Aradia Megido

Aradia Megido, also known by her Trollian handle,, is one of the trolls. The handle she uses alludes to two things within her life. One,, refers to the end of the world, which she considered important. Secondly,, relates to the fact that she has died multiple times, but has managed to come back, or "rise from the dead", in a way. "Arise" is also an anagram to "Aries", her associated zodiac sign (♈) and she has curved ram's horns matching it.

Her Typing Quirk before her god tier resurrection was replacing all O's with the digit 0, and speaking without punctuation or passion. After prototyping herself, she inadvertently makes frog noises as well. Prior to her resurrection, the only emote she had ever been seen to use is 0_0, which she has used several times to indicate a lack of words or disinterest, and a single 0u0 HS 5082 (in an attempt to make the emoticon smile.)

She was on the Blue Team.

Etymology
Her name appears to come from Aradia, a goddess and witch from Neo-Pagan folklore and Megido, the place where a number of religions believe the final battle will take place (the word Armageddon is derived from the Hebrew name for Mt. Megiddo). Also the name of a known excavation site, referring to her love of archeology. Her surname is also derived from that of a specific kind of goat, referring to her zodiacal symbol, Aries, the Ram.

Her name was suggested by Mikker and Megido was suggested by fizzix. "Megido" was most likely also derived from the word "armageddon", meaning apocalypse, "armageddon" itself referencing Mount Megiddo, or Har Megiddo in Hebrew. This links with Aradia's knowing of the apparent apocalypse- as well as her pesterchum handle, "apocalypseArisen". 'Meido' is a Japanese word for the underworld, which ties to her death theme. The word 'Megido' also contains the Japanese word 'meido', or 'maid', fitting her title as Maid of Time and her dancestor 's role as an 'Asian schoolgirl' Dave even calls her an asian schoolgirl troll. The word is also an almighty class spell from the Shin Megami Tensei series of video games.

A messianic principal figure of Charles Leland's 1899 work Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, is also named Aradia. She is said to be the daughter of the Roman moon goddess Diana and Lucifer. Lucifer is a Latin word literally meaning "light-bearer", which, in that language, is used as a name for the dawn appearance of the planet Venus, heralding daylight. Venus in Aries is in its detriment, because Aries is the opposite sign to Libra, which Venus rules. This Aradia was sent down to earth to teach the oppressed about witchcraft to use against the upper classes and the Roman Catholic Church. This is echoed by teaching the Handmaid  with which to challenge the highest class troll of all – the Condesce.

Biography
Aradia used to be something of an archaeologist, and her hive was surrounded by dig site trenches of her own doing. She was present when a meteor from The Reckoning travelled back and crashed nearby, revealing the presence of the Frog Temple and carrying with it Lil Cal and a deceased alternate Aradiabot, both severely damaged. She sent Cal on to Kanaya Maryam for repairs and spent some time exploring the Frog Temple.

She is able to hear the voices of the dead, which she has heard since she was young. The voices have been getting louder ever since she was in a fatal role playing accident; the magnified voices led her to descend into fatalistic resignation about everything and left her only concerned in dealing with the impending apocalypse of which the voices warned.

Aradia's Fetch Modus, the Ouija, is uncontrolled by her. She says that it's what she gets from the sylladex, and it is  She goes on to say how they are sometimes cooperative with what she wants, but are commonly cryptic in their choosing. This is shown when the spirits select the letters of the Daedric Alphabet that translates to "Bing" in English to pick the Crosbytop Computer.

Roleplaying
Some time before the events of Hivebent, Aradia played Flarp as a member of Team Charge alongside Tavros Nitram. She was distracted at the time of Tavros' paralyzing accident, and subsequently felt guilty about not being able to help. Although advised against it by Terezi Pyrope, a close friend at the time, she attempted revenge against the person responsible, Vriska Serket. Upon the urging of, Vriska elected to strike back at Aradia after she summoned spirits of the dead to haunt Vriska over her crippling of Tavros. Vriska took control of Sollux Captor, made him fly to Aradia's hive and eat Mind Honey. The resultant eye blasts levelled Aradia's hive and killed both Aradia and her lusus.

Hivebent
After death, she came to learn that the Frog Temple contained technology and/or code which would be important concerning the impending apocalypse. She documented the code present, and Sollux adapted it into the trolls' version of Sburb, Sgrub. Being the original discoverer of the technology leading to the creation of Sgrub, she knows quite a bit more than other trolls about the game, and as a result, serves as a guide or unofficial leader of sorts to the other trolls. She also psychokinetically decapitated the Frog Temple's giant frog head statue and kept it for herself, later prototyping it.

