Riven

Riven is the stubborn maverick of the Specialists and is Musa's former love interest.

Appearance
Riven has short spiked magenta colored hair and violet eyes.
 * -|Civilian=

In season one, Riven wears a white muscle midriff shirt with maroon pants and matching sneakers.

In season two, season three and the first movie, he wears a British flag-inspired muscle shirt, bootcut jeans with two black belts crossed over each other and black shoes. On his wrists are gray wristbands.

In season four, Riven is usually seen wearing a green button down shirt and shorts while working at the Frutti Music Bar, but his season four civilian outfit consists of a blue shirt and a white vest.

For season five, Riven had the same outfit as in the previous season.

This outfit sports a cape and has more layers than the standard Red Fountain uniform particularly in the areas of the shoulders, chest, forearms and legs. It is mostly colored in shades of blue. The outfit's shoulder pads are extended further outward and have a magenta diamond-shaped gem on the center of his chest.
 * -|Linphea College Battle Outfit=

Personality
Riven tends to be a bit of a lone wolf. He is very competitive, easily prone to jealousy and oftentimes aggression, and has an aptitude for sports and physical combat. Riven often puts up a cold front and has trouble expressing his emotions. He grew up alone, so he lives for himself according to his own rules. His mother abandoned him at birth which caused him to be wary of women in general.

Riven is particularly sensitive to what people think of him which led him to question whom are his true friends. He is also easily affected when people laugh or humiliate him. Shown when Bloom dumped water on him and made him a laughing stock.

Some characters see him as a daredevil, clever, likes a challenge and touchy.

As time goes on, Riven becomes more compassionate and relaxed, no longer taking his friends jokes too seriously, especially after the events of season 4. He also smiles a lot more but still has a tendency to be hotheaded and overly jealous. He can also be a bit silly which is seen when he happily hums to a song he was listening too.

Riven does have a conscious, though it can often be blinded by anger and misunderstandings, which are the two factors that lead his justifications and actions. However, he does learn from his mistakes and is willing to accept them, which is shown in the episode "Storming Cloud Tower," in which he defends himself from his monster-self, claiming that even he "has a heart". This statement is proven in "Morgana's Secrets", after the death of Nabu, Riven goes to a quiet place away from the others and cries for the loss of his friend. In Season 5, it seems that Riven is a bit more relaxed, happy and less angry overall, however, all this progress goes out the window in Season 6, as he returns to his previous competitive state.

It is shown in the comics that Riven is extremely protective of his friends, going so far as to remain secretive of a dangerous mission for fear of their safety. Because of this, he unintentionally hurts the people who loves. Even so, he is willing to take the risk in favor of their well being. This is also shown in the series as well; in season 6, Riven's sudden return in his competitiveness and constant training was in fact to make sure that he was strong enough to protect Musa. But when he sees that his training was not enough to protect her, he decides to venture out to continue his training showing his determination.

In comparison to Brandon, Riven is much more straightforward and blunt. He is very realistic and will be vocal about his opinions; this is seen when the Winx head to Eraklyon to get an explanation from Sky for his sudden decision in marrying Diaspro. He reminds the girls that you cannot force someone to love you nor receive an explanation.

Pre-Series
Riven's mother abandoned him when he was very young.

Series
Riven is introduced as one of the Specialists whom Stella brings along with her to Earth. He is shown as standoffish and shows an immediate rivalry towards Sky. They are both competitive in their training and neither wants the competition. Riven originally begins to like Musa though flirts with Bloom a little, just to make her, and possibly Sky (then acting as if he were Brandon), mad.
 * -|Season 1=

During the episode "Friends in Need", when the Minotaur summoned by the Trix knocks him through a wall, Darcy spies on Riven and comments to the other Trix that she senses a dark power coming from Riven. Icy states he may be useful later on. Riven also catches Musa after the Minotaur sends her flying through the air (this was cut in the 4Kids dub). He looks rather angry about it and states "Now this is my kind of party." At this point though it cannot be told if their feelings are mutual or not. At the end of the night, he tells Musa and Flora that the next time they have a party to leave him out of it.

