Miraculouses

Miraculouses are magical jewels. Worn as jewelry, they have the ability to change their wearers, with the help of kwamis, into animal-themed, super-powered beings. In the English dub, the term Miraculous is used as both the singular and plural form, in contrast with Astruc's preference for adding -es for more than one, though there were occasions when characters used Miraculouses with the added -es to refer to more than one Miraculous.

History
As explained by Master Wang Fu, Wayzz, and Tikki in the comic story "The Trash Krakken Part 1", kwamis have existed since the beginning of time. Being abstract creatures, each kwami is formed whenever a new idea, concept, or emotion is formed in the universe such as creation, love, beauty, and mathematics. However, tangible creatures like humans could not see or sense kwamis, so the kwamis could only roam the universe without communicating with them.

Thousands of years ago, a mage successfully helped kwamis interact with humans by creating magic jewels, which were called Miraculouses. When the kwamis inhabited them, the Miraculouses bestowed amazing power on their wearers. There are two Miraculouses that are more powerful than the rest: the Ladybug Miraculous, having the power of creation from the first kwami in existence, Tikki; and the Cat Miraculous, having the power of destruction from Plagg. In "Ladybug & Cat Noir (Origins - Part 1)", Nooroo states that legend says when the Ladybug Miraculous and Cat Miraculous are worn together, their user will gain god-like powers. At some point in time, a lot of information about the Miraculouses and their powers was written down in code into a book, with very few knowing how to decipher the code. A Miracle Box was also created at an unknown time to store the inactive Miraculouses.

To protect and distribute Miraculouses, the Order of the Guardians was formed and existed for many years. Throughout its existence, guardians trained younger generations to keep a watchful eye over the Miraculouses and the spellbook, which were placed in the Guardians' temple. The Order fell apart more than a hundred years ago because of a mistake made by Fu, a young trainee at the time. The temple was destroyed, and the Butterfly Miraculous, Peacock Miraculous, and spellbook were lost, but Fu took the box with him. According to Nooroo, the Miraculouses, meant for good purposes, have been used by heroes throughout history. However, in the wrong hands, Miraculouses may be used for evil.

System
Usually, a Miraculous is assigned to an appropriate user with good intentions by a guardian, a human tasked with watching over the Miraculouses and keeping them in a safe place when not being used. While there is a chance of giving a Miraculous to an unworthy candidate, as Wang Fu has done once with an unknown individual, the system prevents many unfit people from getting Miraculouses easily. The guardian takes back and stores the Miraculous when it is discarded or returned to him. Unfortunately, there have been cases where Miraculouses are lost, even potentially forever, and the guardian is unable to retrieve them, like when the Butterfly Miraculous was presumed to be lost forever by Wang. Miraculouses can be kept by their chosen users for many years as long as they are being used and the holder is capable.

There are ways to get Miraculouses outside of being chosen by the Great Guardian. People can find Miraculouses if they have been lost and are unable to be stored properly. For example, Hawk Moth got the Butterfly Miraculous by finding it, also making it easy for him to utilize it for evil instead of good without Wang Fu's interference or knowledge of his secret identity. Or in "The Queens' Battle", when Chloé found the Bee Miraculous after Ladybug lost it. However, there are those who found a Miraculous and by their own free will, would use it by trying to be a hero without being chosen by a guardian.

Previous Miraculous holders can also give their Miraculous to someone else if they don't know a guardian or the guardian can't intervene first. After believing she shouldn't be the Ladybug Miraculous holder in "Stoneheart", Marinette sneaks the Ladybug Miraculous into Alya's bag in hopes that Alya will find it and take over as Ladybug, although Marinette later decides to continue as Ladybug and retrieves it before this can happen. If a current or previous holder can't continue their job by other means like old age or injury they can give their jewel to someone else like how Nino wields the Turtle Miraculous in Master Fu's place due to his bad back.

