Lena Duchannes

"When I first met you, that's what I remember. I looked up at the sky and thought, I'm going to love this person because even the sky looks different"

- Lena, recalling the moment she began to fall in love with Ethan in Beautiful Chaos

Lena Duchannes is one of the two main protagonist of The Caster Chronicles series. She is Ethan Wate's love interest in the first novel of the series, eventually becoming his girlfriend. Throughout the series, she maintains a rocky relationship with him, but the two always manage to overcome whatever obstacles come in their way. She was born a Caster, a powerful being with supernatural abilities and strong powers. She is a Natural, an extremely rare type of Caster who is far more powerful and stronger than regular Casters are, also having additional powers that can be different for any Natural. After she was Claimed, she became half-Cataclyst.

She meets and befriends Ethan Wate, a teenage resident in her new town Gatlin, with whom she falls in love with. Her main plot-line deals with her deepest fear of becoming Dark and turning into a cruel and evil person as her mother did and trying to resist and fight her Dark abilities. She also tries to find ways to be with Ethan, her true love, since it is discovered that Casters and Mortals cannot be together sexually or physically without the mortal getting killed. Therefore having no future together to marry, have kids, be together like they desire, etc. This, hence, puts a great strain on their relationship.

The intimacy issue eventually comes to a resolve in the final novel, Beautiful Redemption, when Ethan notices kissing and touching Lena no longer physically bothers him after he is revived in the Mortal world. Although the reason as to why this happened is ultimately left unknown, Macon simply tells the couple to be happy they can now freely touch each other without any repercussions.

Early life
When Lena was just a baby, her mother, Sarafine, had turned Dark and became totally consumed in Darkness. Her father John, fearing for Lena's safety, made a plan to secretly leave Sarafine and to take her with him. When Sarafine discovered this plot, she murdered him by setting the house on fire and leaving him to die in the flames and leaving Lena to die as well. Still in the house, Lena, powerful even as a baby, had saved herself by making it rain thus putting out the fire. Lena was then raised by her relatives.

As she grew up, Lena was very disliked in school due to her quiet personality as well as her family's reputation and, in result, was relentlessly bullied by other students. It is told that girls always picked on her, made fun of her and bullied her without any mercy causing her to be driven out of many schools. Lena would try to make an effort to make friends and even tried out for a spot on the newspaper club of one of her schools, but was lied to that all the spots were already filled up (even though there were so few students on the team that they could never print on time). It's also told that Ridley had been raised with her since she was little and attended school alongside her. Lena, though, was often stuck doing her homework since Ridley had been using her Siren abilities to make boys do it for her. Ridley had been Lena's best friend, growing up with her since early childhood until she went Dark and took off fearing she would harm Lena by staying. Lena had not seen Ridley since until the events of Beautiful Creatures transformed as a new person and personality after a year's absence.

It is also told that Lena, throughout her childhood, had never expressed romantic or any interest in boys nor ever made any efforts to attract the attention of them as Ridley did as a kid either. (It is said by Macon that Ethan is the very first boy that she has ever displayed a romantic interest in.)

Beautiful Creatures
In the first novel of the series, Lena is a Caster in her long line of family who are Supernaturals, people with the ability to perform casts (also known as spells) and have great powers and abilities to do almost anything. However, on each Caster's 16th birthday they are to be "claimed" by either the Light or the Darkness, otherwise known as good or evil. Lena's 16th birthday is coming up in a matter of months and she finds herself fearing and almost becoming fully convinced she will go Dark, terrifying her. Before moving to Gatlin, Lena begins to have recurring dreams of a teenage boy who saves her. However she is convinced that they are nothing more than dreams and that the boy in her dreams isn't an actual person. However, upon moving to Gatlin, Lena meets a teenage resident of the town named Ethan Wate- a boy who seems to be the exact same guy whom she has been seeing in her dreams. Despite this revelation, Lena warns Ethan against getting to know her, telling him it’s for his own good and safety. But Ethan refuses to sever ties with her insisting that she's "the girl from his dreams" revealing to her that he's been having the same dreams she has as well, where he saves a girl who seems to be her, and keeps associating with her despite her warnings.

After following her home one day after school, she allows herself to get to know him and eventually tells him of her family's origins and powers, which he ultimately doesn't care about. After finding a locket together that seems to tie their families together they proceed to look into it, growing closer to each other. The two then embark and begin to look into their family's history together and to find a way to help Lena from going Dark.

As time goes and she spends more time with him, Lena soon realizes she has fallen passionately in love with Ethan. However, her 16th birthday arrives and her evil mother, Sarafine, comes and causes mayhem in some woods trying to convince her daughter to turn Dark. Her Uncle Macon and others arrive and a battle breaks out with Lena causing a great storm to hit town.

