CRYSTAL QUEEN PROJECT IX - THE CRYSTAL QUEEN HERSELF

And now we come to the crowner of these character descriptions, i e the titular villainess; the CRYSTAL QUEEN herself.

The Meth Lab

The Crystal Queen
Frau Regina Schierling is the leading drug baroness in the province and one of its most relevant socialites, leading a double life.

HOTTIES OF WESTEROS

Oh, and Margaery's name being misspelled is merely a typo, due to her name being only known in Cyrillic to the author. I do not own these blazing, searing hot pics; credit goes to the Russian artist who drew them.

#KissedByFire

#QueenOfTits&Wine

#LadyInRed

#Oathkeeper

#FromDorneWithLuv

#RoseOfTheReach

#AdroiteOneesama

#GaucheImouto

THE TROLL PRINCESS IN HOLGER DRACHMANN'S 1880 POEM

THE TROLL PRINCESS IN HOLGER DRACHMANN'S 1880 POEM East of the Sun and West of the Moon is characterized (to contrast with her rival, the true heroine, a peasant maiden) not only as a virago and as a "woman of science" (compare female poisoners like the Wicked Queen in Snow White or Heloïse de Villefort), but also as a learned female, to demonize her, precognizing that the author supports survival values.

The hero is characterized as a typical nobleman/lady's man, like the roles played by Pierce Brosnan on screen:

Ung, skøn og ædelbaaren, kongelig. 
Der staar at læse paa den stolte Pande 
Et Herredømme over Folk og Lande; 
Paa Buen, som de faste Læber danne, 
Der staar at læse Mildhed, som er klog; 
I hvert et Træk der staar et aabent Sprog, 
I Hagens Kløft og over Øjets Laag. 
Paa denne Søvn har Sjælen sat et Stempel, 
De Herrer Prinser til et smukt Eksempel. 

Young, beautiful, high-browed, clever, mild... and thus, slightly feminine. Not an action hero, but a love interest and a companion for the heroine.

The false heroine is characterized in a manner similar to the Clever Princess in The Snow Queen, but more negatively than her Andersen predecessor:

Prinsessen, som er saa uhyre klog, 

Som kan alle mulige døde 

Og næsten tre levende Sprog. 

Der er ej i Slottet den mindste Krog, 

Uden der findes en opslaaet Bog, 

Og alle kan hun dem læse . . ." 

The princess, who is so uncommonly clever,
who knows all kinds of languages,
both living and dead.
There isn't, at the palace, the tiniest nook
where there is a lack of but one open book,
and she can read them all.

Compare Andersen:
“I dette kongerige, hvor vi nu sidde, bor en prinsesse, der er saa uhyre klog, men hun har ogsaa læst alle aviser, der ere til i verden, og glemt dem igjen, saa klog er hun."
"In the kingdom wherein we are now sitting, there dwells a princess, a most uncommonly clever princess. All the newspapers in the world has she read, and forgotten them again, so clever is she."
"In this kingdom where we now are, here lives a princess, who is so wonderfully clever that she has read all the newspapers in the world, and forgotten them too, although she is so clever."
What a coincidence!

So this character's royalty, and she loves to read. Thus, the non-learned heroine calls her:

Saa er hun Prinsessen med Strømper blaa 
Og med Glar for sin lange Næse! 

Blue stockings and spectacles. That says a lot. Many learned characters in fiction wear spectacles, which makes their eyes look larger, but also gives them a socially awkward appearance.
As for the blue stockings, the usual garb of the literary lady in fiction, they appeared first in eighteenth-century Britain, at the dawn of modern feminism:
The Blue Stockings Society was a literary society led by Elizabeth Montagu and others in the 1750s in England. This society was originally founded by women, and included many prominent members of English society, both male and female, including Harriet Bowdler, Edmund Burke, Sarah Fielding, Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Montagu, and Frances Pulteney. 
Blue is the colour of detachment and distance (as opposed to warmer colours like passion red, sunshine yellow, mint green...). The Erudite faction in Divergent, the Ravenclaws at Hogwarts in Rowling's Potterverse, and the neutral Arryns of Westeros all wear blue.

What does she do to her fiancé?

