Vanellope von Schweetz

"Look, wise guy, I know I'm a racer. I can feel it in my code!"

- Vanellope to Ralph

Vanellope von Schweetz is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2012 animated feature film Wreck-It Ralph and its upcoming sequel. She is the razor-tongued princess of Sugar Rush that had been turned into a glitch by King Candy. With no memories of her past, Vanellope became an ostracized misfit with dreams of becoming a real racer. Through an unlikely friendship formed with Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope would learn the truth of her background, and set out to restore her broken code.

Background
Vanellope von Schweetz was the main character of the video game Sugar Rush. Not only was she the lead character, she also used to be the in-game world's princess. However, at some point prior to the start of the film, an old racing video game character named Turbo hijacked Sugar Rush, turned himself into a character named King Candy, and tried to delete Vanellope's code (but couldn't), turning her into a glitch instead. Once Vanellope became a glitch, King Candy was free to rule the kingdom, having all the inhabitants of Sugar Rush 's memories of Princess Vanellope locked away. However, if Vanellope was to ever cross the finish line in an official race, her code would be restored and Turbo's machinations would be undone. To prevent this from occurring, King Candy—with the help of his minion, Sour Bill—had the citizens of the game believe having a glitch race could lead to the game being unplugged. Due to this lie, Vanellope became a pariah, was repeatedly tormented and ostracized by the game's citizens, most notably the other racers, led in their bullying by Taffyta Muttonfudge. Vanellope was able to find sanctuary within Diet Cola Mountain, a volcano that towers over the land of Sugar Rush that carries an unfinished bonus level track.

As a result of her being a glitch, Vanellope was unable to leave the game and escape her tormentors. However, she also gained the unique ability to glitch, or teleport, from place to place in the blink of an eye, though she didn't have much control over it, and it sometimes hindered her efforts to get into races.

Official Description

 * Known as the "Glitch", Vanellope is a pixelating programming mistake in the candy-coated kart-racing game Sugar Rush. With a racer's spirit embedded in her coding, Vanellope is determined to earn her place in the starting lineup amongst the other racers. The only problem: the other racers don't want her or her glitching in the game. Years of rejection have left Vanellope with a wicked sense of humor and a razor-sharp tongue. However, somewhere beneath that hard shell is a sweet center just waiting to be revealed.

Personality
In line with her programmed age, Vanellope is extremely energetic, talkative, and childish. When excited, she zestfully zips and bounces around while repeatedly exclaiming the reasoning behind her excitement ("I'm gonna learn to drive, I'm gonna learn to drive!"), much like an actual child. She has a rather immature sense of humor (finding enjoyment in mimicking and toilet humor), and has the tendency to purposely annoy those around her as a means to amuse herself. This is seen through her friendship with Ralph, as the two are known to give each other puerilely condescending nicknames.

Unfortunately, years of bullying due to King Candy's propaganda against her left Vanellope with a sharp tongue and a somewhat sour disposition. When first greeted, she comes off as annoying, obnoxious and rude, with little concern for the feelings or ambitions of other people, in comparison to benefiting herself. However, these aspects of her character are merely a result of her tragic upbringing, and were more so done for survival, rather than pure pleasure. Before Ralph's arrival, Vanellope was a loner, and the only programs she had any contact with were her abusers. Therefor, she had never experienced friendship or any form of compassion.

Vanellope is an enthusiastic dreamer. In truth, she is sensitive and vulnerable beneath her rough exterior, wanting nothing more than to be accepted by the inhabitants of her game—despite said inhabitants constantly mistreating her, both physically and mentally. She is very forgiving in this regard, and is evidently unwilling to hold grudges.

Vanellope is also crafty and intelligent. As an opportunistic quick-thinker, Vanellope has enough cunning to concoct elaborate schemes on the spot, which made her a threat to the villainous agenda of King Candy. Strong-willed, independent and filled with spunk, Vanellope refuses to stand down without a fight, and shows efficiency in reaching her goals for the most part. It was her lack of physical strength that truly kept Vanellope from becoming a racer independently, as Candy and his henchmen were able to counter her intellect with their weaponry and brute force.

