#weaknessess

SyFy’s airing lots of Superman stuff this week, as they ramp up to the premiere of their new series, Krypton.  Which has gotten me to thinking...

So Superman, that strange visitor from another world, with powers far beyond those of mortal men, has three major drawbacks: Yellow Sun dependency, Kryptonite, and magic.

His fantastic powers derive from his Kryptonian ability to absorb and become supercharged by the light of a yellow star, such as the yellow dwarf Earth orbits.  Cut him off from it -- or put him under the light of a red star, like the red supergiant Krypton orbited (or like what Earth’s Sun will become in about 5 billion years), which will ’push out’ the yellow solar energy in him -- and his mitochondrial (mitoKondrial?) batteries eventually run down, reducing him to the strength level of a human man... a 6′3″ human man who grew up working on a farm.

Kryptonite, the irradiated remains of his homeworld, affects him like radiation poisoning in standard humans, though at a vastly accelerated rate.  (And, as Lex Luthor learned, K-radiation is as damaging to Terran life as any other form of ionizing radiation.)  One explanation I’ve seen is that his Kryptonian cells absorb K-radiation just as rapidly as they do yellow sunlight (if not moreso), so he’s rapidly exposed to damaging radiation as his cells expel the empowering yellow solar energy.  In that regard it’s somewhat like arsenic poisoning: arsenic has several chemical similarities to phosphorous, so much so that certain arsenic compounds can effectively ‘sneak in’ to certain biochemical reactions, kick the phosphate group out and stick itself in, which does horrible things to the organism in which those sabotaged biochemical reactions are occurring.

But why is he vulnerable to magic?  (It may be more accurate to say he’s not particularly vulnerable to it -- he’s as susceptible to it as anyone else -- he’s just not as invulnerable to it as he is to bullets or lasers or flamethrowers or whatever.  So a magic blade or the claws/fangs of some supernatural critter can slice him as easily as they slice anyone else.)  An OOC/meta-fictional explanation I’ve heard is that Superman, the “Man of Tomorrow,” is a being steeped in science fiction, and since “magic” operates outside of all known scientific laws (even the wilder ones of Golden Age sci fi and Silver Age comics), and since magic “has no place in” sci fi stories (because fantasy & sci-fi must never mingle!), then it’s an out-of-context issue for him; he is unprepared for it and so vulnerable to it.  In a similar vein, Elliot Maggin, in the novelization of Kingdom Come, postulated that Superman doesn't understand magic and therefore it has power over him; once he understood it -- once science could define it -- it no longer had power over him.

Another (probable) OOC/meta reason is that the writers wanted to have some way to challenge him without having to rely on Kryptonite all the time... which is ironic since Kryptonite was itself introduced as a plot device in the 1940s Adventures of Superman radio show, so Superman’s VA Bud Collyer could take a vacation!

But has there ever been an in-universe explanation given for it?

I vaguely recall reading something -- maybe a comic, maybe an RPG supplement, maybe a messageboard post -- saying that not only was the study of magic rare on Krypton (because they were all SCIENCE! types who had “abandoned such silly superstitions”), but the genetic potential for manipulating magical energies was even rarer in Kryptonians than it is in humans, and totally absent in certain family lines, like that of the House of El.  (Though I'd think that if they had a reduced ability to use it, or lacked that ability completely, they'd also be highly resistant to if not outright immune to magic; their bodies cannot conduct magic energy, therefore they're perfectly insulated from it.)  Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Super Strength: Trixie is considered as being much stronger than Immortals, Supernatural Hunters, non Original Vampires, werewolves, evolved werewolves, non Original werewolf-vampire hybrids and humans. She is able to decapitate other species with a single chop of her bare hands, shatter windows and doors with small objects, as well as single-handedly tear out the hearts of younger vampires and other with little to no effort. Trixie's strength has been used to break necks, spines as well as break and move heavy objects. Trixie's strength has increased due to her age, additionally will also increase her strength when she is enraged this is as a result of her lycanthropic enhancements along with during a full moon in her werewolf form.

Super Speed: Trixie's intensified quickness, agility, reflexes, and endurance makes her much faster than immortals, non-Original vampires, werewolves, evolved werewolves, non-Original werewolf-vampire hybrids, supernatural hunters and humans, she is slightly faster than her Original Vampire maternal half-siblings, as she once said, "I'm faster than your average vampire", even more so when she is using her lycanthrope enhancements or when she is in her werewolf form; due to her werewolf heritage. She is able to stop other supernatural species in their tracks and run miles in mere minutes.