In the midst of the fight, Lena watches in horror as her mother stabs Ethan in his stomach with a knife, killing him. She soon stops time as Ethan's nanny and caregiver, Amma, arrives. They make a trade with The Book of Moons hoping to resurrect Ethan; the trade being Ethan's life for someone else's. She soon realizes the other life turned out to be her Uncle Macon's. Ethan is saved, but not only completely unaware of his death and how he was killed and revived and how, but Lena is left emotionally damaged beyond repair because of Macon's death, drenching her in guilt which drives the events of the sequel Beautiful Darkness.

Beautiful Darkness
Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes are recovering from the fact that, Macon Ravenwood died during their battle against Lena's evil mother, Sarafine. Sometime after Macon's death, Ethan starts worrying about Lena, who has been acting strange ever since. Lena has stopped writing in her tattered old journal that she used to always carry around with her. She has even almost stopped Kelting with Ethan and rather prefers to block him out. On the last day of school, Lena tells Ethan that she and her family are leaving town. Ethan, Lena and Link (Ethan's best friend) are alone on a lake because of an incident that took place at the high school's parking lot. After kissing Ethan, Lena takes off into the forest and rides off with John Breed on his motorcycle and unknowingly after chasing her, Ethan witnesses this. In hope of finding her, Ethan and Link drive to Dar-ee Keen, Gatlin's greasy version of Dairy King. Instead, they meet up with Ridley, Lena's Dark Caster cousin, who always appeared barely dressed in risqué clothing, along with the power of persuasion. Ridley is with a guy who is John Breed. Ethan realizes that John was the one Lena had run off with.

Soon after this Lena sees Ethan and Olivia "Liv" Durand, eating together at the Dar-ee Keen and Ethan laughing with her and races her car by angrily, obviously revealing that she had seen the two together and is more than jealous. During the town's annual County Fair, Lena shows up wearing Ridley's type of clothing (overall that makes her look easy). Black tank that rode up on her stomach, black skirt about five inches short, streak of blue in her hair and black-rimmed eyes shocking Ethan and drawing attention from nearby guys. Throughout Ethan and Lena's conversation, Liv shows up. Jealous and angry when she sees them together once again, Lena takes off, causing a chain reaction of chaos as she goes. Afterwards, during the pie contest sponsored by Southern Crusty, Ridley, John and Lena cause maggots, beetles and grubs to crawl of every pie except Amma's.

Lena and Ridley and John enter the Tunnel of Love and disappear, not leaving a clue as to where they went. Eventually, Lena is seen again at a Caster bar. Ethan is shocked and becomes instantly raged with jealousy to see Lena dancing with John, his hands on her hips and her hands on his shoulders. After Lena (reluctantly) admits that she does not want to see Ethan there, Link, Liv and Ethan himself leave. Back in the tunnels still furious with jealousy and anger Ethan nearly, on an act of impulse, kisses Liv and accidentally kelts of the near encounter (making it possible that Lena most likely heard which she later confirms bitterly before she leaves that she did).

Back in Gatlin, when Ethan goes to see Lena at her mansion, she reveals to him that she is going to run away before her family leaves and that she has put a Cast on him, one that will make sure he is unable to tell anyone even if he wants to. Meanwhile, little time after, Liv and Ethan both come to the conclusion that Sarafine was trying to pull the seventeenth moon out of time to get Lena to claim herself. With the help of Ridley (who loses her powers after an encounter with Sarafine through the journey), Link and Lucille, Ethan's Great Aunt's cat, the one who keeps disappearing, they find The Great Barrier, the place Sarafine is leading Lena to, after sometime in the Caster Tunnels. Halfway between though, Ethan learns that Lena made a deal with the Book of Moons, a powerful Caster book, for Ethan's life after Sarafine killed him. It was Ethan's life for something, which unexpectedly turns out to be Macon's life. Now, Ethan understands why Lena's erratic behavior; she blames herself for her uncle's death. Before the team is about to enter the Sea Cave where Sarafine is hiding, Ethan understands the purpose of the Arclight and, with the help of Liv, is able to free Macon from it. Once outside, Macon has Green Caster eyes, which confirms that he has switched from an Incubus to a Caster. He also explains how Lila Jane's ghost helped him once The Book of Moons took his life by capturing him inside the Arclight; thereby giving him the chance to be freed and live again. In order to help the teenagers fight off the Incubuses and Dark Casters inside the Sea Cave, Leah Ravenwood, Macon's sister and a Succubus, goes with them.

Inside the cave, John is holding an unconscious Lena, who has no idea where she is or what she is doing. There are also a lot of Vexes, powerful demons of the underground, who are sent back once Amma, Arelia (Macon's Mother), Gramma (Lena's Grandmother) and Twyla (Macon's Aunt) arrive. Quickly, while the others are fighting, Ethan helps Lena revive. Lena claims herself to be both Dark and Light, killing off both Twyla, a Light Caster and Larkin, a Dark Caster (also Lena's cousin) since on her last birthday, Lena had learned that if she was to turn Dark, then all the Light Casters in her family will die and if she turned Light, all the Dark Casters in her family will die.

