Zatanna Zatara

Subject Facts

Full Name: Zatanna Zatara
Codename: Zatanna
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Archetype: Meta Hero
Aliases: Mistress of Magic, Princess of Prestidigitation, Zee, Z, ZeeZee, Zanna, Z'anna, 'Tanna, Zanny, Sorceress Supreme and Magic Maid
Marital Status: Single
Affiliation: Justice League of America, Sentinels of Magic, Seven Soldiers of Victory

Subject Attributes

Meta-Human Abilities:
Zatanna is one of a race of humans naturally adept at magic called the Homo Magi and possesses great magical talent. She generally casts her spells by speaking backwards as a way to focus her magic and as a tribute to her father however, the backwards speaking is not always necessary for her to cast spells. Through her focused spell casting her power levels are massive and her abilities are limited only by her own imagination. She is considered among the most powerful known magic users.

She has demonstrated great mastery over a variety of powers including: Control of the elements like fire, air, earth, water and ice; Flight; Plant control; Weather control; Healing; Illusions; Telekinesis; Teleportation; Force field generation; Dimensional travel; Size alteration; Shapeshifting; Spectral sight; Mystical invulnerability and probability manipulation; Thermokinesis; Magical Awareness; Dispelling Magic; Elemental and Molecular Conversion; Elemental Transmutation; Magical Manipulation; Extraction and Transportation of souls; just to name a few.

Zatanna is also able to use her magic for telepathic purposes such as reading minds, removing or altering specific memories, or wiping minds completely. She can also control the mind of another making them say what she wants.

Standard Abilities:
Prestidigitation: Zatanna is an excellent stage magician. She is skilled in stage magic, performing simple tricks and elaborate illusions. She also is an expert escape artist.

Decent Combatant: Zatanna has trained with various members of the Justice League including Batman and is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant who can hold her own surprisingly well in a physical fight. Her fighting prowess often takes her opponents off-guard, since they mistakenly assume that she is helpless if her spell-casting ability is neutralized. Zatanna has said that she has a red belt in Martian kung fu, an exotic fighting method that few opponents are familiar with, giving her an added advantage in combat. Her father encouraged her fighting skills as well always telling her that she must rely on her wits as well as her fists should her magic fail.

Occultist: As chronicler of magic, she possesses an extensive understanding of Occult lore due to her mystic background.

Hypnotist: She can use hypnosis to bring about a state of consciousness in a person through which they can lose the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction.

Improvisation: Both on the stage and off, Zatanna is quick-witted and adaptable. Though she prepares specific spells and practices her backward vocabulary, she often has to improvises in unpredictable situations she encounters.

Multi-lingual: Able to speak English, Spanish, and "Backwards Speech" aka Mnemonic Incantation. She also knows some sign language.

Paraphernalia:
Magic Wand: Zee has a magic wand that she generally uses as a prop in her shows. It can be used to help channel her magics but it is not needed and she can still cast her spells effectively without it.

Hat: Zatanna often wears a tall black magician's hat as part of her traditional costume. She has utilized her hat as a dimensional portal, both to bring items to her and to trap enemies within. (It is unclear whether the hat itself is magical, or if it is merely a convenient prop to help her focus her powers of dimensional manipulation.)

Shadowcrest: Zatanna owns a mansion called Shadowcrest, in which she keeps a vast library of magical knowledge, as well as an arsenal of powerful relics, enough to do "just about anything you'd want to do." Shadowcrest seems to exist in a completely different dimension, although it was initially located outside of Gotham. The current entrance is located in San Francisco.

Subject Weaknesses:
Glass Canon/Human: While Zatanna has immense power at her disposal due to her Homo Magi heritage, she is also human. As such, she is subject to all the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that go along with it.

Guilt/Uncertainty: While Zatanna's power is near limitless, she must also ask herself whether it is her place to use it in many situations. Where is the line she must not cross? Is there a line? She harbors guilt due to previously altering the minds of others and wonders if she has made the right decisions over the years.

