Well it was about time I delved into this topic. After two years of keeping a secret, Carolina’s true nature is revealed. However! Those who have read my former posts on the MB may have remembered or figured it out. She is a Merrow, a type of merfolk that I have interpreted as more malevolent in nature. But how did I make this character?
Well, it began around 2007. I was really into Spider-Man comics at that time and especially the character of the lizard. I basically created a rip-off character called the Amphibian for a superhero comic called Pie-Man. It was juvenile but I enjoyed it. However, soon I began to expand the villain’s gallery, and soon there was a Mrs. Amphibian as well, the Amphibian’s wife. That is where this horrible creature was first spawned.
Unfortunately, I have no surviving photos of this character from this time. A lot of my old notebooks were disposed of during a big move, and when I was younger I had no perception of preservation. Just imagine a cartoon woman with a dinosaur-frog head with big eyelashes and a wig, wearing a labcoat. That’s about how she looked. She actually pre-dated Emerald-Man as well, who was invented sometime in my middle school years. Pie-Man and his villains, like Ms. Amphibian, existed in my late elementary school years! So in a way, Carolina is one of my oldest characters.
Anyways, when I eventually began moving to Emerald-Man, I kept a few antagonists and made some new ones. The original Amphibian I got rid of due to it being a rip-off, and instead I made the female version the primary one, since it was more “original”. Eventually she made her way into the rogue’s gallery of Emerald-Man in my high school years.
Interestingly enough, I invented her current human identity afterward. There was a human identity for her beforehand, that being a woman named Cynthia who was married to a particular character I’m going to omit for spoiler reasons. Anyways, since she became her own thing, she needed a human identity.
Now for a while, Emerald-Man only had a single love interest: that being the character of Sapphire, his “wife” in those days. However, I got the idea of making a love interest who was a villain. At that age, I thought this was a pretty underused idea, even in comics. So eventually the character of “Caroline White” was drafted up.
As a kid the funny idea to me was making her this very beautiful woman, and then transforming into an ugly monster. So she went from being a scientist, into becoming an actress/model that Emerald-Man dated. However, I soon found that was not a satisfying role for her. (There was even a time I started having her called “Carly White”. I am glad I did not go with that.)
Ms. Amphibian’s original goals were about using amphibious DNA to change her genetic code for some beauty product or whatever. I don’t quite remember how it all worked out. I do remember being dissatisfied with this angle after a while. Somehow, this character felt like she needed more significance, being one of my oldest characters. So, it was back to the drawing board.
She would be reinvented as a lawyer (due to my obsession with Ace Attorney at the time). The design came second, with me utilizing the color red into her design to signify herself being evil. This contrasted with Emerald-Man who was wearing green, so she was an actual color opposite of him. She had always had dark hair even as Mrs. Amphibian, so that was a given. A lot of people say she has inspiration from Carmen Sandiego or whatever, but that is not true. I didn’t grow up around that character. She has a resemblance to Pauline from Mario more, which is where I got the idea of the hair style from.
What was her role? Why, she helped Emerald-Man keep his inheritance, as she does in issue 1. Somehow she hides her villainous facade however. There was a phase where I had Emerald-Man as a female character. “Caroline White” as she was called was still a friend but betrayed the female version. Here, I reinvented her design again, as this was the time I began exploring the “celtic myth” side of things.
I decided to instead reinvent her as a “merrow” character, an enchantress of the water. Now I read vaguely on these mermaids, but I got initial impressions that they were evil. There were stories of them eating people. Now I know this was merely a regional thing, but I kept the angle anyways. One prominent feature, however, as their cohuleen druith, a feathered red cap that featured prominently in their myths. In high school, I hated this. So I opted to remove it from her, only giving her a red hood in design only, and it could be removed.
Otherwise, she had the sharp shoulder pads and red and black color scheme, green hair, and bluish color. Clearly a monster in her own right. This, for a long time, was her basis of design. It is primarily how she still looks, at least with the color of her face and stuff. I did experiment with colors, and after high school was the first time I designed her current costume, sans the hat.
During the summer of my graduation, I redesigned her again. I was going for more of a “sea world” vibe here, keeping the leg cloths because I was trying to emulate a false sense of a mermaid’s tail. Here I also decided to make her hair a dark green. I also dropped the lawyer angle from here, turning her into an employee of Barnes Jewelry.
Here she was in full force as a celtic character, as Emerald-Man had become fully cemented in my college years. And yet, my mind kept telling me about that darn cohuleen druith for so many years in high school. I really didn’t want to add the hat. I thought it looked lame. What I did add was her glasses in her human form.
Meanwhile, the story was developing. In high school the romantic lead was cemented further, and her name changed to Carolina White, which I thought gave her name a more exotic flair like some other prominent superhero love interests. The story was more sympathetic too: she didn’t want to be the Merrow, she was born cursed. Her form was revealed via a kiss, which happens in the worst possible moment!