Super Agility: Trixie possesses much more superhuman stamina, flexibility, reflexes, agility and dexterity than any immortals, non-Original vampires, werewolves, evolved werewolves, non-Original werewolf-vampire hybrids, and humans, even slightly more than original vampires. He can move, jump very high, flip, climb, and run incredibly fast without difficulty or exhaustion.

Super Durability: Trixie can take far more trauma than other supernatural beings without much discomfort or injury. However, like with her maternal half-siblings and twin brother, she has never been dismembered, implying that her durability may be close to invincibility though she can still be hurt. Wood and White Oak Ash Daggers do not weaken her, making her virtually indestructible.

Enhanced Healing Factor: Trixie heals and recovers faster from any and all injuries than those of other supernatural beings. She also seems to heal much more quickly when exposed to vervain, wolfsbane, or wood than the individual species. Vervain or wolfsbane laced liquid has also been shown to weaken her, though she recovers from the effects much more quickly. Human blood has also been known to make the healing process faster.

Immortality: With the last White Oak Stake destroyed, no physical weapon on earth can kill Trixie. Nothing but immense magical power worth a hundred witches summoned by an exceptionally powerful witch, or the bite of an Upgraded Original vampire, can kill Trixie. Despite the extent of her immortality, Trixie still needs to feed otherwise she will desiccate and become immobile just like any other immortal or vampire-based species.

Day Walking: Due to her werewolf heritage, Trixie is immune to the lethal effects that UV rays and sunlight have on vampires thus allowing her to walk in daylight without the use of a daylight ring.

Emotional Control: Due to her vampire heritage, Trixie is able to exert certain control over her own emotions and can turn off her humanity.

Enhanced Emotions: Because of her vampiric and werewolf traits, Trixie experiences emotions more powerfully than humans and other supernatural beings. Particularly due to her werewolf heritage, she experiences emotions such as anger, rage, aggression, and violence more deeply and more prone to violence and rage than the other Original vampires. However, emotions such as love, joy, and happiness are intensified for her as well, allowing her to live life more intensely. This ability allows her to feel emotions at her peak regardless of her age.

Mind Compulsion: Trixie can compel the minds of most sentient creatures; humans, non-Original vampires, and non-Original hybrids. She cannot compel supernatural hunters that are members of the Five due to them being immune to mental manipulation. Trixie cannot compel werewolves, evolved werewolves, or any of the other Original vampires.

Telepathy: Trixie has the ability, albeit a weak variant, to enter the minds of others as long as she is stronger than them. Normally, this ability works in a tactile fashion and requires physical contact to work successfully. Trixie has also been able to share her memories with others.

Dream Manipulation: Trixie can control dreams and subconsciousness. She can produce and modify dreams, bestow nightmares, or lucid dreaming. Other effects of this ability are the distortion of reality and trapped in the dreams.

Illusions: Trixie has the power to trick the minds of others into seeing or feeling things that aren't actually happening.

Powers :

As a result of experimentation at the hands of the Red Room Academy and Hydra, Trixie gained extra abilities.

Animal Manipulation: Trixie has the ability to manipulate animals around her.

Animal Empathy: Trixie has the ability to sense the emotional state of animals on a basic level such as fear, anger, happiness or pain. She can even communicate with them to make them aware of her actions or her intent. This allows for dangerous animals to leave her alone rather than attacking her as would they normally would other people.

Portal Generation: Trixie possesses the power to create a teleportation vacuum in which multiple people or objects can enter at the same time. She can also close the vacuum at will, any object that does not exit the vacuum as it closes will be cut off. In addition, Trixie has demonstrated that she can create multiple teleportation vacuums at once for effective defensive purposes.

Teleportation: Trixie transport oneself instantly from one location to another, however it is essential that she knows where she wants to go.

Chronokinesis: Trixie has the ability to manipulate time. She can create, shape, move, control, interact and manipulate, stop time, the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future, in the general area or for a specific target in various ways, with the most basic of acts revolving around accelerating, slowing, stopping, and even rewinding or looping it.

Dimensional Travel: Trixie has the ability travel between different dimensions. Additionally Trixie can travel between different dimensions and universes, and cross over different planes of existence or travel across various forms of reality.

Dimensional Storage: Trixie can put items/beings into a separate dimension for safekeeping and can summon them back with relative ease.

Astral Projection: Trixie possess the ability to project her spirit or astral body out of her physical body in order to travel into the spirit world or the astral plane.

