Melissa de Vignolles

Melissa de Vignolles
Japanese Name	メリッサ・ド・ヴィニョル
Voiced by	Japanese: Ai Kakuma

Melissa de Vignolles (メリッサ・ド・ヴィニョル) is one of the main characters in Puella Magi Tart Magica: The Legend of "Jeanne d'Arc".

General Info

Physical Features
Date of Birth	1414
Eye colour	Blue
Hair colour	Blue
Height	147cm
Magic
Soul Gem	A blue shield with the image of a bunch of grapes inside (tie broach)
Weapon	Hammerhead Mace
Witch Form	La Hire La Hire
Powers and Abilities	Annihilation
Wish	To heal the wounds that threatened her father's and Tart's lives. The specific wording is unknown.
Other
Japanese pronoun	watashi (私)
Known relatives	Etienne de Vignolles (father), Milene (mother, deceased), Jean Poton de Xaintrailles (uncle), unnamed grandparents (deceased)
Origins	Prechacq-les-Bains, France
School	Not attending

Story

Backstory

Melissa was born in a small village named Prechacq-les-Bains in the Gascony region of southwest France. Her father, Etienne had taken up soldiering at an early age, and his nickname ‘’La Hire’’ came from how quickly he could be riled to anger. At the time he was dating a young woman named Milene. After arguing with Milene in regards to his dream, he left the village in approximately 1413 with Milene’s brother and his best friend Jean Poton de Xaintrailles to become mercenaries. They returned in 1418 only to discover that the village had been struck with plague in the previous year and that the majority of the villagers had fallen to the illness, including Milene and her parents. Despite this, Milene’s daughter Melissa was able to survive and had been taken in with the other orphans by the local priest. Etienne realizes that Milene’s daughter was also his own and that the reason Milene became upset with him was to drive him off and allow him to follow his dream without being burdened by her or their soon-to-be-born daughter. Etienne then takes in Melissa and brings her with him everywhere thereafter, usually having her act as a medic or perform other field work for the soldiers. After Tart’s final capture and impending death by means of being burned at the stake,

During Tart Magica

Melissa first appeared in Chapter 1, in a flashback scene where she attempts to fight her way near Jeanne d’Arc as she is being burned at the stake. The chapter then flashes forward to the present where Melissa, Tart, Riz, and Elisa are attempting to stop Minou from escaping yet again. They are deterred by Lame, who is easily defeated. However Minou uses her abilities to cause Lame to fall into deep despair and instantly become a witch, fighting off the girls as she makes her escape.

A short glimpse of Melissa is seen as she views a bright glow in the sky when Tart makes her wish and contracts with Kyubey. She isn’t seen again until chapter 6, where she is formerly introduced as Etienne’s daughter. She is wearing a maid’s outfit and pouring wine for the various lords and other members of the Dauphin Charles’ court. When Tart arrives for her audience with the Dauphin, Melissa is able to see Kyubey riding on her shoulder.

Afterwards, Tart and Riz accompany a contingency of soldiers on their journey to liberate the city of Orleans. Melissa introduces herself to "Mistress Jean and Mistress Riz" and informs them she has been ordered to serve her from here on. Due to their proximity in age and the friendliness of Tart, she insists that Melissa address her by her nickname with Riz also insisting on a lack of formal address. They stop to make camp during their journey at a small unnamed village, with Etienne and the three girls going ahead to ensure the safety of the area. They find that the village has been burned to the ground with no one to be found. Riz's soul gem glows, alerting them of a nearby witch as Etienne races back to their contingency to warn them of the upcoming danger. As Tart and Riz leap into the barrier, Kyubey introduces himself to Melissa and takes her into the barrier. Kyubey explains that she has the talent necessary to contract, but only she can determine if she is willing to do so. The witch turns its attentions to Melissa and attacks, however it is blocked by the sudden appearance of Pernelle. She introduces herself to Riz and Tart, and offers Tart a magically-imbued sword that will help to limit the amount of magical energy she expends. Tart makes short work of the witch. After explaining the origins of the sword, Pernelle disappears through one of her portals.

Soon after they arrive and make camp just outside of the Burgundy Gate of Orleans. Tart shows off her handmade banner to the others, with only Melissa appreciating the design. That night, Melissa and Tart drink wine alongside the other soldiers in camp. Melissa longs to be able to do more to help besides tending to the wounded and the supplies and is strongly considering becoming a magical girl as well. Tart pounces on her, pinning her down and telling her not to put herself in danger now that they’ve become friends. It seems Tart is clingy when drunk as Riz soon finds out.

