FULL BIRTH NAME: Antigone

TITLE: Lady Antigone (formerly), Sister Antigone (currently)

ALIAS: The Black Dragon

SPECIES: Human (Dark One)

AGE: 17 years

GENDER: Cisgender Female

GENDER IDENTITY: Female

HERITAGE: Greek

RACE: Caucasian

RELIGION: Totemist

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Heterosexual

LOVE INTEREST: M.K.

OCCUPATION: Phoenix Territory Baron (formerly), Butterfly (formerly), Totemist (formerly)

PLACE OF BIRTH: Phoenix Territory

MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good

PORTRAYER: Malina Opal Wiseman

CHARACTER ARC (BELOW):
SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR
Antigone was the daughter of a benevolent Baron named Odysseus and a strong-willed Baroness named Thena from Pickaxe territory. When she was a little girl, her parents taught her and her younger sister Ismene how to treat people with respect and also taught them how to fight when necessary. Antigone was a rebellious child and was reckless with her safety when it came to helping people, while Ismene always did as she was told and was blindly loyal to her parents. Despite this, Ismene was still neglected in favor of her older sister, who was always instructed to train harder. They still had a close relationship despite this and loved each other. Antigone and Ismene did not have any friends aside from a young boy named Erastos, who was the orphan son of a cog. He grew up with the two sisters, though he was always closest to Antigone and eventually fell in love with her. Meanwhile, Ismene, who had fallen in love with him first, was cast aside.
When Antigone was fifteen years old and Ismene was seventeen years old, their family was attacked by nomads and their mother was killed. During the fight, Antigone was cut and fell unconscious. When she came to, she was mortified to discover that her father was dead. Ismene was no longer in sight and Antigone decided that she would spend the rest of her life searching for her sister. Shortly after this tragic event, Antigone became the Baroness of Pickaxe territory since she was the only one left present and alive from a noble family, making her the youngest Baroness in the history of the Badlands.
KNOW THY ENEMY AND KNOW YOURSELF
Antigone did not want to be a Baroness, but she did so for survival. She was continuously pressured to get married so that the Pickaxe territory would have a Baron, but she found ways to keep avoiding it. She was a benevolent leader and used her fortune to help people, fighting for them every step of the way. Just after her seventeenth birthday, she and her army were ambushed by a Baron’s son named Ryder from Clipper territory and were ultimately overthrown by his army. She was taken prisoner by Ryder’s Baroness Jade, who tried to force her to divulge Ismene’s whereabouts. Devastated, Antigone honestly said that she didn’t know and that she had been searching for Ismene for years. Jade didn’t believe her and she was kept prisoner for several days while Jade and Ryder planned to use her gift to their advantage.
  Eventually, word got out that there was another person in the Badlands who possessed the Gift. Shortly after, the Baron of Butterfly territory known as the Widow intervened. She sent her assassins known as Butterflies to save the person who possessed the Gift, with the intention of killing Jade. Jade, Ryder, and many of their guards escaped, while Antigone was rescued by the Butterflies. Though Antigone did not fully trust the Widow or her Butterflies, she felt indebted to them and expressed her gratitude by offering to form an alliance with them. The Widow eagerly agreed, though she had ulterior motives. Her adoptive daughter Tilda was just happy to have a friend.
Antigone began training with the Butterflies and was soon singled out by the Widow, who lured her into private training sessions. Antigone began to trust the Widow more and more, oblivious to her manipulation, though Antigone had was still unsure whether or not she wanted to actually become a Butterfly. Around this same time, the Widow had also imprisoned a boy named M.K. who had the gift like Antigone. M.K. had gone through torture at the Widow’s hands and knew her true colors, so he felt obligated to warn Antigone of the Widow’s ill intentions. However, he was still haunted by the death of his mother, whom he believed that he inadvertently killed with his gift, and the death of a girl whom he cared about named Ava, who also had the gift. He believed that he would hurt anyone who he got close to, so he kept a safe distance from Antigone and watched over her from afar.