Saa huser hun hos sig i Slottet en Prins; 

Hun vogter ved Dag og ved Nat ham, 

Og Blades og Bøgers skimlede Retter 

Paa Bordet saa haver hun sat ham ; 

Saa tror han, at Verden er lakket mod Slut, 

At alle sig haver imod ham forbrudt; 

Saa synker mod Bordet hans Hage; — 

Men hun, som har spundet i Nettet ham ind 

Og dryppet ham Gift i hans syge Sind, 

Hun vil om trende Dage 

Til Mand den Drømmende tage! 

She watches him day and night,
and set books and newspapers before his table
and bedside, by candlelight.
So he thinks the world has now come to an end,
and everyone against him now doth contend,
thus, he's fallen into despair.
She's crafted the net where he's tangled and kept,
and into his weak mind her poison she's wept.
Within three days, the royal house
will have the Dreamer for a spouse!
The female sexual predator, temptress, enchantress, femme fatale, castrating wife... Known in the olden days as Siduri in Gilgamesh, Circe in the Odyssey, and Delilah in the Good Book... this is one of the oldest and most persistent archetypes in history (from Siduri, Circe, and Delilah all the way to Cersei Lannister, Persephone in The Matrix, and the Potterverse's Bellatrix Lestrange, to put three actual examples). 
This type of virago has had her historical counterparts, like Catherine II the Great (who rose from Prussian gentry to Czarina of all Russias through arranged marriage and disposal of her weak husband). The femme fatale is often represented as a "snake-woman" or "spider-woman" trapping and subsequently poisoning her generally male prey, or as the "mantis-woman" who takes the routine one step further with "trapping-poisoning-disposing of the victim". The portrayal of this troll princess recalls the three animalistic metaphors above.
What strikes the reader is that she employs literature rather than erotic appeal as her alluring "poison". Something completely unexpected: crossing the boundaries of the "learned lady" and "femme fatale" archetypes, that seem to be antitethical?

The heroine, on the other hand, confides in "love" over "blue stockings":

Naar Kærlighed kommer og banker paa, 
Da er der ej Sag for de Strømper blaa, 
Da gælder kun Hjertets forsonende Sprog; 

Hvem er da klog? 

When love knocks at the door,
blue stockings do avail no more.
Then, the speech of love only triumphs forever.
Thus... Who is clever?
So this is Emotion vs. Reason. Pink vs. Blue. The language of love versus all the language codes in the world.
And with a manichaean edge, besides...

And not only has she got books all over her family palace. She's a passionate collector as well:

Men hvad er der nu? Hun peger 
Paa en Bylt. En gylden Hakke ! 
(Her Prinsessen spidser Mund). 
Et arkæologisk Fund? — 
Hør, kom op, jeg vil dog snakke 

Lidt med Dig ! 

Hun kommer op. 
Og Prinsessens visne Krop 
Skælver; hendes Haand befamler 
Hakken. Hun er ivrig Samler, 
Kan ej dy sig : 
„Vil Du fly mig 

Den for — tag kun Munden fuld ! 
Jeg maa ha' den; den er ægte, 
Drevet Arbejd', lødigt Guld; 
Jeg vil ej Værdien nægte !" 

She's physically "dry" (slender, ectomorphic, like Don Quijote, a sign of lack of physical activity and sufficient nourishment). She lacks self-control. And she has got a passion for collection (she wants the heroine's golden pickaxe as an archaeological curio)!

Later on, upon letting the heroine spend a night with her betrothed, she says:

Tjent mig til den har jeg. Penge 
Vejer ikke op min Skat. 
Den betales med en Nat 
Hos din Prins. Ja stir kun paa mig, 
Men forstaa mig: 
Denne Pris, hvad eller ingen ; 
Ærlig Handel, det er Tingen!" 



„Nej, nu har jeg aldrig . . . ! Skammer 
Du Dig ikke? Hvilken Kækhed 
Uden Mage, hvilken Frækhed 
Uden Maal og uden Grænse . . . : 
Ej Blufærdigheden ænse . . . ! 
Saadan ganske mirnix, dirnix 
Sove i min Brudgoms Kammer!" — 



„Frækhed — Skam ! Du dømmer ej ! 

Ej for Sølv og ej for Guld 

Sælger jeg min dyre Skat. 

Den betales med en Nat 

Hos din Prins. Ja eller Nej?" 



