| Fiona Famenias | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Japanese Name |
フィオナ・ファメニアス |
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Romanized Name |
Fiona Fameniasu |
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Nickname(s)/Alias(es) |
Dog Girl (犬娘 Inu Musume) |
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Debut |
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Voice actor |
伊藤静 |
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Status |
Deceased |
Fiona Famenias was a talented perfumer, lead researcher of the Famenias Company and user of The Scent God’s Scripture. She is present in The Perfumer story.
Background[]
Fiona was born in a family involved in the cosmetic industry. As a talented perfumer, she assumed the position of lead researcher of the Famenias Company and formulated its flagship, the luxurious perfume Blue Trance, which brought the company back to life. During her research, she also developed the Relic, a powerful drug of great value to the mafia, specifically to the Padauk Company.
Fiona knew how her research was dangerous, since the Blue Trance was a diluted version of the Relic. Nevertheless, she presented her father and president of the company Mr. Famenias with the Relic recipe, otherwise the business would crash and they would need to move out. Fiona burned the Relic materials and samples, trying to keep the product out of the streets. However, unsatisfied with the profit from the Blue Trance, Mr. Famenias started selling the Relic to the crime syndicate in secret.
The perfumer inherited The Scent God’s Scripture from her great-grandfather, who told her to never show it to anyone. However, it’s unknown if her enhanced sense of smell and skills to produce perfumes are natural or granted by the Phantom Book. The newspapers have reported about the young genius perfumer receiving the book with the secrets of the company, fact which resulted in good publicity to the family business. From her great-grandfather, she learned about Phantom Books and the Dantalian's Bookshelf.
She keeps The Scent God’s Scripture locked in a desk inside her laboratory located in the capital, not too far from the Famenias Company headquarters. The old mansion serves as her home, standing on a vast property with large greenhouses and gardens containing foreign animals and plants. Looking more like a zoo or a botanical garden, the ecosystem produces a nice smell. Beyond this area taken care by Fiona alone, there’s a wasteland also emanating a pleasant atmosphere. The place is where Fiona stores valuable raw materials to produce perfumes, such as ambergris and civet musk. She started researching about fragrances as a young child.[1]
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Fiona's past in the manga.
In the manga, during her childhood, Fiona had to move out with her father from their old building containing the memories of her great-grandfather and mother. She used to manipulate scents in her great-grandfather's laboratory even before receiving The Scent God's Scripture. Fiona promised to create perfumes that make people happy so that the Famenias family could return to their home. She eventually became the best perfumer of the kingdom. In this adaptation, Mr. Famenias affirms that Fiona is responsible for every product commercialized by the company.[2]
Personality[]
She sees herself as a beautiful woman, becoming surprised when Hugh ignores her at the start. Although she’s unpredictable, Fiona emanates a gentle atmosphere, explaining why Dalian doesn’t act shy next to her. Fiona is a straightforward young woman who doesn’t interact a lot with other people. Because of her enhanced sense of smell, she can feel people’s true emotions and the lies they tell. Nevertheless, the gentle woman doesn’t seem gloomy. Mr. Famenias admits having problems dealing with her.
With her skill, she can produce nice perfumes, recognize a good people in a crowd and identify different substances in the air. For instance, Fiona can tell what someone has eaten or if someone is carrying a gun. As a side effect, she’s sensitive to bad smells and can even faint because of that. As a talented perfumer, she wishes to formulate a scent that makes people happy, rather than serving only as a decoration. After all, a smell can directly affect the brain to evoke memories or influence emotions. Although a commercial success, she sees the Blue Trance as a failure.
