History Characters / Blackbird2018

* DarkActionGirl: A textbook example. Also technically a DarkMagicalGirl, though the more sympathetic elements common to that trope are so far not in evidence.

* [[AmbiguouslyBrown Ambiguously Asian]]: It is not entirely clear, but Gloriana is in all probability half Hispanic, half-Japanese or Chinese (or possibly Korean). In flashbacks her younger self has strongly Asian features, and Iridium Cabal's motiffs are unambiguously Asian/Wuxia influenced, with no obvious Hispanic motiffs. By contrast, Nina (daughter of Gloria and the entirely hispanic Enrique) is more visibly Latina with darker brown skin, while her sister Marisa leans more toward the Asian side.

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: And she has forgotten how to take it off. It takes a truth spell cast by Nina to break through her defenses and demonstrate that, yes, she still cares deeply for her daughter and is sincerely acting in what she believes to be Nina's best interests. Unfortunately, by then it is too late for any good advice to get through to Nina, and what she and Nina think of as Nina's "best interests" are wildly different. when the spell wears off she goes right back to trying to erase her memory.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Inverted. Nina ''Rodriguez'' is strongly Hispanic with brown skin, but her sister and mother both appear to have more strongly Asian features and much lighter skin.

* KnifeNut: Wields a pair as he standard arsenal. And they are of the magical, soul-draining variety, too.

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* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Completely dismissed by his entire family. At least Nina seems to care about him, but she clearly does not respect him and cannot rely upon him for help. Exactly how this guy won the love of a goddess like Gloria is not shown, but by the time of the Verdugo Earthquake, that love is fading fast. Afterward, she blamed him for failing to prevent Nina's death, and lost all affection for him. It is entirely possible that Gloriana of Iridium Cabal wishes he never even existed.

* TheCassandra: For all of his flaws, his insistance that there was something fundamentally wrong with Gloria's family- and specifically her parents- was spot on. [[spoiler: When given the chance to save their granddaughter's life, Gloria's parents had the gall to condition it on irrevocably breaking apart their daughter's family.]]

* JerkassWoobie: Despite being portrayed in an unsympathetic fashion, it is remarkably difficult not to feel sorry for this guy when you think of his situation. Right from the start, his wife's family held him in contempt through no fault of his own and for no reason he could understand (it probably never occurred to him to consider that they despised him for not being a member of a secret society of magical superbeings). It was, unfortunately, not the only thing that drove a wedge between him and Gloria. However, even if he had been a perfect husband and he and Gloria were on good terms on the night of the Verdugo Earthquake, Nina would still have died and Gloria would still have agreed to her parents' deal to resurrect her. Now, a decade after being saddled with the undeserved guilt of having caused Gloria's death, he has lost ''both'' of his daughters to that same secret world. And it is probably only a matter of time (assuming it has not happened already) before he gets a knock on his door and someone comes along to tell him his daughters are as dead as his wife... or to make him forget he ever even ''had'' a family to begin with. Not even having an affair (assuming he actually did have one) can justify the endless existential nightmare his life as become.

* [[AmbiguouslyBrown Ambiguously Asian]]: It is not entirely clear, but Gloriana is in all probability half Hispanic, half-Japanese or Chinese. In flashbacks her younger self has strongly Asian features, and Iridium Cabal's motiffs are unambiguously Asian/Wuxia influenced, with no obvious Hispanic motiffs. By contrast, Nina (daughter of Gloria and the entirely hispanic Enrique) is more visibly Latina with darker brown skin, while her sister Marisa leans more toward the Asian side.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gloriana's actions and plans for her daughter- abandoning her, depriving her of her sister, and erasing all memory of her sister's existence even as Nina slides into alcoholism, drug addiction, and a probable early death from either suicide or homelessness- seems unspeakably cruel and evil. But look at the alternative. For the apparently rather religious Gloriana, the existence of an afterlife- and by extension Heaven and Hell- is an absolute, verified fact. Since she herself died and was reborn into magic like all paragons, she knows this from direct personal experience. And she also believes- with good reason- that one cannot live the life of a paragon without inevitably becoming a murderer- i.e.- ''damned''. It happened to her parents and it happened to herself despite her best efforts. She is attempting to save Nina from ''LITERAL DAMNATION''. Quite simply, a short-lived, miserable-but-normal Nina will beyond a shadow of a doubt be better off in the long run than Nina the Paragon. Viewed in that light, treating her daughter so coldly when they are reunited makes perfect sense. Anything that increases the likelihood of Nina becoming a paragon- including displaying the slightest warmth or kindness to her at their reunion- jeopardizes her beloved daughter's soul and must be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately, she wrongly assumes that Nina herself has no agency in the matter, and that she can safely impose her will upon Nina through mind control instead of treating her daughter like an intelligent, free-willed adult.

