Characters from The Tales of Hoffmann, introduced in The Tale of Olympia.
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Coppélius
Coppélius
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. He still manipulates The Hero's feelings as part of a sick experiment, and he still ends up destroying Olympia during a feud with Spalanzani, but he's still not quite the Jerkass Child Hater Hoffmann wrote him as. He probably hasn't killed anybody, either. (At least not yet, assuming that he's also Miracle and Dappertutto.)
- Adapted Out: In The Sandman (1816), he disguised himself as an Italian named Coppola (presumably to hide from the law, as he is suspected of murder.) Here the lab incident never happened, so Coppélius is openly operating under his real name.
- Also removed is the protagonist identifying him with the eponymous Sandman of Germanic mythology. Granted, him being one of Lindorf's alter egos fills basically the same function.
- Berserk Button: He does not appreciate being swindled out of his payment.
- Beware the Silly Ones: He might be more Laughably Evil than his book counterpart, depending on the production, but he's more than capable of utterly destroying Spalanzani's masterpiece when the latter double-crosses him.
- The Devil Is a Loser: Has traits of this, surprisingly. Apparently, becoming an incarnation of Satan isn't enough to make him a legitimate threat. Spalanzani successfully cons him, and his rebuttal is basically just an act of petty revenge.
- Eye Motifs: He calls his glasses "eyes", and made literal glass eyes for Olympia. The 1916 film also restores a scene from The Sandman (1816) where he threatens to tear the protagonist's eyes out because — in this version — he needs them for an experiment.
- For the Evulz: Seemingly why he decides to mess with Hoffmann, as any other potential motive has been cut in this adaptation.
- Honest John's Dealership: Played With. He actually admits exactly what the glasses do, but Hoffmann is too dense to put two and two together and is still fooled by the illusion.
- Master of Illusion: Sells Hoffmann a pair of glasses (not a spyglass as in the original story) which make dead things seem alive.
- Offscreen Teleportation: In the Musical TV Theater adaptation, Hoffmann and Miklaós ascend two flights of stairs, only to find Coppélius waiting on each floor.
- Starter Villain: He's not as dangerous as The Enemy's other incarnations, being a con artist who ultimately only breaks company property.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Has green hair in the 1983 film.
Olympia
Olympia
- Adaptational Wimp: Played for Laughs. In the original story, she could make it through an evening party just fine. Here, she has to be wound up twice during her musical number, making her even more blatantly robotic.
- Artificial Stupidity: She requires constant supervision to even remotely pass as human, and the truth is still obvious to the Real Life audience.
- Brown Note: A downplayed example, but her song "Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille" causes Hoffmann to become completely infatuated with her.
- Defanged Horrors: An interesting case where the character really isn't changed much, but other's perception of her is. The Sandman (1816) puts a lot of focus on the In-Universe Vocal Minority who were creeped out by her, and the rest of the city turned against her when they learned just what she was. Here, the guests generally enjoy her singing and take her Robotic Reveal more lightly, while her inhuman behavior is Played for Laughs. (Nicklausse may still development a dislike for her, depending on the adaptation.)
- Kiss Me, I'm Virtual: Just like in the original story, our Hero falls in love with her after seeing her through Coppélius's Enchanted lenses, unaware that she's really a mindless automation. Needless to say, the relationship is very one-sided.
- Love at First Sight: Parodied. Hoffmann becomes obsessed with the doll as soon as he lays his eyes in her. He doesn't realize that she's a Brainless Beauty in the most literal sense until the end of the act, showing just how shallow this trope can be.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: As in The Sandman (1816), this is what she's presented as.
- Off with Her Head!: How she meets her demise. The 1951 and 1970 films might have her most "gory" deaths, as in both instances, she is literally torn limb from limb by Coppélius and Spalanzani.
- Robot Girl: Traditionally, though some productions make her more of a Fembot instead.