Interestingly, although years of being shunned has left her with negative traits, Vanellope is one of the only characters in the film with a lack of prejudice. After learning Ralph is classified as a video game "bad-guy", Vanellope never berates him on his position; instead, she looked beyond Ralph's programmed occupation, and understood that his label is only a job title, and does not define who he is on the inside. Her kindness would heavily influence Ralph, and it was through their friendship that Ralph learned what it truly means to be a hero.

Physical Appearance
Vanellope is a young 9-year old girl with a small stature. She has long, raven-black hair with candy sprinkled over it in a high ponytail. Her design was influenced by Japanese/Anime artwork, notably the style of Chibi, with large, hazel eyes. She carries a slender body, has noticeabe overbite, large, round ears and a small, pink, chipmunk-like nose. Similar to how the other leads in the movie have their faces based off their voice actors, Vanellope's face and hair are designed to resemble a younger Sarah Silverman.

Vanellope's signature "glitch" outfit is a mint green hoodie, with a brown double-layered skirt that resembles the wrapping of a peanut-butter cup (many of the girls have skirts like this), green, white, and purple leggings, and small black boots. It is notable that her leggings are mismatched, one covered in broad mint green bands, the other in thinner mint bands and purple lines. They are designed to resemble candy cane stripes. Her hoodie laces and stitches are red and resemble licorice candies, such as Twizzlers. Underneath her hoodie is a violet shirt. It is only seen in a "blink and you'll miss it" scene in the video game's last cut scene. Her high ponytail is tied with a Twizzler. The pink squiggles under her boots resemble icing. She owns red racing goggles that were seen during the Random Roster Race's coin depositing.

On the side of the Sugar Rush game cabinet, Vanellope can be seen in her royal racing attire which is a teal, orange, and white jumpsuit with brown gloves. In the film's concept art, her racing attire comes with a white helmet with a golden crown design detailed onto it.

As a princess, Vanellope wore a full skirted glittery long-sleeved gown with lacy white gloves. Her gradient pink petticoat is noticeably covered in pink, white, and red gumdrops, sprinkled everywhere like beads. However, chocolate sprinkles can be seen on the lower end of the petticoat. The skirt has many layers and opens in the front to show a deep pink underskirt.

Her gown was also given a pink flowing cloak, and a large high white lace heart collar, resembling Elizabethan royal attire. The collar is edged in a cut-out pattern of candy canes and lollipops. In addition, she wears another, somewhat smaller, white ruffled collar. In this outfit, she wears a red tiara. Her hair is tied up in a bun instead of a high ponytail and is covered in sprinkles that are various shades of pink. With the outfit, Vanellope owns a pink lollipop scepter with a noticeable crown symbol over it. Although she dislikes it, she wore it at Calhoun and Felix's wedding as her maid of honor outfit.

Powers and Abilities
King Candy's tampering of Vanellope's code turned her into a glitch. As a result, there are times where her body spasms and deteriorates into the pixels and codes that make up the inner-workings of video game characters, usually due to friction. Said pixels can appear in a nearby location, different from where Vanellope stood prior to the glitch; as such, these glitches allow Vanellope to essentially teleport herself from one nearby location to another in the blink of an eye. The only known force that can prevent Vanellope's glitch-driven teleportation are the "glitch proof" chains in King Candy's fungeon.

Vanellope's glitching can also affect characters and objects that she makes physical contact with during one of her episodes. When Vanellope grabs onto Taffyta during a glitch, Taffyta's body also deteriorates into pixels, albeit briefly and less chaotically. Also, when Vanellope comes into contact with King Candy, her glitching causes his disguise to fade and briefly reveal him to be Turbo. Unlike Taffyta, however, Turbo's body continually deteriorated even after he and Vanellope no longer made physical contact. During the climax, Vanellope was also able to glitch both herself and her kart from one location to another. This would later be used as her character-specific power-up during in-game races.

Additionally, Vanellope was programmed with superb racing skills that evidently outshines all competition. Even after her code was damaged and her memory was wiped, Vanellope was able to regain a firm control of the wheel and reinvigorate her racing talents in record time, justified by her own line, "I told you [Ralph], racing's in my code!"

