Lori resembles most depictions of a mermaid in that her upper body looks human while her lower body is that of a fish's tail. She has long brown hair (held back loosely by braids and a headband), light amber colored eyes and a slender frame. Her fishtail is segmented with dark green and turquoise portions; it is oriented with her vertical caudal fin and other fin protrusions along this front seam. On her top half she wears a red and maroon tunic with dual-layered epaulettes, silver arm braces and an additional red armlet on her upper left arm.[2] By age 25 she has gained a more curvaceous figure with some more muscle as well. Her headband has shifted towards the front of her forehead, with her hair far more tightly braided.[3]
Lori was at the Conservatory when Kaldur'ahm arrived with his friends Miss Martian and Superboy. Lori was non-plussed when Miss Martian mentioned she liked mermaids and changed her legs into a tail. But Lori politely pretended to be flattered.[5]
With her fellow students, Lori Lemaris came to the aide of Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian when they were ambushed by purists. For the most part, she had to keep the purists away from King Sha'ark, who wanted to eat a few of them.
Ocean-Master's magic weakened her, though she had more strength left in her than La'gaan, Sha'ark and Blubber. She insisted on helping bringing Ocean-Master down, because if only Garth and Tula fought, the purist would still retain some small victory.[6]
General Lemaris represented Tritonis at the annual Conference of Delegates. The opening day went little further than introductions, as Xebel had failed to send a representative yet. Lori joined Coral and La'gaan and asked them out for a night on the town.
Later, Lori was alone at an algae bar, when she was approached by Kaldur, Delphis and Wyynde. She was happy to be introduced to Delphis, but was cold to Wyynde, against whom she still harbored resentment for his time as a purist. Nanaue Sha'ark then arrived and goaded Lori about the territory Nanauve annexed from Tritonis. Lori attacked Sha'ark with a spell, but Kaldur stopped things from going any further, telling them to save it for the conference.[7]
At the first day of proper talks, Lori brought up the increased hostilities between city-states, particularly from Nanauve. The conference came under attack from Ocean-Master, who easily resisted the gathered delegates and guards, but was forced into retreat by a mysterious stranger, who disappeared as suddenly as he arrived.[7]
As public unrest grew, Lori, Mera, Orin and Sha'ark went to the palace in Xebel to discuss the growing crisis. As they discussed what to do about Arion, Lori opined that a definitive solution to the question of rule was impossible without Arion's crown.
With the other representatives calling in, Orin opened the Conference of Delegates. It quickly became clear that they intended to elect a new High King, just as Arion and Chian arrived at the palace. Like most of the other delegates, Lori voted in favor of Arion, and Orin reluctantly agreed to transfer power.
Lori watched Arion's coronation speech, and saw him die shortly after donning Arion's crown. She was part of the unanimous vote to make Mera the new High King.[8]
Powers and abilities[]
Atlantean Sorcery: Lori was trained in the magical arts at the Conservatory of Sorcery.[2] She has skin icons in the shape of sea serpents, which are invisible while not using magic. She is able to produce forceful blasts of energy, telekinetically move objects,[7] and cast translation spells.[2]
Atlantean attributes: Atlanteans, although human, have through scientific and sorcerous means[5] developed several abilities which allow them to live comfortably under the sea:
Underwater breathing: All Atlanteans are capable of surviving the aquatic atmosphere under the sea. Some accomplish this without the presence of visible gills.[2][5]
Temperature resilience: Resistant to low temperatures[9] and the effects of freezing,[10] although notably hindered by high temperatures.[11]
Lori was designed for Young Justice by Character Designer Jerome Moore, who was instructed to make her a young girl. He tried to avoid making her look like Disney's Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and also decided not to use the typical mermaid design, where the tailfin is angled like a cetacean and shaped like a chevron. Instead, he based her tail on those of real fish, so that she must swim using a sideways tail motion instead of a dolphin kick. Additionally, he tried to keep her attire as recognizably aquatic as possible, for instance by making her hair band with green kelp. However, in the final episode, the color of the hair bands was changed to pink. Her necklace, vambraces, pauldrons, and the tiara atop her head are fashioned from shells and coral.[15]
Moore also designed her updated look for season four. He aged her up, giving her more curves, as well as muscle befitting her military training. At the producers' request, her hair and costume were designed without flowing elements to ease animation.[3] Moore also designed her skin icons, giving them a sea serpent theme.[16]
In the episode "Downtime", a translation spell cast by Lori Lemaris at the beginning of the episode facilitates the use of spoken English. In-universe, all of the characters from the Atlantean segments (except Black Manta, his men, Superman and the Justice LeagueComputer) are speaking the Atlantean language, but the audience hears English because of Lori's translation spell.[4]
