Scarlemagne

**Scarlemagne** is the secondary antagonist of the 2020 Netflix original series *Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts*. He is a feared mute who plans to create a mute-only utopia with himself on top.

Raised as a laboratory mandrill, Hugo was tested by scientists Lio and Song Oak, whom he considered his parents after their experimentation gave him the gift of intelligence and speech, but Dr. Emilia pushed the experiment harder. Hugo finally escaped when a giant mutant destroyed the burrow where the human colony lived, but he was also scarred during the incident.

After wandering the world ruled by mutant animals, Hugo joined a group of Gothic simians after using his mutant pheromones to beat one of them. At the same time, Hugo finds Lio on the surface but seeing his daughter, Kipo, Hugo believed that Lio had abandoned him, which made him hate him and all mankind and the mandrill rejected the name that those who he believed were his family had given him and becomes Scarlemagne.

## Appearance

Scarlemagne is a giant mandrill mute with distinctively colorful facial characteristics. His moniker comes from his highly scarred face.

Scarlemagne generally appears in knee-breeches and a red frocked coat, with a blue ribbon around his neck, drawing inspiration from the Rococo period and classical composers of old. His fur is arranged to look like his followers' powdered wigs.

## Personality

When he was not yet known as Hugo, Scarlemagne was a kind and naive person who loved to play the piano and sing while being mesmerized by the abandoned concept of monarchy. He was, however, very fearful of hostility, like when he was being force-tested or when he had to fight for the first time in his life. After Lio Oak was eventually abandoned, Hugo took a darker path that led him to become the tyrant Scarlemagne.

Ten years after sinking into resentment and hatred for humanity, Scarlemagne had grown far more ruthless, chaotic, angry, resentful, power hungry and seemingly insane. Due to his fascination with the monarchy, the mandrill behaved with a polite and refined air in the presence of his subjects even though that was not who he really was. He also despised the human species, probably because of his past, and had developed a deep resentment towards his adoptive father, as well as towards his birth name, which he could not even bear to hear spoken.

His megalomania eventually made him want to take full control of not only the entire human race, but also all mutant animals, which was the reason he was feared so much.

After his defeat and his imprisonment, thanks to Kipo, Scarlemagne slowly began to feel remorse for these previous acts and ended up redeeming himself, not hesitating to sacrifice his life to save his adopted sister and then to choose to die as Hugo rather than Scarlemagne.

## Biography

### Past

He was raised in Dr. Emilia's lab as a test subject to find the mutagen. The two scientists working on him were Lio and Song Oak. When the mutagen worked and Hugo gained intelligence, they began to love him as a son, and decided to keep his intelligence a secret from Dr Emilia so they could keep him safe. However, Emilia discovered his intelligence, and later his brainwashing abilities, and imprisoned him in a glass cage where she forced him to exercise intensely so she could harvest his brainwashing pheromones. Lio and Song promised they would all escape together once the new baby was born, but, when the burrow collapsed, Lio took the baby, Kipo, and left Hugo behind. Hugo was thrown to the surface alone, where he got his scars. After searching for a few days, he met the Goth Apes, and used his pheromones on them so they would let him join their group. A few days later, he found Lio and Kipo, but, after discovering they'd left without him, he felt betrayed and declared himself as "Emperor Scarlemagne". He brainwashed the Goth Apes and then started to build his brainwashed empire.

### Season 1

The name "Scarlemagne" is mentioned in Episodes 2-5, but he is first seen in Episode 6, playing the piano as a palace full of brainwashed apes and humans danced for him. He first appears as a mad tyrant who enjoys torturing others for his own pleasure, with a special dislike for humans. In Episodes 8 and 9, he calls an audience with other mutes, telling them whoever brings him the "Burrow Girl" (Kipo) will be rewarded. In Episode 10 , he follows Kipo to her burrow which he destroys, imprisoning and brainwashing all the humans except Kipo and her friends. He talks to Lio Oak, who knows him and calls him "Hugo".

### Season 2

In Episode 1 Scarlemagne blows up Ratland because he doesn't like humans and mutes mixing. He appears in Episodes 4, 5, and 6, in which he brainwashes a Mega Monkey (who, in a strange twist of fate, turns out to be Song Oak, his estranged adoptive mother). At the end of Episode 7, he imprisons Kipo, and finds that she is immune to his pheromones because she is half jaguar.

