Profile
Mertiel
Introduction
Liena stepped into Mertiel's garden following the demoness, unsure of what was safe to touch. It was rare to be allowed to walk through her beloved plants, but Liena was still very much aware that she had a great preference for the poisonous and deadly flora that the aggressive Devildom's nature had to offer. The human had already died once and she didn't plan on leaving a second ghost in the Demon Lord's Castle.
Mertiel, on the other hand, walked around those leaves and flowers and trees as if she was walking through her home. It felt like that as well.
"And who do you think you are to be playing with people's fates as if this was a game of chess and I was your damn pawn, ready to be sacrificed for the King?", Liena dared ask. She didn't know how much disrespect in her voice she could get away with — Mertiel had been more understanding of her situation than Barbatos, but she was still a loyal servant to Lord Diavolo. Even so, Liena felt stupidly bold. Probably death's fault.
"Well," Mertiel sighed, cutting a bunch of tiny flowers in the colours of the rainbow, "we may be demons, but your kind has considered us gods before. Didn't you give us permission to choose who lives and who dies when you gave us those titles?"
Mertiel turned around, staring at her. She blended in her garden, with the shiny pink eyes and the pretty dark red hair framing her face. The poisonous flowers around her looked like a beautiful and dangerous crown, and suddenly Liena was reminded of the old tales of ancient gods that ruled over nature and death she had studied as part of civilizations long lost.
Personality
Mertiel is a servant to Lord Diavolo and as such, her disposition is mostly helpful and courteous. She is kind, obliging and polite, as she must — however, even during her job, she allows herself to let go and speak her mind, and her tone changes from formal to teasing depending on who she’s talking to.
Mertiel is also very much aware of her tasks and of the rules, but that doesn’t stop her from bending them to her favour in order to keep secrets and form her own plans. She deals with a lot of information and she sometimes decides how to manage it herself instead of giving it away instantly. Because of this, as well as her upbringing on Meresin’s hands, her loyalty is sometimes questioned (not without reason, as her loyalty lies first and foremost with herself and then with the Kingdom), but they’ve had centuries to work on this.
Mertiel is also playful, sometimes dangerously so. She likes to enjoy herself even at the expense of others, and although she can be cruel, Mertiel is only so whenever the other creature deserves it or whenever she can get away with it. She’s the equivalent of a pretty but poisonous flower, like the ones she takes care of.
Likes
Sweets, especially Simeon's and Barbatos’
Mertiel has a big sweet tooth and it’s one of the most direct ways to her heart. It’s probably the reason why Barbatos uses this to appease her and keep her at bay so she doesn’t give him any unnecessary headaches, like some kind of bribe in order to not sneak Diavolo out of his tasks (works most of the time). Luke’s cooking is also quickly becoming a favourite of hers since he’s learning from the both of them.
Taking care of her garden
Mertiel learnt from a very young age how to take care of a lot of different plants. It served as training for her patience and diligence due to the Devildom’s unstable and aggressive nature, and it also provided her with a bunch of resources (mostly, natural poisons).
Traveling
Due to her abilities and her job, Mertiel has found joy in traveling to different places. It helps to meet new people and create new experiences, and it also keeps her entertained.
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Dislikes
Traveling by any other means aren't her abilities or her wings
Mertiel lacks the patience to sit long hours on a train, ship, plane or any other means of transportation, but mostly because she’s used to using her abilities. Even spending half an hour on a car could frustrate her. Also, there’s a big chance she will get sick on the trip.
People touching her plants carelessly
As stated, Mertiel puts a lot of care in her garden. Devildom’s flora is hard to take care of since some take hundreds of years and very specific conditions to bloom and others could survive an apocalypse and need to be under control before eating the rest of the garden up, and she’s found a perfect balance after thousands of years. Also, since a lot of her plants are poisonous, she doesn’t want to also take care of someone falling ill or maybe even dying.
