Sara Pezzini

Sara Pezzini
Sara Pezzini, by Michael Turner & Marc Silvestri (artists)
Publication information
Publisher	Image Comics/Top Cow
First appearance	Cyblade/Shi #1: The Battle For Independents (1995)
Created by	Marc Silvestri, David Wohl, Brian Haberlin, Michael Turner
In-story information
Team affiliations	NYPD
Notable aliases	Pez, Witchblade
Abilities	The Witchblade can act like armor, produce energy blasts and form himself into weapons and extra appendages. He also possesses healing properties and the ability of flight.

Sara Pezzini is a fictional comic book superheroine starring in the series Witchblade. Sara also appeared in a Turner Network Television live-action feature film and TV series of the same name, portrayed by Yancy Butler. She is an NYPD homicide detective whose life changed when she came into contact with a powerful ancient weapon known as the Witchblade, which bestows its wielder with supernatural powers.

Fictional character history

Sara Pezzini was born November 18, 1970, and is of Italian descent. Her major enemies are Kenneth Irons (whom she briefly dated before discovering his evil nature) and Ian Nottingham (sometime love-interest and ally).

As one of the current hosts of The Witchblade, Sara has been granted many unique abilities, including the power and ability to heal herself, to create (often very revealing) armor over her skin (as the Witchblade tends to rip away all of her clothes), to shoot energy blasts, to extend razor sharp tendrils and even winged flight. She has yet to explore the full limits of The Witchblade, and thus does not know what other mystical magical abilities he possesses. When not overly active, The Witchblade can assume the form of a bracelet, allowing her to wear the entity without drawing attention. The Witchblade is a male entity of both light and dark which represents both order and chaos. It is the offspring of The Darkness and The Angelus; as such, Sara does not have complete control over its actions and reactions.

Sara first appeared in Cyblade/Shi #1: The Battle For Independents in 1995. She had wanted nothing more in her life than to be a good cop. As a homicide detective in New York City, life was challenging enough, but for Sara, those were simpler times. While on an undercover case at the Rialto Theater, both she and her partner, Michael Yee (named Danny Woo in the TV series), were mortally wounded. At this same theater was a man named Kenneth Irons, who had brought a gauntlet known as The Witchblade. Irons was in search of the secrets to unlocking his full power and ability.

While Sara lay dying, The Witchblade made his choice to include her in the long line of women that he has shared his power with. The entity healed Sara's wounds and allowed her to survive the resulting confrontation. Since then, she has seen many things she never knew existed, fought creatures that have no place on Earth, and longed for the days of a typical NYPD detective. But she continues her struggle with The Witchblade, believing that she can do more good with the entity than without. So the battle for control continues, as Sara learns more about this entity and struggles to stem his violent nature.

Some of Sara's allies include The Magdalena, Lara Croft, and Jackie Estacado. One crossover pitted her against Wolverine. In the comics recently, Sara has been through a grueling ordeal fighting off a giant demon (a false "god" summoned by a group of priests), in the midst of which her partner, Jake McCarthy, was left wounded. Before losing consciousness, Jake professed his love for Sara and told her that he always knew about her double life. He now remains in a coma, and Sara has had to deal with a nosy new partner, Patrick Gleason, who has already discovered many of her secrets. Gleason saved her life and it had begun to look like they may become more than just partners, but their sexual date was interrupted when Ian Nottingham abruptly returned to Sara's life.

Pregnancy

After a minor crisis that led to the death of Sara's good friend and loyal partner; Jake, Sara discovered she was pregnant. Sara was completely confounded at how this occurred – due primarily to the fact she has not had sex in over a year. Sara, initially feeling she was not ready to be a mother, nevertheless decided to keep the baby, but decided as a result she could not keep the Witchblade as well. Sara relinquished it on to Danielle Baptiste, a young woman she had recently met who was its next chosen bearer.

