- "That's the thing about daughters. When they see you die at the hands of one self-righteous hero, they really don't want to see it happen again."
- —Damien Darhk[src]
Nora Darhk (born December 2, 2003),[1] also known as Emily[1] and Eleanor,[2] is the daughter of the late Damien Darhk and the late Ruvé Adams. She was a playmate of William Clayton when he was kidnapped by Malcolm Merlyn and placed into Damien's "care".
Nora and her mother were to survive the Genesis in the Tevat Noah facility, only for Lonnie Machin to kidnap them, the ensuing fight sabotaged the facility and Machin murdered Ruvé. Nora was then taken by Oliver Queen, before being returned to Damien Darhk by Thea Queen. Nora was to spend her last moments with her father, as they waited for the world to be destroyed in a nuclear fire, only for Team Arrow to put an end to Damien's plans.
However, she later grew up to be a follower and vessel of the mysterious entity known as Mallus, and became involved in resurrecting her father, desperately wanting to save him from his dark fate. When Mallus was initially freed from his prison, Nora was killed in the process. However, with help from Ray Palmer, Damien went back in time and took Nora's place as a vessel for Mallus. Nora was subsequently arrested by the Time Bureau before Ray gave her father's time stone so she could later escape and start a new life.
Biography
Early life
Twelve-year-old Nora with her family at Christmas.
Nora Darhk was born on December 2, 2003[1] to Damien Darhk and Ruvé Adams and was the only child of the couple. They moved to Stonehaven in Star City by fall 2015,[3] living a seemingly normal and happy life; for example, celebrating that Christmas as a family, and decorating the Christmas tree together.[4]
Lonnie Machin captures Nora and her mother.
In January 2016, Damien's former ally Lonnie Machin/Anarky took Nora and her mother hostage at their home, to get revenge on Damien, who he saw as having betrayed him. As he was about to burn the two, the Green Arrow's team came and rescued them. While in police custody, Ruvé presented fake identification for Nora and herself. Afterwards, Nora and her family moved straight away to the Fairmount Hotel for a month while her parents looked for a new place for them to live.[5]
Damien introduces Nora to her new playmate, William Clayton.
In mid-February, while staying at the hotel, Damien introduced Nora to a new companion, William Clayton, and asked her to play with him. Unbeknownst to her, William was Oliver Queen's son, who had been kidnapped by Malcolm Merlyn on Damien's orders to force Oliver to drop out of the mayoral election, which would allow Ruvé to become mayor.[6] William stayed with them until he was freed by Team Arrow and Vixen in late February.[7]
Nora and her mother escorted in Tevat Noah by Malcolm Merlyn.
In May, Nora and Ruvé went to Tevat Noah, H.I.V.E.'s safe-haven town built under Star City, designed to survive the nuclear destruction of the world caused by the Genesis project. As Nora gazed around, her mother and Malcolm discussed Machin. When Ruvé realized Green Arrow and Spartan arrived, she ordered Malcolm to take care of it and gestured Nora to come along to safety.
Nora and her mother are held hostage by Machin in the power supply.
Shortly after, Nora and Ruvé were taken hostage again by Machin and held captive in the power supply. Machin filmed a video of Nora and her mother, demanding the surrender of her father. Team Arrow tried to free them but ended up causing the destruction of Tevat Noah. In the ensuing chaos, Machin stabbed Ruvé in the heart and managed to escape, while Nora watched as the ceiling of the building they were in collapsed on her mother. John Diggle freed Nora, and Ruvé's dying wish was for Oliver to protect Nora and save her from the surrounding explosion.[8]
Nora is threatened with death by Thea Queen.
When Damien learned about the destruction of Tevat Noah, his first two questions were whether his wife and Nora were safe. On learning that Ruvé was dead, he changed his plans, trying to destroy the world rather than attempting to rebuild it. Though Nora was still alive, Damien claimed he was doing it for her, to save her from the pain of growing up without her mother. To do this, he went straight to Felicity Smoak to try to force her to help him regain control of the nuclear missiles she had previously prevented from launching. Oliver and John arrived and tried to stop him, but as Damien was about to kill Oliver, Thea arrived with Nora and threatened to kill Nora if Damien did not let him go (something which later made her decide to leave Team Arrow). He agreed and escaped, taking his daughter to safety.[9]
Nora with her father a few moments before his death.