One day, the Widow made Antigone train with M.K.. She had them spar against each other, watching their every move, and M.K. was careful not to cut Antigone so as not to reveal her power to the Widow. Minerva noticed that M.K. was holding back, so she stopped the match and ordered M.K. to hit Antigone. In an attempt to spare Antigone, M.K. knocked her out without making her bleed. She woke up to find that she had been placed safely in the office of a medic named Veil, who was being watched by an evil Baron named Quinn. Veil had bandaged Antigone’s arm where she had been cut, informing her that M.K. had taken her there to save her from the Widow. Antigone thanked Veil for taking care of her and claimed that she wanted to find M.K. so that she could thank him for saving her. Veil said that she did not know where M.K. had gone, but told Antigone that she should leave as quickly as possible. Antigone realized how distressed Veil was and asked her what was wrong, only for Quinn to enter holding a baby in his arms: Veil’s newborn son Henry.
Quinn began to prey on Antigone, telling her that her gift was incredible and that he admired her. Antigone was unaware of her gift and had no idea what he was talking about. She was more concerned about the baby. Veil immediately intervened, taking her baby back and asking Quinn to leave so that she could finish speaking to Antigone. Quinn obliged. After he left, Antigone asked Veil what Quinn was doing. Veil avoided the question and told Antigone that she should avoid the Widow and try to escape the Badlands if she could.

