Alternative Character Interpretation / Miraculous Ladybug

Warning: unmarked spoilers ahead

Alternative Character Interpretation in Miraculous Ladybug.

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Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug

• Is Marinette really a better love interest for Adrien than the likes of Chloé and Lila (and Kagami, depending on your interpretation of her character), or is she simply the lesser of all evils? She’s acted like a Stalker with a Crush towards him in the past, having his schedule memorized, following him around covertly etc. There are several instances where when Adrien seems to pay attention to another girl, she gets jealous and tries to sabotage the relationship (Lila, Kagami — and while the former could be labeled an Asshole Victim, it would be a bit more of a stretch with the latter). Some of her plans to impress Adrien in the past have even resulted in akumatizations. While she does learn her lesson every time this happens, the lessons never seem to stick (though in all fairness, she's far from the only character in this show who constantly suffers from Aesop Amnesia). She is the only one of the four to not take physical liberties with Adrien's person - the other three cling to him without his express permission, and the one time Marinette does, she had thought he was a statue, immediately backing off when she realizes it's really Adrien - and she is the only one to give up on gaining his affections when she thinks he would be happier with someone else.
  • Then comes the revelation in Season 5 that many of Marinette's quirks are the result of Chloé taking one prank too far, traumatizing her enough that she blotted out the memory and is subconsciously driven to plan for every scenario to never end up the victim of a cruel joke ever again. It's once Marinette finally remembers her trauma and overcomes it that she's able to move forward and be in a healthy relationship with Adrian.

• Does Marinette really only like Adrien for his "perfect" model persona and good looks? Or is she in love with the kindness, consistency, and stability he seems to project? Her reaction to Cat Walker seems to imply the latter, plus she didn't like Adrien initially because, despite knowing he was a model, she mistakenly thought he was a bully just like Chloé.
• There is an interpretation that "Stormy Weather 2" has a major change in attitude by Marinette. She put "your friend" on her note, not taking another opportunity to deliver a love message as in "Backwarder." In this interpretation, Marinette has gotten on the same page as Adrien: she will just be his friend. Tikki congratulates the "new and improved Marinette," and in the end panel she is walking away proud and tall while Adrien looks wistfully at the valentine. This may be confirmed by Word of God, since Thomas Astruc responded to a retweet of this theory◊ with approval.
• Season 4 has her call on the other temporary Miraculous holders for help, whose civilian identities are known to Shadow Moth, even though she benched Chloé in Season 3 for the exact same reason. Is it because she realized her treatment of Chloé helped push her to Hawk Moth? Is it hypocrisy on Marinette's part? Or was she simply looking for a reason to kick Chloé, whom she dislikes and who is still a bully to people as a civilian, off the team and is much more accommodating to the other temporary holders because they're her friends?
• Season 4 again. Is Ladybug too harsh with Cat Noir - rejecting him by throwing him into a trash bin, relying more on the temporary heroes than on him, saying he's a partner like any other, telling him off for "wasting her time" which results in him renouncing his Miraculous - and is she in fact to blame for Cat Noir's depression and anger? Or is she in over her head with responsibilities as a new guardian and genuinely trusted that Cat Noir was doing OK (especially since when she asked if anything was wrong earlier, he denied it), only losing her temper when she is pushed to her breaking point? Was she being overly harsh to throw Cat Noir in the trash bin, or was she frustrated with him not listening to her and putting her in a position where she had to reject him yet again, while also harassing and humiliating her in front of others by insisting that they kiss? Was she "benching" Cat Noir each time she was out with the temporary heroes, or was she trusting that he would show up like he always has before, only for him to not show up?
• Season 4 finale, Ladybug recruiting "Adrien" to officially be part of Team Miraculous, did she want to help Adrien spend more time with his friends, even if he didn't know it himself due to secret identities? Or did she intend to replace both Cat Noir and Rena Furtive making Flairmidable her new partner and confidant?
  • Throughout the Season 4, Ladybug kept Cat Noir away, assuming it was the only way to prevent him from becoming Cat Blanc, and even in "Kuro Neko", her first instinct was to look for a replacement instead of trying to fix things with him. After they spoke, Ladybug simply limited herself to using kinder words with Cat Noir to keep him happy, while she placed all her trust in Alya.
  • As for Alya, although Ladybug was willing to forgive her after she apologized, she could no longer resume her role as Rena Furtive and considering the dream of Marinette in "Sentibubbler", Alya's betrayal of her trust would have reinforced her fear that she couldn't really trust her friend.

Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir

• His feelings towards Ladybug. Is he Entitled to Have You, or does he have no idea how to deal with his feelings for her, having been isolated all his life?
  • He never apologized to Théo for his lie in "Copycat" that he and Ladybug were "an item". Is this an act of jealousy, or his normal pattern of avoiding conflict?
  • Are his repeated attempts to flirt with her harmless? Merely annoying and inconveniently timed? Or are they sexual harassment - particularly the way he keeps trying to kiss her? She usually pushes him away when he tries, unlike when she punched Félix - is this because she views it as playfulness and not serious from him? Because she deeply values their friendship and doesn't want to hurt him by rejecting him too harshly, hoping he'll get the message if she does it gently? Or is it because, since he is a permanent Miraculous holder like she is, she is keeping it lighthearted, professional, and not overly-confrontational since she has to continue working with him no matter what?
  • When he immediately went to date Marinette upon suspecting she was Ladybug in "Cat Blanc", was this him seeing her in a new light? Or was he leaping at the chance to be with her because it was the only way he could be with Ladybug, even though she didn't know that he knew her secret - and if so, would this qualify as a case of Questionable Consent since she didn't know his true reason for dating her?
    • He seems to learn his lesson somewhat in "Elation" when he told Marinette they couldn't date as Marichat because of the power imbalance in their relationship, as well as upon learning that she was getting over himself as Adrien, but considering that they had gone on a date and even gone as far as kissing already, wasn't it a little late for him to worry about taking advantage of her?
• During Syren, was Adrien threatening to quit a bluff or an understandable response to being treated more like a subordinate than a partner? Or was it an act entitlement to a secret that wasn't Ladybug's to share?
• He repeatedly dives in front of Ladybug and takes hits meant for her. Is it protective instinct, self-destructive behavior, a way of getting her attention by making her worry about him, or simply a logical reaction to the fact that she's the team's White Mage and is thus more likely to be able to fix any harm that comes to him than the other way around? The way he deflects the matter by joking around when she brings him back doesn't help matters.
• His actions in "Chameleon". Though he's put off by Lila's lies, he chooses to confront her in private, and later suggests that Marinette stop trying to expose Lila since it'll further escalate the situation. Some believe this is the Extreme Doormat option, potentially justified by Adrien using similar methods to avoid angering his father, while others may feel this is simply the polite, professional way of dealing with the situation.
  • He also never tells anyone about what happened in the park during "Volpina", which may lead some to feeling he is too lenient when it comes to other's behavior and that his passivity leaves Marinette looking unreasonably jealous to the rest of the class. Alternately, given his fame and his social status, he could have learned early on to ignore lies and avoid causing scenes that will hurt his reputation. There is also the matter that Marinette misinterpreted his own actions and wrongfully accused him on his first day of school instead of giving him a chance, which inadvertently actually lends credibility to Lila's side of the story.
  • Another possibility - did he genuinely underestimate how dangerous Lila was during "Chameleon"? Recount that Marinette took full responsibility for losing Gabriel's book in "The Collector" without implicating Lila, and never tells Adrien that Lila threatened her in the bathroom during "Chameleon". Is Adrien dismissing her as a relatively harmless Attention Whore because he doesn't have all the facts, only to see her true nature during "Oni-Chan" and "Ladybug"?
  • In "Oni-Chan" and "Ladybug", after witnessing the situation with Lila continuing to deteriorate, Adrien decides to settle the matter on his own. He forces Lila to lie again to get Marinette back in school, but some feel he is still being too conflict-avoidant since he doesn't tell anyone else about her lying. Is he still concerned about Lila being akumatized? Or does he believe he can control the situation by himself?
• Is Adrien really oblivious because he hasn't noticed he may like Marinette as more than "just a friend"? Or is it expected due to his sheltered upbringing and social awkwardness plus his feelings for Ladybug getting in the way?
  • Is he really oblivious to Marinette's crush, or does he, due to his experience as a famous model, notice Mari's crazed-fan, stalkerish behavior and his "just a friend" reasoning is his way to ignore/avoid it so as not to lose her? Marinette was, technically, the first 'friend' he made apart from Chloé, or at least the first one to openly be called "friend", and him admitting she could be just another crazy fan would erode that friendship.
    • Or, alternatively, does he notice her crush, NOT consider her a crazy fan (especially considering his own devotion towards Ladybug), knows he doesn't return her feelings and doesn't want to hurt her because he genuinely enjoys her friendship, and so pretends not to know?
  • Alternatively, is Adrien so accustomed to people fangirling or getting nervous around him due to his looks and fame that he's become desensitized to it? To the point Marinette's behavior would seem relatively normal to him as her being just starstruck.
• Adrien's feelings for Ladybug/Marinette:
  • Does Adrien really unconditionally love whoever the girl is behind the mask, or is he just infatuated with Ladybug's ideal public persona the way Marinette is with Adrien's "perfect" model persona? While many episodes explore whether or not Marinette is Loving a Shadow (particularly in "Ephemeral"), Adrien's Single-Target Sexuality for Ladybug and Master of the Mixed Message treatment of Marinette remains unexamined.
  • Despite Adrien spending hundreds of episodes denying that Marinette is anything more than "just a friend", even when Ladybug rejects him and Marinette seems available (like in "Weredad"), the second Adrien learns Marinette is Ladybug in both "Cat Blanc" and "Ephemeral," he immediately claims that he always felt there was something more than friendship between them, which can can come across as Blatant Lies. Is it a Self-Serving Memory where he claims he "always knew" he loved Marinette after he learns she's conveniently the same girl he's been pining for? Or is learning that Marinette is Ladybug the Love Epiphany he needs to finally realize the feelings for her that he's been oblivious to for so long?
• Cat Noir's reaction to Ladybug throwing him in a trash can in Season 4's "Glaciator 2":
  • Is he genuinely horrified and remorseful that he ignored her boundaries so badly for so long that she finally snapped and resorted to shouting and violence to get him to back off, and is he genuinely mindful about respecting her boundaries going forward? Or is he playing up the excessive guilt and self-pity card to make her feel guilty and ease up on her iron-clad rejection?
  • What's more, was he really Innocently Insensitive in his pursuit of her until she reached her breaking point, or did he know deep down he was pushing it and thought he could keep getting away with it until her violent rejection forced him to actually acknowledge and respect her boundaries?
  • Was he pushing the limits? Or was he just trying to make a joke to make Ladybug laugh and it didn't go well? In "Truth", Ladybug admitted that he really enjoyed Cat Noir's sense of humor, and Adrien considers humor as a way to make someone feel better.
• Does Adrien genuinely love his parents despite their various forms of neglect on his own or does his nature as a sentimonster based on love and desire to be "exactly what his parents wanted" prevent him from having strong negative emotions towards them?

