VS Character Analysis - Drosselmeyer (Princess Tutu)

“The sad ending is only because the author stops telling the story. But it still goes on. It’s just untold.” - Mark Polish


What would you do if you had the power to play God? Would you use it to give those suffering a new head start? Or would you use these powers to treat the world as your plaything to be molded in your image? If you want an example of the latter, look no further than the antagonist of Princess Tutu, D. D. Drosselmeyer!


But what can this writer of tragedies bring to the table for a versus setting? Let’s turn the page and find out.

Before We Start…

This blog will be fairly simple, focusing on the Princess Tutu anime’s Japanese release along with a few promos and other material. While the differences of the sub and dub of the anime are very minor, it makes much more sense to focus on how the story was originally meant to be told for the most authentic retelling.


The Princess Tutu manga, on the other hand, will be ignored entirely. Not only does Drosselmeyer not appear in it but it has too many differences from the anime to consider them part of the same story.


ALSO! Spoilers ahead for Princess Tutu, that goes without saying but, check it out. Seriously. It’s really good.


With that said and done, let the tragedy unfold…

Background

 

“Once upon a time there was a man who died.The man’s work was to write and tell stories, but he could not defy death.”


Drosselmeyer lived a humble life of terrorizing innocent civilians by writing tragic stories and making them come to life, that was until he was killed by a group of Gold Crown Town citizens called The Book Men. However, before his death Drosselmeyer was writing a story about a brave prince who vanquishes a crafty raven. With Drosselmeyer dead, the story was stuck in limbo until The Prince and The Raven left the story and entered Gold Crown Town. The story seemingly ended with The Prince shattering his own heart to seal The Raven away, however Drosselmeyer had other plans. He noticed a little duck wishing to dance with The Prince, the duck wished she could be a human girl.. So he granted her wish and led her to unknowingly kicking the tragedy anew.

Experience & Skill

 

Admittedly, we don’t know much about Drosselmeyer. All that we can really gather about him really is that he was a prolific writer, specializing in tragic fairy tales, his power was so great that royalty and nobles sought his power to make their wishes come true. He’s quite skilled when it comes to manipulation and has a variety of powers at his disposal. He seemingly saw the story of Princess Tutu go through a never ending loop until he brought Ahriu into the mix.



Equipment

Watch


Pretty good way to tell time.


Whatever This Is


I have no clue what this thing is meant to be, some sort of flying machine? Looks kinda fun though.


This Giant Clock 


Dude, you're not Miley Cirus.


Chair


A rocking chair he uses because he’s old as dirt. Ok, enough of the jokes let’s move onto the actual useful stuff.


Cape

If he’s feeling stylish, Drosselmeyer can use his cape to float!


Pendant



Created by Drosselmeyer, this pendant gave Ahiru her powers and grants its user abilities such as controlling plant life, creating giant walls of vines. Given Drosselmeyer made this Pendant, he should be able to make a new one or at least copy its powers.


Book and Feather 



Every artist needs their tools, and Drosselmeyer’s tools of trade for writing are this book and feather in case he wants to blot down some tragedies in his spare time.


Gears and Crank



Drosselmeyer’s gears are an ever useful tool for spying on Gold Crown residents. These gears give Drosselmeyer a view of practically anywhere in the story. Inside his gap in time lies a special crank capable of turning the story back years. It can seemingly turn all the way back to the beginning of any story currently being told, as we see Rue seeing her childhood self being kidnapped by The Raven.


Passageway of Time 


Drosselmeyer’s go to tool for traveling inside and outside the story, it may be old but it makes for a very useful means of travel.

Writing Machine

A machine made by Drosselmeyer that kept his stories going. It has the ability to keep the story going if he dies or his body is destroyed.