Another option for getting a Miraculous is stealing a Miraculous and/or removing it from its user. There are different kinds of motivations for taking another user's Miraculous. One motivation is Hawk Moth's intention to get the Ladybug Miraculous and Cat Miraculous to access their absolute power when combined. On the opposite side, if a Miraculous is being used by a villainous person, it is the Great Guardian's task to find out who the Miraculous holder is and take the Miraculous away from them. If needed, the Great Guardian will get help from other Miraculous holders or choose new Miraculous holders in order to stop the villain, as when Marinette and Adrien receive Miraculouses from Wang Fu to defeat Hawk Moth. Along with being vulnerable to being stolen if they aren't being worn, Miraculouses can be forced off the user by someone else when they are being worn, whether or not they are transformed. Despite being possible, it's less common to be able to steal the Miraculous when the holder is not transformed unless the taker knows what the Miraculous looks like when in its camouflage form.

When under permission of the Great Guardian or in need of extra help a current Miraculous holder can temporarily give a Miraculous, to someone else as long as the temporary wielder returns it when the mission is over. Seen with Alya in "Sapotis", when Ladybug chose her to wield the Fox Miraculous in order to help them. In the case with Nino in "Anansi" and Chloé in "Malediktator".

Not all Miraculouses in other people's possession are worn and wielded by them. Master Wang Fu keeps unused Miraculouses in the Miracle Box in order to keep them protected and have them available for future chosen users in required situations. In "Mayura", in a secret safe, Gabriel Agreste stores the Peacock Miraculous, since it is mysteriously damaged and can cause illness to its holder. At the same time, Miraculous holders who wear Miraculouses may never or rarely transform with them. Because of his age, Wang Fu struggles when he attempts to transform in "Ladybug & Cat Noir", hurting his back in the process. Nonetheless, Wang keeps and wears the Turtle Miraculous, often discussing matters with Wayzz and benefiting from Wayzz's assistance.

Powers and Abilities
A Miraculous, when worn and inhabited by a kwami, transforms the wearer into a costumed guise based on its animal theme and what they wanted deep down. The Miraculous (or their owner's costume) is capable of compensating for certain impairments such as poor eyesight, as with Carapace's goggles replacing Nino's glasses, or possibly curing such impairments entirely while transformed, as may be the case with Alya's lack of glasses as Rena Rouge.

It also grants the wearer enhanced abilities, like strength and agility, a weapon, and a unique superpower. Some Miraculous appear to grant the user greater physical skills than others; the Fox Miraculous provides its wearer greater agility than the Ladybug or Cat Miraculous. Some of the Miraculouses' powers follow their theme, like the Ladybug Miraculous, with the power of creation, having the superpower Lucky Charm. The kinds of powers a Miraculous has aren't limited to the theme, though.

The transformation lasts until the superpower is used, leaving the wearer about five minutes until they revert back to normal. Before the wearer can transform again, the kwami needs to recharge by eating food. According to Hawk Moth in "Mayura", a more experienced Miraculous user can remain transformed, even after using their superpower.

It is explained in "Timetagger" that adulthood bestows unlimited use of one's powers, as seen with Bunnyx.

When they are linked to a Miraculous and their Miraculous is not in use, a kwami can roam freely outside of the Miraculous. As revealed in "Ladybug and Cat Noir", when the current holder disposes of their Miraculous, the associated kwami disappears and goes back into the dormant Miraculous. When the Miraculous gets put on again, whether by the same user or a new one, the kwami comes out of the Miraculous. If the Miraculous comes off by accident though, like when Adrien's ring falls off in "Lady Wifi", the kwami is not pulled back into the Miraculous. The kwami will only disappear if the holder wants to get rid of the Miraculous.

A person can wear more than one Miraculous and use them both at the same time.

When a person utilizes more than one Miraculous, their suit takes on a hybrid form combining aspects of the suits of each individual Miraculous, allowing the user to call upon both Miraculouses' powers and weapons. YouTuber Lindalee Rose was permitted to see content from the upcoming Season 4. In a Tweet she makes reference to "multi-Miraculous-combo powers". This appears to imply that a person who utilises more than one Miraculous has access to powers created by a fusion of said Miraculous.

