Origin

Ariana's family immigrated from Russia and setup a printing shop in the Russian section of Gotham City, Little Odessa. Ariana's father ran into trouble when the Russian mob attempted to force him to apply his skills as a former patriot and work for them, upon refusing he was subsequently beaten. Tim Drake witnessed the beating while walking around the city but he was unable to arrive in time. Drake returns to the Dzerchenko's shop later that evening as Robin to make sure that if the Russian mob returns he'll be there to prevent any more harm from coming to them. The Russian mob does indeed return to apply more pressure to Ariana's father, bringing along the assassin KGBeast as enforcement. During the ensuring battle between Robin and the KGBeast, the other members of the Russian mob snatch Ariana and attempt to escape with her, Ariana's father sees this and grabs a rifle from inside his shop and tries to stop them, but is ultimately killed by the KGBeast. Robin is unable to stop the Russian mob from kidnapping Ariana; however, sometime later Robin is successful in finding and rescuing Ariana.

Following the death of her father, Ariana is sent to live with her aunt and uncle, Natalia and Vari Dzerchenko. Ariana's relationship with Tim quickly developed into more than a simple friendship which eventually led to her becoming Tim Drake's first serious girlfriend. During the events of Knightfall Tim was forced to stand Ariana up causing her to cheat on him with another boy. When she attempted to tell Tim he fell asleep do to sleep-deprivation. He later found out from the boy she had cheated with. Ariana soon attended the same school as Tim which caused their relationship to experience some hardships. Following his working with Stephanie Brown, Tim realizes that he doesn't love Ariana and breaks up with her to be with Stephanie. Ariana and Tim remain friends, though.

Creation

Ariana Dzerchenko was created for use in DC Comics by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle. The characters first appearance is in Robin Vol 3 #1 which was released in December, 1992.

Character Evolution

Ariana is very loyal and caring towards her family, willing to risk her own well-being to prevent any physical harm from coming to her father at the hands of the Russian mob in Gotham. She also shows a strong attraction and empathy to Tim Drake, though their relationship soon dissolves into a friendship as Tim begin dating Stephanie Brown..

Powers and Abilities

Ariana has no powers or abilities but she is smart for her age.