Mnemonic Incantation/Vocalization: Zatanna generally casts her spells by saying the words of her incantations backwards. She must be able to speak in order for her to focus and cast most spells. (If injured to the point or in a situation where she is unable to speak, she would be able to write the spell out and have it be effective.) Many villains know this and often seek to disable her before she is aware of their presence.

Higher-Level Magics: If the magic power-level of her opponent is higher than hers, then it would be extremely difficult for her to win a battle. In addition, it is difficult to impossible to affect a spell that was set in motion with higher-level magics. On a similar note, if a magic user of equal or even lower skill level puts a spell on something or someone it might be tricky to undo it depending on the nature of the spell and who cast it. Some spells cast by others can't be undone by another magic user.

Pupophobia: Zatanna had a frightening encounter when she was young that resulted in her father using his magic to turn a man into a puppet in front of her. She was frightened and didn't understand so he wiped the memory from her. Though she has since reconciled this fear they still give her the heebie-jeebies.

Zatanna cannot raise the dead. (Though she can certainly conjure their spirits to speak with them.)

Subject History

Zatanna is the daughter of adventurer John "Giovanni" Zatara and his wife Sindella. Sindella was a member of the mystic tribe of sorcerers called the Hidden Ones, or Homo Magi. Her father possessing similar magic, descended from a similar strain of Homo Magi without knowing, though not the same tribe. Zatanna inherited her parent’s ability to manipulate magic and her father's penchant for heroism. When Zatanna was only six months old, Sindella was in a car crash and died. Zatara was left to care for their young daughter alone. Zatanna and her father traveled the world together and she was schooled both in academics and stage magic becoming skilled in the family trade. They even spent some time in Los Angeles where Zatara starred in a handful of movies and she befriended a young Bruce Wayne who came to train in the art of illusion and escape artistry with her father.

After her eighteenth birthday, Zatanna's father mysteriously disappeared leaving Zatanna on her own for three years. She discovered her father's diary and learned of her innate magical abilities. She created a stage persona for herself and began to search for him between performances, all the while teaching herself magic. With the help of the Justice League, she learned that a being named Allura had cursed her father so he couldn't see his kin without them dying. They followed his trail to a land called Kharma where the "good" Allura helped defeat the evil one and undo the curse the curse.

Zatanna was finally reunited with her father and the pair returned to performing and worked to make up for lost time. Zatanna also worked to hone her magical skills, training with her father and other various instructors. Her studies lead her into a brief affair with John Constantine much to her father's disapproval. She also met her cousin Zachary and checked in on him from time to time over the years teaching him about stage magic and helping him attempt to master his own innate magical abilities. Zatanna was invited to join the Justice League and on her first mission found herself momentarily reunited with her mother. Sindella's death had been faked when her people had abducted her and brought her back to the hidden city to make use of the Medulla Jewel in her brain. The Homo Magi intended to utilize Zatanna in the same way and Sindella sacrificed herself to rescue her daughter from the city of the Hidden Ones.

Zatanna continued her fledgling membership with the Justice League. She and a handful of other heroes were often left with "clean up" duty after a mission. Often times the villain would call them by their real names and Zatanna would be forced to wipe their minds of the memory. During one such instance, Doctor Light infiltrated the League's satellite base and attacked Sue Digby. The team of Ralph, Barry, Hal, Ollie, Dinah, Carter, Ray, and Zee returned when they got Sue's S.O.S, but the damage had been done. While Ralph tended to Sue, Light not only threatened to come after Sue again, but he threatened to come after the loved ones of every one of them. After a heated debate, they decided to have Zatanna not only wipe his memories, but attempt to alter his personality to prevent him from being such a threat. Zatanna had never tried anything like that before and ultimately lobotomized him. Batman walked in while this was happening and Zatanna reluctantly used her powers to alter Bruce's memory of the event making him forget about 10 minutes of the encounter.

Tragically Zatanna's father died a short time later. They participated in a ritual organized by John Constantine to save the spiritual dimension for the Primordial Shadow. Many of the participants died, burning alive from the backlash of the spell. Zatanna was almost one of them but Zatara cast a spell to be taken instead, dying in her place. Though the ritual was a success and the entity was stopped, Zatanna was furious with John for involving them.

