"Well, actually..."
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So pick me from the dark and pull me from the grave.❞
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| BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION | |||
| Full Name | Riven Nitrogium | ||
| Alias | Weapons Expert; Riv/Ven Revel (stage name) Ribbon (by Klaus) | ||
| Gender |  Male
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| Age (at debut) | 16 (going 17) | ||
| Birthday | October 15 | ||
| Sign |  Elemental
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| Status | Alive | ||
| PHYSICAL FEATURES | |||
| Height | 5'7 | ||
| Skin Tone | Rosy tanned; scarred | ||
| Hair | Red-magenta & straight; length varies | ||
| Eyes | Deep violet | ||
| PROFESSIONAL STATUS | |||
| Class | Specialist | ||
| Theme Colour | ⬤ Strong Pinks | ||
| Occupation |
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| Weapons and Gadgets |
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| Fighting Style | Melee, Mid-range, Long range; offensive & defensive | ||
| Affiliations |
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| Signature | |||
| BACKGROUND | |||
| Birthplace | Hoggarth | ||
| Family |
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| Relationships |
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| Residence | Magix; Linfa | ||
| VOCAL PORTRAYAL | |||
| Voice Description | Slightly nasally; small lisp | ||
| Ideal VA |
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Riven Nitrogium is one of the main protagonists of TWCC. He starts as a nonconformist loner but slowly integrates into the Winx Club after a stint as the Trix's accomplice. Riven was the weapons expert of the Specialists and was lauded as the most resourceful. He was also one of the group's powerhouses, alongside Brandohn and, later, Nex.
Riven is the only child of two unremarkable commoners from separate planets. Thus, he has no title or special lineage to continue. He is an alumna of Fonterossa and a full-fledged specialist; but he is currently working toward becoming a Knight Templar. Riven's closest friends are Nabu, Helia and Timmie. His current significant other is Ren.
APPEARANCE[]
Riven is seen as attractive but in a way that usually appeals more to witches than fairies. He is not particularly tall but his physique is broad and muscular. He has rosy-tanned skin, deep violet eyes and red-magenta hair. Riven collects scars and hairstyles like they're Pokemon cards. There is a huge scar on his left arm; a gash on his right arm; another scar on his belly (from Darkar), and a small one under his left eye.
Civilian Outfits[]
Riven's style is casual with a bit of a punkish "alt" flare. He has a pair of black leather armbands he wears from time-to-time, and gradually takes a liking to rings, chains, and knob earrings. His palette is dynamic, gradually shifting from monochromatic to bright and colourful. His haircuts also evolve with time.
- Initially, Riven wears a black t-shirt under a camouflage jacket. His pants match his jacket and are held up by a bright red belt with a silver buckle. Later on, he starts wearing a black leather vest Darcy bought for him over a close-fitting white shirt with black jeans. As an accessory, Riven also wears a pair of black leather armbands with silver buckles. With both outfits, he tucks his pants into black combat boots. His hair remains the same as in canon — gelled up in the front and cut short in the back.
- In Book 2, Riven dons a long-sleeved, dark-grey Henley shirt with denim pants. He wears a broad black belt diagonally on his hips, and black and white sneakers. At this point, he stops gelling his hair up and just lets it lay flat.
- Riven's third outfit is a long, loose-fitting black t-shirt with a broad, slate-grey stripe running from front to back on the right-hand side. He wears the front of the the shirt tucked into baggy dark-red cargo pants. He wears his black combat shoes, leather armband and a silver dog tag chain. He grows out his hair to shoulder-length and keeps it in a low ponytail.
- In Book 4, Riven wears a British flag-inspired muscle shirt with high collars, boot cut jeans with two black belts crossed over each other and black shoes. On his wrists, he wears a pair of brown wristbands. While on Earth, he impulsively decides to get his ears pierced, donning black knobs.
- As a waiter, he wears an indigo button-up, open, over a white marino, accompanied by indigo-trimmed black cargo shorts. He keeps his hair in a bun when working.
