Gabriel Agreste

Gabriel Agreste is Adrien's father and a famous fashion designer, creating and owning the brand Gabriel. He is also Hawk Moth (Le Papillon in the French version, which translates to "The Butterfly") the main antagonist of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. With the Moth Miraculous, when inhabited by Nooroo, he transforms into Hawk Moth. He wants Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses for himself in order to obtain absolute power, and to achieve his goals, he creates and controls the akumas, white butterflies infected with evil who can transform normal people into supervillains.

In "The Collector", in order to avoid suspicion of being Hawk Moth, he akumatizes himself into the Collector, a supervillain who has the power to imprison any person or object within a magical book.

Physical appearance
Gabriel is tall with combed-back light blond hair and blue eyes.

Civilian attire
He wears black-framed silver glasses. He has a white dress shirt underneath a silver vest with red buttons and a cream-colored dress jacket, along with a red and white striped tie. He also wears red dress pants and white shoes with red laces. On the middle finger of his left hand, he has a silver band ring.

As Hawk Moth
Hawk Moth wears a dark purple dress shirt with a black butterfly-shaped lapel, the Moth Miraculous brooch on the center of the collar, and black dress pants. Over the majority of his face and neck, he wears a silver mask. Whenever he is controlling someone with an akuma, a bright pink butterfly-shaped outline appears on his face and around his eyes. He also has a dark indigo cane as the tool of his Miraculous.

As the Collector
The Collector's skin is pale purple. His hair sticks up in a point and is white with black vertical stripes, along the back of his head and his neck being black. He wears a black dress suit with a white lapel, stiff shoulders, and black and red downward-bent stripes on the front. Each lower sleeve has a white stripe, and the Collector's hands have white gloves. Also, he wears black dress pants. His high heel boots are connected to his body suit, and they are black with black and white striped heels.

Personality
Gabriel comes off as cold, harsh, and very strict. He is very protective of his son Adrien, having kept him home for most of his life, although having a distant relationship with him. Despite this, he can also be respectful and kind at times, especially when needing to act professionally. According to Adrien in "Adrien's Double Life", ever since the disappearance of Mrs. Agreste, he is a changed man. He misses his wife greatly, and he sometimes has to be reminded to not forget that his son is also grieving. While he does seem to genuinely care for Adrien, this is often in a possessive way, with Gabriel not wanting anything bad to happen to him and making executive decisions about how to keep his son safe without considering how he may feel, such as in "The Bubbler", in which he unjustly deems Nino a bad influence for Adrien and forbids him from coming to his home ever again. He also strongly dislikes taking orders from anyone, even if they are from people who are trying to help and protect him such as Ladybug and Cat Noir.

As Hawk Moth, he is cold, cunning, and determined. His goal is to claim the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous to gain their absolute power that he needs to achieve his dearest secret wish, not caring if he causes people harm in the process. His akumatized villains are his most powerful known weapon, and he chooses his victims carefully and cleverly, usually people who are emotionally at their weakest, giving them ideas if they're struggling to think up of one. He is a great deceiver, persuading people that he cares about their problems and gives them powers to help solve them when in reality, he does it because he wants them to retrieve the Miraculouses for him. If things aren't going his way, he easily loses his patience, threatening harm to Ladybug, Cat Noir, and even to the villains he creates. After a villain's defeat, Hawk Moth determinedly vows revenge and, while stopping for a while afterward, doesn't wait too long to try again with his akumas.

As a civilian
Gabriel is an expert at designing clothes and fashion designs, from shirts to accessories to jewelry. Additionally, owning the Gabriel brand, he is well-versed at running a business, including solving solutions on phone about a design issue and presenting himself professionally in front of others.

As Hawk Moth
Hawk Moth's main superpower is Akumatization. He can corrupt butterflies with dark energy, which transforms them into akumas. He sends them out to possess an object of a vulnerable person, and then after they agree to serve him, he transforms them into supervillains, corrupting their personalities and granting them a wide variety of superpowers and abilities. He can also telepathically communicate with his creations, and when he does so, a pink butterfly-shaped outline appears in front of his and the villains' faces. He is able to feel negative emotions like an empath, and he can precisely pinpoint the person's name and the reason why they're upset.

