A Main Character

> Sometimes the only way to get closure is by accepting that you'll never get it.
>
> Zaila

## Physical description

### Eye color

Dark

**Raya** is the titular protagonist of Disney's 2021 animated feature film *Raya and the Last Dragon*. The daughter of Chief Benja, she is the princess of Kumandra's Heart Land. In her youth, Raya was appointed the Guardian of the Dragon Gem. When the Gem is broken, a plague known as the Druun is unleashed upon the world, turning much of humanity into stone—including Benja. To save her father, Raya embarked on a quest to retrieve the Gem pieces and use its power to vanquish the Druun for good.

Raya is the thirteenth official member of the Disney Princess line-up.

## Background

### Official Description

*Raya is a proud Guardian of the Dragon Gem, a title she holds alongside her beloved father Benja, the Chief of the Heart Lands. Her world is turned upside down when the Gem is broken, and her father is turned to stone. Now on a mission to save the world, she’s grown up to be a resilient warrior whose wit is as sharp as her blade.*
### Personality

Raya is a headstrong young woman who is mature and wisened for someone her age. She is a very capable person and is shown to easily adapt to situations around her. Despite her maturity, she retains a sense of humor and occasionally shows a bit of playfulness when such a moment presents itself. She deeply cares for her father and has a strong emotional attachment to certain people she considers her friends. Her biggest flaw is her inability to trust others. Except for Sisu, many of her new allies are immediately deemed suspicious or sinister in her eyes. Over time, she learns to overcome these issues and can see when someone is truly good. Raya is a very focused individual and is determined to see things through to the end.

Though Raya initially had trouble trusting others, she was able to recognize the good in people. She was even capable of sympathizing with others who suffered from the Druun, like her. This lead to Raya forming friendships with those who joined her on her quest, which slowly led her to start trusting people again.

### Physical appearance

Raya is an 18-year-old Southeast Asian girl of average height with a slender, slightly muscular build, tan skin, long black hair, and dark brown eyes. She usually wears a yellow shirt, a brown vest, a brown belt, olive green jeans with light green stripes, dark brown boots with maroon cuffs, a red cape with a thin turquoise stripe, and a yellow necklace around her neck, and a salakot on her head. She also wears a blue band above her elbow and a thick brown wristband on her right arm.

### Abilities

* **Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant/Martial Artist**: Raya was practicing her sword fighting all by herself in those six years, she didn’t get to practise using blades until she got her first sword, given by Chief Benja.

### Weapons and Equipment

* **Kali Sticks:** In Raya's youth, she used these for training. They were also her primary weapon at the time.
* **Whip Sword:** Raya's primary weapon as an adult that belonged to her father, Chief Benja. She uses it like a typical bladed weapon, but the blade can detatch in a long-bladed string that she uses to grab and attack from afar. It can also be used as a grappling hook.

Additionally, Raya's mode of transport is a giant pill bug and pug and armadillo-like creature named Tuk Tuk, who can travel at intense speeds.

## Appearances

### *Raya and the Last Dragon*

Raya first appears in her youth, tested by her father for the role of the Guardian of the Dragon Gem, which gives the powers of Sisu and protects Heart from the Druun. She successfully passes and earns the title. Chief Benja invites the Tail, Talon, Spine, and Fang Lands to join in a feast. During the party, Raya befriends Princess Namaari of the Fang Land. They immediately bond and form a close friendship due to their shared interest in dragons. Namaari gives Raya a dragon-shaped pendant. In return, Raya reveals to Namaari the hidden location of the Dragon Gem, only to be ultimately betrayed by her. The other nations soon arrive at their location and fight over the orb. As a result, the Dragon Gem is shattered into five broken pieces and awakens the Druun. During the evacuation, Raya has trouble carrying her injured father to safety. Knowing they won't make it, Benja sacrifices himself to give Raya a piece of the orb and throws her off the bridge into the river below. As she falls, Raya is forced to watch her father get turned into a stone statue by the devouring plague and can only scream as the current drifts her away.

Six years later, Raya is venturing across the Tail Land, hoping to find Sisu, the last living dragon who can help her save Kumandra and restore her father. After searching from river to river, Raya comes across an old shipwreck at the very end of the land. She places offerings and succeeds in awakening the water dragon from her long slumber. Sisu agrees to help her find the remaining pieces of the Dragon Gem. Raya and Sisu travel on Tuk Tuk to the home of the Tail Land’s chief. Raya successfully avoids all the traps placed within and carefully removes a gem piece from the remains of the chief, who died to her own traps. Namaari arrives with her army, and the trio quickly escapes to a boat called "The Shrimporium", owned by a boy named Boun. The group then heads to the Talon Land.

