Myrtle Edmonds

**Mertle Edmonds** is Lilo's rival and a recurring antagonist in the *Lilo & Stitch* franchise.

## Biography

Mertle is an incredibly spoiled little girl and the most unlikable character in the franchise. She is the leader of a clique of girls who follow her every command. She strongly dislikes Lilo and calls her mean nicknames such as "Weirdlo" and "Freaklo", as well as always gets her in trouble for what she did. She is shown to be unforgiving and holds grudges against people, even when they apologize, as shown when Lilo apologizes for tackling and biting her earlier, she does not forgive her and only says rudely, "Apology not accepted."

It is shown in the TV series that her "friends" aren't too fond of Mertle's mean and bossy attitude, implying that, despite the fact that they hang out with her, they don't actually like her, in fact, they sometimes leave her (but then, come back eventually, for continuity's sake). Mertle takes great pleasure in putting down, insulting, bullying and making fun of Lilo. Mertle also tends not to take responsibility for her actions; she blamed Lilo for beating her up in hula class, even though she was being cruel to Lilo, which provoked her into beating her up. Mertle is even cold enough to tease Lilo about being an orphan, which is Lilo's weak spot. She also blames Lilo for things that were her own fault, such as the time Mertle got an experiment pod on her charm bracelet and the experiment was a black hole and Mertle didn't listen to Lilo's warnings. When Holio's pod was activated, Mertle blamed Lilo for everything when she did not take Lilo seriously. Just like the other humans, she is too ignorant to tell Stitch, Reuben, and the other experiments are aliens and usually mistakes them for disfigured and ugly Earth animals.

In addition to being ignorant, Mertle also seems to have a bad memory, as she doesn't recognize Reuben, whom she had met in a few episodes, but then forgotten about. This is made worse by the fact that she can't read either, as shown during "Spike" when Mertle had Teresa to cheat for her during the Ohana-Rama. And after Spike caused Teresa to lose her intelligence Mertle couldn't answer a single question.

In the TV series, it has been shown that Mertle's reason for mocking Lilo comes from her bigoted view of normality that causes her to disregard anyone different from her or anyone who disagrees with her. In *Leroy & Stitch*, it is hinted that Mertle's unseen father who she holds a great deal of respect for is the main influence of this view. Mertle has also been shown to be extremely dishonest as she had no qualms about cheating in contests and framing people for her wrong doings. However, it is shown that Mertle isn't totally heartless and dishonest, in the episode "Yapper", she cheated to win the dog show, but then gave Lilo the trophy because Lilo played fair and she also loves her "dog" Gigi. It has also been hinted how she might have had some respect or admiration for Lilo's mother as she told her she'll never be a great dancer like her.

## Trivia

* Mertle's given name is a unique variant spelling of the female given name Myrtle, which is derived from the name of the plant *Myrtus*.
* It is revealed in "Spike" that Mertle is illiterate.

## Gallery

Myrtle with Gigi (Experiment 007).Myrtle in her pajamas.Myrtle dressed up for Hula School.