#i was kinda playing with tim burton's alice in wonderland like how the jabberwocky is her pet

[incorrecttwsted]

Denzel Blackwyrm, the Jabberwocky! I had a lot of fun making him and it’s so much easier to make male characters then trying to make girls hhh I tried make him look more dragony but I couldn’t figure out how to make the horns work so ignore them

Denzel is a second year in Heartslabyul and is viewed a delinquent. In chapter 1 he’s a character who appears when people, usually Ace, is talking about how bad Riddle is as a dorm head to hype up the negative opinions of him and seems to have a keen interest in befriending people who dislike Riddle while acting openly hostile to those who are his friends.

More info under the cut about what this dude’s deal is!!

Denzel's mother works as a dietitian and when he was younger was doing work for Riddle's mother and helping her plan her meticulous meals. For this reason, Denzel was one of the few friends Riddle was allowed to have

For Denzel, people were afraid of him because of his sharp teeth and short fuse so he struggled with making friends. When Riddle didn't seem put off by him and told him he wasn't the one at fault, Denzel started to think of Riddle as his best friend

But because Denzel's mother wasn't as strict with him as Riddle's mother would expect, he was sneaking in to see his friend and distracting him from his studying or sneaking him treats and was then banned from going over to see Riddle with his mother again

This wasn't explained to Denzel and since his mother was still working with Riddle's mother, it seemed like he had just been cut out of his friend's life by him with no explanation. It Denzel where it hurt and he felt like every interaction with Riddle was a lie and that every time he was kind to him, it was shallow platitudes because he was scared

Because of his scary appearance and rough demeanor, most kids his age avoided him and it was made worse by the new chip on his shoulder. Having grown tired of constant rejections from his classmates, in middle school he began to hang around with the older students and high schoolers and began to act out as a delinquent.

This continued all the way up until he was brought into Night Raven College, where his mother hoped he would be able to make friends with better people and put his energy into more productive things.

However, being at NRC put Riddle back into his path and all his directionless anger was given a focus again. His loyalty made him stubborn and made it easy for him to hold grudges and Riddle having a whole new friend group compounded his jealousy and feelings of abandonment.

Their relationship at the beginning of the story is tense, their first year spent with one-sided antagonism turning into mutual dislike as Riddle didn't know why Denzel was acting the way he was and going out of his way to cause more and more problems for Riddle.

Under the surface, Denzel is pulled into two different directions. Even after years of anger, he feels a sense of loyalty to Riddle as the first person who gave him a chance and doesn't like when other people are too harsh with him. The other side of him feels that this is just Riddle reaping what he sowed and he's finally getting to see the payback that the hypocrite deserved. This causes interactions with him to be wildly unpredictable as one moment he might be egging someone on to hold a grudge against the dorm head to very sternly telling students off for not behaving.

After Riddle overblots however, Denzel is faced with just how much his old friend has been dealing with and finally shelves his issues to listen to Riddle's side of the story. His whole life he had been under the assumption that Riddle chose to not see him again but when it becomes clear just how strict Riddle's mother was and how of his control his life was, Denzel apologizes sincerely for his actions and softens up to Riddle and his friend

He still skips class and when he feels like it and causes petty mischief but it's nowhere close to how malicious he was in the past. His interactions with Riddle become less like fights and more like banter, with some warm-hearted exasperation on Riddle's side

Denzel is no less angry than he was in the past, it just has a new target, Riddle's mom. He hates that he spent years angry at someone who did nothing wrong and feels vaguely used for the amount of pressure he put on someone who didn't deserve it

Is very reliable when it counts and will help wrangle the other students when he's asked. Doesn't interfere with ADeuce or the prefect when they get up to shenanigans though, he finds them way too entertaining to ever try and stop them