The Tragedy of Charlie Magne | (Pilot) ANALYSIS + Fanon Stuff!
So I hear a lot of people complain that Charlie is a protagonist missing any depth. And when it comes down to the execution of her character in Prime, I… don’t disagree with that. But—I wanna take a closer look at something.
Charlie Magne isn’t shallow. She’s a tragedy wrapped in optimism, and the pilot quietly told us that in a two-minute song.
Let’s take a look at it together! I love analysis, it’s just so fun. I think a lot of people just ignore this or something, or maybe this flies over people’s heads, I don’t know—but the pilot alludes to some serious potential trauma rooted in Charlie’s character.
“I’m Always Chasing Rainbows”
It’s her starting song for a reason.
“At the end of the rainbow, there's happiness
And to find it how often I’ve tried”
Charlie clearly struggles to feel happy in Hell, much despite her own character. She presents herself as bright and bubbly and confident in the pilot, especially on the outside—for instance, during the interview with Katie Killjoy.
But when she’s alone, we often see her breaking down, crying.
She puts effort into not letting anyone see this side of her—she wipes her tears before entering the hotel. We immediately are struck with a duality—Charlie is struggling with something that she doesn’t let anyone see. She only lets the outside world see the blinding ray of sunshine she can be, while keeping the thunderous rainstorm inside of her hidden.
I don’t know how recent of an idea of the “Happy Hotel” was to her, but the lyrics she’s singing alludes to a past full of painful, failed passion projects.
“But my life is a race, just a wild goose chase
And all my dreams have been denied”
It paints this sort of picture of a young, creative, imaginative Charlie who grew up entertaining all sorts of ideas. Ideas—apparently which never saw the light. It makes me wonder how many other dreams Charlie may have tried to pursue before the Happy Hotel.
Charlie struggles to find happiness—she thinks she’ll be able to find it in these “dreams,” which she has been “denied”. She’s aware of her miserable failings, but it doesn’t stop her, because she still thinks she can find it.
Why ‘Bad Communication’ Isn’t Enough
“Why have I always been a failure
I wonder if the world's to blame
I wonder if it could be me”
This part is fascinating because as she sings “Why have I always been a failure,” Lucifer’s silhouette crosses over her—this already illustrates an unspoken answer. Even if he’s not physically there, his judgment fills the room.
The most common argument I see people make regarding this scene is “Charlie just misunderstood Lucifer because he’s bad at communicating.”
I don’t fully disagree with this, but I largely dislike this argument because it oversimplifies trauma. According to her own song, Charlie is constantly feeling like a failure—like nothing she does ever amounts to anything. As if nothing she does has any value. She even goes as far to blame herself—“I wonder if it could be me”—for never being enough—for being the problem all along.
“I don’t know if I’m going to make a difference.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing…”
“I think dad was right about me.”
During her voicemail to Lilith—Charlie clearly feels like she can’t trust her own good conscience anymore because of how truly insecure she is. She feels lost.
This is heartbreaking. This isn’t just “bad communication.” This pattern of thinking—more often than not—stems from a lifelong pattern of repeated emotional neglect. This is where I think the “Lucifer was retconned” argument comes in.
The thing is, Prime does try to halfway-sort-of introduce this conflict between Charlie and Lucifer—but resolves it in a single episode—often leaving the audience to forget there was even a conflict in the first place.
It explains why barely anyone—even the fandom—takes Charlie’s feelings seriously.
That’s why this aspect of the show is always a topic of heavy criticism. Because of how “rushed” it is. Because of how they just throw Charlie’s feelings away like that. Because of how fake it feels. Because realistically, years of emotional trauma to this extent—alluded to in the pilot—cannot be resolved within a single song.
“I'm always chasing rainbows
Watching clouds drifting by
My schemes are just like all my dreams
In the pilot—Charlie does not only seem to fail in pursuing her dreams, but she even sees them as nonsensical and silly herself. She seems to struggle to take herself seriously—but the way she’s written in Prime makes it so the audience doesn’t take her seriously either. And that is why she isn’t a fan favorite—neither in the fandom nor out of it. Her writing makes her fail as a protagonist.
This was not the right direction to go with her. The show wasn’t supposed to prove Charlie’s insecurities, and say aww it’s okay, and then baby her. The show was supposed to show us why Charlie is wrong, and help her grow and learn.
I think her insecurity is likely a reflection of the way she was parented. Parents often set up the foundation of security. The way you were raised determines if you’re secure or insecure.
