My Take on the Ninja Turtles

Donatello

Weapons: Staff, computer

Color: Red, purple

Role in Family: The voice of cold logic mixed with indecisive theological doubts; nerd

Hobbies: Computer programming, reading, legends and lore

Other information: For some reason, everything he builds seems to explode. Addicted to coffee.

The resident scientist and techie, although he has been known to explore mysticism and magick. He is the archetype scientist, consumed by a loving faith in the mechanical and still torn about the spiritual side to things. He has problems reconciling his technical frame of mind with the natural state of mind and soul. He would need a religion that is just as grounded in facts and figures as if it were a science, or else he would have endless doubts and would not be too loyal to that faith. While he does have a sense of wonder about the world, almost childlike in his love of nature, his true love is anything with numbers and hardware, and he worships his digital god at a fifty gigabyte altar.

This one is my least favorite character, but it's important to note that this is not because he's a techie or kinda flat. This is because he's so darn indecisive, even while he's putting things together to come a logical solution through the scientific method. He can't measure belief, weigh faith or monitor devotion, but he is always in search of it, in search of the perfect religion that will answer all the questions his inquisitive mind can come up with. Of course he will never find it, unless he had the inclination to head onto the astral plane, and he doesn't seem to trust that very much. What is strange is that while he studies facts and figures, he's also studying legends and magick. He's been shown to understand a little about Native American spells, and if worse came to worse, I think he could probably learn the fundamentals of a sorcerer's power and undermine it, if need be.

While he may be the most intelligent, or at least learned turtle, he's also the least deadly. He seems to only train with a staff, which can be non-lethal yet still effective, and doesn't like to work with sharp objects. He will use what he thinks is necessary to complete a job, including guns, but he doesn't lose sleep over it. He only gets indecisive over spiritual and technical matters. He is probably the most dangerous when seated behind a computer, since he understands exactly how to use it and how to destroy someone's database and vital information in one swoop, all from his computer at home. This seems to be his most prized possession, and keeps it closely guarded, especially from Leonardo, whom I like to think has the amazing ability to destroy any computer, regardless of whether he's trying or not.

Donatello also seems to appreciate raw nature, before man's influence on her. Long walks and deep thoughts are best suited to him, and he apparently takes these walks alone. Of all of them, he is the most solitary, in that he can shut himself up behind doors and work for days at a time. He could be the most prone to a loss of reason, but for some reason he seems able to lock himself away and then re-emerge just as social as before. He doesn't seem to have the same hang-ups his brothers have about needing to hide from humanity, he only has a problem about accepting that they were an accident. And then we're back to religion and faith in a purpose to life.

I also think that he would be the resident medical doctor in the house, since he would understand chemistry and physiology. Combined with Splinter's knowledge of herbs and possible folk remedies, they would be fairly capable of patching up Leonardo and Raphael when they run into too much trouble. However, I think Donatello has a problem with empathy, and understanding when his cures are causing pain. Everyone would probably try to hide their injuries if they knew that stinging peroxide, iodine and painful splints were waiting for them. He probably had a past life in the Spanish Inquisition.

Future Projection: I think he would become a well-known but never-seen scientist, who would come up with all sorts of brilliant inventions and discoveries, which in time and with some practice would stop blowing up. He might be able to manipulate some kind of magick, and work in two fields at once, but I really doubt he would get into a romantic entanglement. He would more likely have a "professional relationship" with a colleague which might maybe perhaps under the right conditions possibly bloom into something more than friendship, but it would take a strong partner to support him. Once Splinter dies, he would most likely take off and live on his own resources, creating a respectable corporation designed to facilitate scientific studies into various fields. He would grow a little distant from his family but would still stay in touch, but he would probably not hear from his eldest brother at all. I think Michaelangelo would be the only one to vigorously keep contact going.