Rochelle Zimmerman

Rochelle Zimmerman is a main character in The Craft. She is an aspiring witch who forms a coven with Sarah Bailey, Nancy Downs and Bonnie. She uses magic to get revenge on a classmate who bullies her, but gets more than she bargained for.

She is portrayed by Rachel True.

Background
Very little is known about Rochelle's life prior to the events of the film. In a deleted scene, it is revealed that Rochelle is the only African-American girl in her school and neighborhood, and that when she first arrived, no one would talk to her except for Nancy Downs. Rochelle is a target for racist bullying, isolating her. Fortunately, Rochelle befriended Nancy and Bonnie and they began practicing witchcraft together. She seems to be the most "normal" (with no familial, psychological or physical issues) one out of all the four witches.

The Craft
Rochelle is a skillful athlete as well as a member of her school's swim team. However, she is frequently bullied by other students, in particular by Laura Lizzie, a racist girl who has no qualms about humiliating her in public. One such incident involved Laura racially insulting Rochelle's hair, after which Rochelle confronted her, asking "Why are you doing this to me, Laura? Do you think you're funny?". Laura replies unashamedly "Because I don't like negroids, sorry".

Once Rochelle achieves real magical powers with Sarah Bailey initiated into her coven, she casts a spell that causes Laura's hair to begin to fall out. Although initially jubilant, she eventually sees how much pain and suffering she has put Laura through, and feels regret.

When a disheveled Sarah arrives on Rochelle's doorstep after Chris Hooker attempted to rape her, Rochelle is shocked and immediately comforts her. She (presumably) contacts Bonnie and Nancy straight away and the four of them have a meeting on what to do, deciding to gatecrash a party they know he'll be at. Whilst Nancy goes upstairs with Chris, Rochelle is intercepted by a remorseful Laura who asks how she's doing. Nonplussed, Rochelle pointedly replies, "Fine".

As she, Bonnie, and Nancy grow more powerful in witchcraft every day once Nancy has invoked Manon, she gradually begins to abuse her magic. Taking the lead from Nancy, Rochelle and Bonnie both start to use spells against Sarah, culminating in them trying to kill her and make it look like a suicide attempt. After Sarah invokes Manon herself for protection, she makes Bonnie and Rochelle see themselves under the law of threefold in a mirror; Rochelle is bald whilst Bonnie is burn-scarred worse than before. At this, Bonnie and Rochelle flee leaving Sarah and Nancy to battle it out one-on-one.

In the days following the showdown, Rochelle and Bonnie visit Sarah's house. They offer shallow apologies, and reveal their real intent is to find out whether Sarah still has her power, as they do not. They say if she ever wants to hang out or call the corners again to let them know, to which Sarah replies, "Maybe... hold your breath until I call". Rochelle mutters to Bonnie as Sarah walks away that Sarah probably doesn't have any powers anyway, and Bonnie sniggers. Turning back, Sarah causes a bow from the tree above them to snap, and they have to dive onto the ground to avoid it. They look up at her in shock and she warns them, "Be careful. You don't want to end up like Nancy."

Personality
Rochelle initially comes across as being a friendly, fun-loving girl, who enjoys swimming. She is one of the more easy-going members of the coven, being prone to making jokes and wisecracks and only occasionally letting her negative feelings show. However, her confidence has been knocked due to the ostracism and persecution she receives due to her status as the only black student in her school, in particular from Laura Lizzie. Rochelle at first tries to take the moral high-ground, confronting Laura about her bullying in a non-aggressive manner or trying to ignore her, but her constant taunting leaves Rochelle bitter and vengeful.

Rochelle seems largely unconcerned by the prospect that they are misusing their powers, though she is shown to be shocked when she sees what her spell has done to Laura Lizzie and appears to be remorseful. However, this does not stop Rochelle from terrorising Sarah, though she agrees with Bonnie that Nancy has taken things too far. Rochelle does not appear to very sincere when she 'apologises' to Sarah at the end and dismisses her actions as a mere 'joke', though Sarah clearly doesn't see the funny side.