To deactivate a Miraculous, the person must dispose of their Miraculous intentionally, either "renouncing" the Miraculous' kwami or expressing the desire to no longer use it. Once done, the kwami goes back into the Miraculous, only awakened when someone opens the Miraculous from a small box from a guardian, or they put on the Miraculous.

And yet the Miraculous jewels can also work even if they're damaged, like the Peacock Miraculous, as seen in "Mayura". But using a negatively impacted one can damage a holder's powers or can have negative effects on its holder such as fatigue and lingering health issues. Beyond this, the full effects of using a damaged Miraculous are unknown. However, it's revealed that a holder can overcome these effects in time seen during "Miraculer".

In "Timetagger", one of the effects could be not being able to detransform, resulting in the holder being stuck in their superhero form until the jewel is fixed.

Modes
The Miraculous vary in types of jewelry, ranging from earrings to necklaces or rings to hair combs. However, all Miraculouses have two distinct modes: charged and camouflaged. In its charged mode, the Miraculous is inhabited by its kwami, meaning that either the miraculous isn't being hold by anyone or that its holder is transformed. The Miraculous takes on a more colorful, exotic design in this mode that resembles better the animal that it represents. In its camouflaged mode, the kwami is outside the Miraculous, meaning that its possessed by a holder who is not transformed. This is meant to make the Miraculous more difficult to spot on a holder in civilian attire as the Miraculous is disguised.

The variation between charged and camouflaged mode varies between Miraculous. The Ladybug Miraculous appear as simple black earrings in its camouflaged mode but red with black spots in its charged mode and the Cat Miraculous is a plain silver ring in its camouflaged mode but black with a green cat paw design in its charged mode. In contrast, the only difference between the Fox Miraculous in its charged and camouflaged mode is that it adquires golden lines that divide the necklace in five sections whose color degrades until they've reached white.

Trivia

 * The Ladybug Miraculous and Cat Miraculous are set opposite each other in a yin-yang (tajitu) section in the Miraculous box. The Cat Miraculous is placed in yang, and the Ladybug Miraculous is placed in yin. The other Miraculouses are arranged around them in a similar fashion to the five elements in Wu Xing (albeit which one corresponds to each is not clear).
 * More than one Miraculous can be the same type of jewelry, such as the Butterfly Miraculous and Peacock Miraculous both being brooches, along with the Fox and Mouse Miraculouses both being necklaces, and the Turtle, Snake, and Pig Miraculouses all being bracelets.
 * Some Miraculouses can have the same type of powers but with minor differences such as the Rabbit and Snake Miraculouses allowing the users to travel through time.
 * But the Snake Miraculous only allows the user to travel back to the time they've marked on the jewel while the Rabbit Miraculous allows the user to travel both forwards and backwards in time.
 * As well as the Butterfly Miraculous' Akumatization and the Peacock Miraculous' Amokization; however akumas can't affect broken objects but Amoks can.
 * So far the Butterfly Miraculous and the Peacock Miraculous are the only two Miraculous being used for evil purposes; however, it's unknown if any of the other Miraculouses were used for evil in the past.
 * And yet, in Ladybug & Cat Noir (Origins - Part 1) Master Wang Fu mentioned he made the wrong choice once before, suggesting he picked the wrong person. However, it's unknown which Miraculous that person had at the time.


 * According to "Timetagger", it turns out the Butterfly Miraculous will be used for evil again, but it won't be Gabriel Agreste who has the jewel, but a successor.


