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Jean-Pierre Delmas
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"Good, well then you will please escort your classmate to the principal's office. It's time Odd was punished!"
#64 Double Trouble
Name: Jean-Pierre Delmas
Occupation: Mr Delmas is the principal of Kadic academy. He is a straight man whose precious time is mainly devoted to his job (apart from some guilty pleasures in playing a mysterious game about...penguins (episode 67 “Double Take”, episode 93 “Down to Earth”)).
Family: His daughter Sissi is a boarder at his own establishment. His wife, on the other hand, is absolutely unknown. According to an interview with Ms Decroisette, she is alive but lives far away from her daughter and Mr Delmas. It is not rare, however, for fans to believe that she is dead and to develop Sissi's character accordingly.
Appearance: Mr Delmas is a solidly-built 40/50-year-old man. He always wears rectangular glasses. His hair is already grey, as are his inalienable moustache and beard!
There is a rumour according to which his design was directly inspired by the appearance of Kõji Morimoto, or that of Hayao Miyazaki, the famous Japanese director and producer of animated movies!
If you want to judge for yourself, be my guest.
Other: Mr Delmas is Kadic's supreme authority. His interventions are unusual compared to those of Jim, so when our heroes are called to his office, it really is a bad sign.
What's more, he has much more authority than the supervisor. However, in some episodes, his reasonable punishments do not meet Jim's expectations, who disapproves of his boss' weakness (episode 73 “Replika”). | | |
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"I have had enough, Yumi! I'm suspending you for a month!"
#09 Satellite
As we said previously, the principal is the ultimate authority at Kadic: when he stumbles across our heroes, the consequences are always very serious.
So the principal often gets to be the troublesome bad cop. Yet, he's only doing his job! Since he is less present in the field than Jim, he is not aware about our gang's little plots; however, the supervisor and other teachers do not hesitate to send Jeremy and the others to his office in case of bad behaviour. Also, Sissi is very skilful when it comes to making use of her father's high status for her own interests, which are generally opposed to those of our friends (episode 3 “Holiday in the Fog”)... The principal also appears when Odd and Ulrich get bad reports or skip classes.
Unfortunately, in the end, he finally notices the Lyoko Warriors' constant absences and chronic lateness, when XANA's attacks get harder and harder to bear and counter (episode 64 “Double Trouble”)... He is also the one our heroes have to deal with when they have to find a justification for William's absence after his xanafication and disappearance in episode 65 “Final Round”. Jeremy resorts to his voice synthesiser to imitate the voice of William's father and comes up with various lies. But the way, our whiz kid also uses the synthesiser to usurp the principal's authority and identity: he calls Sissi and orders her to go back to Kadic to study, which diverts our dear pest from spying on Yumi (episode 80 “A Dog Day Afternoon”).
As principal of Kadic, Mr Delmas must also take care of all the administrative tasks, be it presiding over academic reviews (episode 62 “Nobody in Particular”), welcoming important people (episode 45 “Cold War”), or managing finances (episode 6 “Cruel Dilemma”). He also has to face angry parents such as William's, who realise that their son disappeared and was replaced with a vegetative clone (episode 93 “Down to Earth”).
Mr Delmas should not be considered as a killjoy, but rather as a very responsible man. When he undergoes XANA's attacks, he always has appropriate reactions and he is very concerned about the security of his students. He does not hesitate before evacuating the Academy when Ms Hertz tells him that a meteor shower is about to occur. Still, the scope of the events is sometimes a little over his head, especially when faced with two secret service agents, or of a giant aggressive ball of electricity!
There are only two typical situations when he intervenes in the fight against XANA.
The first category includes the four times when he discovered the factory (episode “XANA Awakens Part 2”, episode 10 “The Girl of the Dreams”, episode 29 “Exploration”, episode 56 “False Lead”). In each case, his position is always straight: the students made a serious infringement to the rules. Luckily, the Return to the Past minimises the damage.
