Fancy Crane - Characterization

Characterization

When first introduced in May 2005, Fancy is characterized as a vain, spoiled, stubborn, self-centered party girl who, as an heiress to a multibillion-dollar empire, is accustomed to getting everything her way; her grandfather tells her that she was born to "enjoy have fun". Overall, Fancy lacks seriousness, wearing frivolous, impractical, attention-grabbing (though not overly revealing) clothing and displaying a fun-seeking attitude. Early on, Fancy is often compared to Alistair in that she will do anything to get what she wanted, though, when she hurts others, it is due to a self-centered inability to see the effects that her actions will have on others and not a malicious desire to cause others pain.

Fancy, despite having traveled around the world, is also extremely naïve; after pawning her watch for an undisclosed sum of money, she uses her profits to purchase lottery tickets, not realizing that her chances of winning are so slim. Fancy also has a deep fear of poverty, or, at least, what she considers to be poverty after having lived her entire life as one of the super-rich. Fancy's personality traits are not all negative, however; Fancy is also a bit of a free spirit and is fiercely protective of her loved ones — she is willing to give up Noah in order to protect him from Alistair.

Fancy's process of maturation essentially begins when she meets Noah, but she does not really become noticeably more mature and adult until 2006. In February that year, Fancy is involved in an accident in which she nearly loses her right eye. The trauma of that event, coupled with the crippling emotional pain she feels when she is led to believe that Noah, the first man with whom she has been in a serious, mature relationship, has cheated on her with his ex-girlfriend and was only with her because of her fame, forces the formerly self-centered heiress to do a great deal of growing up. A key event in Fancy's process of maturation, however, is when she discovers Alistair's true, villainous nature in Rome in July 2006. Up until that point, Alistair has played a huge role in Fancy's life as a sort of indulgent father figure who encourages her partying and shelters her from any real pain. When he sets lions after her and Luis, the façade of the man that she has known is destroyed, and she finally sees the evil person that the rest of Harmony's citizens have tried to show her. With her "father figure" dead, both physically and metaphorically, Fancy is left with no one to shield her from the real world and is forced to finally enter adulthood at either twenty-five or twenty-six years of age. Shortly thereafter, in August 2006, Fancy joins the Harmony Police Department primarily as a way to be close to her crush, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald. The cadet training program is rigorous and physically taxing, however, and, despite the pain, Fancy discovers a new sense of self-worth; instead of living for and thinking of only herself, she is helping others, something that she finds deeply rewarding after years of being a celebutante.

Another key event occurs in December 2006, when Fancy disobeys Luis's orders and takes part in a sting operation and is brutally attacked and raped. The attack emotionally fractures Fancy, and, for two or three months, she is a shadow of herself, constantly self-conscious and afraid that her attacker will come back and rape her again, which he eventually does a month later. Both the rapes and Luis's subsequent arrest and near-execution for her attacks and the murder of two other people are highly traumatizing events for Fancy, and she loses some of the free-spiritedness that she once possessed as a result.

In later episodes, Fancy has largely shed her vanity and selfishness, though she is still extremely stubborn, and still possesses a bit of the free-spiritedness and love of fun that she did when she was younger; overall, though, Fancy is ashamed or embarrassed by her behavior in her youth. Fancy is deeply compassionate and loving, willing to do anything for her loved ones, and, when not being forced to act against her will, behaves somewhat maternally towards Luis's son, Marty. Though lacking the naïveté she possessed in 2005, Fancy is still very trusting and is eager to believe the best in the people she loves — she refuses to entertain the notion that Esme murdered Fox and quickly and ecstatically forgives Pretty when her sister claims that she wants to be close again; in the latter situation, her trusting nature allows Alistair and Pretty to drug Fancy and implant a mind-control device in her brain.