When the Spectre was set loose on a rampage, Zatanna helped assemble a team of magic wielders called the Sentinels of Magic. Together they worked to undo the damage he had done and bind The Spectre to a new host. As Hell had literally frozen over, Zatanna's team passed into Hell to relight the fires so the demons would once again be contained. When all was said and done, the group agreed to continue working together to protect the world from supernatural foes.

Many years passed and Zatanna threw herself into her perfuming career hiring Arnie, a pit bull of an agent and she worked hard to excel in both stage and mystical magics. Touring kept her mind off all the pain and loss in her life and she worked hard to reach higher levels of renown. One night John Constantine showed up on her doorstep and she helped him dispel a curse put on him by Nimue Ravensong. Though she would never truly get over the loss of her father, the experience healed some of the old scars between them.

Years later Sue Digby was murdered. Zatanna and the team that had previously been responsible for mind-wiping the villains assumed it was Doctor Light finally seeking revenge and went after him. They had to explain to Wally and Kyle exactly what had transpired all those years ago. In the end, it was Jean Loring's attempt to win back her husband Ray Palmer but a lot of old doors were opened that couldn't be closed again.

Shortly after this she lost confidence in herself and her powers and as a result was unable to tap into her own magic. Misty Kilgore appeared to her and talked her into taking her on as an apprentice. During the course of the events that followed Zatanna rediscovered her confidence and regained full control of her powers.

Around the time of the Infinite Crisis, Zatanna and the small group of Leaguer's involvement with the mind-wiping of the various villains came to light when Despero restored the minds. It was revealed that Zee had once altered Catwoman's memory as well. These revelations put a strain on many of her relationships including her close friendship with Batman which was practically severed as they were no longer able to trust her. The restored villains retaliated against those responsible and their loved ones. These events caused the heroes to take another vote as to whether they should wipe the villains memories again. The vote didn't matter because Zatanna refused to be involved and quit the League. She retreated to Paradise Island to collect herself and seek advice from Wonder Woman. Diana told her that both of them may end up using their powers again in ways they didn't want despite their personal wishes. Zatanna returned and rescued the League from Despero and "cleaned up" her mess by wiping the identities of the various heroes from the villain’s minds once again.

Though Selina and Zatanna came to a tentative understanding, her relationship with Bruce remained rocky. Zatanna never stopped trying to make it up to Bruce and generally bent over backwards to help him whenever he called. She assisted him in identifying a fellow magician Loxias and insisted on joining Bruce to avenge the deaths one of her former assistants. It turned out that Loxias had been killed and The Joker had been impersonating him. He promptly shot Zatanna in the throat and threw her in the magician's water tank. She managed to write a healing spell for her throat and trusted that Batman would save her. Save her he did and stayed with her until she woke, her throat not the only would that had healed. Together they took down the Joker and Bruce told her he was done blaming her for an error in judgment. The pair of them were finally able to move past everything and started to become closer.

Despite her fear of puppets, Zatanna helped Bruce against the new Scarface and in the end asked him if there was a possible future for them. Ultimately, he told her he cared for her enough not to draw her down into his dark world. Selina approached Zatanna about her closeness to Bruce. Zatanna told her he had turned her down an encouraged her to tell him how she felt before it was too late.

During the battle for Hell, Zatanna agreed to escort the Blue Devil there to petition the usurper Satanus and his sister Lady Blaze. While there she encountered her father but he was killed by Lobo. Since nothing can die in hell, his soul was consigned to the abyss. Eventually she and her companions escaped but not without considerable loss. She had to fight her and destroy her father again when he was raised as a Black Lantern.

As one of the people that knew Bruce's true identity, she helped the Bat family wrangle Thomas Elliot when he attempted to usurp Bruce's fortune.

One night after a show Zatanna was approached by Dale Colton a San Francisco police officer who asked her to offer her insight on a magical attack. This led her to an encounter with Brother Night who was attempting to control not only the mystical underworld, but the mundane underworld as well. Her warnings went unheeded and Night tried to remove Zatanna from the picture even going so far as to sending Zatara's soul to attack Zatanna. Zatanna overcame Brother Night and released her father's soul from his control.

