Charlotte Scherzen

**Charlotte Scherzen** (シャルロット・シャルゼン *Sharurotto Sharuzen*) is one of the antagonists in *Valkyrie Drive Mermaid*. She holds high office, second only to Governor Akira Hiragi, but on an equal par with the head of security, Commander Kasumi Shigure. Charlotte leads an elite group of Liberators called the Adel who are also her lovers.

Charlotte is responsible for training and integrating new arrivals to Mermaid Island. She has a habit of pursuing her own personal agenda, sometimes at odds with Governor's Hiragi's orders and the interests of the Wärter.

## Appearance

Charlotte is a beautiful woman with hip-length pink hair, purple eyes, and pink lips. She wears thigh-high stockings with garters, high heeled boots and long, sharp painted nails.

Like some of the other girls with winged Arms (e.g. Ange), she wears triangular hair ornaments on either side of her head. Sometimes, these ornaments and her hair give her face a butterfly look, like her Arm in miniature.

## Personality

It is not clear if Charlotte and her followers (Ange, Miranda etc.) are actual Westerners or Japanese Europhiles who have adopted Western names. The fact that she gives Momoka Sagara the Western name "Françoise" implies the latter.

She is confident in her power, even arrogant, manipulative, sometimes capricious and cruel. When problems occur, Charlotte tends to resort to heavy-handed methods to resolve them, which can cause conflict with the more moderate Kasumi Shigure.

Charlotte revels in her lush and sensual body. She also enjoys sex and her penchant for violence leads to her enjoying a lifestyle of bondage and sadomasochism with her Adels. However, this is a facade, in reality, Charlotte is power-hungry, psychotic, delusional, and abusive towards the girls with her own view of lust, it was also revealed that she indulges herself with a God Complex, where she was unnaturally causing more dangerous situations.

Unfortunately for her, after being slapped by Momoka during the conflict in Wärter, her own true colors were snapped out within her, which loses her career of being a leader, putting her into a mental fallout. Although, due to her cause, her fate in the series' finale is unknown, it is implied that Charlotte was presumably defecting from Adel, as this may even cause her founding group in distress and attempting to find out what happened to her.

## Background

Like all the other inhabitant of Mermaid Island, Charlotte used to live a normal life but was exiled and confined to the island when she was found to have the A-Virus. She formed a group with four other girls who were devoted admirers of hers and they were called the Adel team. The members of Adel are Ange, Miranda, Marianne and Monroe. Akira Hiragi acknowledged Charlotte's strength and leadership and so she was invited to be part of Welter, the ruling faction in Mermaid.

## History

### Arrival of Mamori Tokonome and Mirei Shikishima

Charlotte is first seen forwarding a report of the new Extar and Liberator on Mermaid Island to Akira, and expressing her discontent at the C-class pair Kasumi sent to gauge their aptitude. Charlotte organizes another fight between Kibami Saejima and Ichiha Shirasu (an A-class pair) and the new transfers. Charlotte and Kasumi watch on as Mamori Tokonome and Mirei Shikishima defeat the A-class pair. Charlotte congratulates the pair for surpassing the ability of their opponents, but reprimands Saejima for her loss and stomps on Saejima's hand with her heels. Mirei attempts to engage with Charlotte before she is tied down by Ange.

### Wedding Aisle

Charlotte enters the infirmary that Mamori is resting at. Charlotte informs her that her measurements need to be taken for her wedding. She tells Mamori that, if she were to oppose the wedding, they would inflict harm upon Mirei. She leads Mamori to the wedding hall, where Tomomi Nukui awaits her. Charlotte leaves to allow the two to test their Driving compatibility in private.

After Mirei rescues Mamori, Charlotte returns to the wedding hall with Ange to arrest Mirei. However, Mirei and Mamori activate their Drive, and escape to the beach on Mermaid Island. Charlotte declares the pair as enemies of Wärter.

### Atelier Torino

In the underground disciplinary room, Ange whips Aoi Miyasato and Momoko Kouzuki (the C-class pair defeated by Mamori and Mirei). Aoi and Momoko beg for Charlotte's pardon, which she denies.

Charlotte, who is aware of the cases of theft, tracks the location of the stolen goods and commands Kasumi to mobilize her forces and arrest the thief.

Charlotte arrives the next day at Atelier Torino alongside Kasumi and her forces. Charlotte prepares to attack Mirei, but Mirei Drives with Mamori, allowing Mirei to cut Charlotte's claws. Mirei and Mamori are defeated by Kasumi, but are rescued by Lady Lady. Mirei Drives with Rain Hasumi, and together with Lady J, they are able to overcome Kasumi and Charlotte's forces. In the end, Akira brings the conflict to a close and orders Charlotte to retreat, which upset her.