In the Cinélume dub, Riven chose to side with the Trix of his own free will. He was never mind controlled, which makes his actions even more despicable as he willingly betrayed his real friends on his own. It was only until he was told by the Trix themselves of their main goal of taking over Magix did he finally realize what he had been doing and gets jailed after his usefulness runs out. While held prisoner, Darcy mentally tortures him with shadow clones of Riven appearing in his cell to mock him, then they all turn into a hideous monster, where he was forced to take a long hard look at himself to answer for what he had done.

In the 4Kids dub, after having a spell put on him by Darcy during the Race for the Rose with help from Icy and Stormy he is spelled and "falls in love" with Darcy. He spends most of the first season as their spy until he is betrayed by them. He escapes from his cell in Cloud Tower and helps the Winx and rest of the Specialists to win the battle.

It is revealed that Riven is extremely smart and he knows his studies well at Red Fountain.

Upon Riven's return to Alfea with Brandon and Stella, he is seen standing outside Musa's dorm window. In the 4Kids version, he tells Musa that "They don't teach this kind of thing in his school, but he wants to tell her he likes her". The Cinelumé an Italian dub both have him tell Musa he was looking for Timmy, using it as an excuse to see her because he chickened out on his real plan to tell her his feelings.

It appears that over the summer holiday, Riven and Musa have come to some kind of understanding with each other. They seem close enough at times and a relationship may be starting. During the concert at Red Fountain Riven can even be seen smiling when he sees Musa on stage. However, there are some setbacks. In "The Show Must Go On!", it is revealed that Ho-Boe, Musa's father, is not too fond of Riven. Ho-Boe refers to Riven as a nearer do well and wishes Musa had found herself a prince like Sky. However, Stormy decides to take out her revenge on Musa for ruining her spell to steal the Codex from Alfea in "The Battle for Planet Eraklyon" and breaks into the stadium to attack Musa's father. When Musa, realizing she cannot use her usual attacks on Stormy because of the effect they will have on everyone else, tries to encourage the audience to sing with her, it is then Riven who inspires the crowd by yelling, "Come on you idiots! Do what Musa says! Sing, sing!" And he then helps Ho-Boe up off the ground after Stormy is defeated. Ho-Boe realizes that Riven is not as bad as he seems and apologizes.
 * -|Season 2=

In "Face to Face with the Enemy", Riven gives Musa a hug and tell her that she needs to come back to him because he does not know how to live without her.

In "The Phoenix Revealed", Riven leaps in front of Musa to save her from Lord Darkar's attack. When everyone returns from Shadowhaunt, Aisha spins Musa into Riven on the dance floor and after blushing, he allows Musa to lead him on to the dance floor.

Riven has become a kinder person since he started dating Musa. However, he definitely has not lost his jealous, hot-headed side, nor is he able to confess his true feelings to Musa which leads to problems. Helia tells Riven that if he does not stop acting like a jerk Musa's going to break up with him.
 * -|Season 3=

When the Winx travel to the Crystal Kingdom he sees Musa standing in front of Nabu while watching the video that Flora sent to Helia. Assuming that Nabu was kissing Musa, when in reality she was placing handcuffs on his wrists, Riven gets understandably upset and manages to get to where the Winx, Timmy, Sky, and Brandon are. After using Piff to help him find where the others are, Riven confronts Nabu, accusing him of kissing Musa, whom he calls his girlfriend. They get into a fight which Riven loses. However, Musa is touched by the fact that Riven got upset enough to come after her and fight for their relationship.


 * -|Season 4=

The Specialists, along with Riven, are inquired to spy on the girls while the girls are on their mission on Earth, in case they get into danger. Riven and the others then get jobs at the Frutti Music Bar, after their failed attempts as car mechanics and at pizza delivery.

In this season, Riven and Musa's relationship hits various critical points throughout their missions on earth.

It all begins when Andy suggests that Musa pursue her musical talents as a singer at the Frutti Music Bar, and Riven disapproves. When Musa gets a chance to work with a music producer, Jason Queen, whom Musa is fond of, Riven becomes unsupportive, enraging Musa, thus causing her to break up with him. Nabu and Helia attempt to help Riven win Musa's heart back, which leads to opposite results.

Despite all this drama, Riven also helps in many fights against the Wizards of the Black Circle, showing that his skills improved tremendously over the course of the series, and he started to use his weapons and skills more tactically, making his fighting style not so reckless.

