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History

Rose Tattoo was the spirit of murder; an ageless representation of a pure idea, who had presumably existed as long as the idea itself.

StormWatch[]

In the 1960's, Rose was a member of the superhuman conspiracy The Changers founded by "The High" to create a new world order. While on a mission, Rose was discovered by a young Henry Bendix (a field agent doing favors for Richard Nixon at the time) and he immediately fell in love with her.[1] While the time between their first meeting and Bendix's restructuring of StormWatch is largely unaccounted for, Rose kept very quiet and remained obedient to Bendix until he called on her. When she initially appeared, she was in a small building in Sicily, Italy, having created a candle-lit 'altar' of dead, bleeding victims.

Rose was a member of StormWatch for some time, killing those Bendix wished, some of whom were criminals, many of whom were innocent bystanders. Rose kept to herself and Bendix had ordered the others not to talk to her.[2]

Rose also drove a StormWatch guard mad, by seducing him and simply talking to him.[3]

The Changers[]

Rose was meant to be a key player in Bendix's plan to establish his own new world order, but unfortunately The High's 50-year-old dream of a finer world got in the way. While raiding The Changers compound, Rose killed one of the Changers whilst he was in negotiations with StormWatch Black. Jack Hawksmoor (of StormWatch Black) then snapped her neck, killing her.

The Authority[]

Rose Tattoo would eventually find a new host. Working for Henry Bendix yet again as his personal assassin, she was responsible for the death of the Doctor, Jeroen Thornedike. Rose Tattoo was able to murder Thornedike by secreting an overdose of heroin passed into him through her bodily fluids during sex.[4] After fighting a newly regrouped version of The Authority, the new Doctor, Habib bin Hassan, changed her from the Spirit of Murder into the Spirit of Life, and became a member of The Authority.[5]

StormWatch Prime[]

However, this didn't last as during a brief scuffle between The Authority and StormWatch Prime at one of Henry Bendix's secret facility, an incarnation of Bendix caused Rose to regress into the Spirit of Murder and turn on her teammates. Once she was removed from battle however, she was convinced by William Bendix to turn on his father, whom she then murdered, destroying her body in the process. Immediately afterward she was reincarnated within a teenager called Shawna, who, it is implied, was about to murder her father.[6]

Attributes

Powers

  • Spirit of Murder: Rose Tattoo is the living incarnation of Murder. Any sort of matter that can be contributed to the act of murder is in her arsenal. Rose normally takes to conventional means of guns and other weaponry to murder others however she has been known to use other means such as counteracting magics, drive others insane, project energies and as the Spirit of Murder normal conventions of murder cannot be applied to her.
    • Superhuman Strength: The Spirit of Murder is granted power enough to knock humans through walls and burst down doors. Most of her strength seems to be displayed through her creations.
    • Superhuman Stamina: The Spirit of Murder is given enough stamina to continue fighting many days at a time, she has theoretically been in every single war since the beginning of mankind and has participated in each for their entire duration.
    • Superhuman Speed: The Spirit of Murder is faster than the fastest human on the planet. Her trigger finger blasts bullets out of the cartridge faster than the fastest gunslinger at any point in time.
    • Superhuman Durability: The Spirit of Murder has been shot, burned, stabbed, pummeled, blasted, cut, maimed, overdosed, wrecked and lived through it all. She is not impossible to kill however her host bodies can take a considerable amount of punishment.
    • Enhanced Senses: The Spirit of Murder lives in each and every murder perpetrated throughout humankind. As such she can sense exactly how a murder occurred right down to outside influences and sense life and determine how much is needed to kill them.
    • Accelerated Healing: If the Spirit of Murder is hurt then her host bodies have increased cellular regeneration. She has regrown major tissue damage and recovered from ailments are remarkable speeds.
    • Energy Construct Creation: One of the main abilities of the Spirit of Murder is to create weapons of various degrees each of which is specifically used to kill her opponent. She's made everything from specific weakness seeking guns to blades that tap into incredible powers.
    • Energy Projection: Only shown in a minor occurrence where the Spirit of Murder had secreted poisonous substances through her body. Theoretically, she has the power to increase her weapon creation with added energies.
    • Resurrection: If the Spirit of Murder's host body is killed as it has been countless times then the Spirit of Murder will resurrect into a new host who is suitable for murder. In this way the Spirit of Murder can never die.
  • Spirit of Life: (formerly) During a time where the Doctor reversed her powers. The Spirit of Murder was changed into the Spirit of Life and all her murderous powers reversed. However, her powers were only shown in her ability to seduce and have intercourse with her opponents creating life rather than taking it.

Abilities

Trivia

  • For some time, it was speculated that the Spirit of Murder had transferred from Rose to Jack Hawksmoor when he killed her first body. This would explain a number of new traits apparent in Hawksmoor from this point forward, such as his ready willingness to murder (he had previously been defined as hating killing and only doing so as an absolute final resort) and a glowing left eye while using his powers (the same eye which is usually covered by Rose's hair and is revealed to be made of silver or steel.) When a new Rose Tattoo appeared in The Authority: Revolution, some thought that this theory was debunked. But Henry Bendix specifically mentions that this is the Rose Tattoo of an alternate dimension, so it is still possible that the Spirit of Murder transferred to Jack Hawksmoor.

See Also

Links and References

References

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