Her Prinsessens Øjne misser 
Med en from og fornem Mine : 
„Godt ! Jeg véd, at Du og dine 
Skal ham ej i Garnet faa. 
Der skal Engle hos ham vaage, 
Skærme for hans Øjenlaage. 
Videnskaben fordrer Offer, 
Offer har jeg bragt den før: 
Giv mig Hakken ! Men i Morgen 
Jages Du med Skam paa Dør!" — 

"Science needs sacrifice (to progress)". An Enlightened commonplace, and one known to many people. 
And then, she lashes her wrath at the true heroine.

So, our troll princess is:
learned (a learned lady or "bluestocking"+"four-eyes")
a collector
a seductress
undisciplined (lacks self-control)

How is her fiancé faring?

Natten er kommen. I Drømme han sidder, 
Bøjet over Bordet, som for Bøgernes Vægt 
Stønner. Selv sukker han, Prinsen, som gransked 
Haabløs efter Haab hos den henfarne Slægt. 

Støvet ligger tykt over Bøgernes Blade, 
Haanden ligger træt paa de prentede Ark ; 
Pløjet har han Skrifternes Jord uden Hvile : 
Brak ligger Bordet som en usaaet Mark. 

Lyset har krummet sin Tande og synes 
Læse ham en Tekst; — han er døv, han er blind: 
Lærdom uden Hjerte er Jord uden Varme, 
Verden er en Ørk uden Solkuglens Skin ! 

Luk Dig fra Lyset, men sluk saa din Lampe ; 
Livstræt er Fyrsten kun Tiggernes Drot. 
Intet er Liv, hvad i Liv ikke fejled, 
Skøgen har sit Solskin, men Du kun dit Slot! 

Intet han øjner og intet han ænser; 
Haanden, som i Søvne, han udstrækker kun. 
Og af et Bæger han nipper, naar lønligt 
Mindet vækker Liv om den fastklemte Mund. 

Øjet er stort, men af Taarer det mindskes; 
Ak, er dette Gensyn i Liv eller Død? — 

Haanden hun griber; hun føler dens Tryk ej; 
Blikket er glansløst og Panden er bleg; 
Navne hun ham giver, de kæreste, bedste ; 
Munden er en eneste haardtdraget Streg. 

He's in some kind of trance. 
Erudition without a heart is the Earth without warmth,
the world is a wasteland without sunshine.
[···] 
Lock yourself from the light, but quench thus your lamp;
weary of life, the ruler is but a lord of beggars.
Nothing is life, except what in life was not lacked...
The temptress has got her sunshine, but you've only got your palace!
[···] 
And he sips from a chalice, as soon as his memories
awaken life around his tightly-shut mouth.
The false heroine is referred to as a "temptress", the Sun is counterposed to the reading candle (and love to reason), he is entranced by reason and needs to find his emotions, like the Tin Man or like Kay.
The effects of the drug are also touched upon:
And he sips from a chalice, as soon as his memories
awaken life around his tightly-shut mouth.
[···]
Wide are his eyes, yet of tears they are orphaned...
Ah, is this person alive? Is he dead?
[···]
His hand does neither display pulse nor pressure,
his eyes are dull and his forehead is pale...
[···]
his lips are but one straight line, hard and stale.
Perhaps he's under the influence of chloroform, but it's revealed to be a far worse drug... but worst: he's developed an addiction to the drug, due to the ennui that he's feeling:

„Ræk mig, Prinsesse, det iskolde Bæger, 

Bland mig stærke Draaber-, gør Drikken kun streng. 

Vin for hver Taabe ! Malurt mig kvæger. 

Tag mig saa! jeg passer vel snart for din Seng." — 

 

Hand me, Your Highness, just that ice-cold chalice!
Make a mixed potion, and let it be strong.
Wine for each defeat... absinthe for malice.
Take me like that! For you, I won't be wrong!
Drugs were continuously researched and consumed during the Victorian era. And absinthe (wormwood, the green fairy) was one of the most popular among Victorian artists. This herbal liquor contains a powerful chemical called thujone:

Researchers at the University of Heidelberg tested attention performance with low and high doses of thujone in alcohol. The researchers administered 0.28 mg/kg in alcohol, 0.028 mg/kg in alcohol and just alcohol to their subjects. The high dose had a short term negative effect on attention performance. The lower dose showed no noticeable effect. Thujone is reported to be toxic to brain, kidney and liver cells and could cause convulsions if used in too high a dose.