In episodes 8 and 9, he tells Kipo his story and she connects with him, treating him as a brother and telling him he doesn't have to be so horrible to make people follow him. But in the end, his fear of abandonment wins out, and, during Episode 10, he gives the crowd at his coronation a choice - follow him, or be drowned in molten gold. Kipo and Lio fight him, and he tries to escape on a flamingo, but the flamingo falls and he lies unconscious as the gold rises.

Kipo turns into a Mega Jaguar and saves the day by breaking down the tree from which the gold is flowing. He is rescued, imprisoned, and taken back to Timbercat Village. As he is taken away in a cage he says to Kipo "You could have escaped. But you were willing to get stuck in the jaguar, for a coliseum full of mutes?" He seems truly moved by her selfless act.

### Season 3

In Episode 1, a couple of months later, we see Scarlemagne imprisoned a cage in Timbercat Village. Kipo visits him to bring him food, and he is still bitter and mean, telling her "Make (the mutes) fear you… the Mega Jaguar could get them in line". Kipo refuses, saying "I want them to want to help me. I'm not you!"

He still acts like this in Episode 3, when Kipo says he must apologize to the mutes or else they won’t help her. Knowing he has to be sincere, she tries to "show him what community means" by making him help with menial chores around the village. He keeps trying to escape until he plays with some young mutes, and his cold heart starts to thaw. At the end of the episode, he apologizes, saying "for what it's worth…I am sorry".

After his apology, he starts helping. In Episode 4, he helps Song, his adoptive mother who is stuck in Mega Monkey form, to communicate with Kipo. In Episode 6, he helps with the effort to protect the Village from Dr. Emilia, and, afterwards, when it fails, he comforts Kipo, telling her, "you did what you had to do", and it is at this point he is released from imprisonment. In Episode 8, he helps with the preparations for PRAHM, and he and Wolf rescue Kipo from an avalanche.

However, at the end of Episode 8, he and Wolf realize that "PRAHM is a great idea, but and idea won't keep (Kipo) alive". He says Kipo is like a sister to him, and that he'd "do anything to protect her". So the two leave to "deal with our Emilia problem" despite Kipo's indignation. During Episode 9, they find Emilia's HQ, but eventually realize what they’re doing is wrong. On the way back to Kipo, they pass by Aurum, Scarlemagne's old Kingdom, and he makes a heartbreaking speech as he stares into the gold, saying he "really made a mess of things" and that "things could have been so different". When he and Wolf return to PRAHM, he apologizes once again, and is forgiven by the humans and mutes.

When the deadly fireworks rain down, he is protected by Lio and Song, his estranged adoptive parents. Afterwards, they embrace. In the final battle between Kipo and Emilia, the three are seen together riding a Mega Dog to aid Kipo. When Kipo falls unconscious and Emilia is about to kill her, he turns to his parents and says, "I'm glad we were able to be a family, just one more time". Then he jumps into his flamingo car and rides it towards Emilia, laughing manically and shouting, "Remember me?" He crashes into Emilia's Mega form, screaming, "LEAVE MY SISTER ALONE!" This ultimately makes her lose herself in the Mega form. His flamingo car crashes into the skyscrapers. After dealing with Emilia, his family are by his side as he utters his last words, "Call me Hugo". He dies from fatal wounds as the sun rises. "Goodbye, Hugo", Kipo says, holding his hand and weeping.

Five years after the peace between humans and mutants was achieved, a now adult Kipo goes to a memorial to her late brother. She says, “Life’s great. Las Vistas is amazing. And I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you, so thank you. Happy birthday, Hugo.”

## Powers and Abilities

* **Mind Control**: Scarlemagne's pheromones can control primates, and he can order them to do his bidding. Primates affected by his mind control have dilated pupils and sometimes a perpetual smile. It also affects humans.
* **Expert pianist:** Scarlemagne is proven to be a competent musician, playing the piano on a daily basis.

## Relationships

### Family

* Kipo Oak - Adoptive sister and former enemy
* Lio Oak - Adoptive father
* Song Oak - Adoptive mother

## Enemies

* Dr. Emilia
* Greta
* Zane

## Quotes

***Scarlemagne:** Oh, I go by Scarlemagne now. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? So, never mention that other name again or I’ll have you stuffed.*

**Scarlemagne:** Gild your father.
**Kipo:** What?! No, I won’t hurt my dad.
**Scarlemange:** I see. No one ever chooses me… unless I make them.

## Trivia

* Scarlemagne is a mixture of the name of the former king of France, Charlemagne and the word "Scar".
* Being a villainous mandrill with pheromone based powers, Scarlemagne might've been influenced by the similar Marvel supervillain Mandrill.