Chloé Bourgeois/Queen Bee

• Is Chloé just a heartless Alpha Bitch who cares for no one but herself and acts nice only to gain favour, or a misunderstood girl who's aware she's The Friend Nobody Likes and simply influenced by her father's own power and corruption? "Despair Bear" has managed to sort of provide a kind of middle ground - she doesn't seem to have advanced beyond her childish nature at all due to the sudden childhood trauma of her mother abandoning her.
• Chloé's reason for promising Marinette that she won't tell Adrien about her crush in "Animaestro": Did she really mean what she said and that it would be a waste of time? Or was it because she feared Adrien would actually return Marinette's feelings if she told him? Or did Chloé draw the line at humiliating Marinette in that way? Perhaps she also felt that simply handing herself or Marinette the victory depending on how you look at it would not be as fun and she enjoys competing with Marinette. Or maybe she wanted something to hold above Marinette's head, blackmail material of a sort?
  • Actually, is it even Adrien that Chloé is in love with? Is she in fact in love with Marinette? Given how her parents don't have a good track record when it comes to actually raising their daughter, it's very possible that she somehow mistook being in love for jealousy, as there likely wasn't anyone to teach her what being in love is like. It's also highly probable that she is aware and attempts to push back the feelings in fear of being hurt, which given how she felt during her Parental Abandonment, would make sense. Her constant pining for Adrien can easily be seen as an attempt to repress her feelings for Marinette given that her feelings for him don't seem to be romantic and that she seems more preoccupied with preserving their friendship. As for Marinette, she seems to have Chloé's undivided attention on numerous occasions (more than most other classmates). Given that she is also jealous of Marinette and has an inferiority complex, it's easy to deduce that she doesn't feel she is worthy of her and would rather tease and belittle her as an excuse to have her in her life. Pretty much the whole ending of Animaestro is Chloé flirting with Marinette and perhaps it wasn't Adrien that she was upset about seeing in a relationship in Cat Blanc, but Marinette.
• How justified was her betraying the team to Hawk Moth? Was she justified on some level because she wanted to help save her parents and Ladybug pretty much only chose Kagami over her to get her away from Adrien (and, at the same time, proved to the audience that her earlier rationale for kicking Chloé off the team was a blatant lie by picking the only other team member whose identity was known to Hawk Moth)? Or was she not justified at all due to her constant Aesop Amnesia proving she wasn’t worthy of wielding a Miraculous at all and because Ryuko’s powerset was more needed at the time?
• In "Stormy Weather 2" Chloé seems obsessed with being Queen Bee. Did she deliberately provoke Aurore in hopes of getting some superhero action?
  • From the same episode: during the flashback scenes showing both Chloé's good and bad actions, is Sabrina the one having the flashbacks, or Chloé? Given Sabrina doesn't appear in several scenes, Chloé might be the one remembering those. But the fact she's remembering scenes of her acting mean before Sabrina mentions her being Queen Bee makes you wonder: was Chloé remembering her mean moments out of guilt? Her being a bit upset and confused about why Ladybug isn't coming makes it seem as if she's denying her wrong actions, so she may be more aware of how terrible her attitude is than she shows. Her "once a villain, always a villain" comment might come off as her self-projecting her insecurities on Aurore at the moment.
• How about her behavior in Season 4? Is she really evil now? Or has she simply convinced herself that she is because her removal from the team has convinced her she is not meant to be a hero?
• Overall, how much of Chloé's bad behavior is she actually responsible for? While the narrative is quick to chalk it up to "she's always been this awful", there's ample evidence that it could also be the result of her being surrounded by adults who enable said behavior; putting aside her abusive mother, her father is quick to cater to his daughter's every demand (even abusing his power as mayor), Principal Damocles is easily cowed whenever she threatens to bring in her dad, Bustier has outright rewarded her bad behavior on at least one occasion (in "Zombizou", where she tells Marinette to see Chloé vandalizing the gift she worked hard on as her "contributing" to it), along with Gabriel and Lila both using her as pawn in their schemes (Gabriel using her as a means to akumatize her or those she wronged while Lila a self-serving False Friend who encouraged Chloé to dial her behavior to eleven). Keeping all that in mind, Chloé's bratty behavior comes off more as the natural result of her being someone who's never been told "no" or punished for anything rather than something she always was. Season 5 paints it in a more negative light as she tormented Marinette for years, even traumatizing her in the worse way possible a year before Gabriel became Hawk Moth attacks.

