Meta Salmhofer

"My children are nowhere to be found!"

- Meta Salmhofer

Meta Salmhofer, also known as The Witch of Merrigod, was one of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse and the mother of Hänsel and Gretel. A Ghoul Child created artificially, Meta grew up alone. As a young adult, she fell in love with Pale Noël and joined his organization, spreading terror and malice in her wake. After being captured and scheduled for execution, Meta accepted a plea bargain to become part of Project 'Ma' under the direction of Seth Twiright.

Early Life
Meta was created in the Magic Kingdom Levianta via artificial means in BT 022. Without parents, she grew up alone. Around BT 002, the twenty-year old Meta met Pale Noël and fell in love with him. Eventually, Meta became his lover and joined the Apocalypse organization. As a devoted member, she became involved in numerous riots staged across Levianta, causing bloodshed and murder in her wake, and eventually earned the name "The Witch of Merrigod".

Project 'Ma'
At some point, she crossed paths with Eve Moonlit, finding the blood-soaked woman screaming and lamenting that she couldn't find her children. As Meta looked down on her, she was suddenly surrounded by Leviantan forces and bound in chains.

Captured, she was imprisoned and condemned to death, awaiting her execution when the scientist Seth Twiright entered her prison cell; she recognized how much he resembled Pale. The scientist offered her exoneration if she became a test subject for Project 'Ma'. Seeing the opportunity to escape her hopeless situation, Meta accepted the deal.

Sent to the Levianta Royal Institute, Meta was inoculated with the divine seed and later gave birth to twins, Hänsel and Gretel. After the children were taken from her and placed in vats, she watched them develop in their tanks and realized that she too was an artificial being without a father: a ghoul child. Not wanting her children to be test subjects, unloved and without a family, Meta stole them from the laboratory and escaped from Levianta, fleeing through the forest to Elphegort. Starting a new life in the foreign country, the fugitive mother hid with her children away from people's eyes in Held's Forest.

Original Sin
A year later, in EC 001, Meta took her children out on a moonlit night through the forest. After putting them on the ground and leaving them for a moment, she returned to find them gone. Shortly afterward, she discovered that Eve Moonlit had run off with her twins and began chasing her through the forest. Crying as Eve continued fleeing from her, Meta finally caught up with the witch in front of her home and reached out to grab her. However, the terrified Eve lashed out and killed Meta, and she died with only the witch's cloak in her hand.

Legacy
Shortly after Meta's death, the disillusioned Eve realized her sin, having believed that Meta was a bear the entire time. With Meta dead, Eve and her husband, Adam, raised her children in her place and were later killed by them. Centuries later, Ma speculated that the reason Hänsel and Gretel's reincarnations, Arte and Pollo, were so loyal to Banica Conchita was because of her resemblance to Meta. In history, stories of Meta and her relation to Merrigod Plateau were recorded in a number of literary works, saying she had plunged the Magic Kingdom Levianta into chaos.

Personality and Traits
Since the time she was born, Meta felt alone, unloved, and wanting to be loved for nearly her entire life. Like other ghoul children, Meta was downtrodden as a child and, lacking any parents, felt lonely while growing up. Surviving on her own, she became opportunistic and was willing to do anything to survive or get what she wanted. Despite this sense of independence, Meta felt an innate need for affection and was always attempting to escape her circumstances and be loved by someone. Because of this, her attraction to Pale made her desperate to please him and his influence moved her to join Apocalypse and become a wanted murderer, like him. As a member of Apocalypse, Meta acted ruthless and sadistic, earning her moniker as a "witch".

However, after being captured, Meta was left heartbroken and realized her relationship with Pale was one-sided and corrupt from the start. As time went on, she began to recognize her constant attempts to run away had, in the end, amounted to nothing. Although initially becoming a test subject for Project 'Ma' to avoid execution, Meta became attached to her children and sympathized with their similar circumstances of birth, artificially produced and without a father. Feeling the connection between them, Meta desired to love them the way that she had wanted to be loved ultimately. Even though she believed her feelings were selfish, Meta felt embittered by the idea they would be used, like her, for the scientists' experiments and ultimately chose to take them and escape from Levianta. Likewise, Meta became desperate after discovering her children were stolen and chased after their abductor relentlessly up until her death.

Skills and Abilities
Meta was a powerful sorceress with a rare magical power that caught the attention of Seth Twiright, allowing her to be the second candidate for Project 'Ma' and the first to successfully give birth to the twins for the Project. She was also capable of fleeing from the Magic Kingdom without being recaptured or knowingly pursued and was able to successfully hide out with her children for about a year.

Character Connections
Eve Moonlit: Meta's predecessor. Meta was shocked by Eve's bloodstained appearance at their first meeting, which is what caused her to be caught and arrested. When meeting her again, Meta viewed Eve only as the thief that was stealing her children as she pursued her.

Pale Noël: Meta's lover. Starved for affection, Meta fell madly in love with Pale and, due to this love, joined the Apocalypse organization despite the many crimes it perpetrated. At some point, however, she became disillusioned with her one-sided affection for him, recognizing that he did not truly reciprocate her feelings.

Seth Twiright: Meta's partner. Meta was at first astonished by Seth's resemblance to Pale, but saw him only as a last chance to escape her execution. Although she went along with Project 'Ma' at his request, she did not share his goals or ambitions and did not spare him another thought once she'd resolved to run away with the children.

Hänsel: Meta's son. After his birth, Meta grew to love him as she realized the depth of their connection, and wished for him to have a life better than hers. She became greatly concerned for Hänsel's emotional and physical well-being, taking him from Project 'Ma' to live a normal life and pursuing his abductor until her death.

Gretel: Meta's daughter. After her birth, Meta grew to love her as she realized the depth of their connection, and wished her to have a life better than hers. She became greatly concerned for Gretel's emotional and physical well-being, taking her from Project 'Ma' to live a normal life and pursuing her abductor until her death.

Conceptualization and Origin

 * Meta's name comes from the Latin word meta, which means "goal", which seems to make reference to her role as a successful experiment.
 * Her surname is German in origin, translating as "heir to a salmon" or "salmon farm"; salmon are known to return to the exact place of their birth to spawn their own children.
 * In Norse mythology, the god Loki attempted to escape punishment from the gods by transforming into a salmon and escaping into a river.
 * Meta's name is partially inspired by the name of her representative Vocaloid, MEIKO, both names sharing their first two letters.
 * Meta's characteristic color, red, references the red horse of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, representing War.
 * Eve's delusion of Meta being a bear as she chased after her stolen children references the protective maternal qualities of bears, hence the phrase "mother bear"; interestingly, bears are known to eat salmon.
 * Meta's status as a Ghoul Child may reference the sin of Gluttony and her resemblance to Banica Conchita; ghouls are undead spirits or demons usually depicted as scavengers and human flesh eaters, often associated with graveyards and burial grounds.

Curiosities

 * Ironically, the words Meta heard from Eve after coming across her are the same she says concerning her own missing children.

Gallery
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