Princess Tutu (anime)/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


On this page, you'll find information on the characters of Princess Tutu. Please note: since a lot of Tutu's plot revolves around Character Development and Backstory, some spoilers will be unavoidable. Spoilers will be marked when possible, but some unmarked spoilers will be necessary just for ease of reading. You've been warned!

Main Characters

Ahiru ("Duck")

Sometimes a girl, sometimes a duck--but always a klutz.

"My feelings are my own!"

Voiced by: Nanae Katou (JP), Luci Christian (EN)

Once upon a time, there was a duck that wished she could do anything to save a lonely prince. There was also a clumsy girl that dreamed of one day becoming a ballerina. And there was also a princess that was cursed to turn into a speck of light and vanish if she confessed her feelings to the one she loved. Ahiru is all three.

Originally a duck, Drosselmeyer heard her wish to save the Prince, and (partially to amuse himself, and partially because he needed something to kickstart the story) he decided to grant it. He gave her a pendant that allowed her to become a girl—and also the Magical Girl, Princess Tutu.

As a girl, Ahiru spends her days struggling in her ballet class, getting into hijinks with her friends, fawning over the popular and distant Mytho, and arguing with the equally popular but hot-tempered Fakir. Ahiru adores ballet, but due to her clumsy movements and lack of discipline, her performances are somewhat lacking. This causes her teacher to constantly criticise her (when he's not threatening her with marriage), much to her dismay. However, other characters often note that her enthusiasm and personality shines through during her dance, making her dancing entertaining to watch.

Ahiru is sweet, outgoing, and ditzy, but has a stubborn streak. This causes her to constantly butt heads with Fakir, particularly since she's so interested in Mytho. However, by the end of the first season, the two start to come to an understanding and learn to work together.

In fact, most of the characters Ahiru comes across she quickly wins over due to her kind, cheerful personality. Despite her flaws (and sometimes even because of them), she's an endearing girl that finds it easy to make friends. But, in the end, Ahiru is really a duck. When she quacks (which happens often when she's flustered), she turns back into her true form as a duck. But, when wearing her pendant, water turns her back into a girl.

In contrast to Ahiru is her Magical Girl form, the titular Princess Tutu. In "The Prince and the Raven" (a fictional fairy tale from the world of the show), Tutu was a minor character that confessed her love to the Prince—which, because of a curse, caused her to turn into a speck of light and vanish. Still in love with Mytho, her quest is to gather the pieces of his missing heart and return them to him. Hidden in the hearts of the residents of Gold Crown Town, Tutu can retrieve Mytho's heart shards by dancing with them and helping them to realize their true feelings. However, Tutu's curse still haunts her, so as much as she encourages others to be true to their hearts, she's unable to speak her own true feelings aloud.

In Ahiru's eyes, Princess Tutu is everything she is not. She's poised, graceful, an elegant and skilled dancer, and all-around nearly perfect. Ahiru often struggles with comparing herself to her alter-ego, unsure if Tutu is really her, or simply the character from the story somehow working through her. Also, while restoring Mytho's heart means he can feel joy and love, it also means he can feel sadness and pain, which causes Ahiru to doubt if her actions are truly helping him. Because of this, she actually has quite a bit of angst throughout the show—but she pushes forward, hoping that in the end she'll be able to see Mytho smile.

In Japanese, "Ahiru" literally translates to "Duck"—so in ADV Films' English dub, she's named "Duck". One of the few ways to cause a fight in the Tutu fandom is to insist that you have to use one name or the other when referring to her—inevitably fans that prefer the other name will object. (Luckily, most fans have learned to use both interchangeably.)

