Taranee Cook is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 in the Italian comic series W.I.T.C.H.

W.I.T.C.H.

W.I.T.C.H. is an Italian fantasy/Magical girl comic series created by Elisabetta Gnone, Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa. It tells the story of five teenage girls who are chosen to be the new Guardians of Kandrakar, protectors of the center of the universe from people and creatures who wish...

 and the French animated series of the same name

W.I.T.C.H. (TV series)

W.I.T.C.H. is an animated television series based on the Italian comic book series of the same name produced by SIP Animation in association and participation by France 3, Jetix Europe, CNC, , - AGICOA, the Poitou-Charentes region and the Charente department. Despite their acronym, the five main...

. She is one of the members of a group, called W.I.T.C.H. who make up the Guardians, the people who guard Kandrakar

Kandrakar

Kandrakar is a fictional world in the comic book W.I.T.C.H. and the animated series of the same name...

, the center of the universe, from evil. Taranee is pyrokinetic

Pyrokinesis

Pyrokinesis, derived from the Greek words and , was the name coined by horror novelist Stephen King for the ability to create or to control fire with the mind that he gave to the protagonist Charlie McGee in Firestarter...

, thermokinetic and telepathic

Telepathy

Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...

. Her mother and father are of Asian and African descent, respectively. She soon finds a guy named Nigel who thinks she is very sweet. Although she is shy, she has been known to be very smart and willing to help in school and when W.I.T.C.H. goes into action.

Taranee is 13 years old and was raised in the town of Sesamo, but later moved to Heatherfield. Her best friend is Will Vandom

Will Vandom

Wilhelmina "Will" Vandom is a fictional character who first appeared in W.I.T.C.H. #1 in April 2001. She is the leader of the Guardians , a group of teenage girls who guard Kandrakar, the center of the universe...

, the leader of W.I.T.C.H..

Taranee is a shy and reserved teenager, and her boyfriend is Nigel Ashcroft, an ex-member of Uriah's gang, who quit because Taranee wanted him to, and so did he. She can be a bit of a "goody-goody" at times and always does what's right. Taranee is the most intelligent member of the group, and her favorite subject is mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

. She loves photography, basketball, dancing, and classical music, but hates bugs (especially spiders) except for butterflies, grasshoppers and crickets.

Her mother is a judge, Theresa Cook, and her father, Lionel is an ex-lawyer turned psychologist, and Taranee stated that she believes that they are overprotective of her. Taranee has an older brother called Peter Lancelot Cook, who, unlike the siblings of other fellow W.I.T.C.H. members, is really kind and respectful to her and her friends. He loves to surf and skateboard.

When people play with Taranee's feelings, or when she gets angry, her powers start up. Even Cedric

Cedric (W.I.T.C.H.)

Lord Cedric is a fictional character in the W.I.T.C.H. comic and animated series. Cedric is the right hand man of Phobos, and acts as the head of his armies. He posed as a human bookseller named Cedric Hoffman to gain Elyon Brown's trust and help lure her to Meridian so that Phobos could steal her...

 once stated that her elemental power is the most indomitable of all five elements. Her voice is provided by Miss Kittie.

Before W.I.T.C.H.

Before living in Heatherfield, Taranee lived in another town known as Sesamo. Because of the move to a different town, Taranee was emotionally and mentally affected but understood that she had no choice but to move to Heatherfield because of her parents new job placement. In the comics, it is stated that a year before moving to Heatherfield, the Cook family went house hunting on their own accord. Taranee, upset by this, wondered off by herself and found a house of her own. Looking through the window, she saw a hypnotic fire dancing inside. When Taranee asked the real-estate agent about the house, he told her that it was abandoned and that nobody had lived there for years. When Taranee and her parents enter the house, the fire Taranee saw disappeared and the house appeared to be empty. The Cook family made the decision to move into this particular house. In the comics, Taranee moved to Heatherfield just a few days before Will, but in the animated series she moved one year prior to Will.

Forming W.I.T.C.H.

Comics: In the comics, Taranee bumped into the new girl Will Vandom, just a few days after moving to Heatherfield herself. The two girls became fast friends, and soon became friends with Cornelia Hale

Cornelia Hale

Cornelia Hale is a fictional character in comic book W.I.T.C.H. and the television series of the same name. She is one of the five teenage girls who are chosen to be the new Guardians of Kandrakar...

, Irma Lair

Irma Lair

Irma Lair is a fictional character in the comic book W.I.T.C.H. and the animated series of the same name. Irma is a 13 year old teen, who is going through her last year of middle school/early high school at the Sheffield Institute. She is also a member of W.I.T.C.H....