Procreation: Due to experimentation at the hands of Hydra and the Red Room Academy, Trixie is able to procreate. However, if she had not been experimented on at the hands of Hydra and the Red Room, once the Hybrid Curse was broken she would have been granted the ability to procreate as she would be an Original Hybrid.

Once the curse has been broken:

Shapeshifting/Transformation Control: Trixie has the ability to transform into her werewolf form at will. Elijah informed Klaus and Trixie that they remained a wolf for two days, even when the sun was up. She can transform some features partially, displaying her werewolf eyes and teeth.

Wolf Form: Trixie's wolf form is a albino wolf with white fur and red eyes.

Sire Bond: Non-Original werewolf-vampire hybrids turned by Trixie had a deep sense of gratitude and commitment to her, causing them to obey her every command.

Werewolf Bite: Due to her werewolf heritage, Trixie has venom which is fatal to non-Original vampires and Trixie herself is immune to werewolf venom. Trixie's venom seems to take effect much faster than a normal werewolf venom and a non-Original werewolf-vampire hybrid venom.

Werewolf Bite Cure: Trixie and her twin brother Klaus' blood are the only cure for a normal werewolf or a non-Original werewolf-vampire hybrid venom, this ability seems to be unique only to Klaus and Trixie.

Immunity to Silver: Due to her werewolf heritage, magic bonded to silver doesn't affect Trixie. Weapons made of silver might wound her, but the wound heals at super-normal rates than regular wounds.

Witch-Nature:

Spell Casting: As a result of being a witch/siphoner, Trixie has the power through channeling her talisman to perform spells by either speaking the incantation or even non-verbally.

Channelling: Due to having stored vast amounts of her magic in her talisman as a witch/werewolf as an Original Vampire Trixie is able to channel invoke her magic from her talisman as well as other external forces.

Potion Brewing: Trixie has the power to brew as well as concot potions, and remedies, also elixirs that have supernatural properties with varying effects.

Telekinesis: Trixie has the power to move objects and people with through mental influence.

Pain Infliction: Trixie has the power to create excruciating migraines or aneurysms through supernatural means.

Elemental Control: The power to control and manipulate the elements of air, earth, fire, and water.

Pyrokinesis: Trixie has the ability to manipulate heat and fire. She is also capable of generating, manipulating, and shaping flames. She is capable of also erupt constant fire around her whole body.Aerokinesis: The ability to creating and manipulating powerful winds of various sizes/ability to control and manipulate air.

Hydrokinesis: The ability to manipulate and control water.

Geokinesis: The ability to manipulate and control earth.

Divination: The power to divine future, past, and present events based on extrasensory perception.

Clairvoyance: The power to divine future, past or present events through instinctive knowledge.

Intuition: The power to divine future, past or present events through the use of instinctive knowledge.

Premonitions: The power to divine future, past or present events through the observation and study of dreams.

Psychometry: The power to divine future, past or present events through contact with or proximity to a certain object or person.

Projection: The power to separate from one's body and project the mind to another location or to instantaneously travel from one point to another.

Transmogrification: The unique power to alter the physical structure of objects living or dead, changing their form through spells.

Possession: The power to jump one's spirit into the body of another, taking control of said host body through spells.

Resurrection: The power to bring someone or one's self back from the dead through spells.

Weaknesses:

Broken Neck:Breaking an original werewolf-vampire hybrid's neck will result in temporary death, though they will revive a short time later.

The Cure: If an Original werewolf-vampire hybrid takes the cure, they will revert back to being a werewolf again. Once taken, the cure prevents them from being immortal again, causing the body to reject vampire blood.

Desiccation: Being completely drained of blood or the heart-stopping will cause an original werewolf-vampire hybrid to desiccate due to their vampire side, losing most of their strength and any ability to move. This process can be replicated artificially by magic.

Invitation:Due to their vampire heritage, Original werewolf-vampire hybrids are unable to enter a home without an invitation.

Physical Trauma: Minor physical injuries such as gunshots, stab wounds, and broken bones will cause an Original werewolf-vampire hybrid pain and also slow them down. However, this is momentary as they will heal completely within seconds. It seems physical trauma can hurt them anywhere on the body (i.e. eye gouging, drowning, etc).

Vervain: Vervain prevents an Original werewolf-vampire hybrid from compelling anyone who takes it and burns them on touch. Original werewolf-vampire hybrids will heal very quickly from vervain wounds, however.