Tropes associated with Ahiru:
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: When Ahiru transforms from a duck to a human, her clothing doesn't change with her—so when she returns to her human form, she's naked. However, thanks to Barbie Doll Anatomy, nothing is ever really shown.
    • There's also the fact that she's fairly young, which explains why she never covers up her chest when she's caught in the buff.
  • Ascended Extra: In-universe, Princess Tutu; she is an extremely minor character in "The Prince and the Raven" and only appears in a couple sentences.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Ahiru does in her out-of-school outfit, although the end result looks quirky and even silly instead of sexy.
  • Blue Eyes
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Unless she wants to turn into a speck of light.
  • Catch Phrase: "Quack!"
  • The Chosen One/The Unchosen One: Played with. Drosselmeyer specifically selected her as Princess Tutu, but she didn't exactly "follow the plot", so to say.
  • Clark Kenting: Nobody ever notices the similarity between Ahiru and Tutu (except for Fakir, who needed a lot of proof before he finally figured it out). Slightly Justified since the two have such different personalities, and Tutu looks older than Ahiru (including being taller and having a bigger bust).
    • Actually, it seems that everyone but Mytho, Rue, and Fakir sees Princess Tutu as a large white swan. First mentioned in episode 15 when Ahiru's friend Pique sees Tutu and refers to her as "the large white swan." This doesn't explain why Mytho and Fakir don't recognize it though.
      • To be fair, it's only two episodes between Fakir first seeing Princess Tutu and figuring out that she is actually Ahiru/Duck.
  • Dojikko: Justified in that she's really a duck. Most of the characters note that she moves rather like her namesake animal, unaware that it's not just her name.
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: Subverted. In the end, the show seems to say that Ahiru is better as herself, instead of as Princess Tutu.
  • Expy: She might be an expy of the heroine from Sato's earlier work, Prétear, although since Tutu was in the works in the 90's it might be the other way around.
  • Fiery Redhead: Ahiru. Tutu...not so much.
  • Genki Girl
  • Gotta Catch Them All: Princess Tutu's quest to find the missing pieces of Mytho's heart.
  • Green Thumb: Princess Tutu can grow a vined plant to help herself get around.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Ahiru has major issues with her self esteem, partially because she thinks of herself as "just a duck".
  • Ho Yay: Some people see this between Ahiru and Rue.
  • Iconic Item: Ahiru's pendant.
  • Idiot Hair: Ahiru's ahoge even exists in her duck form and is as tall as her head. Possibly played with, as in duck form it's clearly an individual feather, and girl!Duck's hair may simply be imitating it.
  • Inner Monologue: When Ahiru's not rambling out loud, she's rambling inwardly about her various problems -- particularly her identity issues and love towards/worry for Mytho.
  • In the Name of the Moon: "Please, won't you dance with me...?"
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy
  • Late for School: Subverted in the first episode, where Ahiru gets confused and actually arrives to school early, causing her Crash Into Hello meeting with Mytho. However, it's played straight in several other episodes, and even lampshaded in the dub when Ahiru makes a comment about it being early in the morning and Fakir responds "Early for you, anyway."
  • Leitmotif: The Miniature Overture from The Nutcracker.
  • Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: She's the Light Feminine to Rue's Dark Feminine, especially in regards to Mytho.
  • Love At First Sight: Ahiru fell in love with Mytho the first time she saw him...when she was a duck.
  • Love Freak: Tutu, although she's calmer than the other examples of this trope.
  • Magical Girl: ...Duh.
  • Missed the Call: Rue breaks Mytho's curse by confessing her love instead of Princess Tutu, and gets chosen to be Mytho's princess instead.
  • Motor Mouth
  • Naive Newcomer: Particularly in early episodes
  • Odd Friendship: With Fakir, once they start to actually listen to each other. With Rue also, in a way.
  • Only Sane Man: In early episodes, Ahiru is shocked to realize she's the only one that recognizes the odd things in town (like a cat that teaches ballet). Eventually she takes it in stride and gets used to being in a fairy tale.
  • Plucky Girl: Ahiru, at Crowning Moment of Awesome levels.
  • Polly Wants a Microphone: Averted—although Ahiru is shown as sentient, she can't speak in her duck form, even though other birds in the series are shown as being able to.
  • Princess Classic: Tutu dons some of the traits associated with this trope.
  • Rage Against the Author: In the second season, Ahiru begins to actively defy Drosselmeyer.
  • Rapunzel Hair: In her girl form, but not as Princess Tutu.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Fakir's blue.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: In her duck form—check out the image above.
  • Rummage Sale Reject: Her outfit outside of the uniform.
  • Shapeshifting Lover: Every now and then, this old folktale is referenced in the way Tutu appears to people.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Played straight with Tutu and Mytho in the fairy tale. Subverted with Fakir and Ahiru -- Ahiru may be stuck in her duck form, but he promises to stay by her side.
  • Technician Versus Performer: Ahiru is a performer, thanks to her duck-like movements and cheerful attitude. Rue is more on the technician side, although this trope only truly comes into play in the "Sleeping Beauty" episode with Paulamoni.
  • Transformation Sequence: Both duck --> human and Ahiru --> Tutu. However, both are surprisingly short.
  • To Become Human

Mytho

Get used to that vacant expression. You're going to be seeing it a lot.

"When I think of Rue, when I think of you, Fakir, and when I'm thinking about Princess Tutu...Each one makes me feel different. But I don't know what names I should give these feelings. Tell me Fakir, don't I need to know what they are?"

