This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
The Black Jewels [1] is a series of dark fantasy novels and short stories written by American writer Anne Bishop. The first three books were originally published individually and then together as a trilogy in a single omnibus collection. The series takes place in a world where those born with dark power/magic rule in a deeply matriarchal society. [2]
Winner of the William L. Crawford Memorial Fantasy Award, 2000.
Stand-alone novels published after the award-winning trilogy.
Anne Bishop has published two complete Black Jewels short story anthologies. Two additional short stories can be found within other publications.
"Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophecy come to life in her web of dreams and visions. Now the Dark Realm readies itself for the arrival of its Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself. But she is still young, still open to influence - and corruption. Whoever controls the Queen controls the darkness. Three men—sworn enemies—know this. And they know the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent young girl. And so begins a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are hate and love—and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining." [4]
"Jaenelle is destined to rule the Blood, if she can reach adulthood. Saetan, High Lord of Hell and most powerful of the Blood males, becomes Jaenelle's surrogate father and teacher. He cannot protect her outside Hell, where he rules. She refuses to leave Terreille, risking herself to protect or heal other victims of violence. Can Daemon, Saetan's estranged son, keep her safe from the machinations of the evil High Priestess?" [5]
Jaenelle's adoptive father, Saetan, and her foster-family of demons shelter her. To restore her memory and emotional balance, they move to Kaeleer, where Jaenelle gathers a circle of young Queens. She also heals Lucivar, Daemon's half-brother, who offers a brother's love and a warrior's fealty. As she recovers strength and memory, Jaenelle resolves to restore Daemon and cleanse Terreille. She claims her place as Queen of Ebon Askavi and secures Kaeleer from the growing threat of Tereille and the corruption that exists there. [6]
Jaenelle Angelline now reigns as Queen-protector of the Shadow Realm. No longer will the corrupt Blood slaughter her people and defile her lands. But where one chapter ends, a final, unseen battle remains to be written, and Jaenelle must unleash the terrible power that is Witch to destroy her enemies once and for all.
Even so, she cannot stand alone. Somewhere, long lost in madness, is Daemon, her promised Consort. Only his unyielding love can complete her Court and secure her reign. Yet, even together, their strength may not be enough to hold back the most malevolent of forces. [5]
A powerful warlord named Jared, who has been a pleasure slave for nine years, goes up for sale at a slave auction. He expects to end up working in the salt mines, but instead is purchased by a mysterious, powerful and feared witch, the Gray Lady.
Dorothea SaDiablo, High Priestess of Hayll, is a member of a long-lived race who is working to rule or control the entirety of the world of Terreille. The Gray Lady has been fighting her and so Dorothea decides to have her assassinated as she travels to her home territory from the slave auction.
The Gray Lady receives a mysterious warning about the attempt to kill her so she buys a wagon and horses and sets off cross-country with her new slaves, hoping to elude her killers. During the trip, Jared discovers that they are traveling not with the Grey Lady but rather her granddaughter, Lady Arabella Ardelia. He also discovers that he is in love with her.
The chase leads them to Jared's boyhood home where he discovers that Dorothea's forces have already killed all of the witches in the area and most of his family, including his parents. With the help of the few who remain, they defeat Dorothea's army and escape into the Gray Lady's territory. Jared is encouraged by Daemon Sadi to follow his heart and to help Lady Ardelia in her fight against Dorothea to preserve as much as possible that is good for the eventual coming of The prophesied Witch who will have the power to defeat Dorothea and cleanse the blood of the taint she has spread.
Dreams Made Flesh consists of four stories.
The first tells the story of how the Arachnids became the first race to possess Craft after the Dragons.
The second story tells of how Lucivar Yaslana meets, courts, and marries his wife. It takes place after the events in Heir to the Shadows and before Queen of the Darkness.
The third story tells some of the backstory of Saetan Daemon SaDiablo, and how his then-wife Hekatah tried to manipulate him, including sacrificing his newborn son. It concludes with the terrible retribution he exacted.
The fourth story tells of Daemon Sadi and Jaenelle and how they began to rebuild their lives after the conclusion of Queen of the Darkness. [7]
The Kindred are animals who have been granted their own Jewels and are fully Blood. Jaenelle reestablishes the connection between Kindred and human Blood, which was broken in the war between Terreille and Kaeleer started by Hekatah. Most humans discount Kindred's power and intelligence as myth, and need personal experience with one to accept them.
Ranon and Jared Blaed Grayhaven had the potential for Second Circle, but were not in the Second Circle or same Realm.