After entering the Medium, she tier-2-prototyped herself. Equius Zahhak shortly thereafter provided her with a soulbot to give her a much-needed physical form. She travelled to the Land of Maps and Treasure to confront Vriska, brutally beating her and leaving her to bleed to death. Over the course of the game, she gathered something of an army of alternate selves who travelled back from doomed timelines, and used them in the battle against the Black King to suppress his ability to release the Vast Glub.

When Jack Noir appeared before the trolls shortly before they could claim their ultimate reward, Aradia summoned a teleportation pad and transported all the trolls into hiding in The Veil, leaving behind her army of alternate selves to confront Jack. All of the alternate selves were effortlessly killed in the confrontation.

Post-Hivebent
Aradia remained in sprite form in her soulbot following even after the death of all the Lususprites. She adamantly refused to talk to any of the newly-discovered human kids or to participate in Karkat's plan to troll them, only relenting once to express her distaste for Rose's destructive behaviour, and indicated she is fully aware of the role they played in causing the trolls' present blight and their eventual role in resolving it. 4 hours and 13 minutes before some CRITICAL MOMENT, Aradia's soulbot exploded in front of Sollux, Equius, and Nepeta.

Her hitherto-unknown dream self was killed on her Quest Bed when Jack attacked Derse, removing her soul from the soulbot (causing its explosion) and ascending her back to life as the Maid of Time. She successfully but temporarily HS 5197 (froze Jack) in place using her time powers, and in the split second after releasing him jumps through his portal-flashing body to the Green Sun, where she awaits Rose's arrival with The Tumor and Jade Harley's execution of her survival plan (Ironically, this was after telling Rose that she HS 4708 (never had a dream self) and HS 4709 (reaching the Green Sun is impossible)). She passes the time by visiting a nearby dream bubble, and she - accompanied by Sollux, Kanaya, Jade, and a dead alternate self - investigated the origin of. She also appeared before a deceased alternate Dave Strider to talk him through his new situation and discuss what it means to be a Hero of Time, also encountering the deceased Tavros.

Shortly after, having recruited the newly-ascended Dave and Rose from the aftermath of the Green Sun, she and the half-ghost Sollux used their telekinetic abilities to propel the meteor on which Dave, Rose, and the surviving Trolls rested into the Furthest Ring at Rose's behest. Aradia and Sollux stayed behind at the Green Sun, with Aradia promising to slow Jack Noir down as much as possible.

Aradia survived the stalling attempt, and her continued existence is seen in HS 7163 (this) flash in Meenah's memory of her castle on the Beforan moon.

Aradia is next seen as part of Vriska's crew as a, whose powers will be useful once they retrieve the treasure. She was seen guiding a blind, but 100% alive, Sollux being on the crew as well.

Last seen in the background of HS 9127 (this page) on the roof of Meenah's castle, Aradia seems to remain in the dream bubbles watching the skies for 's trails of destruction.

Post-retcon (Game Over)
It is unknown whether any aspect regarding her character has changed since the retcon following Game Over, however she has been HS 9359 (confirmed by Terezi) to still have been guiding a half-dead Sollux. Because Sollux did not remain half-dead before the retcon, this implies that Aradia may also have a new alternate self roaming around, especially since there is most likely no new ghost Vriska to lead a pirate crew for Aradia to stick around with (since Vriska survived this new timeline).

In the HS 9859 (Terezi: Remem8er) flash, which featured many of our deceased characters, Aradia could be seen with Sollux and also a few pages before the flash which was uploaded on the same day. First she could be seen in the background of HS 9841 (a panel) that included Vriska, Meenah, Tavros, and their ghost army, and in the flash she can be seen standing at the scene of Eridan's death and becoming of a ghost. Because Sollux's version next to her in the flash was a half-ghost instead of fully alive and blind, this confirms that Aradia in fact has another alternate self roaming around since the retcon. It's not known whether the Aradia seen in the background of the panel with Vriska, Meenah, and Tavros is pre-retcon or post-retcon.

Personality and Traits
Aradia lost most of her interest in ordinary activities after her death, and now appears to be constantly bored. She reacts ambivalently to most everything. The only thing she seems to find pleasure in is breaking things. Breaking things is the only way she is comfortable in showing her emotions. She refuses to allow herself to acknowledge that she has emotions because it makes her feel safe to feel nothing. If she feels nothing, then she can feel no emotional pain.