Voiced by: Naoki Yanagi (JP), Jay Hickman (EN)

Once upon a time, there was a Prince that was battling with an evil Raven in a story. When the man that was writing the story died, the Prince and the Raven escaped from the pages of the story into the town where the man once lived. In order to protect the people, the Prince used a forbidden spell to shatter his heart and seal the Raven away—losing his emotions in the process. That prince was found wandering aimlessly by Fakir, who gave him the name "Mytho", from the Greek word "Mythos", which means "story". And so began Mytho's emotionless existence—until Princess Tutu appeared in the story once more.

Thanks to his heart being missing, Mytho seems lifeless and has no understanding of emotions, or even things like pain, feeling hungry and feeling sleepy. Because of this, he relies completely on Fakir and Rue to tell him what to do, making him little more than a doll. In the beginning, there's only one piece of his personality that remains intact—the part of him that wants to protect the helpless. Unfortunately, without his emotions to guide him, he often puts himself into danger that's disproportionate to what's at stake—like jumping out a window to save a bird from a crow when the bird knows how to fly and he doesn't.

As Princess Tutu starts to return his emotions to him, his true personality starts to slowly be revealed. He's gentle, kind, brave and even a little inquisitive (which only causes his caretakers more headaches once he gets back the feeling of Curiosity). The story claims that he was "a prince who loved everyone -- and was also loved by everyone". The more his heart is restored, the more this appears to be true.

However, in the second season Mytho's heart is tainted with the Raven's blood, twisting his selfless personality. Instead of loving everyone, he demands that he be loved, and starts to search for a pure-hearted girl to sacrifice to the Raven. However, Mytho's true personality is still within himself even as the Raven's blood starts to taint him more and more, causing a struggle between the two personalities as they fight for control.

Tropes associated with Mytho:
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Played with—in the second season Mytho has girls falling all over him, but it's because he's casting a spell on them to make them fall in love, not because they're attracted to how "bad" he's become.
  • Bishonen
  • Cain and Abel: In the second season, he and Fakir develop this sort of relationship as Mytho constantly abuses Fakir and tries to cause him trouble because of the Raven's blood in him.
  • Can Not Tell a Lie: In the first season, another side-effect of losing his emotions. In the second season this isn't true at all, since he has many of his emotions restored and has been poisoned by evil.
  • Catch Phrase: "I don't know" and other noncommittal phrases in the first season -- "Love me, and hate everyone else" in the second season.
  • Character Development: Very blatant when it comes to Mytho. With each additional heart shard, we start to see more and more of Mytho's true personality.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: The root of almost all of Mytho's problems.
  • Cool Sword: His magical sword—the very tool he used to shatter his heart.
  • The Corruption: What happens to Mytho in the second season as the Raven's blood slowly infects him.
  • Designated Victim: Particularly in the first season.
  • Emotionless Guy: A bit unusual in that he's literally emotionless, and a male version of the trope.
  • Evil Costume Switch: Second season.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Mytho flirts with this some in the second season, trying to lead girls to sacrifice themselves to the Raven by seducing them with dancing and pick-up lines.
  • Evil Laugh: In the second season, natch.
  • Expy: Mytho might be an expy of Sasame in the anime version of Prétear.
    • Especially since they have similar, black-feathered outfits when they turn evil. But Sasame's attitude towards Takako is closer to Rue.
  • Extreme Doormat: When he doesn't have his heart.
  • Eyes of Gold
  • Fan Nickname: "The Pantless Wonder", thanks to his endearing trait of running around in nothing but a long shirt (and I do mean nothing but) when not in his school uniform.
  • Fashion Victim Villain: His Evil Raven costume.
  • Feel No Pain: Thanks to his missing heart. This has a tendency to cause problems for him.
  • First Girl Wins: Rue's already established as his girlfriend in the first episode, and they end up together.
  • Girl of the Week: Second season—Mytho convinces girl after girl that they're in love with him so that he can use their "pure hearts" as a sacrifice to free the Raven.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: Mytho's heart shards.
  • Green Thumb: Siegfried can fly around on winds full of Cherry Blossoms.
  • Heart Trauma: Mytho's sacrifice of his heart.
  • Ho Yay: Mytho is very, very dependent on Fakir. Their relationship even gets a bit of a Foe Yay twist to it in the second season when the two have to fight each other.
  • I Kiss Your Hand: Mytho does this once to Tutu.
  • I Shall Taunt You: One of the tactics evil!Mytho uses in the second season.
  • Innocent Fanservice Boy: He spends an awful lot of time running around in an overly large, barely-fastened white button-down shirt and nothing but.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Mytho—or, rather, Prince Siegfried.
  • Large Ham: Perhaps to make up for spending most of the first season wondering around with a blank expression on his face, Mytho gains a sadistic sense of humor and an overdramatic flair in the second season.
  • Loves My Alter Ego: Mainly in the first season. Mytho appears to be in love with Princess Tutu, but later tells Ahiru that he considers her a good friend.
  • Martyr Without a Cause: One of Mytho's major character flaws—partially due to his missing heart, but it's implied he was getting himself in trouble with this even when he had one.
  • Meaningful Name: As noted above, "Mytho" means "story". Also, Siegfried is the name of the prince from Swan Lake.
  • Messianic Archetype
  • Moe: He's so moe that pretty much the rest of the main cast is inflicted with moe feelings whenever he's around. Particularly Fakir.
  • Nightmare Fetishist/Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Second season again.
  • Official Couple: With Rue.
  • Prince Charming
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Mytho's eyes turn red pink when he's tainted with the Raven's blood.
  • Rei Ayanami Expy: Male example.
  • School Uniforms Are the New Black
  • Sealed Good in a Can: Mytho may have sealed away the Raven, but he managed to seal his emotions and personality away in the process, too.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Mytho was known as "Mute" in early fansubs.
    • Not helped very much by the fact that the official English dub pronounces his name as "Muto" ("Mew-toh").
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Played straight with Tutu and Mytho in the fairy tale.
  • That Makes Me Feel Angry: Justified: Mytho will often explain how he's feeling, but it's because he's slowly regaining his emotions and they're rather foreign to him.
  • Transformation Trauma: The Raven's blood causes Mytho to slowly turn into a crow himself, including molting feathers. It's obvious that it causes him irritation and pain.
  • Villainous Breakdown: His evil/crow side starts having one as Tutu continues to foil his attempts to steal hearts; he apparently takes great pride in making women fall for him.
  • What Is This Feeling?: Just look at the quote at the beginning of his bio. He does this a lot.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Badass?: Mytho isn't nearly as popular as Fakir in the fandom, due in part to not being as manly as he is...but in the second season, he's revealed to be an excellent swordsman.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: Subverted, Mytho's got white hair but he's one of the heroes. Double subversion -- he becomes evil in the second season because of Kraehe tainting one of his heart shards.
  • The Wise Prince

