Odile Profile: Boomtown

[maledictory]

Player's Name: Kristi
Are you over 16? Yes
Characters Played Here: Severus Snape, Jane Feynman, David Bell, and Kahir

Character: Baroness Odile von Rothbart
Series/Canon: Swan Lake
From When? After the end of the ballet.

History:
Swan Lake synopsis.
(Odile appears only in Act III.)

Little is known about Odile's life before the events of Swan Lake. It can be assumed that she was raised by von Rothbart, the villain of the ballet, but how she came to be in his care is subject to speculation. Odile thinks it was just as likely that she was hatched from an egg as born to a mother, for no mother was ever present in her life. She was always the Owl's Daughter.

Her formative years were shaped by her father's obsession with his swan maidens. Odile never could seem to win his attention or affection for long, and often felt as though she was a passing diversion crafted to suit von Rothbart's whims, and that her time in the limelight had passed long before she became aware of it. She did what she could to win her father's notice, and when tantrums and childish demands failed to gain anything more for her than quick appeasement, she turned to almost slavish devotion.

Her father trained her in both the profane arts and those which would through word and deed bring folly to men. She became both a sorceress and seductress under his guidance: she learned her lessons well, and on this path would someday become a worthy successor to von Rothbart.

When she was eighteen, Odile's moment came to place herself once more on the pedestal she had occupied when she was but an infant. Her father's treasured swan, Odette, had found a love who could break the enchantment placed upon her. On von Rothbart's arm, disguised as Odette, Odile attended the ball in the white swan's place and through the art of seduction deceived the prince into vowing his love to the wrong woman.

It seemed to her that Odette's captivity was secured, and the enchantment would remain. At the end of the ballet, however, Odette throws herself into the waters of Swan Lake and drowns. Odile is taken from just before this happens, following fast on the white swan's heels to her sanctuary in New Dodge.

Personality:

Within the setting of Swan Lake, Odile is meant to be all that Odette is not (and vice versa): she lacks innocence and gentleness and exists without naivety or humility. Where Odette has grace, Odile has sensuality; Odette is kind, and Odile is spoiled and selfish.

So vast is their disparity, in fact, that Odile is contemptuous of gentle, soft women, whom she views as weak. Odile is weak, herself, however: she doesn’t have Odette’s resolve, and she is just as enslaved as the other woman, her freedom little more than a prison of her own devising.

It’s true that on one hand, her father holds her captive: she is his creation in every sense of the word, and Odile can’t fathom betraying him. He has crafted in her the most loyal and devoted servant through the fine art of withholding approval. Odile is desperate for von Rothbart’s approval and attention, and she would do anything he asked for just a word of validation. While this does create in her the perfect ally, it has an unintended side-effect: she is insanely jealous of his swans. Both this jealousy and her devotion were part of the reason why she agreed to be transformed into a perfect replica of Odette in order to extract from Siegfried an oath of love that would result in Odette’s eternal bondage. Her jealousy is bone-deep, and manifests occasionally in a sense of rivaly: anything Odette can do, Odile will try to do better.

It wasn’t the sole reason that she deceived Siegfried, however. Devoted as she is to her father, she has her own agency and will within the boundaries of familial loyalty. She chose to go to the palace and play her part, and she played it well with only the occasional return to her father for his praise. As much as she might vilify the swans, Odette is another matter - and this, too is a draw for Odile’s hatred. She wants Odette, though she is unsure herself whether this is due to desire or possessiveness. Sharing the white swan with Siegfried was an unacceptable loss. In this covetousness, we see her reason for choosing to come to New Dodge, as well.

As previously mentioned, Odile isn’t naive; however, there are enormous gaps in her education with regards to the world at large. She has been trained in the arts of spellcraft and seduction, charm and sensuality, but she knows very little about anything else. Even friendship is a nearly foreign concept to her: her only “friends” were her father and his swans. In some ways, this renders her vastly less mature than other women her age, of her era; she succumbs to fits of emotion easily, has little impulse control, enjoys bullying and mockery, and, most importantly, refuses to accept responsibility for her actions.

Any of them.

She will always try to find some way to lay the blame on someone else. If she broke a vase, it was the fault of whoever placed it directly in her path. If she doomed Odette to a life as a swan, it was because Siegfried was disloyal, and cared only for beauty rather than substance. Not only does she claim never to be at fault, but she believes it, as well.

Odile is not virginal at all. She can be quite vulgar when she wishes, and uses her sexuality as a weapon. Seduction is a tool to get what she wants, and she is good at it. Again, here, we see how Odile was crafted to be Odette’s foil: where Odette is the picture of innocent maidenhood, Odile represents predatory sexuality, the sexually aggressive seductress as typified in myths like those of Lilith and Salome. There are, in fact, a number of cliched tropes used in Odile’s construction, including Daddy’s Little Villain, Lady in Red, Evil Wears Black, The Three Faces of Eve, Madonna-Whore Complex, and Fille Fatale.

Why do you think your character would work in this setting?

Odile will come to New Dodge because Odette came to New Dodge. Full stop. She wants her swan.

She’ll probably swing severely in either direction when interacting with other characters: she’ll either be their friend or their enemy. I'm not entirely sure how this will manifest, but I'm really eager to see how it plays out.

What will your character do for work?

Manager of the Turkish Bathhouse.

Inventory:

- Clothes
- Spellbooks

Samples:

Third-Person Sample:

Spam thread with Tony Stark on Dear_Player

Odile is winged victory today.

She has eaten the hunter’s heart, and her maw still drips with iron blood that warmed only at the vision of a maiden’s blush or a harlot’s wanton smile. (Never for a spark of enlightenment. Never for diplomatic savvy or courtly manners. The hunter cared only for trophies; it is fitting that he is now a trophy for the owl’s daughter, a reminder to all that men crave the physical form alone.)

It must have been true that he had wanted only the value of a woman in her youth and glory, for he had loved too easily. He gave his heart to one woman unthinkingly, and to a second without scrutiny. He could not tell the innocent from the temptress, and therein lay his folly: Odile had tantalized where Odette had charmed, and he had followed the call of base desires. Siegfried had been incapable of noting the contradiction of the two women who had shared one common form. His desires were for the flesh alone.

This and more she will explain when the time comes.

Sparing the swan from a lifetime of misery shackled to a hunter whose sole prey was beauty is a kindness. Beauty fades, men turn away to seek it elsewhere, and thus Odile is a heroine in the twisted labyrinth of her mind.

The owl has not told her that the swan spared herself from a lifetime of misery; he has given his daughter not a single thought. His concerns are for the loss of one of his pretty swans; if he tells her, it will come when he summons her for his own pleasure. He will demand gaiety of her after he breaks her heart.

Odile waits at the water’s edge, skirts gathered in her hands, an unknown and long-lost mother’s tears washing over her bare feet. Surely the swan will come to her, overflowing with gratitude.


First-Person Sample:

Modern AU Odile on Dear_Player
Odile and Odette on Dear_Mun