- "The same hammer that shatters glass forges steel."
- —Taiana reciting a Russian saying[src]
Taiana Venediktov[1] (died 2011) was a prisoner on Lian Yu, a former dive instructor and the sister of the late Vlad. She was forcefully killed by her good friend Oliver Queen after she became corrupted by the power of a totem that granted her power based on the deaths of those around her.
Biography
Before Lian Yu
Although Conklin implied Ukraine as the country of origin for Taiana and Vlad, according to Taiana herself, she comes from the village of Krasnoyarsk, that was ran by a government strongman named Kovar, whom she implied had been mistreating the people of the village.
Taiana worked as a diving instructor on a yacht that was hijacked. Everyone on board was killed, except for Taiana and her brother. The duo was then brought to Lian Yu to work for Baron Reiter.[1]
Prisoner on Lian Yu
While on Lian Yu, Taiana and several others were forced to harvest heroin and cocoa leaves to produce slam. After a slam harvester passed out, she aided him and requested he should be rested and given water. She was denied and was demanded she get back to work by Oliver Queen.[2]
Eventually, Taiana had enough and she and another worker worked together to steal some slam. When Conklin and Oliver Queen began to extract who stole the slam for other workers, Taiana came clean. Before Conklin could kill Taiana, Oliver insisted she be brought where her body couldn't be found. When Oliver escorted her, he separated their distance from a landmine which killed a mercenary.[2] Taiana was told where she could find clean drinking water and edible plants. When she noted that Oliver wasn't like the others, Oliver told her he would need her to do something and she would not like it. He performed the maneuver he learned from Yao Fei to make her look like she was dead and returned to camp, where Conklin demanded to see Taiana's body after learning a landmine took the life of Richards. Oliver lead him to Taiana's "body", where he checked for a pulse but found none. Once he left, Oliver undid the fake death and revived her.[3]
Days later, Taiana was visited by Oliver. She was asked if Reiter seemed interested in anything besides the drugs. Taiana told him he liked taking people away from their families. When asked if he had done anything mythical or magical, she told Oliver that he had claimed to have blessed some of the prisoners.[4]
When Oliver returned, she was told that her brother was killed because of Conklin, making her angry and shocked. While consumed with revenge, she was convinced by Oliver that Conklin was merely a means-to-an-end for what Baron Reiter had really planned on the island. Taiana was then shown a map of Lian Yu and was told it could lead to what Reiter was looking for.[1]
She later helped Oliver getting back to the Amazo, so that the latter could retrieve the detailed map of the island.
When Oliver stole the totem that Reiter had sought to acquire, Taiana carried it while he tried to escape the camp, only to start falling under its influence due to the deaths taking place around her[5]. After Reiter appears to shoot her, she fights back, but is pushed back by him. Reiter performs his supremacy by blowing up the plane that carried the prisoners. Taiana fought back again, but it is Oliver who kills Reiter. Taiana could not handle the totem any longer and asks Oliver to kill her. At first he is reluctant, but eventually is forced to. Oliver then snapped her neck and buried her next to Robert Queen's grave.
Legacy
During Slade Wilson's return to Lian Yu, he spotted Taiana's grave next to Shado's.
In 2015, after he found out that Slade Wilson escaped his prison, Oliver went with his sister Thea to Taiana's grave and took a gun he kept there, so Thea could defend herself.[6]
When Oliver was attempting to learn how to counteract Damien Darhk's magic in Hub City he saw a vision of Taiana with glowing yellow eyes, presumably echoing his memories of her on Lian Yu after she had fallen under the influence of the totem.[7]
Powers and abilities
Powers
- Dark magic: While escaping with Oliver from Reiter and taking the Khushu Idol, Taiana became affected by its dark influence, gaining access to the various powers it provides. Any death around her made her subsequent powers stronger and its influence also drove her insanely lustful for death to draw power from, to the point where she would attack and brutally kill her allies without remorse.
- Life-force absorption: The dark magic allowed Taiana to become stronger and even heal herself when others died around her. It also gave her an insatiable lust for life force, causing her to attack and kill others, even her allies, without remorse or hesitation.
- Accelerated healing: The dark magic imbued in her body allows her to heal instantly from any injury, making Taiana seemingly unkillable. When hit with a barrage of bullets her wounds quickly healed, but only when Oliver shot two soldiers behind her and the idol absorbed their life force into itself and channeled it into her.
- Enhanced strength: The dark magic also grants Taiana tremendous raw strength. While falling victim to the idol's influence, desiring more power, she throw a defiant Oliver several feet through the air with a single hand. She also effortlessly snapped a wounded prisoner's neck by pulling on his head.
- Enhanced durability: The dark magic also grants Taiana greatly increased durability. When hit with a barrage of bullets, she barely was fazed by it. The wounds only healed when when Oliver shot the two soldiers behind her and absorbed their life force into itself and into her.
Abilities
- Peak of human physical condition: As a free-diving instructor, Taiana is in top physical condition.
Weaknesses
- Time limitation: Since the idol's magic is fueled by the life-force of those that are killed, the powers only last for a period of time as killing only a single person will only last a few minutes. To which, Taiana is left powerless unless she sacrifices people to maintain her power.
- Khushu Idol: As this is the source of Taiana's powers, if the idol is somehow destroyed, so will her powers. Also it has driven her insanely lustful for death to draw power from, giving her a strong craving to kill others, even her allies, without any hesitation or remorse.
Equipment
- Khushu Idol: After finding the idol, which Reiter uses to channel his powers, Taina took hold of it and was able to absorb its dark energies for herself.
Appearances
Arrow
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
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Trivia
- Conklin nicknamed Vlad "Ukraine", and his sister "Miss Ukraine". However, this is incorrect as they were both Russian.
Behind the scenes
- In Green Arrow: Year One, Taiana was the name of a young pregnant woman, native of the island Oliver Queen washed up on. She was made into a slave and had to work in the opium fields and refinery for China White, until Oliver saved her.
- By Russian language conventions, Taina's surname should be spelled as "Venediktova", while "Venediktov" would be a form correct for her brother, Vlad.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Brotherhood"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Restoration"
- ↑ "Beyond Redemption"
- ↑ "Lost Souls"
- ↑ "Monument Point"
- ↑ "The Return"
- ↑ "Genesis"