Fakir

Making frills look badass since 2002.

"Listen carefully -- never come near Mytho again. If you do, I'll make sure you'll pay for it."

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (JP), Chris Patton (EN)

Once upon a time, there was a knight that served a Prince. Ever loyal to his liege, he pledged that he would serve the Prince with his life. When the Prince began to fight an evil Raven, he was granted a chance to fulfill his vow—and died when the Raven clawed him in two.

After the Prince escaped into Gold Crown Town, the story gave this role to the Knight Reborn—a boy named Fakir. He found the Prince and gave him the name of Mytho, and decided that he would be his Knight like the one in the story. However, he soon found out that protecting Mytho was no easy task when he was constantly rushing into danger to save something. After an accident where Mytho nearly died in order to save a bird, Fakir put his foot down and began to treat Mytho harshly, ordering him around and protecting him from anything that could hurt him—including his own feelings.

By the time Ahiru steps into the picture, Fakir has become a bitter, cynical young man that constantly orders Mytho about and treats everyone around him distantly, if not cruelly. He and Ahiru immediately clash—she wants Mytho to regain his lost heart, while he would do anything to stop that from happening. He dreads the reappearance of Tutu into the story, and when she finally reveals herself he treats her as an enemy.

However, underneath Fakir's harsh exterior is a boy that genuinely cares about Mytho's well-being. He desperately wants to protect Mytho and prove himself as his knight—but he also is afraid that when the story begins to move forward, he will be killed just like the Knight from the story.

As the details of his Backstory start to unravel, Ahiru realizes that he's not as bad as he seems and starts to reach out to him. Fakir rejects her at first, distrustful of her, but he eventually relents and reluctantly agrees to be her partner—at least for a little while. That one concession drags him into Ahiru's world (practically kicking and screaming), and he finds himself slowly changing his views on Mytho and Princess Tutu—as well as his own role in the story.

