Chloé d'Apchier (2024)

Chloé d'Apchier (クロエ・ダプシェ, Kuroe Dapushe) is a character from Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas. A Vampire believed to be infected with Malnomen, she is the central figure of the Beast of Gévaudan arc. She resides in the district of Gévaudan, in what is known as the "Silver Forest," causing her to earn the title of Silver Witch (白 (はく) 銀 (ぎん) の魔 (ま) 女 (じょ) , Hakugin no Majo).^[1]

One of the oldest Vampires in existence, Chloé was born to the human noble family of the d'Apchiers, but became a Vampire at the age of four following the Babel Incident. At eleven years old, she ceased to outwardly age, and her death was faked to keep her condition hidden. Subsequently, she was forbidden from leaving her family's home or from revealing her face. Determined to find a cure, Chloé's father began to research the World Formula without permission from the Catholic Church. No remedy for Chloé's condition was found for several generations, and by the time Chloé was residing with her father's great-grandchildren, the d'Apchiers' research into the World Formula was for political gain.^[2]

The first Vampire Chloé ever met was August Ruthven, a teacher and moderate during the War. The two became friends, Ruthven eventually asking Chloé to take care of Jeanne, the daughter of two of his students. Jeanne would be the first person to have Chloé disobey the command to hide herself, and the two would come to love each other as sisters.^[2] After Jeanne returned to live with her parents, the War escalated. Chloé learned of Jeanne's enslavement as a Bourreau several decades later,^[3] her friendship with Ruthven ending violently soon after.^[4] After several of her biological family members were killed while investigating Vampire hunts within Gévaudan, Chloé came to be scorned by her family.^[5]

Now living alone, Chloé could do nothing but hide as Vampire hunts in Gévaudan escalated. As casualties increased, the Catholic Church blamed human deaths on the "Beast of Gévaudan," a fictitious entity used to cover up the extrajudicial killings.^[5] By chance Chloé met Jean-Jacques Chastel, a Vampire boy abused by his human parents, and decided to take him in.^[4] Jean-Jacques realized the murders within Gévaudan would continue until an acceptable scapegoat was caught and killed, so he gave his True Name to Naenia in order to become the Beast.^[6] Jeanne, now an adult, was sent to kill the Beast, who was believed to be Chloé. Upon their meeting, Chloé attempted suicide by falling, but was offered a deal by Naenia in exchange for revenge. Thus, Chloé survived, becoming a curse-bearer of her own will.^[7]

Appearance[]

Although Chloé is actually quite old, she takes the appearance of a short, prepubescent girl. She has pale skin, her body still thin and diminutive, not having gained any features marking physical maturity. Her face is very round, with a small, pointed chin, thin eyebrows, a small nose, and large, thick-lashed gray eyes. Short, wavy silver hair flows freely to about the level of her ears, parted at the center with long bangs falling to the center of her face. Though Chloé exhibits all the physical characteristics of a prepubescent girl, her expressions are far more severe and mature than those used by any of Jun Mochizuki's true child characters. Like all vampires, Chloé's eyes will occasionally turn red.

Personality[]

Chloé can be cold and standoffish at times, but is generally kind to others and takes her duties as Marchioness of the d’Apchier family quite seriously. Chloé, as she says herself, has a jealous streak and will seek revenge on anyone who hurts her allies and friends. She often ignores social boundaries and can be quite curious about outsiders. She enjoys being outdoors and walking in the forest.

Contrary to her appearance, Chloé is actually over two hundred years old. She’s mature and knowledgeable because of this, and can break free of August Ruthven’s vampiric curse, which other vampires find impossible to escape. Chloé is also quite handy with machinery.

Powers and Abilities[]

General: As a Vampire, Chloé has far greater strength, speed, and endurance than an average human being by strengthening her physical abilities with interference of the World Formula. Despite Chloé's physical body being prepubescent, she is older than any Vampire seen thus far and the power she can exert reflects that age. She can overpower a fully adult man such as Noé with ease,^[8] a single slap from her sending him unconscious instantly.^[9] She can also send out lashes of energy that will slash and rip apart whatever she aims them at, be it her general surroundings^[4] or concentrated on a single spot.^[10]

World Formula Alteration Device: The House d'Apchier for centuries dedicated themselves to researching the World Formula and how to interfere with it as humans,^[2] eventually bearing fruit in the form of the Alteration Device.^[4] As the longest-living d'Apchier and the only one to remain alive, Chloé knows how to operate it better than anyone else in the world. She is intimately familiar with its workings, the method by which it rewrites the World Formula, and how to use it to do her bidding. With her at the helm, she can even use it to force a physical form upon Naenia, inadvertently doing the impossible and bringing back the Vampire Queen Faustina.^[10][11]