One night after these events, Lena sneaks into Ethan's bedroom wearing one of his oversized t-shirts that ends at her middle upper thigh and shorts underneath and crawls into his bed next to him. After lying together, she begs tearfully for forgiveness for her actions and Ethan does without hesitance (proving how much he truly loves her) and they make up kissing passionately together before falling asleep together. Soon after they reconcile, Link sneaks through Ethan's window and interrupts them. He tells them that while the fighting was going on he was bitten by John, who is revealed to be a hybrid, half Caster, half Incubus. After Lena confirms it, Link realizes he is turning into an Incubus.

In the last chapter of the book, the "after" part of it, Ridley, who has completely lost her Siren powers and is now a mortal, is shown in her room. Ridley takes the Arclight out of its hiding place and looks at it, then counts down from three and something is "decided" - which is really her decision to lock John Breed in the Arclight.

Beautiful Chaos
In the aftermath of Beautiful Darkness, Ethan and Lena are reunited and stronger than ever. However, Lena's Claiming soon has a monstrous effect on both the Mortal and Caster world more than anyone would imagine. And in the midst of things, strange things are happening to Ethan. He is being haunted in his dreams that are keeping him up all night - and not by Lena. He is slowly changing, the foods he is known to like now disgust him and he's forgetting names, numbers; even important memories altogether. Lena and Ethan soon find out her claiming herself as both Light and Dark has had an effect on Gatlin and the Caster World that might end in destruction because now Order is in complete and wild chaos.

Throughout the book, Ethan slowly begins losing himself even more. He is hearing voices and is seeing writings and things that no one else can. He is looking in mirrors and sees a whole other person. One day, he and Link (who is adapting to his new life as an Incubus) see a Seer who tells him that when Ethan died and Lena and Amma brought him back to life, that sometimes when a person is brought back "too fast" they lose a part of themselves and are a "Fractured Soul." He then shows them a lost soul who is Ethan's half missing part. When Link asks how they can bring the two back together the Seer simply says that he and Amma "have a deal." After this, he refuses to say anything more. Meanwhile, as Lena and Ethan and everyone struggle to figure out what needs to be done to save Gatlin, they realize that a happy ending won't be happening this time. They eventually find out a sacrifice needed to be done; the "One Who Is Two." Lena and Ethan search desperately to figure out which one of them is the "One Who Is Two," when its revealed it was one of them. First they suspect Lena, but the Demon Queen tells Ethan directly during a visit that Lena isn't the one who needed to die; even adding on how after the One Who Is Two died; she would be the one to Bind the New Order. They then turn over to think it is John who then becomes positive it is him and throws himself over the towns water tower, but the voice Ethan is hearing in his head tells them the price is still unpaid and John does not die in result of so. Soon later, while Ethan goes to see the Seer, he shows Ethan images and implies Ethan is the "One Who Is Two." Ethan then realizes one thing; he has to die to save Gatlin and the Caster world.

He sees Lena directly afterwards and tells her he is the needed-to-be sacrifice and they spend the night in each other’s arms not talking; just holding each other in tortured silence. He goes to see Link and they spend one last day playing basketball. He asks Ethan if he's sure about his choice to go ahead and die. Ethan states he didn't have a choice. Link then tells him about the day they met on a bus in kindergarten when Link gave Ethan a Twinkie that was on the floor; it wasn't and he just made that part up. He then goes to see Liv and Marion and bids his goodbyes with his loved ones.

Ethan then sees Lena one last time to say goodbye and Kelts with her from her house and her voice comes to his in a jagged rhythm (saying he can't ask her to go through with this, his death) implying she was sobbing. He tells her to wait for him at Greenbrier and writes "I will always love you. Ethan”, on her wall as a last meaningful message to remember him. He then meets up with her and her eyes are red and puffy from crying and they talk. Lena reminisces about the first time she saw him and how she knew she would fall in love with him noticing how even "the sky looked different" after she started to fall for him. She then asks if he believes in Love after death and he says, "Yes." Lena then pleads with Ethan not to go through with the sacrifice saying how she didn't care about the consequences if he didn't die saying how without him, "none of that mattered to her." Ethan then states they were talking about lives and the people they loved and Lena responds shaking her head saying, "I don't care. I can't imagine a world without you in it." Ethan then gives her a map of all the places he dreamed of seeing in the world as a way to remember him and in return she gives him her necklace of all her memories, including of him, to hold on for her. He then makes her promise to Bind the New Order and do her part in all of this stating that if she didn't then everything he was going to do would be for nothing. Lena then starts to sob and insists she won't make it without him and he just couldn't ask her to live without him. But Ethan insists she try and she goes hysterical altogether pleading with him to find another way; begging him not to sacrifice himself. He then simply holds her as she sobs into his chest and tells her, "It's okay." Even though he knew it wasn't. They then share one final moment together with Ethan Kelting, "Goodbye." After this, Lena cries herself to sleep.

