Vanellope von Schweetz

### Designers

Rich Moore, Eryn Katz, Lorelay Bove, Mike Gabriel, Chad Stubblefield, Ryan Lang and Byron Howard

### Occupation

Princess and President of Sugar Rush Racer

### Home

Sugar Rush, Litwak's Arcade (Formerly)
 Slaughter Race, Internet

**Vanellope von Schweetz** is the deuteragonist of the 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph.

Vanellope is a young, sharp-tongued racer that originates from the candy-themed racing game Sugar Rush. Due to being a "glitch", Vanellope was forbidden to race by order of King Candy. She was nevertheless determined to become a real racer and sought to accomplish her goal by teaming up with a fellow misfit Wreck-It Ralph. Over the course of their adventure, Vanellope would unmask the truth behind her glitch, while also learning to use it as a "superpower" to overcome adversity.

## Background

Vanellope von Schweetz was the main character of Litwak's Arcade's kart-racer, Sugar Rush, where she served as the kingdom's princess and top racer. She was amongst a line-up of fifteen distinct racers, who compete against each other on confectionary-themed tracks for the coveted winner's cup.

Shortly after Sugar Rush was first plugged in, a character named Turbo hijacked the game in an effort to seize Vanellope's throne and remain the most approved racer in the arcade. Under the guise of a kindly monarch known as King Candy, Turbo tried to kill Vanellope by deleting her code, but his efforts were unsuccessful and merely turned her into a glitch. Undeterred, King Candy locked away all memories of Princess Vanellope and posed as Sugar Rush's sovereign in her place. However, if Vanellope was to cross the finish line in an official race, her code would be restored and King Candy's machinations would be undone. To prevent this from occurring, King Candy forbade Vanellope from racing under the grounds that glitches are dangerous and could lead to a game's unplugging. As a result of King Candy's law, Vanellope became a pariah and was mercilessly ostracized by the game's citizens, most notably the other racers, led in their bullying by Taffyta Muttonfudge. Vanellope believed that becoming a real racer was the only way to earn the respect and friendship of the other racers, and thus dedicated her life to accomplishing this goal. Consequently, she was in constant pursuit of King Candy and his henchmen, rendering her a criminal in the kingdom.

As glitches can never leave their games, Vanellope was unable to escape her tormentors. However, she managed to find sanctuary within Diet Cola Mountain, a volcano that towers over the land of Sugar Rush that carries an incomplete bonus level track. After discovering a secret passageway, she founded the mountain as her hideout and used it to evade her bullies and King Candy's fungeon.

### Personality

In line with her programmed age, Vanellope is extremely energetic, talkative, and childish. When excited, she zestfully zips and bounces around while repeatedly exclaiming the reasoning behind her excitement ("I'm gonna learn to drive, I'm gonna learn to drive!"), much like a normal child. She has a rather immature sense of humour (finding enjoyment in mimicking and toilet humor) and has the tendency to purposely annoy those around her as a means to amuse herself. This is seen through her friendship with Ralph, as the two are known to give each other puerile, condescending nicknames.

Unfortunately, years of bullying due to King Candy's propaganda against her left Vanellope with a sharp tongue and a somewhat sour disposition. When first greeted, she comes off as annoying, obnoxious, and rude, with a bit of concern for the feelings or ambitions of other people, in comparison to benefiting herself. However, these aspects of her character are merely a result of her tragic upbringing and were more so done for survival rather than pure pleasure. Before Ralph's arrival, Vanellope was a loner, and the only programs she had any contact with were her abusers. Therefore, she has not experienced friendship or any form of compassion.

Vanellope is an enthusiastic dreamer. In truth, she is sensitive and vulnerable beneath her rough exterior, wanting nothing more than to be accepted by the inhabitants of her game—despite said inhabitants constantly mistreating her, both physically and mentally. She is very forgiving in this regard and is evidently reluctant to hold grudges.

Vanellope is also crafty and intelligent. As an opportunistic quick-thinker, Vanellope is cunning enough to concoct elaborate schemes on the spot, which made her a threat to the criminal plan of King Candy. Strong-willed, independent, and filled with spunk, Vanellope refuses to stand down without a fight and shows efficiency in reaching her goals for the most part. Her lack of physical strength truly kept Vanellope from becoming a racer independently, as Candy and his henchmen were able to counter her intellect with their weaponry and brute force.

Interestingly, although years of being shunned have left her with negative traits, Vanellope is one of the few characters in the film with a lack of prejudice. After learning Ralph is classified as a video game "bad guy", Vanellope never criticizes him on his position; instead, she looked beyond Ralph's programmed occupation and understood that his label is only a job title and does not define who he is on the inside. Her kindness would heavily influence Ralph, and it was through their friendship that Ralph learned what it really means to be a hero.