There are two main, interconnected hierarchical systems among the Blood. The first is the Jewel system. In a society with a high tolerance for violence, Jewel ranking gives an immediate sense of innate power. The darker a person's Jewel, the more dangerous they are. They have greater Craft (magic) abilities and higher metabolisms, as well as significant political advantages over lighter Jeweled Blood. The Jewels themselves act as reservoirs of power. The Blood are able to use some Craft without tapping into their Jewels but the vast majority of their abilities require them. Using too much Craft and draining a reservoir can potentially shatter a Jewel and permanently render a person unable to access that power. Adult members of the Blood typically have two full sets of Jewels, a Birthright and the one they "wear". While Jewels are typically worn out in the open, the Blood are able to sense Jewel rank to a certain extent (multiple instances show that this ability is easy to confuse, especially if the bearer wears their Birthright instead of their actual Jewel).
Jewels fall into thirteen ranks with darker colors being stronger. They are: White, Yellow, Tiger Eye, Rose, Summer-sky, Purple Dusk, Opal, [lower-alpha 1] Green, Sapphire, Red, Gray, Ebon-gray and Black.
Members of the Blood undergo two ceremonies to determine their innate strength. The darker the Jewel, the stronger the person is. During the Birthright Ceremony, which occurs in childhood, they may or may not walk away with a Jewel. It is unheard of to receive anything darker than Red as Birthright. The only known exception to this being Jaenelle Angelline. A second ceremony is done at the age of majority. Called the Offering to the Darkness, it lasts from sunset to sunrise. When making the Offering to the Darkness, a person can descend a maximum of three ranks from his/her Birthright Jewel. Example: Birthright White could descend to Rose. If a darker Jewel is received, both sets of Jewels are kept after the ceremony. The new Jewel is used as the day to day Jewel and becomes the person's rank, while the Birthright is kept as an additional reservoir. It is considered especially fortuitous for a person to receive an uncut Jewel (i.e., one never used before). Uncut Jewels are large enough to make a ring, a pendant, and shards, all of which are kept and used. In the case of a cut Jewel, the recipient will receive the same amount of Jewel.
It is possible for a person who did not receive a Jewel during the birthright ceremony to receive a White, Yellow, or Tiger-Eye Jewel during their offering to darkness ceremony, since they can 'descend' a maximum of three power ranks at this time. Rank can only decrease when a person has been "broken". When a person is broken, one or more of their Inner Webs are pierced and they are permanently separated from the power in their Jewels. This can be done either during a Virgin Night when a woman is especially vulnerable or through a blast of power. The former is far more common than the latter. Breaking a virgin is a widespread act used for profit and enjoyment and is part of the recurring theme of sexual violence in the series. Broken individuals are still able to use some Craft. If the woman conceives a child from the rape they still have the ability through craft to abort the child, but will be rendered infertile after they do. They do not lose their caste. The other layer of innate hierarchy among the Blood is the Blood Hierarchy/Castes.
The basic unit of Blood society and government is a Queen and her Court. To create a Court, she must be at the age of majority and have twelve males who agree to be in her First Circle. While Queens are the rarest females, they are not uncommon and most Territories have a Territory Queen who rules over Province Queens, who in turn rule over District Queens. Warlords and Warlord Princes are occasionally appointed to act as rulers of small areas under the auspices of a Queen. It is highly unorthodox for a witch who is not a Queen to rule. The Blood possess some ability to sense and mask their psychic scent (the combination of their Jewel ranking, caste, and personal "scent"). It seems that darker Jewels are better able to both sense and mask psychic scents. Jewel rank is considered less important than overall caste. A low-ranking Queen in term of Jewels outranks a high-ranking witch and a low-ranking Warlord Prince outranks a Prince. Within caste, the higher ranking the Jewel, the higher ranking the person. A lighter Jeweled Queen is unlikely to become a Territory Queen if there are darker Jeweled Queens available. Within caste, males automatically defer to the darkest Jeweled male. In addition, the Blood are a matriarchal society. Males are supposed to defer to females. Because of physical and Jewel discrepancies in strength, Protocol is used to keep a precarious balance.
The Evil Queen, also called the Wicked Queen or just the Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of "Snow White", a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm; similar stories exist worldwide. Other versions of the Queen appear in subsequent adaptations and continuations of the fairy tale, including novels and films. A particularly notable version is Disney's depiction, sometimes known as Queen Grimhilde. The character has also become an archetype that has inspired unrelated works.
Anne Bishop is an American fantasy writer. Her most noted work is the Black Jewels series. She won the Crawford Award in 2000 for the first three Black Jewels books, sometimes called the Black Jewels trilogy: Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, and Queen of the Darkness.