Damien took Nora to his nexus chamber underneath City Hall to wait for the end of the world. Nora told Damien that she found it a scary place and missed her mother and he comforted her, promising they would see Ruvé again soon. An A.R.G.U.S. assault team arrived to take out Damien but were quickly killed by him. A short while later, Oliver arrived as the Green Arrow and challenged Damien to one final battle. Oliver was thrown out of the nexus chamber onto the street, and as Damien attacked him, a crowd formed supporting Oliver, who managed to use his Light of the Soul to counteract Damien's dark magic. They fought hand-to-hand until Team Arrow and the Ghosts arrived and fought, with the crowd joining in against the Ghosts. The fight ended with Oliver breaking his own oath by killing Damien.[9]
Possessed by Mallus
After Damien was killed, Nora was placed into child services under the alias "Emily." With her name taken from her and both of her parents dead, she became lonely and afraid, which drove her to become a target to the mysterious demon known as Mallus. During this time, John Constantine, unaware of the identity of both Nora and the demon, attempted to rid her of Mallus. He was unsuccessful, and Nora was admitted to the Sumner Asylum in Star City on September 23, 2017. When Constantine went to the asylum to try to exorcise Mallus, the demon possessed Nora, telling him that he would take both her and also Sara Lance, before the exorcism was interrupted by the asylum staff.
Thirteen-year-old Nora with Sara Lance prior to an attempted exorcism by John Constantine.
Constantine sought help from Sara, who identified the demon and insisted on her and the Legends helping him free Nora. While attempting this, they found out who Nora was, but the exorcism again failed, with Constantine, Sara and Leo Snart being sent back in time by Mallus before Nora regained control of her body. The next day, Nora was brought out of the asylum by Ray Palmer and Zari Tomaz.
Nora reunites with her father.
Ray and Zari brought her to CC Jitters to calm her down. Although it was working, after seeing the TV of her father's death, Nora became scared again allowing Mallus tp take control of her once more. He proceeded to fight Ray and Zari while destroying the cafe. Sara, determined to help Nora, traveled to Mallus' dimension and got her out, therefore freeing her from Mallus' control. Shortly after, much to Nora's amazement, her father Damien Darhk appeared to her in the cafe. Damien says to Nora that Mallus is no demon, but that he is her "savior," and that she must allow him to guide her childhood in order to ensure Damien's resurrection in her adulthood. When the asylum orderly show up to escort her back, Damien encourages her to go with them.[1]
Nora grew up as a loyal follower of Mallus and began inheriting his powers as her own. She also started going by the name "Madame Eleanor" and followed his commands in order to resurrect her father. The demon also granted her a talisman that allowed her to traverse time at will.[2] At some point, she learned Oliver Queen was, in fact, The Green Arrow and grew to harbor resentment towards him for killing her father. In approximately 2039 she began traveling through time to revive her father.[10]
Serving Mallus
Nora in 1895 as the medium Madame Eleanor.
As Mallus needed a Blood Moon to resurrect her father, Nora went into the past to recover his body immediately after it had been buried. However, due to the Legends' blunder in Aruba, anachronisms were popping up all over time and Damien's corpse ended up in 1895 London. Traveling into the past, Nora went by the name Madame Eleanor, a medium capable of communicating with the deceased. She then employed the service of Sir Henry Stein and the cult of the Order of the Shrouded Compass, promising to show them that one can come back from the dead. They gathered fresh blood in order to sustain her father's body in preparation for a ritual to resurrect him during the blood moon. When the activities of the cult drew in Rip Hunter and the Legends, she went on to ensnare Zari Tomaz with a message from her deceased brother. Later, she stole her Air Totem.
Mallus speaking though Nora.