Before her death, she seems to have been happier and more enthusiastic, complimenting Tavros on his sense of fun while playing Flarp. It also appears that she enjoyed the movies of Troll Indiana Jones, which likely influenced her decision to be an archaeologist and to use the whipkind strife specibus. Post death, she has since stopped caring about both archaeology and role playing, along with essentially all of her former interests.

Her ability to hear the dead, including her ancestors, may have also contributed to her archaeological exploits. They are what led her to the Frog Temple Ruins in the first place, shortly before her death.

Aradia is obsessed with temporal inevitability, and her motivations usually involve doing things solely because she knows they have to happen. It is this attitude which often allows time loops to form in the first place, and easily makes her a pawn of Sgrub and whatever beings influence the timeline, including, who likely had her killed for this purpose.

After entering the Soulbot made by Equius, she appears to have regained some emotions. These seem to be violently extreme, although it is possible she's simply forgotten how to handle emotions, having spent so much time without them. For example, while as a ghost, she once told Vriska that she was with her own death, but shortly after she entered the soulbot, she sought out Vriska and beat her to death for revenge. It is also implied that the Soulbot has enhanced her strength and psychic abilities. Now that she has had time to get used to the body, she appears to still be fatalistic and jaded, but now she is simply a lot more violent and confrontational on top of that, though she does acknowledge certain trolls (such as Karkat) as friends. This change is probably brought on by the violent tendencies from the blue blood in the soulbot. Karkat has called her a, and suggests that she would be closer to her original personality if she were to be properly brought back to life.

This is more or less true once Aradia achieved god tier and is, officially, very much alive and intends to stay that way. She is enthusiastic and kind even when talking about depressing things. She is convinced that there is no reason to grieve, and thinks that things are going to turn out okay. Considering her knowledge of the time stream, it is likely that she knows some hopeful things later in the timeline, as she knew Sollux would see her again, but he would be blind. Aradia has abandoned her typing quirk now, even though she used it prior to her death. This change might be related to her claim that she feels.

Vriska Serket
Vriska attempted to befriend her when they were beginning Sgrub. Vriska found it odd that Aradia did not care that she had killed her, but tried to make it up to her anyway by passing along a robotic body built for her by Equius, which she was trying to present as a gift from herself. Aradia ended up connecting it to Equius, and kicked Vriska off the blue team, causing Vriska to HS 004176 (flip out) at her. After fusing with the robot and regaining emotions, Aradia killed Vriska in an act of vengeance, thus allowing her to ascend to god tier.

After being HS 007855 (introduced to John) on Vriska's ship in the afterlife, Vriska claimed to have been "" and "", implying that the two are most likely friends again.

Equius Zahhak
Aradia had a better and healthier relationship with Sollux in every aspect. Equius is a worthless joke and potentially part of Lord English who enslaves Megidos.

Sollux Captor
Aradia seems to have a longstanding and close relationship with Sollux. It is popularly believed that they were at one point in a romantic relationship; although this has never been confirmed. HS 4195 (Nepeta's shipping wall) tells us that at one point, she wondered whether Aradia and Sollux were in a flushed relationship. This is not enough to definitely pin down their relationship, and when a reader asked Andrew Hussie on his Formspring what kind of relationship they had, he said that "".

Some time after being killed by Sollux through Vriska (and forgiving them both), Aradia had continued to converse with Sollux as before and the two had cooperated to begin their session of Sgrub. Becoming increasingly troubled by her doomsaying, Sollux eventually HS 3985 (attempted to rebel) when Aradia revealed that the game would destroy the world. After entering her soulbot, she barely said anything to Sollux, but she chose to spend her last few moments before it exploded to reconcile with Sollux instead of talking to Equius. She seemed glad to talk to Sollux in dream bubbles and led him back to his friends after he died. Aradia opted to stay behind rather than proceed to the new session and Sollux decided to stay with her. The two were later seen together on HS 7855 (Vriska's ship) as. However, claiming that the adventure made him feel dirty, Sollux decided to HS 7945 (leave the crew) shortly after Tavros, while Aradia went on ahead with Vriska and her crew. However, he did offer to, with Aradia eagerly responding in agreement.

After the Game Over flash, it appears that Aradia and Sollux remain together in both the pre- and post-retcon timelines. They can be see in the background of HS 9841 (this panel) and in this HS 9859 (Terezi: Remem8er) flash.

