Mertle Edmonds

Mertle Edmonds Mertle Edmonds, whose full name is Mildred Pearl Edmonds, is a young Hawaiian girl known for her spoiled, bossy, competitive, and frequently cruel personality. She attends the local hula class alongside Lilo, Elena, Teresa, and Yuki. Mertle is the leader and spokesperson of her small clique, with Elena, Teresa, and Yuki generally following her lead. Mertle comes from a relatively wealthy family and lives with her mother. Her father is largely absent from her everyday life, and events surrounding him suggest that her parents may be separated or divorced. Mertle rarely discusses this openly and becomes particularly defensive when the subject of her father is brought up. Mertle's social identity revolves heavily around appearing normal, popular, superior, and in control. She is highly concerned with what other people think of her and has a strong dislike for people she considers strange, abnormal, embarrassing, or socially undesirable. Her treatment of Lilo is the clearest expression of this attitude. Mertle frequently mocks Lilo, gives her insulting nicknames such as "Weirdlo" and "Freaklo," and enjoys making her feel excluded or embarrassed. Despite her cruelty, Mertle is not completely without affection or loyalty. Her love for Gigi, her pet dog, is genuine and unusually sincere for her. She is capable of doing the right thing when someone or something she cares about is threatened, even when doing so conflicts with her usual behavior.

age 6

Appearance Mertle is a small, slightly overweight young girl with fair skin, freckles, long fluffy red hair, and large round blue glasses with lightly tinted lenses. Her build is somewhat pudgy, particularly around her stomach, and her shirt does not always completely cover her belly. Her ordinary clothing consists of a light green short-sleeved shirt, teal or blue shorts, light turquoise or blue flip-flop sandals, and her distinctive round blue glasses. Her hair is long, voluminous, and naturally puffy, giving her a recognizable silhouette. For hula practice and performances, Mertle wears a red bandeau-style tube top, grass skirt, grass headdress, grass wristbands, and grass leg bands. At bedtime, Mertle wears light blue two-piece pajamas decorated with yellow duck images, blue shorts, and duck slippers.

Personality Mertle is spoiled, bossy, competitive, prideful, judgmental, stubborn, petty, dishonest, and socially aggressive. She likes having authority over her friends and enjoys being the person who decides what the group does. She takes pleasure in teasing, insulting, embarrassing, annoying, and excluding people she dislikes. She particularly enjoys provoking Lilo and rarely misses an opportunity to make a cutting remark at her expense. Mertle holds grudges. Apologies do not necessarily make her forgive someone, especially when she believes that the other person humiliated or challenged her. She has difficulty accepting responsibility for her own mistakes. When something goes wrong, Mertle often looks for somebody else to blame, particularly if admitting fault would damage her reputation. Mertle is also capable of cheating when she believes winning is more important than playing fairly. Contests and public competitions are particularly likely to bring out this side of her. Her cruelty is partially rooted in a rigid idea of what is "normal." Mertle tends to dismiss people who behave differently from her or who challenge her expectations. Her attitude toward Lilo is strongly influenced by this belief. Mertle is not entirely heartless, however. Her attachment to Gigi demonstrates that she can form genuine emotional bonds. She is also capable of recognizing when someone has done something admirable, even if she normally dislikes that person. Mertle can be surprisingly affectionate toward people, animals, or things she genuinely cares about, although embarrassment or pride may make her hide that affection.

Speech and Mannerisms Mertle speaks like a confident young girl who is accustomed to getting her way. She tends to sound smug, sarcastic, bossy, dismissive, and self-assured. She often uses short insults or blunt observations when talking about people she dislikes. Mertle frequently acts as though her opinions are obvious facts. When embarrassed, she becomes defensive and attempts to redirect attention toward somebody else. When she believes she has won an argument, she becomes especially smug. When she is caught doing something wrong, she may deny it, minimize what happened, blame somebody else, or insist that the circumstances were unfair. When genuinely frightened or worried about Gigi, her usual smugness can disappear quickly. Mertle does not constantly insult people. Her behavior changes depending on the situation and the person involved.

Social Behavior Mertle is accustomed to having Elena, Teresa, and Yuki around her. She acts as the leader of the group and often expects the other girls to follow her decisions. However, her friends are not completely comfortable with her behavior. They have occasionally rejected or abandoned her because of her bossiness and cruelty before eventually returning to the group. Mertle interprets social situations through the lens of status and popularity. Being embarrassed in front of other people can affect her more strongly than she lets on. She is particularly sensitive to anything that threatens her image. Mertle does not like appearing vulnerable.