Feeling left out
Mertiel is hardly ever going to say it out loud, but she struggles to feel like she’s part of anything despite her attitude and it does eat her insides. It goes back to her upbringing, and she ties feeling rejected with her self-worth.
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Summary
Mertiel's House dates back all the way to the Fairy King and the demon who stole his lands by putting him in a deep slumber — the first Demon King. Mertiel's ancestors were part of the Fairy King's Kingdom, traitors to the Crown who helped the demon in his mission and ended up mixing with the demonkind. This explains her connection to nature —to flowers and plants— and the poison in her veins: she, just like her family, shouldn't have happened, a curse upon the land they once had promised to protect and serve. But is it mere retribution for their actions or is it a warning sign so everyone else knows who they are at their core?
Regardless, it seems it didn't have any actual effect, as Mertiel's ancestors were amply rewarded. That is how her House ended up as loyal servants, trusted advisors and close friends of every single Demon King to come. They became part of the High Demon Houses of the Devildom, influencing the nobles and deciding the fates of the citizens. And it would have continued to be that way for generations to come, including Mertiel and Diavolo, as it was supposed to happen, if it hadn't been for certain unexpected guests.
As stated, Mertiel was born into a High House back during the last Demon King's reign. Her parents, Alastor and Meresin, were close friends and advisors of the King and raised her daughter very strictly in order to keep the family name to such high standards: lessons on manners, training, managing her powers, even learning how to deceive — all very useful abilities when the time for her to take the reins and whisper into the next Demon King’s ear came around. Despite that (or, maybe, because of that), Mertiel managed to sneak around and find two very close friends: Mephistopheles, another highborn demon, and Diavolo, the very same Prince she was supposed to befriend once they grew up. It wasn't the nicest of childhoods, but it was the most peaceful of times.
When the Demon King stepped down and Diavolo took his place as the Crown Prince, along with the demon brothers' fall and their warm welcome by Diavolo, tensions arose between the oldest High Demon Houses, including Mertiel's. The difference in the way Diavolo chose to lead the Devildom from how his father used to didn’t sit right with them and it was met with revolts, and Mertiel’s family became enemies of the Kingdom along with many others that followed them. This destroyed everything Mertiel had planned ahead for herself, but she was still loyal to her House and she was ready to prove it.
She still turned her life around, however. Someone with the connections she had as well as the powers she had could not be simply disposed of — for sure, there was some place or some thing she could be useful for. And there is absolutely no way that past relationships and personal feelings esteeming from both the Prince and his loyal butler had a hand in this decision, right? Mertiel just needed a little bit of training beforehand, though. Like making her choose herself over her parents’ life and her parents’ teachings. Like accepting to protect and serve the newly fallen angels. Like following the scent of a very distinct soul that was bound to be reincarnated as a human any time soon and answer directly to the Avatar of Pride himself. Like opening portals and relationships towards the creatures she had been taught to despise in the name of the demons that held the chains around her neck.
There is no way this could go wrong. Although it is best to remember that a chain can be pulled from both ends.
Obey Me!
During the events of Obey Me!, it has been a long time since she got used to her position. Her place as a servant to Lord Diavolo has been solidified, and her main job has been to act as a representative between the Realms, which has helped her to become a very open minded demoness. She also takes care of certain other topics, but that's secondary.
Mertiel is tasked with the preparation of the Exchange Program, and once it starts, she serves as a useful helper and guide to the exchange students, like some sort of middle ground between the Prince and them, ensuring the Program’s success. She is way quicker to get a hold of, easier to access, and usually understands humans' and/or angels' needs faster due to her experience jumping between worlds. It can be less intimidating — and it helps the Prince to be less distracted, much to Barbatos' joy (not that Mertiel actually helps Diavolo in that aspect, but regardless).
