band, "Dragonsmiths." Or possibly, Punk Alchemists. It varies from day to day.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Takes boxing lessons from hockey-player roommate Seth Peregrine.

• Healing Herb: He does pick up a taste for learning how to create potions. Rachel gives him some guidance in finding the herbs for them.

• Male Gaze: Siefried's memories features this prominently for everybody except Rachel, whom he regards as his sister.
• Mysterious Parent: Dr. Mordeau/The Veltdammerung want to know if he knows his father's name.

Close friends and allies

Lucky the dragon

• Cover Blowing Super Power: Rachel asks him if he can talk. Panicked, not knowing what to do, he asks Siggy, in front of her. (Most dragons can't talk in this universe).

Joy O'Keefe

• Celeb Crush: Is crushing on Sigfried.
• The Chosen One: May be the subject of a prophecy along with Nastasia.

• True Companions: Stands up for Rachel when she is being harassed by bullies.

Valerie Foxx

• It Was a Gift: At one point, she wishes that she would break a rib rather than the camera lens her father gave her.
• Punny Name: Named her female Norwegian Elkhound familiar, "Payback."

Other Students

Gaius Valiant

• Amnesiac Dissonance: The princess's vision involving him had a space station blowing up. He confesses to Rachel that he's pretty sure he had something to do with it, and wonders whether he was a good person.
• Bad Powers, Bad People: Is studying Thaumaturgy, which involves ritual animal sacrifice and is one of the least-well regarded, though still perfectly legal, branches of magic. He also has some sort of reputation on campus. And Nastasia doesn't like him.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Rachel realizes, after a bit, that the rumors don't match what she's seen. Still, he did fight a duel with her brother and refused to explain because a gentleman does not curse and tell.
• Farm Boy: His family runs a commercial chicken farm.

• Book 3 reveals that his grandfather was a magician who chose to live as a mundane.

• Nerds Are Sexy: part of his attraction to Rachel is her intelligence...as shown when he arranges for her to have physics and advanced mathematics lessons.
• Pet the Dog: Early, he helps Rachel with a spell when she spills orange juice on her clothes.
• Sailor's Ponytail
• Secret Legacy: He learned, after he started to learn magic, that his grandfather had been a sorcerer, but gave it up.

William Locke

• The Stoic: cultivates a dispassionate, detatched air.

Vladimir von Dread

• The Ace: Vladimir has a rack of Olympic medals—from different events—all but one of them gold or silver.
• Big Man on Campus: Rachel, wanting to get help for a student, talks to him, not to the teachers.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: After hugging Rachel, he asks her not to reveal to anyone else that he does, as then he'll be required to give them out more often.
• Conspicuous Gloves: Vladimir Von Dread wears thick black gloves, possibly to invoke the Gloved Fist of Doom.
• I Will Protect You: Part of the reason Rachel likes being around him is that he makes her feel safe.
• Offhand Backhand: Vladimir von Dread is quite good at these.
• Pride: Arrogant and imperious.
• Shock and Awe: Vladimir von Dread's specialty. He won a gold medal in the Magical Olympics for it.
• Love Makes You Evil: When Rachel asks him if he is evil, Dread replies that he believes he is: he's willing to burn the entire world for the one he loves.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: though not occupying any position more official than leader of the Knights, he takes seriously his responsibilities. At one point, Rachel is pleased because he does more for a student than any tutor.
• Multiversal Conqueror: his past self ruled 65 worlds.
• We Help the Helpless: While he praises the quest for power, he makes it clear that the purpose of it is for protecting people.
  • As did his past incarnation, a brutal tyrant who allowed no one to oppress the downtrodden. Except himself, apparently.

Magdalen Chase

• Really 17 Years Old: Is at least thirteen. Looks eight.

Zoe Tanaka

• Carry a Big Stick: Wields a greenstone Maori war club in battle.

• Dream Walker: has magical sandals that allow her to walk into dreamlan. Which are confiscated in book 4.

• Parental Neglect: Was shuffled from relative to relative to be raised.
• The Quiet One: is very low-key compared to Rachel's other friends.

James Darling Jr.

• Jerk Jock: Captain of the school flying polo team; points and laughs at a younger girl who trips and spills juice on her robes.