Wreck-It Ralph
On a normal day, Vanellope is lounging about in the candy tree forest when she encounters a hulk-like man named Wreck-It Ralph, who is in pursuit of a "gold coin" atop a tree. Vanellope manages to grab it first, though Ralph pleads for its return as the "coin" is actually his medal. Ignoring Ralph, Vanellope runs off to the race track starting line, where the racers of Sugar Rush are prepared to pay their fees (one gold coin) to race in the Random Roster Race: a daily race that determines which racers will be featured in the game's roster on the following day. Vanellope disguises herself and sneaks into the lineup to insert the medal as her fee. The medal is accepted, and Vanellope is officially in the race. This comes as a shock to King Candy, who orders his security doughnuts to arrest Vanellope. Before they can apprehend her, Ralph suddenly appears to reclaim his medal and pursues Vanellope.

Ralph's arrival distracts the king and his guards, allowing Vanellope to escape. She heads to the junkyard to work on her homemade kart, but soon finds herself confronted by Taffyta Muttonfudge, Candlehead, Rancis Fluggerbutter, and the other racers. Claiming they're ostracizing her for her own safety, the racers torment Vanellope by calling her "an accident waiting to happen". They destroy Vanellope's kart and throw her into the mud, unaware that Wreck-It Ralph had been looking on in hiding. Furious with the racers' cruelty, Ralph charges out to scare the bullies away, saving Vanellope. Vanellope, however, is far too upset and embarrassed to even thank Ralph. Despite his empathy, Ralph chastises Vanellope for stealing his medal, but she claims that she planned to return it after she won the race. Without a kart, however, both she and Ralph are out of luck.

In anger, Ralph begins to wreck things, including a jawbreaker. This gives Vanellope the idea to have Ralph break her into King Candy's kart factory, where she can make a real kart. She runs her plan by Ralph and promises to return his medal once the race is won. Ralph reluctantly agrees. At the factory, they work together to build the kart. Because of Ralph's destructive nature, though, it appears very different from its intended design. Disappointed, Ralph thinks the kart is broken, but Vanellope is more than happy to have a real kart in her possession, proving to Ralph that his wrecking can actually bring happiness to others. To finish their newfound "masterpiece", Vanellope and Ralph sign the kart. Just then, King Candy, alerted by the security about the break-in, arrives with his minions. Vanellope coyly confesses that she doesn't know how to drive a real kart, forcing Ralph to steer it by hand to escape the king and his goons. Vanellope directs Ralph to her hideout in Diet Cola Mountain.

Once safe, Ralph scolds Vanellope on her inability to drive, feeling it takes away any chance of getting his medal back. Vanellope sarcastically inquires why the medal is so important, and Ralph explains that it could give him a better life back in his game. Vanellope is surprisingly able to relate, but it doesn't ease Ralph's frustration. Upon calming down, Ralph takes a further look into the mountain and is introduced to Vanellope's hovel of a home. She explains that, because of her disability, she is bullied and tormented by everyone in the game. Not only that, she cannot leave the game because glitches lack the ability to do so, forcing her to endure her misery. Vanellope figures that if she wins the race, the others would stop treating her harshly. Ralph sympathizes with Vanellope, prompting him to teach her how to drive, himself. After some extensive practice, Vanellope and Ralph prepare to forge off to the racetrack. Before they do, Vanellope runs back into the mountain to get something.

During her absence, King Candy shows up to return Ralph's medal, in exchange for a chance to explain why Vanellope cannot race; according to the king, Vanellope's glitching would make the players think the game is broken. When Sugar Rush is unplugged, Vanellope would be unable to escape and die alongside the cabinet. King Candy asks for Ralph's help in protecting Vanellope from such a fate, to which the bad-guy solemnly accepts. When Vanellope returns, she surprises Ralph with a homemade medal that reads "You're my hero", in the event that they lose the race. Though touched by Vanellope's gesture, Ralph tries to talk her out of going to the race. Vanellope is initially confused, but quickly notices the Medal of Heroes around Ralph's neck and becomes suspicious. Ralph tries to explain that he and King Candy had a talk, but Vanellope assumes that the two are working together. Betrayed, Vanellope rebukes Ralph and tries to go to the race alone. With no other choice, Ralph destroys Vanellope's kart against her protests. With any hope of a better life tarnished, Vanellope runs off in tears. A downhearted Ralph, meanwhile, returns to his game. At some point after Ralph's departure, King Candy captures Vanellope and imprisons her in his "fungeon".