Tropes associated with Fakir:
  • All-Encompassing Mantle: In "The Fountain of the Warriors"
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Probably part of the reason Fakir's one of the most popular character in the series.
    • Pique in particular feels this way about him.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Many fans believe that Fakir is from the Middle East because of his name and skin tone, but Ikuko Itoh has denied he's Arabic (although she did concede that he might have some Middle Eastern heritage in his bloodline somewhere).
  • Anger Born of Worry: Much of the reason behind his treatment of Mytho in the first season. Mostly a non-romantic example, if you ignore the subtext.
  • Backstory: His is particularly important to the plot, especially in the second season, when his bloodline is revealed.
  • Baka: Fakir's Catch Phrase. He uses it both harshly and fondly, depending on the situation.
  • Break the Cutie: Part of Fakir's backstory.
  • Cain and Abel: Fakir becomes "Abel" to Mytho's "Cain" once Mytho is tainted with the Raven's blood and Fakir is forced to fight him.
  • Compassionate Critic
  • Cool Sword: The Lohengrin sword
  • Curtains Match the Window: You Gotta Have Green Hair + Green Eyes.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Particularly once he starts to loosen up in the second season.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: In the beginning he seems cold and cruel, particularly towards Mytho, but once he warms up to Ahiru he starts showing how kind he can really be.
  • Mr. Fanservice: *sigh* We could be here all day to tell you how much this guy qualifies.
  • Expy: Fakir is possibly an expy of Hayate from Prétear. Funnily enough, Fakir shares the Japanese and English voice actors of Sasame in the same show, who Mytho seems to be an expy of.
  • Failure Knight: Fakir feels like he has to protect Mytho no matter what. In the second season, we learn that his parents protected him from an attack of crows as a child, which lead to their deaths, and he feels responsible.
  • Freudian Excuse: Fakir accidentally killed his own parents by causing a crow attack when one of his stories went out of control.
  • The Gift: Fakir appears to be exceptionally skilled with the Story-Spinning powers.
  • Green Eyes
  • Hair Color Dissonance: While his hair looks black in a lot of shots, it's actually colored green. There's never been clear consensus among fans on what his "real life" color is.
  • Harmful to Minors: Fakir witnessed the deaths of his parents -- which he blames himself for.
  • Heroic BSOD: After Ahiru dredges up his suppressed memories of his parents' deaths.
  • Ho Yay: Fakir is the worst offender in the entire series. He strokes his hand through Mytho's hair, he's obsessed with protecting him, he reacts like a jealous girlfriend when Mytho goes out with Rue...and Chris Patton can't resist lampshading it as much as he can in the extras on the DVDs.
  • I Just Write the Thing: Non fictional example. It's explicitly stated that part of his powers is recording what happens in reality, and that if he doesn't do a good enough job then his story will conform to reality rather than reality conforming to his story. In the last episode he attempts to get the ravens to stop attacking Ahiru...and has to write that they didn't stop, which almost forces him to stop writing completely to save her.
  • Impossibly Cool Clothes: Subverted—Fakir's clothing gets torn up enough that it's become a popular fandom joke to show him tearing clothing, having a tear even when he's wearing a different costume, etc.
  • Ineffectual Loner: Particularly in the first half.
  • Inner Monologue: Once we get into the second season, we start to hear a little more of his thought processes—and just how angsty and emotionally damaged he can be.
  • In the Hood: His outfit in Akt 8, in which he wears a cloak with a hood to cover up his hair, combined with a mask to keep him completely disguised.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Averted. Fakir is not at all like this, even though he takes on the role of the Knight.
  • Leaning on the Furniture
  • Like Brother and Sister: Fakir's relationship with Raetsel. However, Raetsel's so flirty that Ahiru and her friends first think that she's his girlfriend instead.
  • Loners Are Freaks: Not blatant, but the show definitely thinks he's better off once he starts to be slightly more sociable.
  • Meaningful Name: Fakir is a word for a sort of Arabian mystic (those guys that walk on coals, for example), which makes him sound mysterious and also hints at his powers.
  • Memetic Outfit: A few tears in some of the costumes he's seen in during the series has led to some members of the fandom portraying him as very uncomfortable unless his outfit is torn up in some way.
  • Odd Friendship: With Ahiru.
  • Orphan's Ordeal: As Fakir's backstory is revealed, it becomes clear that a lot of his flaws and issues stem from his parents' deaths, and how he's (poorly) dealt with it.
  • Peek-a-Bangs: Fakir's hairstyle sometimes hides one of his eyes, as it did during his Slipknot Ponytail moment.
  • Pet the Dog: Or the duck, as the case may be.
  • Perpetual Frowner: When Fakir smiles, it's a big deal.
  • Please Put Some Clothes On: A running gag in the show is Fakir being around to see Ahiru transform from a duck into a girl, and then freaking out when she's suddenly standing naked in front of him (to the point where he dives behind a building in one episode).
  • Quivering Eyes: Fakir has these a couple of times, notably when he starts to remember his parents' deaths. Meant to be disturbing, but tends to be unintentionally humorous.
  • Rage Against the Author: Fakir's goal in the second season.
  • Reality Warper: Fakir has the ability to bend reality to his will by writing stories.
  • Red Herring: In early episodes, it's quite easy to think of him as the human incarnation of the Raven. given how his hairstyle looks like black tailfeathers and his less than friendly personality. If you look closely however, said hair is green, which is a hint to his true nature.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Ahiru's red.
  • Rummage Sale Reject: When he's not in his uniform or knight costume.
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: He and Ahiru, oh so much.
  • Second Love: Fakir becomes this for Ahiru.
  • Secret Keeper: Fakir is the first character (outside of Drosselmeyer and Edel) to find out that Ahiru is Princess Tutu—and then, as an act of trust, she tells him she's really a duck.
  • Shirtless Scene: Several, mostly to show off Fakir's important birthmark (...but probably also for Fan Service).
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Early fansubs wrote his name as Fakia.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Subverted -- Ahiru turns back into a duck in the end, but Fakir promises to always stay by her side.
  • Tall, Dark and Snarky: Maybe one of the best examples ever.
  • Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Fakir is aware of his parents' deaths, but doesn't give any indication that he remembers how it happened until Ahiru drags up the memories. He also completely forgot about his powers.
  • Troubled but Cute
  • The Un-Smile: If you ask Pique, at least.

