History Characters / Velma

* InformedAttribute: [[spoiler: Despite being the main character in a detective show, Velma actually had very little involvement in gathering clues and has poor detective skills. Norville is the one who figured out that Brenda was killed because of the photos in Spooner's Malt Shop bathroom and Daphne is the one who talks about Fred's insecurity about being seen in that bathroom, which leads to Velma jumping to the incorrect conclusion that Fred is the murderer. Norville is the one who convinces Fred to reveal that Velma's mom was at his house the night she disappeared, Fred is the one who finds evidence of the previous owner of his home (Dr. Perdue) by sneaking into his father's office, Norvile is the one who explains Dr. Perdue's backstory by talking to his parents, Velma's dad confirms that it's Diya's handwriting on a note Velma found, and it's Diya's manuscript is what reveals the invisible ink on the note (something Velma only found by accident when she swatted an insect with it). When they find the killer's phone, Daphne finds the fingerprints to unlock it through blacklight, Velma then has to wait for Diya's memories to come back so she can reveal the killer, Daphne's birth mother is the one who sends Daphne the locket she found in the caverns, Velma only recognizes the symbol through the logo on her glasses, and an internet search is what connects Victoria Jones to the general and revealing that she's the murderer. All Velma does is falsely accuse 2 men of murder and find evidence either by accident or through sheer circumstance. The most she does is reveal that Fred can't be the killer because he doesn't know how to use a knife.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: On a hypocritical level, Velma mostly acts this way about Fred being the killer because he is a white rich guy with a small penis, and even does an offensive remark about the sickle cell. She even body shames the hot girls for being hot, till she realized what she has done, while she tries hard to be the inverse, she plays it straight without knowing it until being called out.

*** '''Self-Righteousness:''' Velma believes she's standing up to societal injustices and she will put herself forward to do what she thinks is right because she sees herself as ahead of the curve. However, Velma doesn't understand that her attitude is what detracts people from wanting her help and her idea of societal injustices comes across as victim cards and petty justifications for blaming society for what goes wrong in her life. Velma's belief that Fred is guilty of murder is largely motivated by her belief that Fred is a "Rich white dude" and an "Entitled rich guy" who can get away with murder and would likely kill people just because he can. While also saying that white people only sell drugs for less sympathetic reasons, whereas "Minorities on TV can only deal drugs to escape poverty". As Olive would point out, Velma is just as bad as the society she speaks so badly of.

* [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim What Do They See In Her?]]: From start to finish, Velma has been a self-absorbed, manipulative liar with little to no respect or regard to the people around her. She’s had Fred sent to prison, was overly possessive of Daphne’s attention, manipulated and disregarded Norville’s feelings, and yet all three of them are attracted to her.

* FatalFlaw: Leniency. Norvile is way too nice and forgiving for his own good and is all too willing to put up with Velma's selfishness out of love for her. When he and Gigi start dating, she suggests that he cut Velma out of his life so he can learn to stand up for himself because she's taking advantage of him. He and Gigi eventually break up because Gigi finally accepts that Norville doesn't like her as much as he likes Velma.

* FatalFlaw: Leniency. Norvile is way too nice and forgiving for his own good and is all too willing to put up with Velma's selfishness out of love for her. When he and Gigi start dating, she suggests that he cut Velma out of his life so he can learn to stand up for himself because she's taking advantage of him.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: When he’s trying act like a bad boy, he refuses to take any of Gigi’s calls. Later, he finds out that she was stung by a bee sting and his refusal to answer his phone could have led to her dying.

* BuxomIsBetter: Fred's rationale for including Kimmy on his list of the five hottest girls in the school.