Salome Iscariot

• Be Careful What You Wish For: Taunts von Dread to his face that she's not scared of him. His response promptly remedies that.
• Big-Breast Pride: Is very well developed for a fourteen-year-old, and goes to great lengths to show off.
• Rich Bitch: Downplayed. She is heir to the Fiction 500 Ouroboros Industries, but lacks the noblesse oblige that Rachel and Nastasia were obliged to learn. On the other hand, she's Valerie's best friend and has no problems with Rachel.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: is a pretty nice person to Rachel and others; but shows unabashed, utter glee when asked to annoy/taunt/infuriate others.

Xandra Black

• Knight in Sour Armor:Xandra does not particularly seem to relish her powers, and does seem to feel something akin to schadenfreude when Nastasia has a Fainting Seer episode.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Someone named Cassandra, with the nickname "Flops Over Dead Chick".
• In the Hood: Wears a giant black cloak with the hood pulled down to her chin.

Sakura Suzuki

• Anti-Magic: She can't even use a broom, normally possible even for mundanes who have no magic.
• Anger Born of Worry: : Reuniting with Enoch after his apparent death, her first reaction is to rage at him for not thinking.

Enoch Smithwyck

• Back from the Dead: Or rather, the Raven reworked history so he didn't die at all, but was hidden for fear he had been the target
• Heroic Sacrifice: He threw himself between an attack and another character.

Seth Peregrine

• Good Old Fisticuffs: teaches Sigfried.
• Magic Music: Plays bass guitar.

Teachers

Dean Jacinta Moth

• Reasonable Authority Figure: promises to not let Rachel be withdrawn from school unnecessarily.

Mr. Chanson

The gym teacher, he has Super-Speed.

• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: rare male example. Rachel repeatedly thinks of him as being extremely handsome.
• Made of Iron: Can survive being driven through a brick wall and fifty feet of earth. (although he is a big groggy when the heroes find him.)
• Meaningful Name: Nastasia's father calls him Roland St.-Michael.
• Made of Iron: Survives being rammed through a brick wall and fifty feet of earth.
• Commonality Connection: numerous people, including him and Nastasia, have blue highlights in their hair.

Scarlett [MacDannan]

• The Ace: is the only person in history to have recieved seven rings of mastery, one for each branch of the Art.
• Expy: of Harry Potter's Hermione: extremely smart, bushy-haired, the heroine of her own set of adventures while at school

• Stern Teacher: takes over as the Roanoke math teacher after the previous one turned into a dragon and exploded.
• Absent-Minded Professor: tends to forget where she has put items.

Other

The Raven

• Good Wings, Evil Wings: black, feathered wings put him right on the line.

• Mysterious Watcher
• Sure, Let's Go with That: Rachel requests to call him "Jariel." He acquiesces, although admitting that this isn't his actual name.

• Red Eyes, Take Warning
• Ravens and Crows
• Reality Warper: Starts with the ability to make Lucky lose his intelligence. Escalates to the ability to rework history retroactively, rescue people from destroyed universes and make them fit in the new universe, and protect the multiverse.

Leander The Lion

A miniaturized lion, Kitten Fabian's familiar.

• Enigmatic Minion: Gives aid and comforts the heroes without revealing who or what it is to them.
• Expy: Is pretty clearly Aslan in disguise. Made entirely explicit in book 4.
• King of Beasts: Despite being magically shrunken to housecat size.
• Comforting Comforter: Has this effect on people.
• Talking Animal

Ambrose Griffin, duke of Devon

• Expy: in-universe, the James Darling: Agent comic books are this of him. He's basically Batman in them.
• Not Now, Kiddo: Rachel resents that he doesn't seem to have time to talk or listen to her. This comes to a head in book 4.
• Parents as People: Book 4 shows Rachel being confronted with the fact that he has his own duties and agenda as well.
• One Head Taller: is quite tall, while his wife is quite short.
• Secret-Keeper: Entirely averted. Rachel feels that she can have absolutely no confidences in him after he refuses to listen to her.

The Forces of Evil

Dr. Mordeau

• Revenge by Proxy: She targets Rachel as her father's daughter since Rachel's father had taken down her father.
• Scaled Up: transforms into a dragon to fight. It doesn't help.
• Villainous Widow's Peak

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