Paul Hanbridge

**Paul Hanbridge** (ポール・ハンブリッジ, *Pōru Hanburijji*?) formally known as the **Earl of Hanbridge** (ハンブリッジの伯爵, *Hanburijji no hakushaku*?) is a character in *Little Witch Academia*. He is the count and Minister of State of the country.

## Appearance

He is a middle-aged man with gray hair and green eyes. He dresses in a brown suit, dark brown shoes, a beige shirt and a pair of glasses.

## Personality

The Earl is a very serious and cold man. In spite of maintaining his manners and his good deal in public, it shows that in fact, he is a rigid person to which only his political duties concern him, something that left him indifferent with other people and Andrew's former dream to be a pianist.

That being said, his amicable yet formal and distant relationship with Andrew, along with the fact that the latter grows into an exemplary viscount and Appleton Academy student, prove that Paul is a capable father nonetheless, even if his approach in raising his son best described as a form of 'tough love' since he intended the latter to be a proper successor. To further drive this point, his colleague Mr. Blackwell by contrast evidently spoiled his son Louis more than necessary, resulting the latter's attitude and capacity as his successor leave much to be desired.

Like mundanes in the present day, Paul is firmly convinced that magic and witches are outdated and have no place in the present age. Whereas Mr. Blackwell holds this belief out of bigotry against them, Paul's motives are more to that of pragmatism and justified in some ways: Through his visits at Luna Nova Magical Academy which financial resources he is partly in charge of, Paul sees that witches made little to no efforts in improving their culture, which only solidified his said belief. Despite this, he is still willing to make frequent visits to the academy and handling his part in maintaining its financial resources to maintain relationship between Luna Nova and the government of Great Britain.

By the episode Tree of Leaves, Paul seems to have changed his mind about witches, asking Andrew to tell him his full thoughts on them. Around this time, he also regain his faith that magical culture built by witches still has its place in modern world.

## Plot

### TV Series

#### The Fountain of Polaris (episode)

Paul attends the party organized by Luna Nova Academy in his name next to his son Andrew. During the party, he maintains his good manners with Principal Holbrook, asking that one of his students show the academy to his son. After the party, Paul states that the day was a waste of time that only reaffirmed his bad ideas about witches. When Andrew asks why it was in the first place, he responds that he wanted to maintain good relationships.

#### Bee Commotion

Paul is hosting a party for Andrew's birthday. When he learned that some witches had entered the party, he asked his son to pay them, reminding him of his duties as heir to the Handbridge and his abandonment of the piano. When Akko tries to get rid of the Cupid Bee in the middle of the party, Paul tries to make her leave but the bee ends up biting him causing Paul to briefly fall in love with Akko before she knocks him in the face with her giant fan, killing Cupid Bee and breaking the love spell.

#### Cavendish

Paul and Andrew travel to the Cavendish Manor by invitation of Daryl, picking up Akko on the way who also headed there. In the limo, all three have an uncomfortable discussion about what happened at the party and Paul complains about the attitude of people for a simple football game. In the mansion, Paul and Andrew have dinner with Dary, Diana, and Akko, revealing that the reason for the invitation was to sell them some of the Cavendish's family relics, which Paul rejects and leaves.

### Chariot and Croix

Paul is shown unamused by Andrew's approach regarding his son's approach in dealing Akko and Diana who infiltrated Appleton Academy prior and the knowledge of his son's rebellious side, though he cannot stay mad due to the bigger problem at hand; the ongoing strike in the light of soccer verdict between Great Britain and its rival nation is worsening as they speak and that there's a chance it would escalate further into the fourth all-out conflict between them. Worse still, Paul overlook the implication of Mr. Blackwell deliberately twisted certain details to make Louis a martyr in the aforementioned fiasco.

#### The Road to Arcturus

As the strike worsens further to the point of coup d'état being around the corner, Paul orders Andrew who reported the situation to gather more intel while Mr. Blackwell insisted to enforce stricter law against Great Britain's rival with military forces, much to the young Hanbridge's chagrin knowing the latter only wanted to start a war all along.

#### Tree of Leaves

Paul is irritated by the alarm which interrupted the parliament's meeting regarding the worsening riot before being informed by Mr. Blackwell that one of their country's ICBM had been assimilated by Noir Rod.

Bringing the meeting to the control room, Paul, Mr. Blackwell, and Andrew argue whether to inform the rival country about situation until they learned about Akko and co. chasing Noir Rod as well. As the public voice their support on the witches, more so in courtesy of Croix hacked entire planet so Ursula can inform everyone the message about their struggle, Paul remains skeptical about it while Mr. Blackwell insistent that what he perceives as madness (their unlikely allies being the very thing he despises), prompting Andrew to stand up for both himself and the truth of what truly happens, though the two eventually listen once Prime Minister shows up.

After Akko and co. managed to defeat Noir Rod and unleashed the power of Grand Triskellion along the way, Paul decides to try to see witches and the rest of magic community in better light now that he realizes he has misunderstood them all this time. The delighted Andrew agrees to share his opinions regarding their existence.

## Relationships

### Andrew Hanbridge

Paul maintains a very formal and distant relationship with his son. It always shows that the only thing that worries him is that Andrew becomes a worthy successor, without showing any interest in his opinions or interests, forcing him to give up what he considers inappropriate like the piano. Although Paul does not show to take into account the opinions of Andrew during the incident with the neighboring country, he finally manages to see the value in magic and asks Andrew to teach him his ideals.

### Mr. Blackwell

Paul and Blackwell are political colleagues. Despite not sharing the same ideals, both work together for the welfare of the country.

### Atsuko Kagari

Paul shows a constant bad attitude toward Akko. Initially, he rejects her like all witches, demanding that she be expelled from her son's party. After Akko accidentally hit him in the face during the party, Paul kept a very bad memory about her. Even believing her a problematic girl and a bad company for Andrew, he finally seems to have come to accept the witches thanks to her actions at the end of the series.

## Voice actors

 English
 German
 Polish
 Brazil
 Spanish
 Spain

## Gallery

*For more images related to Paul Hanbridge, see the file category:* Category:Images of the Earl of Hanbridge*.*
Akko sitting in between the two Hanbridges by Arai Hiroki @arai\_1MouseAkko, Merman Akko, Paul Hanbridge, unnamed parliament official, Marjolaine, Finnelan, Shiny Chariot's producer, Last Wednesday Society proprietor, and Unnamed Finnish Yeti by Yusuke YoshigakiDitto
## Trivia

* Hanbridge greatly resembles and is possibly modeled after British actor  *Colin Firth* who famed for portraying Harry Hart aka. Galahad from *Kingsman*. Interestingly, both Paul and Harry Hart resembled one another appearance-wise.