Elmer C. Albatross

Elmer C. Albatross (エルマー アルバトロス, Erumaa C. Arubatorosu) is a man known for being eternally smiling, and wishes to bring a smile to every face in the world. He became immortal in 1711 aboard the Advenna Avis. Elmer was among the Alchemists that agreed that the secret of the Grand Panacea be kept solely with Maiza.

Appearance
Elmer is often described as an average looking person, neither particularly handsome nor ugly. He is usually depicted smiling with his eyes closed. In 1705 Narita describes his blond hair and blue eyes as giving him "an overall Northern European look."

In 1705, when Elmer removes his soaking wet shirt, Huey and Monica are shocked to see that "there were countless scars, not just upon his back, but stretching out all over his body, normally hidden by his clothing [...] they weren't just knife wounds, either--there were marks of skin having been picked open.  There was a gigantic burn over his upper back that looked like it covered over countless more injuries."

Elmer sheepishly says that "it's worse in the front." The scars Elmer carriers are from the abuse Elmer suffered at the hands of the cult that raised him.

When one drinks the immortality elixir, they essentially are preserving the state their body is in at the time of consumption. Thus, it's plausible to assume that Elmer still has the same scars hundreds of years later.

Personality
Elmer can come across as cheerful, eccentric, and even kind by those who don't know him all that well, or meet him in passing. However, those who talk to him for at least a little while usually end up feeling on some level that he is not what he seems. He is always smiling, and whose ultimate goal is to make everybody in the world happy (smile) -- not for their benefit, but for his. He is the first to admit that his motivations are entirely selfish,. He is noted by many of the Advenna Avis Immortals to be quite evil and twisted when needed. He himself admits that he would "resort to treachery" to make someone laugh.

In other words, Elmer does not care about the methods he uses to make a person smile, nor does he actually care about the people themselves. For example, if a person tells him that committing suicide will make him or her happy, Elmer would encourage them to do just that (unless their death would be a major inconvenience for others). It would not matter to him if someone were a serial killer or a saint: he'd want them both to smile (Elmer has suggested that thugs smile while they are beating up someone else, because they should at least enjoy themselves).

Biography
Elmer was born into a religious cult around the year 1690. The sole purpose of his conceivement was so that he could become a sacrifice. Because of this, he was held in very high regard, however he was also the subject of abuse. He remained in the cult for ten years, until witch hunts spread far enough to reach the cult and disband it. Elmer attempted to stand up for the cult, and was met with both oppugnancy and praise. He was believed to be lucky, and blessed by God.

He recounted his journey to Huey Laforet five years after the cult had disbanded, and told his new friend that his goal now was to put smiles on everyone's faces, whether or not God really existed. Though he later states that he wants others to smile for his own selfish reasons, his reasoning being that he is not sure that when he smiles he is experiencing true happiness due to his terrible past.

Abilities
As a true immortal, he will never age or get sick. He is able to transfer knowledge to other immortals by placing his right hand upon their head and thinking about the information he wishes to share, and 'devouring' other immortals through his right hand by touching their head and wishing to 'eat' them, effectively ending the other immortal's life and granting him all of the deceased immortal's knowledge and memories.

He has very keen senses of observation that allows him to notice the smallest of details and make accurate deductions about anything especially regarding people and their true feelings. Elmer is very skilled at differentiating real and fake smiles. He can usually tell if someone is lying to him.

Quotes
"You just started forcing your smile." To Jean-Pierre Accardo

Trivia

 * Elmer is an atheist, or at least, he believes that "there is no such thing as God in this world." He came to that conclusion after he was rescued from the cult and subsequently heralded as a boy who had been saved by God.
 * Both he and Huey experienced a life changing moment around the age of ten, and both were born to a 'witch.'
 * Czes observes that Elmer likes to go to high places at night; a conclusion he reached after watching Elmer climb up to the crow's nest every night on the Advenna Avis to look at the stars.
 * This observation is probably accurate, since it was how Czes discovered Elmer sitting on the castle rooftop in 2001.