Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts has all kinds of good points, a nigh-inexhaustible well of things for me to love. One major asset in that very long list is Scarlemagne, a key opponent for Kipo and her friends. I’m not dong a Favorite Characters post today, although Scarlemagne is an excellent character to watch. Rather, I’m looking at how the show uses him in the narrative and ways that his storyline is effective when a lot of shows fumble the execution of their complex antagonists (Scarlemagne-related spoilers.)
We hear whispers of Scarlemagne long before we see him onscreen. As Kipo and her new friends on the surface encounter various gangs of mutes (mutated animals,) word spreads of the “burrow girl,” and plenty of unscrupulous mutes go after Kipo, knowing that Scarlemagne will bestow great favor on anyone who can lead him to a burrow of humans living underground. Mutes and humans alike fear him, which suits him just fine.
And who is Scarlemagne, when we’re finally introduced to him? A mute mandrill who has designs on being king of the surface. Styling himself after an 18th-century French monarch, he dreams of building himself a golden palace where he rules over all the mutes. Scarlemagne’s mutation supercharges the influence of his mandrill pheromones, allowing him to brainwash other primates into doing his bidding. His tireless search for Kipo’s burrow is a hunt for humans to enslave, that he might use them as servants, playthings, and a private army to cement his rule.
I know, great guy, right? :sarcasm: Obviously not. Scarlemagne is a baddie who does a lot of bad things over the course of the series. He hurts both people and mutes, he causes plenty of damage, and he’s a critical figure in fomenting bad blood between humans and mutes.
The second season explores Scarlemagne’s complicated history, including his traumatic backstory as a lab animal studied by Kipo’s scientist parents, Lio and Song, back before she was born. Originally an ordinary mandrill that Kipo’s parents name Hugo, they use him to isolate which chemicals cause the mutations on the surface, and it’s through their experiments that he becomes a mute, gaining his sentience and enhanced pheromone abilities. Kipo’s parents try to hide their work from Dr. Emilia, their research head who’s obsessed with finding the source of the mutations in order to reverse them – watching Hugo develop, they realize how cruel it would be to rob mutes of their sentience. However, it’s only a matter of time before Dr. Emilia discovers the truth. She exploits Hugo for his pheromones, and though Kipo’s parents plan to escape the burrow with Hugo and the newborn baby Kipo, a chaotic series of events leads to Hugo being left behind. Escaping on his own, he’s left to face the harsh surface world alone. As he learns to wield his pheromones on the surface and takes on a new persona for himself, Scarlemagne’s exploitation at the hands of Dr. Emilia fuels his fear and distrust of humans, but it’s feeling abandoned by Kipo’s parents that fuels his consuming desire for revenge against and control over them.
What I like about this backstory is that it explains how Scarlemagne starts down his dark path without explaining away any of his villainous actions. Yes, he’s been hurt and afraid, and feeling alone and betrayed has caused him to lash out, but that doesn’t minimize the damage he causes. It doesn’t give him carte blanche to rule the surface through brainwashing and shows of force, because having tragic motivations don’t excuse harm to others. When Kipo first learns of his history, she immediately goes down the “poor misunderstood Scarlemagne” route and thinks that she can pull him back from the brink with hugs and friendship. And she is very, very wrong. Scarlemagne has diverged radically from the Hugo of his youth, and he’s not just a walking redemption arc waiting to happen.
This is an important moment for Kipo. It helps her realize that redemption isn’t always as simple as that, but while she’s much warier in her approach to Scarlemagne going forward, she doesn’t stop trying. Season 2 ends with Kipo and her allies defeating/capturing Scarlemagne, and as Dr. Emilia moves into prominence as the main baddie in season 3, Kipo makes repeated overtures to the captive Scarlemagne. Having learned from their disastrous encounter at the end of season 2, she no longer expects him to change for the better at any moment, but she never loses her faith that he’s capable of it.
This is the environment in which Scarlemagne actually does start to get better. Crucially, Kipo now understands that she can give him opportunities to atone, but he’s the one who has to actually do it. She can’t just let bygones be bygones if she expects her friends, many of whom have been hurt by Scarlemagne, to keep trusting her, so it’s up to him to make amends and prove to them that Kipo’s belief in him won’t jeopardize their safety. It’s a long process, and although Scarlemagne begins it very begrudgingly/sulkily, in time, he becomes more sincere in his efforts.
As gratifying as it is to see Scarlemage help out our heroes and make amends for his wrongdoings, the real revelation for me comes in the penultimate episode. Off on a mission together, Scarlemagne and Wolf come across the molten ruins of Aurum, the golden palace he tried to erect. Scarlemagne muses, “I really made a mess of things, didn’t I? I was so wrapped up in creating an empire, when I should’ve gone after Emilia. I could’ve freed Song, forgiven Lio, grown up with Kipo. Things would’ve been so different if I’d stopped hating all humans for the mistakes of a few.”
This moment is everything to me. It’s Scarlemagne acknowledging that he let his own feelings of hurt and betrayal spin out of control and consume everything, which wound up hurting others as well as himself. He sees how much better all their lives would be if he hadn’t gone on a 13-year vendetta, trying to install himself as a king who would enslave all humans as retribution against the one who wronged him. He spent all that time carrying his grudges and refusing to forgive, and he’s finally realizing how much that cost him. Reformed villains are fairly common, with wildly varying levels of success, but I think it’s rare to see villains recognize how much of a hand they played in their own bitterness and self-destruction. It’s a great scene of self-awareness that, to me, really shows how far Scarlemagne has come by that point.
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