These powers do have their limitations, however. He is only able to create one villain at a time over the course of an indeterminate amount of time. He needs to convince his victims to accept the powers that he grants, and the akumatized supervillains that he creates — while corrupted — do still have a will of their own and can either disobey or carry out his orders incompetently. For a brief amount of time, however, he can control the villain's body, preventing them from doing anything.

When an akuma is not cleansed by Ladybug, it will multiply and turn other people into frozen copies of the original akumatized villain. Hawk Moth can recall and trap the original akuma in a glass dome at the top of his cane, and he can release it again when the victim gets sad or angry once more. This turns the victim into the same akumatized villain, but it also unfreezes the copies of them, which the original villain can command and control. Hawk Moth can also control many akumas to form a swarm that makes a large version of his head, which he can speak through. However, once the original akuma is de-evilized, its copies vanish, reverting the duplicates of the villain back to normal.

Hawk Moth is also a capable sword fighter, able to defend himself and destroy miniature missiles from his own lair's defense protocol with his swordstick in "Robostus".

As the Collector
The Collector is able to trap objects and people in the form of drawings inside his notebook. He throws the notebook like a boomerang, and while the notebook can go very far distances, once it captures something or someone by hitting them, it returns to him wherever he is. He can also utilize the notebook as a shield against projectiles, opening the book, either holding it sturdily or waving it around, so it traps the object being thrown towards him. Anything it passes through is trapped no matter how big it is.

Additionally, the Collector is quick and agile, easily flipping, jumping, and dodging attacks.

Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir
Despite being protective of his son, Gabriel's relationship with Adrien is distant. He and Adrien do not spend time together often, which greatly upsets the latter. He is also very controlling of what Adrien does, having his schedule planned from day to day and not allowing him to go to school without his bodyguard to ensure his safety. However, some if not all of his actions towards Adrien are because he is overprotective. To some extent, he does openly seem to care for his son, wanting to get him a birthday present in "The Bubbler" despite not choosing it for Adrien himself. In "Simon Says", he shows that he's proud of him by telling Ladybug that he's perfect and a lot like his mother. After being saved by Ladybug and Cat Noir, he finds Adrien in his room and hugs him. When bringing a present to Adrien in "A Christmas Special", he panics when he finds that he isn't in his room and demands that he be found. He's relieved once Adrien returns. As he sadly explains to Adrien, he can't bear to lose him after losing his wife. He also listens to Adrien about allowing a crowd of people into their mansion to celebrate Christmas with them. In "The Collector" he said he views Adrien as one of the few things he has left of his wife after she left and in "Riposte", when Kagami attacks Adrien, Hawk Moth orders her to stop and tells her that she can have her revenge later, hinting at his care for him even while doing his supervillain work.

Like with Ladybug, if to a slightly lesser extent, Hawk Moth despises Cat Noir and intends to take his Miraculous. In the episodes "Dark Cupid", "Princess Fragrance", and "The Puppeteer", Hawk Moth allows Cat Noir to be used indirectly against Ladybug to retrieve her Miraculous. When he meets Cat Noir in "Simon Says" as Gabriel, he isn't pleased when the superhero starts giving orders to protect him, yet when Cat Noir insists more, Gabriel tells him that he is headstrong and that he reminds him of someone, after which he turns to face a portrait of his wife. He shakes hands with Cat Noir after being saved by him and Ladybug. He also notices both Cat Noir and Adrien's ring and appears to become suspicious.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug
Gabriel recognizes Marinette as a skilled hat maker and lets her prove that her hat is her own creation in the contest he was judging. When she does, he compliments her hat and declares her the winner. He treats her coolly in "The Collector" when she visits him and returns the Miraculous spellbook to him and accepts her request by letting Adrien go back to school again.

