Charmer

"Would I hurt anything so lovely?"

— Ranger when he first meets Charmer

Charmer is a red fox who was born in White Deer Park, and is one of the daughters of Fox and Vixen. She is seen in both the books and the TV series.

She shares the kind and understanding nature of her mother and was the first to want peace with Scarface's family. She meets and falls in love with Scarface's son Ranger, which displeases many of the Farthing Wood animals and her family (except Vixen), particularly Fox and Bold (who is replaced by Friendly in the TV Series).

Books[]

Fox's Feud[]

Charmer is born during the spring along with Bold, Dreamer and Friendly. She was named Charmer because she had 'very winning ways'. She joins her family in their search for Bold in Scarface's territory, but Fox insists that she and Vixen stay behind when they reach the hostile foxes. One day while out hunting, Charmer strays into unfamiliar territory and meets Ranger, who she recognizes as the son of Scarface. She immediately takes a liking to him, but she is cautious because of the feud between their two families. Ranger explains that he is not responsible for his father's actions and that they need not become involved in the feud, and she agrees to hunt with him.

Charmer and Ranger meet regularly after their first encounter, and start to fall in love. However, one day Charmer is required to keep watch for the other animals so Ranger comes looking for her. They are seen by Bold, who threatens Ranger and calls Charmer a traitor, but Fox and Vixen soon arrive and allow Charmer to explain the situation to them in their earth.

When Scarface and his family launch an attack on the Farthing Wood animals, Fox suspects that Ranger told his father to strike during the day when nobody is on watch and threatens to kill him, but Charmer heads out of Badger's set to talk to him. After realizing that Ranger is not on Scarface's side, Fox and Vixen actively encourage his relationship with Charmer and the two cubs hunt together every night and make plans to spend their future together.

The Fox Cub Bold[]

Charmer only appears near the end of this book, when she meets Whisper after her arrival at the park. After discovering that Whisper is Bold's mate, Charmer tells Fox and Vixen of her arrival, and they and Friendly go back to her to find out more. When Whisper tells them that Bold is dying, they leave the park to find him and are informed of his whereabouts by Robber. Charmer is present with the rest of his family when Bold finally passes away. After Bold's death Charmer gives birth to several cubs and tells Whisper that their cubs should all be encouraged to mingle when they get older.

The Siege of White Deer Park[]

Like most of the vixens Charmer spends the majority of the spring looking after her new cubs and as such is hardly seen at all. However she does appear at the meeting to discuss Tawny Owl's sighting of the Beast and is present during the animals' investigation of the creature's lair by the stream.

In the Path of the Storm[]

Charmer appears early in the spring and stops Rusty and Pace from teasing Tawny Owl about his bachelorhood, although her use of the word "misfortune" to describe his situation causes Owl to leave the park in search of a mate. She later appears at the meeting of elders to discuss the problem with Trey, and she is one of the animals present when Badger is recovering from being poisoned in the disused set. She is also among the group that travels to the pond to drink in order to show Trey that he cannot stop them from drinking there.

Battle for the Park[]

Charmer appears only briefly in this book, forming part of the hunting party that tries to drive the rats out of the Farthing Wood animals' corner of the reserve and also taking part in the final battle against the rats, in which they are finally removed from the park for good.

TV Series[]

Series 2[]

Charmer's role in the series almost the same as in the books. She is born along with Bold, Friendly and Dreamer after the winter. Charmer was shown to be upset about the death of her sister, as she approached her mother and looked at her before they both looked sadly at Dreamer's body. Charmer then witnessed the fight between her brother Bold and their father after a confrontation with Scarface, and is encouraged by Bold to look after their mother, to which she nods silently, after which Bold leaves the park.

Not long after these events, Charmer is drinking from the stream when Ranger, on his family's side of the stream, shows up. Despite some initial hesitancy on her part, particularly after discovering that she was speaking with Scarface's son, the two begin to talk and it is hinted that they became friends and fell in love. Charmer later meets Ranger again when she is on watch, and urges Ranger to leave as, despite him saying that her brother Bold 'seemed alright', she has another brother. No sooner has she said this, when Friendly arrives, threatens Ranger and starts to see Charmer as a traitor. Friendly rushes back to inform their parents about the 'very friendly' meeting between Charmer and Ranger, with a very angry reaction from Fox despite Vixen saying that she knew something like this might happen and that Charmer hasn't intended to be a traitor.

Charmer then shows up, and realizes that Friendly has told on her when all three members of her family stare at her. She states that Friendly promised not to tell, but this was likely her attempting to place some kind of blame on her brother when she is put on the spot, emphasized by how surprised he sounds when he says, 'No I didn't!'. She is deeply hurt when her father thinks she's a traitor and when he says that she and Ranger could "never make a match". Charmer states that she would have told them herself when the time was right, adding that she and Ranger are young and asks what difference their color makes. Charmer and Vixen convince Fox to meet Ranger.

Charmer and Ranger have a fight soon afterwards, concerning Adder's involvement in Bounder's death, but soon make up, with Charmer stating how she should have known that Ranger would be upset that Adder was meant to bite his father. Ranger meets with Charmer's parents immediately afterwards. Fox does not give Ranger his blessing, but he accepts Ranger and Charmer's friendship.

Later, Charmer meets Ranger again and they confess their love and rub their heads together. After Scarface is killed by Adder, Fox finally gives Ranger his blessing and Ranger and Charmer become mates.

Series 3[]

Charmer becomes an aunt to Plucky.

Physical Appearance[]

Like her brothers and sister, Charmer is a light shade of orange, with a small "ruff" at her cheeks like the other red vixens have. Around her eyes are cream patches with the points at the back facing downwards, and her cheek patches, which come in at a point about halfway up her muzzle, connect with the cream-colored fur on her underbelly - she is the only vixen in the show to have this feature. Similar to her siblings and father, her tail ends in a cream tip.

Charmer is noted for her beauty in the books, as Vixen stated that "she [Charmer] has very winning ways".

Appearances[]

Books

TV Series

Trivia[]

Charmer is unique among other vixens, in that she is the only vixen whose paler underbelly connects to the paler markings on her cheeks.
- However, most of the red foxes and vixens have one or two outstanding characteristics.
She is also the only fox in the series to have green eyes.
Charmer and Ranger's forbidden romance is very similar to the story of Romeo and Juliet, which featured two lovers whose families were feuding.
- It also resembles the forbidden love between Kiara and Kovu from the movie The Lion King 2.
- In the case of 'The Lion King' and 'The Animals Of Farthing Wood', the female was a member of the protagonist's family, whereas the male was a member of the antagonistic family, and both antagonistic families were colored differently from the respective species that was originally seen. The females both had over-protective fathers who had lost a member of their family at the paws of the other family, their mothers were both more understanding of the matter, and both eventually found happiness when their respective mate was accepted.