As the story progresses, her relationships and her loyalties are continuously tested. As comfortable as she is in this life, she can't help but be haunted by the life she once thought she would've had — and miss the freedom she had been denied since childbirth. As the lies and the schemes keep on accumulating on themselves, she wonders for how long she can keep up the façade, for how long she wants to hold onto the chains, or if she really needs her neck to be attached to her body that badly.
Obey Me! Nightbringer
By the time Liena is thrown back in time by Nightbringer, the revolts led by Mertiel's family have just died down. She is introduced as, quite literally, "the newest addition to the Castle" — newer than the demon brothers themselves. She is not feeling too great about her position at this point.
Despite this being her own choice, as she had rather betrayed her parents and come back to serve the Kingdom than lose her neck, she is not especially happy about her job. She is constantly fighting with both Barbatos and Lord Diavolo.
The weight of her childhood years mixed with the actions and decisions she made during the revolts hang heavily above them all. There is nothing of that cheerful, polite and open-minded demoness that Liena once met — that Liena met in the future —, and all that’s left is a string of questions: can Mertiel be trusted in the Castle and in the Kingdom? Will she lead another revolt to follow in her parents’ steps? Does she feel any remorse for the lives that she took, even if they were her once friends’ families and loved ones? Why did she agree to execute her parents even though she prides herself so much in her House? Are these golden chains a way to restrict her, or are they another way for Mertiel to hurt the Devildom and its Crown Prince?
At the end of the day, you can name a flower as you like, but its vibrant and beautiful colours remain — and so do its thorns and its poison.
Abilities
As a demon of transportation and because of her mother Meresin's strict lessons, Mertiel has a great control over space. She is able to jump between places and open portals, and she can also take people with her. Teleporting/jumping is quicker than creating a portal, but it also consumes her energy faster and has bigger chances of not being as accurate, especially when she jumps to places she isn't as familiar with or when she jumps with a lot of people at the same time.
Even though she is not able to create permanent portals to a particular place, she is able to infuse her magic into keys that will automatically open portals to a bunch of different places without draining her energy. Most of these keys are related to her work as a servant to Diavolo, although she has sometimes used them freely:
- Five Devildom keys: Demon Lord's Castle, RAD, Barbatos' room (in order to use his portals to make her job easier), House of Lamentations (used to use it much more when she worked under Lucifer), Mertiel's house;
- One Human Realm key: Goes to the Hotel Corvo, where she has a permanent room and she can switch to another bunch of keys that connects to other hotels around the world;
- One Celestial Realm key: Goes to the Celestial Palace and she needs to inform of her arrival before crossing the door.
Paired to this, Mertiel also has great tracking abilities. She's one of the best at locating her target across realms with high efficiency. This is not entirely absolute as there are still ways to lose her, but the combination of her supernatural tracking abilities along with how quickly she can move between places make it very difficult.
In addition to this and as well as the basic demon abilities, she also has great affinity with nature — with the twisted, dangerous, poisonous and rotten nature of the Devildom. It is as though the plants and flowers are enchanted by her, but there’s little proof of this and Mertiel will always come up with the explanation that she is very into gardening and, if you are deemed worthy of such private information, that it was Meresin’s training.
Related
Diavolo
Mertiel and Diavolo were never supposed to meet behind their parents' backs: the Demon King protected his son tightly, and Mertiel's parents were happy to comply if that meant pleasing the King and keeping a good relationship. However, kids are kids, and they ended up becoming best friends. And although they both were very much aware of their situations and of their need to keep their mouths shut, Mertiel was always a bit more conscious of how playing on both sides of the chessboard could benefit her, specifically.
When the revolts broke, they also fractured their friendship. They became enemies and Mertiel was ruthless about it, apparently being able to quickly forget all their shared history. That was something that Diavolo was not easy to forgive, not even if he still decided to save her life and keep her close to him, not even if he still longed for the best friend he once had.
Openly, Mertiel was a terrible servant for years to come. It wasn't until much later, with lots of pondering and a big revelation, that it hit Diavolo — even through her terrible behaviour, Mertiel always seemed to push him in the right direction. She just seemed adamant on doing it the rough way, through degrading words and through actions that put him in a tight spot.