Gabriel Agreste/Hawk Moth

• Since it was revealed that Gabriel is Hawk Moth, there have been several fan reinterpretations of his character. If he knows Adrien is Cat Noir, then he can seem underhanded and manipulative, faking concern for his son and being aloof to injuring Cat Noir. The flipside is Gabriel knowing he's fighting against his son, but accepting the situation and believing Adrien will understand, since his "greatest wish" appears to be finding Adrien's mother. Of course, whether or not he actually does know or just suspects his son of being Cat Noir is up for debate.
  • "Gorizilla" confirms that he did suspect Adrien being Cat Noir after seeing his ring, though it wasn't much to go on. His plan for the episode is to confirm whether he really is Cat Noir, and Adrien successfully (and accidentally) throws him off at the end with a body double.
  • In "Frightingale", is it just a coincidence that Gabriel wanted Adrien to play Cat Noir or is Hawk Moth suspecting him again?
• While his desire to resurrect his wife is genuine by all observations, we've never gotten a hint as to what exactly he'll wish for if/when he gets both Miraculouses. If he knows about the Equivalent Exchange nature of the wish and still has something resembling a conscience, he might just limit it to awakening her. But he's also shown to be a callous man and something of a megalomaniac, so he could just as easily wish for something like ultimate power to make sure his family will never be threatened again. Also, if he knows about the Equivalent Exchange, whose life is he planning to sacrifice? It has to be someone he actually cares about, so is it Adrien, Nathalie, or himself? "Recreation (The Last Day — Part 2)" confirms the last point to be his sacrifice, although considering Marinette had to give him a last-minute shake-up to his mindset, it's unclear if this was always the plan.
• In "The Puppeteer 2", why didn’t he give Puppeteer the ability to control people through their statues like he gave her with the dolls? Was it because either his statue or Adrien’s statue was among them? If his official villain song is any indication, he may not stop with simply bringing back his wife as the song itself says he wants ultimate power & world domination. However if it's canon is debatable, as his personality in the song sounds more like Skeletor than Hawk Moth.
• Does he actually love Adrien, or does he see him as nothing more as a pawn? While he does have several Pet the Dog moments with Adrien throughout the series (e.g. occasionally showing concern whenever Adrien's caught up in an akuma attack), overall he's incredibly controlling of his son's life, is perfectly willing to akumatize him without remorse on multiple occasions, and at least one instance of him playing a fatherly role (making pancakes for Adrien in the mornings) is done solely to manipulate him and make Nathalie happy. The sentimonster reveal adds another layer to this, giving the implication that while Gabriel might see Adrien as human — he refuses to have his son exercise any independence from him.