In the end, Riven begins to show support and hides his jealousy. At one point, he even wanted to buy Musa some time to take part in a music contest, so he and the Specialists sold with a magic-enhanced number of their own. In the end, the couple agreed that they would give their relationship another chance.

Riven and the other Specialists are seen on Earth watching the Winx Club perform their benefit concert.
 * -|Season 5=

During the "Secret of the Ruby Reef" and "The Singing Whales", Riven is seen with another fairy from Alfea, this fairy was the same fairy who was playing her guitar at the party in the previous episode. Riven had left abruptly after Musa had told Riven about her mother's favorite song. Since he left so abruptly Musa became angry and walked towards the window in their dorm and saw Riven with the other fairy, which upset her.

It is only in "The Shark's Eye" that Riven reveals to Musa he was only taking secret guitar lessons with the fairy and that he wrote a song for her, One to One, which she sang with him. It is assumed she already knew the lyrics because in The Secret of the Lost Kingdom, when graduating as a guardian fairy, Musa said she could hear every song in the world, including the secret song in every person's heart.

In the "Inspiration of Sirenix", a party is being held in Domino to welcome the return of a "corporal Daphne". Riven and his friends arrive and are greeted by Bloom and Daphne, unfortunately for him, his foot is stepped on when Daphne trips on the stairs. He also helps defend Domino against the Beast of the Depths the Trix have summoned.
 * -|Season 6=

In "The Flying School", he and the rest of the Specialists are at Linphea College training with the Paladins and when the Winx arrive, Stella yells extremely loud in order to notify Brandon of their arrival. Riven is seen laughing at Brandon when Guru asks who was the one with the "barbaric yell". When Selina summons the Treants to attack the college, Riven is there with the others trying their best to defend the school but fails and all are forced to return to Alfea in order to train some more.

In "Bloomix Power", after Daphne has found the weakness to the Treants, Brandon and the others go back to Linphea College and successfully free the Treants.

In "The Golden Auditorium", Daphne tells her class that they will be taking a field trip to the Golden Auditorium which excites Musa. Later that day, Musa contacts Riven to tell him the exciting news but he is too busy focusing on his training in order to gain the title of leader at Red Fountain that he does not really pay attention.

Near the end of the season, Riven and Musa break up for good and he quits the Specialists.

In "The First Color of the Universe", Riven appears in a flashback of Musa when her friends are with their boyfriends.
 * -|Season 7=

Specials
Riven arrives with the other Specialists (Group)s at the request of Stella, to help her and Bloom deal with Knut, his minions and a Hunting Troll. He did a good job of wrangling the hunting troll until he was thrown overhead. Once the troll and ghouls were taken care of, Riven and the others surround Knut which forces the ogre to realize he is outnumbered and make his escape.
 * -|The Fate of Bloom=

With the enemy gone, Riven, although uninterested, is introduced to Bloom by Stella as are the rest of the Specialists. With the introductions completed, Timmy secures the troll with a collar and they all head back to Red Fountain after saying their goodbyes.

He was then invited to a party with the other Specialists which, for him, was not fun at all. Especially when he learned that they had clean up duty to deal with first. Either way, the cleaning is completed and the Specialists and Winx enjoy a nice party. Riven wastes no time on teasing Timmy's lack of dancing skills (which annoys the latter and Tecna). His attention is then taken by Musa who shows off her dances moves before dancing away. Riven is then approached by Sky who has a smug look on his face and mentions that Musa is "pretty cute". Riven brushes off this comment with smile and steps out to the balcony to enjoy his drink.

However, the party is interrupted with a loud crashing sound. With some further investigation, they find the culprit, the Whip. Being the stubborn and self-confident person he is, he is determined to take down the monster by himself only for him to be punched through the wall by the Whip. As Riven lays unconscious, the Trix see him and Darcy senses darkness from within his heart. Icy herself sees him as a useful tool but not yet.

After the Winx finish dealing with the troll. Stella's suspicions in the Trix lead them to Faragonda's office to use her crsytal ball to see what was happening in school. But as soon as they reach the office, Riven senses a presence and alerts them. They turn off the lights and hide, and when their suspects show up, Riven sneaks back into the office and turn on the lights, taking the Trix by surprise. As both sides question their presences at the school, Faragonda enters her office and returns to the question to all of them.

