Viola

"If only I could take your place..."

―Viola, to Ellen

Viola
biological information
Age	13
Species	Human
Gender	Female
physical attributes
Eye Color	Green
Hair Color	Blonde
relatives
Relatives	Father Unnamed Mother (Deceased)

Viola (ヴィオラ, Vūiora) is one of the main characters in The Witch's House. 

She befriends Ellen, a young girl who was also the witch of the house. She's tricked by Ellen into switching bodies, weak and sick, with the promise of "just for a day." In the end, however, they never switched back bodies, since Ellen enjoys her new painless body. Viola unfortunately dies in Ellen's body, shot by her own father, thinking it is a monster in the Bad Truth ending of the game.

Viola appears in the game in Ellen's body where she tries to trap Ellen in the house with Ellen's own power. Ellen, however, was able to escape the house in all the official endings, leading to the true Viola's death.

Personality

Viola is essentially described as Ellen's polar opposite: a kind and trusting innocent girl who is loved by everyone.

Since her mother's death at a young age, Viola takes care of the housework, such as cooking meals and tidying up the living space, on a daily basis while her father goes hunting in the woods for food. Those same caring and motherly qualities are also often seen during her frequent visits of the Witch's House, where she would sit at a terminally ill Ellen's bedside to talk to her and reassure her that there are people in the world who love her (Viola included) in spite of her illness. However, Viola herself begrudgingly admits feeling innately disgusted by Ellen's sickly appearance, staying true to her human nature.

Viola appears to have a stubborn side, often expressing anger and embarrassment at her father's over-protectiveness. She also seems fairly naive and gullible, believing Ellen's lies when she told her that the adults in the village were hiding her in the forest because they are afraid of her sickly self. These faults are what led to her argument with her father and later made her fall victim to Ellen and her Demon familiar's manipulations, losing her body in the process. But because of her selflessness and kind nature, she was initially willing to let Ellen live on in her body while she died in her place. However, it isn't long before Viola has a change of heart when she witnesses a vision of Ellen walking alongside her father with seemingly sinister intentions, and sets out to trap her former "friend."

In pain and despair, she pursues the player throughout the whole game, not only to get her body back, but because she was worried for her father. Her last words were "father" "daddy" or "father, daddy... help" depending on the ending and game version you play, which shows her love for her father, even in her last moments.

History

("Give it back!") "Ghg... ...gha ..h."

She lives with her father, described by Ellen as "a close family of two." Viola once stumbled into the house in which she met Ellen. They became very close "friends," although Viola was not aware that Ellen was a witch.

On the day that Ellen announced that she was going to die, Viola unknowingly accepted to "take her place." Upon being forced to switch bodies with Ellen, Viola was in shock to find that the body was falling apart. Ellen had gouged her own eyes out and cut her own legs off beforehand, clearly planning Viola's painful death from the start. Adding this to the pain from the illness, Viola screamed in agony. Ellen, not finding her own voice's screams pleasing, handed her a medicine she told Viola would ease the pain. However, it was actually a throat burning medicine, which resulted in Viola losing her voice for good.

Ellen walks outside of the house planning to escape. She finds that the only way to escape is now blocked by uncuttable roses, produced from the remaining magic in Ellen's original body which Viola now resides in. Knowing that there is medicine able to kill the roses inside of the house, she is forced to go back into the house full of traps. Throughout the game Viola attempts to kill Ellen to get her body back and to protect her father. But with the house and demon cat on Ellen's side her attempts fail, and Ellen escapes out of the house with Viola's body. Viola, not giving up, she chases Ellen out to to the forest, only to be shot to death by her very own father, who was trying to protect "Viola" from the bloody, legless "monster".

Appearance

"Then a girl came to play. A cute girl with golden braids... 

        Ellen describing Viola in her Witch's Diary

In her own body, Viola is a young 13 year old girl with fair skin and a slender frame. She has golden blond hair tied into two small braids with messy bangs that hang about her face, and green eyes which are often worn in a melancholic expression. Her attire consists of a pair of brown leather boots under a distinctively large, sleeveless navy blue dress; worn with a white pinafore over the top and a large white bow tied on the back.

In Ellen's body, she has her long lavender hair fashioned with a large red bow and, as a result of Ellen's mutilation, she is legless and eyeless. 