When Rip demanded to speak with Mallus, Nora allowed her master to possess her to speak with him; once the time came for the blood moon, Nora was given her body back and laughed in triumph. Her father was back, and his magic had been returned as a gift from Mallus. During the battle with the Time Bureau and Legends, Zari recovered her Air Totem, but Nora and her father escaped.[2]
Soon after, Nora and Damien began to travel through time changing history in order to cause anachronisms that would weaken the prison holding Mallus, with the aim of freeing the demon.
Nora at a party in 1930s Hollywood.
With this as their goal, she accompanied her father with Kuasa to 1930s Hollywood, where they fought with the Legends over Helen of Troy. While Sara Lance dueled with Damien, she defeated the rest of the Legends, before helping her father. She was about to kill Sara when Firestorm intervened, and overpowered both her and Damien combined, causing them both to quickly leave that time, but leaving Sara in a coma.[11]
Nora as a "Valkyrie".
Later, Nora returned with her father to 1000 A.D., the two posing as a Valkyrie and Odin, respectively. During the battle, she was defeated by Mick Rory and Leo Snart; seeing his daughter unconscious, Damien became enraged and chose to escape with her.[12]
Nora on deaths doorstep.
While in the Bahamas in 1717, Nora managed to steal Amaya Jiwe's Anansi Totem and later tried to retrieve the Earth Totem leading to a fight with its wielder, the seemingly zombified Anne Queen, and the Legends. During the fight, she tried to siphon the life-force of Amaya but was shot with a dart of Ray Palmer's anti-magic gun, that left her on the brink of death. Later, feeling guilty, Ray came back to the place where he shot her and gave Nora a cure in exchange for the Anansi Totem. However, after she was cured, Nora attacked and almost killed Ray, but knocked him out instead when her father suggested that it would be a better option to take him as their prisoner.[13]
Stranded in 1960s East Germany with Ray Palmer
Nora and Ray in 1962s East Berlin.
After learning of a long-dead scientist in communist East Berlin in 1962 who's could help fix the shattered Fire Totem. Nora volunteers for the mission saying she's the best choice of not risking any paradoxes due to her father's younger version being there. She takes Ray since he speaks "Geek" and together they go to the past.Younger Darhk tried to kill Vogal, but Ray Palmer and Nora Darhk rescued him and escaped. The following day, Darhk tried to kill Vogal again as the group tried to get in West Berlin but failed. They were rescued by Damien's future version who came after them after he noticed they were late coming back. Mad that her father came and possibly jeopardized the mission and after a few hurtful words Nora was kidnapped by her father's younger self. Agreeing to a trade for his daughter's life for the scientist the Present Day and Younger versions of the men but younger Darhk tricked him and threw Nora out of the roof, but not before he shot Vogal. Future Darhk used his magic to catch Nora, and Damien tried to use the situation to his advantage. Darhk shot his future self, but Future Darhk caught the bullets with his magic. The two started fighting, while future Darhk tried to catch Nora. During the fight, Darhk was impressed by his opponent's magic powers and noted that he should study it in the future. Eventually, Nora finally got her powers from the Anansi Totem and defeated younger Darhk.
Mallus's possession over Nora grew stronger.
Dr. Vogal later died from his injuries, but not before he gave Ray Palmer the secrets for cold fusion. Nora was unsuccessfully in getting it from him and witnessed Ray purposely causing an Aberration by blasting the Berlin Wall. Immediately Ray got rescued by a speedster who also picket pocketed the Fire Totem. After returning to the future, father and daughter cleared up their issues with one other. However, Mallus's possession of Nora grew stronger.[10]
Conversing with Sara in Mallus' dimension
Nora taunts Sara in Mallus' dimension.
When the Death Totem corrupted Sara, her spirit was trapped in the spirit realm, where Nora showed up. She gave Sara a brief history on the totem and revealed it's the one that works in Mallus's, favor which why it was erased from history. Nora tried to convince Sara that a life not full of regret and guilt would be the best path and coldly showed her an old mission from Sara's time with League of Assassins, in which the victim's daughter stumbled upon her dying father. Sara earlier pointed out that Nora's path of villainy didn't start when Oliver killed her father and that she once helped Nora regain control of herself when Mallus took over her that fateful day in Jitters. After Sara regained control, she left the realm. Nora stated that she was making a mistake but Sara reassured she wasn't.[14]
Freeing Mallus from his prison
Nora murders Kuasa.