Ethan goes to Amma to confront her about her having known the whole time he was going to die. She says she has a way worked out to spare him; even though he knew there was nothing left to do to save his life. He then silently says goodbye to his dad and takes one final look at his room and belongings and reads a book (Of Mice and Men, one Ethan often found tragic) for the last time. He then goes to reach the destination of the water tower. When he gets there he drops Lena's necklace in the front seat of the Volvo so nothing will happen to it. He then sees John Breed materialize from the shadows. Ethan asks of everyone was okay and John informs Ethan that he came because it was "harder than you think when you're up there," and that since Ethan was with him when he jumped, he should return the favor. Ethan finds it hard to believe John was "the same dirtbag who kicked his ass at the fair and tried to steal his girlfriend," and was now a "decent guy," but sees that falling in love will do that to a person.

As Ethan and John walk up to the water tower, Amma shows up saying she was "there the day he was born and she'll be there the day he dies" but it wasn't going to be "today." She brings a bokor, a "darkness of her own" and things start to get hectic as a result of it. The bokor tries to release his spirits but Macon arrives on the scene and tells Amarie that this wasn't her "finest hour" but Amma states that he would do the same thing for Lena his niece and refuses to have "her boy be their sacrificial lamb."

The bokor tries to attack Macon but Macon easily overpowers him and the bokor warns Macon he shouldn't have intervened and leaves. Amma tries to get Ethan to leave but he says that he can’t, acknowledging that he had no other choice, but to go ahead with the sacrifice. Amma then blames Macon for the outcome of things that resulted in Ethan's must-be death and vows never to forgive him for it. In one last attempt to save Ethan, Amma calls on the Greats to try to save Ethan but they turn their backs on her (literally) knowing there was nothing they can do, leaving Amma in despair. Macon promises to Ethan he will take care of Amma as she cries out to Ethan as Macon holds her back knowing there was nothing left to do to save Ethan.

The final chapter is of Ethan on top of the water tower and as he goes to the edge to throw himself over it, he is dragged back by his other half. The other half of him tries to stop Ethan from throwing himself over and they fight and battle. Ethan clutches the other half of him and knows that they both knew they were going to die. They roll over the edge of the water tower and fall. As he falls he thinks of only one thing...Lena.

Some fans and readers were left skeptical if Ethan actually died since it is not directly stated of his death. However, given the plot details of the last installment of the series, it has been confirmed that Ethan did in fact die.

Beautiful Redemption
After Ethan's death and sacrifice, Lena is searching for ways to resurrect Ethan and is "making her own bargains" for Ethan's return to the Mortal world. She is determined to bring Ethan back to life even if it means "trusting old enemies," and is even willing to go so far as to risk the lives of her loved ones to bring Ethan back to life.

Meanwhile, after his death, Ethan is also searching for ways to return to the mortal world in the other world of the dead. He will stop at nothing in order to be with Lena and his loved ones again.

After a long time trying to get Ethan back, he returns on top of the water tower where he previously died. He sees Amma and witnesses her taking his place in death with the Greats, leaving him alone before Lena shows up. After seeing him, Lena embraces him and sobs into his shirt. After they pronounce Amma legally dead, Lena and Ethan continue to grow stronger through this experience, (example; Lena running up to him and wrapping her legs around him and kissing him repeatedly). Also it is noted it no longer harms Ethan when he touches/kisses her, resulting in a future for the two of them.

Dangerous Dream
Lena can be seen next to Ridley during their graduation. Then the gang (Ethan, Lena, Ridley, Link) head to the pool. Ethan and Lena played in the water. Then, the plot becomes the point of view of Ridley.

Physical attributes
Lena is described as a beautiful girl with deep and shining green eyes that change shades according to current emotion and whose dark curly hair is highlighted by her pale skin. On her left wrist, she has scars on the inside of her wrist from very realistic dreams. Later on however, her eyes take different colors when she was attracted towards and convinced to be going Dark, and therefore her eyes were amber or gold, or when she claimed and accepted herself as both Light and Dark, having one green eye and one golden one.

Personality
Lena (before meeting Ethan) was a loner having always stuck to herself and being very mysterious, always by herself and very lonely. Lena is, like Ethan, very stubborn in her choices. She always at first kept her innermost thoughts to herself never expressing herself until after Beautiful Creatures when she begins evolving as a person. She is known to often wear Chuck Taylors type of shoes, her necklace of "junk" that contains memories of her life and a journal of poetry she's often seen with.

