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Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. |
Absoluta Cesare Decorum, stylicised Absolute Charming [she/her], is a daughter of a Prince Charming, and the successor to Prince Absolute from the fairytale Prince Charming by Leprince de Beaumont
It's generally believed that Absolute is imbued with a deeply rooted god complex and a desire to dish justice out at her own hands. Since coming to Ever After High, it has been made her to Absolute that the role she is destined for is that of a romantic rival - the Other Woman trope, so to speak. Because of this, she has developed into a power-hungry princess who wishes to rise and overcome this relatively obscure status.
As of yet, she is not aware of her destiny. Little does she know that it's not the Other Woman she's meant to play, but the Other Prince...
Character
Personality
Absolute commands an air of independence. She says she likes, she does what she likes, and she has a hard time taking instructions or demands from other people. Such an air can be mistaken for confidence, and it's this confidence that allows her to control a space. She is able to project her voice, to say pretty phrases, to convince people that she is capable and clever. Because of this, she has a tendency to prefer words over action, and would not dirty her hands if she can help it.
Certainty and constancy are two of her greatest values. She wants to be certain that she has a throne to call her own, she has a status that she can maintain. Due to this, Absolute has a certain paranoia - she has a habit of making friends and getting rid of them if she deems them a threat to her reputation or self-esteem. She secretly questions if people are plotting against her or if they're not as fond of her as she hopes they are. To counteract these, her methods can be a tad... extreme and unjustified.
Growing up, Absolute recieved not only copius amounts of praise, but also was consistently told that she'd take over a kingdom and gain political power. Being successful, to Absolute, was just a "certain truth", manifesting into an inherent entitlement in the girl. She has a very set idea of what she deserves, and will cut away anything that she believes she's too good for. This is one of the reasons why she loses friends - she forgets that friendships is about giving as well, will fail to be there for people, and when others separate from her, she'd be all "good riddance".
She has a set mental image of success, and will cultivate her own image to suit it. Hence, she dresses sleekly, she knows various popular dinner party topics and she never speaks without carefully choosing her phrasing. Absolute often gleams through history or philosophy for figures to emulate, looking for ways to establish her presence.
Despite this careful culivation, Absolute is not particularly self-aware that she is unlikeable. When others distance from her, she assumes that they merely have no taste. If she does not receive an invite to a party, she'd assume that it's too lowly for her.
While she appears as cunning and confident on the surface, Absolute is still insecure about her destiny. She knows that she's meant to play an antagonistic, although role and context cues tells her such a role is that of a romantic rival. She knows that such characters often end up dead, she knows that such characters sometimes never get to leave heirs or have staying power in the memories of people. She fears this. Sometimes, this is a joke to her: "I'm honoured to die in my youth, at least I'd die beautiful". Mostly, she tries to brush it off, bury it in the back of her mind. She is a Queen, after all.
Appearance
She has olive skin and green eyes. Her hair is a deep brown and her face is scattered with freckles. Slim, almost dainty, but tall in prestige.
Interests, Hobbies, and Skills
Philosophy
Her main interest, though one is not sure how seriously she takes it. Absolute isn't fond of coming up with her own creative philosophical thoughts - she merely enjoys reading others, being able to quote famous philosophers, and generally be able to make interesting dinner party talk.
Chariot Racing
The only sport that she really enjoys. Absolute owns several posters of chariot racers she adores, though she does not play the sport herself.
Business
How she intends to support herself.
Magic Touch: Villain Laughs
Most Charmings' Magic Touches are common tropes associated with love interests. Yet another tip-off that Absolute is not destined to be a love interest would be her Magic Touch. It's not a romance trope, it's a villain trope.
When Absolute laughs diabolically, she instantly feels a surge of renewal and energy, inspiring her to keep at her work. She claims that it's "better than espresso".
Other
a poker game with her story mates, Eudaemonic and Rightful Charming
Many other things that Absolute is capable of is simply a result of being raised as a royal. For instance, she knows how to play poker, a skill learnt from having to pass time with other royal children while their parents were holding boring royal meetings.
Another skill that she has is the ability to play a few instruments, though she was never good at them. Her parents were rather disappointed in her apathy towards learning to lyre and piano, and Absolute was not one for singing.
Sports-wise, Absolute liked to accompany her mother on walks through the garden, which is about all the exercise she is willing to do.
Fairytale: Prince Charming
How It Goes
Le Prince Charmant is a fairytale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. The full text is provided courtesy of NibiruMul.
In short, Absolute is destined to be the next Prince Absolute, who is Prince Charming's rival for the hand of their lady True Glory. Prince Absolute and Charming must prove themselves to be the better of the princes, and the better one would marry True Glory. Absolute tries "proving" himself by conquering stuff, while Charming gets really into educating the masses so that they would not riot against him.