Before the final confrontation, the hero muses on his fiancée:

„Prinsessen" — mumler han — „Prinsessen er 
Ej smuk, ej ung, hun daarer ikke Øjet; 
Men hun er klog paa Livets store Skrift, 
Hun leder Manden hen imod Bedrift," 
— Her falder slap hans Haand hen over Bordet - 
„Hun lægger paa hans Tunge Klarhedsordet," 
- — Her mumler han en Hoben vildsomt Tøj — . 
„Den anden var saa smuk; men Skønhed løj, 
Da Styrken tro 'de den. Ve mig, jeg brænder!" 

Unlike Andersen's Clever Princess, this one is neither young nor beautiful, which leads us to identifying her with an "old maid", a lady of certain age who remains unmarried. The expression "old maid" itself carries negative innuendo within its contradiction (a maiden shouldn't be old). Old maids are described as either learned/cultured, masculine, or physically unattractive. Historical figures of female gender who chose to remain celibate, like Elizabeth Tudor or Christina of Sweden, have received as much criticism as they have received praise through the ages. The youth thinks:

She's not that fair, that young, even that charming,

but she is versed in the great writings of life,

that lead to progress in spite of all strife.

He compares this personification of Reason with the beautiful peasant lass who would be Emotion or the Eternal Feminine in Sturm und Drang (Gerda, Gretchen in Faust). The maiden left him in his darkest hour, and now he misses her and regrets rejecting her.

So she awakens his memories. "You're as beautiful as an autumn woodland, as a stream in springtime". But then, the royals step into the picture:

Morgenen kommer. Prinsessen hun banker 

Paa Døren. Ja lad hende banke ! 

Døren er stængt med forsvarlig Slaa ; 

Hun faar vel igen til sin Moder gaa, — 

Nu vil der en Prædiken vanke! 

Og Prinsen han ler. „Min Hustru staa op! 

Solen er højt over Bakkernes Top, 

Prinsessen er alt oven Senge. 

Nu ville vi klæde os sirligt paa; — 

Lad hende kun vente saa længe! ..." 

The princess appears as a stubborn child, spoiled by her widowed royal mother. She reacts to disappointment with rage, even with fury (remember her lack of self-control when she was bribed?).

So, our troll princess is:
learned (a learned lady or "bluestocking"+"four-eyes")
a collector
a seductress
undisciplined (lacks self-control)
stubborn
willful (spoiled)
raised without a father/authority figure
What's worse, her fits of rage are uncontrollable:

Jo ser Du, Prinsessen har slaaet 

Med Bøgerne rent ham ihjel. 

She killed him with the books, metaphorically, but that could also have been a real scenario.

The Queen is an older dead ringer for her daughter, also learned and bespectacled, and a "best friend mother" who would never say no to her only daughter (I know this kind of family well, because it's half of mine):

Og Prinsen lukked op, og ind i Stuen 
Tren Moder med sin Datter, begge blege 
Af Angst og Raseri. Den Gamle var 
En værdig Moder til en værdig Datter: 
Støv, Snustobak og Øjeglas og Næse 
Og Vissenhed i højeste Potens. 
Hun gav sig til at hoste og at hvæse 
Og raabte „Tøjte !" højt paa Græsk, imens 
Prinsessen tog sig Teksten for at læse 
Sin Ægtemand in spe. Det kan nok hænd's 
Der vanked. 

Both of them are "pale with angst and rage", and four-eyed, and "erudition of the highest degree" personified.

The test the true bride and the false must pass consists in washing the young hero's wedding shirt. What happens next reminds the Shakespearean reader of Lady M****th:

Prinsessen skæved til sin Moder hen. 

Den Gamle svared : „Ej, hvad vil det sige! 

Løb ud, min søde Pige, 

Og kom tilbage her paa Stand 

Med Sæbe, Kumme og med Vaske vand!" 

