Tavros Nitram

Tavros Nitram, also known by his Trollian handle,, is one of the trolls. His handle may refer to two things. One, the loss of his legs, as in, the Spanish word for "good-bye". The other, most likely refers to the Spanish term for a bullfighter, which suits him, his huge bull horns having to do with his associated zodiac sign, Taurus (♉). Due to an accident during one of his Flarping sessions, he has ended up a paraplegic. He types in reverse case, replacing periods with commas. However, he uses an excess of commas, giving the impression of uncertainty or stuttering.

"Tavros" is Greek for "bull" and is also the Modern Greek pronunciation of the name "Taurus." His name resembles that of the Doctor Who villain Davros, the wheelchair-bound creator of the Daleks - this allusion may not be intentional, but it fits with his disability as well as his later acquisition of robotic parts. "Nitram" is "Martin" written backwards. There are two possible connections for this. Operation Taurus was the name of a planned prosecution by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) against Martin McGuinness, and Mary Martin played Peter Pan in the 1954 musical. Nitram may also be derived from the word nitrates, which, when present at high levels in the water, produce a serious illness in fish called brown blood disease.

He was a member of the Red Team.

Roleplaying
He was mentioned to have partaken in the same extreme roleplaying that Terezi, Vriska and Aradia partook in sometime before the events of Hivebent. Tavros was a member of Team Charge alongside Aradia. His character is of the BOY-SKYLARK class, and is based on Tavros's hero, Pupa Pan. Both he and Aradia agree that although the class lacks power until it reaches a very high level, it is better to play and have fun, rather than be aggressive and treasure hungry like other players. This is similar to his role as a page, which is said to have a very long journey, however gains lots of power once they reach the end.

During one session, his clouder, Vriska, used her mind control powers to force him to HS 4076 (jump off a cliff), which caused his paralysis. He then trolled Karkat and told him what happened. Karkat's response was to call him an asshole and tell him to stop playing games for girls. It's speculated games for girls may mean dangerous games in troll society, as female trolls seem more aggressive. If this speculation is correct, Karkat may have warned Tavros about FLARP prior to the incident.

Hivebent
After entering the Land of Sand and Zephyr and creating a rocket wheelchair, Tavros spent most of his time on useless side quests, much to the dismay of his server player. After dealing with his side quest obsession for some time, Vriska guides him to the gate leading to LOMAT where they meet up under awkward circumstances. They later come to an understanding of sorts and go treasure hunting together. During this period of mutual partnership, he is seen riding on a Horsaroni with a lance at some point. We can't say how awesome this is. Since Tavros dislikes riding on animals that he communes with, it is likely that Vriska helped him learn how to fight during some of the parts of the main quest. They both traveled around on their matching rocket devices, until they are interrupted by an angry Aradiabot who promptly makes Vriska pay.

Vriska is left in a near dead state but stops Tavros's reviving attempt through mind-controlling his hand with her newly awoken dream self. On her request he brings her to her Quest Cocoon, but can not bring himself to kill the girl, despite her screams and pleas for a quick death written all across the floor of the Quest Cocoon. He absconds and leaves her to bleed to death. This traumatized Tavros and he spent the rest of the game mostly asleep, seeking comfort on a now Vriska-free Prospit.

Post-Hivebent
Tavros had new robotic legs built for him after his session fled to their Veil. The legs were constructed by Equius, and his existing legs were HS 4019 (disturbingly chainsawed off by Kanaya).

After learning of the humans, he attempted his trolling session on Dave's thirteenth birthday, just as Kanaya tried on Rose. Both mentioned how they were from the future and nonhuman, and both Dave and Rose pointed out their lack of skill at trolling. But while Kanaya eventually forged a kind of friendship with Rose, Dave met Tavros's weak attempts with a thoroughly effective homoerotic counter-troll, eventually causing Tavros to block him. Following his spectacular defeat, Tavros asked Rose what the best way to get on Dave's nerves would be. Rose told him that poetry would be the best option, and he seemed to decide to take her advice. He then trolled Dave with some unbelievably awful SICK RHYMES intended to humiliate him, although Dave completely ignored him. Tavros seemed very satisfied afterwards.