The following day, Riz and Tart at the head of the French forces face down Corbeau at the fort of Orleans. Melissa watches from close by. Corbeau impales several French soldiers with a rain of black feathers before proceeding to grab Tart and throwing her roughly aside. Riz and Corbeau trade various blows with their weapons as Riz notes that Corbeau pushes her impurities onto other magical girls in the vicinity. As Tart struggles to make her way back, Flèche begins to pelt her with arrows. Corbeau walks over to Tart, ready to finish her off when suddenly Etienne slashes at her from behind in an attempt to defend Tart, but the attack does nothing. Corbeau throws Etienne face first into the ground, essentially knocking him unconscious. Melissa rushes to her father’s side as Flèche prepares to finish the two off. Tart throws herself in front of Melissa at the last second, taking the brunt of the charged magical arrow and losing a good deal of her shoulder in the process. Tart collapses to the ground, thankful that Melissa is alright. As Corbeau laughs, Kyubey walks over to Melissa and informing her of the impending death of Tart and her father. While he cannot force her to make a decision, at this moment she is the only thing standing between their lives and death. She contracts just as her father falters once more. Tart rises to her feet as Melissa stands angrily before Corbeau and begins her attack, swinging her polearm and causing her cone-like object to whiz through the air at their enemy. Riz is able to pin Corbeau down with several of her daggers as Melissa charges her cone-projectile and causes it to detonate at Corbeau’s feet. In its wake, only a large hole spanning the width of the bridge is left. Corbeau wonders what kind of magic it is as Melissa curses herself for having missed her. Corbeau is impressed with the new magical girl and tells Melissa that with her kind of power she may be able to take her down, assuming she can get close enough to hit her. Tart comes over, Kyubey having explained everything that just occurred to her and is somewhat dismayed that Melissa contracted. Before Corbeau can begin her attack once more, Riz pulls Tart and Melissa into her shadow realm, where she explains to the two girls the secret of soul gems and her plan for defeating Corbeau.

The girls reappear from Riz's shadow realm and attempt to sneak an attack on Corbeau but she is able to dodge it. Flèche resumes her attacks on Tart and the two battle against each other high on the fortress’ towers. Meanwhile, Riz and Melissa keep their attention focused on Corbeau, knocking her around with some of their attacks. Corbeau only laughs as she heals herself, reminding them that any impurities will be passed onto any magical girl within her range. However, Corbeau's soul gem is filled with impurities, much to her dismay. Tart continues to fight off Flèche, holding on tightly to Riz and Melissa's soul gems. As Flèche lays defeated shortly after, Minou appears from one of her portals and calls out to Corbeau to retreat for now as she brands Flèche and causes her to transform into a witch. The remaining French soldiers with Gille at the lead finally arrive at the fortress just as Flèche's witch form has spawned and stands ready and waiting in the courtyard. Tart is only able to redirect the witch’s attack away from the soldiers. Unbeknownst to them, Elisa is watching the fight from a distance and makes short work of the witch with her magic rifle.

After Elisa introduces herself to the group, she can’t resist challenging Tart to a duel, and ends up defeating her by means of her experience. Melissa is red to the ears when she hears Elisa gloating. After Elisa accepts a duel with Melissa, Elisa is promptly thrown out of the courtyard with a single toss by Melissa. Afterwards, as Melissa offers drinks to Elisa up in her bedchambers, she apologizes for having let her temper get the better of her. Elisa accepts her apology and says there was nothing to forgive since it was a duel after all. Melissa then informs the two that Tart was called to court and the two head down quickly.