Mertiel is a schemer at heart and Diavolo is not one to forget about it. That being said, he also trusts that she has him in her best interests. After so many centuries at his service and under his care, Mertiel and Diavolo have recovered the friendship they used to have — even if it sometimes diffuses between obligations and the risk of the gallows. She enables Diavolo’s weird ideas and tells him about the worlds beyond the Castle and he’s helped her find a place to belong and make herself comfortable. It is easy to forget about everything else.
Barbatos
Barbatos came into her life before Mertiel was even aware of it. However, as long as it concerns her, their first actual meeting was with Barbatos giving chase to Mertiel and her family. They had met before, sure —Barbatos was, after all, Lord Diavolo's butler and they had crossed paths—, but nothing as close and personal as Barbatos chasing and finally capturing Mertiel, Meresin and Alastor.
So that was not the greatest of starts. And it was not going to get better easily, either: as the loyal butler, Barbatos was in charge of the Castle and, therefore, Mertiel's most direct boss. She had to answer to him for a long time, and he would be a strict mentor and superior in order to ensure perfection. He was on her nerves daily, and Mertiel was not one to hold her tongue.
As time went by, the grip on her loosened. Mertiel calmed down and became less of a safety risk for the Castle and the Kingdom, and Barbatos learnt to trust her and her own ways. It also meant getting closer and more comfortable with each other, maybe a bit too much. They bicker and understand that the other will always hide information and scheme and get under each other's skin, but they also share a very deep bond. Their relationship never becomes exactly official, although it is common knowledge among a few trusted ones. It isn't a close relationship per se either, although there's an element of devotion that's hard to find anywhere else — one that may become dangerous.
As it turns out, Barbatos will make sure they can be together in some capacity — doesn't matter if they're romantic partners, or friends, or coworkers, or even enemies. This would prove a difficult task for anyone else given Mertiel's tendencies to betray everyone else around her, but surely the one that controls time can manage, right?
Lucifer
They didn't start on good terms either, but mostly because of Mertiel. Due to her upbringing, Mertiel looked down on the brothers because they were fallen angels, which was one of the reasons why she was first sent to work under his commands. In the time it took for Lilith to be reincarnated as a human and die as a human, Lucifer and Mertiel had warmed up to each other's presence.
They aren't exactly close, although they treat each other with respect and know they can rely on the other. This doesn't stop Mertiel from giving Lucifer a few headaches every time she sneaks Diavolo out of work, though.
Satan
Unlike the rest of his brothers, Mertiel got attached to Satan very quickly. He was the only "true" demon according to her understanding back then and she felt much more comfortable with him. That sure helped him with his insecurities about being compared to Lucifer, I guess.
In any case, they still have a very good relationship. They're both good at socializing but still independent in their own ways, so they've probably been each other's last minute partners for some social event in the past a few times. Mertiel is also most likely the one stocking up Satan's library, especially when it comes to rare editions or books from other realms, and in exchange Satan gives her ideas on where to go or what to do whenever she has free time to travel.
Simeon
Simeon was the first angel to be sent to Devildom’s domains after the Great Celestial War as a courtesy visit and that’s how their relationship started. Mertiel wasn’t very keen on angels back then due to her upbringing, but she did trust Diavolo’s ideals and had to ensure their success and work towards them — therefore, when she started as some kind of messenger and ambassador for the Devildom through the realms, she depended on Simeon whenever she visited the Celestial Realm since he was a slightly more familiar face. In return, he got updates about the brothers’ status.
They slowly became friends. Mertiel appreciates Simeon’s kind and calm nature whenever she’s having a rough day, although it can also get on her nerves since she can barely tease him and, in fact, he sometimes teases her back. He’s still her best ally up in the Celestial Realm, though, and she loves his cooking.
