Characters / Mako Mermaids: An H₂O Adventure

Characters appearing in Mako Mermaids: An H₂O Adventure.

Main Cast

The Mermaids

Tropes shared by all the mermaids

• Absurd Phobia: Any mermaid not accustomed to life on land will shriek and completely freak out upon encountering that most terrifying of creatures: a domesticated cat. There is no reason given; cats are no more hostile to mermaids than they are to humans. Mermaids accustomed to life on land have apparently long since learned that cats aren't dangerous and, generally speaking, like cats - as shown by Sirena in The Seventh Cycle or Weilan in A Visit From The East.
• Amplifier Artifact: At the start of the series, Sirena receives a Moon Ring from her sister, which she can use to strengthen her own powers. Lyla and Nixie use a couple of spare Moon Rings (Rita's and one found on the sea floor) from time to time before Rita grants them full-time, and Mimmi and Ondina have them from the start. Even Evie gets one for a while. Weilan is the one mermaid who never gets one.
• Fish out of Water: No pun intended. The girls have a lot of difficulty figuring out human customs. Weilan and Rita are the exceptions; both had been living as humans on land for years before their introductions.
• Making a Splash: The girls' power set is much more diverse than in the parent show, but still mostly revolves around water.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Who is who bounces around from season to season, and the "Mean" and "In-Between" even switch as the first season progresses, but Sirena is always the nice one when she's around, and Ondina always the mean one.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: They can cast a spell on themselves using a "Moon Ring", giving themselves the ability to gain human legs when dry, but until doing so, they are stuck as mermaids full time. After casting the spell, their transformations behave exactly like those of a human-turned-mermaid.
• Revolving Door Casting: The show always stars three teen mermaids: Lyla, Nixie, and Sirena at the beginning of the series, with only Sirena remaining in the second season and departing in the third, leaving Mimmi, Ondina, and Weilan as the main trio at the end. Rita and their supporting cast remain consistent through all three seasons.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Rita, Nixie, Sirena, and Mimmi can all speak dolphin language. (Lyla can't, and Ondina and Weilan never have the opportunity.) Mimmi can also speak the language of a number of other sea creatures, from humpback whales to penguins.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: For an unknown reason, mermaid society teaches them to fear cats. Every mermaid who comes onto land eventually gets over this fear as they realize that housecats can't hurt them, and are actually adorable.

Lyla

Lyla

Played by: Lucy Fry

Initially the cold loner of the original trio, she takes command after the three are banished, but becomes a bit conflicted as she gains a rapport with Zac.

• Cynic–Idealist Duo: She's the idealist, which frequently puts her at odds with more cynical Nixie. Unusually for how the trope is often portrayed, she's the colder and grumpier-seeming one (at least early in the season), but her optimism is difficult to dent at all times.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: At the beginning of the first season, she seems cold and detached, even to her fellow mermaids. But she's the first to truly befriend Zac, and becomes much more personable as the season goes on.
• In Love with the Mark: She's the one to approach Zac with the intent of stripping him of his powers. Over the course of the season, she develops a crush on him, and tells the others she intends to convince the mermaid council to accept him into the pod.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: She's kind of a loner at the series' start, and seems cold, but she's well-meaning and values the connections she makes.
• Put on a Bus: Leaves the show at the end of the first season to "help find a new home", and never returns.
• Ship Tease: With Zac. Up-and-down moments of affection/hand-holding and arguing/teasing lead to a complex, "will they or won't they?" dynamic.

Nixie

Nixie

Played by: Ivy Latimer

Intelligent and mischievous, Nixie is a friend of Sirena who thinks she's an expert on "land people".

• Big Eater: It's subtle, but she's the mermaid most likely to request food or be seen eating. Of course, it's seafood she craves: a couple of times she orders seafood specials from the café "without the special".
• Cynic–Idealist Duo: Despite being more personable, she's much more cynical than Lyla, and does not trust Lyla's optimism.
• Deadpan Snarker: Easily the most sarcastic of the mermaids.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: She fancies herself an expert on "land people". While she's less likely than Sirena to blurt out something related to their secret, her approach to humans proves to be very off-putting.
• Put on a Bus: Leaves the show at the end of the first season to "help find a new home", and never returns.
• Ship Tease: Has some with Cam here and there, but it ultimately goes nowhere.

Sirena

Sirena

Played by: Amy Ruffle

Sweet and more than a little naïve, Sirena tries hard to keep the peace, both between the other mermaids and between the mermaids and Zac. She longs to see her sister Aquata again, and she is renowned for her singing voice.

