Dabria/Miss Greene

Character Analysis

You probably haven't ever met someone named Dabria. This is because while lots of names are taken from the Bible, people aren't named after characters found in the apocrypha (books included between the Hebrew and New testaments for thousands of years and then removed) nearly as often. Dabria's name is taken from the apocryphal book 2 Esdras, in which Dabria is listed as one of five scribes charged with writing down Esdras's apocalyptic visions (source). This name gives Dabria in Hush, Hush a link to religious mysteries as well as a special connection to end times and destruction.

Dabria first makes her appearance as Miss Greene, Coldwater High's new school psychologist. At her first meeting with Nora, she seems to be an extremely organized young professional. Nora is hostile to her, not necessarily because of anything Miss Greene does, but because Nora views visits to the psychologist as a waste of time. Through flashbacks into Patch's memory, Nora learns that Miss Greene is actually Dabria, Patch's ex-girlfriend and an angel of death. That sounds like a bad combo and also a pretty terrible candidate for a school psychologist.

It turns out that Dabria doesn't disappoint in the jilted-ex-who's-an-angel-of-death department: She tries to kill Nora out of possessiveness and jealousy. She's the kind of ex-girlfriend who will key the new girl's car… or try to murder her and burn down her house. Yay.

Like Rixon, Dabria helps fill out Patch's backstory and adds to the angel mythology in the book. Dabria lies and manipulates, and when we consider her behavior in conjunction with Rixon's rough-and-tumble persona and Patch's dark and enigmatic character, it seems like the world of angels and fallen angels isn't exactly full of cloud-lounging, harp-playing, cherry-cheeked cherubs, but instead is teeming with hard and self-interested individuals. Case in point, Patch has no qualms about ripping Dabria's wings off—just like Dabria has no problem setting Nora's house on fire.

Dabria/Miss Greene's Timeline