Back at Fix-It Felix, Jr., Ralph notices an image of Vanellope being prominently displayed on the Sugar Rush console, despite being a character that was "never meant to exist". Confused, Ralph returns to Sugar Rush and interrogates Sour Bill for answers. Sour Bill confesses that Vanellope was a real racer until King Candy tried to delete her code and turned her into a glitch. Should Vanellope cross the finish line in an official race, however, the game would reset and her code would be restored. After Vanellope's kart is fixed by Fix-It Felix, Jr., Ralph breaks into Vanellope's fungeon cell, where the two reconcile. While rushing to the racetrack, Ralph informs Vanellope of the situation and explains that she only has to cross the finish line to be a real racer. Vanellope, angered by King Candy's villainy, declares that she's already a real racer and will win.

Due to her glitching, Vanellope manages to bypass the competition at an alarming rate. Soon enough, she is second only to King Candy. As the two near the finish line, Vanellope speeds passed the king, who rams into Vanellope's kart in a fit of fury. Having lost all patience, King Candy physically attacks Vanellope with his kart's antenna, destroying fragments of her kart in the process. This leads to a tug-of-war between Vanellope and Candy, with their staggered movements triggering Vanellope's glitching and causing King Candy's disguise to fade. A shocked Vanellope pulls back in fear, just as Turbo ruthlessly admits his crime of reprogramming the world. Claiming Sugar Rush as his possession, Turbo vows that he won't let Vanellope or Ralph foil his plans. Turbo then tries to kill Vanellope by ramming her onto an oncoming stalactite, but Vanellope saves herself by gaining total control of her glitching and teleporting out of Turbo's grasp.

Vanellope races ahead in first place, but before she can reach Ralph and the finish line, a swarm of Cy-Bugs—creatures from the game Hero's Duty that have been breeding in the catacombs underneath Sugar Rush—explode from the ground and directly impact Vanellope, throwing her kart off the track. Ralph and Felix scurry to her side, but before Vanellope can continue the race, a swarm of Cy-Bugs surround the finish line and devour it. With no hope of crossing, Ralph grabs Vanellope to evacuate to Game Central Station. Unfortunately, Vanellope is unable to escape as she is still a glitch. With a heavy heart, she accepts her imminent death and tells Ralph to leave her. In that moment, fortunately, Ralph formulates a plan to erupt Diet Cola Mountain, hoping to have the hot cola act as a beacon to attract and destroy the Cy-Bugs.

With Vanellope being protected by Felix and Sergeant Calhoun, Ralph hurries to the top of Diet Cola Mountain and begins to smash the crater of Mentos. Unfortunately, he is attacked by Turbo (who had transformed into a Cy-Bug after being consumed by one). During their battle, a swarm of Cy-Bugs surround Vanellope, Felix, and Calhoun and prepare to kill them. Fortunately, Ralph is able to break free of Turbo's grasp and plummets down to the mountain. When Vanellope sees Ralph plummeting, she glitches to Diet Cola Mountain, where she is able to catch Ralph before he falls into the cola. Together, they escape the volcano just as massive amounts of Mentos plunge into the hot cola, causing the mountain to erupt. The eruption produces a beacon that attracts all the Cy-Bugs, including Turbo, vaporizing them for good.

After Felix fixes the finish line, Ralph pushes Vanellope across, resetting the game. With her code restored, Vanellope magically transforms into a princess, revealing her to be the rightful ruler of the kingdom. The racers beg for Vanellope's forgiveness, which she accepts (though not before playfully humiliating them). Despite this revelation, Vanellope has no desire to be a princess, instead proclaiming herself as a racer with "the greatest super power ever". She nevertheless still chooses to lead the kingdom, as "President Vanellope von Schweetz". At this time, the arcade is about to open. As Ralph prepares to leave Sugar Rush, Vanellope offers a private wing in her castle. Ralph warmly turns down the offer as he is content with her friendship and has a job to do: playing the bad guy in his own game. Ralph and Vanellope bid farewell, as the other Sugar Rush racers surround the latter in reconciliation.