The other possibility is the case when XANA takes control of this good man. In episode 41, he is forced into kidnapping Odd and Yumi before setting an ultimatum: if Aelita does not hand herself over to the Schyphozoa, the two hostages will be executed. Once again, thanks to Jeremy's EMP bomb, our heroes make it out even though Odd and Yumi, as well as Ulrich, are on the verge of dying! Once not enough, XANA possesses the good man a second time. Using his authority, he ensures that Ulrich, Yumi, Odd and Jeremy stay in detention while he takes Aelita to Lyoko to turn her over to the Schyphozoa (episode 90 “Wrong Exposure”). He gives Odd a hard time with martial arts and hand-to-hand combat. At last, in episode 91 “Bad Connection”, the principal gets one last free ride with the rest of his staff when the program xanafies everyone in the Academy using mobile phones. | | |
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"Well, my advice would be to give up her vacation and stay home and study for her own good."
#03 Holiday in the Fog
The principal is a straight, upstanding man who remains true to his values and who does not allow himself to be easily troubled. He is fond of his work and runs Kadic perfectly. He is always very present and open, he even lives in his own establishment while his salary certainly enables him to treat himself to better than that. Even at night, in case of absolute necessity (episode 29 “Exploration”).
Towards students, he is just and he acknowledges the qualities of each one. He is more liable to give a second chance to a studious person like Yumi than to a bad student like Odd. When his students are disturbed, he is not unmoved: he always try to understand the reasons behind blameworthy behaviours and other shortcomings (episode 6 “Cruel Dilemma”).
In a sense, he acts a very paternal way. Whatever the event or the show that the students set up, he attends to it (episode 15 “Laughing Fit”, episode 60 “Temporary Insanity”). Any kind of activity is authorised under the condition that there is no discrimination (for instance, Odd's music group in episode 2 “Seeing Is Believing”), and he also supervises various training days (episode 39 “A Bad Turn”, episode 72 “Crash Course”).
With time, this character gains some charisma and you must notice that nobody in the Academy dares question his authority (except XANA maybe). Jim should really take a leaf out of his book! The principal is also empowered with the right to heavily sanction teachers by firing them (episode 25 “Code Earth”), or for students, by suspending them (episode 9 “Satellite”).
But the principal does have a weak point: his daughter Sissi!
Indeed, as soon as Sissi is involved, Mr Delmas seems to soften. Maybe she is all he has left in his life...
Anyhow, our twisted pest sure knows how to make use of her influence over her father. He never puts up solid resistance to her pleas (except in episode 33 “Final Mix” in which Sissi's marks are too bad!) On the other hand, in episode 19 “Frontier”, she gets Yumi out of a bad situation thanks to one of those occult forces she is the only one to master; and such an influence over the headmaster is an incredible power. It's a chance that for once, Sissi's objectives match those of our heroes! However, Jean-Pierre seems to be conscious of his daughter's attitude, which exasperates Jim in spite – or because – of his lack of rigidity.
When his daughter is hurt, Mr Delmas is deeply worried and even panics a little, which is normal coming from a father (episode “XANA Awakens Part 2”). He is also concerned about her mental health when, in episode 95 “Echoes”, she bursts into his office and confusedly rants that she discovered the truth about our heroes' double lives; he tries to take her to the hospital by force. One last detail: episode 53 “Straight to Heart” reveals that he always keeps a photo of his daughter in his office.
Even when he is afraid, the principal is able to remain stoic. Be it when he faces the men in black (episode 56 “False Lead”) or when Yumi is aimed at by the military satellite (episode 9 “Satellite”).
One of his bravest actions is when he throws himself onto one of the xanafied agents of episode 56 “False Lead” to prevent him from hurting Jeremy. This perfectly illustrates his constant concern about the security of his students.
He appears glad to welcome back William (or at least the one he thinks to be William) when his clone enters the Academy (episode 67 “Double Take”).
He and Jim form a comical duo that often offers us funny scenes highlighting the contrast between the two adults and their opposing lifestyles. However, given the photo discovered in Sissi's room in episode 87 “A Space Oddity”, it seems that Mr Delmas has a hidden, jovial side... | | |
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