** This also explains why she was so angry at Clint for romancing her daughter, yet apparently did not notice or care that her daughter had been in a relationship with- and cheated on by- a previous boyfriend who was not a paragon. From Gloriana's perspective, the boyfriend was just a boyfriend. Clint, on the other hand, was leading her daughter to a fate worse than death.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gloriana's actions and plans for her daughter- abandoning her, depriving her of her sister, and erasing all memory of her sister's existence even as Nina slides into alcoholism, drug addiction, and a probable early death from either suicide or homelessness- seems unspeakably cruel and evil. But look at the alternative. For the apparently rather religious Gloriana, the existence of an afterlife- and by extension Heaven and Hell- is an absolute, verified fact. Since she herself died and was reborn into magic like all paragons, she knows this from direct personal experience. And she also believes- with good reason- that one cannot live the life of a paragon without inevitably becoming a murderer- i.e.- ''damned''. It happened to her parents and it happened to her despite her best efforts. She is attempting to save Nina from ''LITERAL DAMNATION''. Quite simply, a short-lived, miserable-but-normal Nina will beyond a shadow of a doubt be better off in the long run than Nina the Paragon. Viewed in that light, treating her daughter so coldly when they are reunited makes perfect sense. Anything that increases the likelihood of Nina becoming a paragon- including displaying the slightest warmth or kindness to her at their reunion- jeopardizes her beloved daughter's soul and must be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately, she wrongly assumes that Nina herself has no agency in the matter, and that she can safely impose her will upon Nina through mind control instead of treating her daughter like an intelligent, free-willed adult.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gloriana's actions and plans for her daughter- abandoning her, depriving her of her sister, and erasing all memory of her sister's existence even as Nina slides into alcoholism, drug addiction, and a probable early death from either suicide or homelessness- seems unspeakably cruel and evil. But look at the alternative. For the apparently rather religious Gloriana, the existence of an afterlife- and by extension Heaven and Hell- is an absolute, verified fact. Since she herself died and was reborn into magic like all paragons, she knows this from direct personal experience. And she also knows that one cannot live the life of a paragon without inevitably becoming a murderer- i.e.- ''damned''. It happened to her parents and it happened to her despite her best intentions. She is attempting to save Nina from ''LITERAL DAMNATION''. Quite simply, a short-lived, miserable Nina will beyond a shadow of a doubt be better off in the long run than a living, damned Nina. Viewed in that light, treating her daughter so coldly when they are reunited makes perfect sense. Anything that increases the likelihood of Nina becoming a paragon- including displaying the slightest warmth or kindness to her at their reunion- jeopardizes her beloved daughter's soul and must be avoided at all costs. Too bad for her that she assumes Nina herself has no agency in the matter.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gloriana's actions and plans for her daughter- abandoning her, depriving her of her sister, and erasing all memory of her sister's existence even as Nina slides into alcoholism, drug addiction, and a probable early death from either suicide or homelessness- seems unspeakably cruel and evil. But look at the alternative. For the apparently rather religious Gloriana, the existence of an afterlife- and by extension Heaven and Hell- is an absolute, verified fact. Since she herself died and was reborn into magic like all paragons, she knows this from direct personal experience. And she also knows that one cannot live the life of a paragon without inevitably becoming a murderer- i.e.- ''damned''. It happened to her parents and it happened to her despite her best intentions. She is attempting to save Nina from ''LITERAL DAMNATION''. Quite simply, a short-lived, miserable Nina may actually be better off in the long run than a living, damned Nina. Viewed in that light, treating her daughter so coldly when they are reunited makes sense. Anything that increases the likelihood of Nina becoming a paragon- including displaying the slightest warmth or kindness to her at their reunion- jeopardizes her beloved daughter's soul and must be avoided at all costs. Too bad for her that she assumes Nina herself has no agency in the matter.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gloriana's actions and plans for her daughter- abandoning her, depriving her of her sister, and erasing all memory of her sister's existence even as Nina slides into alcoholism, drug addiction, and a probable early death from either suicide or homelessness- seems unspeakably cruel and evil. But look at the alternative. For the apparently rather religious Gloriana, the existence of an afterlife- and by extension Heaven and Hell- are absolute, verified facts. Since she herself died and was reborn into magic like all paragons, she knows this from direct personal experience. And she also knows that one cannot live the life of a paragon without inevitably becoming a murderer- i.e.- ''damned''. It happened to her parents and it happened to her despite her best intentions. She is attempting to save Nina from ''LITERAL DAMNATION''. Quite simply, a short-lived, miserable Nina may actually be better off in the long run than a living, damned Nina. Viewed in that light, treating her daughter so coldly when they are reunited makes sense. Anything that increases the likelihood of Nina becoming a paragon- including displaying the slightest warmth or kindness to her at their reunion- jeopardizes her beloved daughter's soul and must be avoided at all costs. Too bad for her that she assumes Nina herself has no agency in the matter.