Merle Forcené

Merle Forcene is a former Huntress, and a Black Coat Class senior leader of The White Truth Cult.

Personality
If anyone could recall Merle in her younger years, her personality would be that of an idealistic, good-hearted child that wanted to help others by any means necessary. However, she is easily influenced by the things she sees and experiences. This makes her quite the gullible person.

She is currently diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and PTSD. She has currently regressed into her fantasy world, and would rather believe that she is part-Grimm than listen to other people. In fact, she is so vulnerable to criticism that anything less than praise in her view constitutes as "oppressive discrimination." She honestly believes that she is in the right, and will silence critics who say otherwise, which proves her stubborn, willful ignorance. She is quite manic in her demeanor, one minute rambling on about how "oppressive" the rest of the world is, while playing a sociopathic, arrogant angle combined with pseudo-religious dogmatic ideologue-ry (and demagoguery) the next, with her lack of empathy for others.

She is also very willing to enforce her ideals with violence, and is indeed quite insane.

Background
Merle, in her younger days, was cheery and dedicated to becoming a Huntress, having graduated from Beacon long ago. However, having discovered the ugly truths of the world, including the depravities of human nature, and negative emotions being the cause of the Grimm invasions, combined with a form of PTSD, sent her into a mental breakdown.

She was later diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, and as a coping mechanism to deal with the trauma, retreated inside a fantasy world. She began to believe in superstitions, all of which led to her eventually came to the idea that she was simply the forces of Grimm trapped inside a human body, despite there being overwhelming evidence that pointed towards the contrary.

This led to her abandoning her career of being a Huntress and going rogue. She decided to independently force others into recognizing her "status". That is, until she encountered the White Truth. She became one of its four Black-Coat Class senior leaders, working with Selena Schiess in major operations.

While many fanatics of the lower classes hail her as the harbringer of destruction, little does she know that she is actually a pawn of Selena and the businessmen who run the organization, a puppet ready to be thrown away at the first opportunity...

Abilities
Merle is quite agile and strong as a former Huntress. However, the attack patterns she uses often leave gaps for counterattacks. She sometimes uses strategy on occasion - if she can think clearly past her ideals and beliefs.

Her weapons include Severing Hurricane, a simple staff equipped with double-edged, serrated blades.

Trivia

 * Merle means "blackbird" in French, ultimately from the Latin word merula. (behindthename.com)


 * Forcené is one of the definitions for "fanatic", in French, hinting at her personality and beliefs.