By Ralph Breaks the Internet, through her friendship with Ralph and having developed a much better rapport with her fellow Sugar Rush racers, she has become more openly polite and friendly while not nearly as mouthy. However, when angered, she still shows the potential to lash out in an overly harsh manner and say mean things that she doesn't actually mean, as demonstrated when she practically declares her friendship with Ralph over after he unleashes a virus that gets out of hand in Slaughter Race over not wanting her to leave the arcade, and by extension, him, after she expressed that she felt more at home in that game. Despite Ralph admitting what he did was very wrong, he starts bringing up some valid points about Vanellope being no better herself that being irresponsible for abandoning her game especially when she ditched him and never told him, she gets defensive and even tosses his homemade medal signifying their friendship away. However, after she calms down, she's apologetic for going as far as throwing away the medal and clarifies that what she really meant was that she felt like he was being a bad friend, not that she didn't consider him one anymore.

### Physical Appearance

Vanellope is a 12-year-old girl with a small stature. She has long, raven-black hair with candy sprinkled over it in a high ponytail. Her design was influenced by Japanese/anime artwork, notably the style of Chibi, with large, hazel eyes. She carries a slender body, has a noticeable overbite, large, round ears, and a small, pink button nose.

Vanellope's signature "glitch" outfit is a mint green hoodie with a dark brown double-layered skirt that resembles the wrapping of a peanut butter cup, green, white, and purple-striped tights and small black boots. Notably, her leggings are mismatched, one covered in broad mint green bands, the other in thinner mint bands and purple lines. They are designed to resemble candy cane stripes. Her hoodie laces and stitches are red and resemble liquorice candies, such as Twizzlers. Underneath her hoodie is a violet shirt. It is only seen in a "blink, and you'll miss it" scene in the video game's final cut scene. Her high ponytail is held by a Twizzler. The pink squiggles under her boots resemble icing. She owns red racing goggles that were seen during the Random Roster Race's coin depositing.

On the Sugar Rush game cabinet, Vanellope can be seen in her royal racing attire, a mint green, orange, and white jumpsuit with brown gloves. Her racing attire comes with a white helmet with a golden crown insignia detailed onto it in the film's concept art.

As a princess, Vanellope wore a full-skirted glittery long-sleeved gown with lacy white gloves. Her gradient pink petticoat is noticeably covered in pink, white, and red gumdrops sprinkled everywhere like beads. However, chocolate sprinkles can be seen on the lower end of the petticoat. The skirt has many layers and opens in the front to show a deep pink underskirt.

Her gown was also given a pink flowing cloak and a large white lace heart collar, resembling Elizabethan royal attire. The collar is edged in a cut-out pattern of candy canes and lollipops. In addition, she wears another somewhat smaller, white ruffled collar. In this outfit, she wears a red tiara. Her hair is tied up in a bun and is covered in sprinkles that are different shades of pink. With the outfit, Vanellope owns a pink lollipop sceptre with a noticeable crown emblem over it.

## Film Appearances

### Wreck-It Ralph

On a normal day, Vanellope is lounging about in the candy tree forest when she encounters a Hulk-like man named Wreck-It Ralph, who is in pursuit of a "gold coin" atop a tree. Vanellope manages to grab it first, though Ralph pleads for its return as the "coin" is actually his medal. Ignoring Ralph, Vanellope runs off to the racetrack starting line, where the racers of Sugar Rush are prepared to pay their fees (one gold coin) to race in the Random Roster Race: a daily race that determines which racers will be featured in the game's roster on the following day. Vanellope rushes to the line-up, with Ralph trying to pursue her, to insert the medal as her fee. The medal is accepted, and Vanellope is officially in the race. This comes as a shock to King Candy, who orders his security doughnuts to arrest Vanellope. Before they can apprehend her, Ralph suddenly appears to reclaim his medal and pursues Vanellope.

Ralph's arrival distracts the king and his guards, allowing Vanellope to escape. She heads to the junkyard to work on her homemade kart, but soon finds herself confronted by Taffyta Muttonfudge, Candlehead, Rancis Fluggerbutter, and the other racers. Claiming they're ostracizing her for her own safety, the racers ridicule Vanellope by calling her "an accident waiting to happen". They destroy Vanellope's kart and throw her into the mud, unaware that Wreck-It Ralph had been looking on in hiding. Furious with the racers' treatment of Vanellope, Ralph stands up to her by scaring the bullies away, saving Vanellope. Vanellope, however, is far too upset and embarrassed to even thank Ralph. Despite his empathy, Ralph chastises Vanellope for stealing his medal, but she claims that she planned to return it after she won the race. Without a kart, however, both she and Ralph are out of luck.