FINDING ANSWERS
Antigone did not believe Quinn when he told her that she had the gift, but it all started to make sense to her. She began to piece together why she had frequent blackouts and why certain people kept preying on her. She confronted M.K. about why he knocked her out, asking him why he acted the way that he did. He still kept his distance and acted cold towards her so that neither of them got attached. He told her that he was in the area and didn’t want to see her get in trouble. He would not elaborate, so she pushed him for more answers. When he would not give them to her, she left angrily. Feeling guilty, he decided that he did not want her to find out from someone with ill intentions, so he found her later that day and gently explained to her that she had the gift. She was distraught. Everything made sense now. Why she kept having blackouts. Why it had been so easy for her to take out enemies during war. She was afraid of herself, overwhelmed, and unsure of what to do. Despite wanting to help her, M.K. suggested that she ask Tilda for help, for he was still afraid to get involved.
  Antigone took M.K.’s suggestion and approached Tilda, only to find her with Odessa and realize that they were involved. Odessa immediately tensed up when Antigone appeared and told Tilda about what Antigone did. Tilda took a chance on Antigone anyway and offered to speak with her, but Antigone declined and left. Antigone knew that M.K. was not telling her everything and tried to get him to speak to her, but he refused to associate with her. She knew that he was not doing it out of malice and could tell that he was afraid of something. The more that she trained with the Widow, the more that she discovered. She grew increasingly suspicious of the Widow’s motives and paid more attention to what the Widow did. Antigone began to realize that M.K. was becoming increasingly weak and that he was showing symptoms of drug addiction. One day, after he finished training, she followed him and found him in a cage with two of her fellow Butterflies waiting for him. They were obviously planning to have sexual intercourse and he was ashamed to have been caught in the act. He asked the Butterflies to leave and apologized to Antigone for allowing her to see that. Antigone knew that M.K. was not a playboy. She had been around the Widow long enough to know that the Widow was partly at fault for M.K.’s attachment to opium. She also heard the other Butterflies whisper about what the Widow was doing to him and caught one of them sneaking opium to him one day. She was connecting the dots and realized that the Widow was far from the hero that she pretended to be. M.K. was being made to look like someone he wasn’t, even if the fact that he was sleeping around so carelessly with some of the Butterflies revolted Antigone.
Feeling sympathy for M.K., Antigone kept him company when she could and they began to grow closer, despite the fact that he tried to push her away. At this point, she was almost certain that he had the Gift and took that as the reason why the Widow had imprisoned him. Antigone also realized that he was able to understand her so well and help her tame her Gift because he knew exactly where she was coming from. The more that he tried to push her away, the more that she persisted. Though he kept a distance, he grew to enjoy her company more and more. He stopped sleeping with other Butterflies and she became one of the only happy aspects of his life. He was beginning to develop feelings for her, which was what he had been trying to avoid in the first place. She eventually asked him if he had the Gift and told him not to lie to her, so he came clean and told her everything that he knew had happened up until that point (what he had done, Ava’s death, etc.), and said that he didn’t want to watch another person who got close to him die. He told her that he was afraid that he would be dooming her to death if he ever got involved with her. She understood him and agreed to keep her distance, but told him that he could not stop her from caring and that she would not be able to stop herself from helping him if it came down to it.
BEFORE YOU GO
Antigone knew that she wanted to leave the Butterflies, but she had to do so cleverly. She was well aware that if she did so in a rebellious manner, she could get herself and most likely M.K. in trouble. So, she decided to play on the Widow’s sympathy, claiming that she had a vision of her sister dying and had to go save her. This was a half-truth. Antigone had been having visions of her sister, but none of them were of her death. The Widow saw through Antigone’s lies and realized that she was looking for a way out. The Widow claimed that she was free to leave and was let go too easily. Antigone knew that something was suspicious. Sure enough, just a few minutes after she left, she was cornered by some of the Widow’s guards and confronted by the Widow, who forcefully tried to make her stay, leading to an intense physical altercation between them. Antigone was able to use her power without cutting herself. This was because her emotions ran so deep that her gift was triggered, causing her to nearly kill the Widow. She would have gone through with it if M.K. did not stop her. He had recently gotten his gift back, broken out of his torture chambers, and was on his way to find Antigone. He intervened when he saw where she was going.
  Thanks to M.K., the Widow was spared, but M.K. made it clear to both Antigone and the Widow that he only intervened for Antigone’s sake. The Widow let both of them go and Antigone told M.K. that she wanted to run away with him. M.K. said that he would love to, but that he had to kill Sunny first because Sunny killed his mother. Antigone disagreed with M.K. and told him that he shouldn’t kill Sunny. She said that M.K. should direct his anger at the Widow and promised to help him kill her, but only when the time was right. M.K. was intent on killing Sunny and still believed that Antigone was better off without him. He let her lead him out of a secret passageway and told her to stay there so that she would be safe. He apologized to her and told her to forget about him. Then, he kissed her goodbye and left. She was confused and devastated. She tried to follow him, but she couldn’t find him.
  Instead, she was found by a team of rogue Clippers from Pickaxe territory who were being led by Erastos, forcing her to be confronted with her past.
OLD FRIEND OR OLD FLAME?