At first, he got along quite well with Jade, communicating with her while she dreamt on the dream world Prospit vicariously (on his iteration of Prospit, Tavros could once walk around without a wheelchair and fulfil his lifelong dreams of flight). He saved a younger Jade from shooting herself by communing with Becquerel and directing him to teleport the bullet away, though unfortunately it ended up shooting and killing Grandpa instead. However, Tavros saw no harm in this (until Jade explained it to him) because he believed Bec was her Lusus and Grandpa was an intruder. Tavros was then made aware of how Vriska had directly brought about the circumstances which created Bec Noir, and set out to stop her. He had more trouble, however, with another enemy he'd been warned about.

Tavros proceeded to engage Vriska in the room where the inquisiclops was found. She managed to stop his charge, steal his weapon, and stab him with it. (She impales him in such a way that the lance pierces the circle of his "Taurus" shirt, a possible metaphor for "bullseye.") Tavros fell off the edge and into the darkness while Vriska watched, finally landing next to Terezi, where he was announced as HS 5199 ("DEAD"). Terezi attempted to revive him, but it was no use, as his dream self was killed by Jack Noir.

After Death
After his death, he visited Coin Dave in a dream bubble, along with a god tier Aradia. Tavros seemed incredibly excited to finally meet Dave in person, even if he was a dead temporal copy.

Tavros' decapitated corpse was found by Terezi, along with Feferi, Equius and Nepeta's bodies, as well as Eridan's legs. It appears Gamzee placed his mutilated head on the ground in front of the jury's table.

Gamzee later preserved his body until arriving in the post-scratch Kids' session where he prototyped Tavros' and Vriska's remains with Jane's sprite, summoning the souls of Tavros and the now-dead Vriska to the session, and resulting in the birth of Tavrisprite. However, this fusion was short-lived, as Tavrisprite soon destroyed itself because the two sides were impossible to reconcile. After Tavrisprite's self-destruction, Tavros' ghost was returned with Vriska's to a dream bubble set in the Land of Sand and Zephyr. While Vriska began to complain about their temporary fusion Tavros stated that he felt they were overreacting and that it felt nice to feel true self esteem for once and be alive again. She agreed there was a silver lining, apologizing to Tavros for killing him. Vriska talks him into fucking shit up with her, to which he reluctantly agrees.

He is later seen when John gains access to his dream bubble through Bec Noir's memories and enters their area. John finds Tavros lying facedown in the same location and pose as Hussie in DOTA. Tavros is revealed to be sleeping. A ring with no orbs, like the ring of orbs nofold from the B2 session, is found by John in the sand. John puts on the ring, then Tavros speaks up claiming he saw it first. This is because that Tavros was hunting for treasure to give to Vriska, his new matesprit; or so he claims. John disagrees and decides to keep it, before Vriska comes. Vriska proceeds to explain John and Tavros (even thought the latter had already heard her explanations before) the threat of and her plan for using his reality-shattering rampage to lead her through the Furthest Ring to a legendary weapon that can stop him. The conversation is abruptly ended when Meenah comes along and begins a HS 7327 (MINISTRIFE) with Vriska, leading up to John getting stabbed yet again, much to Tavros' delight. Tavros starts looking around for the ring to no avail, since John woke up with the ring in hand.

Tavros is later seen adventuring with Vriska and the others in search of the great weapon. After learning about the Ring of Void and the Ring of Life, Vriska attempts to get the Ring from Tavros to no avail because Tavros does not have the Ring. Tavros flips Vriska off for being mean to him before flying off and leaving.

New Timeline
In the new timeline created by John's retcons, Vriska was not killed by Terezi, and therefore her body was not available for prototyping in the B2 session. In addition, Gamzee was bound and gagged just before the events of Cascade. This resulted in Vriska appearing before Jane in Gamzee's place and prototyping Tavros by himself, as opposed to with the remains of another troll, resulting in Tavrosprite. He appears to have befriended Jake and spent a fair amount of time with him, and he is seen along with most of the rest of the main cast of Homestuck on the victory platform.

When everyone decides who will take on which villain, Tavrosprite offers to join Jake in taking on Spades Slick. Vriska says that he can join him, but not before he does something else, which she'll explain to him in private. It appears that Vriska forgot to tell him what this task is, however, as she HS 9452 (left for the furthest ring) before actually telling him what to do.

