Delphine is a mermaid character, and part of the extended Next Gen in the Butterverse.
History[]
Delphine is the current princess of Atlantica and the granddaughter of Queen Marina. She still has one generation before she herself will take the throne, however.
Personality[]
Delphine is a very excitable individual. She can be quite playful, even being considered somewhat of a child at heart despite being a teenage mermaid. She has a very similar moral compass to her monarchic grandmother, and a sense of adventure. Although she knows she’s bound by common duties, she’ll often neglect them as unimportant, choosing instead to explore and get the most out of her last years of ‘freedom’.
Appearance[]
Delphine is a young mermaid of Smurf size, with light green-blue skin, a teal tail with dual fins and violet hair. Her hair is styled into a fancy bun, and she has an orange flower pinned to both sides. She wears a seaweed necklace with an orange scallop shell on the end. Like all mermaids, she has webbed fingers and fin ears.
Monarchy[]
As the now second in line for the throne of Atlantica, Delphine does not yet have a lot of responsibility. For the most part, she is free to do as she pleases, but is still expected to uphold certain royal customs such as attending royal openings, events and occasional speeches. She doesn’t always enjoy these, and will often attempt to wriggle out of the duties when she can, but she understands the importance it holds and will bear through them when necessary.
Relationships[]
Marina The Mermaid[]
Delphine is Marina’s granddaughter, and the two are very close to one another. Delphine usually calls her ‘Grandmamma’, even as a young adult. When Delphine was a child, Marina shared stories with her granddaughter of the surface world and the Smurfs, and so she was the first one Delphine came to when she herself met a Smurf on the surface. Marina has always been very supportive of her granddaughter and this friendship, and Delphine would probably consider herself closer to Marina than anyone else in her family for these reasons.
Prince Zulimar and Princess Pacifica[]
The prince and princess of Atlantica and next in line for the throne, Zulimar and Pacifica are the parents of princess Delphine. She respects and gets along with both of them, although sometimes wishes she could have more freedom to be herself, rather than put up with royal duties when she’s not even next in line. Luckily, both parents are patient and respectful merfolk, so they do not fight.
Mari Smurf[]
As a young adult, Delphine accidentally encounters a female Smurf on a boat out in the ocean one day. Whilst Atlantica had always been open to the Smurfs, very few merfolk had ever met one due to the sea-land difference and Smurfs not wanting to travel too far, with some exceptions. Delphine would return many more times, now that her new friend had become fascinated with the kingdom below the waves. Through coincidence, it turns out that the female Smurf is Mari, the daughter of Handy Smurf, Marina’s long lost love. The relationship between Delphine and Mari finally creates an excuse for a platonic reunion between the two, although their lives took very different directions. Unlike Handy, Mari’s interest and special talent rely on marine biology and the sea, so she has more of a reason to visit Delphine on the regular.
It’s possible Mari will one day chose to live in Atlantica with Delphine, who she’s in love with. This will most likely be a result of her choosing magical transformation into a MerSmurf. For now though, she is content with frequent sea visits from the comfort of a boat or beach.
Trivia[]
- Delphine is actually part Smurf herself, as her maternal grandmother was the mermaid Smurfette. This is what gives her a slightly more blueish appearance, and a longer life span than an average mermaid.
- Delphine was created as a one off, but was soon fully incorporated into the Butterverse when the artist decided she loved the character.
- Delphine’s name means ‘dolphin’, as a reference to the dolphin friend Marina has in ‘Marco Smurf And The Pepper Pirates’ as well as being oceanic in semantics