Relationships

• Unnamed Father - Viola's father, and a hunter. Ellen describes their relationship as "a close family of two". He cares and loves her very much - which, ironically, ends up killing her in Ellen's body to protect his beloved "Viola". According to the letter he left for Viola, he had scolded her for going to the forest. He was worried due to the legend of a witch in the forest (most likely Ellen), kidnapping children who get lost there. He also mentioned that it's okay to visit her friend (Ellen), but for her to stay away from the forest.

• Ellen - Viola's "friend", now enemy. They were very close friends, with Viola often coming alone to Ellen's house to visit her to play (as written in Ellen's diary). She felt sorry for Ellen's bedridden state, and agreed to switch bodies "for a day" which shows she had great trust in Ellen. It's unknown what Viola felt towards Ellen after she betrayed her, but speculation shows that she may only want to kill Ellen not out of hatred, but to get her body back and to protect her father.

Theories

• Some fans claim that the true "Good Ending" would be letting Viola (in the witch's body) catch you in the last chase scene, presumably resulting in giving her her original body back. However, this is proven to be wrong in a torn-out page about magic you can find. It is stated that swapping bodies requires trust and approval from the target of the spell, which Ellen will obviously not provide. It should also be taken into note that a demon is always true to their contract; therefore should Viola ever get her original body back somehow (or kill Ellen), the black cat will restart time to bring Ellen back until their contract has ended (by Ellen getting a healthy body). Either way, Viola's fate were to be doomed the moment she met Ellen.
  • It is unknown if Viola knows of this as she pursues Ellen throughout the whole game, though it is safe to presume she doesn't, as she still demands for Ellen to give her body back until her very last moment.
• Some fans of Mad Father and The Witch's House believe Viola is the Eyeless Girl in Mad Father. It should be noted that Viola's sprite is ripped from the Eyeless Girl in Mad Father. This can be assumed to be untrue, however, because Mad Father and The Witch's House were not made by the same creator.

  

  Comparison between the Eyeless Girl (right) and Viola (left)

  • Another factor to disprove this theory is with regards to their physical attributes. Viola has green eyes, while the Eyeless Girl has blue. Viola also has a bit of hair covering part of her forehead between her eyes which the Eyeless Girl doesn't have.
• With Ellen's contract with the cat complete, it's possible that it sought to make a new contract with Viola. 
• As any human consumed by the Demon (or the house) becomes a resident of the Witch's House, it is possible that Viola herself has become a resident as well and will appear as a spirit upon the house's revival when a new Witch arrives.

Trivia

• Viola is a genus of small flowering plants in the violet family, after which she was named. Viola is also the name of a bowed string instrument in the violin family.
• Viola shows herself (in Ellen's body) in numerous glasses and mirrors throughout the game, possibly in an attempt to make Ellen reflect on the betrayal.
  • You can see trails of blood throughout the house, most likely made by Viola dragging her body in attempt to find Ellen.
  • In the scene where the "witch protects you" from the black shadow that jumped in from the window, the shadow is most likely Viola (in Ellen's body), and the one that protects you is either the house's spirit or your own. You can tell the shadow has no legs, and is crawling - just like Viola.
• Viola, even in her near-to-death state, reacts strongly when Ellen mentions her father.
  • Viola moves a lot quicker towards the player as she sees her father, showing her love for him.
  • Viola attempts to say "Ghg... ...gha ..h. (Give it back)" "Fh... fha... aa... th... (Father)" "...dh ...dha... di (Daddy)" and  "Dhh... gha... thh.. ...gh ...gh... ...hh... ghp... ...pp... (Daddy, father, help)" before being shot in the end. It's more obvious in the Japanese version.
• During the normal ending: When the Unnamed Father yells "Viola, stand back!", Viola (still in Ellen's body) moves back a bit, thinking her father called out to her.
• It's stated that the house, and everything within it will die and perish with the witch. The black cat's body is found dead later on, implying that the demon had left before the witch died. It is mentioned by the cat (demon) himself in the Secret Ending that that was his reason for leaving, confirming that it doesn't require Ellen's soul itself to die: the death of her body results in the death of the house and all of its inhabitants. 
• In two endings, the cat demon reappears only to vanish along with Viola's dead body.

  

  The profile image. (Click image to enlarge)

• There is a small secret in the dark hallway that needs the illuminated bottle. Once the player drops the bottle, open the menu and see the twisted version of Viola. Quite possibly Ellen's true face. This secret can also be seen when the player takes the watch from the table in the same area (take note that this will kill the player when a few steps is taken from the table). The watch's description merely says 'DIE.'
• When saving in the Witch's Room during a "No Save Run", Viola will have a slightly different portrait in the save file in which she appears to be smiling lightly.