In the end, it turns out that Absolute, instead of marrying True Glory, ends up marrying False Glory. He is so horrified by this turn of events that he dies from mortification.
How Does Absolute come into this?
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Dear apparition in this fleeting flash, must I burn the earth before I turn to ash? |
âThe Dear Hunter - The Moon/Awake | |
Absolute is the daughter of a Roman King Charming and his wife, and is destined to inherit the throne. It is a throne with no destiny, but it holds decent power in the region of Rome it rules over.
Her father was good friends with the previous Prince Absolute. When they were younger, they made a pact for Absolute's father to name his first born after him, which he did.
Prince Absolute and his partner never managed to have a child. But Absolute's father had loved the prince like a brother, and stepped up. Who really is this child that he had, but a memory of this man? His decision was something that he kept wrapped up, for he feared his wife, and he feared the anger of his daughter. If he waited for the Storybook of Legends to reveal her destiny, if he waited for her to stumble upon it, it would be easy: he could feign ignorance.
Alas, Raven Queen had rebelled and Absolute never got to see her page. Some things, however, caught her attention. At the start of the school year, she was moved into some villain classes - tipping her off that she was destined to have a villainous role, as a princess. The obvious assumption was that she was destined to be "the Other Woman" - a common trope in some fairytales, like in Maid Maleen or The Twelve Huntsmen.
The other thing, however, was that her advisor changed from Maid Marian to Dr. King Charming. Absolute wrote off the error as a misprint, and got it "fixed". She didn't think too much about it, but didn't know that it was a sign that her role might not be as princess-y as she had hoped after all.
Opinion on Destiny
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Dear apparition, while my senses last: is absolution far too much to ask? |
âThe Dear Hunter - A Beginning | |
Absolute does not currently know her destiny. Raven Queen went before her. However, that doesn't mean that the world didn't drop clues as to what kind of destiny it was. She was smart enough to realise that she was destined to be a romantic rival of sorts, but not the specifics of it. Her reaction towards that is one of denial: as soon as EAH students got the option to switch classes, she immediately switched out of all the villain-sque ones and was back with the princesses.
Since she has not found out her destiny yet, we will withhold what she thinks of the actual destiny.
Parallels
Regarding her destiny:
- When False Glory shows the princes her past lovers, the list is very Hellenic and Roman. Similarly, Absolute is Roman. Her Julius Caesar influence is even more fitting, as Caesar is listed as one of False Glory's metaphorical past lovers.
- Prince Absolute tries to prove himself as "worthy" by establishing power and influence, just as Absolute does.
- Likewise, Prince Absolute pits himself against other princes, even capturing them. Absolute, similarly, does not get along with her classmates, often seeing herself as being above them.
- Prince Absolute shows up to False Glory's place in a chariot. Absolute is into watching chariot racing.
- Prince Absolute dies of mortification. Absolute protects her pride dearly.
Regarding her name:
- Before Hiddenfolk brought up the story "Prince Charming" to my attention, Absolute had been a generic villain Charming. Much like canonical Charmings, her naming convention was the typical [Adjective] Charming.
- Alongside her half-sister, Ablative Charming, Absolute composes the second half of the phrase "ablative absolute", which is a Latin grammatical construct. Julius Caesar commonly used this, leading me to draw heavy Caesar inspiration for both Ablative & Absolute.
- Her birthday, July 13, is shared by Julius Caesar.
- Absolute is a concept in philosophy, as well as a term that can be used to refer to a God or divine higher power. Because of this, Absolute has an interest in philosophy, and she also has a god complex.
- An "absolute ruler" holds total power - Absolute is quite authoritarian, befitting both her name and destiny.
- Absolute also means "independent from other definitions". Absolute Charming is not only self-driven, but commonly alone - she doesn't seem to keep friends, so she is independent.
- The Latin derivation of "absolute" is ab + solute, which essentially means "freeing from" or "dissolving". Something similar persistently happens to Absolute and her social ties.
Trivia
- Ablative and Absolute Charming are based off the âablative absoluteâ, the Latin grammatical construct.
- Cesare is from Cesare of the Borgia Family, whom Machiavelli's the Prince was apparently inspired by. Cesare is an Italian form of the name Caesar. Julius Caesar is clearly an inspiration for the ablative absolute, as well as a figure referenced in the story "Prince Charming".
- Decorum, her cognomen, is meant to parallel Ablative's last cognomen "Dulce". Together, they nod to Horace's famous quote: dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, "it is sweet and noble to die for your country". Both "Dulce" (sweet) and "Decorum" (noble) can both be easily translated as "Charming". Both Ablative Absolutes are also destined to die for their story.
- For more information about their names, and how that relates to their respective characters, visit the âFairytale Tropeâ section of their pages.
- Ablative and Absolute were originally twins, but this was changed to half-sisters, which worked much better. Their dynamic was inspired by Edgar and Edmund, from King Lear.