- In Book 5-6, Riven wears an all-black ensemble. This includes a sleeveless shirt, cargo pants and black-and-white sneakers. He also wears silver waist chains, hanging from his belt loop, and silver rings. His hair is nape-length and shaggy throughout this period.
- Toward the end of Book 6, before he leaves, Riven dons a top Brandohn gave him. It is a sleeveless shirt that is black in the front and yellow in the back. He cuts his hair into a pixie cut.
- When Riven returns, he's wearing a dark-magenta short-sleeved, buttonless jacket over a long-sleeved white hoodie, along with plum-coloured pants and white sneakers. This later changes to a royal burgundy t-shirt with yellow diamond patterns across the chest, worn under a white, collared-vest. He also dons denim jeans with a white belt and burgundy shoes. He often wears black and/or silver rings. His hair is mid-back length and styled in an undercut ponytail.
Uniforms[]
Riven's core colour is deep pink, so his uniform gems and weapons tend to reflect this. However, there's sometimes shades of magenta (purple-pinks) and crimson in his colour scheme.
PERSONALITY[]
Of all the characters, Riven arguably changes the most over the course of the series. Initially, he is arrogant, thin-skinned, hot-headed, overly competitive and distrustful. He held great disdain for the privileged, idealists, anyone who could compete with him combat-wise and those he saw as weak. In spite of this mean-spirited persona, Riven struggled with loneliness and self-loathing. He wanted to form connections with those around him; however, his past made him instinctively distrustful of and aggressive towards others. As a result, he honed a lot of friction between himself and the rest of the group in what would ultimately become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When he thought Bloom had obviously tried to harm him on the Day of the Rose, yet the others hesitated to take his side, he interpreted this as confirmation that they really didn't care about him. Because of this, Darcy was able to take advantage of his pre-existing grudges and insecurities when he became enamored with her. After gradually having his spirit crushed, however, Riven was finally able to admit his faults and apologize to those he wronged.
Following the events of Book 1, Riven began to make a conscious effort to be a better person. He becomes a supportive and protective teammate, and he tries to be friendlier in spite of his blunt and realistic nature. However, he still felt some envy toward Skai and the new teammate, Helia in Book 2. He was also unintentionally distant with Mūsa at times — partly because he was still dealing with the remnants of his relationship with Darcy, and partly because of his poor communication skills. Eventually, he is able to overcome the worse of his struggles and bond properly with the Winx Club.
In Book 3, Riven is at first light-hearted and relaxed, having found a place to belong. He struggles with brief periods of gloominess but is overall quite happy-go-lucky. However, his sudden relationship conflict with Mūsa causes his contentment to morph into confusion and self-doubt. He experiences his first bout of romantic jealousy which, ironically, results in him meeting his best friend, Nabu, and fixing his relationship. However, in Book 4, his jealousy peaks as he grows defensive over Mūsa's sudden closeness with other men. While he's able to move past these incidents, another quarrel with Mūsa (Book 5) leads to the official end of their relationship. Distraught by the breakup and still grieving Nabu's death, Riven throws himself into nonstop training to cope. He becomes a tunnel-visioned workaholic and slowly spirals down a path of self-destruction, culminating in the deterioration of his health. After this incident, he leaves Magix to do some soul-searching.
Journey to Revel[]
F
By the end of the series, Riven is much calmer, happier and openly loving — though he maintains a smart mouth and daredevil attitude. He discovers an affinity for creating music and develops a platform as singer/song-writer Revel. He produces positive music which preaches self-actualization through aggressive self-acceptance, active self-improvement and unapologetic kindness. His ability to balance self-confidence with self-awareness makes his music appeal to both fairies and witches (though most of his "cult" are the latter). He can still be overly critical of himself at times but has learned not to ruminate to the point of self-sabotage. Riven finds most solace in his friends and, later, his significant other Ren.
SKILLS & ABILITIES[]
Weapon Proficiency[]
As the Weapons Expert, Riven is extremely proficient when it comes to wielding weapons.
- Melee Weapon Proficiency: Riven is a master of hand-to-hand combat.