When she was due to give birth, the father of her child was revealed – it was Jackie Estacado, who, "possessed" by The Darkness itself, was driven to seek out and have sex with Sara's comatose body, and, with Jackie's body used for the necessary biology, leading to the conception of their baby – a child to upset the balance between the dark and light. Sara gives birth to a baby girl, but is on the verge of death. Danielle then ends up sharing part of the Witchblade with Sara, which saves Sara's life. Hope, Sara and Jackie's daughter, drives off The Angelus and in the end Sara, now wielding half The Witchblade, and her friends return to their lives. This pregnancy has caused an attraction between Jackie and Sara that has manifested itself as romantic and even sexual.

"War of the Witchblades"

Later, a major conflict erupts between Sara and Danielle, with Sara under the control of The Darkness portion of the Witchblade. During this time Sara became increasingly irrational, angry and would often mistreat the people around her, however she did display more increased control over the entity demonstrating abilities usually associated with The Darkness (summoning dark-based objects, creating Darklings etc.). Manipulated by an old enemy of The Curator, Sara re-took all of The Witchblade in a battle with Danielle. However Sara was saved when Danielle was chosen as the next Angelus host and cleansed her of The Darkness' influence, restoring Sara to her former self.

Powers and abilities

Sara has above average intelligence, and is very athletic. She has police training in hand-to-hand combat, weapons, tactics and criminal investigation.

Also she is the current host of The Witchblade, she has been granted a wide array of abilities; she can form various weapons (swords, other stabbing weapons, hooks, chains, shields), generate a full body armor in order to protect himself and his host (should the situation arise, she can also form wings allowing flight), shoot energy blasts from the hand or sword, fire projectile darts, and whip-like grapples to attack or to climb. The Witchblade is also an excellent lock pick, and can heal wounds, even mortal ones. The Witchblade can re-animate the dead, emphatically show the host scenes of great trauma, and allow the host to relive experiences from past hosts as dreams.

The Witchblade is also known to be able to damage incorporeal beings and is capable of slaying other-dimensional entities and deities. It also has the ability to control and manipulate the elements.

Television series

In the Witchblade television series, Sara is also able to use the Witchblade in certain instances to slow, stop, or even turn back time. However, due to the time-turning ability, things said about the series are often only true for one season or the other. She also has the ability to see and speak with the ghost of Danny Woo, her dead partner. It was also revealed in the last episode of the television series that the Witchblade will not and cannot bring death to anyone that has wielded it, able to only maim, disfigure and cause pain.

In order to handle the Witchblade, Sara must first pass the Periculum, a test designed to find if one is worthy of carrying such an amazing weapon as she is confronted by former weilders. Once a potential user has passed this test, the Witchblade will bond with them at a cellular level and slow the aging process. Former weilders of the Witchblade include Scáthach of Irish legend, Joan of Arc & Elizabeth Brontë.

It is revealed that Sara was not only adopted, but stolen from her birth mother when she was a baby she also had a sister that appeared in the series once named Karen Bronte. It is hinted that her real last name is Connor or Bronte.

Sara's main romantic interest in the TV series is Conchobar, a musician who is a descendant or reincarnation of Conchobar mac Nessa.

Sara finds herself trying to figure out the origins of the weapon she now carries, as well as the purpose that is destined for her. Her arch-nemesis is businessman Kenneth Irons, whose bodyguard Ian Nottingham is implied to be his son. In the comics, for a time, Sara and Ian became romantically involved. In the television series, Ian was created from the stem cell of Elizabeth Brontë, a former wielder from Sara's bloodline (possibly her biological grandmother) and it is implied that they could be genetically related. Ian is obsessed with Sara, but his erratic behavior disturbs her. In the second season, he meets Aras, a woman genetically identical to Sara, and they share a kiss. Sara has a friend named Gabriel Bowman who has a website called Talismaniac and is knowledgeable about mythology and artifacts.

See also

• List of female action heroes

External links

• Top Cow Witchblade page