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The trespassers are given as food to the Mighty Tuba! |
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| —Hazel | ||
Hazel is a young girl who lived with Tuba in a jungle car before crossing paths with Grace and Simon of The Apex. She is the deuteragonist and the focus character of Book Three. It is later revealed that she is not a passenger, but in fact a Denizen, one of Amelia's failed attempts to recreate her deceased fiancé Alrick. She ultimately decides to leave with Amelia to learn more about herself.
Appearance[]
In her human form, Hazel is quite slim with light brown skin, black eyes, and unkempt, waist-length blonde hair with a green leaf sticking over it. She has a missing tooth. She wears a charcoal gray collared shirt with a dirty gray sweater vest over it, along with a sky blue necktie and matching shorts. She also wears a dull pink bracelet on her right arm and is barefoot. Like the train's passengers, she has a number on the palm of her right hand, 337, only it does not glow green. When she joins the Apex, Grace draws a wavy horizontal line across her face with red lipstick as a sign of her affiliation. Her formal attire in “The Debutante Ball Car” is a black tailcoat that is too big for her, a matching top hat with a gold band, and a gold bow tie that she wears over her own tie.
In her turtle form, she retains most of her human qualities, except that her brown skin changes to a pale green, she grows a turtle shell on her back, long, sharp claws on her fingers and toes, a large beak in place of her mouth, and webbing between her fingers. She can also grow a plastron on her torso that takes place of her gray vest, which has only be seen in "The Canyon of the Golden Winged Snakes Car".
Personality[]
Hazel is fun-loving, optimistic, and extremely mischievous, as seen when she first meets Grace and Simon and "feeds" them to Tuba, only to have the gorilla tickle them instead. Due to her age and spending a great deal of time in the Jungle Car, she is also very naive, having no idea who One-One or the Apex were. Grace and Simon attempt to exploit this by indoctrinating her like any other new recruit, causing her to hate One-One for no particular reason. Despite this, she maintained a close bond with Tuba, and was genuinely heartbroken when Simon sent her falling to her death. After Grace attempted to save face and discovering the truth about herself, she became more sullen and independent, claiming she could take care of herself, leaving with Amelia to find out more about who she is.
History[]
Early Life[]
Hazel was created by Amelia, who was trying to create a clone of her former love, Alrick. Her number is a copy of Amelia's original number, though it is merely a non-functioning print on her skin.
At some point, she was left on her own, and met up with Tuba, who became a surrogate mother to her.
Book Three - Cult of the Conductor[]
"The Jungle Car"[]
Hazel encounters Simon and Grace when they enter the Jungle Car. Upon noticing her number, they believed One-One turned it off and try to get her to come with them. However, Hazel wants Tuba to come along. Figuring they can ditch Tuba, the two agree that she can take her and recruit her.
"The Debutante Ball Car"[]
As they pass through an ocean floor car, Simon and Grace tell her about the Apex and how One-One is “making kids disappear”. She asks to join but they tell her she needs to be brave. As they exit the car and go into the next one, a Debutante Ball Car, they are stopped by the chandelier and told to go to a run to learn a special waltz to exit. While Grace and Simon are reluctant, Hazel eagerly wants to dance. While Simon looks for a way out, she and Grace talk and she discovers she does not remember her parents. When Simon returns and reports their is no exit at all, they all learn the dance and get out of the car. Grace makes her a member of the Apex and when she asks for Tuba to become a member as well, they make an excuse that only children can be members.
"Le Chat Chalet Car"[]
As the group are traveling through a snow covered car, they have a snowball fight under a blizzard starts up and they seek shelter in a cabin occupied by The Cat. As she prepare tea, they learn that the blizzard is actually Randall participating in the snowball fight. They boil him to get him to stop the snow and they move on.
"The Color Clock Car"[]
After traveling together for a few days, the group enters the Color Clock car and split into two team to find the key to the exit, she goes with Grace while Simon and Tuba team up. They find the key and open the door, only to find the car is being ejected. Tuba tosses Hazel to the next car, and Grace takes her inside. When she hears that Simon murdered Tuba, she becomes heartbroken and runs out of the car, only for Grace to witness her transforming into a half turtle creature.
"The Campfire Car"[]
Horrified by her new form, Hazel fears that Simon will kill her due to being a null. Grace promises that they won't tell Simon, but that she must stay calm in order to stay in her human form. Hazel later holds a funeral for Tuba, singing her lullaby; which brings Grace to tears. After the funeral they exit the car and pass a woman, who turns around and asks what they were doing with the cars.
"The Canyon of the Golden Winged Snakes Car"[]
After Amelia confronts them, she tells them that cars not scheduled to be ejected are ejecting. When she mentions turtles, Hazel becomes worried and Grace convinces Simon to run in order to prevent her from revealing her true colors. They lose her and camp out in a cave for the night. When Simon and Grace get into a fight so that he could check her number, she becomes worried for Grace and defends her until Simon leaves. She starts to transform and cry for Tuba as Grace comforts her.
