Maquia

Maquia ｢マキア Makia｣ is the protagonist of Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms. She is an orphaned Iorph who escapes from the attack on her home by the Mezarte Kingdom. Lost and alone, she finds an infant in the arms of his dead mother and decides to raise him as her own, giving him the name Ariel.

Maquia lives in Iorph alongside her friends Leilia and Krim. She is taken away by a rampant Renato during Mezarte's assault; afterwards, she wanders into a caravan and finds an orphaned infant who she decides to adopt. She makes her way to Helm Farm, where she is taken in by Mido. In Ariel's childhood, she leaves for Mezarte to rescue Leilia, but fails even with Krim's help.

Maquia and Ariel travel together until finding a home in Dorail when he is a teenager. He eventually decides to leave to become a soldier; Maquia is kidnapped by Krim immediately afterwards. During the attack on Mezarte, she encounters Dita and helps deliver her baby; she then treats Ariel's wounds following the battle. She frees the last Renato and rescues Leilia before flying off together. Maquia returns to Helm Farm decades later to see Ariel on his deathbed, then departs to continue her journey.

Like all Iorphs, Maquia has blonde hair and red eyes. She ties the front of her hair with a white ribbon decorated with small butterflies. As a young Iorph, she appears to have the body of a 15-year-old throughout the film. She wears traditional Iorph clothes of a long white dress with cut-outs around her shoulders, a gold belt, and laced white sandals. On the night of Mezarte's attack, she is dressed in a simple nightgown and sandals.

After being separated from her clan, she dyes her hair orange to match Ariel's and wears it untied. She wears a gray shirt, a long black skirt with a dark brown cloth tied around her waist, and dark brown boots. While traveling, she covers herself with a red cloak. In Dorail, she puts her hair up in a twisted ponytail tied with a blue ribbon, and dresses in a blue shirt, a long dark brown skirt, and dark red slippers. She dons a white apron at her work and covers herself with a large yellow coat while walking outside.

During her time in captivity, her hair grows out beyond her waist, traditionally only allowed by mothers in Iorph. Krim then cuts it to its normal length, returning her hair to its original color. She returns to wearing her Iorph clothes during the invasion on Mezarte.

She is last seen with her hair partially tied back with a white butterfly ribbon, and dressed in a white shirt and a long blue skirt with black strap shoes. She carries a brown bag containing the burned piece of Hibiol she used to swaddle Ariel as an infant.

She is a shy and soft-spoken young girl; according to Elder Racine, she is also quick to cry. At the start of the film, she believes herself to be alone with no family of her own. Through raising Ariel, she comes to understand love and grows into a wise and thoughtful young woman by the end of the film. She retains a lingering doubt of her ability to be a mother to Ariel, which she slowly lets go as he grows up, until she is finally able to admit her past worries and regrets to an adult Ariel. Their reuniting and subsequent separation helps Maquia to accept their new lives apart from each other and how much he has grown.

From the start, she shows that she has a strong resolve and determination which helps her push through the hardships she encounters. While she initially lacks confidence, she quickly learns as Ariel grows up so that she is able to be strong for him. She loves him dearly and is willing to do everything possible to give him a good life, even as he grows distant from her; as such, she is still grief-stricken when he leaves her as a teenager. She later confesses to Ariel that just the thought of him was enough to keep her going during her years in captivity. Her love for her son remains strong even up to his death; while she is devastated by his passing, she affirms she is still glad to have been his mother.

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