Pique: He smiled. It totally ruins his bad-boy appeal!

Rue

Obviously, the school uniform does nothing for a girl's figure.

"The only one I've ever had eyes for is Mytho. Whether or not he has a heart does not change the simple fact that I love him. I will continue to love him. I'm still far from having loved him enough."

Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (JP), Jessica Boone (EN)

Rue is the star ballerina of Gold Crown Academy, and Mytho's girlfriend. Although very beautiful and an amazing dancer, she's proud and cold towards others, rarely thinking about their emotions. However, she does have a good heart, and once Ahiru reaches out to her and tries to become her friend she begins to open up to her—at least until she finds out Ahiru is Princess Tutu.

As you can probably tell from the quote above, Mytho the main focus of her world. She's completely, absolutely in love with him, but fears that if the Prince regains his heart, he will no longer be with her and instead fall in love with Princess Tutu. Desperate, she becomes her alter ego, Princess Kraehe, and attempts to keep Tutu from returning the pieces of Mytho's lost heart. As Kraehe she's even colder and far crueler than she is normally, but there's hints of her true personality even when transformed.

In the second season, Kraehe dips one of Mytho's heart shards into the Raven's blood, tainting Mytho's personality and twisting him from the kindhearted prince she fell in love with. At first she enjoys that Mytho sides with her, but as his personality becomes more and more violent she starts to doubt her choices.

Tropes associated with Rue:

Herr D. D. Drosselmeyer

What prolonged exposure to TV Tropes can do to a person.

"Now, tell me the best story that was ever told! Tell it to me with no regard for your lives!"

Voiced by: Noboru Mitani (JP), Marty Fleck (EN)

Years before the opening of the series, Drosselmeyer was a writer who was working on his masterpiece, The Prince and the Raven. However, before he could complete his story, he died, leaving his story unfinished and the two title characters trapped in an endless battle. Eventually, the characters were able to escape the story—and it turned out that Drosselmeyer, while dead, could somehow control the story even from the grave...

In the series, Drosselmeyer takes a mostly passive role (or at least seems to be), commenting on the action and giving Ahiru (and occasionally other characters) little pushes in the directions he'd like to see the story go. At first, he appears to be mostly on Ahiru's side, trying to encourage her to continue in her task to recover Mytho's lost heart, even when things become difficult for her. But he has a sadistic streak that's obvious from the start, and it soon becomes clear that the sort of story Drosselmeyer finds entertaining likely won't be as happy as the characters might want.

Thanks to being a writer and storyteller in the series, Drosselmeyer is often very Genre Savvy, particularly when it comes to fairy tales. He takes great delight in telling the other characters what they should be doing per their "roles" in the story, and will sometimes even scold the characters for subverting their roles and trying to do something beyond what's expected for them. However, even when things seem to be going against what he'd wanted, after a brief moment of frustration he chippers back up as long as the twist is at least entertaining.

This is, perhaps, the part of Drosselmeyer that is most chilling: Although his "characters" are real people trapped in a story, he's fine with anything happening to them—as long as the story is entertaining. While this is a perfectly reasonable reaction towards fictional characters (as tropers that love The Woobie will often admit), the sociopathic personality needed to treat real people this way can be quite frightening, indeed.

Named after the character from The Nutcracker, and visually and musically borrows several of his motifs—although the Drosselmeyer from the ballet was more benevolent.