Tavros Nitram
Prior to her death, Aradia got along well with the trolls. She was good friends with her roleplaying partner, Tavros, and seems to be among the few trolls who showed him respect. Before their infamous FLARPing revenge cycle, Tavros could be seen HS 4068 (discussing their FLARP adventure) with Aradia during which she claimed that Tavros and shouldn't  if he were in trouble. However, right before HS 4073 (the event of Tavros's paralysis), Aradia had not been there to help him and is seen later HS 4138 (expressing her guilt and self-blame) to Terezi regarding Tavros's injury.

Terezi Pyrope
Aradia seems to have gotten along well with Terezi since around the beginning of their FLARPing days. After Tavros's paralysis, Aradia had expressied her guilt and self-blame to Terezi regarding Tavros's injury after which Terezi consoled her and told her that she (Terezi) was distracted by Doc Scratch too. The two also together agreed that their teams'. After this discussion, Terezi attempted to HS 4138 (convince her) not get revenge from Vriska to avenge Tavros, however Aradia HS 4141 (failed to resist) the urges of to.

Later on, just before their meteor journey to new session, Terezi claimed that and that. This continued friendliness in their conversations implies that the two remain friends.

Karkat Vantas and Kanaya Maryam
After her death, she does not maintain her earlier friendships, instead focusing on the upcoming apocalypse. Karkat Vantas considers her to be  to the point that he doesn't even want to talk to her, however he claimed that

Kanaya apparently talks to her a lot and Aradia refers to it as bothering her but still finds it kind of flattering that she wants to talk to her so much.

B1 Kids
While exploring dream bubbles, Aradia got along well with Jade and with an alternate Dave. She says she regrets ignoring them when she had the chance to talk. After talking to Rose, Rose referred to Aradia as Following Vriska's pirate crew much later on, Aradia had spoken to John about how she felt about the crew's adventure, unintentionally creeping out John and the claim that.

Lusus/Kernelsprite
Aradia is unable to prototype her Kernelsprite with her Lusus, as it died in a roleplaying accident prior to the start of the game when it was presumably incinerated by Sollux's release of psionic energy. Her lusus appears to have been HS 4146 (a small ram-like creature).

Instead, she used the desecrated head from the Frog Temple in the first prototyping. It is stated that using the frog head from the temple was. It seems that this is because this prototyping is what leads to the exile of the Black Queen.

When Aradia entered the medium, she self-prototyped the Frogsprite. In this new form, she took on the Frogsprite's body, including webbed fingers and a Kermit the Frog-esque neck fringe, but with her old head and sleeves. Her horns also appear to have been replaced by a set of froglike eyes.

As a Sprite, Aradia has (or maybe had) access to important game information similar to Davesprite, but due to the nature of a Kernelsprite, she cannot communicate it without being obtuse. This provides absolutely no change from her previous behavior.

Trivia

 * Aradia, unlike most of the trolls, has an ancestor who is not dead by the start of Hivebent. She shares this trait with Feferi Peixes and Sollux Captor.
 * Along with Jane, she is one of only two characters to have HS 4089 (entered the medium) HS 5509 (twice), although in Aradia's case it was a doomed timeline Aradiabot who re-entered in the alpha timeline.
 * Interestingly, they both happen to be Maids.
 * They have themes cycling around life and death.
 * One of her songs, Arisen Anew, takes a quote from Doctor Who, a BBC television series which is referenced several times in the comic. It makes particular sense that a Doctor Who quote would be present given that the show is centered around time travel.
 * In Arisen Anew, Luka Megurine, a Vocaloid (A popular voice synthesizer), can be heard. The Japanese lyrics Luka sings are "Toki no hime wa inu wo tometa" which means "The Princess of Time has stopped the dog".
 * Aradia's planet, the Land of Quartz and Melody, is probably a reference to quartz clocks which are clocks that use quartz crystals to regulate an electronic oscillator to keep time. This would be keeping with Aradia's role as the Maid of Time.
 * Aradia and her dancestor, Damara, are the only characters asked by a third party to in a more appropriate manner.
 * Aradia is the only post-scratch troll with canonically flat teeth. Damara, her dancestor, seems to share this trait in Part 3 of Openbound as well as the Handmaid, her ancestor. Aradia gained pointy teeth when she entered her robot body built by Equius however she got her flat teeth back after becoming a God Tier. This might have to do something with the conception that highbloods generally have their teeth more pointy.
 * Aradia is the "Ace of Pentacles" in the Homestuck tarot card deck. She can also be seen on the "Five of Wands" card with most of the pre-act 6 cast.

Арадия Мегидо