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The False Queen of the Mists began her reign in the Kingdom of the Mists after the death of King Gilad in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Her name and true parentage are unknown, but her blood is a mix of Siren, Sea Wight, and Banshee. She first appears in Rosemary and Rue.  The False Queen is the central antagonist of the series and October’s nemesis.

About[]

Appearance[]

She is achingly beautiful with ivory skin that is tinged with pink and floor-length silver hair that is briefly trimmed into a black bob, and even wears Kohl eyeliner - with Toby remarking that she looks like a bastard daughter of Titania and Alice Cooper.[4][5][6] After Toby shifts the balance of her blood, her complexion becomes even more corpse-pale and she is shorter, looking like she's on the verge of collapse.[6] She sometimes wears a silver circlet.

Personality[]

The Queen is arrogant and mad, and has an intense hatred for Toby despite the heroism Toby has done for the kingdom, including saving her from being a hostage by one of her own courtiers. She feels entitled to redress any guest to her knowe in a fashion more suiting her preferences, using borrowed magic from sea fae with the ability to change clothes, Tybalt complaining that she is the reason he has so many pairs of leather pants. Some of the borrowed magic she has includes King Gilad's teleportation magic, which she supplies to Dugan.[7][5][8][6]

Abilities[]

The Queen's mixed heritage gives her a variety of abilities, but also damages her sanity, although the Siren and Sea Wight blood gave her a semblance of balance. Her Siren heritage allows her to sing compulsions on any who hear her; her Banshee scream can kill or put fae in a coma; her Sea Wight abilities are not known. though Toby states that they can sling ships around in the ocean.

Property[]

She once held a knowe in North Beach / downtown but it became unanchored and collapsed in on itself. Toby found her a new knowe to hold her Court about six miles down the coast from Fisherman's Wharf on San Francisco Bay.[7][9]

Biography[]

The Queen of the Mists took advantage of the chaos caused by the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and King Gilad's connected death in order to steal the throne for herself. Claiming to be his daughter, she took the throne with the aid of Evening Winterrose[7] even though she has no Tuatha de Dannan blood.[10]

In the Series[]

Strangers in Court[]

The Queen's old Knowe collapses in on itself. She tasks October Daye with finding her a new one, and grudgingly names Toby a knight of the realm in reward for succeeding.

Rosemary and Rue[]

Toby visits the Queen to announce Evening's death, but the Queen refuses to accept it and sends Toby away.

Late Eclipses[]

The Queen grants Toby the rank of Countess of Goldengreen in acknowledgement of killing Blind Michael. Tybalt is present at the Queen's court for this event as he suspects the Queen's motives. The Queen, using her Countess status to ensure Sylvester can't protect her, charges Toby with the murder of Firstborn Blind Michael, of Lily and for poisoning Luna Torquill., convicting her on the word of Rayseline Torquill and refusing to hear the pleas of Toby's allies. She sentences Toby to die by iron at the crossroads but Toby escapes with the help of allies. Later when Toby returns to the Court the Queen tries to arrest her again, but Lily's killer has been proven to be Oleander de Merelands and Rayseline Torquill, while the High King issues a pardon for Toby killing Blind Michael. The Queen is displeased.

One Salt Sea[]

When the children of the Duchess of Saltmist are kidnapped, the Duchess accuses the Queen and threatens to go to war against the Kingdom in the Mists. After some arguing the Queen allows Toby to investigate the children's true kidnapper. The Queen's own footman Dugan was involved in the crime, and the Queen's willingness to punish him leads to Saltmist calling off the war.

Chimes at Midnight[]

Toby attempts to enlist the Queen's help to ban goblin fruit, but the Queen herself is supplying it and says she doesn't care if it kills changelings. When Toby argues, the Queen takes the excuse to exile Toby from the Kingdom in the Mists. As Toby searches for a way to overthrow the Queen to stay in the Mists, she discovers that the Queen is not the rightful ruler in the Mists; that title belongs to Arden Windermere, King Gilad's secret daughter who the false Queen scared into hiding by hitting her brother with elf-shot. As Toby gets closer to overthrowing the false Queen, she arranges to hit Toby with an overdose of goblin fruit to discredit and kill her.

Toby recovers and helps Arden send a declaration of intent to reclaim the throne. However, the false Queen uses her Siren powers to charm most of Toby's allies and orders them to kill Toby, who outmaneuvers them and rips out the false Queen's Siren heritage, setting them free. The false Queen is taken into custody but escapes with the assistance of her few loyalists within the guard.

A Red-Rose Chain[]

The false Queen seeks out the Kingdom of Silences for refuge and help in reclaiming her throne, despite Toby's forced blood change making her unstable. Silences declares war against Arden Windermere, and when Toby goes there as a peace ambassador she finds the false Queen at King Rhys's right hand. The false Queen manipulates Rhys's love for her to abuse hospitality against Toby and her companions. Ultimately, she is elf-shot at Marlis's insistence after Toby tries to prevent Tybalt from killing her and Rhys is deposed.

Night and Silence[]

Dugan awakens the false Queen from her elf-shot sentence in the Kingdom of Silences and smuggles her back into the Mists. The false Queen conspires against Toby by commanding Dugan and the changeling Jocelyn to kidnap Gillian and holding her captive in the old seaside knowe. She sets a captive Baobath Sith on Toby, tricking Toby into thinking the creature is Gillian.

When Toby arrives to rescue Gillian, the false Queen demands that Toby return her Siren blood, refusing to accept that it has been completely erased from her body. She hits Gillian with elf-shot, gloating at how it should be a tool that shouldn't be cured, then stabs Toby with a Folletti knife from her armory. Tybalt unleashes the Baobhan Sith she used as a sleeper weapon against the False Queen, draining her blood into unconsciousness despite her goading Kennis into breaking Oberon's Law by killing her, and she is taken into custody awaiting punishment. Considering that at the time she endangered the daughter of a hero in the realm - who is also as of now a direct "child" of one of the few living Firstborn, and had been the cause of Arden and Nolan's suffering, the punishment she faces is quite severe.

Relationships[]

Dugan Harrow[]

Dugan originally serves as a footman in the Queen's knowe. He is resentful that the Queen elevated the changeling Toby to a higher rank than him, even if it is only for show, and aspires to rise above his station. When Dugan is caught conspiring with Rayseline to overthrow the Queen, the Queen takes him prisoner.[11] His sentence is short however, only two weeks in the iron-lined dungeons to bend him to her will. After the Queen is elf-shot and held in the Kingdom of Silences, Dugan rescues her in order to conspire, once again, against Toby. Dugan follows the Queen's belief that Toby can return her Siren blood, refusing to accept the reality.[12]

Rhys, King of Silences[]

Rhys and the Queen are presumably lovers; certainly, he is more infatuated with her than the other way around. Originally a noble in the Mists, the Queen appointed Rhys as King of Silences after staging a coup there. Rhys laments that being monarchs of neighboring kingdoms prevents them from being fully a couple. After the false Queen is deposed, she flees to Silences for asylum and manipulates Rhys into declaring war on the Mists to return her to the throne. She also influences his actions when Toby and her allies come to Silences as a diplomatic party. Ultimately, both of them are elf-shot for their troubles. [13]

Trivia[]

  • In the ebook of An Artificial Night, the preview of Late Eclipses lists the Queen's magical scent as "frozen salt and damp sand." It is changed to "rowan and damp sand" in the final version of Late Eclipses.

References[]

See Also[]

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