She is shown to be very much in love with Ethan and often pushed him away in the first and second novels, believing it was for his own good and believing that by doing so, she was protecting him from herself and from getting hurt. Though soon later in the series, she fully accepts the fact that she loves him and needed him in her life.

Because of the strong intensity of her love towards Ethan, Lena has a strong jealous side. She has shown to have strong and flat out vicious jealousy when he's with any other girl who she suspects might be attracted towards him romantically. This is best shown with Liv; whom Lena overall hated due to heavily suspecting she held feelings towards Ethan and, as a result, treated her rather coldly and harshly. Lena was also shown to not even approve of Ethan being around or associating with her and even made indirect gestures of Ethan being hers. Lena's jealousy is shown to even have Ethan on his toes; resulting in his nervous and cautious approach to the amount of time with his association with Liv when Lena had been jealous of her before the two eventually made amends.

Lena, despite her usual non-physical personality, has shown to become physical if put under enough stress and anger and if so at a certain individual. This, though, only once being shown in Beautiful Chaos with Liv at a party when Liv accused Lena (while under a cast caused by Ridley) of not giving a "rat's ass" about Ethan (referring to the events of Beautiful Darkness). This causes Lena to fight with Liv both verbally and physically, accusing Liv of trying to "steal her boyfriend", and launching at her several times just barely being restrained by Ethan. Despite the two's rough history, Lena and Liv eventually make amends and even end up becoming close friends; showing Lena being able to forgive and forget.

Powers and abilities
As a Natural/Cataclyst, Lena has the power to perform casts and rituals with complete ease. She also has displayed the power to control the weather, create storms and fire at will, control lightning and thunder and also the ability to control the wind. Along with these powers, Lena also has elemental control, being able to start an earthquake with one stomp of her foot and cause a fire with one blink of her eye. She has also shown to have the ability to stop time altogether, this being displayed twice in the series. Her 16th birthday was noted to be a huge deal in Beautiful Creatures since if Lena was to be Claimed for the Light, then she would be the most powerful and strongest Light Caster ever to come as the other way around if she were to be claimed for the Dark. She was even to be given far greater power than her mother Sarafine Duchannes, who had already established herself as the "Darkest Caster of all".

Due to being a Natural/Cataclyst, Lena's casting and power abilities are beyond the strength of a normal and ordinary Caster along with additional power something which often frightened Lena since she was unable to control the great power within her. Since Lena had very little, if not any, control of her abilities and power she often misdirected her abilities and power while in use. Lena is known to have great difficulty controlling her powers and it is somewhat of a running gag throughout the novel series with Lena accidentally setting random objects on fire. Lena also has said that her powers can almost always be triggered by an emotional reaction. One example being of her shattering all of a classroom's windows when overhearing Savannah and Emily make fun of her uncle and her natural anger at their comments. Or when Ridley was slowly suffocating Ethan to death in Beautiful Creatures and she caused a hurricane to hit the room out of anger and frustration for Ridley to let Ethan go for the sake of not killing him and confessing to Ethan later on that she "just panicked". Lena's best sign, something Ethan has taken note of, of when she is about to use her powers is when her hair starts to curl starting at the very ends; a trade note usually before something like a light bulb shatters or the winds pick up- this all a warning sign of Lena about to use her powers in the midst of what is usually anger.

Lena has gotten somewhat of a better grasp of her powers, though not by much since she still has erratic and spontaneous moments of losing control of her powers for brief moments.

Ethan Wate
Ethan and Lena's relationship is one of the main and important plot lines of the series. In Beautiful Creatures, he and Lena meet through their dreams with Ethan trying to save her; they officially meet when Ethan narrowly avoids hitting Lena in the middle of a heavy rainstorm on the side of the road when her car breaks down. He was also the only person, at first, to be kind to her and a friendship quickly blooms between the two.

Aside from Link, Lena is Ethan's only other real friend and he even begins to share some his deepest secrets with her; like his love to read anything from comics to classic novels and even his situation with his father. This is considered a huge leap since Ethan is shown to hate talking about his father. Lena soon even begins to grow so close to him that she soon reveals her supernatural family heritage and how she is a Caster. Soon though, their friendship flares into a passionate romance with Lena falling in love with Ethan on a deep gut wrenching level. After declaring his love for her, Ethan proves his love for her by holding her when she needs comfort and freely expressing and showing his feelings for her in front of his basketball teammates and students completely unashamed of her.

Though despite her love for him, Lena often attempts to push him away believing she is only going to put him in harm’s way. Their relationship hits a huge roadblock in Beautiful Darkness, when Lena sacrificed Macon's life for Ethan's after Sarafine murdered him and was drenched in guilt about it. This, as well as the new arrivals of Olivia Durand and John Breed who both Ethan and Lena grew close to in different ways and causing new found feelings of jealousy on both parts, caused them to face heavy obstacles in their relationship. Despite these problems, the two both manage to get past this by the end of the novel and become stronger together; kissing passionately as a way to make up for all the trouble until Ethan must pull back to avoid further physical harm from the kiss.

