Character Profile: Aelita Hopper

Aelita is a virtual program of the world Lyoko. She is its protector and "princess" as well as the only actual resident, other than X.A.N.A..

Aelita first contacted Jeremie through an S.O.S signal. Aelita is not known to have any attacking ability, though she once attacked with Yumi's fans. She can sing to change the landscape and hide from monsters. Aelita is the only one of Team Lyoko who can deactivate towers and often counts on the other members to protect her.

Eventually, Jeremie virtualizes her, but X.A.N.A. infected her with a virus so they still can't shut down Lyoko without losing Aelita too.

She has strong feelings for Jeremie, finding his extensive knowledge attractive, and he returns her feelings. She is very innocent and is fascinated by the real world. Aelita had the personality and feels emotion as a true human despite the fact she is a computer program. And, as a bonus to prove she likes Jeremie, Aelita kissed him in the episode "X.A.N.A's kiss."

Aelita is later discovered to have been from the real world. It is realised in the latest season. Her father, Frans Hopper, had created the virtual reality world, and XANA, and he had virtualised Aelita and himself. Jeremie finds out this information when he is reading Frans Hopper's diary. Aelita doesn't get it at first when he tells the information to the group, but then she realises it. She had said, "That can't be, I would know if there was another girl on Lyoko."

Aelita's humanity being restored was confirmed in episode 53. Not only does she have new powers enabling her to directly attack creatures, she can now safely return to the real world (like the others) if she is ever devirtualized.

Aelita is a critical member of the team despite her general inability to fight. This is because only Aelita can interface with Lyoko's terminal screens and deactivate towers that have been taken over by XANA. This doesn't mean she's totally helpless. She has a limited ability to alter the landscape to create barriers to block enemies and decoys to trick them. And in season 2, she also learns how to drive the vehicles (she seems to show a particular skill for the Over Board).

Eventually, Jeremie comes up with a "Code: Earth" program that enables Aelita to materialize on Earth as a human. Though the program has its limitations (and there are unanticipated side effects), it's still a monumental feat, and by season 2 Jeremie refines the program enough that she can remain on Earth long enough to establish an identity (she takes the last name Stones out of personal preference) and become a student and boarder at Kadic. She even gets her own pink cell phone (to match her hair)!

But as season 2 begins and Aelita begins to get used to an Earth life, XANA's focus on her shifts. Originally bent on simply terminating her, XANA suddenly sends a new creature that attempts to extract her data! At the same time, she begins experiencing strange flashbacks of memory. This coming from a girl who--supposedly--had spent most of her existence in a virtual state. Research into the matter reveals many of the key details of the second season: the abandoned mansion near the school called the Hermitage, the fifth "core" sector of Lyoko, the mysterious scientist Franz Hopper.

Near the end of season 2, the most critical details about Aelita begin to emerge. First, we learn that Aelita was really human to begin with and had been thrust into Lyoko--along with Franz Hopper--to escape an attack by what seem to be government agents. Second, we learn that Hopper is actually Aelita's father. Third, the reason Aelita can't become a full human yet is because memories of her past are missing--her code is incomplete. And fourth, we learn why XANA wants her memories: hidden within her code is the key for XANA to escape Lyoko.

At the end of season 2, XANA manages to extract those keys, but Hopper (who, though he never actually appears, has managed to influence things in the late episodes) also manages to restore her missing memories. The full ramifications of this are not yet clear, but it would seem this restores Aelita's full humanity. But now she and the others have a greater worry. With XANA loose, it's become an even more dangerous threat than ever.