* InformedAttribute: [[spoiler: Despite being the main character in a detective show, Velma actually had very little involvement in gathering clues and has poor detective skills. Norville is the one who figured out that Brenda was killed because of the photos in Spooner's Malt Shop bathroom and Daphne is the one who talks about Fred's insecurity about being seen in that bathroom, which leads to Velma jumping to the incorrect conclusion that Fred is the murderer. Norville is the one who convinces Fred to reveal that Velma's mom was at his house the night she disappeared, Fred is the one who finds evidence of the previous owner of his home (Dr. Perdue) by sneaking into his father's office, Norvile is the one who explains Dr. Perdue's backstory by talking to his parents, Velma's dad confirms that it's her Diya's handwriting on a note Velma found, and it's Diya's manuscript is what reveals the invisible ink on the note (something Velma only found by accident when she swatted an insect with it). When they find the killer's phone, Daphne finds the fingerprints to unlock it through blacklight, Velma then has to wait for Diya's memories to come back so she can reveal the killer, Daphne's birth mother is the one who sends Daphne the locket she found in the caverns, Velma only recognizes the symbol through the logo on her glasses, and an internet search is what connects Victoria Jones to the general and revealing that she's the murderer. All Velma does is falsely accuse 2 men of murder and find evidence either by accident or through sheer circumstance. The most she does is reveal that Fred can't be the killer because he doesn't know how to use a knife.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: In a hypocritical level, Velma mostly acts this way about Fred being the killer because he is a white rich guy with a small penis, and even does an offensive remark about the sickle cell. She even body shames the hot girls for being hot, till she realized what she has done, while she tries hard to be the inverse, she plays it straight without knowing it until being called out.

* AntiHero: Although she's trying to catch a serial killer, Velma is an UnscrupulousHero at best because she's willing to exploit Norville for personal gain and publicly humiliate Daphne to make her emotionally vulnerable in a fight in front of the school, and a NominalHero at worst for accusing Fred of murder for biased reasons and later claiming that Norville's dad is the killer on circumstantial evidence.

* LoveEpiphany: [[spoiler:In the tenth episode, after listening to old voicemails Norville left her, Velma starts realizing that she loves him.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: In a hypocritical level, Velma mostly acts this way about Fred being the killer because he is a white rich guy with a small area, and even does an offensive remark about the sickle cell. She even body shames the hot girls for being hot, till she realized it what she has done, while she tries hard to be the inverse, she plays it straight without knowing it until being called out.

* [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim What Do They See In Her?]]: From start to finish, Velma has been a self absorbed, manipulative liar with little to no respect or regard to the people around her. She’s had Fred sent to prison, was overly possessive of Daphne’s attention, manipulated and disregarded Norville’s feelings, and yet all three of them are attracted to her.

* NotSoAboveItAll: Norville may be the TokenGoodTeammate but he’s also not a very good boyfriend to Gigi, has a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter in regards to Velma, took schadenfreude in Fred getting falsely imprisoned, and [[spoiler:is responsible for the death of Victoria Jones though she was also the serial killer which mostly justified his actions]].
* TokenGoodTeammate: Out of the main characters, Norville is probably the most well-adjusted and better-natured because he's not spoilt horribly by his parents (unlike Fred), not insecure about his family situation (unlike Daphne), and he's more emotionally intelligent (unlike Velma).

*** Arrogance, Velma expects to be venerated and heeded because she's the smartest in her school, not understanding that how she presents her argument is just as important as the facts. Her judgmental nature and bitterness leave her with very few friends outside of Daphne and Norville, and few are willing to listen to her arguments because of her aggressiveness. Daphne reveals that Velma ended their friendship because Velma expected Daphne to abandon her for popularity, not understanding how much Daphne values their friendship and how heartbroken she would be.
*** Self-Righteousness, Velma believes she's standing up to societal injustices and she will put herself forward to do what she thinks is right because she sees herself as ahead of the curve. However, Velma doesn't understand that her attitude is what detracts people from wanting her help and her idea of societal injustices comes across as victim cards and petty justifications for blaming society for what goes wrong in her life. Velma's belief that Fred is guilty of murder is largely motivated by her belief that Fred is a "Rich white dude" and an "Entitled rich guy" who can get away with murder and would likely kill people just because he can. While also saying that white people only sell drugs for less sympathetic reasons, whereas "Minorities on TV can only deal drugs to escape poverty". As Olive would point out, Velma is just as bad as the society she speaks so badly of.
*** Hypocrisy, Velma expresses hardline views on identity politics, but she doesn't realize that she's being just as racist and sexist in her opinions. She repeatedly calls men sexist for overvaluing a woman's appearance over her intelligence but also shames the hottest girls in school for not living up to her standards of femininity.