Liena
Mertiel was aware of Lilith’s spirit being attached to Liena’s family since her death as a human and the effects it had on her, and so she already expected Liena to be more than just a simple human, but she never shared her suspicions. Mertiel kept doing her job as a servant to Lord Diavolo and just assisted her on anything Liena needed help with while she attended the exchange program.
Mertiel did feel sorry for her at times when things got rough, but she rarely went against Diavolo’s orders even if that meant leaving her to their own devices. Liena did confront her on this but there wasn’t much she could do about it. This made their relationship to be slightly superficial due to a notorious lack of trust from Liena’s side, but they’re slowly working on it. They’re still very friendly and do hang out together.
When Liena’s thrown back in time by Nightbringer, Mertiel is actually the first one to notice she is but a human who doesn’t belong in the Devildom. And even though she keeps her mouth shut, that doesn’t stop Mertiel from taunting and even threatening her — after all, at this time she hasn’t yet gotten rid of the prejudices against non demons, and she looks down on Liena for being a simple… wait, human?
Mephistopheles
From childhood best friends to sworn enemies to the only ones who can understand each other’s positions, Mertiel and Mephistopheles have had quite a rocky relationship. They know each other not only for the children they once were and knew, but also for the way they have been shaped by their own parents, by the traditions and the old ways of proceeding.
When the revolts happened, Mephistopheles’ family sided with Diavolo, as their purpose was to serve and protect the future Demon King. This also meant that they were up against Mertiel’s family and Mertiel herself. Things didn’t go well. So after she was chained down to the Castle, how could anyone expect Mephistopheles to forgive and forget Mertiel for her actions? And yet, they easily fell back into old habits.
Diavolo’s new fascination with the fallen angels meant that he essentially turned his back on his old best friend(s). Mephistopheles had no one to share those feelings, to rely on, no one that could understand his frustration — except for the one that had hurt him the most, Mertiel. It takes them a while to actually admit they are important to one another, but the bond they share is so deeply rooted that they always go back to each other in some capacity.
They are the last generation before a change, and they aren’t sure if they’re gonna be left behind by the one they loved and trusted dearly.
Seren
Seren is the only human to have ever formed a pact with Mertiel. It was a surprise for everybody including herself, but she couldn’t refuse after learning of her abilities, after sensing how powerful and strong she could become. Genuinely liking her and her personality was also a plus on this decision.
Mertiel takes a lot of pride in the bond they share. She is extremely loyal to Seren — maybe even more than to Diavolo, since she did agree on this pact out of her own volition and on her own terms. She is also very protective of her, which works both ways, since Seren would stop at nothing to keep Mertiel safe, including talking back and going against the Prince of the Devildom himself. This doesn’t stop Mertiel from constantly teasing Seren, though (but only in private — she needs to keep Seren’s image of the scary witch as intact as possible!).
Extra
Clothing and appearance
Mertiel has a strong preference to wear skirt/dresses and gloves and it's very uncommon for her to use anything else apart from this. Even so, just like the rest of demons, she has her nails painted in a golden-yellow colour (that matches the undertone of her eyes in the Obey Me! style).
Hands
Due to her habit of gardening for so many years, her hands have become somewhat rough to the touch.
Poison
I wholeheartedly believe she is like a pretty poisonous flower and therefore I think her blood is also poisonous. In any case, if that wasn't a good enough reason to make her immune to almost all of Devildom's natural poisons, her garden is mostly made up of those kinds of flowers and plants, so she's become used to them. She can therefore touch any of those deadly flowers with her naked hands, although she still chooses to use gloves.
Something 4
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Trivia
- For the Paws & Claws events, she'd be a Lynx; and for the Circus event, she'd do escapism tricks (think Houdini).
- Red Queen AU: She'd be a Silver windweaver from the High House of Laris. And she would win Queenstrial. Because it fully suits her.
- In feugiat posuere nulla, eget lobortis ante.