When Nimi Minimi approaches the castle, she falls, destroying parts of the outer castle wall. Charlotte walks out from her balcony to find the source of the problem. In her confusion, she reaches out a hand and pokes Nimi, causing Nimi to squirm and knock Charlotte to the ground. Nimi lowers her head down to Charlotte's level, causing Charlotte to scream. Charlotte misinterpret's Nimi's actions as her potentially trying to get back at her. Charlotte Drives along with five of her servants, However, Kasumi stands between Charlotte and Nimi to protect Nimi from Charlotte's anger. As Kasumi and Charlotte clash, they are interrupted by the Gouverneur's Arm. Akira enters onto the balcony and explains Nimi's giant growth to Charlotte, ending the conflict.

### Mermaid Festival

At the castle, Hibiki Kenjo and Hyouko Yundou watch on as Charlotte bathes in a soap bath. Charlotte hints at the pair to tell her outright to participate in the beauty pageant. After they provide her with the answer she had wanted, Charlotte indirectly tells the pair to fix the results of the pageant in her favor.

In the pageant, Charlotte wears a skin-tight light blue dress. To no surprise, Charlotte is announced as the winner, and walks up to the podium. Akira later informs Charlotte that her beauty contest win is revoked as a result of foul play.

Charlotte arrives at the abandoned castle during the hostage situation. She claims that her goal is to keep collateral damage to a minimum, and criticizes the Gouverneur's absence.

### Momoka Sagara's Invasion

Charlotte greets the new transfer, Momoka Sagara, inside of the castle. Momoka acts very casually towards Charlotte, and opts to demonstrate her ability with Charlotte herself. Charlotte is impressed with Momoka, and accepts her into Adel. Momoka proposes to Charlotte that Akira is actually a woman. She asks her how this could be the case, to which Momoka convinces her that Akira is posing as a male to gain power. Momoka convinces Charlotte to trust her word under the pretense that she could take Akira's place as the Gouverneur.

Charlotte, with Momoka as her Extar, engage with Akira in the arena. Charlotte struggles initially, but ultimately defeats Akira, revealing Akira's female anatomy in front of the crowd. Charlotte usurps Akira's position as the Gouverneur and proclaims that the era of lies and deception has come to an end.

Charlotte commands Ange to motivate Kasumi to fight Mirei by threatening the life of her partner, Hibiki. Momoka begins to disobey Charlotte when she asks Momoka for an explanation for her actions, by instead slapping Charlotte and telling her to obey her in order to get off of Mermaid Island. Charlotte Drives with E9 and obtains her Soldier Arm. However, Mirei and Lady Lady defeat Charlotte. Along with the rest of the group, Charlotte is presumed to have been dragged into Mamori's Arm. After the battle, Ange tells Charlotte that the Armed-virus is gone.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Claw Combat** - Charlotte was able to use her sharp fingernails at her foes. This was first seen in episode 2, where she cleaves Mamori's gym outfit.

### Weaknesses

* **Overconfidence** - This is Charlotte's fatal flaw. Due to her god complex, Charlotte's behavior resembles that of a strong queen. There is also a side effect, however, during battle, Charlotte almost loses her focus while fighting Mirei in a one-on-one match, where the latter begins to attack her weak points: her finger nails. With her nails damaged, Charlotte will experience pain, causing her to be extremely vulnerable to any type of attacks.
* **Mental Breakdown** - As seen in Episode 11, Charlotte, after capturing Mamori, was betrayed by Momoka with a slap on her left cheek, causing her to be emotionally and mentally unstable. This is also (possibly) tied to her own defection from Adel in the series finale, stepping away as a broken woman after the destruction of her own reputation as the group's leader and head of the island.

## Etymology

* The name **Charlotte** means "free man", "petite", "strong and virile" or "vigorous" in French.
* Charlotte's surname **Scherzen** means "to joke" in German.

## Trivia

* Charlotte is the first Liberator to have inverted nipples and not have a Drive Break, preceded by Momoka Sagara.
* Charlotte's motif was Kuroto Dan (A.K.A, Kamen Rider Genm) from *Kamen Rider Ex-Aid*. Coincidentally, they both share their god complexes and dark natures in their respective series.

## References

1. ↑ *Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid Specials: We Gotta Stick Together*, released in 2015