Tropes associated with Drosselmeyer:
  • Catch Phrase: Drossy closes every episode preview with "All children that love stories come, gather 'round..."
  • Crazy Awesome: Obviously crazy from the start, and most of the fandom agrees that he's very awesome. The spoilers in the trope example below shows one of his craziest and most badass moments.
  • Creator Breakdown: Part of his Backstory. Drosselmeyer was a profitable writer until the townspeople began to fear his ability to warp reality with his writing. They chopped of his hands to prevent him from writing anymore, but with his dying breath and blood from the stumps on his arms he wrote the last bit of the story that allowed him to continue writing it even after his death. It goes a long way to explain Drosselmeyer's insanity and taste in plotlines.
  • Determinator: He kept writing after his hand were chopped off, just to keep fooling around with his stories even after death.
  • Eccentric Mentor: Subverted. Drosselmeyer is kooky, but he's the one who gives Ahiru her powers and guides her along the way... But he really wants the characters to be trapped in an endless cycle of death, rebirth and tragedy.
  • Evil Laugh: In every episode preview he has a low evil chuckle, and he seems to have a evil laugh pretty much Once an Episode.
  • For the Evulz: Even though he does have a few things in his backstory that give him a motive for what he does...he mainly seems to be into it because he seems to think tragedy and pain makes for a fascinating story.
  • God Is Evil: Or the writer is, but when you're a character in his story he might as well be God.
  • Greek Chorus
  • Karma Houdini
  • Large Ham: Drosselmeyer can be completely over-the-top when commenting on the action in the story, particularly in the dub, where he was given a booming aristocratic voice completed with rolled R's. Which just makes his commentary more entertaining.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When all his plans are ruined at the end and the characters get their happy ending, Drosselmeyer wonders how they overcame his script as author. Then he wonders if he himself might be a character in someone else's story.
  • Leitmotif: The March from The Nutcracker.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Fakir, I'm your great-great-great grandfather!
  • Mad Artist
  • Nightmare Fetishist
  • Ominous Pipe Organ: Drosselmeyer's Leitmotif is the Nutcracker March played in a minor key. Often, it's played on an organ for extra creepiness.
  • People Puppets: Drosselmeyer's powers apparently give him this ability.
  • The Philosopher
  • Psycho for Hire: Before his death, it's implied that Drosselmeyer would happily write any story -- and in the end, that's what got him killed.
  • Slasher Smile/Cheshire Cat Grin: He bounces between both, depending on the mood he's in at the moment.
  • Too Kinky to Torture: In a way. When Drosselmeyer wonders if he's a character in a story himself he smiles and says the writer can do whatever they'd like. This is in contrast to the Rage Against the Author of the other characters.

Autor

"I'm sorry, I wasn't able to hear that over my own ego."

"Just what is it that you know?"
"Everything you've been dying to know!"

Voiced by: Yu Urata (JP), Adam Conlon (EN)

A relatively minor but important character in the second season, Autor is the main source of information for Fakir and Ahiru. Before he's properly introduced, Autor has several cameos showing him shushing people at the library and hovering in the background watching Fakir. Once he enters the story, he proclaims himself to be the expert when it comes to Drosselmeyer and his powers. Autor is in fact a fanboy of Drosselmeyer and finds the very idea that he's still around pulling the strings "thrilling". That, combined with his massive ego and Training from Hell that he puts Fakir through, causes him to be a very unsympathetic character at first.

As the series nears its end, however, he's given some minor attempts at Character Development that make him more than just an overenthusiastic Info Dump vehicle. Firstly, it soon becomes obvious that his egotistical attitude is covering up for a massive inferiority complex, and when Fakir turns out to be extremely gifted in the Story Spinning powers while he himself might not even have them, he starts to fluster about for what his true purpose in life is. Also, he's given a brief scene where he confesses love for Rue - which actually sets her down the path towards discovering her origins and defying her father. In the end, he's an interesting enough character that he's gained a small but dedicated following in the fandom.