Hawk Moth wants nothing more than to defeat Ladybug, take her Miraculous, and make her suffer once he wins. While he despises both Ladybug and Cat Noir and wants both of their Miraculous, he seems to blame her more for their successes and feel more aggression towards her. The reason is unknown, but it is most likely because she is the only one who can capture the akumas he creates and turns them back to normal. However, when out of supervillain form, he acts like he respects her, pretending to trust her to protect him and chatting with her about Adrien when she and Cat Noir were guarding him in "Simon Says". He also doesn't hide his interest in her earrings.

Akumatized villains
The only purpose Hawk Moth creates akumatized villains is because he needs them to retrieve Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses from them. He pretends to be a caring friend, promising to assist them with their frustrations by giving them powers, just as long as they return the favor by retrieving the Miraculouses. If necessary, he will lie to them as well, like telling them the superheroes are being dishonest. He often stays involved with what they're doing, and he'll give advice or plans to them in some situations.

However, if an akumatized villain doesn't follow through with obtaining the Miraculouses, Hawk Moth gets furious. He becomes frustrated when the Bubbler kicks a bubble that holds Ladybug and Cat Noir into the sky without getting their Miraculouses, and when the Evillustrator avoids his responsibility to prepare for a date with Marinette, he temporarily controls his body to urge him to hurry up. Hawk Moth even threatens to remove Dark Cupid's powers in the episode of the same name if he doesn't bring him Ladybug's Miraculous. With Manon/The Puppeteer, however, he shows more kindness, even sometimes praising her.

Nooroo
Hawk Moth views Nooroo as nothing more than his kwami. After Hawk Moth proclaims that he intends to use the Moth Miraculous' power to create super villains instead of superheroes, Nooroo attempts to tell him that the Miraculous aren't supposed to be used for evil, but Hawk Moth refuses to listen. He yells at Nooroo, reminds him that he is his master now, and demands his obedience.

Mrs. Agreste
Not much is known about the relationship between the couple. However, Gabriel did genuinely and strongly care for his wife. There are moments that show he misses her a lot, including in the Christmas special when he sadly looks at the portrait of her in his atelier. According to Adrien in the webisode "Adrien's Double Life", ever since Mrs. Agreste disappeared, Gabriel has not been the same. He has an image of her in the Moth Miraculous. In "The Collector", he tells Adrien the Miraculous spellbook was his last gift from his wife, and he tells Marinette that he got the book while he and his wife were abroad.

Nathalie Sancoeur
Gabriel trusts his personal assistant, Nathalie, to take care of tasks for him and Adrien. He doesn't appreciate when she messes up, however, like getting impatient with her when she forgets to get a birthday present to give to Adrien on his behalf. When she gives him useful advice, he listens intently and takes it, like agreeing with her to let Adrien attend public school in "Stoneheart" and to be there for Adrien on their first Christmas without Mrs. Agreste in "A Christmas Special". He trusts her enough that she knows that he is Hawk Moth, explaining his scheme to her about throwing Adrien and Ladybug off his trail in "The Collector".

Nino Lahiffe
Gabriel has a strong distaste of Nino and believes that Nino is a bad influence on Adrien. When Nino objects to him not allowing Adrien to have a birthday party in "The Bubbler," Gabriel, displeased with his authority and decisions being questioned, tells Nino that he is not allowed in the mansion anymore because he is a bad influence on his son. However, in "Simon Says", he appears to have either forgotten about this or gotten over it, as he hardly acknowledges his presence inside the mansion.

Chloé Bourgeois
While Gabriel doesn't care much for Chloé, he acknowledges in "Despair Bear" that he relies on Chloé's cruelty and nastiness to make people emotionally vulnerable enough to be akumatized, so much so that he sends out an akuma ahead of an opportune victim when she holds a huge party.