Her knowledge about perfumes covers raw materials and manufacturing methods. She started her research during her childhood, using the Famenias Company laboratory, which she takes care alone. Despite caring for him, Fiona eventually rebels against her father, who only thinks about profit, going against her artistic ideals. While at that, she can act impulsive and run away from her home. The perfumer also values the Phantom Book and the knowledge she inherited from her great-grandfather. She ends up assuming responsibility for creating the Relic recipe by taking extreme measures. Her powerful formulations give her enough confidence to confront an entire criminal organization.[1]
Perfumes[]
Fiona used her talent and the knowledge from The Scent God’s Scripture to produce perfumes with different effects. She keeps some of her creations inside her leather pouch. One of them sharpens the sense of pain many times over. She broke a small glass containing a liquid on Noss’ head, nullifying the effects of the Relic and making him feel intense pain from all the gunshot wounds he previously acquired. He died after getting into shock and suffering a heart attack.[1] In the anime, the product is shown as a pink liquid.[3]
She has another small bottle containing a liquid with the effect to put people into a hypnotic state and making them submissive. According to Dalian, smell can directly affect the part of the cerebrum which controls emotions, so it can be used to manipulate someone. Fiona threw the bottle at Vance’s face and ordered him to take her to the Padauk Company mansion. Later, she applied the perfume on all the Padauk Company mobsters and told them to commit suicide.[1] In the manga, this effect is produced by The Scent God’s Scripture hidden power.[2]
The perfumer also took a vial containing a light purple liquid from her pouch. Fiona applied the product on Hugh to induce him with intense drowsiness and make him unconscious for a few minutes. She presented Dalian with a bottle of a highly pungent ammonia solution to awake him.[1] In the anime, both products are shown as a green liquid.[3]
Blue Trance[]
A luxurious perfume which saved the Famenias Company from a difficult situation. It’s in fact a diluted version of the Relic with some impurities mixed in it to weaken its effects. The Blue Trance (ブルートランス Burū Toransu), Bluetrance in the manga, is the biggest hit of the company, famous for being the chosen product of influential foreign actors.[1] In the anime adaptation, it’s contained in a fancy blue bottle depicting the company's logo, The Scent God’s Scripture, and shut with a flower-shaped top.[3] The perfume comes inside a box in the manga adaptation, although its bottle is totally plain, only depicting the letter “F” and a book.[3]
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Relic[]
Fiona considers the Relic (レリック Rerikku) a failed work which she brought forth during her research to formulate the Blue Trance. The recipe to produce the drug was given by Fiona to her father in order to protect the Famenias Company. Instead of focusing on selling the Blue Trance, the president also started dealing the Relic to the Padauk Company. The criminal organization planned to destroy the Famenias Company and obtain monopoly on the Relic production. Its recipe is a thick file stored in a shelf at the back of the president’s office.[1] In the manga, the recipe is contained in The Scent God's Scripture and can only be read by Fiona.[2] The anime shows the drug as a blue translucent liquid.[3]
The Relic stimulates the limbic system via olfaction, delivering a large amount of substances to the brain and driving people mad. One of its users, a drug addict, committed trespassing and arson during his search to buy the Relic. However, its incredible effects are more evident in Noss’ case. According to him, the product washes away any traces of sadness or pain. The criminal is totally dependent of its narcotic odor, always carrying a small bottle of the product. Wielding only a knife, he shows inhuman strength and agility, being able to fight against armed men and resist multiple gunshots, including from a high-caliber revolver and from a shotgun. The Relic also grants him unbelievable reflexes and insensitivity to pain. It’s also possible that it turns people more violent and insensitive.[1]
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Appearance[]
Fiona is described as a small young woman wearing a white coat. Her long hair reaches her waist and gives her the appearance of a child, although she’s around 18 years old. She carries a large leather pouch containing small glass bottles of her formulations.[1] In the anime, she wears a white-and-blue long dress under her white coat. Her eyes are golden and her hair is tied with a white band. Two strands hang from each side of her head.[3]
In the manga, she wears a light shirt and a dark skirt under her coat. In this version, the young woman has blue eyes and a strand of her hair which is always standing up. As a child, she’s seen wearing long socks and a short dark dress with a belt and a neckerchief. Her blond hair was shorter back then, and she used to have a strand braid adorned with a ribbon. In the manga and anime, she uses high boots and court shoes, respectively.[3][2]
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Plot[]
Light novel[]
Fiona tries to get Hugh's help.
During her escape from the Famenias Company employees, Fiona pushes against a crowd to enter a cafeteria. She sniffs the people around and identifies Hugh as a good person, asking for his help. She’s totally ignored by Hugh and Dalian. Acting impulsively, Fiona takes the bag of fried bags from his hands, telling him to do something against the men chasing her if he wanted it back. She ends up fainting after the men release a stink bomb.
At the Famenias Company headquarters, her father informs Hugh and Dalian about Fiona’s skills and role as lead researcher of the cosmetic business, even mentioning a mysterious book, rumored to be the reason of their success. He has compensated them for their spoiled fried breads. Meanwhile, Fiona is taking a bath to get rid of the foul smell. When she appears, the perfumer can smell the fried breads Dalian had eaten. She takes the last fried bread from her hands and finally introduces herself. Hugh and Dalian listen about her discontentment with how Mr. Famenias only thinks about profits. Then, Dalian asks to see her Phantom Book. Her late great-grandfather told her to never show it, but she eventually changes her mind due to the fried bread she ate before.
Fiona takes them to her laboratory. She reveals a vast knowledge about perfumes and her desire to produce a scent that makes people happy. When it’s time to show the Phantom Book, the perfumer realizes that she left her key back at the Famenias Company headquarters. Before leaving the property, they meet a drug addict searching for a product called “Relic”. Fiona becomes agitated when he mentions the name. After all, the Relic shouldn’t be in circulation. The man also talks about the president’s life being threaten by the Padauk Company. Fiona runs to check her father.
