It is (almost!) always viewed as a character literal in format "\u00C5".
See this article on Char: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/x9h8tsay(v=vs.110).aspx
and this article specifically on character literals which, while outdated, still applies in the latest version of .NET
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa664669(v=vs.71).aspx