Eventually, Kuasa began having second thoughts about helping the Darhks to free Mallus and double-crossed them by handing Nate over in exchange for the Anansi Totem, which she secretly returned to Amaya. Later, after Nora caught her father just pretending to torture Nate while actually confessing to him his displeasure about Mallus taking over her daughter's body, she was furious and started to drain Nate's life force by herself. However, she was stopped by Wally, Amaya and Kuasa who she easily defeated. In retaliation for what her former ally did, Nora used her magic to extract the Water Totem from Kuasa's body, killing her in the process and forcing the Legends to flee.[15]
After Nora and her father sent Grodd into 1979 in order to kill the young Barack Obama and create a final anachronism to shatter Mallus' prison, they bid goodbye to each other, knowing that as soon as the demon is free, Nora's body will be consumed by him. Not wanting this to happen, Damien betrayed Nora and allied himself with the Legends. He lured Nora into a trap by having her enter the Waverider under "Mallus'" suggestion (actually a miniaturized Ray using a record of John Noble's voice) and trapping her in a confinement magic circle.
Nora transforms into Mallus' true form.
After Mallus stated that Nora is "already gone", the Legends decided to allow Amaya to save her village in 1992 in order to free Mallus so that they can take him down once and for all. However, after Damien had a vision of her daughter telling him she is scared of dying, he sabotage dthe Legends' plan, by unleashing Grodd onto the village in an attempt to protect the timeline and keep Mallus from being freed, in hopes of saving Nora. The Legends scatter in the chaos and Nora is set free by her father while the team battles Grodd. Once the rampaging gorilla is defeated, Mallus is freed and Nora painfully transforms into the demon's true form.[16]
Saved and arrested
Ray comforts Nora after her father's sacrifice.
Later, Ray comes up with a plan to stop Mallus from completely taking over Nora's body. Desperate to save his daughter, Damien Darhk goes along with it, the duo time jump back to right before Mallus broke free in 1992's Zambesi Village, where Damien shoots Nora with Ray's anti-magic gun. Not to be defeated so easily, Mallus proceed to take over Damien's body while Ray brought Nora back on the Waverider and cured her from the side-effects of the gun. Upon realizing what happened to her father, Nora broke down as Ray comforted her for her loss.
Nora ready to fight alongside the Legends in Salvation.
Afterwards, Ray and Nora reached the rest of the Legends in 1874's Salvation, where, in order to avenge her father, along with Jax, Ava Sharpe, Helen of Troy, Jonah Hex and the resurrected Kuasa, she helped them defeat the army of historical figures controlled by Mallus and later assisted at the demon's defeat at the hands of the giant Beebo doll summoned by the Legends, happy that her father was avenged.
Nora looks at Ray as she is transported away.
At the end of the battle, while she was escorted to prison by a pair of agents of the Time Bureau, Nora was reached by Ray, who asked that he talk her a few minutes in private; as the agents let them space, he kindly asked her how she was feeling and after Nora responded sarcastically that her father died for a second time and that she would have spent her life in prison, Ray secretly gave her Damien's time stone, saying that her father had sacrificed his life in order to give her a second chance and that he is sure she will make it worthwhile. As she was transported away, Nora addressed a last glance of gratitude to Ray.[17]
Personality
As a child, Nora was kind, caring, polite and innocent. She also loved both her parents very much. Seemingly stemming from the murders of Damien Darhk and Ruvé Adams, as an adult, Nora has adopted all of her parent's absolute worst traits, becoming very cold, cruel, arrogant and ruthless. She is also manipulative and sadistic, using people's emotions against them and reveling in other people's misfortunes, though she is not quite as evil, as her father Damien remains very important to her (she was willing to siphon Sara Lance's life force when she witnessed Sara had a sword to her father's throat).