- Ranged Weapon Proficiency: Riven is also capable of using weapons over a long distance in combat.
Weapons[]
Offensive & Defensive Weaponry - Riven utilizes melee and ranged weapons to both attack and defend.
Melee[]
- Dadao Phantoblade
- Brass Knuckles
- Cinquedea
- Scythe
- Fauchard Fork
Mid-Ranged[]
- Cross Haladie
- Solar Whip
Ranged[]
- Bolas
- Shurikens
- Boomerang
- Bubble Bomb
Combat Specialist[]
- Athletic Combat & Agility - As one of the powerhouses and a combat expert, Riven has trained his body to be strong, fit, and flexible for maximum combat efficiency.
- Stealth - Riven is a master of stealth. He can become almost undetectable in tactical situations that call for it. This is a self-taught skill.
- Resourcefulness - Likewise, Riven has trained himself to be a "minimalist". He can make the most out of anything and everything in his immediate environment.
- Strategy - Though it isn't his specialty, Riven is quite skilled at adapting various strategies in combat. He is notorious for using "barely legal" tactics in tournaments.
- Psychic Resistance: Riven is strongly — though not completely — resistant to mind magic. The reason behind this is unclear. He could be blessed with a natural nullification toward it, or his trust issues are just so severe he can't completely fall for it. It may be a little bit of both. Regardless, Riven's mind is a fortress, protected from everything but itself.
- Indomitable Will: Riven possesses unnaturally strong willpower which makes him exceedingly resilient. This is one of the reasons he tends to bounce back, even in his lowest moments.
- Lock-picking
- Sports Mastery
- Musical Affinity
- Waiter/Smoothie Barista
- Riven lacks training in the use of external magic. Though Specialist weapons are imbued with inner magical energy that can usually withstand/produce magical attacks, they are not the most powerful for attacks/defense when facing high-level magic users.
- Riven is extremely impulsive — something which can interfere with his efficiency at times.
- Initially, Riven was distrustful and against teamwork. As a result, he would sometimes get beaten when faced with a powerful enemy. He is, however, long past that stage.
- He is now at the point where he is willing to give help but still struggles to accept it. This is part of what exacerbates his self-destructive spiral.
RELATIONSHIPS[]
LOVE INTERESTS[]
❝ I got you, and you got me. I know you and you know me — we got telepathy.❞
❝ I want to see you smile but... Know that means I'll have to leave.❞
Mūsa was Riven's first long term partner. Riven's initial thoughts of her were something rather shallow, along the lines of "cute". She initially approaches him with the desire to be friends, but Riven rejects her. His distrust (especially toward bright-eyed and unnecessarily kind women) made him quick to dismiss her friendliness as having an ulterior motive. Though he found Mūsa to be attractive and sweet, he was much too guarded to trust her and opted to push her away instead. When he returns to the good side, he is quick to apologize after seeing how stupid and cruel he had been.
Mūsa and Riven become friends in Book 2 but they tiptoe around the idea of being together romantically. Though he picks up on the fact that Mūsa is waiting for him to make a move, Riven finds himself paralyzed between his present and his past. He likes Mūsa and wants to be with her. However, he is still grappling with feelings for Darcy and regularly questions his own worthiness after his past behaviours. He once goes so far as to try and hook Mūsa up with Jiang. This only serves to make Mūsa upset. It doesn't help that both Mūsa and Riven are hesitant to be vulnerable/open about their emotions unless it's a life/death situation. Eventually, Mūsa recognizes the boat they're in and meets him halfway. Having sorted out his feelings for Darcy at that point, Riven takes the step and also meets her in the middle.
At the beginning of Book 3, Riven at first feels that his relationship with Mūsa is going well. They talk, go on dates and chill with each other. Sometimes, he'll lock himself in when he needs space but he always lets Mūsa know he has something to do. All seems well to him. So, he's blind-sided when Mūsa suddenly starts airing grievances, to their friends then to him.
Despite acknowledging the wrongs she's done him, Riven still subconsciously feels Mūsa was too good for him.