'''Olive''': It's gone, Velma! This wasn't an exercise in deprogramming, it's an exercise in slut-shaming. No woman should ever have to change who she is or how she dresses to not be murdered.\\
'''Velma''': But you're more than your looks, Olive. You can reverse your car without even looking at the camera.\\

* AbusiveParents: His dad is more of a guy who wants Fred to be the ideal man in a jerk way, [[spoiler: His mother is shown to be way worst and wants to kill her son by replacing and discarding his brain]], which can make it easy to feel sorry for poor Free.

*** She gets Fred arrested and later sent to prison without explaining the evidence and by making racist criticisms about him during the trial as she believes he would commit murder because he's rich and white. Which infuriates Fred to the point where he makes the jury sentence him to prison. Despite the obvious evidence that Fred can't be the killer because he's so co-dependent on his family that he can't and doesn't know how to use a knife.

*** She gets Fred arrested and later sent to prison without explaining the evidence and by making racist criticisms about him during the trial as she believes he would commit murder because he's rich and white. Which infuriates Fred to the point where he makes the jury sentence him to prison.

** She's also a deconstruction of TheSpock. Although there's no denying that Velma is the smartest, she's discompassionate and always acts on the first impulse without actually ironing out the evidence, questioning the ethics of accusing someone, or even considering if she might be wrong.

* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: Velma manages to get Fred sent to prison based on circumstantial evidence and by making racist remarks about him being rich and white, only to find out that he was innocent the entire time. She then accuses Norville's dad of murder and nearly has him arrested but is proven wrong and this ends her friendship with Norville for nearly getting his dad arrested.

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Velma is a deconstruction of InsufferableGenius. She expects to be venerated and heeded because of her intelligence and honesty. However, because she lacks any form of tactfulness or any idea of compromise with her beliefs, she has very few friends outside of Daphne and Norville, who also struggle dealing with her selfish behavior and dismissive attitude. When prompted to give an opinion, few are willing to actually listen to Velma's ideas because she presents them in such a hardline way that it detracts any supporters before she even finishes her argument.

* FatalFlaw: leniency, Norvile is way too nice and forgiving for his own good and is all too willing to put up with Velma's selfishness out of love for her. When he and Gigi start dating, she suggests that he cut Velma out of his life so he can learn to stand up for himself because she's taking advantage of him.

* WrongGenreSavvy: Velma believes she's the progressive underdog in a society that favors white men and undermines women but more often than not, she has to be told that her efforts to help are misguided or she presents them in a way that's so cynical and aggressive that it appears selfish and biased. Although Velma is right that men shouldn't kill women, the principal has to tell her that she's demanding social change overnight and that self-defense classes are a quicker and more effective first step in dealing with a serial killer. Velma then tries to beat Daphne in a fight by reducing her to a point of emotional vulnerability through humiliation but loses the fight because all this accomplished was making Daphne angry enough to fight more aggressively and it rallies the crowd against Velma for using a dirty tactic. Velma is also tasked with making the hottest girls in school ugly so the serial killer will not target them but is told by Olive that she's being just as sexist for slut shaming them and not all women are the same as Velma.

* HopelessSuitor: Because Velma struggles with her attraction to both Daphne and Fred and because she doesn’t feel anything romantic for him, Norville is desperately pining after Velma in the vain hope that she will be his girlfriend. [[spoiler:By the finale, Velma realizes she loves Norville too... after having already gotten into a relationship with Daphne. It's unclear by the end of the season whether the two are together or not.]]

** Not only is Velma dealing with a MissingMom, her [[AmoralAttorney dad]] is a selfish jerk that sees nothing wrong with taking his teenage daughter to a strip club and letting her drink herself sick. He’s also the primary source of Velma’s unrepentant JerkAss behavior judging by his behavior towards his new partner Sophie and his overall dislike of being a father to his daughters.

* EnfantTerrible: Apparently, Velma was so awful as a child that it drove her mother to leave her and her father.

** Daphne’s biological parents are criminals who abandoned her in the crystal mines by choosing the crystals that they were illegally selling over their infant daughter and her biological mother also smoked heavily during her pregnancy. Her father even admits they don't deserve her before attempting to [[ParentalBetrayal betray]] her. At the very least, she has her adoptive moms who love her very much despite being utterly useless and incompetent detectives.

