learn about the characters!
rafael barba (tw: child abuse, religion, homophobia)
dominick "sonny" carisi jr. (tw: religion)
so you want to learn about rafael barba?
name: rafael barba
nicknames: rafi, rafa, barba, counselor
played by: raúl esparza
first episode: Twenty Five Acts (14x03)
last episode: The Undiscovered Country (19x13)
recurring episodes: Redemption in her Corner (21x13), Sightless in a Savage Land (22x04)
occupation: manhattan ADA (s14-s19), worked with election fraud (21x13), defense attorney (22x04)
family: lucia barba (mother), catalina diaz (grandmother, deceased), father (deceased)
common ships: barisi, barson
tw: child abuse, religion
background: rafael barba was svu's longest running ADA. he's cuban-american. rafael grew up in the bronx, where he earned a scholarship to harvard university. he attended catholic high school when he was younger. though not much is known about his father, it's implied that he was cruel to rafael, abusive (16x12), and that rafael had a difficult relationship with him. though, he has close relationships with his abuela and mother.
personality: rafael is usually portrayed as cold, serious, and by the books. but, it's implied that he enjoys skiiing, theatre, and that he also spent a weekend on a yacht. he's sarcastic and snarky, but also very vicious in court. it's difficult to win against him. he's also soft with the people he's close with (his mother and abuela, olivia, even sonny). rafael is also very intelligent, and can find loopholes or holes in other people's cases.
NOTE: some of these are based off headcanons!
sexuality: his sexuality isn't explicitly mentioned in the show, but they never state that rafael is straight, or exclusively dated women. is this man straight? no. he is not. i'm just gonna add that. proof? just watch him.
gender: rafael is also headcanoned to be trans or nonbinary! :D headcanoning characters to be lgbtq+ is really important to people, and people find lots of comfort in that! please do not attack people if they hc rafael as trans or nonbinary, basically anything other than cisgender.
relationships: olivia benson (close friend), rita calhoun (close friend), sonny carisi (do i have to explain this one?)
BONUS FANON:
rafael and rita went to harvard together and became close, working in the same office after until rita joined a different firm. (semi-canon, actually! one of the writers tweeted about this.)
TW: religion, homophobia, child abuse
rafael realized he was mlm when he was a child. but, due to his abusive father and catholic upbringing, he wasn't allowed to explore this. before going to harvard, he had a lot of internalised homophobia. after harvard, he decided to discover himself.
+ will be adding on!
so you want to learn about dominick "sonny" carisi jr.?
name: dominick "sonny" carisi jr.
nicknames: sonny (this is his preferred name), dom, carisi
played by: peter scanavino
first episode: Girls Disappeared (16x01)
occupation: detective (s16-s20), manhattan ADA (s21--)
family: dominick carisi (father), mother, teresa morino-carisi, gina carisi, bella carisi (sisters), mia morino-carisi (niece)
common ships: barisi, rollisi, dorisi
tw: religion
background: sonny comes from staten island and went to tottenville high school. he's italian-american, which is mentioned many times throughout the show. he's the third born carisi, with teresa and gina being older than him. not much is known about how he's brought up, but he's close with his sisters and mother. he's said to have a difficult relationship with his father as well: he'd go out of his way to piss off his dad. sonny is also a devout catholic, and expressed a want to become a priest when he was younger. he attended fordham night school during his day job as a detective, later passing the bar on his first try.
he went from staten island svu for two months, brooklyn for almost a month, and queens for a week (before that, he was a patrol officer on staten island), before transferring to manhattan svu.
personality: sonny introduces himself as "sensitive and moody, but i can do the whole empathy thing too". he's bold and brash, often expressing whatever he feels with no filter. he truly cares about everyone in his life, and often goes out of his way to help amanda rollins and her kids. he's very caring, kind, and great with children. he's also very intelligent.
NOTE: some of these are based off headcanons!
sexuality: like rafael, sonny's sexuality isn't mentioned in the show. now, is sonny carisi straight? far from it. he's shown romantic interest toward rafael AND amanda rollins, possibly alluding to his bisexuality. he was also very close to mike dodds and peter stone.
a moment that can pretty much confirm sonny being mlm is the scene in Unholiest Alliance (17x18). sonny is talking to father eugene, who was ashamed of being attracted to men. this is what he said:
FATHER EUGENE: “You can’t imagine—you can’t imagine how many times I have knelt and, and prayed to be relieved of this weakness.”
CARISI: “Yes, I can.”
if sonny can imagine it, doesn't this mean he has experienced it before?
sonny also expressed discomfort when he went undercover at a stripclub, while simultaneously looking relaxed and comfortable at a gay bar.
gender: people also headcanon sonny as either being trans or nonbinary! :D (nby sonny carisi is very special to me.) once again, please respect people's headcanons!
relationships: olivia benson (mother /j), amanda rollins (bestie & love interest), mike dodds (best friend), isaiah holmes (friend, mentor), rafael barba (once again, do i have to explain this one?)
BONUS FANON:
tw: religion
sonny had a hard time coming to terms with his sexuality, considering his very catholic and conservative family. as he grew older, he began to understand that it was okay to feel this way about men.
sonny is a fantastic cook!
sonny is extremely close to his sisters.
sonny uses he/they pronouns.
sonny has gone through a lot of trauma, and hasn't been able to talk about it nor process it (canon). we all just want him to get therapy.
+ will be adding on!