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gloriana's actions and plans for her daughter- abandoning her, depriving her of her sister, and erasing all memory of her sister's existence even as Nina slides into alcoholism, drug addiction, and a probable early death from either suicide or homelessness- seems unspeakably cruel and evil. But look at the alternative. For the apparently rather religious Gloriana, the existence of an afterlife- and by extension Heaven and Hell- are absolute, verified facts. Since she herself died and was reborn into magic like all paragons, she knows this from direct personal experience. And she also knows that one cannot live the life of a paragon without inevitably becoming a murderer- i.e.- ''damned''. It happened to her parents and it happened to her despite her best intentions. She is attempting to save Nina from ''LITERAL'' damnation. Quite simply, a short-lived, miserable Nina may actually be better off in the long run than a living, damned Nina. Viewed in that light, treating her daughter so coldly when they are reunited makes sense. Anything that increases the likelihood of Nina becoming a paragon- including displaying the slightest warmth or kindness to her at their reunion- jeopardizes her beloved daughter's soul and must be avoided at all costs. Too bad for her that she assumes Nina herself has no agency in the matter.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gloriana's actions and plans for her daughter- abandoning her, depriving her of her sister, and erasing all memory of her sister's existence even as Nina slides into alcoholism, drug addiction, and a probable early death from either suicide or homelessness- seems unspeakably cruel and evil. But look at the alternative. For the apparently rather religious Gloriana, the existence of an afterlife- and by extension Heaven and Hell- are absolute, verified facts. As a paragon, she knows this from direct personal experience. And she also knows that one cannot be a paragon without inevitably becoming a murderer- i.e.- ''damned''. It happened to her parents, and it happened to her despite her best intentions. She is attempting to save Nina from ''LITERAL'' damnation. Quite simply, a short-lived, miserable Nina may actually be better off in the long run than a living, damned Nina. Viewed in that light, treating her daughter so coldly when they are reunited makes sense. Anything that increases the likelihood of Nina becoming a paragon- including displaying the slightest warmth or kindness to her at their reunion- jeopardizes her beloved daughter's soul and must be avoided at all costs. Too bad for her that she assumes Nina herself has no agency in the matter.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gloriana's actions and plans for her daughter- abandoning her, depriving her of her sister, and erasing all memory of her sister's existence even as Nina slides into alcoholism, drug addiction, and a probable early death from either suicide or homelessness- seems unspeakably cruel and evil. But look at the alternative. For the apparently rather religious Gloriana, the existence of an afterlife- and by extension Heaven and Hell- are absolute, verified facts. As a paragon, she knows this from direct personal experience. And she also knows that one cannot be a paragon without inevitably becoming a murderer- i.e.- ''damned''. It happened to her parents, and it happened to her despite her best intentions. She is attempting to save Nina from ''LITERAL'' damnation. Quite simply, a short-lived, miserable Nina may actually be better off in the long run than a living, damned Nina. Viewed in that light, treating her daughter so coldly when they are reunited makes sense. Anything that increases the likelihood of Nina becoming a paragon- including displaying the slightest warmth of kindness to her- jeopardizes her beloved daughter's soul and must be avoided at all costs.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gloriana's actions and plans for her daughter- abandoning her, depriving her of her sister, and erasing all memory of her sister's existence even as Nina slides into alcoholism, drug addiction, and a probable early death from either suicide or homelessness- seems unspeakably cruel and evil. But look at the alternative. For the apparently rather religious Gloriana, the existence of an afterlife- and by extension Heaven and Hell- are absolute, verified facts. As a paragon, she knows this from direct personal experience. And she also knows that one cannot be a paragon without inevitably becoming a murderer- i.e.- ''damned''. It happened to her parents, and it happened to her despite her best intentions. She is attempting to save Nina from ''LITERAL'' damnation. Quite simply, a short-lived, miserable Nina may actually be better off in the long run than a living, damned Nina.

* DealWithTheDevil: The "devil", in this instance, being Gloria's own parents. Yes, Gloria's daughter would get to live again- as a lonely, isolated wreck who will never know her mother is still alive, with an elderly and senile grandmother, a sister who is getting sick of her, and a father who is unreliable at best. In return, Gloria would permanently abandon her children and her life, go back to Iridium Cabal, and become an exemplar of all the coldblooded ugliness and evil of paragon society that she gave up everything to leave in the first place. A major plot point of the first arc is Nina trying to figure out if there is anything even left of the old Gloria in the new "Gloriana of Iridium Cabal". [[spoiler: There is, but not enough to make her change her conduct.]]