* TheCynic: Velma has a negative view of the world and she often says how unfair the world is or how injustices are around every corner. This is also deconstructed through Velma's personal life as this attitude has left her with very few friends outside of Norville and Daphne, with Gigi even encouraging Norville to leave Velma so he can learn to stand up for himself. Her attitude also makes her unhelpful and counterproductive, with the few times she does make an effort to help to turn out to be just as misguided and ineffectual as the society she speaks so badly of, just for different reasons.

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Velma is a deconstruction of InsufferableGenius. Velma expects to be venerated and heeded because of her intelligence and honesty. However, because she lacks any form of tactfulness or any idea of compromise with her beliefs, she has very few friends outside of Daphne and Norville, who also struggle dealing with her selfish behavior and dismissive attitude. When prompted to give an opinion, few are willing to actually listen to Velma's ideas because she presents them in such a hardline way that it detracts any supporters before she even finishes her argument.

* DoesNotLikeMen: Velma has a prejudice towards males, especially white men, and frequently states that men are given benefits and privileges because of their sex and race. Whereas women like Velma have to work hard and endure sexism.

*** Arrogance, Velma expects to be venerated and heeded because she's the smartest in her school, not understanding that how she presents her argument is just as important as the facts. [[spoiler: Her judgmental nature and bitterness leave her with very few friends outside of Daphne and Norville, and few are willing to listen to her arguments because of her aggressiveness. Daphne reveals that Velma ended their friendship because Velma expected Daphne to abandon her for popularity, not understanding how much Daphne values their friendship and how heartbroken she would be.]]
*** Self-Righteousness, [[spoiler:Velma believes she's standing up to societal injustices and she will put herself forward to do what she thinks is right because she sees herself as ahead of the curve. However, Velma doesn't understand that her attitude is what detracts people from wanting her help and her idea of societal injustices comes across as victim cards and petty justifications for blaming society for what goes wrong in her life. Velma's belief that Fred is guilty of murder is largely motivated by her belief that Fred is a "Rich white dude" and an "Entitled rich guy" who can get away with murder and would likely kill people just because he can. While also saying that white people only sell drugs for less sympathetic reasons, whereas "Minorities on TV can only deal drugs to escape poverty". As Olive would point out, Velma is just as bad as the society she speaks so badly of.]]
*** Hypocrisy, [[spoiler: Velma expresses hardline views on identity politics but she doesn't realize that she's being just as racist and sexist in her opinions. She repeatedly calls men sexist for overvaluing a woman's appearance over her intelligence but also shames the hottest girls in school for not living up to her standards of femininity.]]

'''Olive''': It's gone, Velma! This wasn't an exercise in deprogramming -- it's an exercise in slut-shaming. No woman should ever have to change who she is or how she dresses to not be murdered.\\

* {{Hallucinations}}: Ever since her mother went missing, Velma has been having hallucinations involving skeletal hands and monstrous vines. They're usually triggered when she attempts to solve a mystery [[spoiler: because Victoria hypnotized her to make it harder for her to find her mother, which could ruin the Jones matriarch's plans.]].

* BladeEnthusiast: Has a fondness for swords, from collecting them, to having fencing as a hobby, [[spoiler: to transferring to a sword-themed school in Episode 10 before coming back in a BigDamnHeroes moment to use his sword skills to deflect a bullet, resulting in Victoria's death.]]
* ButNotTooBlack: Norville is shown to have a black mother and a white father.

* FreudianExcuse: Fred's misogynistic JerkJock exterior is all done out of insecurity towards being a late-bloomer still undergoing puberty, particularly when compared to his more masculine father.

* DisabledInTheAdaptation: Velma has vivid hallucinations indicating a severe mental disorder, which she had never had in previous iterations. [[spoiler: {{Subverted|Trope}}s when the season one finale reveals her hallucinations were caused by hypnosis.]]

* DisabledInTheAdaptation: Velma has vivid hallucinations indicating a severe mental disorder, which she had never had in previous iterations.

* {{Hallucinations}}: Ever since her mother went missing, Velma has been having hallucinations involving skeletal hands and monstrous vines. They're usually triggered when she attempts to solve a mystery.

* TheMentallyDisturbed: Velma suffers from visual and auditory hallucinations that stress her body to the point of having heart palpitations, her attempt at solving mysteries being the trigger.