Lila Rossi

• After "Volpina", the two most common fandom interpretations were that she was either a snobbish compulsive liar who'd do anything and everything to get Adrien and get in Marinette/Ladybug's way, or that she's a poor misunderstood girl who lied to make friends in a new school where everyone has a celebrity connection or two. It was eventually revealed to be the first interpretation, but there are a few fans who still try to pull the sympathetic interpretation, either by rewriting canon or pulling an extreme Draco in Leather Pants.
• Is she simply a Hate Sink and a Manipulative Bitch, or does she have some form of untreated mental illness? Her actions in the show point towards her potentially having mythomania (a compulsive tendency to exaggerate and/or tell lies; she even claims such in "Ladybug", though ironically it's unknown if she’s telling the truth), and she fits all the requirements needed to label her The Sociopath. Muddying the waters further, Lila mentions in "Chameleon" that she lies because she believes that people only want to hear what they want to hear (or something along those lines). Whether or not that's true or just an excuse to continue being a manipulator is unknown.
• How many of her actions are justified by a Freudian Excuse (among others, fans have thrown out her constantly moving due to her parents' jobs or Ladybug publicly calling her out as potential ones)? Or do her actions greatly outweigh whatever excuse she has by this point?
• While Lila admits to love Adrien, did she genuinely love him as a person or as a stepping stone? It seems to point to the latter as she promised Oni-Chan that she would no longer purse him if she killed Ladybug in "Oni-Chan" and "Confrontation" has her outright hate Adrien upon learning he loves Marinette.
• How good of a manipulator is she, really? While she's presented In-Universe as easily holding everyone in her sway, several fans have noted that her lies could easily be disproved if every other character weren't holding the Idiot Ball.
• Certain revelations and developments in Season 5 have made fans begin to ask: is Lila even fully human, and are her lying abilities more of a literal superpower than everyone initially assumed? Another explanation for this could consist in Lila actually being an adult woman exploiting her teenage appearance to manipulate multiple families into adopting her/believing that she's their long lost daughter, similar to Leena/Esther, the main antagonist from the horror movies "Orphan" and "Orphan: First Kill". Interestingly, Lila shares other (potential intentional) similarities with Leena, such as their passion for painting and knowing sign language (which they use to communicate with the deaf members of the families they're manipulating). But for such a revelation to be possible in the future, the writers may require to retcon her attraction towards Adrien, considering the show's target demographic.

Alya Césaire/Rena Rouge

• Is she a good friend to Marinette, or does she only side with her when it's convenient? This is especially notable in episodes with Lila in them; does she have a point in brushing off Marinette's concerns, considering that Marinette's initial opinion of Lila was colored by her closeness to Adrien? Is she just a hypocrite (asking Marinette to verify her claims when she never verified Lila's)? Is she just a victim of poor writing when it comes to episodes where Lila has a prominent role? Or did she bring up legitimately good points about Marinette's extreme behavior?
• Is Alya really on board with Marinette's crush on Adrien? At first she seems to support it, but over the episodes she seems to be less and less sure of it. At times she makes petty jokes about it and often expresses disapproval such as rolling her eyes whenever Marinette mentions it. In "Captain Hardrock", she even encourages Marinette to go after someone else.
  • It's possible that she was on board with it at first, however, Marinette has shown very little progress in acting on her feelings and seems content to bumble through every interaction with Adrien, so it's likely she just got tired of supporting a relationship that was going nowhere and seemed somewhat unhealthy considering how obsessive Marinette acts in some episodes.
  • On the other hand, in some episodes she seems more obsessed with the idea than Marinette is, constantly pushing her into situations where she's alone with Adrien in the hopes that she'll finally confess even though Marinette protests. Does she think Marinette's exaggerating about how nervous she is and just needs a good push, or is she so into the idea of the relationship and so confident about her own feelings that she's oblivious to how scared Marinette actually is of confessing and possible rejection?

Zoé Lee

• Is her declaration of love for her half-sister Chloé at the end of "Queen Banana" genuine or an act? She is trying to get Chloé to take the Magic Charm that will protect her from being akumatized again. She says the charm is from their mother, and that's a lie. She uses the exact words from her movie script that she has practiced saying with simulated emotions. Zoé seems genuinely nice, but she was pretending to be different to fit in with her classmates in New York. How much love does she really have for a sister she just met and who has treated her horribly? Another possibility is that she was drawing on her feelings for her sister while acting out the scene and wanted to say those lines to her from the beginning.