Wolfsbane: When ingested, wolfsbane causes an original werewolf-vampire hybrid to become severely weak and feverish. Also, If an original werewolf-vampire hybrid's skin is exposed to wolfsbane, it will burn them. Original werewolf-vampire hybrid will heal very quickly from wolfsbane wounds, however.

Disbelief: The act of denying or disbelieving in one's potential could cause a witch to inadvertently suppress their magical power.

Distraction: Denying a witch from concentrating or giving full attention to their spells, may render them ineffective. Since most spells are spoken verbally and take time to take effect, witches are vulnerable to attack before their completion. Additionally, certain spells require items, tools, and or special events during casting, therefore they can't be invoked on a mere whim.

Emotions: A witch's magic is subject to the influence of their emotional state and may fluctuate according to them, especially when untrained.

Herbs: Ingestion of certain herbs can cause a witch to lose consciousness and prevent them from using magic for an undetermined amount of time. The Lobelia flower prevents concentration and, therefore, the practice of magic and can be used to temporarily weaken a witch.

Huntress' Blood: The supernatural huntress' blood can suppress all magic of a witch when consumed, as well as prevent magic from working on said witch. Prolonged ingestion is toxic and ultimately leads to the death of the witch. Once black scabs start appearing on their body, the infected witch has less than a week of life. There is no known cure to combat this disease.

Witchcraft: Witches are still susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. This is inclusive of mystical and dark objects. A siphoner can siphon the magic from a witch and prolonged exposure is said to lead to death.

Overexertion: The excessive use of magic can lead to disorientation, nose bleeds, unconsciousness, and if taken to the extreme, death.

Mystic Falls Founders Bell: An indestructible bell that amplifies the effects of the Staff of Arcadius when combined with the Maxwell Striker. When struck, it produces a high frequency that has some minor effects on witches and siphoners, giving them painful headaches. Apart from this, it does not affect their ability to perform magic and cast spells.

Abilities:

Acrobatics/Free-running: Trixie regularly includes acrobatics in her fighting style; she is capable of scaling buildings, running from rooftop to rooftop with ease and has been known to use a scarf to quickly descend from ceilings.

Honed senses: Trixie is able to instantly notice danger in her environment, and successfully anticipate attack movements.

Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Trixie is an exceptional combatant due to her experience and training at the hands of the KGB, Hydra and the Red Room Academy, having gone through all the training that the trainees of the Black Widow Program and Winter Soldier Program do. She has demonstrated the ability to defeat multiple enemies both armed and unarmed, and outclassed as well as subdue her enemies, targets and attackers. She is viewed as the top most dangerous and skilled fighters in the world, having been the first successful graduate of the Red Room Academy and first Black Widow. Her combat and hand to hand fighting skills have been regularly improved and modernized, due to her regularly being repeatedly recycled through the Red Room during her 80 years under the control of Hydra and the Red Room working as their top operative.Trixie's fighting style consists of Aikido, Boxing, Bojutsu, Kickboxing, Capoeira, Escrima, Wrestling, Kung Fu, Karate, Hapkido, Judo, Jiu-jitsu, Jeet Kune Do, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, Ninjutsu, Savate, Tae Kwon Do and Wing Chun

Weapons proficiency: As an experienced assassin, Trixie is masterful in a variety of weapons. She is also skilled with identifying and using improvised weapons, as well as has even noted that she knows ten different ways of killing someone with just a piece of wood.

Master bo-staff/stick-fighter: Trixie's weapon of choice is a pair of extendable batons that combine to form into a bo-staff and she has demonstrated great skill in both stick-fighting and bo-staff fighting. Using her staff, Trixie has defeated multiple armed enemies in quick succession and has competed against other very skilled combatants.

Master swords-woman: Trixie was trained in the use of swords during her time with the Red Room. Throughout her time as an assassin, her swordsmanship skills improved considerably.

Master knife wielder/Knife thrower: Trixie is very skilled at using knives in combat, as she used a small knife to disarm and easily defeat her opponents and enemies. Trixie is also an excellent knife thrower, as she was able to throw a knife straight into an armed woman's chest from across the room before the latter could fire at her and deprived the Winter Soldier of his handgun, before he was able to react. Trixie has also demonstrated the ability to throw several knives in quick succession.

Expert marks-woman: Trixie is accomplished in the use of firearms, ranging from handguns to sniper rifles.Trixie has also demonstrated proficient use of a crossbow.

Master Archer: While rarely demonstrated, Trixie is a highly skilled archer.

High-level intellect/Expert tactician/Leader: Trixie is a highly trained tactician, as she set a trap for her targets whilst on missions for the Red Room. She is also very observant.

