Ember McLain

Ember
	;
Gender	Female
Species	Ghost-Siren
Hair Color	Dirty Blonde (Human) Robin's Egg Blue (Ghost)
Eye Color	Caramel Brown (Human) Luminescent Green (Ghost)/Crimson Red (Ghost/Provoked)
Height	5'3
Weight	124
Friends	Sam, Spectra, Kitty, Desiree
Enemies	Walker, Danny, adults, water
Occupation	Musician/Singer
Love Interest	Skulker (Boyfriend)

Ember McLain is a character and ghost villain from the Nickelodeon animated television series Danny Phantom, voiced by Tara Strong.

Appearance[]

Ember McLain is a hard rocking siren-like ghost girl who feeds off the idol worship of teenagers. Her appearance, songs, and character in general portray her as a ghostly embodiment of teenage rebellion and disobedience to authority figures. Ember has long, flaming, teal hair put into a ponytail at the top of her head held back, she has two locks of hair framing her face which look like a sharp-angled "M" and purple lipstick. Like other ghosts, her eyes are green. Her clothing is attractive and appealing in nature, consisting of a black choker around her neck, a black one-shouldered tank-top exposing her midriff, one long glove that covers most of her right arm, and one black bracelet on her left arm. She also wears a pair of what appear to be leather pants with a silver belt and skull boots.

History[]

Previous Life[]

According to one of the creators for the show, before she died, Ember was an unpopular high school-aged girl who had large dreams of becoming a rock star. One day a boy asked her out to the movies. She waited all night for him to show up, saying, "He's just running late." When morning came and he didn't show up, Ember went home. She was so exhausted that she fell asleep and didn't wake up when her house mysteriously caught fire. She died in the flames, which possibly gave her the name Ember. Her song Remember is possibly based on the above events prior to her death. Another background for her is that she had known Sam when said girl was around ten years old. They were/are best friends and Sam had wished her good luck in her career. Unfortunately she had gotten caught up in the wrong crowd, she had figured that doing drugs and alcohol can help her career. One day when she was stoned out on marijuana, the lit weed had burned her apartment with her asleep inside of it.

Fanning the Flames[]

Making her debut in Fanning the Flames with her famous song Remember, Ember used her abilities and pop star status to dominate the world, keeping Danny distracted by placing a love spell on him that makes him fall in love with Sam, while Ember busies herself with her plans of world domination. However, the spell is later broken when Sam, in a desperate move, kisses Dash (to both of their disgust) right in front of Danny. Heartbroken and finally out of the spell, he fights Ember, but she is still way too powerful and traps him in a swirling purple vortex. Danny realizes he needs to stop the chanting and gets Tucker Foley to sing on stage. His horrible singing causes the hypnotized crowd to wake up and stop cheering for Ember, whose powers and flaming hair then fizzle out to nothing as she is captured and banished to the Ghost Zone by Danny, where she deals with an annoying Klemper.

13[]

She later attempted to exit the Ghost Zone a few days later in the episode 13, where she was shown in a line heading directly through the Ghost Portal. Jack was idiotically releasing ghosts one at a time by pressing a button which opened the portal doors, telling his family that whenever they press it, the doors open "like this", so you shouldn't press it. Just as it was Ember's turn to exit the Ghost Zone, Johnny 13 alongside Kitty and Shadow cut in front of her on his motorcycle.

Pirate Radio[]

She made her second appearance as a main character in the episode Pirate Radio where Ember creates a song that makes adults hypnotized by (actually a mellow, ballad version of Remember) so that they can go to a fake cruise, called M. Bersback, a poorly hidden message for Ember's Bac. With this, she teams up with Captain Youngblood. However, she just leaves/escapes the ship, after she accidentally burns the ship's sail, vowing to return. Despite her involvement in the plot, she was not the primary villain of the episode as she was merely a mercenary hired by Youngblood.

Reign Storm[]

She came back in Reign Storm with numerous ghosts who fled the Ghost Zone when Pariah Dark was woken up. Later in the same episode, she, along with Danny's other enemies, teamed up to help Danny fight off the ghost king's army.

Identity Crisis[]

In Identity Crisis, Danny, Sam, and Tucker check out Ember's file on Danny's computer, hinting he might have fought with Ember before the beginning of the episode, since Danny mentioned sending her back to the Ghost Zone.

The Ultimate Enemy[]

In an alternate future (seen in The Ultimate Enemy), Ember is overweight and can no longer sing due to her vocal cords being damaged by Dark Danny. She attacks regular Danny along with some of his enemies, wanting revenge for the terrible fate his future-self gave them. In this alternate future, her appearance seems to be modeled after the late famous overweight singer Cass Elliot of The Mamas & the Papas band (interestingly, band members John and Michelle Phillips would later have their daughter Chynna Phillips (who did the voice of Kitty)).