In anger, Ralph begins to wreck things, including a jawbreaker. This gives Vanellope the idea to have Ralph break her into King Candy's kart factory, where she can make a real kart. She runs her plan by Ralph and promises to return his medal once the race is won. Ralph reluctantly agrees. At the factory, they work together to build the kart. Because of Ralph's destructive nature, though, it appears very different from its intended design. Disappointed, Ralph thinks the kart is broken, but Vanellope is more than happy to have a real kart in her possession, proving to Ralph that his wrecking can actually bring happiness to others. To finish their newfound "masterpiece", Vanellope and Ralph sign the kart. Just then, King Candy, alerted by the security about the break-in, arrives with his minions. Vanellope coyly confesses that she does not know how to drive a real kart, forcing Ralph to steer it by hand to escape the king and his goons. Vanellope directs Ralph to her hideout in Diet Cola Mountain.

Once safe, Ralph scolds Vanellope on her inability to drive, feeling it takes away any chance of getting his medal back. Vanellope sarcastically inquires why the medal is so important, and Ralph explains that it could give him a better life back in his game. Vanellope is surprisingly able to relate, but it does not ease Ralph's frustration. Upon calming down, Ralph takes a further look into the mountain and is introduced to Vanellope's hovel of a home. She explains that, because of her disability, she is bullied and tormented by everyone in the game. Not only that, she cannot leave the game because glitches lack the ability to do so, forcing her to endure her misery. Vanellope figures that if she wins the race, the others will stop treating her harshly. Ralph sympathizes with Vanellope, prompting him to teach her how to drive himself. After some extensive practice, Vanellope and Ralph prepare to forge off to the racetrack. Before they do, Vanellope runs back into the mountain to get something.

During her absence, King Candy shows up to return Ralph's medal, in exchange for a chance to explain why Vanellope cannot race; according to the king, Vanellope's glitching would make the players think the game is broken. When Sugar Rush is unplugged, Vanellope would be unable to escape and die alongside the cabinet. King Candy asks for Ralph's help in protecting Vanellope from such a fate, to which the bad-guy solemnly accepts. When Vanellope returns, she surprises Ralph with a homemade medal that reads "You're my hero", in the event that they lose the race. Though touched by Vanellope's gesture, Ralph tries to talk her out of going to the race. Vanellope is initially confused, but quickly notices the Medal of Heroes around Ralph's neck and becomes suspicious. Ralph tries to explain that he and King Candy had a talk, but Vanellope assumes that the two are working together. Betrayed, Vanellope rebukes Ralph and tries to go to the race alone. Without any other choice, Ralph destroys Vanellope's kart against her protests. With any wish of a better life tarnished, Vanellope runs off in tears. A downhearted Ralph, meanwhile, returns to his game. At some point after Ralph's departure, King Candy captures Vanellope and imprisons her in his "fungeon".

Back at Fix-It Felix Jr., Ralph notices an image of Vanellope being prominently displayed on the Sugar Rush console, despite being a character that was "never meant to exist". Confused, Ralph returns to Sugar Rush and interrogates Sour Bill for answers. Sour Bill confesses that Vanellope was a real racer until King Candy tried to delete her code and turned her into a glitch. Should Vanellope cross the finish line in an official race, however, the game would reset and her code would be restored. After Vanellope's kart is fixed by Fix-It Felix Jr., Ralph breaks into Vanellope's fungeon cell, where the two reconcile. While rushing to the racetrack, Ralph informs Vanellope of the situation and explains that she only has to cross the finish line to be a real racer. Vanellope, angered by King Candy's villainy, declares that she's already a real racer and will win.

Due to her glitching, Vanellope manages to bypass the competition at an alarming rate. Soon enough, she is second only to King Candy. As the two near the finish line, Vanellope speeds past the king, who rams into Vanellope's kart in a fit of fury. Having lost all patience, King Candy physically attacks Vanellope with his kart's antenna, destroying fragments of her kart in the process. This leads to a tug-of-war between Vanellope and Candy, with their staggered movements triggering Vanellope's glitching and causing King Candy's disguise to fade. A shocked Vanellope pulls back in fear, just as Turbo ruthlessly admits his crime of re-programming the world. Claiming Sugar Rush as his possession, Turbo vows that he won't let Vanellope or Ralph foil his plans. Turbo then tries to kill Vanellope by ramming her onto an oncoming stalactite, but Vanellope saves herself by earning total control of her glitching and teleporting out of Turbo's grasp.