Arriving at Talon, Raya encounters a "con-baby" named Noi and her Ongis, who steal the gem fragments. She chases the thieves throughout the market and eventually catches up to them. With their help, Raya is able to infiltrate the home of Talon’s chief, Dang Hu. She accidentally mistakes him for another person and finds out he is already long gone, with a new chief in his place. The new chief tricks Sisu to be stuck with the Drunn if she does not reveal the location of the other Dragon Gem pieces. Raya arrives on the scene, snatches a gem piece from the chief, and rescues Sisu. They returned to Boun’s boat with Noi and her Onjis and headed to the Spine Land.

At the Spine Land, Raya and Sisu are captured by a formidable giant named Tong, the lone survivor of his people. When Namaari and her army arrive at the front gates, Raya pleads with Tong to take her friends to safety while she buys them time with the enemies. Her friends follow the plan while she fights Namaari. The Fang princess gains the upper hand during the fight and is about to finish Raya until Sisu jumps in and saves her life.

Raya finally reveals Sisu's secret to her friends back on the boat, and they agree to work together to get the final piece of the Dragon Gem from the Fang Land. Raya originally plans for the team to sneakily infiltrate the kingdom, but she is persuaded to follow Sisu's plan of befriending Namaari. She decides to return Namaari's pendant as a gift and tells her to secretly meet her in the forest via letter. For the night, Raya shares a meal with all of her friends.

The next morning, Namaari meets with Raya as promised and presents the final piece of the Dragon Gem, but is betrayed again when her old friend pulls out a crossbow. Raya causes Namaari to accidentally fire an arrow at Sisu, killing her. Blinded by rage, Raya heads to Fang alone and confronts Namaari. Upon defeating her, Raya realizes her rage and lack of trust caused chaos in Kumandra and Sisu's death. Instead, she spares Namaari's life and leaves to help her friends evacuate Fang's citizens away from the Druun. With the gem's pieces starting to lose power and the Druun coming closer, Raya decides to take the first step. She gives her gem piece to Namaari and turns into stone. Her friends do the same and turn into stone beside Raya. Namaari makes a choice to put all the pieces together before becoming petrified as well. After the Dragon Gem regains its power, Raya and all the infected victims are brought back to life, along with all the dragons. With Sisu and the dragons restored to Kumandra, Raya hugs her friends before returning home.

Arriving back at the Kingdom of Heart, Raya reunites with her father and introduces him to Sisu, and the two celebrate with the other nations, as Kumandra is united again for the first time in five-hundred years.

## Video Games

### *Disney Dreamlight Valley*

Raya is set to appear in the game, but has yet to be released in the early access for the game.

### Shanghai Disneyland

In September 2021, Raya made her official Disney Parks debut at Shanghai Disneyland's Happy Circle selfie spot.

### Disney California Adventure

Beginning with the Lunar New Year Celebration in 2022, Raya made her North American debut at Disney California Adventure near the Redwood Creek play area.

### Main Street Electrical Parade

A doll version of Raya was added in 2022 as part of the new It's a Small World finale, accompanied by a light structure of Sisu.

## Other appearances

### *Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade*

Raya debuted in the 2022 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade riding on the *Disney Wish* float dubbed "Magic Meets the Sea", joining her fellow Disney Princesses Moana, Mulan, and with their Princes, Cinderella & Prince Charming, Tiana & Naveen, Rapunzel & Flynn, and Jasmine & Aladdin. Under the command of Captain Minnie Mouse, Captain Mickey Mouse, and their crew of Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto, and joined by Black Panther and Spider-Man of Marvel lore, and Mirabel Madrigal from *Encanto*, along with supporting Disney Cast Members as their backup performers and several more serving as their supervisors/adjutants to keep them safe while on special assignment outside the Disney Parks and Resorts and Disney Cruise Line fleet, they performed one of their shows from the ship, dubbed "Seas The Adventure", which included snippets of "A Whole New World" and "When You Wish Upon a Star", ending with a flourish of streamers and confetti, putting smiles on the faces of all the Guests attending the parade and adding that bit of Disney Magic to Macy's long-time Thanksgiving celebration for the second year in row that the float attended the parade. After the float was then disassembled and returned to the warehouse in New Jersey, Raya and the other Theme Park Characters, along with their supporting Cast Members, departed Manhattan and returned home to Disneyland in Anaheim and Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista to resume their normal duties there with meeting-and-greeting Guests during Disney's holiday festivities until Macy's invites them back for another parade, depending on if Macy's brings the float back for a third consecutive year, and Disney's executives agree to have the characters come back in 2023 to participate in the parade again.

## Relationships

### Chief Benja

Raya had a close relationship with her father, Chief Benja who would train her in martial arts and to guard and protect the Dragon Gem. When her father decided to invite the Fang, Spine, Talon, and Tail tribes in an effort to unite them and his people to rebuild Kumandra, Raya was hesitant that his plan would work, but upon hearing her father say someone had to take the first step in rebuilding Kumandra, she decided to follow along with her father's plan.

