Tess Harding

Tess Harding is a character in the Roswell series. She is portrayed by Emilie de Ravin.
==Canon==
Tess came to Earth with the other alien-human hybrids, Max Evans, Isabel Evans and Michael Guerin, but she was left in her pod after they left theirs. She was raised by another alien, Nasedo, who had found her and had apparently been sent there to help them. 
In Season 1 and 2, Tess appears to be obsessed with Max and fulfilling her destiny by being with him. This is in part because of Nasedo's deal with Kivar which is leads her to become pregnant with Max's child. In season 2, Tess ends up causing Alex Whitman to die due to her mindwarping him too many times, causing friction between the humans and hybrids of the pod squad. Max allows her to leave Earth with his child.
Tess returns in Season 3, after Kivar reject Zan (her and Max's son) because he's completely human. Due to their landing and killing FBI agents, she sets out for help from the gang in order to protect Zan. She uses herself as bait for the FBI and sacrifices herself and killing everyone in the process.
Tess is the most powerful of the Royal Four because she has used her powers from the beginning, and with Nasedo's help, she improves her abilities. She tries to teach the other hybrids how to use their own powers. Her unique ability is mindwarping, the ability to create illusions which allow people to temporary see whatever she wants them to see.
==Fandom==
Tess Harding fans are known as "Hussies".
Dreamers aka Max/Liz fans started hating on Tess when spoilers of the character emerged in February 2000, which led to them creating many fics to explain and deal with Tess. Candy aka Maria/Michael fans seem to have generally liked or supported Tess. When the spoilers of Tess/Max having sex (and having a child in result) was announced and later became canon, it caused quite an uproar in the Dreamer fandom at Fan Forum. The resulting fics made the sex a mindwarp (which is what it had been spoiled as being) and Tess being killed. A LiveJournal community in support of Tess, tess_fans was created in November 2003Tess_Fans Profile. The Anti-Tess LiveJournal community was created in February 2004Anti_Tess Profile.
Redeeming Tess fics are common elements in denialfic or fix-it fics set in Season 2: where writers ignore the bad stuff or they try to explain why she did what she did. This trend in fanfiction seem to have started after the series ended and the initial hate seemed to die off for the character led by Stargazers and Lamptrimmers as explained by cardinalgirl in response to the "A History of Roswell Fanfic" meta:
===Pairings===
*Tess/Kyle known as "Lamptrimmers" and "Rebounders"
*Tess/Max known as "Rebel Alliance" for "Rebels" short
*Tess/Alex known as "Fifth Wheeler"
*Tess/Isabel known as "Mindwarper"
*Tess/Liz known as "Catfighter"
*Tess/Michael known as "Mental Vibrator"
*Tess/Ava known as "Cats' Eyes"
*Tess/Lonnie known as "Icestorm"
*Tess/Courtney known as "Hussy Lover"
*Tess/Maria known as "Lifesavers"
Crossover pairings with Tess appeared in Dark Angel, Smallville, Supernatural, and Stargate Universe crossovers.
==Fanworks==
* "You're the king, baby, I'm your queen", a gifset of Tess showcasing Taylor Swift's lyrics to Blank Space
==Archives & Fannish Links==
* Tess works at AO3
* Tess works at FFN
* Tumblr tag: tess harding
===LiveJournal Communities===
* Tess Fans
* Anti-Tess
==References==
<references>
Category:Roswell Characters