The Fright Before Christmas[]

She makes a cameo in The Fright Before Christmas as one of the many ghosts helping Danny save Christmas.

Girls' Night Out[]

In Girls' Night Out, Ember teams up with Kitty and Spectra in a joint attempt to eliminate all men. This is the episode where her new song Girl's Night Out is played with Jazz (ironically, who was twice a victim of her mind-controlling musical powers in the previous episodes Fanning the Flames and Pirate Radio, which in this episode, this attempt to personally capture Ember could presumably be Jazz's act of revenge on Ember for putting her under her spell more than once in the past) as a backup singer. It is also revealed that Ember is Skulker's girlfriend (this was established only for Ember to have something in common with Kitty and Spectra).

Phantom Planet[]

Ember's final appearance was in the series finale, Phantom Planet. She was seen with the many ghosts who helped Danny and Skulker turn the entire planet intangible, so that Disasteroid can pass harmlessly through it.

Personality[]

Ember is a seductive hard-rocking ghost teen with disrespect towards any kind of authority figure. She obviously has a great amount of pride in her singing abilities, as she wanted revenge on Dark Danny in The Ultimate Enemy for ruining her vocal cords. She also has somewhat of a childish personality (whilst frequently shouting 1970's phrases such as "dipstick"). However, she doesn't seem to be easily offended, as she usually ignores Danny when he drives insults towards her. She shares her hatred of adult authority with Youngblood, and she is distressed when things don't go the way she wants. She is not above revenge. In all the episodes she was featured as a villain, she has either tried to hurt Danny and/or anyone who defeated/annoyed her in any sort of way. Ember also could get really low in her schemes when it comes to world conquest, as she has used her music to control people, whether it's only mind control or changing one's emotions. This shows that Ember can be selfish, which is also shown when she wanted all men away because of a fight with her boyfriend Skulker and abandoning Youngblood after burning his ship's sail. Despite being a dangerous enemy, she is not insane or murderous like other ghosts in the series (in fact, she could be considered nothing more than a influential teenager with her own "little" desires to lust). Little is known about her human life. Although judging by her lyrics to her song Remember it is theorized that she committed suicide by self cremation which made her somewhat of a tragic villainess, but that is unclear. Her life could have been around the 1970's or 80's because of her use of that time's slang and plans to start a youth revolution in her first appearance (youth revolutions were occurring during the 70's and 80's). As stated before, Ember's mind is filled up with revolutionary thoughts. In every episode she is featured as a villain, her plans are always related to some sort of revolution. This is also evidenced by her hatred against authority, especially adults. She will team up with other ghosts (Youngblood, Kitty, Spectra, etc) and hypnotize a large amount of humans in order to put her rebellious plans in practice. However, even though she always has ideas of this type, in every episode that has her as a main antagonist, she is always extreme, and has desire of enslaving others, which is a contradiction, as she ends up being and authoritarian herself.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

Being a ghost, Ember has many of the same abilities as other ghostly characters on the show as well as her own special powers, such as:

Flight: Standard ghost power, she can also fly with her guitar as a flying board.
Invisibility: Standard ghost power
Intangibility: Standard ghost power
Teleportation: She can appear and disappear in a purple smoke cloud, and/or disappear in a hair-flame tornado.
Ghost Ray: She can fire a pink blast and other blasts from her guitar.
Hypnotic Music: When she plays her guitar and/or sings, she can hypnotize people, usually young people, although she can hypnotize adults (and those who think that they are adults) as well.
Chanting Empowering: Whenever people chant her name, the effect seemingly causes her hair to flare wildly and her eyes to glow, thus rapidly increasing her power. This is her biggest advantage and her worst weaknesses, because if people cease their chanting, her fiery ponytail extinguishes, rendering her powerless.
Spectral Body Manipulation: She can manipulate the shape of her body in order to take the form of a flame.
Superhuman Strength: While being chanted in Amity park, she was strong enough to easily overcome Danny.
Superhuman Resistance: Her physical durability (ability to endure/resist damage) is considerably higher than many other ghost and possibly more than Danny- while being chanted by the whole world. She highly resistant to all forms of external physical damage.
Superhuman Stamina: as many other ghosts she has a higher level of stamina than those of a normal human being.
Superhuman Reflexes: Her reflexes are enhanced beyond normal human limits.
Healing Factor: She can heal all her wounds in just a matter of seconds.
Ecto-Tornado Cage: while being chanted by the whole world, she can create an upside down ecto-tornado cage to trap Danny.
Ecto-Bubble: she can trap humans inside of a pink ecto-bubble.
Pyrokinesis: she uses her flaming hair as a fire attack.
Power Augmentation: Ember has the ability to enhance the powers of others like she does with Kitty's banishing kiss.

Abilities[]

Master Guitar Player: She is an expert electric guitar player.
Singer: She is an excellent singer, even without her powers.