Trivia

 * Gabriel is named after Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, who created the French designer brand, Chanel.
 * Gabriel is Marinette's role model, as she hopes to be a great fashion designer like him.
 * Gabriel's phone number as listed in Adrien's phone contacts is +33678424.
 * In "The Evillustrator", Chloé bribes Sabrina using a beret that Gabriel designed.
 * He is responsible for Nino and Simon Grimault's akumatization.Volpina LQ (16).jpg
 * Gabriel has a secret safe behind the painting of Mrs. Agreste in his atelier. It contains the Peacock Miraculous, a picture of Mrs. Agreste, tickets for Tibet, and a book about the Miraculouses.
 * In "Volpina", Adrien takes the Miraculous book, unbeknownst to Gabriel, and the book eventually ends up in Marinette's hands. Once he discovers it, in "The Collector" he gets very mad and punishes Adrien, most likely due the book making him the primary suspect for being Hawk Moth, despite having the book's pages saved digitally.
 * The painting of Mrs. Agreste also conceals another secret – the entrance to Hawk Moth's lair. It opens when certain spots of the painting are pressed.
 * Hawk Moth is also called "Butterfly" in other early sources.
 * In the Castilian Spanish version, Hawk Moth's name is Lepidóptero, which comes from the scientific order called Lepidoptera, which contains all butterflies and moths.PV_LQ_(193).png
 * Hawk Moth's appearance is much different than his appearance in the Ladybug PV. In the PV, he doesn't wear a mask, has white hair, silver eyes, and wears a white dress suit with a pale tan vest and bow.
 * After sending an akuma, he rotates his staff with his left hand, which possibly indicates he's left-handed.
 * Both the butterfly and the moth symbolize change or personal evolution. This is likely in connection with his ability to corrupt and transform others into his henchmen.
 * The design of Hawk Moth's mask is a reference to the supervillain Fantômas from the 1964 French film with the same name.
 * It's unknown what Hawk Moth's intentions are for getting Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses, other than for more power. However, in "The Evillustrator" and "Rogercop", he says that he is planning to rule the world.
 * In "Ladybug & Cat Noir (Origins - Part 1)", Gabriel states that he wants the absolute power given by the two Miraculouses, while holding the brooch which contains his wife's photo.
 * Wilfried Pain, when asked on Twitter if Hawk Moth is a metaphor for human ambivalence, responded, "Yes, you can say that. But his true nature and purpose will change your point of view."
 * In the French dub, he never mentions plans to rule the world, just to gain ultimate power.
 * Hawk Moth usually reveals his name to his victims when he corrupts them. However, he never gives his name to the Evillustrator or Darkblade.
 * As seen in episodes like "Darkblade", "Antibug", and "Princess Fragrance", Hawk Moth has the time and ability to akumatize more than one person a day, even though it is not more than one person each time.
 * He can take away the power of his akumatized villains and cause them pain, which gives him leverage, though the ability was originally meant to be a fail-safe if the akumatized power was used wrongly or for evil.
 * He sometimes uses puns, like telling the akuma in "The Evillustrator" to "draw [Nathaniel] into our evil web."
 * Hawk Moth is one of the tallest characters in the series.
 * In some dubs, Gabriel and Hawk Moth have different voice actors. Examples are the Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Hebrew, and Hungarian dubs.
 * He is the only known Miraculous holder so far to use his powers for evil.
 * In "Volpina", Adrien confuses a previous owner of the Moth Miraculous for Hawk Moth upon seeing his picture in the Miraculous spellbook.
 * Wilfried Pain has confirmed that Hawk Moth also has an origin story.
 * Thomas Astruc additionally confirmed that Season 2 will explain how Hawk Moth found the Moth Miraculous.
 * According to the Miraculous Ladybug San Diego Comic-Con 2016 panel and Los Angeles Comic Con 2016 panel, Hawk Moth will team up with another recurring villain in Season 3, doubling him as a threat.
 * Also, in the former panel, it was revealed that Hawk Moth might be scared of someone for once.
 * The Collector will return in the two-episode special "The Heroes' Day".

pt-br:Gabriel Agreste (spoiler)