Abilities


Reality Warping & Plot Manipulation


Drosselmeyer’s most infamous ability is his power to write whatever he wishes into existence. It’s stated multiple times by the characters in Princess Tutu that the events of the series are all a story being written by Drosselmeyer, so much of what happens throughout the anime can likely be attributed to effects of his power. This includes:

• Transmutation: Ahriu was a normal duck until Drosselmeyer turned her into a human girl. In addition to this, people have been turned into animals just from entering Gold Crown Town (Example: A member of a traveling ballet group being turned into an electric eel).
• Necromancy: If your death coincides with a story of a similar nature in Gold Crown Town, you will be brought back to life (Example: The Wili Maiden in episode 4).
• Fate Manipulation: Multiple scenes from the anime state how there are fates set out for each of the characters that Drosselmeyer has prepared for them, often ending in their demise. (Example: Fakir is the reincarnation of a knight in one of Drosselmeyer’s stories, and was fated to die a meaningless death).
• Pain Manipulation: Malin stated that whenever she tried to draw anything but portraits of Rue, it would cause her physical pain.
• Memory Manipulation: By inserting Ahriu into the story, Drosselmeyer had manipulated the memories of many of Gold Crown’s residents to make them believe they had already known her. This can happen as soon as someone goes into Gold Crown as well. (Example: when a family entered Gold Crown, the mother turned into a rhino, the sons did question this at first, but then assured she had always been this way).
• Emotional Manipulation: After overturning Fakir’s writing powers, he used them to lead Ahriu into becoming so depressed she went into a lake to drown.

If that’s not enough, he can overturn similar powers BUT you have to be related to him for this to happen.


Deals

By making a deal with someone, Drosselmeyer can turn them into a spec of light if the conditions of the deal are broken.



Dream Manipulation

There’s nowhere to hide from this all seeing author, as he can follow you into your dreams! Leaving you with horrible nightmares.

Teleportation 

Drosselmeyer can teleport practically anywhere he wants, he especially loves to do it in the shadows, which leads us to…

Shadow Manipulation 
Trust no one, not even your own shadow. Because Drosselmeyer might be there! He can take up shadows big enough to cover buildings or even a lake.

Duplication 


Drosselmeyer can seemingly duplicate himself at least 2 more times, because the world needed more of him I guess?

Size Manipulation 


Drosselmeyer can change his size to the point where he eclipses the tallest of Gold Crown’s buildings.

Telekinesis


Drosselmeyer has shown to be able to control objects (such as this book) without having to lift a finger.

Smoke Manipulation 



If he’s feeling like polluting the air, Drosselmeyer can summon some nasty smoke.


Light Manipulation


Drosselmeyer can create light with a snap of his fingers, just in case he needs to remind Ahriu of the dangers of confessing her feelings.


Flame Manipulation 


Drosselmeyer can make a very small flame similar to that of a candle’s, that’s about it really. 

Time Manipulation


By simply appearing in the outside world, Drosselmeyer can stop time as he pleases. He can also seemingly choose who and what to freeze in place.


Plant Manipulation 

Drosselmeyer, despite being an evil psychopath, seems to care about nature to some degree. He can make small flowers and likely create even greater plant structures, given he created the Pendant, which shows similar abilities.


Body Puppetry


If Drosselmeyer manages to bring you to his Gap in Time, he can stop your movement in place and control you with puppet strings.

Sealing 


Drosselmeyer created a barrier around Gold Crown town that’s nigh impossible to escape from, however if this barrier isn’t enough he has other means to keep foes at bay, such as..


Immersion


As a last resort if someone is messing with his story too much, Drosselmeyer can take his opponent to a strange “world” known as “a gap in time” where he can control them like a puppet. It seems impossible to reach this place by normal means (except for Uzura, who I believe can reach it due to being made of Edel’s remains), Fakir had to rewrite the story itself to free Tutu from Drosselmeyer’s grasp.


BFR



Drosselmeyer can turn the battlefield into nothing but gears, he loves gears.


Immortality 



Given the fact that he’s already dead, killing Drosselmeyer is insanely difficult. Not only can he seemingly reattach his hands if they fall, he lives far away from where anyone can reach him (even if you destroy the machine keeping the story going, he’ll still live on).

Resistances

• Plot Manipulation: Exists outside the story of Princess Tutu, destroying the writing machine ultimately did nothing to him despite it being what was keeping the story going. 