Vanellope races ahead in first place, but before she can reach Ralph and the finish line, a swarm of Cy-Bugs—creatures from the game Hero's Duty that have been breeding in the catacombs underneath Sugar Rush—explode from the ground and directly impact Vanellope, throwing her kart off the track. Ralph and Felix scurry to her side, but before Vanellope can continue the race, a swarm of Cy-Bugs surround the finish line and devour it. With no wish of crossing, Ralph grabs Vanellope to evacuate to Game Central Station. Unfortunately, Vanellope is unable to escape as she is still a glitch. With a heavy heart, she accepts her imminent death and tells Ralph to leave her. At that moment, luckily, Ralph formulates a plan to erupt Diet Cola Mountain, hoping to have the hot cola act as a beacon to attract and destroy the Cy-Bugs.

With Vanellope being protected by Felix and Sergeant Calhoun, Ralph hurries to the top of Diet Cola Mountain and begins to smash the crater of Mentos. Unfortunately, he is attacked by Turbo (who had transformed into a Cy-Bug after being consumed by one). During their battle, a swarm of Cy-Bugs surround Vanellope, Felix, and Calhoun and prepare to kill them. Fortunately, Ralph is able to break free of Turbo's grasp and plummets down to the mountain. When Vanellope sees Ralph plummeting, she glitches to Diet Cola Mountain, where she is able to catch Ralph before he falls into the cola. Together, they escape the volcano just as massive amounts of Mentos plunge into the hot cola, causing the mountain to erupt. The eruption produces a beacon that attracts all the Cy-Bugs, including Turbo, vaporizing them for good.

After Felix fixes the finish line, Ralph pushes Vanellope across, resetting the game. With her code restored, Vanellope magically transforms into a princess, revealing her to be the kingdom's rightful ruler. The racers beg for Vanellope's forgiveness, which she accepts (though not before playfully humiliating them by making them believe that she will execute them). Despite this revelation, Vanellope has no desire to be a princess, instead proclaiming herself as a racer with "the greatest superpower ever". She nevertheless still chooses to lead the kingdom as "President Vanellope von Schweetz". At this time, the arcade is about to open. As Ralph prepares to leave Sugar Rush, Vanellope offers a private wing in her castle. Ralph warmly turns down the offer as he is content with her friendship and has a job to do: playing the bad guy in his own game. Ralph and Vanellope bid farewell as the other Sugar Rush racers surround the latter in reconciliation.

During the finale, Vanellope, seen in her princess attire, serves as the maid of honor at the wedding of Felix and Calhoun. It is also shown that, due to her glitching abilities being used as her power-up, Vanellope has become a fan-favorite in Sugar Rush, winning the hearts of the gamers and eventually living her lifelong dream. Many times, Vanellope can see Ralph in Niceland from her cabinet and vice versa, causing the two to happily wave to each other often. This part of the gameplay is Ralph's favorite, as he enjoys watching Vanellope gain the love and admiration that she has always deserved. Ralph also notes his newfound acceptance for his job, claiming Vanellope's friendship is all the validation he needs to remind him that he's far from a bad person.

During the film's end credits, Vanellope, Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun, are shown constantly enjoying each other's company after gaming hours, having numerous game-jumping adventures together.

### Ralph Breaks the Internet

Vanellope appears in the sequel, along with Sarah Silverman reprising her role, taking place six years after the original film. When Sugar Rush breaks, putting it in danger of being unplugged, Vanellope and Ralph utilize the arcade's newly-installed Wi-Fi router to travel to the Internet, where they hope to find a part capable of saving her game. During their journey, which Vanellope is very excited about, they go straight to eBay, but they are forced to collect $27,001 after they naively outbid a user to obtain the steering wheel they need. To get the money, they accept a job to attempt to steal and sell a car from Slaughter Race. In the chaos that ensues, Shank, the game's leader, catches Vanellope off guard with her driving skills and foils her. Shank empathetically directs them both to helping Ralph become a viral star.

In order to help Ralph get more hearts, he will require more views. Vanellope decided to go to other websites and be a pop-up, and Ralph chooses Oh My Disney for her because it had a castle, and Vanellope was a princess. Yesss agreed to redirect her there; Vanellope subsequently meets and befriends the Disney Princesses, whom she joins (technically being a princess herself). During the meeting, Vanellope also gets the girls interested in her outfit, leading them all to start wearing similar outfits.