However, when the plan to make peace with the tribes failed, resulting in the Dragon Gem getting broken and the Druun returning, Raya was protected by Benja who told her to not give up on the tribes before throwing her into a river, sacrificing himself to the Druun.

Years later, Raya dedicated herself to recover the pieces of the Dragon Gem to wipe out the Druun and bring back her father, as she blamed herself for her father's predicament. After finding Sisu, Raya worked with the dragon to recovering the pieces of the Dragon Gem, in order to bring back her father. After restoring the Dragon Gem and vanquishing the Druun, Raya happily reunited with her father and happily showed him Kumandra being restored with its fives tribes together once again.

### Sisu

Raya held a strong admiration towards Sisu as she grew up listening to stories on how she created the Dragon Gem to drive the Druun away. Because of her fascination with Sisu, Raya considers herself to be a "dragon nerd".

### Tuk Tuk

Raya shared a strong friendship with Tuk Tuk who has been her companion ever since she was a young girl. They would always stick together with Tuk Tuk always helping Raya with any task, even if he gets a little distracted.

## Trivia

* Former *Degrassi: The Next Generation* actress Cassie Steele was originally cast as the voice of Raya, but it was announced on August 27, 2020, that she would be replaced by Kelly Marie Tran. Reasons as to why this change was because the recasting was due to creative shifts in the character and story itself.
* Raya's fighting style is based primarily on the Indonesian martial art style of Pencak Silat while her fighting style using two sticks is based on the Filipino martial art of Kali, also known as Arnis or Eskrima.
* Raya's whip sword is inspired by the *keris*, a distinctive, asymmetrical dagger originated from Indonesia.
* Raya, for the majority of the film, seems to suffer from pistanthrophobia, the fear of trusting others. It is through Sisu that she learns to overcome this.
* Raya is among the few Disney characters to be voiced by the same voice actor both as an adult and as a child.
* Some of Raya's character was inspired by the Marvel Comics character Star-Lord because he was the only superhero that had any of the nuance that could fit Raya and the filmmakers could not find a female superhero with any of those qualities.
* Raya means "to celebrate" in both Malay and Indonesian.
* Even though her film is not a musical, Raya was seen singing at the beginning of her film, chanting a prayer to summon Sisu.
	+ Raya is officially the first Princess to come from a Disney Animated Canon film that isn't a musical.
* Raya joined the Disney Princess lineup in August 2022 during World Princess Week at Disneyland Paris.
* Raya is the second Disney Princess after Aurora whose film was not a success at the box office during its initial theatrical run. This was, however, attributed to the fact that her film was simultaneously released in theaters and on Disney+ with a premium charge while most cinemas were still closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
	+ Her film would later become more popular when it was available for no additional charge to all Disney+ subscribers.
	+ Despite not earning a lot of money at the box office due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was still able to top the box office for three weeks straight.
* Raya is the seventh Disney Princess to not have a mother, after Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine and Pocahontas.
* Raya is the seventh Princess to have black hair, after Snow White, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana and Moana.
* In some international dubbings, her name is pronounced as *Laya*.
* Raya is left-handed. She is the third left-handed Disney Princess after Mulan and Tiana.
* Raya is the third Disney Princess to wield a sword, after Mulan and Merida.
* Raya is the sixth non-Caucasian Disney Princess, after Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana and Moana.
* Raya is the first Disney Princess to debut during the COVID-19 pandemic.
* Raya is the third Disney Princess after Merida and Moana to not have a love interest.
	+ Though, while recording her dialogue, Kelly Marie Tran personally interpreted Raya and Namaari's relationship as romantic. By Tran's own admission, however, this was not made official by Disney.

## External links

* Raya on the Heroes Wiki
* Raya on Raya and the Last Dragon Wiki

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1. ↑ https://insidethemagic.net/2022/08/raya-and-the-last-dragon-disney-princess-jc1/
2. ↑ https://www.shanghaidisneyresort.com/en/entertainment/theme-park/characters-jungle-friends-happy-circle/
3. ↑ https://disneyland.disney.go.com/events-tours/lunar-new-year/
4. ↑ Get a first look at Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon starring Kelly Marie Tran. Retrieved on August 27, 2020.
5. ↑ Raya and the Last Dragon: Which Marvel Superhero Helped Inspire Raya. Retrieved on March 8, 2021.
6. ↑ Template:Cite news
7. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/ChcmFaRleH9/
8. ↑ Raya and the Last Dragon’s Kelly Marie Tran Thinks Her Disney Princess Is Gay. Retrieved on March 5, 2021.