Expert driver/Pilot: Trixie is highly trained driving multiple vehicles, such as cars and motorcycles, in addition to a Quinjet.

Expert thief: Trixie knows how to hot-wire a car, and is highly capable of successfully swiping things without the owners knowledge.

Master interrogator/Torturer: During her time under the Red Room's control, Trixie learned how to extract information out of her targets in many ways, including torture.

Medical knowledge: As a Black Widow, Trixie is capable of treating wounds. After her escape from the Red Room, Trixie attended a University were she was trained in forensics, chemistry, and first aid. She is capable of treating injuries and performing minor surgeries. Trixie is also able to successfully identify the diseases.

Toxicology: She is familiar with various poisons,and is very skilled in able to identify them.

Multilingual: Trixie is capable of fluently speaking in Russian, her native English, French, German, Romanian, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek in addition to other languages.

Stealth/Infiltration/Escape artist: Trixie is highly capable of entering and leaving buildings without being seen, regardless of their security. Trixie is also able to conceal her weapons easily on her person, such as knives and batons.

Singing and Dancing: Trixie is a talented singer and dancer, having worked as an Singer during the 1920s and knew how to perform an array of dances including the tango, waltz, charleston, bollywood dancing amongst others.

Indomitable will/High tolerance for pain: Trixie has an incredible tolerance to pain; and great mental strength. Dreykov even acknowledged that torture would prove fruitless on her.Similarly, Trixie has shown a very high tolerance for alcohol, having regularly out-drunk men who attempted to intoxicate her enough to have their way with her and was able to easily defeat multiple people, despite having a hangover. Trixie embodied a strong mental drive, able to resist giving into her blood-lust urges with her friends' support

Equipment:

Expandable batons: As the Widow Maker, and later on White Canary, Trixie uses a pair of expandable electric-shock batons that can deliver powerful electrical shocks to incapacitate her targets, additionally which could combine into a bo-staff in battle as her main weapon.

Black Widow's Bite: Electroshock weapon that can deliver powerful electrical discharges from two bracelets worn by Trixie.

Garrote: Trixie stored a garrote within her Bite.

Makarov PM: Trixie disarmed a Russian soldier of his sidearm in Cuba and threatened to kill anyone for touching her two daughters Natasha and Yelena, but she dropped it when she moved to fight her former undercover brother in law Alexei. During her training with the Red Room, Trixie trained with this gun, shooting it in quick succession while alternating her shooting arm, and being forced to use it against living targets.

Shurikens: As the White Canary, Trixie carries an unknown number of shurikens on her person to use in long-distance battle or as distractions.

Knives: Trixie has used a variety of different knives, such as daggers. Knives have become a staple in Trixie's equipment, with her mostly using them in undercover work.

Guns: She has since used a multitude of guns throughout the years including sniper rifles, handguns.

Voice filter: Trixie used a voice filter to disguise her voice; whenever she was talking to individuals who do not know her true identity.

Trixie Anseldotter's Motorcycle: Trixie owns a motorcycle, she uses this to get around. She bought it after she escaped the Red Room, the Tardis created a storage room to store the motorcycle when Trixie returned to travel with the Doctor so she would not leave it behind.

White Canary Suit: Trixie wears a white leather suit, it was later modified and gained a white jacket.

A Moment of Weakness

The second the strongest person in your life breaks down, it is your unspoken responsibility to be strong on their behalf; it is up to you to be their soldier and their hero to take away any unwanted feeling of weakness and pain.

All it takes is the quivering of a bottom lip, the twitch of an eye and the falling of a pair of eyebrows to know when someone is about to cry. And you know that there is a part of you that wants to run away because it physically hurts too much to witness such a beautiful, strong, impeccably perfect soul collapse into a fragile pile of nothing but weakness.

So you hold them close with your chests touching in hope that you will be close enough so that their pain will transfer itself from their heart to yours.

And you rub circles on their back with the palm of your hand in hope that when their body stops jolting every time they gasp for air, that your hands are the only movement between your bodies.

And you whisper soft words of endearment and quiet hushing noises to not only reassure them, but to reassure yourself that the two of you will make it out of this alive and just as strong as you were before all of this.

And you close your eyes to compose yourself, to pull yourself together and to imagine them happy in a world full of peace for the sake of the miserable body sunken into yours.

And after all of this, you pull them in even closer so that their head droops on your shoulder because even though all you want to do is see a smile appear, you don't want to see all the pain and tears until it does.

And that's all you can do.

And that's all you ever do.