Bio:
• Full Name: Isabelle Whitehall
• Other Names: Shadow; Izzy
• Species: Human
• Gender: Female
• Date of Birth: 24th December 1875
• Date of Death (initially): February 9th 1889 (Age 13)
• Age: 13 (currently in story)
• Birthplace: London, England
• Occupation: Aerialist (formerly); Marchioness
• Associations: Whitehall; The British Royal Family; Noah's Ark Circus; Unnamed Family-Owned Company; Villainous Nobility

Physical Appearance:
Isabelle is a small, slender girl with a mild muscular physique and budding curves. Her hair is long and wavy, falling all the way to her waist when she doesn't wear it up. She is naturally a dark brunette. Her eyes are a steel grey, an attribute which she resents as she considers it dull. Her complexion is pale, but is not pale enough that she appears sickly, and contrasts greatly with her dark hair and rosy cheeks. During her years at the circus, she preferred to wear male clothing in her spare time - a habit which was spurred on by Freckles - because she found dresses to be too restrictive to practice in and not warm enough in the winter season. After being rescued from the circus, wearing male clothes was no longer an option as it was taboo for a woman to wear pants at this time. Therefore, she resorted to dresses, and could often be seen in darker colours - such as navy or maroon. She rarely wears makeup or jewellery since she sees no particular reason to draw attention to herself, contradictory to how she lived in the circus.

An ideal real-life interpretation of Isabelle would be India Eisley

Family:
• Edward Whitehall (Father) †
• Sylvia Whitehall (Mother) † 
• Benjamin Whitehall (Uncle) †
• [unnamed aunt] †
• [unnamed cousin] †

Background:
Isabelle was the first child born to Edward and Sylvia Whitehall. She was an academically bright child and engaged in many creative hobbies, taking great interest in languages and music. She was doted upon by both her parents, but was not the ideal boy required to inherit the family's company. During her early childhood, her mother suffered an ectopic pregnancy, damaging her reproductive system and consequently losing the ability to conceive more children. Therefore, Isabelle was made the sole heir to her father's company and estate. Envious of his niece's fortune, her uncle Benjamin tried to convince her father to give the rights to his son, whom he claimed would be a better successor to the family business. Insulted by his proposition, Edward refused and abruptly cut his brother off.

For her eleventh birthday, her parents planned to take her to France, taking a ship from Dover. The trip from London to the White Cliffs was long and, persuaded by her uncle, they stopped overnight at Baron Kelvin's manor - the Baron being an associate of her uncle. What was meant to be a harmless overnight stay ended up to be a brutal bloodbath and Isabelle's parents were both slaughtered. Isabelle herself was injured in an escape attempt and the accident left her with severe memory loss. Her uncle had planned this whole scenario, intending for Isabelle to die along with her parents, leaving him with the rights to the company. Their deaths were brushed off as a tragic road accident in which the bodies were likely lost at sea, and no one questioned the rouse.

Obsessed with her beauty, the deranged Baron allowed Isabelle to live, wanting to place her in his circus. In order to avoid suspicion from herself and others, he fed Isabelle lies about her life. During her recovery stage, details of her life were left unmentioned or purposely vague, and this left Isabelle feeling lost and frustrated, wary of who she could and could not trust. As soon as her leg injury had fully healed, she was coerced to join Noah's Ark circus. Seeing as she had nowhere else to go, she agreed and trained to become an aerialist, donning the facade of Shadow. Not soon after joining, she became aware of the circus' kidnapping endeavours, but was advised by Doll to turn a blind eye, and didn't intervene.

Two years later, she met Ciel and aided him in his inspection of the circus, discovering truths about it that even she didn't know. She later learned of her true identity through viewing her cinematic records which are played as she dies of blood loss due to accidentally being stabbed by Doll. Thankfully for her, Isabelle was deemed 'useful' to the world by William T Spears and was permitted to live, allowing her to go on and claim her title as rightful head of the Whitehall family.

Relations:
• Ciel admires every aspect of her personality. Initially, he finds her compatible to get along with, easy to converse with, and understanding. As time progresses, he comes to appreciate the extreme attributes of her distinctive personality and likes how it mirrors his own. He regards her as an equal and, of course, he loves her.
• Sebastian enjoys teasing her, finding her flustered reactions hilarious. He considers her somewhat pleasant company and, although he'd never admit it, respects her level of maturity and integrity.
• Doll/Freckles considered Isabelle to be her best friend. She enjoyed tormenting her, finding her easy to tease. The pair exchanged banter often, shared jokes, and offered a shoulder to cry on if the other required it.
• Baron Kelvin was grossly obsessed with her youthful looks - similarly to how he felt towards Ciel - and often admired her from afar.
• Charles Grey has suspicions about how Isabelle came to be head of her family and yearns to find out how she accomplished it - by any means necessary. He does not trust her completely, and he will always question her word, but he thinks she's amusing company regardless.
• Elizabeth finds her intimidating, not fully understanding what she has done to evoke such hatred from the younger girl. She treads lightly around her, but hopes that the pair can become friends in the future.