Tropes associated with Autor:
  • Attention Whore: Possibly; although he's shown as a loner, he tends to go to great lengths to play an active role in the story and get the attention of the other characters.
  • Break the Haughty: Autor's pride gets absolutely thrashed in the course of the story.
  • Catch Phrase: "Would you please be quiet?"
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Although his official introduction isn't until Akt 21, he has a cameo in every episode from 15 to 20, ranging from blatant foreshadowing to blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments of him hanging around in the background.
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life: When his delusions of his greatness start to unravel, Autor throws a tantrum that culminates in him storming down a street muttering to himself, "Then what was I put on this world for?"
  • Heroic Bystander: In the final episode. Considered by some to be his Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • Ho Yay: While Autor's true obsession is Drosselmeyer, his interest in Fakir sometimes seems comically like a Stalker with a Crush. This seems to have been played up for all it's worth in the English dub of the series, although it might be unintentional.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Hinted at being the driving force behind his research.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Autor's portrayed at first as having little useful information about Drosselmeyer. Eventually it's subverted—he is helpful, although probably not as much as he would've liked.
  • Leaning on the Furniture
  • Loners Are Freaks
  • Love At First Sight: When he meets Rue.
  • Male Gaze: In one scene, Autor is following behind Rue, and the camera focuses on Rue's back and slowly pans down to examine her rear end and legs. The camera then switches to show Autor looking downwards and blushing, implying that the view we were seeing was from Autor's point of view.
  • Meaningful Name: "Autor" is German (and coincidentally Spanish) for "author".
  • Megane: Occasionally something of a male Meganekko, but not always.
  • Mr. Exposition: Really, when it comes right down to it, this is Autor's main purpose for being in the show.
  • Mysterious Watcher
  • Nightmare Fetishist: Somewhat debatable, but considering his manic approval of Drosselmeyer and the gleeful manner he handles Drosselmeyer's powers, it's likely he falls under this trope.
  • Only Sane Man: Believe it or not, Autor may qualify—he's the only character outside of the main cast that seems to realize that Gold Crown Town is being controlled by one of Drosselmeyer's stories.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: We don't even see Autor's eyes until he talks to Fakir in akt 21.
  • School Uniforms Are the New Black
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Some fans still use the Japanese romanization of his name, "Aotoa". Author and Arthur show up sometimes, as well.
  • Starboarding: The one-sided pairing Autor -> Rue is fairly popular and supported by canon. Requited Autor/Rue, not so much (although it has its fans).
  • Take Over the World: According to the Japanese official website, Autor's goal is "world domination".
  • Unstoppable Rage: The final episode, again. Fakir gets attacked by the Book Man, and Autor fends off his attacker using only a book and his bare hands. Did I mention the other guy has an axe? Yeah.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: It's either blue or purple, depending on who you ask (for this troper it looks more blue than anything), but it still counts as stylized black.

Secondary Characters

Princess Tutu has a number of supporting characters, since the format of the show requires that most episodes have a Victim of the Week. A few of the characters you should know about:

  • Neko-sensei/Mr. Cat is the ballet teacher at Gold Crown Academy. He's obsessed with marriage and constantly threatens the girls with it when they mess up, but otherwise he's a competent teacher. Oh, he's also an anthropomorphic cat.
  • Pique and Lilie are Ahiru's two friends from class. They function mostly as comic relief, gossiping about the characters in the show and getting into crazy antics with Ahiru. Pique is tomboyish but supportive of Ahiru, while Lilie is girly and seems to take sadistic pleasure in Ahiru's failures so she can "comfort" her.
  • Edel: A mysterious woman with an organ grinder. She speaks cryptically and poetically, working as a listening ear for Ahiru whenever she might need it. Secretly, she's a puppet controlled by Drosselmeyer to push Ahiru in the right direction.
  • Uzura: A young girl puppet made by Charon, Fakir's foster father, from the burnt remains of Edel. Curious and emotional, she's fascinated by Ahiru's ability to transform from a duck to a human, and causes several Please Put Some Clothes On moments between Ahiru and Fakir.
  • The Raven: The villain from The Prince and the Raven, and the series other main villain apart from Drosselmeyer. His real name is never given, if he even has one, and while called a raven he's more like a Godzilla-sized demon. In the story, he enjoyed toying with the hearts of the people that loved Mytho, tainting them with his evil before devouring them, and eventually set his eyes on the prince's heart. Mytho fought the Raven, but could only stop him by sealing the beast away and shattering his own heart. In the 2nd season, Rue covers a shard of Mytho's heart in the raven's blood, turning more and more evil. The raven's goal is to have a heart sacrificed to him so that he may escape from the seal.
  • Femio is a character that only shows up for one episode as a victim for Kraehe, but if you've seen the series, you'll remember him. With curly purple locks and a fondness for French, he runs around Gold Crown Academy passing out roses to girls and claiming to be "a prince that loves everyone...and is also loved by everyone" (copying from the Prince in The Prince and the Raven). He's such an over-the-top parody of bishounen that he's a wildly popular character among fans, showing up in fan art as much as characters with far more screen time than him. Despite his foppish personality, he was the only (non main) character able to break the Raven's spell all on his own.
Tropes associated with secondary characters (or several groups of characters):
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