Malnomen: When Chloé willingly gives up her True Name, the Malnomen she contracts is Millie, Theater of Ice and Snow (氷雪の劇場 (ミリー) , Hyōsetsu no Gekijō ― Mirī). Millie's main power is creating a sealed space within which holds an entire closed-off world generated from the memories of the curse-bearer.^[12] Chloé's influence and the general scope of her power is so great that her Malnomen expands to encompass the entire forest in which she lived and, once her infection progresses enough, nearly the entirety of Gévaudan.^[11] It even recreates entire "people" based off those from Chloé's memories; however they are not the true versions of these people, and look and act based off how Chloé remembers and perceives them.^[13] These memories and all of which is generated from them in the enclosed space will play on repeat until the curse-bearer dies.^[12]

With a kiss from Queen Faustina, Chloé's Malnomen is forcibly advanced to the peak of its most dangerous state.^[11] Once advanced this far, Millie grants Chloé a number of additional destructive abilities as well as takes away any reasoning left within. With Chloé as the center, the power of her malady can draw in surrounding matter and scramble its gravity, causing entire chunks of earth to begin floating weightlessly in space. Chloé herself becomes a formless mist-like apparition of herself that is suspended in the air and acts mindlessly with the intent to destroy herself and everything around her. She can also create and manipulate familiars in the shape of wolves formed from the same black mist making up herself, which will do her bidding and attack everything she wishes.^[14]

Unlike most Malnomen Millie requires the will of the curse-bearer to be cured, as using an inverse operation without the will of the infected to break free will result in the curse-bearer's death. In addition, upon its curing, Millie required Vanitas to amplify the power of his Book of Vanitas with his Mark of Possession, speaking to how powerful of a Malnomen it is.^[12]

Quotes[]

• “You can’t see the moon today either. Oh… hurry… come quickly, please… please! I’m begging you… Jeanne……!”^[15]
• “I became a curse-bearer of my own accord in exchange for getting my wish.”^[9]
• “Let’s let the music of our revenge echo here in Gévaudan, shall we?”^[9]
• “I saw it all. I watched over them. I lived alongside the d’Apchiers.”^[2]
• “For some reason, just then… I… envied him.”^[2]
• “The first time I’d gone against Father’s instructions. The first time my heart had been so loud. The first time I’d been enveloped in the smell of the earth and the wind and the flowers. It was all… far too new to me…”^[2]
• “…Jeanne. Please don’t cry. Come to Gévaudan to play again, won’t you? I look forward to meeting you when you’re all grown up.”^[3]
• “After the little storm had passed, the sky over Gévaudan seemed higher than before.”^[3]
• “The d’Apchiers’ research is something Father began for my sake. It folds the wishes of each generation’s family head. It’s the reason I stay here. It’s not a tool for you to use to vent your hatred!”^[4]
• “I knew. August and I… would never again smile together the way we had before. I had just… lost my first friend forever.”^[4]
• “Dark. So dark. It’s pure white, and yet… the world is pitch-black.”^[5]
• “Where… did it go wrong? What was the first mistake?”^[5]
• “I’m so… tired.”^[7]
• “Oh good… you finally came. Come now. Hurry. There’s no time left. Use those fangs of yours… yours claws… your flames and… Go on. Go on. Go on. Go on…!!”^[7]
• “I do hate… them. You’re right. I can’t forgive them. Ever. I will have my revenge!!”^[7]
• “I’d been thinking for ages. About how to bring this nightmare to an end. This vague, drifting nightmare. Something I couldn’t even touch… What would I need to do to kill it?”^[7]
• “Oh… good. If you’re like this, even I can kill you.”^[7]
• “Let me tell you something. My father taught me being born a noble meant I had a duty to protect the people of my domain. He told me that was the pride of the d’Apchiers. And so you see… no matter what they do to me! No matter how badly I want to kill them! I could never hate the d’Apchiers’ people!! I love them!! As a d’Apchier, that is my duty!!”^[7]
• “…But… you’re no good. He’s mine. Mine alone. My ‘one and only’… and you meddled with him. You defiled Jean-Jacques’ True Name. I’ll never forgive you for that. Remember what I told you? I am a terribly jealous woman!!”^[7]
• “How is that? Does it hurt? Is it painful? Is my wrath getting through to you properly?”^[10]
• “I can’t stop… shaking… My instincts… won’t let me defy this.”^[11]
• “We’ll have our revenge together. Mine for me. Theirs for them.”^[14]
• “Have… to break it… quickly… this pathetic world… and me with it… hurry… set Jean-Jacques… free…!”^[14]
• “I wanted to be human. Because that… was what Father wanted. Father spent his whole life in research to return my humanity to me. It made me very happy, and… it was all an expression of Father’s… love… and—and that’s a lie. It’s a lie. The truth is, I was always… lonely. After all, didn’t that mean… that if I wasn’t human, I wasn’t really me?”^[12]
• “I wanted them to accept me. As Father’s daughter. As a member of the Marquis d’Apchier’s family. I wanted them… to love me.”^[12]
• “I’d made up my mind not to cry. When I decided to take revenge on the nightmare… I told myself I wouldn’t cry anymore. And yet…”^[16]
• “It’s ridiculous… That day, when I looked up at the sky with Jeanne… in all earnestness, I thought that if I was going to die, I’d like it to be there and then, and yet… Now… here I am… wishing to live longer.”^[16]

Appearances[]