, Hay Lin

Hay Lin

Hay Lin is a member of W.I.T.C.H., a group of teenage girls who make up the Guardians, the people who guard Candracar, the center of the universe, from evil. Hay Lin is Chinese. Hay Lin is the "H" in W.I.T.C.H., acronym of the girls' names...

 and Elyon Brown

Elyon Brown

Elyon Brown is a fictional character in the comic book W.I.T.C.H. and the animated series of the same name.-Character history:Elyon Brown is a heart-warming teenager with straw coloured hair in two braids. She is friendly and smart, but sometimes a bit wishy-washy.Elyon Brown is the Queen of...

 as well. One night, their local school was throwing a Halloween dance where Cornelia, Irma, Hay Lin and Elyon urge Taranee and Will to come with them. Uriah, the school bully, and his gang play a prank involving firecrackers that puts the girls in harms way, but after a bit of Taranee's quick thinking and unidentified powers, the girls get off without a scratch. The next day Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin meet at Hay Lin's house to discuss the strange dreams that they had. It was then that Yan Lin , Hay Lin's grandmother, informed the girls about their powers and about Kandrakar, entrusting the Heart of Kandrakar

Heart of Kandrakar

The Heart of Kandrakar , is a fictional magical pendant from the Italian W.I.T.C.H. comic book and the French animated series of the same name...

 to Will.

Animated series: In the animated series, Taranee had been friends with Irma, Cornelia, and Hay Lin since living in Heatherfield. After Uriah's gang picks on the new girl Will at the science fair, Taranee encourages the girls to be nice to her and calls Will over to talk to them. Taranee tells Will that she knows what it's like to be the new girl. While the other girls talk about how they hate Uriah, they somehow exude a bit of their powers. Hay Lin arrives and invites the girls for tea and cookies at her house, as that's what her grandmother had influenced Hay Lin to do. At Hay Lin's, Yan Lin explains about the Guardians and entrusts the Heart of Kandrakar to Will. This is when Taranee and the girls learn about their powers.

Quitting W.I.T.C.H.

In the third saga of the comic books, Taranee is provoked by the Oracle's recent actions, which include not telling Cornelia about Caleb

Caleb (W.I.T.C.H.)

Caleb is a fictional character in comic book W.I.T.C.H. and the animated series of the same name, voiced in the latter by Greg Cipes.-Chronology: Comic Book:...

's decision to go back to Meridian

Meridian (W.I.T.C.H.)

Meridian, also known as Metamoor or Metaworld, is a fictional planet in the comic book series W.I.T.C.H. and in the animated series of the same name.- Culture and Customs :...

 and not helping them in their next task. Taranee's last straw is when the nymph Xin Jing's gift of regenaration cures her eyesight, as she did not ask for it in the first place and did not want it and had to wear glasses when she did not need them.

Taranee then decides to leave the team temporarily. For this reason the Oracle decides to find a replacement. The replacement is the warrior Orube, from the Oracle's home planet of Basilíade

Basilíade

Basilíade is a fictional world in the comic book series W.I.T.C.H.-Appearance:Some people of Basilíade have a feline appearance with pointy, furry ears and cat-like noses and eyes. Elders may grow whiskers. Others look like normal humans, only with a bit different facial features...

, who is given no elemental power but is great at martial arts and can shoot energy beams.

The Oracle orders Orube to live on Earth under the alias of Mrs. Rudolph's niece Rebecca Rudolph in order to understand the human's habits on Earth and get along with the girls. After solving the conflict with Ari, Orube decides to enlarge her knowledge about Earth. In the next adventures Orube only gives the girls a helping hand.

Profile and Guardian form

Taranee's heritage is unclear. She was just a baby when a fire made her biological parents totally broke and they were incapable to bear the costs of raising their daughter. She has blue-black hair and eyes, and wears black glasses. Her birthday is March 23 making her an Aries. She is also 13.

Although she is shy and laid-back, Taranee is very determined when she sets her mind on a goal, and is usually the one who reminds her friends of important tasks to be done. Her hobbies include basketball, listening to classical music, photography and even math. Taranee is very close to her family, which consists of her parents and Peter Cook, her older brother, who is very nice to her and her friends. Though she is very sensitive, Taranee gets annoyed when people hurt her feelings and could become dangerous when that happens.

Taranee has power over fire. Her theme colour varies from red to orange and her symbol is a triangle with a corner opened.

Taranee's guardian form is unique and has been compared to a jogger with wings in the past. Her outfit includes a short sleeved shirt that curves to her rib cage, a green pair of boy shorts, a pair of pixie wings, purple track shoes and the trademark guardian tights which are blue and green. Despite the fact her hair is short, Taranee's hair is still short when she is transformed it separates into six smooth dread-lock like parts of hair on either sides of her head. She also sports two pink wrist bands on each of her wrists.