Though occasionally taking smug, sadistic pleasure in other people's misfortunes, Nora does not quite take her cruel sense of humor as far as her father; after discovering that Martin Stein was trapped in Jefferson Jackson's body, he fell into an uncontrollable laughter, but she was unaffected and seemed to have no humor about it, instead calmly asking him if he needed a moment before they chased after their enemies.
Upon becoming a permanent vessel for Mallus, Nora's character took a turn for the worse the stronger he became inside her, with her becoming even more violent, sadistic, and conceited than before, to the point that her father, fearing for her safety and at last admitting to missing his daughter as she'd been before Mallus and working with the Legends to try and exorcise Mallus from her. Once separated from Mallus, Nora returned to her typical personality, now bitter from the second death of her father and the prospect of being a prisoner of the Time Bureau.
However, she's shown to have some form of appreciation towards Ray for continuously going out of his way to show her kindness and saving her and proclaiming that she can be an ultimately good person from what he saw in her when they weren't being watched over her father.
Powers and abilities
Channeling the power of the demon Mallus, Nora is able to do great feats of black magic.
Powers
- Dark magic: After merging with the soul of Mallus, Nora became able to assess much of its powers, some of which are similar to those used by her father, Damien Darhk.[2] After Mallus left Nora's body, she was revealed to retain some of the inherit powers gifted to her by Mallus.
- Life-Force Absorption: Nora can siphon the life-force from people and kill them through physical contact.[11]
- Mediumship: Nora is able to communicate with Mallus and speak for him.[2] She is also able to see into the true nature of people, as she quickly determined that Martin Stein and Jefferson Jackson had switched bodies. Her eyes turn red when she uses mediumship.
- Telekinesis: Nora can move and otherwise exert force objects and people with her mind. This notably allowed her to could stop and launch multiple projectiles or to crush objects, such as flames, without physically touching them.[11] Nora can also use her telekinesis to rip things out of one's body, such as she did when she ripped the Water Totem out of Kuasa's heart.
- Thermokinesis: While channeling the powers of Mallus, Nora is able to control flames of the Heat Gun[11] and cryoblasts of Cold Gun.[12]
- Photokinesis: While channeling the powers of Mallus, Nora is able to control light blasts of the A.T.O.M. Exosuit.[11]
- Electrokinesis: While channeling the power of Mallus, Nora is about to control electricity such as absorbing and redirecting Wally's lightning.
- Energy Projection: While channeling the powers of Mallus, Nora is able to project a powerful dark energy, purple in color, and is concussive in nature. Her blasts can be used as waves or beams, and are powerful enough to knock three of the Legends down.
Former powers
- Air Totem: Nora's temporary powers came from the Air Totem, a totem that channels and harnesses the power of the air.[2]
- Aerokinesis: The Air Totem granted Nora with the power to manipulate the air, bending it in whichever way she wanted.[2]
- Anansi Totem: After Damien Darhk stole the Anansi Totem from Amaya Jiwe, he gave it to his daughter. However, Nora learned from Kuasa that she could only tap into the totem's power when she had a selfless reason for doing so. When her father was struggling to save her from falling while fighting off his 1962 counterpart, Nora told the older Damien to let her go. This enabled her to activate the totem. Unlike Amaya, access the totem's power manifests the spirits in a purple aura.[10][15]
- Superhuman strength:: Through the spirit of the gorilla, Nora became incredibly strong, being able to drag Ray Palmer to the ground with a single hand even while he attempted to fly away in his A.T.O.M. Exosuit.
- Flight: Through the spirit of the hawk, Nora is able to seamlessly fly in the air.