Vanellope is delighted to receive a phone call from Ralph informing her that they have the money they need. Ariel breaks out singing, that confusing Vanellope as she is accompanied by offscreen music and staging but the other girls are unfazed as most of them have had their own musical moments, all of which relate to their personal dreams. They inspire Vanellope to tap into her deepest desire and find her own song. Ralph makes his way to eBay. When Vanellope attempts to do so, she expresses her desire to be part of a new and exciting world outside Sugar Rush and winds up in Slaughter Race, and comes to realize this game may be her destiny. Shank sings the song with her as well as the other citizens.

Vanellope talks with Shank and confides with her that she wants to stay with Shank at the game, who encourages her to do what she thinks she should. Unbeknownst to either of them, Ralph is listening in, but he's muted, and he overhears the entire conversation. Together, they engaged in their first race together, where Vanellope and Shank are once again evenly matched, but then the game begins glitching because an insecurity virus named Arthur, unleashed by Ralph to damage the game, has sensed her insecurity. After Vanellope realizes it is her glitch that is threatening the game and passes out following a car accident, Ralph finds her and Shank warns them to flee as the game reboots. When she woke up, she learns Ralph has carried her out and he, out of guilt, confesses he had previously put the virus in there, attempting to slow down the game but didn’t go the way he wanted. Furious at Ralph for doing such a thing, she calls him outs but Ralph angrily points out that she is no better, that she was gonna leave him and everyone without telling him, especially after all the hard work he’s done for her. During the heated argument, she takes Ralph's "You're My Hero" homemade medal down to the Older Net, which breaks into two. Then she tells Ralph that he will not follow her and leave her alone. Unbeknownst to Ralph, Arthur scans him as he's heading down to retrieve the medal, and launches his insecurities out all over the internet in the form of thousands of purplish Ralph clones.

The Ralph viruses evolve minutes later, and Vanellope tries to run away. Vanellope then goes to KnowsMore, and she helps him close down his site. The real Ralph appears. Vanellope and KnowsMore initially mistake him for a lone clone and assault him until Vanellope recognizes his sentience and sees it's the real Ralph. Ralph plans to have Yesss battle down the clones. Yesss picks up Vanellope and Ralph as KnowsMore's site is damaged.

When the clones form a giant Ralph, Yesss saves Vanellope, and both Ralph and Vanellope are trapped in the clutches of Kong Ralph. Vanellope helplessly listens as Ralph reasons with the monster and apologizes for upsetting her. The clones dissolve, causing Ralph to fall, but he is rescued by the Disney Princesses. After the battle, the netizens were saved, and Vanellope makes her decision to remain in Slaughter Race. Shank adds Vanellope's code to the game to ensure that she always re-generates, making her transition perfectly safe. With gaming about to start up Ralph gives her the necklace she broke, she apologizes for breaking it but Ralph doesn’t mind as he has the other half so they can both have one, Vanellope and Ralph share one last goodbye before separating; in during which, they profess their love for each other, solidifying that their friendship will still remain.

Despite Vanellope's absence, other Sugar Rush racers can win now, and players realize that even without Vanellope, the game is still fun to play. Vanellope, who enjoys herself, keeps in touch with Ralph and arranges to visit him on January 25, 2019.

In a mid-credits scene, she and Ralph fail at winning a game of Pancake Milkshake thanks to the former bringing in a huge tray of pancakes, something the bunny grimly anticipates.

## Disney Parks

Vanellope made her debut as a walkaround character in 2012, alongside Ralph. Her original design first appeared as a meetable character in Disney's Hollywood Studios. In 2018, with the release of Ralph Breaks the Internet, Vanellope's costume was redesigned and was made available for meet-and-greets in Epcot.

### Disneyland Resort

Vanellope and Ralph appear in special renditions of World of Color at Disney California Adventure, including Winter Dreams and Celebrate!

### Walt Disney World Resort

In Florida, Vanellope was present at Disney's Hollywood Studios' Magic of Disney Animation attraction and greeted fans who walk through a making of exhibit in a Wreck-It Ralph-themed area, until being discontinued in October 2014. Vanellope was also seen driving the trams in Disney's Hollywood Studios during this time.

In 2016, Vanellope replaced Goofy with a Sugar Rush-themed unit in Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween Parade. The 2018 rendition of the parade debuted an updated design for Vanellope's costume, giving her head a more screen accurate look. She also appears in Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, riding a gingerbread race kart.

### Disneyland Paris

In France, Vanellope was among the characters featured during the park's 25th anniversary event in 2017. Later that same year, she was seen roaming about Disneyland as part of Guest Star Day.

### Disney Cruise Line

Vanellope serves as the focal character in the Vanellope's Sweets and Treats shop, aboard the Disney Dream. The interior features a statue of Vanellope, a well as the Candy Kart. One of the many desserts available is called "Vanellope Chocolate Nougatine with Salted Pretzels".