Inspiration:
• Annabeth Chase (The Percy Jackson series) - Both girls are strong and fearless, knowing full well what they want and using their wit and knowledge to achieve their ambitions. As well as this, Annabeth inspires many of the sassy/humorous moments that Isabelle provides throughout the story. In terms of appearance, I also gave Isabelle the same stormy eye colour as Annabeth.
• Anastasia Romanov (Anastasia 1997 movie) - Anyone who has seen this movie will easily be able to link Isabelle's backstory to Anastasia's. For starters, both girls come from prestigious noble families which a considerable amount of people despise. They both also suffer retrograde amnesia (the inability to recall past events) as the result of an accident - something which people take advantage of.
• Bruce Wayne (DC's Batman) - Again, both characters share similar tragic stories. Isabelle witnessed her parents' murders and was vulnerable in that moment, which drives her ambition of becoming the perfect Whitehall. This is similar to Bruce who used his parents' murders as motivation to bring about justice for Gotham city. He also inspired the 'double life' concept going on early in this series. The only exception is that Isabelle is not a vigilante-esque character like Bruce Wayne is, but a mysterious performer.

Trivia:
• Isabelle's family name - Whitehall - is the name of a famous political street in London, which was subsequently named after the ill-fated Palace of Whitehall. Before the vast majority of it burned down in 1622, the Palace housed various members of the English monarchy and nobility.
• I like to think that Isabelle's 'death' during the Circus arc was symbolic for the death of Shadow, and the birth of Lady Whitehall. By this point, she'd already lost all association with the circus and also regained her former memories through her cinematic record, which helped her to understand her true identity. This is why her persona changed so dramatically - she essentially became a new person.
• If you read Edward and Sylvia's profiles, you'll find similarities between their characters and Isabelle's. This is because I imagined that Isabelle, wanting to live up to her parents' expectations, would aspire to be like them in every conceivable way. Therefore, in order to incorporate the traits of such minor characters into my protagonist, I made Isabelle's personality mirror her father's (proud, witty, compassionate) and her dress codes match her mother's (modest gowns that consist of mostly darker colours).
• I decided to make Shadow an aerialist as that specific act is commonly associated as with flying, which in itself is associated with the concept of freedom. In a literal sense, Shadow had a strong urge to escape the circus and embrace her individuality by leading her own life instead of adhering to a droll routine. Figuratively though, Shadow also wanted to escape the metaphorical shackles of her own mind that prevented her from remembering the events of her own past. As well as her career, the stage-name Shadow was chosen specifically to reinforce the idea that no one really saw Isabelle for who she was; she blended in with the circus crowd as though she was the same as everyone else. However, in reality, this couldn't be further from the truth.
• Isabelle's eyes are grey. Grey is a rare eye colour, but is a colour often associated with metal or stone - both of which connote strength, as well as reflecting coolness and stillness; a sense of inner calm. Moreover, people born with grey eyes are said to be dominant and natural born leaders. However, they're also said to be gentle, compassionate, and wholeheartedly devoted to their loved ones. I took all of these characteristics into serious consideration when sculpting Isabelle's personality.

Themes:

Freakshow • Skillet
"Don't need your smiling face
Don't need your hand to shake
'Cause it's my life to live and I ain't living for you
Eat it, drink it, think it, be it, breathe it
Guess you don't even know who I am"

Sorrow • Flyleaf
"Left alone with only reflections of the memory
To face the ugly girl
That's smothering me
Sitting closer than my pain
He knew each tear before it came"

River • Bishop Briggs
"Tales of an endless heart
Cursed is the fool who's willing
Can't change the way we are
One kiss away from killing"

Valley Of The Dolls • Marina and the Diamonds
"In the valley of the dolls, we sleep
Got a hole inside of me
Living with identities
That do not belong to me"

External Links:

• Pinterest Board [V1] - https://pin.it/21Z8Gvt
• Pinterest Board [V2] - https://pin.it/1c7tYiV