❝ I don't need one more day of you wasting me away... Just give me myself back and don't stay.❞
Darcy is the first person Riven shows romantic interest in. In The Winx Club:Origin, she at first seems to appear as a supportive force in situations where Riven feels particularly ill-at-ease with his group. On The Day of the Rose, she ultimately saves him from a potentially fatal collision and heals his debilitating migraine. Riven believes Bloom is the one who set him up and is upset (read: hurt) that no one jumps to take his side. Darcy, however, sticks by him after the incident and reassures him that Bloom was, in fact, suspicious. Where Riven felt uncared for and unappreciated by his teammates, he felt as though Darcy understood and actually liked him. The Trix had always been rivals with the Winx so he agrees to become Darcy's informant to get back at his then ex-crew, largely unaware of the full results of his snitching.
Riven enjoys this first half of his relationship with Darcy. Somewhere along the way, however, he begins to sense something is awry. Darcy starts to express doubt about his love and tries to pressure him into revealing his mind to her. Her and her sisters antics also grow to be more dangerous and destructive. Riven ignores all these red flags; instead, he opts to keep on rose-coloured glasses and appease her. He blames his inability to be vulnerable for her distress and tries to resign himself to all her whims, even as he fights with discomfort and guilt. Eventually, the Trix throw away all pretense of decency and set out to overthrow Magix. Darcy imprisons Riven and manifests one of his worse fears — that he is an irredeemable monster — in order to break his resistance. It almost works, but he eventually breaks the illusion and finally turns on the Trix.
In Book 2, Riven is still dealing with the remnants of his feelings for Darcy. Despite unaligning himself with the Trix and improving his relationships, he ignores that there is still a telepathic link between him and Darcy. Neither uses it but he can feel the connection like a subtle buzzing in the back of his mind. This comes back to bite him as Darcy uses the link to try and get him back. Darcy confirms his suspicion that she had used more magic on him than she'd let on. She tried multiple subtle methods of manipulation first, but he'd never caved as she had intended. As such, she had tried to get into his mind — literally. However, she could never get far enough to learn more than some of his hard-hitting insecurities, which she tried to use against him in Book 1. Darcy concludes that subtlety does not work on Riven. So, in a last-ditch effort to regain control, she tries to take absolute command over him and make him a thoughtless puppet. Riven's guard is so strong she ends up trying to coax him into dropping his defenses. This fails, of course.
After the incident, Riven admits that he believes his feelings for Darcy were 100% real. That being the case, he feels there was a chance (however slim) that he'd have willingly joined the Trix to be with Darcy if she hadn't been so heavy-handed with her manipulation. To this day, Darcy still reminds Riven of the worst parts of himself (intentionally and unintentionally). As a result, the two maintain a malicious relationship as sworn enemies.
FRIENDS[]
Specialists[]
Nabu is Riven's best friend with whom he shares a special bond. They meet when Riven travels miles just to fight Nabu after a misleading video angle made it look like Mūsa was about to kiss him. Upon arriving on site and finding The Winx Club out of commission, Riven immediately assumes the worst of the sorcerer. After a quick but effective beating from Nabu, however, Riven calms down enough to hear the full story. They soon realize they get along really well when Riven isn't attempting murder and Nabu isn't surrounded by Riven's unconscious teammates. Riven and Nabu now hold a deep-seated — almost instinctive — affection for each other. The bond is not something either believes can be replicated with another person. Nabu's death triggered the unraveling of many of Riven's internalized struggles.
Prior to meeting Nabu and after his death, Riven was closest friends with Helia. Initially, Riven didn't like Helia much. He found it suspicious that a self-proclaimed pacifist, who just so happened to be Headmaster Saladin's grandson, was suddenly thriving at a school for warriors. However, with some prompting from Timmie and his own desire to be nicer, Riven was able to warm up to him. Riven admires Helia's strength and eye for efficient combat, but dislikes his insistence on holding back. As roommates, they get along swimmingly since both are just messy enough and clean enough not to step on each other's toes. They work well as teammates and their temperaments even out in most situations. Riven feels eternally grateful to have had Helia looking out for him in his worst moments and hopes to pay him back for it some day.