During the finale, Vanellope, seen in her princess attire, serves as the maid of honor at the wedding of Felix and Calhoun. It is also shown that, due to her glitching abilities being used as her power-up, Vanellope has become a fan-favorite in Sugar Rush, winning the hearts of the gamers and finally living her lifelong dream. Many times, Vanellope is able to see Ralph in Niceland from her cabinet, and vise versa, causing the two to happily wave to each other often. This part of the gameplay is said to be Ralph's favorite, as he enjoys watching Vanellope gain the love and admiration that she has always deserved. Ralph also notes his newfound acceptance for his job, claiming Vanellope's friendship is all the validation he needs to remind him that he's far from a bad person.

During the end credits of the film, Vanellope and Ralph, along with Felix and Calhoun, are shown constantly enjoying each other's company after gaming hours, having numerous game-jumping adventures together.

Ralph Breaks the Internet
Vanellope is set to appear in the upcoming sequel, taking place six years after the original film. When Sugar Rush breaks, putting it in danger of being unplugged, Vanellope and Ralph utilize the arcade's newly-installed Wi-Fi router to travel to the Internet, where they hope to find a piece capable of saving her game. During their journey, Vanellope will meet and befriend the Disney Princesses, whom she joins (technically being a princess herself). She also meets Shank, a character from the online racing game Slaughter Race with whom Vanellope develops a sisterly relationship.

One Sweet Race
Vanellope serves as a deuteragonist in the tie-in storybook One Sweet Race. In this storybook set after the events of the film, Rancis Fluggerbutter, one of Vanellope's former bullies and later friend, is always getting teased for not winning a race and has accidentally crashed the kart he was using to try and win the race. Vanellope decides to help him, and together they build a kart, which Rancis names RV1, after both of them. In the next race, Vanellope cheers Rancis on and he wins the race. The story perfectly showcases Vanellope's kindness and generosity after the events of the film and after she regains her rightful throne. It also shows that she continues to wear her "glitch" outfit, as well as drive her Candy Kart (the kart made with the help of Ralph).

Tricky Treats
As part of the Disney 5-Minute Spooky Stories storybook, Vanellope and Ralph are featured in a Halloween tale set in Sugar Rush. On the night of Gloyd's Halloween party, Ralph and Vanellope accidentally come across an old Halloween-themed bonus level, ruled by the mischievous Boo Brattly; a ghost whose chaotic ways resulted in his banishment. Unfortunately, Ralph and Vanellope are unable to leave the stage unless they manage to catch Boo. When the level is bested, a portal to Sugar Rush is revealed, though Boo pleads for the two to stay a while, suffering from loneliness. Sympathetic, Vanellope heads to Sugar Rush to bring Gloyd's party to Boo's castle, ending things well for everyone.

Comics
In The Donut Kart, Vanellope is visited by Wynchel and Duncan, who are in need of a vehicle to help keep order and peace in Sugar Rush, which has been corrupted by mischievously speedy racers. Vanellope obliges with her assistance, and the trio is able to conjure up a monstrous kart, too over-the-top for riding, but just perfect for scaring the racers into following the game's speed limit laws.

Wreck-It Ralph
Taking place not too long after the film, Vanellope is preparing for another race in Sugar Rush with Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun in the stands cheering her on. However, Ralph accidentally drops a Cy-Bug egg that rolls into the taffy lake. Later on, whilst in her castle, Vanellope witnesses the Cy-Bugs attacking Sugar Rush and heads to Game Central Station with the others while Ralph and Felix rid the arcade of the beasts. In the end, after the bugs are defeated, Vanellope celebrates Ralph's newfound success by creating a new holiday.

Throughout the playable levels in the game, Vanellope can also be heard making various comments, often commending Ralph and Felix (the two playable characters) on their constant victories.

Disney INFINITY
Along with Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope appears in the Disney INFINITY video game as a playable character, however, she cannot be playable in Play Set Mode. In addition to this, she and Ralph make a cameo in the opening sequence of the game, riding the Candy Kart as they greet the player.

She also maintains her glitching in the game, acting as one of her special abilities during travel and combat. She's also equipped with the "Cherry Bomb" power-up (named after the weapon featured in the film by the same name), capable of causing mild pixelated explosions upon enemies whenever thrown. One of her Character Chests also includes her unlockable costume.