Kagami Tsurugi

• Is Kagami a hurtful person for noticing Marinette likes Adrien and chastising her for not having the guts to say it while skating away with him? Or is this her way of genuinely trying to help through Tough Love by saying what Marinette needs to hear? OR is she mad at Marinette because she thinks she's the girl that Adrien likes that rejected him (Irony) and then came to the ice rink with another boy even though she obviously still has feelings for him; in other words, does she think Marinette is leading Adrien on?
  • The latter seems unlikely, since Adrien himself dismissed Marinette to Kagami as "just a friend". As of season 3's "Heart Hunter", it's clear that Kagami knows of Marinette's feelings for Adrien and feels badly for hurting her, but she chooses Adrien even if there are consequences for her and Marinette's new friendship. Marinette chooses the opposite and steps aside for Adrien and Kagami to be together, leaving her heartbroken.
  • The former guess - chastising Marinette for not having the guts to confess to Adrien - seems to be confirmed by Thomas Astruc in a tweet, in which he claimed Kagami was pretty much saying, "move your ass or Adrien's mine". Further indicated by the territorial way Kagami clings to Adrien's arm and glares at Marinette at the end of "Desperada".
• In Ikari Gozen, did Kagami tried to befriend Marinette because she genuinely wanted pals, or was she trying to please Adrien by being in good terms with a close friend of him?
  • It was the former. Kagami never mentions wanting to impress Adrien, and given her childhood, it appears that she genuinely wants friends. Even Marinette figures this out.
• Is Kagami really a healthier choice for Adrien than Marinette, Chloé, or Lila? Or is Kagami equally blindsided by who she wants Adrien to be, rather than who he really is? Was what she said as Oni-Chan, that Adrien is the only one worthy of her because he's "perfect", the way she really sees him? It's implied so: when Adrien acts goofy (his real self) while she's trying to draw his essence, she scolds him for acting like a clown, implying she doesn't know/isn't in love with the real Adrien either.
  • Kagami's attempt to sketch Adrien's true self in "Lies". Was it an Innocently Insensitive dismissal of the fact that Adrien likes to joke around? Or a way of reassuring him that she loves him even when he is anxious and awkward, without either his father-imposed model persona or his clownish repression of all negative feelings as Cat Noir?
• Kagami's feelings toward Félix are also questioned by most of the fandom due to her still having feelings toward Adrien after he became a lot more assertive even though she knows that Adrien and Marinette started dating in Season 5. Does she like Félix because she is genuinely sympathetic toward him since they both have strict and abusive parents? Is Kagami projecting her "perfect version of Adrien" into Félix so she can move on and stop loving Adrien?

Kwamis and past Miraculous holders

• Is Marinette really Tikki's favourite, or is she pulling something similar to lying about Parental Favoritism in order to get the best possible ending? Remember that Tikki is as old as the universe and has fought with multiple famous war heroes over the years. If this is true, then this would balance out Tikki and Plagg's personalities a bit. While Plagg is bad at lying, Tikki excels at it.
  • That could be situational. For example, a good parent doesn't love their son more than their daughter, but while hanging out with either s/he probably won't think of the other. Relationships can't be neatly prioritized by the human heart; their 'ranking', if indeed a ranking exists, changes based upon time and necessity. All Ladybugs are chosen for different reasons and are "the best" in different, equal ways. Then again, Tikki isn’t human, and thus could be working on Blue-and-Orange Morality in regards to this.
  • As someone who knew Joan Of Arc and other famous war heroes in person, Tikki can offer a perspective history books can't. She probably helped every previous Ladybug with their insecurities the same way she does with Marinette.
• Is Plagg an Anti-Mentor who is looking for an excuse not to use his overwhelming power on Adrien's excursions as Cat Noir, or is he feigning his laziness in a bit of Reverse Psychology as a Trickster Mentor, recognizing that a rebellious streak is what Adrien needs in order to grasp his true potential?
• Since the Pied Piper was a previous Fox Miraculous holder, was Trixx Forced into Evil, or did he influence the Pied Piper into believing that luring the children away from their homes was for the greater good? The latter seems more correct, as Trixx is a Guile Hero, after all. Also, foxes in general have been thought and believed to be evil throughout the history of several mythologies, including the various Asian Fox Spirits.
• The Mage may not be as good a person we were led to believe him to be, or just really bad at thinking things through.
  • Point 1: the existence of the Butterfly Miraculous. Empowering people for the greater good? Cool and good. Then you learn that the Butterfly Miraculous has the ability to mind-control and hurt people as a "fail-safe". Was that put in to rein in champions that tried to use their newfound powers for less than savory means, or for more sinister reasons?
  • Point 2: the Miraculous give the holders the ability to command their kwamis to do anything, whether they want to or not. Was this added to make it so the kwamis could be Forced into Evil, or simply to rein in more unruly, dangerous kwamis (considering the damage that Plagg has racked up in the past)?
  • Point 3: as revealed in the New York special, each Miraculous has a different activation phrase depending on whether the wielder is planning to use it for good or evil. If they were designed to be used purely for good, why would that be a thing? Note that this problem does not exist in the French dub, where the transformation sentence is the same for every Kwami, and regardless of context: "[Kwami's name], transform me!".