“Some fellows look and find the sunshine
I always look and find the rain
And some fellows make a winning sometime
And I never even make a gain”
Charlie also seems to compare herself to others, which is a red flag of behavior that suggests she may have been compared to her peers in childhood—nonetheless a key indicator of emotional neglect.
Now I actually don’t think this automatically confirms Lucifer to be emotionally abusive on purpose. It’s why I think there’s some weight to the previous argument.
Emotional neglect is not always about what did happen, it’s about what didn’t. Lucifer might've been a loving father, but that doesn’t make him a good one. His “inadequacies” in certain areas clearly had a devastating impact on Charlie, whether he meant to do that or not.
When it comes down to it, I think of my own dad who was very involved in my life—but it was the little things that affected me in the end—the things that didn’t happen enough. Things like:
- Brushing aside emotions
- Being told she is too much at times
- Not enough praise towards her own character—praise geared towards prestige/achievement
- Not showing how she is loved at every stage of her life—the child begins to wonder how she can earn that love back—she forms an identity around praise (prestige/achievement)
- Constant critique on how she should improve her own achievements
- Lack of support/interest for the child’s own individuality or hobbies
You can have a silly, goofy father that loves you, but you can still have all of this. I would know. I don’t think it matters what Lucifer’s intentions were. The damage is clearly done, and it’s hit Charlie very hard.
Actually—look at the symbolism here. Charlie’s other song, Inside Of Every Demon Is A Rainbow, seems simply silly and whimsical at first. But when you compare it to her song at the beginning, you stumble across a startling metaphor.
“At the end of the rainbow, there’s happiness.”
“I’m always chasing rainbows.”
“Inside of every demon is a rainbow.”
Chasing Rainbows = Charlie desperately seeking out happiness.
Inside of every demon is a rainbow = Her happiness lies with the people of hell.
I see Charlie as someone who continually puts others above herself because she believes she is unworthy. I believe Charlie spent her entire childhood believing that she wasn’t enough, that she wasn’t important, that her feelings were irrelevant, and that if she could just work a little harder, she could finally make a difference, and only then could she finally matter. She finally wouldn’t be a failure. She’d finally be loved.
I see Charlie as someone who’ll stop at nothing to redeem her people—because she’s got it in her head that if she can’t even do this, then she really can’t do anything—that she’s failed her people, her father, and herself.
And once she realizes that, she’ll realize Hell is entirely better off without her. Because she’s the odd one out. The oddity. The defect.
Because her parents never told her she was already enough as is.
Hazbin Hotel’s Original Premise
This automatically sets up a driving force: Charlie sacrificing her health, overworking herself (I always imagined her as a workaholic), forgoing her needs, putting all of herself into this hotel, because, in a way, the state of the hotel symbolizes her fragile emotional state. If it’s successful, she’s happy. If it’s failing, she’s lost.
It sets up devastation: if redemption does indeed not work, Charlie will question everything—her worth, her value, her life. It sets up fear, agony, and tragedy.
That’s why redemption already works as the perfect antagonist. If the show were to focus more on redemption, it would create a continuous, shadowing overarching conflict (which realistically should have extended for a couple of seasons—perhaps the whole show). It would have allowed a ton more development on the characters (since they’d be fighting themselves, with redemption as the antagonist) and we would have been able to thoroughly explore their arcs—including Charlie’s arc.
The pilot didn’t simply start with any whimsical little song. It started with a cry for help.
I firmly believe that people mischaracterize Charlie when they say that her blinding optimism stems from naïveté.
Charlie isn’t stupid. She’s educated. She doesn’t take shit from other demons! She doesn’t trust Alastor. She firmly sets her boundaries and does not make a deal with him—she would never do that!
Charlie isn’t someone who just stands off to the side in the face of prejudice, cruelty, or injustice. She wouldn’t let Valentino lick her fucking arm, or just let Angel Dust, her friend, be mistreated! She stands her ground. She isn’t someone who pouts and whines “That’s so meeeaan,” when confronted regarding her usage of power. That is an awful and painful mischaracterization. Of course she has restraint, but Charlie Magne has always been someone who is unafraid to use her power to fight for what she knows is right.
Charlie Magne isn’t shallow. She’s a tragedy wrapped in optimism, and the pilot quietly told us that in a two-minute song. Charlie is a strong, beautiful, intelligent young woman and her optimism doesn’t stem from naïveté—it stems from survival.
And that, to me, is an incredible protagonist worth rewriting.
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