Weapons[]

Electric Guitar: In the episode Fanning the Flames, she uses the guitar as a weapon when she plays a ghostly "love song" to place Danny under a love spell. This in turn makes him fall in love with Samantha Manson, his "platonic" girlfriend. The effect is broken by the end of the episode, but Danny and Sam fall in love on their own terms at the end of the series.
Icons and Powers: Ember's guitar, has different icons in each close up, each icon represents the special abilities Ember can use. The icons and their effects are:
- A music note: Presumably for normal music playing.
- A spiral: For a hypnotizing spell.
- A flame: For a flame attack.
- A heart symbol: Used for a love spell.
- A skull: For a skull beam.
- A punch : For a punch beam.
- A wave: A generic energy beam or a sonic wave.
- She can also trap people in a ecto-bubble that no human can pass through.

Her guitar can also be used as:

- A "sword" in close combat.
- A flying board.

Ember's Ponytail: She uses her hair as a fire attack as it's shown in Fanning the Flames and Pirate Radio.

Weaknesses[]

Ember has the ghosts' inherent weaknesses, such as ecto-ranium, blood blossoms, and anti-ghost weapons. Her main weakness is the lack of chanting. The moment people stop chanting her name, she is rendered powerless, however this was only during her first appearance and she hasn't needed chanting ever since. Since her powers focus mainly on fire, it is natural that water is also one of her main weaknesses.

Relationships[]

Danny Fenton/Phantom[]

Ember sees him as her main enemy, no doubt due to the many defeats he has dealt her; therefore she will do whatever she can to stop him from ruining her schemes, preferably permanently. Ironically, she actually helped Danny and Sam realize their feelings for each other because of her love spell. In Fanning the Flames, it is told that she wants Danny and friends as her own personal slaves. She often refers to Danny as "dipstick". However, she and some other ghosts seemed to feel sorry for him when he was trapped in the Ghost Writer's story.

Youngblood[]

These two got along due to their hatred towards adults, seemingly getting along because of the childish personalities they both have. When they allied themselves, they apparently had a deal which was broken when Ember accidentally destroyed part of Youngblood's ship. She ultimately abandoned him.

Skulker[]

It was revealed in Girls' Night Out that Skulker and Ember were dating. They had a quarrel over Skulker's inability to hunt Danny Phantom or any ghost for that matter and it is unknown whether or not they are still dating. Presumably, one of the reasons they've dated is because they have similar personalities which is shown in their style, regarding that they both have the same flaming hair and similarly-styled boots.

Dark Danny[]

Ember found him the most deplorable ghost in existence and has a personal vendetta on him for ruining her voice and making her fat in the alternative timeline of The Ultimate Enemy.

Penelope Spectra and Kitty[]

Ember allied with the two in an attempt to get revenge on men. She and Spectra at first seem to get along but when things go wrong they blame each other. Ember had a stronger more sisterly-like bond with Kitty as they seem to have an understanding of one another because of the troubles they both have with their respective boyfriends. As an in-joke, it may be possible Penelope and Ember can be friends since they both have the same voice actress, Tara Strong.

Klemper[]

Klemper attempted to befriend Ember at the end of Fanning the Flames, but was unsuccessful since she tried to get him to leave her alone.

Sam Manson[]

Sam had known Ember when she was human and was one of her best friends, she had openly supported her career in singing. After Ember had died, she still considers her to be one of her closest friends.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Her songs are sung by Robbyn Kirmssé. Written/Composed/Directed by Guy Moon, Butch Hartman, and Steve Marmel
In Beauty Marked Sam used make-up very similar to Ember's on Paulina, and later in Prince Aragon's castle, Sam wore similar make-up.
Every time Ember uses her hypnotizing spell against a large amount of people, she seems to focus on a specific group. First, she targeted the teenagers. Later, she aimed against adults. Lastly, she affected women.
Ember has appeared - and had cameos and has been referenced - in every TV movie except for Reality Trip.
Ember is one of the most famous characters of the show (right next to Danny himself, Sam, Dani, and Dark Danny)
Ember is the only character in the show to have her own 3 minute theme song which also turns out to be her first song on the show, Remember.
Ember making Danny fall in love with Sam and thus furthering the Danny/Sam relationship had caused her to become one of the most popular characters on the show. However, her lack of furthering the relationship in later episodes, along with the addition of new ghosts, caused her popularity to drop.
Ember states in her first appearance that The revolution will be televised.
Ember's use of 1970's lingo also suggests that she might have lived and died in the 1970's.
At the start of the episode 13, Ember is seen in the Ghost Zone in a line leading to the Fenton ghost portal repeatedly being opened and closed by the DNA lock
Robbyn Kirmsse is the singing voice of Ember.
Ember's boots are the same style as Gene Simmon's Kiss boots.
Ember has had two costumes in the show, her normal pop-star outfit, and her pirate outfit in Pirate Radio.