| Tropes |
A - G[]
Affably Evil: Despite being one of the most dangerous members of Faux Babylon, if not the most dangerous one, Sūmi is actually a very nice person. She'll usually treat her guests well, ask them how they are doing and even show concern...
- Faux Affably Evil: ...That is, until one realizes that she always has an agenda. The tea is seldom without poison, the questions without scrutiny and the pleasantries without intent of self-amusement. She just loves to see people's faces when they realize that a refined attitude is not synonymous with kindness.
Bad Boss: She's rather willing to blow up her own subordinates just for the sake of winning a relatively mundane battle where she could resort to using other kinds of Magic to defeat her opponents. However, these subjects rarely are in the possession of any consciousness, and those who do have a tendency to just be scorched, this trait is debatable at best.
Beauty is Evil: While Sūmi does possess some weather-worn features, she is still considered to be rather aesthetically appealing, despite possessing some child-like features. And it's also common knowledge that she is one fucked-up individual. The contrasts between Sūmi's more conventional beauty and Vishvalita's androgynous, flaw beauty also makes for a different perspective.
Bizarre Taste in Food: Implied to eat other humans, but this is ambiguous. She also really likes lemon cakes with butter sauce.
Chinese Vampire: All her underlings belong to this category.
Cloud Cuckoolander: She likes to believe that she is this and also pretends to be this in the presence of others. Her manner of speaking is also regarded as rather weird, especially since she has a tendency to speak her mind when looking at various objects. The stream of consciousness is basically one of her most noticeable traits, although it is pseudo-forced.
Complete Monster: Arguable. Because no one knows what she thinks of, many perceive her as this and therefore treat her as such too. Ultimately, however, the only person that has managed to get close to what might be the real Sūmi Masēn, Sheema Cobanette, suspects that she hides some redeeming qualities inside and masks them with lies. Not only to others, but to herself as well. It might or might not be a case of Believing Her Own Lies.
Curtains Match the Window: Her eyes, hair and clothes are all blue, actually. The curtains match the entire house, in other words.
Dead Guy on Display: A slightly different example. While she does not exactly display bodies ceremoniously, the Wicked Hermit forces corpses into her service by turning them into Kyonshī. Some of the figures in her service, Sheema Cobanette and Daishi Mukuro for instance, were prominent figures in society. The fact that she has killed and forced them into her service might even be more frightening than the mere prospect of humiliating display.
Dissonant Serenity: While Faux Babylon is by no means a very vocal bunch, many of the Les Atouts Maudits have tendencies to express themselves when facing a worthy adversary. Flynn's face is usually clouded with intent of destruction, Helena often expresses genuine shock and surprise, Wilma demonstrates clear arrogance through her pseudo-sadistic smiles, Hansel cackles like a lunatic, Albert has a tendency to annoy adversaries and Malik boasts of how the opponent's death will make him even richer. Sūmi? She smiles with a serene expression covering her face while occasionally making disturbing remarks about mundane subjects, such as cooking tea and gardening. When the focus is on her during a siege, it might seem like she is just continuing her everyday activities.
Dragon Lady: In her past, Sūmi dressed up almost exclusively in cheongsams, used folding fans and played with sex appeal to attract people into her service. As such, it is lampshaded by her, since she attempted to invoke this particular stereotype while she was a high-profile criminal.
The Dreaded: People resent her for good reasons, as she is enigmatic, unpredictable and quite fond of toying with others to relieve her own boredom. Oh, and then there's the tiny detail about her resurrecting the corpses of those who she defeat. To be her eternal slaves and the likes. Not to mention that she almost fired Etherion at the council after masquerading as a member for a long time. The members who were left behind are so afraid of the incident repeating itself they reformed the council's structure in addition to making her a wanted criminal. Now, the very mention of her previous pseudonym, Chang'e, is enough to make even the everso stoic Chairman Ulrich Ärstöchen's heart palpitate slightly.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted. Sūmi has yet exhibited genuine human affection towards anything who is alive. While she is fond of mockingly touching people gently, this is done intentionally to toy with people. This particular trait has dehumanized her apparent persona so much that her undead slave Sheema seems more human than her. Let that sink in for a second.
The Gadfly: Appears to overlap between this and Troll, since she doesn't commit actions which could harm someone due to sadististic tendencies, but because It Amused Her. Cruelty is not her primary source of her amusement, even though it can occasionally be one of them, but her inquisitiveness is. She can be described as somewhat of a scientist meeting shrink, due to her inquenchable thirst for information about humans.
Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Inverting this trope in a rather peculiar manner, Sūmi's eyes remain perpetually child-like and wide, essentially making her seem fairly youthful and innocent even when torturing her victims. Occasionally they drift off into the territory of Empty Eyes.
H - P[]
I'm a Humanitarian: There are various implications that she likes to eat the rude guests who are of no use to her, but whether she really does it or not, remains unknown.
Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Her epithet, The Wicked Hermit, is by no means incredibly intimidating and much less hammy than, say, Tenebrasia's title. However, when one analyzes the words, epiphany may strike: she is a hermit because she is so malicious people avoid her.
Nausea Fuel: Her usage of fetuses and their imagery in her techniques. The spells where she does use the real deal, they explode and splash body fluids all around them. She doesn't mind.
Never Hurt an Innocent: Implied, but not for moral reasons. Sūmi just doesn't hurt bystanders because it offers her no relief of her boredom. If it did, however, she would gladly do so.
Oh Crap: More often than not, she tends to give off vibes that ultimately result in this reaction. One of the prime examples of a situation where she induced this, was when Mathilda killed Landrel in combat and then had to face her, as the Wicked Hermit appeared to collect the body. The fact that she made an S-Class Mage flee without extensive combat demonstrates just how utterly screwed people who attempt to fight her might feel in her presence.
Only Sane Woman: Sūmi certainly seems to regard herself as this, but whether she is this or not is certainly debatable. Very debatable. Despite seeming rather normal in comparison to her guild mates, she is actually one of the least sane ones. Still, she is really nice and hospitable, but that is not necessarily a good sign.
Paper Talisman: What she uses to control her Kyonshī. If they are removed, they regain autonomy, but the paper slips are quite stuck.
Poison Is Evil: Lampshaded. She is fond of poisoning her guests and purposely utilizes it because it's subtle, clean and not to mention evil. She's quite fond of her image, after all.
Pragmatic Villainy: Strangely, she is not too fond of hurting innocents, sacking cities and finds thievery boring, even after spending a life in crime. But that's only because she perceives such matters as easy and she therefore avoids them, since they bore her.
Psycho Electro: While her insanity is relatively subtle, she is certainly not sane and therefore, her electrical motif is vaguely related to her kooky behavior. Sūmi goes as far as combining these two and creates a technique which translates to Fetal Movement. What.
Q - V[]
Red Baron: The Wicked Hermit.
Reminiscing About Your Victims: A rather noticeable amount of Sūmi's time spent with her fellow guildmates is spent with her reminiscing about her glamorous past when she wore cheongsams, drank white wine and put bullets through people's heads. Not to mention the hostages and the rivals that she executed. Her strangely melancholic state of mind can be attributed to the fact that Sūmi was free back then.
Run or Die: Usually how people react when they learn of her former identity. After all, Chang'e is such an infamous figure that people know that this woman will never be up to any good. The fact that she received a significant power boost after joining Faux Babylon and therefore gleefully displays the corpses of the people she has killed, in addition to controlling them does not make her any less threatening.
Shout-Out: Although quite subtle, Sūmi's love for lemon cakes is a shout out to Sansa Stark of A Song of Fire And Ice, whose favorite food includes lemon cakes.
Slavery Is A Special Kind Of Evil: Her relations with her Kyonshī is pretty much based on this. Many react with absolute disgust when they find out what she's doing to corpses and the fact that she even controls their very movement, making escape impossible, makes this even more repulsive in the eyes of even her teammates. Subverted in most of the cases, however, as many undead lose their sentience, but played straight in the case of Sheema.
The Sociopath: Pretty much her character. While she lacks the characteristic temper traditionally associated with sociopaths, she has not exhibited any expressions that even hint at her possession of empathy. Everything she does is basically For The Evulz and based on Evil Feels Good.
Trademark Favorite Food: She is frequently observed drinking tea which stems from leaves which she has cultivated herself. In addition, she is fond of lemon cakes and frequently bakes them from freshly picked lemons.
True Blue Femininity: Noticeably, the Wicked Hermit is fond of dressing up in blue clothes. She is also in the possession of blue hair and blue eyes. Just about everything is blue with her, including her variation of Lightning Magic. Prior to commiting herself to blue, she preferred black clothing and cheongsams, often making her appear like a Dragon Lady.
The Unapologetic: A huge defining factor when it comes to Sūmi's behavior. While she is known for taking her theatrical performances with her guests to the very extreme, there is one particular trait that gives away her act: she does not apologize. While few actually notice this, those who do just perceive it as a rude tic.
- Irony: She goes by the name of Sūmi Masēn, an obvious pun on Sumimasen (すみません), which translates to I am sorry.
Villains Out Shopping: Despite being a rather heinous figure and renowned for her cruelty, Sūmi is quite fond of clothes and enjoys sewing in her pastime. One of the very few times that she actually expressed irritation was when an assassin attempted to kill her when she visited her personal tailor. In essence, shopping is more or less sacred to this girl.
W - Z[]
We Have Reserves: How she has a tendency to treat her her zombie slaves hints to an attitude reflecting this. While some of the undead, such as Sheema and Daishi, are indispensible to her, most of the others are treated as fodder.
Wicked Cultured: She is fond of cheongsams, wine, grows her own tea leaves and is a huge fan of fine cuisine. She also likes to relieve her boredom by engaging people in combat, torture them and turn them into her mindless slaves until they give up.