"The Hey Ho Whoa Car"[]
Hazel informs Grace, once she wakes up, that she drooled on her in her sleep and that she couldn't sleep due to having bad dreams. Shortly after, Hazel figures out that she can control parts of her denizen form, extending and retracting her claws. After being told to stop, Hazel complains that Simon isn't even in the cave with them, which Grace now realize. Soon, the two is almost attacked by a Golden Winged Snake before being saved by Amelia, who knocks it out with a shovel. Hazel happily accepts Amelia's offer for eggs, despite Grace's distrust on her. Hazel tells Amelia that she wants six and a half eggs, aligning with her age. While she's eating her eggs, Hazel tries debunking Amelia's claims of not being a great cook by claiming she makes the best pancakes, despite not having any herself. After Amelia points this out, Hazel says she just knows and shrugs it off. After hearing about a person named Alrick, Hazel declares that she likes Amelia while hugging her. After exiting the car, they're soon reunited with Simon, who attempts to attack Amelia and claims that Grace was right not to trust her. Hazel watches as Grace and Simon confronts her about her belt and how it 'corrupted' the mark of the Apex, which Amelia reveals herself to be the 'True Conductor'. Hazel sides with Grace about Amelia not being an enemy by mentioning that she knows a lot about turtle, which Grace squeezes her hand in response. Soon, they join Amelia in the next car and finds out they have to wait for the large gap to fill up. Hazel decides to play with sticks, showing them off to Amelia as robots. She and Grace then listen to Amelia talk about her time on the train and how she took control of the train from One-One, which Simon brushes them off as lies. Amelia then tells them the real purpose of the train, which sets Simon off and causes him to attack Amelia. Hazel begins crying as she pleads for him to stop. Soon, she screams, now revealing her denizen form in front of everybody. Amelia finally realizes that Hazel was the anomaly she had been tracking down and reveals to Grace and Simon that she's one of her failed experiments to recreate Alrick. Hazel overhears Simon telling Grace to ditch her with Amelia to which she asks Grace if she really is going to leave her. Grace responds harshly, calling her a null as well. Later, Hazel is seen sleeping inside her shell.
"The Origami Car"[]
After waking up and grouping up with the others, Grace declares that Hazel can stick with her and Simon, to Simon's dismay. But, Hazel rejects, questioning how the Apex can be brave if they were afraid of denizens like her. She instead turns to Amelia and decides to join her, promising to take care of herself. Shortly after, Hazel, now in her full turtle form, waits with Amelia for the pulse to hit so they can be ejected with the train car. Grace's offer still stands, but Hazel still declines, wishing Grace good luck before being ejected. Hazel also appears in Grace's memories as Simon confronts her about keeping their secret from him.
"The New Apex"[]
While she does not appear physically, a tape version of Hazel appears, yelling at Grace for her actions. Realizing how terrible she's been, Grace apologizes before coming out of her tape, claiming she deserved better.
Relationships[]
Tuba[]
TBA
Grace[]
TBA
Simon[]
TBA
The Cat[]
TBA
Amelia[]
TBA
One-One[]
TBA
Trivia[]
- Prior to the show's reveal of Hazel's status as a denizen, Owen Dennis highlighted in a Twitter reply to fanart that Hazel's number, while it appears on her hand, lacks the signature green glow.[1]
- Hazel was named after Alex Horab's grandmother.[2]
- According to the writers, Hazel is the most fun character to write for.[2]
- Her turtle form resembles that of a Kappa from Japanese mythology.
- Prior to the confirmation that she is one of Amelia's creations in "The Hey Ho Whoa Car", a few hints were given regarding her connection to Amelia:
- Her clothes are inverted colors of Alrick's school uniform as Melissa King pointed out.[3]
- Although she speaks in an American accent, Hazel uses a lot of British slang terms in casual conversation, at one point saying "Don't be daft!" She also described "Louis" as "barking mad," and told Tuba "I'll be mother," when serving tea.
- Hazel recalls taking dance classes. Amelia and Alrick are seen taking dance classes as children in a memory from "The Past Car." Her knowledge of Amelia's pancake-making skills also relates to a memory of the couple making pancakes in that episode.
- During the episode "The Debutante Ball Car", when the protagonists show up to the ball area, and their names are announced, both Simon Laurent and Grace Monroe have their respective names listed off, unlike Hazel who is only referred to as "Hazel Unknown". Given that neither Grace or Simon told anyone on said car about their full names, it's a given that Hazel simply doesn't have a last name due to being a denizen.
- In her turtle form, the gap in her teeth disappears.
- When her plastron appears, her shell becomes larger.
- She is also able to retreat into the shell when she sleeps, as seen in "The Hey Ho Whoa Car".
- In the writers' room, Hazel's role was viewed as the embodiment of joy. Her arc for Book 3 thus became, "What if we killed joy's mom?"[4]
Gallery[]
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References[]
- ↑ Book 3 Official Trailer
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 HBO Max and Cartoon Network Studios Infinity Train Comic-Con@Home 2020
- ↑ Melissa King tweet: "Hazel’s character: Her clothes are inverted colors of Alrick’s school uniform. Her skin is darker and hair lighter because those traits are more uncommon and we wanted her to feel “created”. Her hair is also blonde to represent Alrick. Credit for these ideas to Owen/Maddie!"
- ↑ Hazel: Hazel!!! Hazel is also an energy to me. She’s joy. So then we take joy and we go, “What if we killed joy’s mom?” Anyway, we tried our best to make Hazel really sound like a kid instead of uber-mature precocious TV kid. That was important to us.
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