• Beautiful Singing Voice: It's not even magic (most of the time), but every character acknowledges that she's a terrific singer. David announces his intention to hire a singer for his café specifically hoping Sirena will audition.
• Character Development: Her naïveté greatly diminishes in the second season, as now she's the mermaid with the most experience on land and training under Rita.
• Love at First Sight: Becomes enamored with David very early on, and from that point forward, she and David have eyes only for each other.
• Put on a Bus: After being reunited with her sister, the two decide to have a vacation in Hawaii, leaving her out of the action in the third season.

Mimmi

Mimmi

Played by: Allie Bertram

Mimmi is originally from the "Northern Pod", but her famous mother Nerissa left her in the care of the Mako Pod. Cheerful and ever-curious.

• Ambiguously Brown: Much like Zac. Curious...
• Badass Adorable: She's the most powerful of the mermaids in general, but generally friendly and nonthreatening.
• Constantly Curious: Which gets her into trouble when, say, she wants to spend a day seeing what "land school" is like.
• Long-Lost Relative: She is Zac's older sister, but neither know until the middle of season 2.

Ondina

Ondina

Played by: Isabel Durant

A sharp-tongued somewhat aggressive mermaid who is nonetheless Mimmi's best friend. She has a brief relationship with Erik.

• The First Cut Is the Deepest: After Erik's betrayal, Ondina is reluctant to let Mimmi date Chris, believing he'll hurt Mimmi just as Erik hurt her.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's not easy to get along with, but she really does mean well.
• Lethal Chef: Her attempts at preparing food typically result in other characters rushing to the Café for something edible.
• Tsundere: Is described in-universe as "prickly", and doesn't make friends easily, but she's fiercely loyal to any friends she does make.

Weilan

Weilan

Played by: Linda Ngo

An "exchange student" from Shanghai staying with Rita. Actually, she's one of the few members of the "Eastern Pod" who still has her powers, and came to the Mako Pod to hide out when the power-stealing Water Dragon discovers her existence.

• Book Smart: She has never attended "mermaid school", due to her situation, but she has been to human school (and is enrolled in the local school in the series) and gets great grades.
• Magical Gesture: The Eastern Pod specializes in magic spells that require complex gestures. Unfortunately, Weilan's training is incomplete, but she does know a few tricks.
• Survivor's Guilt: Ondina blames her for the Water Dragon's presence and for its attack on Evie. She feels so guilty that she considers heading back home to Shanghai.

Rita Santos

Rita Santos

Played by: Kerith Atkinson

The principal of the local high school, she is in fact a mermaid from the Mako Pod that went into self-exile after falling in love with a human. She now owns a house overlooking the ocean, which serves as the other mermaids' home base.

• Beware the Nice Ones: Rita is, generally, harmless - but any time she does magic it's expertly done and powerful (and so is the magic when taught to others, such as a storm inside spell); when Veridia attempts to harm Nerissa's children, Rita marches in and gives a Badass Boast that she was "top of the class", daring Veridia to try and harm them, implying that, if push came to shove, Rita could wipe the floor with Veridia in magical combat without even breaking a sweat.
• The Lost Lenore: She left the Pod to be with a human named Harry, only for Harry to die young. She remains on land, and it's indicated that she actively refused Veridia’s attempts to get her to return.
• Nephewism: Invoked. She suddenly has teenage girls hanging around her house (most of which do not attend her school), and she needs some sort of explanation, so she masquerades as their aunt who homeschools them. (Weilan, who actually does attend her school, is instead treated as an exchange student.)

Other main characters

Zac Blakely

Zac Blakely

Played by: Chai Hansen

A teenage boy who finds his life turned upside-down when he obtains magical powers that also cause him to tranform into a merman when wet. The full moon constantly gives him visions of objects and locations on Mako Island, and its influence causes him to seek those locations out.