Personality and Traits
Tavros is just too sensitive to be a decent troll, to the point where he even tries to help Jade. He sucks at trolling and usually ends up getting trolled himself, which he talks about HS 3836 (here). On the surface, he seems innocently ignorant of his own shortcomings as a troll, or mockery from others - Karkat says he's unable to truly hate anyone, even the thorn in his paw, Vriska. However, he copes with the negativity he faces from the other trolls by personifying his self-esteem, which he has named Rufio. Using a technique suggested by Kanaya, Tavros imagines that he talks to his self-esteem in the form of Rufio, and is careful not to let anything hurt Rufio's feelings. His misguided affair with self-esteem continues as he becomes Jade's fairy god troll, now assuming that a high self-esteem means not having to apologize for anything, even if he is at fault for it.

Tavros also preferred his dream world over the waking world because he is indeed a paraplegic confined to a wheel chair. Before dying himself, he confides in Jade his disappointment over the fact that his dream self, and the dream selves of all the other trolls, have died, since he had more fun in the dream world. His time in the dream bubbles seems to have done him just as much good as Prospit - Tavros shows more balanced self-esteem and assertion as a ghost.

He has decorated his room with posters of fairies/faeries and cards and marbles litter the floor. He uses a Jousting Lance, which is allocated to his lancekind strife specibus. He has the ability to commune with wildlife, and seems to be an Alternian Wildlife Master. His ability to commune with creatures extends to imps who would otherwise attack him; a cadre of imps and ogres accompanies Tavros into a temple, with one ogre carrying what appears to be a piece of a puzzle. Some of the most powerful lusii are within the reach of his commune powers as well, as demonstrated when Tavros was manipulated by Vriska to control Terezi's lusus. He is even able to commune with Bec.

Vriska
Tavros's biggest conflict comes in the form of Vriska. Vriska's desire to make him stronger, combined with her complicated feelings of both of love and hate towards him, have led her to bully, cripple, and unsuccessfully HS 4274 (seduce) him. Meanwhile, a confused Tavros reacts with his usual passiveness, mixed with a bit of fear, all signs of a very abusive relationship. Despite the weirdness and confusion, they develop a sort of mutual respect after Tavros HS 4447 (apologizes) for rejecting her advances during a memo with Karkat, and go off to adventure together on the Land of Maps and Treasure doing pointless side-quests. After Aradia warps in to deliver a revengemurder to Vriska, Tavros, either in an attempt to revive her via dream self, or satisfy his rather pushy and angry exile, almost kisses the girl.

Vriska quickly HS 5008 (explains that she is not dead) by forcing him to choke himself, manipulating his arm to write out her bloody messages, and having Tavros use his rocket car to fly her to her Quest Bed for her god tier ascension. Unfortunately, he flees in fear of Vriska's increasingly hysterical and bloody pleas for him to kill her before she painfully bleeds to death, adding to the frustration which ultimately leads to his death by her hands.

The latest appearance of Tavros has shown that he is currently in a matespritship with Vriska, and is planning on proposing to her. Their relationship was only implied by Tavros, and is unconfirmed on Vriska's end. However, if this was the case then it seems likely that a breakup was implied when he quite literally flies away.

His exile, Hearts Boxcars, orders him to kiss Vriska several times. The first time Boxcars was commanding him, he was on the floor after crashing into Vriska's hive and cannot kiss the girl because he's paralyzed from the waist down and cannot walk. After watching him fail to kiss the girl a second time, Hearts Boxcars gives up on Tavros completely. It is unknown why he is so determined to have Tavros kiss that girl, but it may have something to do with the symbol he wears.

Rufioh
Although Tavros never interacted with his dancestor Rufioh onscreen, his HS 9397 (conversations with Jake) suggest that he interacted with him a lot, as a sort of personification of his "imaginary friend" Rufio. He has stated that Rufioh helped him with his self-esteem largely because he happened to be his ancestor.