Since Lena is intensely in love with Ethan, she is shown to have a vicious level jealousy side. She instantly goes cold and furious when she sees him with any girl whom she suspects might be attracted to him on a romantic level; particularly Liv, whom she treated coldly and very harshly, aware of Liv's feelings for Ethan. Even for some time, Lena did not approve of Ethan hanging out with Liv and made indirect remarks or gestures to Liv that Ethan was hers. (One example being when Macon needed her for a moment and Lena seemed genuinely torn and reluctant about it since it would mean having to leave Ethan alone with Liv. But when Ethan urged her to go with him, Lena did not hesitate to kiss him in a somewhat overly passionate manner before shooting a look directly at Liv "meaningfully.") Lena even got into a physical fight with Liv, while under a cast though, about Ethan when Liv accused Lena of not caring about him. But the two manage to make amends and even become friends by the end of the novel, forgetting about their rough history together.

Lena, though, continues to be somewhat possessive about Ethan; even getting silently angry and jealous when so much as hearing about Ethan's past romantic history and other girls he had been with or gone on dates with (though it is stated that Lena is his first real girlfriend). An example being when Ethan makes a remark how "lots of girls" have called him "lovable," Lena's eyes are described as "storming in anger." This causing Ethan to quickly say how he meant Amma and his aunts. Or another example being how when Lena declines his offer to attend the school's dance and he said he'd just go with someone else then (though not saying it seriously and meaning it in a joking manner), she shoots him a furious look that makes him quickly add on in a slight panic, "Like Amma." Lena's easily sparked jealousy even has Ethan on his toes. When Lena had been jealous over Liv, Ethan is shown to be extremely cautious about the amount of his time spent with Liv and greatly worried about how Lena would react about him spending time with her (even though by then Liv and Ethan had officially verified there was no romance between them).

In Beautiful Chaos, it is soon discovered that Ethan is the must-be sacrifice in order for the Mortal and Caster worlds to be spared from destruction after Lena's claiming causes the balance to be thrown drastically off course due to claiming herself as both Dark and Light. Lena is devastated knowing her choice caused her true love's must-needed death and begs hysterically for Ethan not to go ahead with the sacrifice, even saying she didn't care about the deaths of their loved ones if he did not go through with the sacrifice; insisting she needed him to live and he couldn't ask her to live in a world without him. However, he states he had no choice in the matter and gives her a map of all the places he dreamed of going to in the world as a way to remember him by. Lena soon cries herself to sleep after her last few moments with Ethan.

In Beautiful Redemption, Lena is determined to bring Ethan back and is desperate to do so. After a long time trying to get Ethan back, he returns on top of the water tower where he previously died. He sees Amma and witnesses her taking his place in death with the Greats, leaving him alone before Lena shows up. After seeing him, Lena embraces him and sobs into his shirt. After they pronounce Amma legally dead, Lena and Ethan continue to grow stronger through this experience, (example; Lena running up to him and wrapping her legs around him and kissing him repeatedly). Also it is noted it no longer harms Ethan when he touches/kisses her, resulting in a future for the two of them.

Macon Ravenwood
Lena is Macon's niece and he is her guardian during the time of her 16th moon in Beautiful Creatures. Lena loves her uncle very much and is closest to her in her entire family. After she makes a trade with the Book of Moons hoping to revive a dead Ethan in the novel, she is horrified to discover the price she paid for his life was Macon's. His death hits her extremely hard in Beautiful Darkness; causing her to spiral out of control and behave wildly and do things she normally wouldn't. When he is released from the Arclight by Ethan and Liv, she is joyful and is finally able to return to her normal self.

Olivia Durand
Liv and Lena's relationship was, for about half of the series, hostile and tense since Lena was fully aware of Liv's feelings for Ethan. Lena, in result, treated her cold and harshly especially when seeing her and Ethan together. Lena barely even hid her feelings of hatred about her towards Liv herself. Despite Lena's cold and harsh treatment of her, Liv hid her secret dislike of Lena treating her with respect. Though despite Liv's respectful treatment towards Lena, it does nothing to stop the cold and harsh treatment she receives in return. Things continued to remain this way with Lena treating her harshly and making it more than clear she does not want her anywhere near Ethan and Liv barely acknowledging it.

However, when Ridley performs a furor cast, causing everyone the wave-like spell hits to act angrily, Liv openly expresses her ferocious feelings towards Lena calling her "emo" and selfish and even slaps her accusing her of not caring about Ethan; bashing her greatly. Lena fights back with Liv, both verbally and physically, revealing all her feelings towards Liv accusing her of taking everything in her life that she loves including both Ethan and Macon. But Ethan is barely able to hold the two back from clawing at each other. However soon after this, when Liv's remainder of feelings for Ethan eventually dissolve and she falls in love with John, the two make up and end up becoming close friends, completely forgetting their rough history together.

