“ | Never talk to sea-perch. You can't trust those kind of fish. | ” |
— Louise Chatham to Cleo Sertori[src]
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Louise Chatham was one of the three original mermaids in 1955. Miss Chatham is a wise lady that knows a lot about mermaidness, and helps then recently-turned mermaids Emma, Cleo and Rikki with important things.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Louise Chatham was born in early 1940s to unnamed human parents. At some point during or after her childhood, she met and quickly became best-friends with two other girls named Gracie and Julia. Louise was known to attend an unknown high school with them during her teenage years back in the 1950s, and it is very likely that she met Max Hamilton, also a good friend, while there or even before.
Becoming a mermaid[]
In 1955, Louise was hanging out with her best-friends Gracie and Julia, until they decided to pay a visit to Mako Island. When already there, they found themselves at its heart and discovered a Moon Pool. As it was a Full Moon night, Louise and both her best-friends stayed on it, going through metamorphosis.
Later, by being exposed to water, Louise sprouted her mermaid tail and confirmed with her two best-friends that she wasn't the only one. It was most likely around this time that she discovered her individual, yet special power over water.
Life as a mermaid[]
She and her friends, Gracie and Julia, promised each other to keep the secret of being mermaids, until Julia's boyfriend, Karl appeared. They begged Julia to not tell their secret to Karl, but she didn't listen. When she finally told him, he got angry and he wasn't trustworthy anymore. Soon after he knew about Julia's secret, he called Julia to meet him at the dock. When she came to the surface at the dock in her mermaid form, she didn't noticed that Karl had a camera behind his back. He managed to get a complete shot of Julia as a mermaid. Luckily, Louise and Gracie got there in time and Louise threw the camera into the sea. They later re-established their friendship with Julia.
Somewhere in the fifties, it's implied she saved the life of a fisherman who was about to drown, exactly like Emma did with Zane fifty years later.
After the Moon of Fifty Years[]
Louise states in "Shipwrecked" that her powers "became too much". It is unknown if she somehow got rid of her powers or she still has them.
Louise met and married an unknown man after she had separated from her friends. Years later, the couple bought the Lorelei boat, which Louise named after a river mermaid from German folklore. Her husband passed away fifteen years before she met Emma, Cleo and Rikki in 2006, leaving her a widow.
Present Day[]
Miss Chatham appears for the first time in the beginning of Season 1, in "Party Girls." She's watching the dolphin show and sees Cleo coming up with some fish. Miss Chatham recognizes for an unknown reason that Cleo is a mermaid, and gives Cleo some help by giving her a dry towel when Cleo gets wet and doesn't have a dry towel.
Until 2006, Louise used to live on the Lorelei boat at the marina. She accidentally damaged Zane's jet-ski and he calls the harbor master. The harbor master says that the state of the boat is unsafe, and he confiscated Miss Chatham's boat. Emma offers Miss Chatham to stay at her place until she finds a new place to live. Miss Chatham, however, isn't planning to give up her boat, and she sneaks out at night. She damages Zane's jet-ski again and she thinks that Zane will not be happy with that, but she still sails away in her boat. Zane follows her and manages to get aboard her boat. Miss Chatham thinks that Zane wants her treasure, and Zane indeed looks around for something valuable. This causes Miss Chatham to have a heart attack.
Emma and Lewis followed Zane too, and find out what has happened. They take Miss Chatham into Lewis' boat to take her to the hospital. After Louise had recovered, Emma's family organized her stay at a retirement home, which Louise accepts. She is currently living there still nowadays.
Physical Appearance[]
Louise was a beautiful teenage girl of average height and slim figure. She had pale skin, blue eyes, small nose, small pink lips and shoulder length wavy golden blonde hair worn loose or clipped up. Her wardrobe was girly was colorful dresses, colorful shirts and cardigans and long skirts with socks and shoes. Her bathing suit was blue and wore the locket with a diamond on it.
As a 65 year old woman she looked older but her beauty never faded, and her figure got more curvy and plump and her hair was long and wavy reaching below her chest and wore it down or clipped up. Her wardrobe became casual comfortable but colorful and girly and wore primarily shades of blue.
Mermaid Powers[]
Due to entering the Mako Island's Moon Pool with her two ex-best-friends Julia and Gracie, Louise was only gifted with one unspecified power over water, and didn't receive all merpeople powers like a person who enters the Moon Pool alone. Louise also still retains her special, individual power over water, although it is unknown what kind it is, or which she and her two ex-best-friends Julia and Gracie received back in the '50s as teenage girls.
Although not confirmed, based on Louise's vast knowledge and mermaid experience, it was implied that she, Gracie, and Julia once underwent the Lunar Eclipse in a Moon Pool themselves, before Gracie willingly gave up her mermaid self and magical power permanently under the Moon of Fifty Years back at some point in 1957, for Louise to be aware of the Eclipse's effect on a bewitched merperson.
- Unknown Power: It was unknown what kind of water-related regular power Louise possessed after her first metamorphosis with her fellow friends, Gracie, and Julia, back in mid-1950s, although she was speculated to had received the power of Hydro-Cryokinesis, before her powers became too much for her, and it was unknown whether she gave them up or retained them until her old age. It was also unknown whether she ever enhanced her regular power under the Elemental Moon in an active Moon Pool, and received her elemental power, although given her vast knowledge and experience, it is likely that she did.
Weaknesses[]
Before her transformation, Louise had all the typical weaknesses of a human. When she transformed, she now is susceptible to all the weaknesses of a human-turned-mermaid, like the temporary twelve-hours Lunar Eclipse or the dangerous power-stripping Moon of Fifty Years. She is also susceptible to Mako's Moon Pool's well-being, meaning if it is destroyed or deprived of its powerful, magical Moon Water, she would perish and die with it.
Behind the scenes[]
She was portrayed by actress Christine Amor in the present day, and by actress Teri Haddy as a teenager.
Name[]
Louise is a Germanic and French name and the meaning is "famous warrior".
Trivia[]
- Louise is referred to in Season 2 by Rikki when she says that there were three original mermaids, meaning there should only be three, when discussing Charlotte Watsford's transformation.
- Like Emma Gilbert, Louise was the first to enter the Moon Pool.
- She was a good friend to Max Hamilton, who was Gracie's boyfriend.
- Louise is the only original mermaid who never had a romance mentioned during her teenage years.
- She is the only one of the three original mermaids that is not deceased.
- Miss Chatham secured a room in a retirement home, and is currently living there.
- Before having Emma visit her on her boat in Shipwrecked, she hadn't had guests there for 23 years.
- She named her boat after a river mermaid "Lorelei" from German folklore.
- It is unknown if Miss Chatham's late husband knew of her identity as a mermaid or not.
- Louise's handcrafted white-stonned locket might indicate that she received the power of Hydro-Cryokinesis following her Metamorphosis in 1955, the same as Emma Gilbert got following hers in 2006.
- She notably does not trust sea perch and sternly warns Cleo not to talk to them in the episode Moon Spell.
- She mostly appeared in the first season, made one flashback appearance in the second season, and was not seen nor mentioned in the final season.
Gallery[]
- Main article: Louise Chatham/Gallery