Other trolls
Thanks to his typically unassertive and calm attitude, Tavros gets along fairly well with most of the trolls. He has a close friendship with Gamzee. Together, they form the worst rapping duo in the history of paradox space, and it is briefly indicated that Gamzee holds some HS 5886 (redder feelings for him).

It was never actually confirmed that Tavros requited Gamzee in a matespritship, and stongly implied that he rejected it, but there are a few hints that they at least interacted prior to the suggestion. In Alterniabound there is a 'flying one-wheeled device' that Gamzee had only mentioned wanting to Tavros. The only other people who could give him the code to make the useless piece of junk were Vriska (whom Gamzee was afraid of) and Terezi (who had no reason to). There's also uncertainty as to when Gamzee went around gathering the dead trolls' heads. It is unknown if he was attempting to revive Tavros, or just kiss him.

He is also friends with Nepeta, Terezi and Kanaya. He has attempted roleplay with Nepeta, and Kanaya gave him the idea for to personify his self-esteem in the form of Rufio. Due to Tavros' mild personality, and Karkat's self-asserted leadership, he won't hesitate to go to Karkat for advice. Their few interactions at first indicated they weren't on the best terms, however in their later interactions in the post-retcon timeline, Karkat seems okay with Tavros.

He used to play Flarp with Aradia, but he seems rather distant from her after her accident. After she ascended to god tier and he died, they hung out together in dream bubbles.

B1 Kids
He does not seem to like John, after he refused to give back the ring Tavros was supposed to give Vriska. It gets worse after Vriska reveals that she and Alternate John dated before. Tavros even seemed rather happy after John vanishes when Meenah throws her trident at him.

Early on it was speculated that he had romantic feelings towards Dave, but this can be explained as him basing his Sick Burns on human phrases he had seen before, and/or being just terrible at trolling.

He is fond of Jade and confessed to red feelings for her, but his incredibly clumsy approach combined with misdirected pride at killing her grandfather and over-stated confidence drove her away. She later decided to allow him to commune with Bec, which was soon made irrelevant by his death.

Lusus/Kernelsprite
Tavros's Lusus is a small creature with a proportionately gigantic bull head with huge horns shaped similarly to Tavros's own (and even more like Pupa Pan's). The Lusus was affectionately dubbed 'Tinkerbull' by the forums, and later referred to as Tinkerbull by Tavros himself. They seem to have a very good relationship, often playing Fiduspawn together. Tinkerbull was soon killed when Tavros accidentally ran over it in his wheelchair. Later, Tinkerbull is prototyped into Tavros's kernelsprite, and is seen floating outside of his transported hive, later disappearing with the other sprites when Tavros' Sgrub quest ended.

Trivia

 * Tavros suffers from a HS 4064 (cat allergy). Another Page and another Hero of Breath also suffer from an allergy.
 * When Tavros HS 4272 (crash-landed into Vriska's room), it mirrored another Hero of Breath HS 3589 (crashing) into the room of another Hero of Light (also while using a rocket device).
 * Tavros' Boy Skylark hat matches the one from John's Boy-Skylark echeladder rung, and the hat Pupa Pan is wearing on the poster matches another echeladder hat of John's.
 * The name Tavros was suggested by Solaris and Nitram was suggested by perrybob.
 * When talking to Gamzee, Tavros {{HS|5886|used the smiley }:o)}} twice, crossing his usual {{MSPA quote|tavros|}:)}} with Gamzee's.
 * Hussie has stated that if Tavros was more confident, his quirk would be replacing the letter I with 1. His ancestors pre-scratch self uses this quirk, and the subconscious genetic code on his wall does as well.
 * In fact, Tavros's shyness, low self-esteem, and low confidence levels might be mirrored in his quirk - reversing the capitalization of every letter in his sentences.
 * Tavros' exile, Hearts Boxcars, uses dice-based attacks in the Problem Sleuth extras - the same weapon Vriska Serket uses. Inversely,, Vriska's exile, uses a lance.
 * Tavros can be seen with the rest of the red team on the "King of Swords" card in the Homestuck tarot card deck. He is also depicted on the "Knight of Pentacles" card, as he is serious and quiet, as well as uncomfortable standing out, much like the card's interpretation. He is seen on the "Five of Wands" card with most of the pre-act 6 cast.

Таврос Нитрам