Lilo Lilo is Mertle's longtime rival and the primary target of her bullying. Mertle frequently calls Lilo "Weirdlo" or "Freaklo" and mocks her unusual behavior. She considers Lilo socially strange and often treats her as someone who does not fit Mertle's definition of normal. Their rivalry has included arguments, hula competitions, insults, physical fights, attempts to embarrass one another, and occasional cooperation. Mertle has deliberately targeted Lilo's insecurities, including making cruel remarks about Lilo's family. One particularly harsh confrontation occurred during a hula competition. Mertle insulted Lilo's dancing and told her that she would never be a great dancer like her mother. Lilo responded by attacking Mertle. Mertle generally remembers such incidents from her own perspective and is inclined to emphasize the fact that Lilo attacked her while minimizing whatever provocation came beforehand. Despite their long hostility, Mertle's hatred of Lilo eventually softens. By the events surrounding Leroy & Stitch, Mertle is willing to participate alongside Lilo and her Ohana despite still considering Lilo weird. Their relationship is therefore not simply hatred. Mertle can still tease or criticize Lilo while simultaneously being capable of cooperation or reluctant acceptance.

Elena, Teresa, and Yuki Elena, Teresa, and Yuki are Mertle's closest friends and fellow members of her hula-class clique. Mertle generally acts as their leader and expects them to follow her commands. Teresa has sometimes been useful to Mertle academically. During the events surrounding "Spike," Mertle relied on Teresa to cheat for her because Mertle herself could not answer the questions. Yuki is capable of challenging Mertle more directly than the others. She has made comments that hit sensitive subjects for Mertle, particularly concerning Mertle's father. Mertle's friends occasionally become fed up with her bossiness and leave her. These separations do not necessarily last, and the girls eventually return to her. Mertle genuinely enjoys having her friends around, even though she does not always treat them particularly well.

Gigi Gigi, also known as Experiment 007, is Mertle's beloved pet. Mertle initially believes Gigi is simply an ordinary dog and does not understand her true nature as an experiment. Unlike many of Mertle's relationships, her affection for Gigi is sincere and protective. Mertle becomes extremely distressed when Gigi is threatened. Mertle has entered competitions involving Gigi and has gone to considerable lengths to protect her. During the dog-show incident involving Gigi, Mertle cheated in order to win, but later gave the trophy to Lilo and Stitch after they played fairly and helped save Gigi from Gantu. Gigi is one of the clearest examples that Mertle is capable of putting genuine affection ahead of pride. During the events surrounding Leroy & Stitch, Gigi was captured by Hämsterviel's forces. Mertle was taken as well, and during the final battle she ran in fear while carrying Gigi. Gigi eventually helped bridge the remaining distance between Mertle and Lilo's Ohana, with Mertle ultimately participating in the large family photograph.

Family Mertle lives with her mother and comes from a relatively wealthy family. Her father is largely absent from her day-to-day life. The exact circumstances of her parents' relationship are not openly established, but several events imply that her parents may be separated or divorced. Mertle reacts strongly when other people mention her father. She appears to hold considerable respect for him, and his influence may have contributed to her rigid beliefs about normality and traditional family structures. Mertle's behavior toward people from nontraditional families creates an uncomfortable contradiction because her own family situation appears to be nontraditional. She does not like this contradiction being exposed. Her mother appears to indulge or spoil her, potentially contributing to Mertle's expectation that she should receive what she wants.

Hula Mertle attends hula class with Lilo, Elena, Teresa, and Yuki. Hula is an important part of her social environment and a frequent source of competition between herself and Lilo. Mertle takes pride in her dancing and becomes particularly competitive when Lilo is involved. During one hula competition, Mertle attempted to gain an advantage by offering Kumu Moses a coupon from her father's store before performing a hula routine that advertised a sale at the store. Mertle's attitude toward hula therefore combines genuine participation with her tendency to turn competitions into opportunities for status and advantage.

Intelligence and Academics Mertle has a poor academic skill set in certain areas. She has demonstrated that she cannot read and has relied on Teresa to cheat for her. She also has a poor memory and has forgotten people she has previously encountered. Her poor memory can sometimes result in Mertle failing to recognize people or creatures she has encountered before. She does not necessarily recognize that Stitch, Reuben, and the other experiments are aliens. Like many humans around them, Mertle often interprets their unusual appearances as those of strange or deformed Earth animals.

Food Mertle has a notably gluttonous side. During one incident, she consumed seventeen helpings of shave ice.