 * At the beginning of the series, there were only seven Miraculouses revealed, the ones stored on the top level of the Miracle Box; but Thomas Astruc explained that it's a bit more complicated than that, with more information being discovered about them throughout the first three seasons of the series.
 * Thomas noted in the interview that the crew wants to expand on all of the Miraculouses in the box.
 * The beginning of "Ladybug & Cat Noir" shows three Miraculous holders, Cernunnos, Herakles, and Tomoe Gozen, whose Miraculouses are unknown.
 * As revealed by Jeremy Zag, the Miracle Box has more than one level containing Miraculouses, meaning that there were other Miraculouses that had yet to be seen. This was confirmed on the official Miraculous Ladybug Tumblr blog, which stated that there are "many more" Miraculouses than the ones that were known about initially.
 * Which are revealed in "Sapotis", unveiling 12 other Miraculouses.

and so far, 3 in the third, with three more confirmed to be upcoming.
 * In the animatic of the theme song, the chest box has many Miraculouses that are not used in the final version, including what appear to be Miraculouses of a Snake, Eagle, Bear, Lion, Chicken, and Bull, respectively.
 * Using the same setup in the animatic for "Ladybug & Cat Noir", the Miracle box has most of the same Miraculouses, but the Butterfly Miraculous is replaced with Fish Miraculous earrings.[13]
 * According to what Wang Fu says in "Princess Fragrance", the Miraculouses might be connected to ancient China.
 * The Miraculouses on the lower levels of the box all correspond with the Chinese zodiac. The Snake Miraculous was ultimately included with these.
 * Most of the previous Miraculous wielders seen in the spellbook all come from Ancient China.
 * The official Miraculous Ladybug Tumblr blog noted that the TV series, comic books, and web series would show the history of the Miraculouses.[14]
 * Miraculouses can be negatively impacted if the kwami enters it with another object, lessening the wearer's power, which Plagg explains to Adrien in "Rogercop" when he gets Chloé's bracelet stuck on his head.
 * As revealed by Sébastien Thibaudeau in a press release video, Marinette would "find herself giving Miraculouses".[15]
 * Also, at some point, a female character would give back a Miraculous to Ladybug. The character and the Miraculous initially being unknown.[15]
 * It was later revealed in "Sapotis" that the character Ladybug gave a Miraculous to and was later returned to her was Alya, who received the Fox Miraculous. Alya does so again in "Syren", and Chloé was given and returned the Bee Miraculous in "Malediktator"
 * In "Frightningale", Plagg mentions that Cat Noir's costume is what Adrien really wants deep down.
 * This would mean that the appearance that the Miraculous holders assume when they activate their transformations reflects their tastes and desires.
 * Despite the Miraculouses being made thousands of years ago they've managed to retain their normal appearances, suggesting it was done by divine means, meaning that time couldn't ravage them.
 * It's been seen in "Antibug", "Volpina", and "The Dark Owl" that copies of the jewels can be destroyed.
 * In "Mayura", it's revealed that a Miraculous can be damaged like the Peacock Miraculous, although it's unknown how it happened in that case.
 * However it is possible that it, like the Rabbit Miraculous, was damaged by a previous user of the Cat Miraculous with a Cataclysm long ago or is negatively impacted when Duusu entered her Miraculous with something else.
 * It could also be possible that the jewels can be damaged after or if the holders transform with a sick or injured kwami.
 * Miraculouses are what turn kwamis from abstract and non-corporeal form to corporeal form. If a Miraculous were destroyed, like in "Queen Wasp", its kwami would not be; but they would no longer be detectable.[16]
 * Seven of the nineteen known Miraculouses have been used throughout the first and second seasons: three in the first season, and four in the second,

 
 * As of recent Season 3 spoilers it's revealed that not only can the Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses combine with each other, but it can be done with all the Miraculous jewels, although it's not fully explained how.
 * The Miraculous transformation phrases are related to the animal associated with the Miraculous ("Spots on!" in reference to a ladybug's spots), the Miraculous itself ("Clockwise!" in reference to the Rabbit Miraculous being a pocket watch) and the superpowers associated with the Miraculous ("Bring the storm!" in reference to the Dragon Miraculous' storm/weather-related powers).
 * In "Timetagger", a Miraculous can hold the transformation of their wearers if the damage is minimal.