Support

The Raven




The big bad of Drosselmeyer’s final story, The Prince and the Raven, this foul beast broke free of the confines of the story and entered reality intending to bring suffering to all of Gold Crown Town. He’s been shown to be big enough to eclipse the entire city and has his own set of special powers.


Abilities:


Sealing:

The Raven has two means of sealing, this weird plant thing and taking unfortunate souls to his stomach where they’ll dance even long after death.


Transmutation:

By raining down his blood (ew), The Raven can mutate you into a crow. This even works on already mutated beings such as Mr. Cat (An anthropomorphic cat who was transmuted as a result of Drosselmeyer’s story).


Crows, Swordsmen, and Crow People:

Servants of The Raven, the crows have been shown to be strong enough to kill full grown adults.


Telepathy:

Can talk to Kraehe and Mytho at the same time through their minds.


Corruption:

Items that have a raven’s blood or feather inside will become corrupted, offering various effects (see below for examples).


Lightning Manipulation:

His roar can summon lightning.


Resistances:

(Debatably) Plot Manipulation:

Escaped the story of The Prince and The Raven and entered reality, showing that he may be unbound by the plot itself.



Princess Kraehe



The alter ego of Mytho's Princess, Rue. Kraehe serves as The Raven’s daughter, having been kidnapped from her family by him at a young age. Despite her father’s cruelty she’s more than willing to carry out orders for him.

Arsenal:

The Gem of Love:


Given to Rue and Mytho by Edel, Rue turned into Kraehe and corrupted it with a raven’s feather. When someone wears it, it ensnares them and summons Kraehe to their location.

Abilities:

Transformation and Transmutation:

Kraehe can seemingly transform into a gust of wind and turn things into crows.

Corruption:

By dipping an item in Raven’s blood, it will become corrupted.

Summoning:

Kraehe has been shown summoning entire groups of crows and crow swordsmen. They’ve both shown a wide variety of abilities, like being able to trap victims in thorns or turn into perfect clones of people.

Ice Manipulation:

In episode 13, she freezes an entire lake to make it a battlefield.

Other:

Call reach out to Drosselmeyer if need be.


Mytho (Corrupted) 


Not even the most noble of heroes can resist the power of The Raven’s corruption. Mytho was Prince Siegfried in The Prince and The Raven, fighting the latter in a seemingly never ending battle. At some point both he and The Raven would escape the story and enter reality, causing the fusion of fiction and reality in Gold Crown. He mainly shares the same abilities as Kraehe but has his own unique ones, such as..


Flame Manipulation & Weapon Creation:


Mytho can make a sword out of fire, it looks really badass.


Swordsmenship:


Having fought The Raven for who knows how long, he’s naturally very skilled in the art of swordfighting and can keep up with other sword users like Fakir.


Charisma/Hypnotism:


In search of a heart for The Raven, Mytho can use his good looks and charm to hypnotize any unfortunate soul that he chooses.


Resistances:


(Debatably) Plot Manipulation:

Before his corruption, escaped the story alongside The Raven.


The Wandering Knight



Another one of Drosselmeyer’s story characters. The soul of a noble warrior who wanders the forests in search of a goal to fulfil. This knight was feared by all who knew him and was strong enough to cut his lover in half with a single swing, along with being quite good at horseback.


Uzura


“Lovey Dovey-Zura!”

Uzura is a small wooden doll created from the remains of one of Drosselmeyer’s puppets, Edel. She acts rather childish and has a curious view of the world, always wanting to explore and find the meaning of things such as love. While she may be young and a little ignorant of the world, the spirit of Edel still lives on to guide her when needed.


Resistances


Transmutation:

Was completely unaffected by the pouring of raven’s blood throughout Gold Crown. 

Feats

 
Overall


(Art by YuramecX3)

• Terrorized Gold Crown Town for years, causing numerous tragedies with his powers.
• Defied death and manipulated Ahriu into starting the events of the series.
• Can spin upside down like nobody's business!
• Inspired this really good fan song!
• Both of his voice actors are great.

