Sociopath Profile: Charlotte Scherzen

Pictured with her harem (not pictured: the one she’s using as a foot rest)

From the 2015 anime series Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid

Voiced by Asami Saito (JP) and Monica Rial (EN)

Charlotte is what could be described as a malignant narcissist. It’s abundantly obvious with her self-centered demeanor and generally antisocial behavior. As one of the main antagonists of the series, she really gives the viewer every single reason to hate her.

[SPOILERS BELOW; SPOILER-FREE VERSION HERE]



Again, since she is a narcissist, she has an over-inflated sense of self. She believes herself to be the most beautiful, popular, and powerful woman on the island of Mermaid. Which is why she is so opposed to Governor Akira’s rule because he’s the only threat to her power. And since he’s not an amoral sociopath, you can see why she butts heads with him so often. She also loves to show off her breasts (so much so that they often bounce out of her outfit) and thinks that everyone should also be enamored with them as well. This is one reason Momoka has such an easy time manipulating her. By placating that ego.



Charlotte does many things to benefit herself and herself alone. While she does show some care for her harem, the Adel, that tends to be overshadowed by the extreme love affair that she has with herself. Whether that be violence or outright ordering sexual assault to test Mamori’s Extar capabilities. And to be honest about the harem, while they also serve as her Extars and therefore are valuable to her arsenal, they also seem to be kept around to continue to fuel her rampant ego. They follow orders without question and are completely loyal to her.



There’s also her rather unproductive habit of using violence to solve most of her problems. Violence seems to be a particular favorite tactic of hers whenever a threat arises. Even when the opponents have defeated her and her armies before, the common strategy will be to attack them head-on. It shows a lack of planning skills since she doesn’t have many other strategies other than brute force to attain her goals. Once Akira is outed as a woman, Charlotte rules the island with an iron fist and launches attacks on Tokino Village to root out the spies and defectors.



Charlotte also has a notable lack of empathy for most other people. Noted by her repeated abuse of many women in Mermaid. It is also noted in her refusal to listen to anyone when they suggest more practical alternatives to certain problems instead of just “kill everything that moves” or “beat them into submission.” Akira and Kasumi often try to reason with her, but she won’t ever have it. Momoka is the only one who got through to her because she played along with Charlotte’s need to incite violence and attack others. And Charlotte is notably furious when she realizes that Momoka used her as a pawn.



She also has a need for stimulation as well. Having the Adel dote over her both sexually and as servants shows this. Not to mention her instances of sadism. Not only does she take pleasure in punishing people for their failures, but she seems perfectly willing to pass Mamori along to Nukui simply “to break her in.” And she is ready to pounce on anyone who breaks even the slightest of Mermaid’s rules just to exert her authority. Her takeover of Mermaid essentially initiated a giant ego trip to do exactly that.



She is truly one of the most detestable characters on the show, and she doesn’t even have the excuse of being abused as a government experiment and child soldier.

