Character Profile: Duck

Ahiru is just an ordinary duck, but Drosselmeyer gave her the power to change into a girl with a pendant she always wore. This same pendant helps her to turn into Princess Tutu. But even though she already turned into a girl, she still acts like a duck, that's why she is called Ahiru, the name means duck.

She always dreamed of dancing with Drosselmeyer's Prince Mytho, which actually turned out to be a real Prince, but she is a terrible dancer. But when she turns into Princess Tutu she becomes the most graceful dancer in the whole town, and she helps Prince Mytho to find all of the missing pieces of his heart so he will be able to smile again.

Duck is, well, a duck, only she turns into a girl, and then she turns into a princess from a story book, "The Prince and the Raven." She returns to duck form whenever she acts like a duck. She will often quack when startled or scared, so she runs off before she transforms. Also, whenever the Prince, Mytho, is in danger, the red pendant she wears, which is what enables her to become human, glows, signifying its activation, and she looses her clothes and is encased in a golden egg. That egg then uncoils, and she becomes Princess Tutu.

Duck attends a ballet school with her two friends. The blonde is often getting her in trouble. They also think it's cute when she pulls a duck-like stunt. She seems ungraceful and is very amiable. She makes friends with Rue, Princess Kraehe, the enemy, quite easily. She can't dance very well by herself, but with Rue's, Fakir's, or Mytho's help, she dances well. Because of her constant tardiness, Mr. Cat is always threatening to drop her to the probationary class or have her marry him. For the first 13 episodes, a puppet selling gems named Ms. Aido acts as a guide to Duck.

Princess Tutu is destined to never be with her love. She has magic powers, a kind voice, and as soon as she tells the prince of her love, she will turn into a speck of light and disappear. No one wanted to take on the role of the princess because they knew of her fate, but a simple duck bravely took on the role just to give Mytho his heart so he could be himself and smile again. Or, at least that was her excuse until she fell in love with him.

Duck, as a bird, often sees Fakir at times when he is more tender towards her. As a girl, Fakir scorns her. As Tutu, Fakir loathes her, for he does not want Mytho to regain his heart because he feels it will only cause Mytho suffering. But when she's a bird, he lets his feelings show and will be kind to her. When Duck shows him that she is truly a bird, he freaks out because she had seen him cry.

All in all, Duck does not want to see Fakir die, as is his fate. She loves the Prince, and he loves her back. Duck has befriended Rue, but Tutu fights Kraehe. Aido, the two princesses, the prince, and the knight (Fakir) are all just story characters to Drosselmeyer.

Editor’s Note:

A common misconception is that Duck's age is 13 years old. This is actually false. This age was only ever stated in the fan manga adaptation not associated with the official original anime release. (The anime came before the unrelated manga.) The truth is, since Duck is not a real human, she's just a bird, she has no official age. In fact, the creators (Ikuko Itoh and Junichi Sato) never gave any of the characters official ages. They were left up to interpretation, but they are assumed to be around high school age.