Prinsessen løb og kom og sæbed ind 
Det fine Linned, skylled det og holdt 
Det tæt for Næsen op, og sagde : „Se, 
Her har min kære Hr. Gemal sin Skjorte 
Saa ren som Sne !" — 

„Nej," sagde Prinsen. „Tre 

Var Pletterne tilforn; nu er der seks, 

Og de er meget, meget sorte!" — 

„Hvad?" snærrede den gamle Heks, 
„Kan ej min Datter, saa kan jeg dog se . . . !" 
„Ja, se kun!" sagde Prinsen. Og hun saa' 
Paa Tøjet. Der var Pletter nok derpaa. 

The stains won't wash off, as stains of conscience, like the blood on Lady M****th's hands and gloves:

The pagan creatures--the trolls--only make the shirt dirtier and blacker as they attempt to clean it. Their failed attempts to remove the spot is reminiscent of Lady Macbeth's inability to remove the vision of blood from her hands in Shakespeare's Macbeth. 

Nota bene: Lady M is another virago. And one of the darkest examples in literature. She drugs the royal guards, coaxes her husband into committing regicide, and then she rules as de facto Queen of Scots. Needless to say the M****th couple is childless.

The troll queen chides her daughter, by speaking of theory and practice: the "mere prattle without practice" tenet of anti-intellectualism comes into play, but the troll queen is the one speaking. The teapot is calling the kettle black (and the stains spread out):

Hun svared sledsk : „Min kære, rare Prins, 
De véd, at Lærdom følges sjældent ad 
Med ydre Praksis. Vær nu mild til Sinds, 

Og lad en Moder hjælpe paa sin Datter. 

Det er dog ikke Vaskerkonen, som 

— Det véd jeg i Prinsessen mest De skatter ! 

Og Prinsen smiled : „Prøv det da, min Kære! 
De vil jo dog min Svigermoder være ; 
Gør kun for Deres Datter her Besked !" — 

Den Gamle tog og sæbed ind og gned 

Det fine Linned, skylled, sæbed, sled 

Og vasked, pjasked, gned og skylled atter, 

Og saa' imellem til sin blege Datter, 

Og turde ikke tage Tøjet op 

Af Vandet, thi jo mer hun sled og hev 

I Skjorten, desto sortere den blev. 

They fail, and the hero recognizes the true heroine as his saviour. Happy ending ensues, and as the young lovers share a kiss of victory:

Da var Prinsessen med Fru Moder borte. 

They simply fade into thin air, upon having played all their cards and subsequently lost the game.

LADY INGRID - ANOTHER FALSE HEROINE

This canon follows the convention of making the false heroine red-haired. In that attire, she looks like Maleficent (whose film, by the way, will premiere within a fortnight in Spain)... Notice the horn-like headgear (perhaps "los cuernos", horns of cuckoldry)?

And here's Ingrid in her somewhat revealing wedding gown!

The bridegroom she will drug to keep as hers (dashing Valemon looks like a Lannister, but much more pure-hearted), and the true heroine (both fair-haired), the peasant maiden Talia, Ingrid will lose to. By contrast, our false heroine looks far more elegant in purple and black, colours of Disney villains since the dawn of the canon (id est, the Wicked Queen in Snow White).

In Edith Pattou's novel, the drug used on the dashing and golden-haired Charles by his troll fiancée is a powder called rauha. Which happens, coincidentally, to be the Finnish word for peace (cognate with German "Ruhe". Many troll words in the novel are actually Finnish)! It's used, in the first place, as a painkiller, with the side effects of erasing the drinker's memories and creating a strong addiction, and withdrawal from rauha is lethal to addicts (could rauha actually be opium/laudanum? Or some mushroom substance, perhaps? I think it's most likely to be deadly nightshade, or some other alkaloid!)...


Charles
Nyamh
Ice Queen

    It was a man.

      His hair was golden, glowing bright as a bonfire in the light of the candle. And his features were fair. The stranger was wearing the white nightshirt. It fit him well, not too wide nor too narrow across the shoulders; the sleeves falling to his wrists, neither too long nor too short.  

He lay on his side. His hand curled gently on the white sheet in front of him. There was a silver ring on his smallest finger. I could see sparse golden hairs on the back of his hand, and the curved fingers seemed vulnerable.

I made sure that Urda and Tuki wrapped him well in furs and gave him frequent draughts of slank. The cold will be an adjustment for him, but soon enough he will grow used to it.

His lovely face is pale and pinched with unhappiness, but it does not disturb me, for in time that will fade. There is rauha in the slank and this will help ease his pain, and blur his memories as well.