The party is now over, and as the Specialists are about to leave, Riven rudely asks Flora and Musa not invite him to another party of theirs again. Which understandably irritates them. He and his friends say goodnight and head back to Red Fountain with the Whip in their custody.

Riven meets up with Darcy in a café. She hypnotizes him into becoming her spy. He overhears Sky's plan to sneak Bloom into Cloud Tower and reports his findings via telepathy. At the Exhibition, he tries to sabotage Sky's performance.
 * -|Revenge of the Trix=

After the Trix steal Bloom's Dragon's Flame, Riven (unaware of the events that transpired) decides to report to Darcy, only to find out his usefulness to the Trix has ended, which he does not take well. He is thrown in the dungeon, where he escapes by jumping out of a window. He then reunites with Bloom, Stella, Sky, Brandon, and a reformed Knut and apologizes for the way he acted. After the defeat of the Trix he is seen celebrating with the other Specialists and the Winx Club.
 * -|The Battle for Magix=

At Shadowhaunt, Musa thinks Riven does not want to do the must goodbye thing. In result, he hugs her. Also, Riven sacrificed himself to save Musa, he almost died until Bloom uses her healing power mainly for Sky.
 * -|The Shadow Phoenix=

Movies
During an attack by Mandragora, Riven was put under an enchantment when Mandragora's bug bit him and injected a kind of venom in him which caused him to become Mandragora's puppet. Later on in the movie, when the Winx are all blocked within Obsidian, Riven starts to fight against the Specialists due to Mandragora's spell. He ends up hurting Musa and when he sees her unconscious on the ground he remembers all the good times he spent with Musa and how much he loves her, thus breaking Mandragora's spell with his love for Musa. The venom the bug released in Riven's blood when it bit him was removed when black tears, due to the presence of the poison Mandragora's bug in them, fell from his eyes. When she opened her eyes, Riven told her he always knew who he was fighting for: Musa. This pleases her and they kiss.
 * -|Secret of the Lost Kingdom=

Riven was involved with the Winx Club and the other Specialists in the battle against the Trix and the Ancestral Witches.
 * -|Magical Adventure=

Skills
Riven is an excellent swordsman, wielding a scimitar-styled purple phantoblade and a bolas. He is also very good at dragon wrangling and is a very skilled thief and lock picker. This bit of knowledge served him well when he was trapped in the dungeons of Cloud Tower by the Trix as Riven picked the lock that had been put on his cell door to free himself. Riven seems to be the most knowledgeable in stealth and strategic planning.

He is skilled at all kinds of sports.

Trivia

 * The word "Riven" is from Old English and means "to be torn in half".
 * Riven could also be short for Rivendell, which is a place featured in the The Lord of the Rings books of J.R.R. Tolkien, since it seems that many alphabets, characters, names, objects and places were inspired from The Lord of the Rings. It was one of the last outposts of the Elves in Middle-Earth and where the lord Elrond resides. Rivendell itself is the English/Old English translation of Sindarin Elvish Imladris, meaning "Deep Valley of the Cleft".
 * Riven is also the name of a video game and a female character in League of Legends.
 * Riven's 4Kids voice actor (Michael Sinterklass) and Nickelodeon voice actor (Sam Riegel) both worked together in the 2003 version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".
 * Similar to Sky, Riven has been manipulated multiple times, and dated an antagonist.
 * Sky once was the fiancé of Diaspro, as Riven dated Darcy.
 * Sky was manipulated by Valtor's spell, as Riven was spelled by the Trix and the Ancestral Witches through Mandragora.
 * His current location is unknown since the break-up with Musa in Season 6.
 * Riven's voice actor also voices Rumpelstiltskin and Acheron in the Nickelodeon dub.
 * Riven makes a resemblance to Jin Kazama from the Tekken series.
 * On the official Winx Club website (2007), it is mentioned that Riven is a very good thief.
 * His hairstyle may be inspired by Odd Della Robbia from Code Lyoko. Although it's not confirmed, their hairstyles look exactly the same despite they have different hair colors.