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What I'm most afraid of? You want to know what I'm most afraid of? I'm afraid of this. I'm afraid of a world where I spend the rest of my life like this: brittle and creaking and constantly on the verge of breaking. I'm afraid of a life where someone bumping up against me on the street—it's a trip to the hospital! I'm afraid that this is all there is! But now, I finally have an exit. I finally have a way to leave. You think you can keep me here? Then you better be ready to die trying. |
” |
| —Mera Salamin, "Reflection" | ||
Mera Salamin is a main antagonist in the Epithet Erased web-series.
She pretends to be an employee of the Sweet Jazz City Museum as a cover so she can steal the Arsene Amulet and negate the pain her own epithet causes her with another's. Her coworker, Indus, acts as her bodyguard/assistant.
Physical Appearance
Mera is described as being "tiny" and having "sweet black nail polish" that is "always getting chipped for some reason". She has long, deep blue hair that can be seen as black, as well as periwinkle eyes with prominent eyelashes and possibly eyeliner. She dons a sand-colored sweater vest with an indigo bowtie, a cream long-sleeved, collared shirt with jagged cuffs and an indigo stripe placed horizontally along each sleeve, torn indigo pants (possibly jeans), black tights, and cobalt loafers.
Personality
Mera is a crafty individual, having managed to fool everyone by pretending to be a museum tour guide as part of her intricate heist plan.
She is also rather aggressive and seemingly selfish, willing to manipulate others and using dry sarcasm to inflict pain onto others. When things don’t go as she has planned, she falls into a fury. This is mainly due to her epithet, revealed in The Doctor is In, with which she can relieve her physical and emotional side effects.
She is incredibly irresponsible as well, putting the whole blame of her museum heist on Indus. Despite this, she has quite formidable power and a high tolerance for pain.
Due to the immense pain she has felt all her life due to her epithet, Mera is willing to go to any length to stop it. She believes, especially due to her stamina absorption ability, that the only solution she has is to steal from others. She has, through coaxing, been able to show some forms of kindness and gratitude to others.
History
Mera was born to a middle class family. She was in a great amount of pain her whole life and was bedridden for her entire childhood. It's not that her condition got better with age, but rather that Mera learned to live with it. This was likely due to her epithet, which she hated more so than any other character has hated their own epithet. She began researching epithets furiously to find a way to control her affliction.
On her journey she eventually passed through Desert Country where she met and challenged Indus Tarbella to a duel and easily bested him. Indus then swore loyalty to her in order to one day become strong like her.
Powers and Skills
Epithet: Fragile
- Fragile: Can increase an object's frailty until it shatters. This also affects her own body, leaving her in a constant state of agony.
- Scattergun: By combining her Epithet with Indus', Mera breaks Indus' barrier into pieces and telekinetically launches them towards her targets.
- Crystal Generation: Creates crystalline spikes and other structures from nothing.
- Watch Your Step: Mera attaches crystalline skates to her feet and swiftly skates across the ground while wielding a crystal spear to attack with.
- Stamina Absorption: Absorbs stamina from other people, healing herself while also dealing equivalent damage.
Epithet: Drowsy
Relationships
Indus Tarbella
After besting Indus in an honorable duel, Indus swore his loyalty to her in order to learn from her and become stronger. Mera took this to her advantage and began teaching him many of her "training practices" such as "training" laundry and "training" doing her taxes. It is implied that Mera finds him attractive, as when Indus tries to distract the kids with his flexing in episode one, she expresses that he "caught her attention", and she hesitates when Molly asks if she "likes him" during episode four.
Molly Blyndeff
During episode one, Mera asks about Molly's epithet. When she receives the answer "it's dumb", she is quick to brush her off. However, later when Molly negates her damage from Giovanni, she proclaims that after she finds the amulet, she would take Molly's for her own. Since Molly could dumb down pain, she was the one Mera was looking for to negate her own epithet, which keeps her in constant pain.. Despite Molly trying to comfort Mera during episode four, it's only when Indus nudges her that she expresses her thanks.
Giovanni Potage
Giovanni is, according to Mera, a mere annoyance. She considers him childish and inferior as a thief, quickly subduing him and his guards. As Giovanni and Molly's relationship grows, he shows even more hostility towards Mera, who is trying to steal her epithet. This culminates in Giovanni gaining the upper hand on her and foiling her plans, as well as beating her in a battle.
Sylvester Ashling
Initially, Sylvester is fooled by Mera into doing her bidding, him believing her to be a member of the museum's staff and bargaining with her in exchange for examining the Arsene Amulet. However, when he learns the truth, he becomes hostile towards her. His epithet reveals that, aside from her fear of ducks, Mera lives her worst nightmare every day. Sylvester shows immense determination in stopping her from harming Molly, which in turn has her steal his epithet for a short while.
Trivia
- Mera's given name is likely a derivative of "mirror", while her surname is Salamin, "mirror" in Tagalog, a dialect in the Philippines, referencing her ability to raise broken glass from the ground and her fragility.
- Brendan Blaber has confirmed that her name literally means "mirror mirror".
- Due to her constant pain and overall fragility, she has to take headache pills for 80% of her diet.
- She has a fear of ducks. The reason is, in her words, "They're small, and fast, and they bite".
- Mera, as well as her bodyguard Indus, are inspired by characters from JelloApocalypse's previous "Anime Campaign", in which they ended up getting married. This is called back to by Mera, who has expressed attraction to Indus on occasion.
Gallery
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Promotional Artwork
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Bio (Normal Ver.)
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Bio (Broken Ver.)
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Trivia 1
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Trivia 2
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Group Artwork
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Turnaround
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