Zatanna was forced to face her fear of puppets when she encountered a marionette by the name of Stringleshanks. He had once been Oscar Hampel a puppeteer that her father hand turned into a puppet after he had murdered a man and attacked Zatanna as a child. She didn't understand his magic yet and was frightened so Zatara made her forget resulting in her Pupaphobia. Stringleshanks tried to trick Zatanna into believing a sob story and while in Shadowcrest attempted to use some of the magical artifacts resulting in Zatanna being turned into a puppet. Mikey realized she was missing and came after her and when Oscar tried to turn Mikey into a puppet, the spell backfired undoing all of his mischief and turning Zatanna human again. She also encountered the demon Mammon when Benjamin "Sonny" Raymond attempted to trade her soul to extend his life. Thankfully her cousin Zachary was in town and helped free her mind from Raymond's thrall. She attended Zachary's show and hopes to continue mending their fractured relationship.

As a long-standing member of the JLA, Zatanna fought countless super-villains and mystic threats. She now lives in San Francisco, where she faces her own demons-sometimes literally- seeking a normal life while trying to preserve the balance of Earth's light and dark mystical community. She is considered among the most powerful and knowledgeable in the world and she is often sought after for magical assistance by supers and mundanes alike.

Subject Interview

Zatanna leaned against the railing of the Samuel Beckett Bridge and stared down into the River Liffey as its waters flowed swiftly beneath it and out of sight. Ireland was beautiful this time of year. Though it was evening, it was not dark. In the night, the buildings in Dublin became a dazzling display of colored lights and they glittered and danced across the water. The sounds of live music and the low hum of conversation and laughter drifted through the air from nearby pubs. The air was crisp and cool and the wild waterfront breeze repeatedly pushed Zatanna's long dark curls in front of her face. She responded in kind by pushing them back behind her ears and shoulders over and over again.

'What do they say? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result? Story of my life.'

Being on a break from touring was, for lack of a better word, weird. Between touring with her magic show, her obligations to the Justice League, protecting San Francisco from supernatural threats, and making sure Zachary didn't undo the fabric of reality on a dare, she was constantly busy. It was exhausting but Zee had always loved the work. In a way she WAS the work. It defined her. Gave her purpose. A reason to get out of bed in the morning.

This vacation had been her therapist's idea, not hers. 'You're still running away from your problems, Zatanna.' Zee rolled her eyes. What did she know? Just because she was right didn't mean anything. 'Take a break. Take some time for yourself.' The words echoed in the back of her mind and she frowned.

Zee didn't want to take time for herself. When she was on stage, she could be the glamourous magician wowing a captive audience. When she was working with the Justice League, she could be the mystical expert who always had the answer they needed. When she was home in San Fran, she could be the protector from dark and shadowy forces and mystical contact. And even with Zach she could be Aunt Zee who had her act together. Out here? She was just... Zee. Alone with her thoughts.

"Enots raeppa," She said quietly holding out her hand. Obediently a small stone materialized in her hand. She gave up her hair's battle with the wind and it incessantly whipped across her face as she focused on twisting the stone absently between her fingers.

It was a beautiful night. It was magical without any kind of added sorcery. Yet here she was standing on a bridge that looked like a literal harp with an incredible view and she was alone. At the end of the day, she was always alone. Most of the time it was fine. It didn't bother her. She had so much in her life that fulfilled her. But other times... Zee closed her fingers around the stone and promptly tossed it into the water where it produced a satisfying plop. She stared at the ripples for a few moments then spoke the words to conjure another.

It was said magic always extracted some sort of price. In movies and books, it was usually something very obvious and clear. A trade off of some sort. But in the real world, things weren't generally that black and white. She'd had people in her life, that she cared about, and that cared about her. She'd had love. One by one she'd lost them all to magic one way or another. Her parents who were literally consumed by magic were a prime example. Both dead protecting her. As the years ticked by and she felt loss again and again she couldn't help but wonder if her price for wielding the mystical energies of the universe was this lonely existence.