• Ambiguously Brown: His skintone is a shade darker than most of the other characters. But his parents' skin isn't so dark...
• Changeling Fantasy: Is actually the son of the powerful mermaid Nerissa but had his powers locked away with magic and left like Moses in the Bulrushes for Dr. & Mrs. Blakely to find.
• The Chosen One: He and he alone is drawn to a number of merman artifacts from an ancient war. He's referred to as a "chosen one" a couple of times.
• Dumb Jock: He’s excellent at all water-related physical activities even before he becomes a merman, but his grades are not the best.
• Five Stages of Grief: In "A New Man" he struggles to come to terms, after learning he's a real merman, he's adopted, and Mimmi is his sister, and goes through this process.
  • Denial, he acts like he's okay while avoiding his parents and Mimmi.
  • Anger, he expresses to Evie his frustration about how he thinks everything in his life was a lie, refuses to accept Mimmi as his sister, and won't let anyone help him.
  • Bargaining, he decides to use his powers against a pair of obnoxious lifeguards to himself feel better, before Mimmi talks him out of reminding him, even though the Blakelys aren't his real parents they still love and care about him.
  • Depression, he becomes sad and finally decides to talk to his parents, who tell the story about how they adopted him.
  • Acceptance, after talking to his parents, Zac reconciles with his friends, and accepts Mimmi as his sister, much to her happiness.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Occasionally dips into this in the first season. Has a second bout of it upon learning his true heritage.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Upon discovering the actual purpose of the trident and the merman chamber, he decides he wants nothing more to do with either. Unfortunately, in both cases, someone else decides they want it instead.
• Long-Lost Relative: Mimmi is his sister, but neither know when they first meet.
• Mistaken for Cheating: Evie constantly finds him in what appear to be romantic situations with Lyla. Whether Lyla had a crush on Zac is unclear, but Zac does not have one on Lyla. Later, Evie seems to jump to a similar conclusion when she catches Zac with Weilan.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After accidentally paralyzing Lyla, he immediately drops his rivalry with the mermaids. In the second season, though Ondina clearly distrusts him, he still tries to cooperate with the mermaids most of the time.
• Oblivious Adoption: He has no idea that his parents are not actually his birth parents.
• Official Couple: With Evie, from the start.
• Tomato in the Mirror: He was actually a merman the whole time; his mother just locked his powers.
• Ship Tease: With Lyla. Up-and-down moments of affection/hand-holding and arguing/teasing lead to a complex, "will they or won't they?" dynamic.

Evie McLaren

Evie McLaren

Played by: Gemma Forsyth

Zac's girlfriend, who gets increasingly confused throughout the first season at her boyfriend's odd behavior and strange new friends. Eventually, she learns the truth, and even spends some time as a mermaid herself.

• Amateur Sleuth: She figures out that something isn't right about the situation with Rita and her "nieces" and spends a few episodes snooping and trying to dig up information, which she posts in the school newsletter. Rita actually commends her for her skills, but recommends she not push further.
• Brought Down to Normal: The Water Dragon can remove the magic of mermaids and does so to Evie.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: At first, after being transformed into a mermaid, all she wants is for her powers to go away. And yet...
• I Just Want to Be Special: She gets more and more used to her powers and merpeople, and even gets accepted by the Mako Pod. When she loses her powers, all she wants is to get them back.
• Locked Out of the Loop: All throughout the first season. She knows something is up, but doesn't know what, and gets incredibly frustrated by it.
• No-Sell: When the merman chamber drains the magic of all the mermaids in the vicinity, Evie is unaffected. She chalks it up to being "half-mermaid".
• Official Couple: With Zac, from the start.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: She's a major presence in the first season, but isn't given a credit in the opening sequence until the second.
• The Rival: Though she's not especially fond of Nixie either, she thinks Lyla is trying to steal her boyfriend, and she quickly forms a rivalry with her in particular.
• Secret-Keeper: Upon discovering the existence of mermaids and that her boyfriend is a merman, she is initially reluctant, but agrees to keep the secret.

Cam Mitchell

Cam Mitchell

Played by: Dominic Deutscher

Zac's best friend, and the first person to whom he reveals his newfound powers.

• Beta Couple: With Carly once they begin dating.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: Erik offers him the chance to become a merman if Cam gives him the trident stone. Cam ultimately decides to give it to the mermaids instead, knowing it would be safe in their hands.
• I Just Want to Be Special: He really wishes it had been him that got magic powers instead of Zac, which leads to the conflict at the end of the first season. Erik even attempts to use this to tempt him into compliance near the end of the second, but by that point Cam has had enough Character Development and remembers how badly the first season's attempt went and rejects him.
• Manipulative Bastard: He encourages most of Zac's worst moments in the first season, and late in the season manipulates Nixie and Evie into helping him get the trident (as Zac won't listen at that point). Backs off on this a lot in later seasons.
• Secret-Keeper: The first actual human among the main characters to learn about merpeople. Even despite his vices and his temporary falling out with Zac, he keeps his mouth shut.
• Ship Tease: With Nixie while she's in the show, and with Carly once she's not. Ultimately, he and Carly start dating.
• We Need a Distraction: And Cam's always the one to provide it.