Soon after the group heads out to the town of Reims in order to coronate the Dauphin Charles. They are met with a large group of English soldiers headed by John Talbot and accompanied by Minou, Corbeau, and Lapin at the city of Patay. The three English magical girls face off the four French magical girls at the head of their respective armies. Before they can give the word, Lapin begins her relentless attack but is quickly knocked into the air and brought back down forcefully. Initially, Elisa believes this will be an easy battle but Minou only laughs in response as Lapin’s soul gem darkens and she transforms into a witch. Lapin the witch uses her ability to disarm everyone within range of their weapons, including Riz and Melissa. Thanks to the magical properties imbued during their making, Elisa and Tart are able to retain theirs. As the girls attempt to fight Lapin, they soon realize that her gaze and the gaze of her floating discs cause them to revert back to normal and to temporarily lose their magical girl state. The girls attempt to continue fighting Lapin when Corbeau joins in the fray, focusing her attacks primarily on Riz. Melissa tries to assist Riz but neither of the girls have weapons. Despite this, Melissa throws a few well-aimed stones at Corbeau and is still willing to fight despite her handicap. Riz and Melissa focus their attacks on Corbeau as Elisa and Tart focus on Lapin. Soon, through their combined efforts, the two girls are able to defeat Lapin who unfortunately only reverts back to her magical girl state rather than cease to be. Corbeau hands the now unconscious Lapin to her sister Minou and tells them to retreat as she smiles and unleashes her magical attack "La Danse Macabre". Reaper skeletons swarm out of a portal in the sky as it begins to rain black feathers down onto the French and English alike. Anyone touched by a feather quickly begins to feel ill as they contract the deadly bubonic plague. Despite being affected, Tart is able to muster her strength and conjures a magic circle in the sky, who bathes everyone in purifying light and heals them of the disease. Tart then slashes at Corbeau with her sword, knocking far and away into a nearby grove of trees. The four magical girls race over to where Corbeau has landed and are present when Minou appears to crush Corbeau’s soul gem.

Pernelle appears to the magical girls soon after and informs them of a prophesy being spread throughout the land concerning the appearance of Tart and the soon-to-be-freed France. Despite their doubts about the veracity of such rumors, the girls continue their journey to Reims unhindered. The Dauphin is soon crowned king at the sacred ceremony of coronation and the girls are welcomed to the celebration at the castle soon after. Despite the revelry, the lights go out suddenly and soon screams are heard as several woman are burning alive and Minou appears from one of her portals standing beside the Queen of France, Isabeau de Baviere. As the queen appears in the courtroom, the French magical girls transform and ready themselves to defend their newly crowned king. Despite Tart unleashing her La Lumiere attack on the queen, she stands there unfazed and undamaged. Minou whips at the girls with her cat ‘o’ nine tails but despite it all the girls are unable to defeat the queen and her daughter. Isabeau suddenly faints, but not before declaring the death of Tart in one year’s time. Minou and Isabeau leave through one of Minou's portals as Charles cries and the magical girls tend to their wounds. Afterwards, Charles broke down and could not make decisions for himself, relying heavily on the chamberlain to do his thinking for him. This resulted in the king withdrawing support from Tart and dispersing most of Tart’s greatest comrade in arms. For eight months Tart, Riz, Melissa, and Elisa went campaigning throughout France in search of Queen Isabeau's holdout.

At the town of Compiegne, the four girls found a barrier bearing the symbol of a cuckoo. As the girls enter the barrier, they are met by Minou. After greeting them, she summons several portals from which hundreds of magical girls stream through. Minou summons several branding irons and causes all of the girls to fall into despair and transform into witches, ready to be unleashed on Tart and her friends. The girls struggle but are just able to hold their own against the hoard of witches when Minou steps aside to allow Lapin to join into the fray. Lapin, mistakenly believing they were the ones who killed her sister Corbeau, takes out her rage on the girls and challenges Riz one on one to combat. But Riz is unable to shatter Lapin’s soul gem before she underwent her witch transformation once more. Melissa coordinates a surprise attack on Lapin but despite using her anti-matter bomb on Lapin, she only reemerges in her magical girl form with her soul gem cleansed. The girls wonder if it's even possible to stop her since she is effectively immortal. As Minou laughs, she summons a portal beneath Melissa and Elisa and transports them to a different part of the barrier, effectively cutting the team in half. Once more Minou summons an army of magical girls only to have them transform into witches instantly and unleashes them on Melissa and Elisa. The two girls fight off the witches as best they can, Melissa firing her rifle wildly in all directions as Melissa swings her polearm about. Just as Melissa is about to be hit by a witch from behind, Elisa calls out to her and knocks her to one side, taking the brunt of the hit herself.

Melissa cradles Elisa in her arm and with the other, she swings her polearm and makes short work of the witch. As she holds Elisa up, she notices blood on her hands and realizes Elisa is bleeding badly. She asks why Elisa would do such a thing, and Elisa responds that if anything were to happen to Melissa it would make Tart cry her eyes out. Elisa sways a moment as Melissa insists that all of them would be grief-stricken if anything were to happen to Elisa since the four of them are partners and can't lose even a single one of them. Elisa smiles to herself and admits it's true. The two turn to face the oncoming horde of witches and agree to break through the throng so they can meet back up with Tart and Riz. The two continue to fight off the witches as Minou focuses her attention on Tart and the subsequent loss of her sister Lapin. As the barrier begins to shatter, Minou promises Melissa and Elisa they’ll be able to watch as Tart now finds herself outside of the church the barrier was located in, surrounded by enemy forces. Tart was captured and sold to the English.