She'd lost Bruce to magic too. She was grateful that they had reached a point where he had finally stopped blaming her for her error in judgment and that they could be friends again but their relationship would never be the same. He was her oldest friend and first love and she'd broken his trust. Though he had forgiven her, she wasn't certain she'd ever not feel the pain of that regret.

She'd be lying to herself if she said she didn't still love him. There had always been something undefined between them. Something that transcended friendship. She'd loved him since they were kids and too stupid to know what it meant to give your heart away. There was a time when she was fairly certain he returned those feelings. Maybe he still did. But whatever his feelings for her, they weren't strong enough now for him to choose her over his mission. Or Selina. Between her meddling in both his and Selina's mind's she'd practically driven them together with a cattle prod. She was happy for him. For them. They deserved some joy after everything they'd been through. Bruce most of all.

Sometimes it was like that, though. Two people could love each other deeply but just not be meant to be. Didn't make his rejection sting any less.

'You always go for the troubled loners.' Her handywoman Mikey had said to her once. Why did people have to keep calling out her life patterns?

She sighed and again hurled the stone down into the water. Dale hadn't called in a while. Which, you know, was fine. It's not like he was supposed to call her. Thee was no REASON to call her. He'd brought her on as a supernatural advisor on ONE case. It was literally work. It was probably good he wasn't calling because it meant there were no mystical mysteries that needed unraveling, right? Besides, what did Zee care if he called? He probably wasn't nearly as good looking as she remembered anyway. It was fine. This was fine. Everything was fine.

It was probably for the best. John had a habit of showing up and scaring away any potential suiters anyway. If there was someone who was more of a disaster than Zatanna it was Constantine. On a scale of waterspout to hurricane, John was a Category 5 leaving massive destruction in his wake. The pair of them had also undergone a reconciliation over the past few years. The ritual that Zatanna had participated in and lost her father had been Constantine's brain child. She was still young and foolish then. Her father hadn't trusted him or his motivations but she had been stupid and infatuated with him and couldn't see him for what he was until it was too late and her father had taken her place in death.

As someone more experienced in magic and having made her own mistakes she could better understand what happened. The ritual had been necessary to save the world from darkness. In some ways she admired John for his ability to shut down his emotions and do what needed to be done for the greater good. Not everyone could see that. It was a burden shared by the magical community. In a way, she and John understood one another better than many could. Constantine was another of her oldest friends. If friend was even the right term. They had a complicated history. But she had learned a lot from him and cared for him. Despite the painful memory of that ritual, they'd had good times too. She'd learned a lot from him. Zatanna's mouth twisted into a wicked smile as she remembered long nights "studying" together. There were some areas they'd never had problems with.

She fruitlessly ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to push it out of her face again. 'John would appreciate this view.' She thought, sighing wistfully.

Zatanna abruptly closed her eyes and shook her head. Blinking rapidly as though trying to shake herself awake from a deep sleep. 'Zatanna.' she chided herself inwardly, 'Under no circumstances are you to call him. Don't let that be who you are. Don't be the person that calls John Constantine because you're feeling lonely. Don't add that to your growing list of terrible life choices.' Planting her elbows on the railing, she plopped her chin into her hands, starting at the at the water again.

...Was it really THAT bad of an idea?

In that moment, movement in her peripheries caught her attention and she looked up to see a figure floating in front of her. "Superman?"

"Hello, Zatanna," He said formally, then a little hesitant, "I'm sorry to intrude like this. Your friend told me you were on vacation and I wouldn't have bothered you if it wasn't important. We could really use your help on-"

"Oh, thank GOD!" Zatanna said, interrupting him. An expression somewhere between confusion and surprise flickered across his face. "Gnikrow sehtolc." She murmured and was properly suited up in moments. "I'm ready and here to help! What do you need?"

Author's Notes

Player Alias: Yvaine

Other Characters: Frances Kane/Magenta

How did you find ARFD?: You apparently can't get rid of me.