Powers and abilities
Rochelle has magical abilities that are used in conjunction with her friends. She is a latent witch who only managed to cast her magic due to the addition of Sarah to the coven, managing to channel her magical talents through Manon. She was shown to be proficient in rituals and spells, even though she was not as powerful a witch as Nancy or Sarah, demonstrated competence in magic.
 * Hidrokinesis: Although she has not used this power explicitly throughout history, Rochele is the carrier of the element of water. This makes it have total control over water to the point of controlling and manipulating it in its own way.
 * Weather Manipulation: Rochelle can control the water particles suspended in the air and clouds to create powerful storms during coven rituals and in the confrontation with Sarah.
 * Supernatural Connection: Rochele has demonstrated that he is able to communicate psychically with the other members of the coven to wish for something to happen. This was shown when she telekinetically pushed a car to run over a bum who was harassing Sarah.
 * Telekinesis: Rochelle has the ability to control physical matter without touching it, just using her mind. Rochelle showed this power by sharing it with the coven to run over a harassing beggar. She was later seen to open telekinetically a bathroom door in which Sarah was.
 * Levitation: She managed to levitate while lying with the shared magic of her friends. Later, Rochelle managed to fly through Sarah's bedroom window with her friends. At the height of her power, she was able to float with Bonnie and Nancy without the slightest problem while facing a terrified Sarah in her home.
 * Magic Channeling:  When Sarah Bailey joined the coven, Rochelle and all the other members successfully channeled their powers. Allying her forces with nature and her witch friends, she was able to exercise control over magic.
 * Electromagnetic Interference: She it succeed the ability to control the Bailey house's electrical network to the point of generating a power outage.
 * Glamour: She had the ability shared with her witch sisters to hide reality from someone's eyes and make them believe convincing illusions. Rochelle used this to destabilize Sarah by showing her a false aerial disaster that resulted in the death of her family and the presence of venomous animals in the house.
 * Dream manipulation/entering: With the shared power of her coven, Rochelle was able to access Sarah's dreams to terrorize her under Nancy's order.
 * Witchcraft: With the addition of Sarah to the group, Rochelle was able to truly connect with magic, allowing her to cast spells and perform magical rituals with dexterity.
 *  Capillary degeneration spell :  Rochelle, yearning for revenge, bewitches Laura so that she suffers the consequences of her racist bullying. As soon as Sarah completes the coven, the spell is performed and Laura ends up having a severe hair loss.
 *  Conjuration of butterflies :  After the wish ritual is done, a flock of butterflies fly around Rochelle and her friends.
 * Spirit Evocation Ritual: Rochelle performed a ritual with under command of Nancy Downs, which consisted of having the power to communicate and invoke deceased beings from other planes. The result of this ritual, was the strengthening of it with its astral magic.
 * Change Ritual:She participated in a ritual with her friends in order to change their physical appearance through magic. Despite not showing her using this power, only Sarah, Rochelle shows interest in changing her hair.
 * Persuasion Spell ( Limited ):  She and her coven were able to charm Sarah so that she committed suicide by spontaneously. The spell was working until Sarah "called upon the Spirit", causing it to fail.

Sarah Bailey
Sarah and Rochelle shared very little dialogue, except when Sarah helped her perform the spell on Laura Lizzie. However, Sarah did aid Rochelle in her spell against Laura, pulling a hair out of her scalp as she passed her in the hallway to use in Rochelle's spell.

Nancy Downs
Nancy befriended Rochelle when no one else wanted to be friends with the only black girl in school. She confides in Rochelle off-screen that she is miserable that her spell isn't working, as she "doesn't want to be white trash anymore". Rochelle seemingly completely misses the point, replying "you're white, honey; deal with it".

Bonnie
Rochelle and Bonnie frequently poke fun at each other and are close because they are not as powerful as Sarah and Nancy. They are perhaps the closest pair in the coven.

Gallery
Rochelle Gallery

Quotes
"... she doesn't want to be white trash anymore, and I told her, 'You're white, honey, deal with it'"

- Rochelle to Sarah and Bonnie about Nancy "I drink of my sisters and I ask for the ability to not hate those who hate me. Especially racist pieces of bleach-blonde shit like Laura Lizzie."

- Rochelle at the coven initiation rite

Trivia

 * She was played by Rachel True.
 * Rachel True became good friends with Neve Campbell during filming.
 * She was the oldest among the actors playing the teenage coven, being nearly 30 at the time of filming.
 * According to the filmmakers, Rochelle's original element is water, which represents "the power of intuition" in the film. Interestingly, True works as a tarot card reader in the House of Intuition in Los Angeles.