David

David

Played by: Rowan Hills

Even as a teenager, he is the manager of the family-owned Ocean Café, where the main characters like to hang out. Smart but humble, he winds up inadvertently in the middle of a number of magical occurrences.

• Butt-Monkey: He and his shop are (inadvertently) the targets of all kinds of magical mischief, which he struggles to explain. Upon seeing a mermaid, he finds himself ridiculed when he tries to tell others, and Mimmi and Ondina's plan to make him stop searching for his mermaid causes him quite a bit of public humiliation. And his Jerkass brother Joe is his co-owner and supplier, and Joe frequently tries to overrule or cheat his brother.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible one. He works hard to keep his shop in working order, while Joe cares more about getting the latest model of speedboat. Unfortunately, Joe is the older brother and, as such, outranks him.
• Love at First Sight: He and Sirena develop a mutual crush from nearly the moment they meet.
• Nice Guy: In contrast to his brother, David doesn't have a mean bone in his body.
• No Last Name Given: The most significant human character whose last name is never revealed.
• Secret-Keeper: He attempts to expose mermaids when he first sees a transformed mermaid (who is Evie, not that he knows that), but after being humiliated he decides that it's not worth it. Sirena ultimately reveals her true self to him, and he doesn't expose her or her friends (and actively tries to prevent Joe from pursuing the Water Dragon, not that he's ever able to control his brother.)
• Weirdness Magnet: Merpeople really love his shop's seafood, and with them comes no end of magical trouble.

Carly Morgan

Carly Morgan

Played by: Brooke Nichole Lee

A waitress at the Ocean Café and Evie's best friend.

• Ascended Extra: While she's around from the show's beginning, she's not especially prominent in the first season. With Evie becoming a central character, Carly's prominence rises dramatically, especially after she starts dating Cam.
• Beta Couple: Once she starts dating Cam.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Isn't a great singer in the first season when not receiving magical assistance. But she takes vocal lessons offscreen, so by late second season, she can sing well entirely on her own.
• Secret-Keeper: Learns about the existence of mermaids accidentally, but keeps the secret.
• Unwitting Muggle Friend: She takes Evie's role as the human friend unaware of mermaid shenanigans for the second season.

Erik

Erik

Played by: Alex Cubis

In the second season, he appears as a new waiter at the Ocean Café. Within a few episodes, it's revealed that he's actually a merman who learned of mermaid activity in the area and wanted to investigate.

• Ambiguously Evil: He claims he wants to use the merman artifacts to benefit all merpeople, and there's no direct indication that he's lying, but he only hears what he wants to hear about them and refuses to believe that they are best left untouched.
• Deadpan Snarker: Most of the time, especially when being accused of bad behavior.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Downplayed as he's more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist than a true villain, but his voice is the deepest of the male cast.
• Manipulative Bastard: Becomes the bad influence of season 2. However, Zac is a lot more wary of him than he was of Cam in season 1, and Cam himself winds up rejecting his manipulations.
• Ship Tease: Flirts with Ondina, and the two wind up briefly dating, but she dumps him when he chooses to activate the chamber when she told him not to.
• Ultimate Job Security: David and Carly constantly complain about Erik always being late for work (sometimes by an hour or more) but they keep him employed for most of season 2 until Carly finally fires him whilst she's left in charge as David is attending a business conference and Erik leaves her in the lurch. David backs her up on his return as he was taught at the conference to trust the judgment of the manager he delegates too.

Supporting Cast

Poseidon

Poseidon

Played by: Monte

Rita's pet cat.

• Animal Stereotypes: While in human form, he matter-of-factly says that cats don't like dogs after warding one away with a hiss.
• Big Eater: He's willing to eat just about any seafood or milk that he finds.
• Cats Are Magic: Poseidon seems to have some sort of mystical connection to Rita. He's usually the first to react when the mermaids do something that he knows Rita will disapprove of and, while he can't talk, it seems he can communicate with her and she can understand his meows.
• Cats Are Mean: Played with. He's normally well behaved, but he will growl at the mermaids if they start snooping around in Rita's grotto.
• Cuteness Proximity: When the mermaids get over their fear of cats, they coo over him like anyone else would.
• Humanity Ensues: A spilled potion accidentally turns him into a clone of Evie, causing confusion among the cast.
• Tragic Keepsake: The episode Lyla Alone shows Rita and Poseidon, who's sat on her lap, looking sadly at the picture of Rita and her late fiancé, with the implication (since Mermaids are terrified of cats and raised that way from birth) that Poseidon was a gift from Harry to Rita and she keeps Poseidon around to remind her of her fiancé.