Other characters

• Fans have questioned whether or not Emilie Agreste was actually any better as a parent than Gabriel when she was around - after all, she was apparently around for Adrien's last several birthdays before "The Bubbler" while doing little to improve them, and Adrien only got the kind of freedom he wanted (i.e, going to public school) after she was gone and with just a little bit of pushing from Nathalie.
• Is Audrey Bourgeois really in the wrong for abandoning Chloé? Torches and pitchforks aside, examine her situation - she wants to be a fashion designer in New York, but her husband wants her to stay in a country where she doesn't feel happy and she can't do what she loves. She doesn't have any obligation to be in a country where she doesn't want to be. And if she abandoned Chloé, it could have been because being a fashion designer requires a lot of time and energy (as any professional designer can tell you), and Audrey couldn't manage parenting and designing at once. Even if she could, no parent should be forced to take care of a child if they don't think they'll be a good influence on them, because that'll just lead to more issues (this doesn't excuse the way she treated Chloé in "Style Queen", though). Although that apparently didn't stop her from having another daughter while in New York.
  • One wonders what actually led them to get married in the first place. Was one (or both) just using the other's status as a boost for themselves?
• Chloé's father André. Is he abusive? In several episodes, he's shown to have a Manchild personality, and not only that, he selfishly demands his wife should stay in Paris with him, while showing no empathy or sympathy to the fact that it's making her unhappy. He disregards all of her feelings and expects her to cater to his. On the other hand, when Chloé threatens to tell Audrey that he didn't give her what she wanted, he was clearly afraid, implying that Audrey could be the abusive spouse.
  • André's tendency to spoil Chloé could be rooted in abandonment issues from his wife and a fear that Chloé might one day do the same.
  • To add onto the theory of Audrey being the abusive partner, we later learn a lot more about André in Seasons Four and Five that puts her in a worse light: that André gave up both his passion as a director and his original name to appease his wife, going into politics at his family's request, only for Audrey to abandon him anyway to follow ''her'' dreams as a fashion designer and cheat on him while they're estranged. And now that she's beck into his life, she's also influencing their daughter to act more like her and slipping back into her old habits despite promising to make things work with him at the end of Season Three. With all this in mind, it's not hard to see that André is the one being abused in the family, and has been so broken down by his wife that he can barely be anything more than a passive, appeasing father to Chloé out of fear of abandonment.
• Like Alya, the entire class doubting Marinette when she objects to Lila in "Chameleon". The events of the episode effectively state that they won't take Marinette's word against Lila, when Marinette has repeatedly helped them out before, and the previous episode ended on a show of love and support for her, while Lila is just some girl they saw for one day and then vanished for weeks. On the other hand, they all have borne witness to Marinette having an established pattern of unreasonable and unjustified accusatory behavior. They've seen Marinette jump to conclusions about a new student before.
  • Near the end of "Chameleon", did the class return to their original seats because Lila and Marinette changed theirs, or did they feel guilty for forcing Mari to the back earlier and figured her behavior towards Lila that day partially stemmed from this? Alya does tell a blatant lie to Mrs. Bustier to sit next to Marinette again and tells her she didn't want her sitting alone, while the rest of the class seem eager to go back to their old seats. It should also be mentioned that Marinette appears to be back on good terms with her class afterwards, which might infer that they did work out that day's problem with each other; albeit off screen.
  • In the same episode, given how Marinette disappears after lunch only for Chameleon to show up at school later on, did Mari's class initially think she was the one Akumatized? Considering the school's history of Akumatizations along with their shocked faces after she leaves, it comes off like the class is worried about her and the worst case scenario happening.
• Is the Santa Claus that appeared in "Santa Claws" and "Chrismaster" the real deal, or is he just an ordinary man who dresses up as Santa and gets caught up in Ladybug and Cat Noir’s escapades?
• Tom and Sabine, Marinette's parents. While no one can deny that they love their daughter and want the best for her, after the airings of "Weredad" and "Animaestro" some fans have wondered if Chloé wasn't the only reason Marinette grew up with self esteem issues. Despite being seemingly Good Parents, they don't provide any emotional support for Marinette after she gets "rejected" by Cat Noir, seem to reaffirm her negative feelings in "Animaestro" and in general make bad decisions due to lack of critical thinking.
• In "Silencer", when the titular akumatized villain decides to force a confession out of Bob Roth instead of stealing his voice and falsely confess while pretending to be him, is it really because it'd mean more for Silencer or is it because Silencer figured out people who knew of his power would wise up to the trick or at least suspect something if they heard the confession without seeing it coming from Bob Roth's mouth?