And my queen is most generous when the nightmares come. If I cry out, which I often do, she will come to me at once and bring me a cup of warm slank. She sits with me until my shaking abates.

 I do not think there is anything now that would stir Myk's memory—the rauha slank is too powerful for that to happen—but such a slip-up may trigger a nightmare. (I still do not know why the slank does not eliminate those occasional nightmares. It is irksome.)

      I saw Tuki for just a moment that afternoon, and he whispered to me, when no one was near, that he had given Myk the unpowdered slank again the night before. It had been seven days since the white bear's last dose of slank laced with rauha. Tuki saw a difference in him.

Tuki learned that Myk had a large cup of slank each night before bedtime. For a week Tuki had managed to substitute plain slank for the kind with the powder. I have some idea he switched his own slank, unpowdered, for Myk's, which he poured away. 

   I have been feeling somewhat odd of late. Not ill or unhappy. Just a little different, like my sight is clearer, or my thoughts. Or perhaps it is that I feel more awake; I certainly rise in the morning feeling more alert. I can't quite figure it out, but I am glad of it.

       I have even had brief memories of the time before I came to the ice palace. Even before I became a white bear. They are fleeting but pleasant.

      Just today I recalled being a child and playing on a field of the greenest grass, with many bright yellow flowers poking through the green. There were other children and we were all laughing together at something. It was very enjoyable, the memory.

      I have not told my queen because she does not care for mention of the past. And I do not wish to upset her, especially when she is so busy preparing for our future happiness.

Myk seems sleepy eyed, somewhat subdued. I suppose it is the effect of the double portion of powdered slank I gave him last night. But when he looks at me, he smiles...

  Last night Myk had one of his nightmares, the first in some time. I attribute it to wedding-night jitters and am not unduly concerned. He was very agitated, though, and I had to give him double the portion of the powdered slank. It was very peaceful, holding him in my arms as he settled down to sleep, his golden head resting on my shoulder.

    MY QUEEN IS RADIANT. I can hardly believe it is me she wishes to wed. Tomorrow. How can I be worthy of such an honor?

      Tuki is acting odd. All the time he gazes at the entrance, as though expecting someone to enter. He has hardly touched the delicious food.

      I wish I did not feel so drowsy and dull witted.

...but most died because of the slank—or, I should say, of withdrawal from the slank doctored with rauha. Those who had been at the palace for years and had been fed a daily diet of it were not able to adjust to life without slank. The withdrawal was a terrible thing, causing a violent trembling of the entire body, vomiting, and eventually an abrupt halt of breathing.

  "Charles," he replied.

      "My name," he said with a smile that lit his face. Setting down his flauto, he leaned over and picked up the book beside him on the couch. Opening it to one of the blank pages at the beginning, he pointed to some words written in a flowing, cursive hand:

       Charles Pierre Philippe, Dauphin

      "I wrote this," he said. "My name. I am Charles Pierre Philippe." He set down the book.

      And then he took both my hands tightly in his.

CHARLES PIERRE PHILIPPE was the fifth child of Charles VI, king of Fransk. My friend Havamal, the custodian of Master Eckstrom's library of books, helped me track down information about Charles's origins. It turned out that Valois, the word inscribed on the ring he gave Rose when they married, was the title of the line of royalty from which he was descended. Charles's younger brother was the dauphin whom the maid Jeanne d'Arc helped to put on the throne. But that is another tale.

      All it says in the written history was that Charles, beloved son of Charles VI and Isabeau, was born around the time of a peace parley of Amiens and died at age nine. From what we have learned of his parents—his father was hopelessly mad and his mother greedy and traitorous—it is possible he was better off as a white bear. I do not know whether he would agree with that or not.

       Charles dedicated himself to music and, in fact, invented a new design for flautos in which the mouthpiece cap contained a sponge to absorb the moisture from the player's breath. It was quite a success, and Charles became both a sought-after musician and an inventor. However, he never cared much for traveling, preferring to stay at home with his wife and children. They had four—one for each of the cardinal points of the compass.

In the Laboulaye story Perlino (rather influenced by Andersen's Snow Queen!), the leading character, blond and dashing like Charles, is tricked by the Countess of Clanking Shields to drink a golden powder that freezes his heart to ice, making him care for nothing but the poisonous powder, and causes addiction.