Ridley Duchannes
Ridley is Lena's cousin and childhood ex-best friend. She and Ridley grew up together side by side and were close and had been like sisters as they grew and developed into young teens. However, when Ridley was growing near her 16th Moon, Lena began to notice changes in her best friend and took a notice how Ridley was beginning to behave much more wildly and starting to become rebellious. Lena had went to see Ridley to see what was going on and saw Ridley scared and confided in Lena that she thinks she is going Dark and left to prevent herself from harming Lena or the family.

She and Ridley had severed ties after that and they had not seen each other for a year afterwards. The next time they had seen each was Ridley's unannounced appearance in Beautiful Creatures. She and Ridley seem to have a somewhat tense relationship throughout the novel, due to Ridley's new transformation as a new Dark Siren, but it is implied they still do care for each other. This being seen in Beautiful Darkness when Ridley betrays Sarafine to help Ethan, Liv and Link save Lena fearing for Lena's safety. Also when Ethan calls Liv "L" (Lena's nickname) Ridley threatens to make Ethan her "slave" if he "so much as thought about hurting her cousin". Also in the novel when Lena is ready to Claim herself but reluctant to choose Light (since choosing Light would mean the deaths of all of the Dark casters in the family) and possibly kill Ridley, Ridley insists she choose Light and do the right thing. The two have since gotten to be significantly closer and somewhat mended their broken relationship.

John Breed
John first meets Lena in the second novel of the series. He comforts her during Macon's death and grows close to her inciting jealousy in Ethan. He seemed to understand her during her rough time and was often seen with her throughout the beginning of the novel even riding with him on his motorcycle. As a result of his closeness with Lena, he convinces her to take off with him and Ridley to a place where she could be herself; which was really a con to transfer her to Abraham and Sarafine. Lena, in a weak emotional state, agreed and even forced herself to break up with Ethan convincing herself that he was better off without her in his life.

When Ridley eventually left the group to secretly aid Ethan, Link and Liv to find Lena aware of the trap to force Lena to go Dark, John and Lena grew even closer as he comforted her in her weak state seeming to understand her (though Lena says that nothing "like that" occurred between them and that he was just a good friend towards her). This inciting even more jealousy on Ethan's part who was secretly watching these moments in visions due to Lucille, his aunts' caster cat, who was allowing him to see what she was seeing between the two. But John, able to tell that Lena was still in love with Ethan, attempted to convince her that Ethan was holding her back from her true power when sensing her great worry about Ethan's safety, both aware he was following her (though Lena thought this was the other way around for her and Ethan and that she was holding him back from a normal life.) He even claimed to have had a mortal girlfriend but that "she just didn't understand" people like "them". He eventually gives her to Sarafine and Abraham, though their plan fails when Macon, Ethan, Link and Liv and Ridley and others show up to save her.

He and Lena have an awkward relationship in the third novel when Lena feels betrayed that him pretending to have been her friend was just a con to help Sarafine and Abraham. However, though, things smooth over in time and they are left as friends.

Link
Link is one of her friends through Ethan. Link freely accepted Lena since Ethan liked her and grew to be one of the few people who treated her kindly in the first novel of the series.

Amma
Amma was initially against Lena and Ethan's relationship knowing the risks the two would be taking since Ethan was a mortal and Lena a caster. But the two teamed up to resurrect Ethan when was killed in Beautiful Creatures. Since then the two have grown to like each other and have developed a respect for each other.

Sarafine Duchannes
Sarafine is Lena's mother. Sarafine had initially been a good person with a loving personality until she went Dark and started to follow Abraham and became cruel and cold. Her then-husband John threatened to take Lena, who was a baby at the time, away from her if she continued to see him fearing for their daughter's safety around her. In reaction, Sarafine murdered him by setting the house on fire and leaving him to die in the flames; also nearly killing Lena in the process. However Lena, being powerful even as a baby, saved herself by making it rain. Sarafine was believed to be dead since then until she shows up to prove otherwise in Beautiful Creatures.

In the novel, Sarafine makes her first appearance in years attempting to convince Lena to turn Dark since she is given the rare choice to choose her own Claiming. However, if she were to turn Light all Dark Casters would die as the other way around if she were to turn Dark. Sarafine, being aware of Lena and Ethan's relationship and her daughter's intense love for him, reveals to Lena how Casters and Mortals cannot be together sexually therefore having no future together. This angers Lena especially after learning how Macon was not planning on telling her this detail until after Lena Claimed herself when it would be too late to change anything. Sarafine, in an attempt to convince her to turn Dark, offers a way for her to be with Ethan physically and have a future together if she agrees to turn Dark. But when Lena fails to decide, she kills Ethan right in front of her and there hoping to provoke her into turning Dark by losing control of her powers. (Though Ethan is later revived by Lena and Amma.)