  • Likewise, was Ladybug a Hypocrite that episode for telling Silencer that forcing a public confession is "revenge, not justice," only to turn around and engineer an Accidental Public Confession a few minutes later? Or was she also shrewd enough to realize that Bob Roth clearly being forced to "confess" something under duress would cast the sincerity of his claim in doubt, whereas if he admitted it of his own volition it would remove all traces of doubt in viewers' minds?
• In "Bakerix", was it really just Tom changing Rolland's traditional bread recipe, or was Sabine's race a factor in disowning his own son for 20 years?
• In "Timetagger", when Cat Noir asks if he and Ladybug will become a couple in the future, is Bunnyx being evasive because of the answer itself or is she afraid answering the question will change history? Also, did Cat Noir break Bunnyx's Miraculous on purpose or was he intentionally preserving a Stable Time Loop?
  • Also from "Timetagger", was Timetagger implying the future Hawk Moth is a different character, or is it still Gabriel (with Timetagger refusing to obey present Hawk Moth simply because he's technically not his boss, future Gabriel is)?
    • This one is fully clarified by the end of season 5: the future Hawk Moth is Lila, not Gabriel.
• In "Truth", whenever the titular akuma tries to get Marinette's friends to tell him the secret she's hiding, they all say that it's that she's in love with Adrien. While this looks like typical love square shenanigans at first glance, it could also be interpreted as Marinette's friends employing some Loophole Abuse — none of them want to give out one of Marinette's more personal secrets, so they're taking advantage of the fact that Marinette's crush on Adrien is, technically, a secret (albeit an Open Secret and one that might not even apply to her at the moment, since she was dating Luka at the time).
• Is Caline Bustier a good teacher who tries to encourage her students to stay positive no matter what in order to avoid attracting akumas and so that they'll become thoughtful people in the world? Or is she an extreme doormat teacher who has more concern for the bullies at the expense of the "Marinettes" of the classroom, leaving Marinette to step up when her teacher won't?
  • When Marinette's birthday gift to her is vandalized by Chloé, did Bustier do the right thing in dismissing the damage and say "now I'll think of both of you when I see this"? On the one hand, she might have been trying to offer Chloé love and acceptance in hopes of her becoming a better person. But on the other, she was completely dismissing Marinette's hard work as well as her very legitimate anger at her gift being vandalized. On the surface, it seems like Bustier is in the right - Chloé did apologize after all. But look closer: Chloé apologized to Bustier, but not to Marinette, who is the one Chloé actually hurt.
  • To put this into perspective: Bustier will send Marinette to the principal's office for exclaiming loudly during class. But she won't give Chloé any consequences at all for vandalizing Marinette's hard work.
  • Do keep in mind that the school staff are extremely handicapped when it comes to Chloé. Even the slightest hint that they plan on disciplining her results in a call to her mayor father, who will do everything in his power to punish them in return. If Miss Bustier did take direct action against Chloé's misbehavior, nothing would come of it except making Chloé view her as an enemy. Miss Bustier's options for dealing with Chloé (or really, anyone's options) are: A. take direct action and invoke her wrath, which results in Chloé getting angrier and more malicious; B. become resigned to option A and therefore do nothing, which results in Chloé continuing to do whatever she wants; or C. attempt to positively influence her by more subtle means like setting a good example and removing the reasons for her outbursts to attempt allow her to improve as a person. While it comes across as Extreme Doormat and Adults Are Useless, her hands are tied and it's really the only thing she can do. "Zombiezou" and "Despair Bear" demonstrate that showing Chloé patience, compassion, and understanding (while also giving her a firm calling out for her behavior) are really the only things that spur Character Development.
• After "Evolution", some fans started to believe that it's not Gabriel whom Nathalie is in love with, but actually Emilie. She was complicit in Gabriel's many crimes, but him throwing away a chance to save Emilie in favor of destroying Ladybug and Cat Noir was crossing the line for her, which goes a little beyond I Want My Beloved to Be Happy.
  • Some of the messages that Emilie left for Nathalie before her coma, particularly the one shown in "Collusion", hint that Emilie might have feelings for Nathalie in return.
• Why did Félix give Gabriel back the ring? Does Félix know both wedding rings control Adrien and thought it didn’t matter? Does Félix think only one does and it’s the one he didn’t steal? In "Risk", he appears surprised when Nathalie attempted to use Gabriel’s ring, suggesting the latter, but Félix’s surprise could have also been him realizing that both control Adrien. (Or something else entirely).
• In "Representation", the story Félix told shows how Emilie and Amelie's parents agreed to pay for the medical treatments to help with their infertility, but was it a genuine Pet the Dog moment or did they do it out of fear that their lineage would end up with childless daughters?

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