- Schizo Tech: Automatons back in the 1880s could not replicate human voice, let alone sing.
- Single-Task Robot: She can only sing and dance, nothing else.
- Uncanny Valley Girl: After all, the original character was practically a Trope Codifier, becoming a
Fountain of Expies and being brought up in Sigmund Freud's essay The Uncanny. - Uniqueness Decay: In the original story, she was an entirely unique creation Spalanzani spent twenty years working on. The opera, on the other hand, sometimes has her surrounded by different dolls or automatons, albeit less elaborate ones. The 1951 film goes as far as making all of Spalanzani's unnamed guests enchanted marionettes
- Virtual Celebrity: A bit of an Unbuilt Trope in that the In-Universe audience don't initially know about her artificial nature.
Spalanzani
Spalanzani
- Adaptational Villainy: Here we actually get to see the events leading up to the fight between him and Coppélius in the original story. Turns out that Spalanzani was trying to scam his partner out of payment by writing him an uncasheable check, arguably making him the more evil of the two (considering that Coppélius's own villainy was downplayed.)
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Along with Coppélius in The Tale of Olympia. This is the only act where the Baritone Villain has to share the antagonist spotlight with another character.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Especially in the 1951 film, where he presents himself as a Fun Personified Performance Artist, wearing a colorful outfit which is said to be fashionable In-Universe, but is also a Manipulative Bastard who cons both Coppélius and Hoffmann, and occasionally beats his servant.
- Character Exaggeration: In The Sandman (1816), Spalanzani was a fairly nondescript university professor who simply happened to have built an automaton. In the 1951 film, he is known exclusively as a dollmaker, has an office which doubles as an art studio and a puppet theater, and has become a flamboyantly hammy dandy on top of everything else.
- Composite Character: The 1916 movie shows him working on alchemy experiments with Coppélius, thus combining him with Nathaniel’s father.
- Driven to Suicide: At least one staging had him kill himself after seeing Olympia destroyed. Also a case of Death by Adaptation.
- Harmless Villain: All in all, he never actually poses a physical threat, coming across more like a con artist Troll than anything.
- Mad Scientist: Is often dressed with this trope in mind, lab coat and all. Occasionally, he resembles Rotwang from Metropolis, a character who likely took some inspiration from him.
- What, Exactly, Is His Job?: He probably has the most inconsistent profession out of any character in the opera. He is often portrayed as a scientist or engineer, but in the book he was a university professor, the 1916 film makes him an alchemist-come-museum-director, and the 1951 film turns him into a dollmaker.
- Would Hurt a Child: In the 1916 film, he and Coppélius are trying to create some kind of Philosopher's Stone, one of the ingredients being (presumably) multiple pairs of child eyes.
Cochenille
Cochenille
- Adaptational Species Change: Originally Spalanzani's quite human assistans, some adaptations instead turn him into one of his creations.
- Alternate Self: The counterpart of Andres in The Tale of Olympia.
- Butt-Monkey: He doesn't exactly tend to come out of the story with his dignity intact.
- Canon Foreigner: Does not appear in The Sandman (1816).
- Cyborg: Some productions make him this, possessing both biological and mechanical body parts.
- Half-Human Hybrid: The 1951 film describes him as "half man, half puppet"... however that works (unless he’s a mechanical cyborg of sorts, as mentioned above).
- Hopeless Suitor: The 1951 film shows him to have a crush om Olympia. It goes about as well as it went for Hoffmann.
- Marionette Master: Is generally in charge of controlling Olympia. The 1951 movie gives him the additional job of running Spalanzani's whole puppet theater all by himself.
- Ridiculously Human Robot: Again, in some productions he is one, potentially even more advanced than Olympia!
- Speech Impediment: Has a stutter.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In the 1951 film, Spalanzani is shown to be mildly abusive towards him due to his bumbling nature. In return, Cochenille sticks His tongue out. (Of course, the way he treats his puppets isn't much better.)