She and Abraham in the second follow-up novel Beautiful Darkness attempts to force her to turn Dark, but Lena is saved by Ethan, Macon and everyone else. In the novel it is also revealed she was actually the one who murdered Ethan's mother. She also painfully strips Ridley of her Siren powers after revealing that she is aware of her betrayal in order to save Lena. In the third novel, Beautiful Chaos, when Sarafine is about to be killed by Abraham when he traps her in a circle of fire deciding to dispose of her, she begs Lena to save her insisting she has always loved her and only had did what she did to protect her, even calling Lena her "little girl." But Lena, knowing she is only trying to deceive her, allows her to die. Sarafine then curses out Lena as she dies in the flames, mirroring how she killed her own husband when Lena was a baby.

Quotes

 * "Okay, little Miss I'm-Not-Here-to-Steal-Your-Boyfriend. Really, we're just friends, even though I'm smarter and blonder than the rest of you combined. And did I mention my cute little British accent?"
 * "Guys. You think everything is about you. Maybe I just like that book."
 * "In case something happens tonight, I just wanted you to know; I love you, Ethan."
 * "You're not the only one falling."
 * "Give it time. You don't even know me; you'll probably hate me too."
 * "When were you going to tell me? You know I love him."
 * "Get the hell away from my boyfriend witch!"
 * "We're not. You're a Mortal. You can't understand. I don't want to see you get hurt, and that's what will happen if you get too close to me."
 * "Crazy weather you have down here."
 * “Look at me, Ethan. Am I Dark, or am I Light?"
 * "I didn't expect you to be here. I thought they were just dreams. I didn't know you were a real person."
 * “And Link, how about I save you two dances? My boyfriend won’t mind. He would never tell me who I can and can’t dance with.”
 * “Ethan, I love you. Don’t leave me. I can’t do this without you. 'If there was moonlight, I could have seen his face. But there was no moon, not now, and the only light came from the fire, still frozen, surrounding me on every side. The sky was empty, absolutely black. There was nothing. I had lost everything tonight. I sobbed until I couldn’t breathe and my fingers slipped through his, knowing I would never feel those fingers in my hair again. Ethan.”
 * "I don't think I could ever love anything the way I love you.”
 * “The Mortals get so much more time, and they don’t even read around here.”
 * “Yeah, right. The things that I'm afraid of? You wouldn't even believe."
 * “I want you here. I don't care if it's a hundred degrees and every blade of grass dies. Without you, none of that matters to me.”
 * “No, I'm too busy trying to deflect your power of stupidity. But I don't think I'm strong enough."
 * "He's not dead. Just like Uncle Macon wasn't dead. Ethan will come back - you'll see. He's probably trying to find me right now."
 * “I hadn't fallen through his arms. He was ripped from mine.”
 * “Do you believe in love after last sight?”
 * “At least no one's trying to kill anyone."
 * "I don't care! I can't imagine a world without you in it!"
 * "Feelings for him? At least you finally admit it!"

Film portrayal
Alice Englert was officially announced to be set to portray Lena in the film adaptation of Beautiful Creatures and upcoming franchise of the series.

There was some fan speculation about whether or not Englert was fit for the role of the franchise since her hair isn't black as Lena's is described in the series. Though there are some people who are happy with Englert being cast as Lena, other people have also commented that she isn't as "goth" or "dark" as they imagined Lena to be as they imagined her in the book series.

Despite fans wariness of how Englert will bring Lena to the big screen, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl have both stated that Englert, having visited the movie set while the movie was being filmed, is "exactly the way they pictured Lena."

Notes and Trivia

 * Lena is her family's first natural, second if counting Sarafine who is a Cataclyst, in a long while; something that has never happened before since her ancestor.
 * Her real name is not known until Beautiful Redemption. All the Duchannes family girls do not know their real names until the night they are Claimed and are given substitute names until then. However, when Lena found out hers in Beautiful Darkness after she Claims herself, she refused to reveal it whenever Ethan asked her what her real name is simply responding that "Lena" has always been her name and always will be. Though Ethan believed she did know her name and just wouldn't say what it is. Lena finally tells him her name in the final novel after he is revived in the Mortal world again: Josephine.
 * When it is discovered Ethan is a Wayward, it is also revealed that each and every Wayward is connected with a Caster in the most powerful of all ways possible. While it is not directly stated which caster he is connected to, it is left presumed to be Lena. Also with the fact how she and Ethan can Kelt backs up the theory; since Kelting is something normal mortals cannot do.
 * It is something of a running gag in the series for Lena to accidentally set random objects on fire.
 * It is said by Macon, that Ethan is the first boy Lena has ever showed a romantic interest in.
 * According to the film adaptation, she skipped a grade.

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