Valencia the Red (Usually Valencia or just Val) is a nonanima currently traveling with Juniper Smith's party. She's a humanoid without a soul, created by the essentialist Fallatehr Whiteshell in the Amoureux Penitentiary, where she lived for seventeen years before being rescued by Juniper.
“My father and his people, they always assumed that they were talking to a devil, they thought that every cry for food or water was simply a plot of some kind or another. I lived with a gag in my mouth for much of my life. Unless I can prove myself, that’s how people will always treat me, once they know I’m non-anima.”
- —Valencia, Chapter 116: "Therapy"
Appearance[]
Due to her nature as a nonanima, Valencia has white hair, crimson eyes and pale skin. Currently, her hair is dyed brown, and she wears tinted contact lenses so that her irises look purple.[2]
Personality[]
More than anything, Valencia wants to experience freedom and independence after seventeen years of imprisonment, which can make her appear childish to others.[3] Due to her ability to consume devils, Valencia often has trouble separating her own thoughts from their influence, which sometimes leads to cynical outlooks and bloodthirsty approaches. Despite that, she tries her hardest to avoid hurting anyone,[4] and uses the negative parts of her ability as little as possible.[5] She obsesses over the first book series she's ever read, Harry Potter, in a way Juniper thinks is a bit unhealthy.[6]
Biography[]
Juniper's party first met Valencia (then a nameless nonanima) at the Amoureux Penitentiary, where she was held captive by Fallatehr, having been created as a soul magic experiment.Animus
References
- ↑ “Well, we do have scotch,” said the bartender with a laugh. “But I think you’re probably a little young for that.”
“I’m eighteen years old,” said Valencia. For all she knew, that might have been true.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 102: "The Adventures of Valencia the Red" - ↑ I was surprised to see Valencia step through. She looked trepidatious, with her hair (white, dyed brown) covering her face some. Her eyes were crimson red, rather than the purple they took on when she put her lenses in.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 139: "Piece of Mind" - ↑ She found a tavern she thought looked a bit like the one in Hogsmeade and sat down at the bar, on top of a stool. She gripped the bar, then spun herself one way and then the other.
The devil’s instincts were there, telling her how this would look to other people, but she ignored them, because she wanted the experience. Even with a lesser devil like this one, it was sometimes hard to find herself in the mix. The devil was dead, taken apart into component pieces, but those pieces were a part of her, augmenting her thoughts and, to some extent, feelings. She had been working hard, with Mary’s help, both to become more of herself, so there was less for the devils to overwhelm, and to keep from reaching into that well of understanding just because it was there.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 102: "The Adventures of Valencia the Red" - ↑ She wondered what they were going to try next. The demon’s knowledge came up, unbidden, and she clamped it down. She didn’t want to fight and she didn’t want to kill. She just wanted to go to Hogwarts and be a witch, was that so much to ask? She wanted to have happy, light-hearted adventures with her friends, not … this.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 102: "The Adventures of Valencia the Red" - ↑ She used a bit of the devil’s skills to convey the right impression toward him, to make him feel appreciated. The devil’s skills were laying out a path of manipulation for her, a way to get this man to do her bidding, but she clamped it down.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 102: "The Adventures of Valencia the Red" - ↑ “If we were talking about Harry Potter though? Then yeah, I think you’re wrapping yourself in the first thing that resonated with you and holding onto it a bit too tightly.” I shrugged. “I do like the books.”
—Worth the Candle Chapter 139: "Piece of Mind"