Joe

Joe

Played by: Nick Wright

David's older brother, who runs a seafood supply chain and co-owns the Café.

• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish one. His status and his ego are all he seems to care about, and he regularly mistreats his hard-working brother.
• Hate Sink: No one seems to like him much, and he's never given any positive character development. Even David celebrates when his boat gets impounded.
• Jerkass: Rude to everyone around him, and he's more than happy to screw over his brother if it benefits him in even the most miniscule of ways. His first appearance has him chase an animal on his sonar that clearly is trying to get away from him (David thinks it's a dolphin, and harassing dolphins is already illegal, but it's actually Nixie.)

Chris

Chris

Played by: Taylor Glockner

A dolphin trainer in-training who becomes Mimmi's boyfriend.

• Satellite Love Interest: He has an interest in Mimmi and the sea, but if the plot of an episode doesn't require him, he'll have a bit part at best.
• Understanding Boyfriend: He's not happy at Mimmi's weird behavior, but she's able to convince him to bear with her until she can tell him what her secret is. She transforms in front of him in the final episode, and he understands immediately.

Karl

Karl

Played by: Mikey Wulff

Chris's best friend, who knows sharks the way Chris knows dolphins.

• Hopeless Suitor: He has a crush on Weilan, who can't stand him. His habit of hearing her blatant rejections as "Maybe" has a lot to do with that.
• Skewed Priorities: A young girl is lost on a tropical island and needs to be found soon? Clearly the best time to hit on Weilan.

Ms. Trumble

Ms. Trumble

Played by: Barbara Lowing

The science teacher at Suncoast High, overly strict and disliked by the students. Desperately covets Rita's position of principal.

• Green-Eyed Monster: Desperately wants the principal position that Rita outcompeted her for years before the show started. Gets it when Rita decides to retire towards the end of season 3.
• Stern Teacher / Sadist Teacher: Somewhere between the two depending on the episode.
• 0% Approval Rating: The students call her Ms. Trouble for a reason

Aquata

Aquata

Played by: Jenna Rosenow

Sirena's older sister.

• Small Role, Big Impact: She left her Moon Ring with Sirena, giving her, Nixie, and Lyla the means to turn themselves into humans and kicking off much of the plot.

Veridia

Veridia

Played by: Natalie O'Donnell

The leader of the Mako pod.

• Fantastic Racism: She's none too fond of land people or mermen. It takes Zac saving the entire pod from Erik before she's willing to give him a chance.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: As stern as she is, she is willing to admit when she's wrong, and reverses any punishments she may have inflicted accordingly.
• We Used to Be Friends: She and Rita were friends as teenagers, only to have a falling out when Rita left the pod to be with her human boyfriend. The two of them quietly bury the hatchet between the second and third seasons.

Nerissa (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Nerissa

Played by: Tasneem Roc

Zac and Mimmi's mother.

• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: For Zac, it's because the mermaid pods would have never accepted a merman, even a child. For Mimmi, it's because of the threat Aurora posed, which ultimately turned Nerissa into a Water Dragon.
• Forced Transformation: Aurora turned her into the Water Dragon as a last laugh, causing her to decimate Weilan's pod and remove Evie's powers while not in control of herself.
• Living Legend: Everyone in the sea has heard of her. Weilan describes her as having a rockstar reputation among mermaids.
• Mysterious Parent: For the majority of the series, all that was known about her is that she was Zac and Mimmi's mother and that her bloodline is the reason Zac keeps activating merman artifacts. She doesn't appear until the last few minutes of the final episode.
• Why Isn't It Attacking?: The Water Dragon never attacks Mimmi or Zac, much to everyone's confusion. It turns out Nerissa can still recognize them as her children, and thus won't attack either.

Aurora

Played by: None

A rogue mermaid defeated by Nerissa in the past.

• The Ghost: Her existence is only known through exposition, so she never appears onscreen. It's unknown if she's even still alive.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Because she turned Nerissa into the Water Dragon, the loss of the Eastern pod and Evie's tail can be pinned on her.
• One-Woman Army: She could threaten the entire Northern and Eastern pods by herself until Nerissa showed up each time to turn the tide.