Back at the headquarters, Fiona, Hugh and Dalian find multiple bodies. Before Hugh can stop her, Fiona enters the president’s office. Noss had already sliced her father’s throat. The murderer thanks her for creating the Relic. However, Fiona sees the product as a failed work which she developed during her research to formulate the Blue Trance, the biggest hit of the Famenias Company. Vance appears, holding the recipe describing the method to produce the Relic. He orders Noss to kill her, so only the Padauk Company can make the drug. Hugh protects her during a difficult fight against Noss. Fiona eventually gets in between them and ends up stabbed by Noss. The latter dies when Fiona uses a product to sharply increase his sense of pain. Hugh reads a Phantom Book to heal her. Recovered, the perfumer takes a second bottle from her pouch to prevent Vance from attacking. The product puts him into a hypnotic state. She uses another formulation to make Hugh unconscious. Fiona apologizes and orders Vance to take her to the Padauk Company mansion. Before leaving, she presents Dalian with the key to her laboratory and an ammonia solution to wake up Hugh.
Fiona dies.
When Hugh and Dalian find the mansion, Fiona had already used her hypnotic product to make all the mobsters kill themselves. They see her next to a large window, illuminated by the moonlight. The perfumer took responsibility for the Relic by stopping the Padauk Company. In the past, she used the Blue Trance, a diluted version of the Relic, to save the Famenias Company. However, her father explored its recipe to do business with the mafia. Fiona shows a sad smile while tears run down her cheeks. She collapses, revealing a gunshot wound on her flank. A red stain spreads over her white coat. Nonetheless, she accepts her punishment. Although Hugh urges Dalian to save her, Fiona couldn’t be healed by a Phantom Book for the second time. Dalian tells her that they will take her to a doctor. Fiona smells her gentle lie before closing her eyes for the last time.
Fiona's laboratory is destroyed.
After Fiona’s death, Hugh and Dalian learn that the drug addict burned her laboratory along with her Phantom Book and researches, probably frustrated for not finding a sample of the Relic. Regardless, only Fiona had the skills and talent to use them. The fire produces a scent that makes people remember good memories. Despite her tragic fate, Fiona reached her goal of producing a perfume that makes people happy. According to Dalian, her name will be forgotten, but people will remember that scent during a happy moment.[1]
Anime[]
In the anime, the bomb is never released, although Fiona stumbles and ruins Dalian’s fried breads. Additionally, in the adaptation, Hugh and Dalian first meet Fiona at her place, after Hugh asks Mr. Famenias to see her. After all, one of her father’s employees had locked her inside the laboratory. The man hesitantly gives her the key, after she promises not to run away.
Before Hugh, Dalian and Fiona can talk about The Scent God’s Scripture, the drug addict knocks the door. At that moment, Fiona’s watcher had already left to fight against Noss at the company's headquarters.
After being stabbed, Fiona is healed only after defeating Vance. Put into a hypnotic state by one of Fiona's formulations, Vance is ordered to take her to the Padauk Company headquarters after tying Dalian up. Instead of using Fiona’s ammonia solution, Dalian kicks Hugh awake.[3]
Manga[]
The manga shows an introduction with Fiona smelling the lies of a servant, who tells her that Mr. Famenias is busy with consultations. In this version, she never takes the bag from Hugh’s hands, although she still faints due to a stink bomb. She appears relaxing in the bathtub, keeping The Scent God’s Scripture nearby. Soon after, she sees the Padauk Company mobsters through a window. Fiona asks for Hugh and Dalian’s help and they accept in exchange for examining her Phantom Book. They escape using Hugh’s car, but Noss manages to stop them. In order to save Hugh and Dalian, Fiona threatens to kill herself, affirming that she’s the only person capable of reading the Relic recipe.
The perfumer takes off with Noss and eventually is forced to produce the Relic in an improvised laboratory. When the mobsters use Mr. Famenias to test The Scent God’s Scripture, Fiona releases its hidden power, making her enemies commit suicide. She used to much power from the Phantom Book, explaining why Hugh couldn't heal her. After her death, Mr. Famenias shows her laboratory to Hugh and Dalian. He burns her works to prevent the Relic from being produced again. The fire produces a smell which reminds him of her childhood, when they had to move out, when she promised to make perfumes that bring happiness to people, so they could return to their old building someday. Hugh is presented with the sample of Fiona’s first perfume.[2]
Trivia[]
- In the manga, Fiona inherits The Scent God's Scripture from her grandfather.[2] In the original, it's her great-grandfather who was the first president of the Famenias Company and the original owner of the Phantom Book.[1]
- She appears on the back cover of the manga volume 4.[4]
- The end of Episode 7 shows that her laboratory is located in a large property right in front of the Famenias Company headquarters.[3] In real life, the place should be the site of the Foreign Office building.
- Relic is a 1995 novel by American authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Part of its plot includes an addictive substance, obtained from Brazilian plants, developed by an assistant curator and sold in the streets. The users become monsters with inhuman strength and speed.[5]
- Dalian mentions Fiona in the last chapter of the manga, since Charlotte also released the power of a Phantom Book after panicking.[6]
- Fiona works in a clothing store in Dalian Days. She helps Dalian choose a swimsuit.[7]
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References[]
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