Ludwig Kakumei is a Japanese manga series by Kaori Yuki. It debuted in the January 1999 issue of the shōjo manga magazine Melody, before being transferred to Hana to Yume Step, Hana to Yume, and finally Bessatsu Hana to Yume, where it concluded in the September 2007 issue. The sixteen chapters were compiled into four tankōbon by Hakusensha, and were published from June 2004 to December 2007. The series follows Ludwig, a self-centered, flamboyant prince, as he travels with his loyal, soft-hearted valet in search of a bride.
Snow White's Enchanted Wish is a dark ride at the Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris theme parks, and formerly at the Magic Kingdom. Located in Fantasyland, it is one of the few remaining attractions that was operational on Disneyland's opening day in 1955, although it has seen several different redesigns over its history. The ride's story is based on Disney's 1937 film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, their first animated feature film.
Fashion in the period 1500–1550 in Europe is marked by very thick, big and voluminous clothing worn in an abundance of layers. Contrasting fabrics, slashes, embroidery, applied trims, and other forms of surface ornamentation became prominent. The tall, narrow lines of the late Medieval period were replaced with a wide silhouette, conical for women with breadth at the hips and broadly square for men with width at the shoulders. Sleeves were a center of attention, and were puffed, slashed, cuffed, and turned back to reveal contrasting linings.
Night World is a series of nine young adult fantasy novels by American author L. J. Smith. In the series, vampires, witches, werewolves, and shape-shifters live among humans without their knowledge, making up a secret society known as the Night World. The society enforces two fundamental laws to prevent discovery: never allow humans to gain knowledge of the Night World's existence, and never fall in love with a human.
Fantaghirò is a 1999 Spanish-Italian fantasy animated television series loosely based on the Italian live-action film series Fantaghirò. It was created by BRB Internacional with animation by Colorland Animation Production, written by Francesca Melandri, Giovanni Romoli and Lamberto Bava, produced by Mediaset, Telecinco and Grupo Planeta, with music by Mark Bradley and Terry Wilson. A 75-minute animated film Fantaghirò: Quest for the Kuorum edited together using footage from the series was released in 2000.
A soucouyant, among other names, is a kind of shape-shifting, blood-sucking hag present in Caribbean folklore.
Conan, the sword-and-sorcery character created by Robert E. Howard, is the protagonist of seven major comic series published by Dark Horse Comics. The first series, titled simply Conan, ran for 50 issues from 2004 to 2008; the second, titled Conan the Cimmerian, began publication in 2008 and lasted 25 issues until 2010; the third series, titled Conan: Road of Kings, started publishing in December 2010 and ended in January 2012 after 12 issues; a fourth series, titled Conan the Barbarian, continuing from Road of Kings, lasted 25 issues from February 2012 to March 2014; a fifth series, titled Conan the Avenger, started publishing in April 2014 and ended in April 2016 after 25 issues; a sixth and final series, titled Conan the Slayer lasted 12 issues from July 2016 to August 2017.
In the historical folklore of Sicily, Doñas de fuera were supernatural female beings comparable to the fairies of English folklore. In the 16th to mid-17th centuries, the doñas de fuera also played a role in the witch trials in Sicily.
Hellboy: The Wild Hunt is the ninth collected edition in Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic book series, the second of three connected story arcs written by Mignola and illustrated by Duncan Fegredo. Its eight chapters, collected in March 2010, were originally released from December 2008 through November 2009 as issues 1-8 of the Hellboy: The Wild Hunt limited series, also numbered as issues 37 through 44 of the continuing Hellboy series. The storyline delves into Irish and Arthurian legend, reprising several characters first introduced in Hellboy short story "The Corpse". As with Hellboy stories generally, it was published by Dark Horse Comics.
The Princess and the Queen, or, the Blacks and the Greens is an epic fantasy novella by American novelist George R. R. Martin, published in the 2013 Tor Books anthology Dangerous Women. The novella is presented in the form of writings by the fictional historian Archmaester Gyldayn, who is also the "author" of Martin's 2014 novella The Rogue Prince, a direct prequel to The Princess and the Queen. The plot of both The Princess and the Queen and The Rogue Prince is later expanded further in the 2018 novel Fire & Blood, which also spawned a television series in 2022.
The Rogue Prince, or, a King's Brother is a novelette by George R. R. Martin, published in the 2014 Bantam Spectra anthology Rogues. It is set on the continent of Westeros of Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, hundreds of years before the events of A Game of Thrones (1996) during the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen.
The Merciful Crow is a fantasy novel by Margaret Owen. It was released in 2019, and published by Henry Holt and Company. It was followed by The Faithless Hawk.