Power

• His story had evolved to the point where the descendants of the book men who had originally killed him could not stop him, leaving only his descendant Fakir with the power to do the job.
• His story soon broke through the barriers of Gold Crown

Scaling

Fakir



Given that Fakir is one of Drosselmeyer’s descendants, and they’re downright said to have the same abilities of writing stories into reality, it should make sense for him to somewhat scale to Fakir physically and upscale him in terms of writing powers.


Physically, Fakir can:

• Shatter a window with his body.
• Keep up with The Wandering Knight.
• Show generally good athleticism.
• Move fast enough to wear everything appears to be moving slower.

With his writing powers, he can:

• Keep Ahriu alive despite intense damage.
• Give Ahiru the power to spread hope throughout all of Gold Crown.
• Repair the entire city and remove the barriers surrounding it.

Weaknesses


With all of his power, Drosselmeyer may seem like a God among men but he and his creations have weaknesses that can be exploited. First of all, Drosselmeyer has never fought anyone. Period. He lacks real combat experience himself which may leave him in a bind if faced with someone of his level. His plot manipulation can also be lessened, but not nullified if someone tears out the ending of the book the story takes place in, preventing the ending from becoming reality. (this applies for copies of his books too).


His story characters aren’t perfect either, for instance The Raven’s curse can be undone if someone declares their genuine love to whoever is infected (it has to be real, longstanding, genuine love not just a kiss or a make out session. Rue loved Mytho since she was a small child so the deepness of her love was more effective.).




Q&A/Important Notes

What the Hell is Going on in the Gap in Time?




“The gap in time” as it is referred to by Drosselmeyer is an enigma in the series. It both seems to exist outside of the story’s reach while also being labeled as the “inside of the story”. I suppose the best way to think of it is that it's the backstage where the story takes place? Another thing that’s kind of unclear is how big it is, it’s referred to by two characters (a puppet and Ahriu) as a “world” but that doesn’t really indicate its size. It seems endless but isn’t stated to be endless/infinite, obviously this wasn’t something that the creators were thinking about when they made the show but it seems that we can’t accurately judge the size of it. Regardless, I do not believe Drosselmeyer could scale to it as a creation/strength feat as it’s not mentioned that he made the gap in time in any of the episodes.

Where are the Other Heart Shard Carriers? 



If you watched Princess Tutu before, you may be wondering if certain characters who carry Heart Shards count as support for Drosselmeyer. You could argue their inclusion but I’ve excluded them (besides The Knight) for two reasons.


1. Most of them aren’t actually evil, just struggling with emotions so I can’t see them realistically helping him.


2. Drosselmeyer didn’t create them or use them in any meaningful way throughout the series.

 

Overall

“All children who love stories, come gather round.”

• Destructive capability should be around City level as we see multiple pieces of Gold Crown wrecked apart, and then repaired by Fakir’s inferior powers.
• Speed should be at least superhuman thanks to teleportation and scaling to Fakir
• Has a multitude of useful hax such as plot, fate, emotional, time and memory manipulation, alongside various elemental abilities.
• Bizarre immortality, existing somewhere seemingly separated from the plot, and a machine that can keep his stories going makes him difficult to kill off for good.
• Existing outside of the main story makes him immune to plot manipulation. 
• Main weakness is his stories being able to have their endings undone if the pages are torn out, along with the effects of his power being able to be overturned by a writer on a similar level.

Closing Words

Hi, everyone! Imwackinghere wishing you a Merry Christmas (even though I’m a day late) and a Happy New Year! I decided this blog would be a good choice for Christmas since Princess Tutu does have a few references to The Nutcracker so it seemed fitting to me. I know I said I would get the Drosselmeyer vs Narrator script out today but research takes awhile so I decided to compile my Drosselmeyer research into a blog to make things a little easier.


I would dedicate this section of the blog to possible opponents but I’ve gushed plenty about my preferred matchup for Drosselmeyer in the past and I plan to make a post talking about my alt, so here’s a tier list for the old man as a bonus.


Also, huge thanks to Agent9149 on Fanverse for their Princess Tutu Respect Thread, it was very useful for my research alongside the Princess Tutu Fanon Wiki


With that all said and done, have a great day! Thank you so much for reading!