Abilities
- Expert combatant/Martial artist: Presumably during her time with the Order of the Shrouded Compass, Nora is a capable unarmed combatant. She was seen using krav maga when fighting guards and soldiers in Germany, able to swiftly evade punches and grabs and even used a scarf to strangle a guard unconscious.[10]
- Skilled interrogator/Torturer: Nora is a skilled torturer and used to take pleasure out of torturing others.[10]
- Master deceiver: Nora is an exceptional liar and has great improvisation skills.[10]
- Bilingual: Nora is capable of fluently speaking English and German.[10]
Weaknesses
- Anti-magic gun: When Nora attempted to kill Amaya, Ray shot her with a special nanite pistol he'd built to counteract Mallus' magic, which would have cost Nora her life if not for a cure Ray gave her afterwards.[13] While Nora did seem to make a full recovery, this also seemed to have, at least temporarily, effected her ability to access her powers, as shown shortly after arriving in 1962 East Berlin.[10] However, Nora could be seen using her powers effectively to aid the Legends in their fight against Mallus' army in the Old West while the demon himself was still recuperating after being injured by the explosion caused by Rip Hunter's sacrifice.[17]
- Light magic (presumed): Much like her father, Nora's powers come from dark magic so it is very likely that if one person can focus their natural life energy into positive sources of strength (i.e. hope, love, joy, etc.) then her magic will ultimately prove to be ineffective against the target and even repel her from trying to absorb the said person's life-force.
Former weaknesses
- Aberrations/Anachronisms: The more aberrations and anachronisms that are being made, the more likely that Mallus takes more control of Nora's body. After the aberration Ray created by blasting a hole in the Berlin Wall in 1962, Mallus had noticeably gained more control over Nora's body, black liquid is also seen flowing through Nora's veins when Mallus was briefly trying to possess her.[10] Now that Mallus has left her body, aberrations don't affect her anymore.[17]
Equipment
- Time stone: Nora used a mystical stone that allows her the powers of teleportation and time travel. It was destroyed by a gun by the 1962 version of Damien Darhk. After Mallus was defeated and her father sacrificing himself, Ray found Damien's time stone and gave it to Nora so that she may escape the Bureau and find a second chance.
Former equipment
- Air Totem: After tricking Zari into giving her totem to her, she used the necklace to manipulate the air. Zari managed to get it back during the fight that followed.[2]
- Anansi Totem: After her father stole it from Amaya Jiwe, Nora acquired the Anansi Totem to summon the spirit of any animal, but she could only summon the powers of the totem when she when she had selfless reasons to use it. Kuasa later betrayed her and gave it back to Amaya.
- Water Totem: After Kuasa's betrayal, Nora used her magic to draw the Water Totem out of Kuasa, causing it to reform. The totwm was later stolen by her father and given to the Legends.
Appearances
Arrow
Season 4
- "Beyond Redemption" (mentioned)
- "Dark Waters"
- "Blood Debts"
- "Code of Silence"
- "Lost in the Flood"
- "Schism"
DC's Legends of Tomorrow
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
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Trivia
- In "No Country for Old Dads", Nora states that she has been mourning her mother for 23 years. This implies that the adult version of Nora is from around the year 2039, thus being 35 or 36 years old as of that episode.
- Nora has had a taste for CC Jitters' hot chocolate with caramel cream since childhood.[1][10]
- Ray seems to have developed affections for Nora after prolonged interaction with her in Damien Darhk's captivity and subsequent adventure in 1962 and believes there may be some good in her after meeting her child-self in 2017. Nora and Ray appeared to have similar interests musicals/movies when playing a game of Heads Up in Jitters with Zari.[1] It's implied Nora has developed a soft spot for Ray as well since he was the most proactive Legend who genuinely helped her be free from being Mallus's vessel.[17]
- Ironically, Ray and Nora's actors Brandon Routh and Courtney Ford are married in real life.
- Nora has used three of The Totems of Zambesi, more than any other individual, all of them being stolen from their original owners.
- In "Return of the Mack", Nora stole the Air Totem from Zari Tomaz, which was recovered by the Legends at the end of the episode.
- In "The Curse of the Earth Totem", Damien stole the Anansi Totem from Amaya Jiwe, which Nora wore and used from "No Country for Old Dads" to "I, Ava".
- In "I, Ava", Nora used her magic to take the Water Totem of Kuasa and used it after the latter's death until Damien gave it to the Legends.
- Her father affectionately referred to her as "Nora-Doll".
References
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