Antigone was shocked to discover that Erastos was still alive. Erastos explained to her that he had been searching for her ever since her family died. Even more shocking to her was the fact that he had become a Baron. He led no specific territory, but rather, his own team of rogue Clippers from Pickaxe territory. She did not know what to think of his new position of power and asked him how it had happened so quickly. He explained that he pretended to be an ally to Ryder and Jayde, and when they least expected it, he turned on them with part of their own army. She was surprised by this, but she understood why he did it. She did not really take the time to process the information and quickly asked if he could help her find a friend of hers who had run away. She did not mention M.K. by name. He obliged and helped her search for her friend. Eventually, Erastos became curious as to who Antigone’s friend was. She did not know how to explain her connection to M.K. without also telling Erastos that she had the Gift, so she killed two birds with one stone. Erastos told Antigone that he would support her no matter what and said that he was glad that she found someone who understood her.
DESTINY
During the search, Antigone had another vision of her sister and felt like she knew where to find her. Antigone had a feeling that her vision might also lead to M.K. as well. Erastos and his guards followed Antigone wherever she went. Their search led them to a fortress owned by a Totemist called Pilgrim, who was the self-proclaimed “son of Azra” and the leader of a group of people who all had the Gift. Unfortunately, Ismene was nowhere to be found. Because Erastos had gone to the fortress with his guards, Pilgrim and his followers expected a battle and the two groups almost fought, until M.K. intervened when he noticed Antigone. M.K. noticed that Antigone had a close connection with Erastos and he felt insecure, like he had missed his chance. Meanwhile, Antigone noticed a connection between M.K. and a girl named Nix who was one of Pilgrim’s followers. This made Antigone feel insecure, but she felt more bitter than anything else. She was mad at M.K. for kissing her and then running away, so she confronted him about it in private. He apologized for it, but she told him not to apologize if he meant it. She asked him if he meant it and he answered her question by kissing her again. They were awkwardly interrupted by Erastos, who apologized and turned around to leave. However, Antigone stopped Erastos and introduced him to M.K.. The introductions were awkward but brief and Antigone was quick to get back to business. She asked M.K. if Pilgrim and his followers could help her find her sister.
  Pilgrim was all too happy to help. Antigone was happy to be around people like her and grew to trust Pilgrim’s group more and more. She began training with Pilgrim and his followers to strengthen and control her gift, enjoying the feeling of being in control. Erastos, however, was suspicious, and began to realize that Pilgrim and his followers were a cult. Erastos tried to explain this to Antigone, but she thought that he was being paranoid. Ironically, Antigone befriended Nix, who explained that she and M.K. were not a couple and that M.K. mentioned Antigone before. They talked about their losses and Nix expressed her concern about Pilgrim’s goals. She said that she was gutted by the loss of her friend and old flame Castor, whom the Totemists believe died from his illness. Antigone consoled Nix and they became close friends during the time that Antigone spent in Pilgrim’s fortress.
  Erastos was seen as an outsider and he did not like the fact that Antigone was so compliant with Pilgrim’s ways. He began to grow apart from Antigone. Meanwhile, Antigone was being swayed by Cressida, Pilgrim’s partner, to stay with the Totemists. Cressida took an interest in being Antigone’s mentor. She sensed anger and confusion in the girl and knew that she desired to save someone. Cressida explained that sometimes people were meant to die and that whatever Pilgrim prophesied would be Ismene’s fate. Antigone refused to accept her sister’s demise and asked Pilgrim if he could tell her what happened to Ismene. Pilgrim instructed Cressida to use her abilities to see what happened to Ismene and Cressida reluctantly agreed. Cressida claimed that Ismene was still alive and on a vengeful search for the person who murdered people close to her. She claimed that Ismene had formed an alliance with the Widow and that they were in Butterfly territory. That was all that Cressida said, but it was enough to convince Antigone that she needed to talk some sense into her sister. She vowed that she would enter Butterfly territory alone, trusting that her sister would never hurt her. She promised that she would return and left, but not before Erastos insisted on going with her as backup.
THE TRUTH WON’T SET YOU FREE
  Before Antigone and Erastos could find Ismene, they were ambushed by a team of assassins who worked for a Baron by the name of Juliet Chau. Antigone and Erastos took them on together, but when Erastos was left unconscious, Antigone resorted to using her gift. With her gift, she was able to take out all of the assassins except for one, who brought her back to Chau’s headquarters. The assassin then revealed herself as Ismene. Antigone felt like her whole world had been turned upside down. Before Antigone could even process what had happened, Ismene explained herself. She explained how she was always neglected by their parents in favor of Antigone and how alone she felt. How she felt even more alone when their father died.
Because of Antigone.
Antigone was shocked. She said that she would never kill their father, but Ismene proved her wrong and made her remember the truth. When Antigone and her family were attacked by nomads, Antigone was cut, triggering her dark power known as the Gift, an ability that she never knew that she possessed. With literally no control over herself, she killed the nomads as well as her unsuspecting father. When she came to, she was mortified to discover that her father had died, though she had no idea that he had died at her own hands. Until Ismene made her see by giving her opium to restore her memories.
  Ismene knew to an extent that Antigone could not control her power, but because of their parents’ favoritism towards Antigone during Antigone and Ismene’s childhood, hatred overpowered Ismene’s logic. Antigone was unable to defend herself because of her vulnerable state, but when Ismene cut her with a sword, leaving her wounded, her Gift was triggered and she bullied her sister. Antigone had gotten better at controlling her Gift, so she used it to scare her sister and bruise her up rather than attack her. Ismene’s guards ran to her defense, but Antigone killed them. After overpowering Ismene, Antigone demanded that she be told where Erastos was. Ismene refused to give in, but before Antigone could kill her, Erastos ran to stop Antigone. Erastos and Ismene reluctantly teamed up to subdue Antigone. She saw how afraid they were of her and felt abandoned and betrayed. She fled back to Pilgrim’s fortress to find that M.K. was almost as distraught as she was, and that Sunny had injured him. M.K. explained that Nix had betrayed them in favor of the Widow and her allies. This was the final straw that made Antigone stay with Pilgrim. She did not necessarily believe in his cause, but she thought that he was better than anyone else in the Badlands who she could have sided with.