She also had a heroic streak this time. She wasn’t necessarily a bad guy, on the contrary, she became Emerald-Man’s main partner outside of Danu. Even wrote stories of the two having a deeper romance. Yet this felt wrong to me. She was supposed to be a bad guy, but was suddenly snaking her way into being a good guy?
Well. That just didn’t sit right, once again. Especially since the script stories became messier trying to adjust for that angle. And then, the cap, once again. That darned cap! It kept telling me it belonged. Despite everything, despite every redesign, I felt she needed it. It was her call to villainy.
And so, I scrapped those scripts, or at least, part of them. One thing I felt vastly improved the story was the tension of Carolina’s little secret, and the romance I wrote for the two. I didn’t want to get rid of it. So I thought of something: what if I delved into the ideal of a “half-fey”? One who was born of a man and woman, and thus had two natures? This was, in fact, a part of merrow legend as well. When a man would wed a merrow, she would depart, and he would be left to raise her children. This had to be the angle I approached this character.
So the red cap was placed on her head. She became a woman of two natures. One side, the kind and heroic Carolina White who took no nonsense from evil. The other? The Merrow, who desired to be beautiful and powerful, as many unseelie fey do.
This has always been a part of mermaid folklore, and became her primary motivation. The strife between the eternal soul, and the fey longevity. Most apparent version of this story is Hans Christian Anderson’s version of The Little Mermaid, though celtic myths such as Li Ban and St. Brendan’s Voyage explore this too. In these stories, the mermaid finds themselves longing for a human, eternal soul. However, they have to give up their extended mermaid lives and face death. In these stories, the mermaid gives up their fey nature and dies, but gains spiritual immortality in a Christian sense. So, too, is Carolina exploring this, just as an inverse.
While she is a woman, Carolina often exhibited virtue and caring for Stephen. She tells off the gangsters and shows bravery. We see she is clearly a good woman at heart. However, the moment in issue 5 she realized she touched the forbidden fruit of her cohuleen druith, she could not resist. She, too, had a family tradition, one more twisted. She desired to pursue a life of soullessness, of immorality, because she thought she was owed it, and it would make her life better. Thus discontent begins to overwhelm her. She becomes possessive over Stephen, lustful, using her fey powers to manipulate him.
Speaking of which, I want to unravel all the clues I laid in the comic towards her mischievous nature. Some of you spotted them pretty early on. Props to those without prior knowledge, who figured it out.
The first was in issue 3, in the childhood flashback. I intentionally drew her with a mermaid on the shirt. This was an egregious taunt, I laughed to myself drawing that knowing what her fate was. Truly quite cruel to my characters. Also in this issue, if you noticed, she is looking directly at Emerald-Man’s jewel as he carries her out of the building. Evidence that she knew his identity long before she unveiled it.
The second was in issue 4. I actually try to make an effort for the continuity of character’s injuries, such as in issue 3 where Stephen deals with a concussion after blocking the shot to the head. Carolina, despite it being the next day is completely healed of her black eye. I figured people would chalk it up to “episodic reset”, however. So that was less obvious.
There is obviously issue 5, where the cohuleen druith is revealed. She begins enchanting Stephen here, and into issues 6 and 7. Speaking of issue 6, her little monologue during the dance was a clue of her sea-faring nature.
Issue 8 I dropped the most clues. Her eternal monologue on wanting more, her threats toward Fetch, and let’s not forget her resisting a polymorph spell, revealing some fey blood. Then in issue 11, she once again fantasizes about the sea. A lot of clues pointing to her being some sort of “sea fey” at the very least. The red cap being the obvious center piece.
I also commented on this video about Celtic myth, since it had a substantial audience and talked about elements I am using in my story:
This was hidden, but it was there for anyone who saw the comments on that video! It was the only real time I stopped being mum about the topic. There were two Mer-May months I couldn’t participate in too, and mermaid films coming out. It was quite hard to keep secrets!
Anyways, I got some wonderful theories, most of them involving the much more popular selkie. Yes, both are what I view as “cousin” species, or at least very similar legends. However, I reserved to keep the selkies as a force for good.
Speaking of them, they were not originally supposed to be in issue 12. The one that rescued Stephen was a last minute addition! I wanted something more practical to save him rather than just “willpower” especially since Stephen was drowning. It has led to some rewrites, because I am enjoying them being a part of the story.
–
Anyways, this was a LONG commentary. I hope you enjoyed reading about how this character changed. I am quite fond of Carolina, she is one of my oldest characters, and therefore, along with Emerald-Man, remains a precious character to me. I hope you all didn’t mind me opening up about all of this.
See you guys in late September when I release issue 13. Bring some tissues.