Charlotte

From Candypedia
Charlotte
GenderFemale
SpeciesCat
BreedAbyssinian
Family
DebutAt Loose Ends, page 1
January 2, 2012 (2012-01-02)

Charlotte is the late mother of Abbey and Molly and the wife of Abraham. In the main comic, she appears only in Abbey’s childhood flashbacks in At Loose Ends, and her children spent years believing she was alive and simply out of reach, which is exactly how she arranged it.

Personality

Charlotte is a gentle mother who spends her scenes looking after other people even when she is hurt or frightened. She teases Abbey while picking gum out of his hair, hushes him so Molly can sleep, and talks fondly about the husband she lives braced against.

Charlotte hushes Abbey before fear can fill the house.

She blames herself for the harm Abraham does to her. With a young Abbey wrapping her arm, she tells him she should have been prepared, since she knows how she gets on his father’s nerves.[1] A slammed front door is enough to make her jolt, because she thinks Abraham has come home early.[2] All the same, by Abraham’s own account she had been talking about taking the children and leaving.[3] Her first words on waking in the Hospital are a question about where the children are,[4] and her last are a request that they never be told if anything happens to her: “They’ve got a chance to grow up in a normal family. That’s all I ever wanted.”[5]

Appearance

Charlotte is a brown cat with long, wavy brown hair.[1] In the main comic, she is only ever seen at Abbey’s old house, and later in a hospital bed.[4] The bandage on her arm in her first scene is an injury rather than part of her look.[1]

Significant events

Abraham reaches for the lamp as At Loose Ends reaches its breaking point.

Charlotte is first mentioned in New Beginnings, in Abbey’s memory of the day his father was arrested. Abraham tells Cynthia to pack everything because “Charlotte knows”.[6] She finally appears in At Loose Ends, where Abbey’s flashbacks eventually show her learning about Cynthia from him.[1][7] Afterward, she and Abraham argue, and he reaches for a table lamp.[8] Molly finds her lying unmoving on the floor,[9] and Abraham is arrested.[10]

In the present day, Janet tells Abbey at the grave that his mother chose to disappear rather than trouble her children.[4] In the final flashback, Charlotte is in hospital, relieved that Abbey and Molly are in foster care,[11] and on the day of her operation she asks the nurse to keep her fate from them.[5] She died following that surgery.[5][12] Veronica has said Abraham went too far and that Charlotte was never going to bounce back, though he did not intend to kill her.[13] Her headstone in the snow is the last thing the chapter shows.[14]

Major relationships

Abbey

At Charlotte’s grave, Abbey finally says aloud what he has blamed himself for.

Abbey spends their scenes trying to look after his mother, who would much rather he didn’t have to. He bandages her arm and shouts down her self-blame, and she answers by shushing him for Molly’s sake.[1] She is also the one who spots his blank stare after he has seen Abraham with Cynthia.[2] Then, in the gum scene of At Loose Ends, her wistful memory of brushing Abraham’s hair prompts Abbey to say his father lets Cynthia do it now, and her smile is gone by “Who’s Cynthia?”[7] Abbey carries her death as guilt for years, insisting it is his fault,[12] and her frightened face is what he sees over Molly’s when his own temper flares.[15] Once he learns what she asked of the nurse, he calls her wish a gift he ought to be happy about.[16]

Molly

Molly’s handmade gifts outlast Charlotte, gathered together for a mother who never came home.

Molly keeps their relationship going alone for years, mostly by making things. She makes her mother a handmade gift every Christmas, Mother’s Day, birthday, and New Year’s so she will know she was not forgotten,[17][18] while on panel the two share only the moment Molly finds her on the floor.[9] Charlotte’s one answering moment comes in hospital, where she is told the children are in foster care, shuts her eyes, and says “Good.”[11] At Loose Ends ends with Molly’s basket of gifts beside the headstone.[14] The BCI story Sweet Dreams, which is not part of the main continuity, gives them a longer reunion inside a feverish Molly’s dream, where her mother hugs her, kisses her forehead, and floats away.[19]

Minor relationships

Abraham

Charlotte still speaks of Abraham with affection while living in fear of him. She wishes he would let her brush his hair again, but she jolts in fright when a door slams.[7][2] Abraham sees it rather differently. He describes her resistance as hysteria and tells Abbey he “had to control--” her.[3]

Quotes

I should have been prepared, anyway.. You know how your father is. How I can get on his nerves.. Charlotte, to a young Abbey bandaging her arm in At Loose Ends

It took so long to get it out. But it was nice to brush his hair.. I wish he’d let me do it again. Charlotte, remembering Abraham while picking gum out of Abbey’s hair in At Loose Ends

They’ve got a chance to grow up in a normal family. That’s all I ever wanted. Charlotte, asking the nurse to keep her fate from her children in At Loose Ends

Trivia

  • Charlotte was named in New Beginnings over two and a half years before she appeared on panel in At Loose Ends.[6][1]
  • The earliest drawing of her anywhere is in the BCI story Sweet Dreams, inside Molly’s dream, well over a year before her main-comic debut.[20]
  • Veronica has described her death as Abbey’s mother “literally getting murdered,” and says it was reported in the local newspaper, which is how Augustus knew about it.[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 13
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 29
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 41
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 43
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 46: New Beginnings, page 3
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 23
  8. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 24
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 26
  10. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 30
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 42
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 44
  13. ↑ “Ask response on whether Abraham meant to kill Charlotte”. 2026-04-22.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 48
  15. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 38
  16. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 47
  17. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 3
  18. ↑ Chapter 69: At Loose Ends, page 19
  19. ↑ Sweet Dreams, page 12 🔒 (members only)
  20. ↑ Sweet Dreams, page 9 🔒 (members only)
  21. ↑ “Ask response on how Augustus knew about Abbey’s mother”. 2026-03-15.
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