"I... don't think I handle death very well."
Helia snorted softly. "I don't think anyone really does."
"Yeah, that's probably true." Riven chuckled but sombered quickly. "I'm also...really bad at coping with the end of relationships." Helia nodded. "And, even though I try to help you guys however I can, I still suck at accepting help."
"I'm sorry for the way I've been brushing you guys off these past months. And you, Helia... With the bathtub... I'm sorry if I scared you."
"...You were conscious?"
"I was going in and out but... I remember looking up from your arms and seeing the panic. I'm sorry."
"I wasn't thinking straight. There was blood and I didn't... I thought maybe you had..."
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to keep apologizing to me. Just... don't ever put me in that position again."
Initially, Riven looked down on Timmie because of his lack of combat prowess and his previous tendency to panic in dangerous situations. As far as Riven could see, Timmie simply lacked the ability to be a Specialist. He made fun of him constantly and, while Timmie doesn't generally care about teasing, he used to have a "berserk button" around being called a coward — something Riven did with increasing frequency while dating Darcy. Consequently, the two did not get along. Timmie was all too grateful to stop being roommates/teammates with Riven. Their relationship only shifted in a positive direction after Riven apologized to his team. Though somewhat cold, Timmie wasn't completely unreceptive to Riven's apology. The tension between them gradually fades in Book 2 as Riven comes to appreciate Timmie's non-combat expertise and Timmie moves past his insecurity of being seen as cowardly. Riven is quite fond of Timmie's more stern and snarky sides and occasionally initiates conversations he knows will bring out the latter. They sometimes work on Fonterossa vehicles together, just for fun. When Tekhne disappeared into the Omega Portal, Riven was caught between providing an environment for the The Winx Club to mourn and comforting Timmie — who seemed to be in denial of his partner's sudden death. Being the realist he is, Riven tried to talk some sense into the redhead but ultimately opted to let him have faith in his instincts. Like Helia, Riven considers Timmie to be one of his saving graces.
Riven and Skai are true-blue enemies-to-friends. Their tension stemmed from their inherent differences and similarities. Riven disliked Skai (and Brandohn to a lesser extent) because of his privileged background and combat prowess. He saw these two things as inherently linked and, due to his own background, he felt a resounding resentment at having to work alongside/compete with Skai. It didn't help that both are very competitive and argumentative. As a result of Riven's contempt and Skai's refusal to back down, they had a toxic rivalry when it came to physical and combat prowess. While Riven still had dregs of envy in Book 2 — stemming from his own feelings of inadequacy — their rivalry becomes much healthier over time. Their sparring matches were always intense and neck and neck; however, they have come to a point where they can fight side-by-side like a well-oiled machine.
Riven would have probably had a similarly cantankerous relationship with Brandohn as he did Skai if Brandohn was less level-headed and more competitive. Brandohn's lack of interest in maintaining a rivalry diminished Riven's own interest in doing so. This is partially because Riven is subconsciously tempered by opposing attitudes. Without his realizing it, Riven's desire to compete with Brandohn dissipated.
Winx[]
FAMILY[]
OTHERS[]
As Helia's roommate, Riven has been forced to hone a relationship with Helia's pets. All of them were once strays and they all have their own little idiosyncrasies. "Ear" is a regular cat with a tiny left ear. Like a regular cat, she is ambivalent to Riven's existence (and he likes it that way). "The Void" is a black cat that spends most of its time in liquid form. (In fact, it took Helia two years to realize it only had three legs and he still doesn't know its gender). "The Void" is friendly but not particularly attached to Riven (and he likes it that way). "Deathmetal 3000", on the other hand, adores Riven even though he hates everyone else (including Helia). Riven never knows if he should be flattered or annoyed when he curls up next to him. "The Dog" does not like Riven; Riven likes its fur colour. Despite Helia's best efforts, "The Dog" and Riven have decided on a mutual "Stay the hell away from me" relationship.