Following Tart's trial in which she was convicted of heresy, she was kept in a prison cell in Isabeau's stronghold where Minou would torture her. She was kept in confinement for several months as Elisa and Melissa recovered from their wounds. Finally, the girls were able to mount a rescue by having the French forces attack the stronghold where Tart was kept and acting as a diversion for Minou while Elisa and Melissa fought their way to where Tart was kept. Finally reunited, the three girls embrace one another. Pernelle was also with Elisa and Melissa during their rescue operation. As she tends to Kyubey's wounds, Tart reaffirms her vow to bring light to France, Melissa vows to go forth to support Tart, and Elisa vows to go for the glory of herself and Tart. The trio head outside where Minou is making short work of the French forces. Elisa and Melissa fight off the magical girl army that Minou has brought with her as Tart races to where Isabeau is watching the battle. Isabeau transforms into her witch state and attacks everyone in her vicinity. Elisa and Melissa unleash their attacks on the witch queen but once more their attacks cause no harm to her. Elisa and Melissa can only watch as Tart battles with the witch and ultimately defeats her. Melissa and Elisa race over to Tart, overjoyed that the battle is finally over and their greatest enemy defeated. But Tart faints, weak from the overexertion her soul gem has taken due to the battle. The grief seed Pernelle hands her does nothing as Tart’s soul gem has corrupted beyond repair. Melissa and Elisa prepare themselves to defend Tart as Minou threatens to kill them herself no matter what may happen when suddenly Minou's soul gem shatters and she becomes an ordinary girl. Tart offers herself as a prisoner on the condition that the soldiers are allowed to go free and Minou agrees, despite the pleas of Melissa.

It is May 30, 1431 and both Melissa and Elisa are hurrying to the public square, racing against the clock despite their wounds not fully recovered. Amidst the throng of people, Tart stands tied to a wooden stake, her hair cropped short as she wears a simple white tunic. She looks up at the sky and holds her hands clasped in front of her despite her rope bonds. Melissa and Elisa push their way to the front of the crowds as a soldier lights the pile of kindle at Tart's feet with his torch. Telepathically, Tart tells them not to save her as no one has any idea of the the kind of disaster she could bring to the world. She would rather ensure her death as a magical girl. Melissa cries out she would rather be with her in her final moments even if Tart were to turn into a witch. Tart tells them of a dream she had and thanks the girls for being there with her. Pernelle, Melissa and Elisa pray for their holy lady, La Pucelle as the flames begin to consume Tart.

Melissa sits on the back of Elisa's horse as the two girls quietly walk down a broad country field. Elisa asks if Tart left her life holding no grudges or regrets. Melissa knows they understood her last words and that there was no despair in her final prayer. Elisa agrees and comments that Tart was betrayed and lost hope at times, but kept fighting even when suffering near-mortal wounds. But those wounds were also proof of the battle she survived and the life she made it through. Even if both girls may become witches someday, they both agree to visit the village in which Tart grew up in.

Melissa in Magia Record

See Melissa de Vignolles in Magia Record

Powers and Abilities

While most magical girls who wish to heal others are often granted healing abilities of their own, Melissa was instead granted high-offensive abilities, most notably the power of anti-matter. She is able to wield her polearm such that she can send her cone-like attachment at her enemies, using it as a projectile and is able to change its direction in midflight just by swinging her polearm once more. She is also able to attach it to the top of her polearm for further damage and can even charge the cone from afar, effectively making it a bomb that she can detonate at will. Her strongest ability is her anger, and once her father or Tart are threatened nothing can stand in her way.

Observations

She inherited the same quick anger as her father, La Hire.
She is noted as being very pious by the village priest, and her father first met her while praying over her mother's grave.

Etymology

Vignoles is a complex hybrid wine grape variety. Vignoles is often prized for its ability to produce balanced and fruity late-harvest style sweet white wines, including ice wine, although Vignoles is also used to produce fruity dry and off-dry white wines as well. This may tie in to the fact that Melissa's soul gem has the appearance of a bunch of grapes on the front of a shield.