A SISTER’S REVENGE
The rest of the Badlands, including Erastos and Ismene, joined forces to defeat Pilgrim and his followers. After the Widow and her allies refused to comply with Pilgrim and Cressida, Pilgrim and his followers declared war. The day after, Pilgrim and his followers ambushed the Widow and her allies in what turned into a battle, during which M.K. was critically burned and wounded by an explosion. This event traumatized Antigone for life. She promised to avenge him and went on a crusade to find whomever ordered the explosion.
  Antigone’s search led her to Butterfly territory, where she found Nix’s head and believed that it was Ismene who beheaded her. Unbeknownst to Antigone, it was Pilgrim who was responsible for Nix’s death. Fueled with anger on behalf of Nix whom she saw as a sister, Antigone fought Ismene with the intent of killing her. Ismene, who had been training under the Widow, was able to defeat Antigone even when Antigone used her Gift, and Antigone was taken prisoner by the Widow and her allies. Antigone only wanted to kill Ismene and the Widow, but Ismene tried to talk her down. Ismene apologized and said that she would help Antigone, and even offered to help M.K. as well. Antigone called Ismene a liar and a murderer, accusing her of killing Nix. Ismene tried to explain that she did not kill Nix, but Antigone did not believe her. Erastos tried to talk some sense into Antigone as well, but alas, she hated them both. She vowed that Pilgrim would come for her and that everyone would suffer.
  Feeling guilty, Ismene released Antigone, who fled back to Pilgrim’s fortress and disclosed the Widow’s whereabouts. Thanks to information disclosed by her and by M.K., Pilgrim and his followers were able to prepare for an ambush from their enemies.
DEATH SHE WEDS
Antigone truly felt trapped. She still did not fully believe in Pilgrim’s cause and was sick of having to choose the lesser evil. However, she had become so dependent on certain people around her that she could not really think for herself anymore. She had gone from being an independent leader to a mindless follower. The only constant in her life was M.K.. He was the only person who had never wronged her, so she felt obligated to stay with Pilgrim partially because M.K. was there. When Pilgrim and his followers were ambushed, Antigone fought loyally by M.K.’s side, though they were physically separated throughout most of the battle.
  Antigone found M.K. just after he had died at the hands of the Widow. Devastated, Antigone vowed to avenge his death as the Widow and her allies escaped. Then, Antigone’s quest for blood continued. She escaped Pilgrim’s fortress before it was destroyed and sought out the Widow as well as Erastos and Ismene. She never found the Widow. Instead, Erastos and Ismene found Antigone and tried to reason with her. At that point, Erastos believed that there was no hope for Antigone. As a leader, he was at peace with knowing that if he had to kill her, it would be better for human kind. Antigone and Ismene had one final face-off, but when Erastos intervened, Antigone knocked Ismene unconscious so that Erastos could be eliminated first. Antigone was growing more and more powerful, so Erastos could no longer stall and was left with no choice but to kill her. Ismene, however, refused to let this happen and sacrificed herself to save her sister. Antigone and Erastos were both devastated. In that moment, Antigone realized that she never wanted her sister to die, but it was too late. Rather than killing Erastos as an act of revenge, Antigone killed herself out of remorse for her sins. Her last words were “Forgive me.”