CHARACTER TRIVIA[]
- Riven is incredibly resourceful. His yearning to be self-sufficient after his mother abandoned him has made him skilled at working with very little.
- Riven is a good thief. After his mother left, he went through a period of (willful) homelessness. He made do.
- His core color is a bright shade of pink. Not only do others not care about this, but neither does Riven. There is no general stigma against liking or being associated with certain colours on Hoggarth, Zenith or Magix.
- Of the Specialists, his family is the least remarkable socially, and he has struggled the most financially while growing up.
- Riven is the same height and body type as Skai.
- While he never really dwelled on his sexuality, Riven always figured he was ace if nothing else. He later learns that he can, in fact, feel sexual attraction. He is likely demi-pansexual.
- In all of his romantic relationships, Riven's lovers expressed interest in him before he reciprocated. This may or may not be tied to his demi-romanticism.
- Riven has a Queerplatonic/anti-amatonormative approach to his closest relationships. He does not ascribe to the belief that romantic or familial (blood-wise) relationships have to be the most important bonds in someone's life, as that is not the case for him. Riven compares the intensity of his affection for his best friends to feelings traditionally associated with long-term romances/marriage. While he adores his significant other to the point of it being saccharine, he values his relationship with Team Alpha on a whole other level. In essence, Riven has a reversed experience of the traditional take on platonic vs romantic relationships.
- Riven likes reddish-brown colours (garnet, maroon, rosewood, chocolate cosmos, etc.)
- Riven has a wide vocal range. He can sing all the way from bass to soprano (though he sometimes struggles with the latter).
- Though his music is equivalent to Alternative/Indie Pop/Rock, Riven's favourite genre to listen to is Nu Metal.
- Riven seems to unconsciously get along better with neutral magic users and people with a temperament opposite his own.
ETYMOLOGY & INSPIRATIONS[]
Riven[]
Middle English: past participle of rive, from Old Norse rífa (“to rend, tear apart”), from Proto-Germanic rīfaną (“to tear, scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European h₁reyp- (“to crumble, tear”).
Definitions []
Rive[]
- (transitive, archaic except in past participle) To tear apart by force; to rend; to split; to cleave.
- (transitive, archaic) To pierce or cleave with a weapon.
- (intransitive) To break apart; to split.
- (transitive, rare) To burst open; explode; discharge.
- (woodworking) To use a technique of splitting or sawing wood radially from a log (e.g. clapboards).
On a surface level, Riven's name represents the painful complications that occurred during his birth, his proficiency with handling sharp weapons and the internal turmoil that escapes him over the course of the series. However, in the Hoggarthian language, riven means "to have overcome".
Nitrogium[]
Nitro[]
From Ancient Greek νίτρον (nítron). See niter.
Definitions[]
- short for nitroglycerine
- nitrate, nitrogen
- containing the nitro functional group
-ium[]
From Latin -um (“neuter singular morphological suffix”), based on Latin terms for metals such as ferrum (“iron”).
Definitions[]
Suffix
- (chemistry) used to form the names of metal elements, after the style of early-named elements, as well as the isotopes of hydrogen.
- (chemistry) used to form the temporary systematic element name of a metallic or nonmetallic element which is postulated to exist, or which has been newly synthesized and has not yet been assigned a permanent name.
- (by extension, humorous) appended to common words to create scientific-sounding or humorous-sounding fictional substance names.
- used to form the name of an aggregation or mass of something, such as biological tissue: for example, epithelium, pollinium. Words so formed often form their plural with -ia.
- used to indicate the setting where a given activity is carried out: for example, auditorium, colloquium, gymnasium, natatorium, planetarium, podium, sanatorium, stadium. Words so formed often take -a for the plural.
- (pharmacology) used to form names of quaternary ammonium compounds used as neuromuscular blocking agents, cholinergic agents, anticholinergic agents, antibacterials/antiseptics, or other agents.
Nitrogium is a common Zenith name and the surname of Riven's father. It refers to Riven's explosive traits, his affinity for working with metallic machinery/weapons and his Zenithan bloodline.
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