Baroness von Hellman

**Baroness von Hellman** is the main antagonist of 2021 movie *Cruella*. She is a devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute fashion designer and the owner of the couture company, *House of Baroness*. Her notoriety made her a public figure and a role-model of sorts to a young Cruella.

She is a pivotal part in Estella’s development into Cruella, both a rival and mentor who doles out advice on being ruthless in order to succeed in the fashion empire. She is not only Cruella’s archnemesis, but she also acts as a mirror to the unempathetic nature that is latent in Cruella’s character. Her unintentional influence over Cruella will make her an opponent in the competition for “best” in the runway game. She also has dark ties to Estella's past, and more than a few secrets up her perfectly-tailored sleeves. The Baroness is a horrible boss, which comes with being a sociopath. She routinely dismisses her workers, making demands of them, and even casually hurts them more than once. To the point of even killing them, with Cruella's mother being an unfortunate victim.

When Cruella calls the Baroness out for killing Catherine, she tells her to be more specific, revealing that Catherine isn't the first person she's had killed for threatening or disobeying her. The novelization states Cruella is rocked to realize the Baroness is such a monster. After realizing Cruella is actually her *daughter*, the Baroness callously questions why John was unable to kill the girl as a newborn, and is equally perplexed why Catherine would choose to raise her. Baroness von Hellman keeping Dalmatians as guard dogs and setting them on Catherine, leading to her being chased off a cliff looks unusual since these days they're not typically used for such a purpose; but in past centuries Dalmatians were bred to travel with fire wagons and guard them and the horses from being stolen while the firefighters were busy, so it isn't too much of a stretch.

## **Physical Appearance**

The Baroness is a middle-aged woman with pale skin, striking features and a slender figure. She has short, thick and dark brown hair which she wears in a variety of styles and blue-green eyes. She also has an expensive and extravagant taste in fashion which is to be expected given her profession, with her wearing a variety of different high fashion suits and dresses over the course of the film.

## **Personality and Traits**

The Baroness is the main antagonist of the film and turns out to be a large source of Estella’s issues as well. As her boss, it seems that her job is to make everyone’s life miserable around her. As a narcissistic psychopath, she shows that the only person who matters is herself.

The Baroness has a notable lack of empathy for others. Because she has been known to have people murdered is a pretty big show of this. One of those people being Estella’s adoptive mother, Catherine. When Estella confronts her, she needs to be reminded of who she killed since she doesn’t remember. Notably, she’ll even kill her own child simply because she doesn’t want to care about her. Estella would’ve been dead long ago if not for John getting her away from her clutches. The Baroness is even confused as to why John was unable to kill an infant as if that’s an easy thing to do.

As mentioned in the intro, she’s a *narcissistic* psychopath, so her ego is one of her most prominent traits. She is outright called a narcissist within the film. She’ll consider herself the most important person in the room and at her company simply because she owns it. She’ll regularly take ideas from her employees and pass them off as her own and act like she thought of them herself. She’ll regularly have everyone stop what they’re doing so they can listen to her read articles praising her. Part of the reason she abandoned Estella is she didn’t want to care about anyone more than herself.

The Baroness also seems to have a sadistic side, playing into a need for stimulation. She seems to enjoy lording her power over others in several ways, one of which is physically harming them. She cuts Estella’s arm while she was working on an outfit. Not only does she not apologize, she asks another employee if she can find a shade of red that matches her blood, seemingly fascinated by it.

While she is a bitch to her employees, she can be superficially charming when around elites. During fashion shows, she always puts on her best face and schmoozes up to others when it benefits her. She also has to present herself in the best light if she wants people to praise her and feed her ego. When Estella confronts her as Cruella and has her cornered by her own dalmatians, she pretends to feel bad about abandoning her and even acts like she wants to take Estella back. This is all just so she can bring her in for a hug and trick her into being thrown off the cliff behind her.

All culminating in a lack of remorse for all her horrible deeds. It seems that the Baroness takes pride in her cruelty, never apologizing for anything. Not her cutthroat behavior, not her stealing ideas from her employees, not her abuse of them, and not her murder of others. The only thing that would stop her is the prospect of being caught for her crimes. And once she is outed for seemingly murdering Estella, she tries to deny it when she is taken away. The only thing that drives her now is the potential to get revenge on Cruella, knowing that she’s still alive.

The Baroness is someone who Cruella isn’t even in her worst versions. While more restrained than most versions, she is even more psychopathic underneath her exterior.