PERSONALITY AND BEHAVIOR
- Loyalty: Antigone's most defining characteristic was her loyalty. When someone did her an act of kindness, she would remain loyal to them. Even if said someone became her enemy, she typically would not actively seek them out to harm them. This applied to her family life as well.
- Leadership, confidence, and rationality: At first, Antigone was shown to be a strong leader. She was very firm in her beliefs and did what was best for her people. Because of her confidence in her values and her ability to hold her own, she was able to make rational decisions in harsh circumstances that tested her ability to act sensibly. She balanced protecting herself with taking care of her people without neglecting one or the other.
- Empathy: Antigone was always an extremely empathetic person. Even if she was not directly affected by people's suffering, she always felt like she was. It pained her to see other people suffer, especially when she was close to them. This made her a benevolent leader and an extremely kind confidant.
- Intelligence: Antigone was always a highly intelligent and educated person. She was one of the few people in the Badlands who knew how to read and write, and she did so prolifically. She caught onto things quickly and was able to absorb knowledge like a sponge so that she could use it in a wide variety of circumstances. Her intelligence gave her unique ideas that would help her meet her goals quicker than most people would meet theirs. Her vast knowledge gave her the upper-hand in many situations.

Weaknesses
- Emotional Dependency: Despite growing up independent and being able to rely on herself for most things, Antigone became emotionally dependent on certain people at a young age. After her parents died, her only reason to live was the possibility that she would find her sister. Then, it was her childhood friend and regent Erastos. She continued to latch onto other people.
- Insecurity: Antigone's confidence slowly wavered as time went on and she became increasingly dependent on validation from others to feel good about herself. She surrounded herself with people who praised her, though she never received any true validation because she did not believe any of the praise.
- Gullibility: It only took a short time for Antigone to evolve from a strong-willed and confident person to someone who was gullible and easily swayed. Her compassion was used against her when she was in a vulnerable state, leading her to become compliant and complacent.
Neutral Character Traits
- Vulnerability: Antigone always had an underlying vulnerability that was a blessing, a curse, or simply a trait depending on the circumstance. Her vulnerability would sometimes cause her to crack in dire situations, though sometimes it would help her express herself and empathize with others. It would sometimes leave her in danger of being attacked or manipulated, but it also gave her different ways of understanding herself and helped her learn to accept herself. Unfortunately, her vulnerability turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing for her.
- Enigmatic: Antigone was always difficult to understand on the surface and sometimes even when people got to know her. Most of the time, she intended it to be this way, but there were times when she was just generally a confusing person, mostly because she was internally confused and conflicted. She was almost always genuine when she could be, but it was difficult to pin-point her exact emotions or who she was as a person in certain ways because of how she reacted in certain situations.
- Wittiness: Antigone was always witty and clever with her words. This was either harmful or helpful to her, though it was generally helpful. In casual situations, she had ways of putting people at ease or being diplomatic thanks to her wittiness. In professional situations, she used her wittiness to achieve her goals. In dire situations, she could use her wittiness to outsmart her enemies. However, her wittiness could also occasionally be harmful. Sometimes, she mouthed off in the wrong situation or her wittiness was mistaken for other things, such as sarcasm or meanness.

Behavior and Mannerisms
Antigone was generally very poised and well-behaved, but when she acted up, she was never erratic or barbaric. That is, until around the time of her death and the last moments of her life. Most of the time, she walked confidently and her movements were very controlled. However, she had specific behavior and mannerisms for different people. Generally, she would be very relaxed and playful around people whom she trusted, and around people whom she did not trust, she would be closed off and cold. She hardly ever fidgeted and would often speak in a lighthearted tone of voice unless she was in an extremely dire situation or wanted to convey a strong emotion. She had very good manners and would use them to her advantage, whether good or bad. She was often seen as difficult to understand, even by some people who she was close to. No one could ever pin-point how she behaved or what she intended to do.