Powers

Taranee is the Guardian of Fire. She is therefore pyrokinetic and thermokinetic.

Taranee, as the Guardian of Fire, can spontaneously generate and manipulate flame and heat. In the basic application of her power is extinguishing fire and throwing fire, bombarding her opponent with fireballs in varying intensity and size. She soon learns to throw whirling discs of fire and create large wildfires and infernos with a thought. Later she uses her powers in more advanced techniques such as like using pure thermal energy as a defensive barrier that vaporizes nearly all projectiles, breathing fire, and shooting a pinpoint flame from her finger.

Using the more thermokinetic aspect of her Guardian powers, Taranee can sense nearby sources of heat and releasing concussive bursts of heat called heat waves. She can manipulate the temperature of an object by thoughts, melting it by adding it to its heat or making it brittle by taking away the objects heat. She has accomplished the feat of absorbing the heat of others like she did with Nerissa's soldier, Ember, who was fire made flesh.

Taranee is a potentially powerful telepath, able to read, project, and perceive thoughts. She can project her thoughts outwards similar to talking and is the center of the special psychic link between all the Guardians. When she uses her telepathic powers, flames flash in her eyes and when she's angry, flames appear as a reflection on her glasses. She also has psychically-based superhuman awareness and understanding able to sense the presence of others by just being in the vicinity and understanding the concepts of dreams almost instantly.Taranee can use her telepathic ability to stun or kill opponents, mainly by sending a fire blast from her mind or just meddling with their mind. She can even communicate with animals, only ones with great intelligence such as ravens, dogs or dolphins.Her psychic power in conjunction with her intelligence makes her an extremely valuable ally. The former guardian of Fire, Halinor Clarkson, also has the same power as Taranee.

Taranee has shown she is able to:

• Create balls of fire
• Ignite large wildfires
• Start and extinguish fires
• Breathe fire
• Use pure thermal energy as a defensive barrier that vaporizes nearly all projectiles
• Shoot pinpoint flames with her finger
• Sense sources of heat
• Use fire to cut through objects
• Manipulate temperature by thought
• Contact the other Guardians through telepathy
• Read other peoples' thoughts, feelings, and memories
• Understand the concept of dreams instantly
• Use her telepathic powers to stun or kill opponents
• Communicate with animals, such as dogs, dolphins, cats and ravens
• Superhuman awareness
• Sense the presence of others
• Throw blasts of heat energy (heat waves)
• Throw whirling discs of fire and heat
• Absorb the heat of opponents
• Transform sand into glass
• Melt objects by multiplying their heat
• Create rings of fire
• Control dangerous infernos
• Create force fields of fire
• Mend objects that are broken
• Throw beams of orange energy
• Take the form of fire on any object
• form and control fireworks
• Make metal soft and melt
• Use fire as a shield to bounce back attacks
• Use fire as explosive bombs
• Use fire as a whip
• Create fire augmentation
• Use pressure control
• Control lava and magma
• Have the ability to control pink fire

Taranee's powers as a Guardian allow her to:

• Fly
• Glamouring
• Teleportation
• Turn invisible

Love life

Like the other girls from the comic book series, Taranee has a love life. Nigel was first part of a bullying boys group and got into trouble when they broke into a museum and Taranee's mother judged them. Because of this Nigel's friends holds a grudge against Taranee, Nigel however defends Taranee against his friends. Later on a special friendship blooms and Nigel and Taranee started dating. Nigel's friendship with his former friends ends, and he starts a new way of life by doing good and making new friends such as Martin, Matt, Eric, and Peter.

Nigel's brother, who was judged and punished by Taranee's mother, shortly returns to Heatherfield and reunites with his little brother. This causes a rift between Nigel and Taranee, ending with him breaking up with her unexpectedly. Despite this, their relationship does not stop there; Taranee tries to find out what is going on, but Nigel ignores her and even starts harassing her with his brother. Soon, though, Nigel is overwhelmed with guilt; feeling sorry for what he did, he apologizes to Taranee and her parents, and they become a couple once more

Their relationship soon develops more problems, however. Taranee starts having dancing lessons, which takes up a lot of her free time and allows her to make new friends. She starts neglecting her old friends and even Nigel, who has started to get annoyed at her spending most of her time practing dancing moves. Taranee befriends a new boy named Luke, who is also part of the dancing group, but she never gets a crush on him. Peter was angry with Taranee for breaking up with Nigel, as he was good friends with the boy and saw how much Nigel had given up in order to be with her.

Later on, in issue 77, she develops a holiday friendship with a boy named Hamza, whom she meets on a vacation.