In addition, her signature adventure is a three lap race known as "Vanellope's Sweet Race".

Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
Vanellope is a playable character and party member. She and Ralph kick off the story of the game, in which the two come across a blocked off game in BETA mode. Vanellope uses a key to access the new world (called "the City") and gains some new attire and a blaster-esque weapon. She and Ralph soon discover that an evil virus is corrupting the City and turning heroes into villains. With Vanellope falling victim, Ralph teams up with the Disney heroes of the game to save her and their fallen allies.

Disneyland Resort
Both Vanellope and Ralph took part of the Disneyland Christmas Day parade in the winter of 2012.

Vanellope and Ralph also appear in the nighttime spectacular, World of Color in Disney California Adventure in the winter rendition Winter Dreams.

Walt Disney World
In Florida, Vanellope was present at Disney's Hollywood Studios' Magic of Disney Animation attraction and greeted fans who walk through a making of exhibit in a Wreck-It Ralph themed area, until being discontinued in October of 2014. Vanellope was also seen driving the trams in Disney's Hollywood Studios during this time.

In 2016, Vanellope replaced Goofy with a Sugar Rush-themed unit in Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween Parade. The 2018 rendition of the parade debuted an updated design for Vanellope's costume. She also appears in Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, riding a gingerbread race kart.

Disneyland Paris
In France, Vanellope was among the characters featured during the park's 25th anniversary event in 2017. Later that same year, she was seen roaming about Disneyland as part of Guest Star Day.

Disney Cruise Line
Vanellope serves as the focal character in the Vanellope's Sweets and Treats shop, aboard the Disney Dream. The interior features a statue of Vanellope, a well as the Candy Kart. One of the many desserts available is called "Vanellope Chocolate Nougatine with Salted Pretzels".

Trivia

 * According to Rich Moore and Sarah Silverman, Vanellope is 9 years old. However, according to executive producer John Lasseter, she is 12 years old.
 * In the first film, Vanellope is the only main character that never called Ralph by his title "Wreck-it".
 * Vanellope's hands only have four fingers, as opposed to Ralph's five.
 * Vanellope's name is a portmanteau of "vanilla", a type of dessert flavoring, and "Penelope".
 * Her title, "von", is actually German for "of", which is often used by German nobility.
 * Her last name, "Schweetz", is a pun of the word "sweet" with a slightly German touch. (Schweetz).
 * Upon close inspection, you will see that Vanellope's skirt is made of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup wrappers (Which would then be rightside-up when she hangs upside-down in the tree).
 * When creating Vanellope, she was described as having "a hint of Sarah [Silverman], a hint of Cindy Lou Who, combined with this grubby little Pippi Longstocking moppet kid."
 * Despite having hazel eyes in the movie, posters, etc., Vanellope can clearly be seen with bright green eyes when she is shown on the side of the cabinet after Ralph throws away his medal.
 * Interestingly enough, Vanellope is never shown racing in her white tracksuit after she resets the game, nor is she seen racing in her original kart, which was stolen by King Candy.
 * Vanellope is the only character in Sugar Rush who wears a hoodie, as the other characters wear jackets, and she is also the only one who does not wear a helmet or cap; instead, she wears red goggles.
 * Vanellope's princess dress resembles the dresses worn by royal women during the 16th-17th century (Ex. Queen Elizabeth).
 * Vanellope was initially designed with grayish-green skin so that she could stand out as the abused "glitch" of the story. Her animators eventually decided on normal human skin so that viewers would find her more relatable.
 * Vanellope is the only character from Sugar Rush to see in person King Candy's real identity as Turbo.
 * Throughout the whole movie, Ralph usually refers to Vanellope as "kid" instead of her real name. He refers to her as "Vanellope" only twice in the whole film.
 * In 2013, there were 63 babies named Vanellope in the US, up from zero in previous years.
 * During renovations of the Walt Disney Animation Studios building, beginning in 2014, Vanellope was one of the character silhouettes featured on the wall mural.
 * In July 2017, Vanellope was coronated Honorary Disney Princess at the D23 2017 Expo.
 * According to Sarah Silverman, Vanellope is Jewish.