Cécile Fatiman

Cécile Fatiman is a character in the Netflix original animated series, Castlevania: Nocturne. She is a high priestess, a mambo, from Saint-Domingue and a mentor to Annette in the arts of Vodou magic. Having lived under an environment of slavery, she becomes one of the main leaders of the colony's revolt against their oppressors.
She was voiced by Sharon D. Clarke.
==History==
Cécile Fatiman was a high priestess, or mambo, from the French colony of Saint-Domingue. She was the leader of a resistance group of escaped slaves and a proficient practitioner of Vodou magic.
After the former slave Annette escaped her master, and now under the protection of the famous opera singer, Edouard, she joined the resistance and was soon introduced to Cécile, who from that day became her mentor. Sensing the great magical potential Annette had, Cécile taught her how to properly channel her powers, as well as many incantations, including the drawing of vèvès, to cast powerful spells. She also taught her about her ancestry and how everyone is descended from gods.
Cécile was also a libertarian who sought the freedom of her people from the slavery system they had been subjugated with for many years. Realizing that the ongoing revolution in France wouldn't free her people from their chains and that they would have to free themselves, she leaded the slaves rebellion of Saint-Domingue that took place one night during the 1780s, which she started by first performing a Vodou ritual and then calling her people to arms to "discard the god of the whites".
The battle carried out in her people's favor, although it left the colony in disarray. After this victory, Cécile suddenly started sensing a much greater threat looming over, not only her people, but the entire world. The impact of this premonition made her to faint and presumably die that same night in Annette's arms. However, before doing so, she was able to tell her to seek the help of Richter Belmont, the last in the line of the legendary Belmont family of vampire hunters."In Saint-Domingue, there's a mambo, a priestess, my teacher. She's a powerful sorcerer and seer. It was she who told me to find you." - Annette to Richter in "Horror Beyond Nightmares".
Time later, in 1792, Annette and Edouard finally gave with Richter's location and asked for his help. Unfortunately, Edouard was captured and killed that same night, and resurrected as a night creature. During a following battle, Annette and Edouard were able to recognize each other, so she and her new allies went to the abbey the next morning to rescue him. However, during an ensuing battle, the sudden appearance of an old enemy made Richter to panic and flee, abruptly aborting the mission. Disheartened by Richter's desertion, Annette communed with Cécile in the spirit world, who helped her to refocus and encouraged her to trust Richter once again and to continue her mission.
==Appearance==
Cécile is a black woman from the Caribbean. She is usually seen wearing a white and simple one-piece dress and a tall white hat with red linings made with a big cloth wrapped around her head. She also always wears a necklace of a big cross made with two interlacing bones.
The night of Saint-Domingue's slaves rebellion, she could be seen wearing a more elegant white dress with her face covered in white war paint.
==Personality==
Cécile carries herself out as a nurturing and motherly figure toward her people. Due to her position of high priestess, and having demonstrated her great magical powers, she is respected and cherished among the resistance community. She is also very patient toward her pupil, Annette, and will gladly spend some of her time to motivate her, teach her new things, and to help her refocus if she is in distress.
Despite her usual calm demeanor, Cécile is also visibly distraught by the poor conditions of slavery her people have suffered for many years, and when the time finally comes to fight for their freedom, she won't hesitate to raise her voice and call them to arms.
==Powers and abilities==
===Powers===
*Magic: Cécile is known to be a great Vodou sorcerer. She is well learned in the drawing and usage of vèvès to cast powerful spells. The night of the Saint-Domingue slaves rebellion, she was seen performing a dancing ritual in front of a pyre, possibly asking the ancient gods to aid them in battle.
*Divination: Cécile is a prominent seer. She can foretell things that will happen in the future, as well as know about events happening in other places of the world.
*Spirit form: Even after death, Cécile's will and soul are so strong that she is able to manifest in the spirit world through the proper incantation and still give guidance.
===Abilities===
*Leadership: Cécile is a natural leader and both her words and her presence are enough to motivate her people and encourage them to fight for themselves.
*Teaching: Cécile is well learned about her people's ancestry and how everyone is descended from the gods. While she isn't shown to perform any major spells in the series, it was she who taught Annette everything about them, implying she could also perform those same spells, or at least that she had the potential to do it.
==Appearances==
==Quotes==
:-Cécile: "You killed Vaublanc. We all rejoiced."
:-Annette: "But I lost Edouard."
:-Cécile: "Though not his soul. Take courage from that."
:— ("Guilty Men to be Judged")
*"Everyone runs at first, Annette." (to Annette after the latter badmouthed Richter for running from Olrox)
*"You were shaped, Annette. Everything about you, by being born a slave. Of course you were It's the source of your fury, but it's not the source of your power. They like to tell you, these petty devils like the Comte de Vaublanc, that slavery is the just the way of the world. It's what do. And you can look around and think, oh, maybe they're right. Evil, violence, and oppression everywhere."
*"The petty devils. it serves them if we believe it. But humanity didn't enter this world dragging armies of slaves. That came later. And your ancestor. Of course I mean your mother, who loved you. And your father, who was dragged from her by men with whips. And your grandmother, who watched the ships sail, weeping and pulling her hair. But they go back. Beyound them and beyond them. Back to the source. To the Iwa of Ogun. And a world without slaves or masters. Learn to hear your ancestor. There is light in this darkness."
==Gallery==
===Screenshots===
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Guilty Men to be Judged - Nocturne - 19.png|Cécile in spiritual form contacted by Annette.
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===Concept art===
Cecile Fatiman Model Sheet.jpg|Official model sheet
Cecile Fatiman Mambo Model Sheet.jpg|Mambo model sheet
==Trivia==
*She is a reference to the historic character, Cécile Fatiman (1771-1883), a Haitian Vodou priestess, or mambo, who is famous for her participation in the Vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman, which is considered to be one of the starting points of the Haitian Revolution.
**This ritual is represented in the series with Cécile performing a dancing ritual before the rebels start their attack.
**Likewise, the series also reenacts the historic character's iconic call to arms, believed to be: "Cast aside the image of the god of the oppressors", but now with the line: "We must discard the god of the whites and listen to the voice of emancipation".
*Cécile's exact date of death is ambiguous. After the revolt of Saint-Domingue, she is seen fainting after foreseeing the coming of Erzsebet Báthory, although it isn't explicitly shown if she actually died that night. When Annette meets Richter Belmont, she tells him Cécile was the one who told her to seek him; however, nothing of this is shown during Cécile's supposed death scene.
**While in the series it isn't explicitly stated the date when the slaves rebellion of Saint-Domingue took place, the real life Vodou ceremony of Bois Caïman and subsequent first slave revolt of the Haitian Revolution took place in 1791, which is possibly also Cécile's date of death within the series.
**On the other hand, the real Cécile Fatiman is believed to have died at the age of 112, in 1883.
==References==
Category:Deceased Characters
Category:Female Characters
Category:Humans
Category:Priests and Priestesses
Category:Real Life Based Characters
Category:Witches and Wizards
Category:Nocturne Characters
Category:Nocturne Season 1 Characters