Ruth Aldine

Luca Aldine (Brother, deceased)

Rebecca Aldine (Aunt)

Irene Adler (Grandmother)

Salem Center, NY

## Background

### **1994 - 2008: Ruth Aldine**

Ruth Aldine was born a mutant with no eyes or any open eye sockets. Born in Charleston, North Carolina, her father left her mother & older brother Luca only a week after Ruth's birth. Because of Ruth's condition, her mother was forced to work long hours to support her family. Ruth was often left with her brother who hated her for being a mutant & causing all his problems. Luca both physically & emotionally abused her, before falling into theft & drug abuse. Luca was eventually sent to rehab where he fell under the tutelage of a religiously bigoted minister.

Luca's abuse of Ruth escalated until one day he came to kill Ruth with a chainsaw. While attacking Ruth, their mother jumped in front of her & was killed protecting her. Luca was quickly apprehended & sentenced to death. After this tragedy, she was raised by her aunt in a small town in New Jersey. Ruth has stated multiple times that these times with her aunt was the happiest six years in her life. She also learned to control & master her power.

Due to some sense of family solidarity, Ruth attended the execution of her brother. Luca then manifested astral projection & stole half of Ruth's power leaving her mind incomplete & broken. Shortly after incident, Ruth's aunt was contacted by the Professor Xavier & she enrolled Ruth at the Xavier Institute.

### **2008 - 2009: Blindfold**

Enrolling at the same time the Xavier Institute implemented the training squad system, Ruth was placed with Iceman's Excelsiors Squad with Armor, Graymalkin & Wing. Because of her lack of sight & the permanent sash she wore over her eyes, she was codenamed Blindfold.

Blindfold remained fairly isolated from other students due to her strange mannerisms, odd speech pattern & her tendency to read other's minds without permission. The only exception was her teammates.

During an evening of storytelling, Blindfold relayed the history of Illyana Rasputina to her fellow classmates. They believed she was telling a horror story but realized what was going on as the story continued. She explained how the demon lord Belasco reclaimed the realm of Limbo, stole the Soulsword & searched for a way to bring back Illyana Rasputin from the dead. After completing her tale, Blindfold & the other students were sucked into Limbo by Belasco & attacked by demons. She continued to assist the students with advice throughout their time in Limbo. She survived the final battle & was returned to the mansion with the rest of the students.

Months after returning, the Institute was attacked by the Purifiers under the orders of William Stryker. In the chaos, Wing was hit by one of the Purifiers & ended up losing his powers as a result. As the weeks went on, Blindfold foresaw Wing dying in the Danger Room. The Stepford Cuckoos brought Blindfold to Emma Frost to warn her & the rest of the X-Men. But they arrived to late & Wing had already committed suicide.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Mutant Physiology - Astral Energy Manipulation:** Ruth has a varying capacity for the manipulation of psionic energy.
	+ ***Astral Energy Solidification*:** Unlike most psychics Blindfold is able to give substance to astral energy to solidify psychic forms.
		- ***Astral Projection Materialization*:** Blindfold is able to physically cast her psionic projection into the physical world while remaining impermissible or pull the astral projections of other telepaths into the astral world.
		- ***Astral Armor*:** She has shown to erect protective psi-armor armor to battle.
		- ***Astral Weaponry*:** She is capable of materializing a blade of raw psychic power.
		- ***Psionic Force-Field Generation*:** She is able to create a highly durable barrier of energy that she could shape and conform as needed.
		- ***Psionic-Force Blasts*:** She can project energy blasts, waves and bolts of her own psionic and telekinetic energy.
	+ ***Astral Plane Tapping*:** She can tap into the enormous psychic resources of the astral plane in order to manipulate matter & energy.
* **Mutant Physiology - Telepathy:** She is able to read minds & dreams. She can perceive information through reading minds. She can utilize her telepathy in various ways. She is currently learning the art of astral projection, she seems to be at the "adept level."
	+ ***Astral Projection:*** She can project her astral form from her body onto the Astral Plane or the physical plane. In the physical plane she can travel in astral form over vast distances. In the astral plane, she can mentally create psionic objects and manipulate the aspects of her environment. She can communicate with others astrally through her own will, or through contact with the thoughts and memories of others.
	+ ***Astral Travel:*** Capable of forging psi-links with herself and her body to travel in astral form. A unique trait of her astral form is the ability to interact with the physical world as though she were tangible.
	+ ***Psychometry:*** Ruth has the ability to perceive information or history of a person or object through touch that makes her knowledgeable and immune to certain objects that may change the course of events.
	+ ***Precognition:*** She is able to see events destined to occur & experience precognitive visions. These vision seem to often appear as dreams.
	+ ***Retrocognition:*** She is able to see events of the past.
	+ ***Clairvoyance:*** Able to see far off places or events as well as present events and her surroundings. Possess the ability to use her sight abilities to its higher potential, the ability to look over somewhere/someone with transportation only by the use of telepathic abilities.[50]
	+ ***Telepathic Immunity:*** Emma Frost said that Blindfold's mind is in too much flux to for her to read. This does not necessarily mean that Blindfold would be immune to telepathic assaults or other telepathic abilities that only require the telepath to broadcast their power at the target's mind, only that her mind cannot be read telepathically. However, this ability does not universally shield her from telepathic possession.
	+ ***Psychic Possession:*** Blindfold can possess others through her telepathic abilities.
	+ ***Mental Influence:*** Blindfold can manipulate others to believe whatever she desires.
* **Telekinesis:** Blindfold has the ability to psionically manipulate & control the physical aspects of reality. She can levitate, propel and manipulate objects & matter with her mind.
* **Chaos Manipulation:** Blindfold is able to successfully manipulate events to achieve a certain desired outcome. With her psychometry powers she is able to navigate, control, or warn herself or others about the dangers that may impede in the path.

### Weaknesses

* **Blindness:** She is physically blind, with her eye sockets being initially completely covered over in flesh.

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Strength:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Speed:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Occult:** 1 - Nonexistent
* **Weapons:** 2 - Impaired / Below Average
* **Energy Projection:** 6 - Expert / Advanced
* **Strategy:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Fighting Ability:** 3 - Average / Basic

## Trivia

* She often overused certain phrases such as "please," "thank you," "you're welcome," "pardon," "yes" & "no" in her sentences.
* One if her secret desires is to be a part of the popular crowd.
* She considers herself to be close with Rockslide & Armor.
* Most students, like Trance, seem standoffish due to Blindfold's mysterious nature & her tendency to read others' minds without permission.
* She is a member of the Excelsiors Squad, mentored by Iceman.
* Wallflower has a power ranking of 51, classifying her as Power Level 2 / Low Threat.

## Notes

* The original character of Ruth Aldine belongs to the Marvel Universe.