List of Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders characters

"Gwenevere" redirects here. For the character from Arthurian legend, see Guinevere.
The series main characters (except Morgana).
Above: Fallon, Gwenevere (Starla) and Tamara (in their "level two" armor from the second season) and their rides (Moondance, Sunstar and Shadowsong).
Below: the antagonist Lady Kale and her magic animals (Grimm and the dweasels)

The following is the list of principal fictional characters from the children's animated series Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders (also known as Starla & the Jewel Riders outside of North America). The series follows the quest of a young princess of Avalon, Gwenevere (Starla), and her friends, Fallon and Tamara, to find and secure the scattered enchanted jewels and thus stop the evil Lady Kale from taking over the kingdom, restore harmony in magic, and bring the banished wizard Merlin home. In the second season, the Jewel Riders receive more powers and new costumes to battle Kale and the mighty Morgana for more magical jewels that too need to be kept out the grasp of dark forces.

The titular trio of teenage Jewels Riders consist of Gwenevere / Starla (voiced by Kerry Butler in the first season and Jean Louisa Kelly in the second season), whose Special Friend is the winged unicorn Sunstar (Deborah Allison), and her friends: Fallon (Allison), riding Moondance the unicorn (Barbara Jean Kearney), and Tamara (Laura Dean), who in the second season gets the "zebracorn" Shadowsong (Henry Mandell). Each of their Jewels has different magical abilities and their own colors and corresponding gemstones of various powers, also allowing them to communicate with their animals.

Gwen and her friends are aided by the Merlin's talking owl named Archie (John Beach Voiceguy). In their missions, the Jewel Riders are also sometimes aided by the Pack, led by Gwen's aspiring boyfriend Drake (Voiceguy). In the second season, a relatively major character comes into the story: Ian (Bob Kaliban), the man-wolf prince of the Forest of Arden who falls in love with Gwen.

The series' main antagonist is initially Lady Kale (Corinne Orr, who also voices Kale's good sister Queen Anya), Gwen's villainous aunt. She is aided by her dragon Grimm (Peter Fernandez) and a duo of dweezels (dweasels), the small minion creatures named Rufus and Twig (Voiceguy and Mandell, respectively). The prime enemy in the second season is Morgana (Allison), with Kale reduced to her insubordinate sidekick.

Main characters

Protagonists

Princess Gwenevere (Starla)

Voiced by Kerry Butler (English, season one); Jean Louisa Kelly (English, season two); Barbara Tissier (French); Anna Maria Tulli (Italian); Fernanda Figueiredo (Portuguese); Pernilla Wahlgren (Swedish)

Gwenevere (named Starla in the European versions) is the titular main character of the series. When the story begins, Gwenevere (Gwen) is a 16-year-old[1] Princess of magical kingdom of Avalon. A daughter of Queen Anya and King Jared, Gwen lives in the Crystal Palace inside the castle of New Camelot. On coming of age, she must prove herself worthy for the role of Queen of Avalon. After the first episode, Gwen becomes the leader of the Jewel Riders at the Friendship Ring Ceremony where she is given sacred Sun Stone, which is the jewel of light, a powerful gem that creates colourful rainbow effects from the bright sun light. Gwen is romantically attracted to Drake, the leader of the Knights of Avalon (the Pack) but finds his brashness annoying. Later, she falls in love with a wolfman prince called Ian. Gwen is good-natured, and she has some of the traits of her famous namesake such as courage, a strong will and impulsiveness. However, she also has a fiery temper and can sometimes be snobby, spoiled, prissy and pretentious. She is also obsessed with fashion and beauty and loves to dress up in fancy dresses and attend royal parties. In "Dreamfields", Gwen and her wicked aunt Lady Kale share each other's dreams and they compete for a Jewel and Gwen must rely on her friends to help her fight off the corrupting nightmares of the Dark Stone (she also briefly becomes "evil" again when Gwen falls under Kale's hypnotic spell in "Fashion Fever"). In the second season, a fortune teller with a Wizard Jewel tells Gwen her destiny is to be a future ruler of Avalon. Motivated by this vision, Gwen gains the confidence of the Jewel Riders and then leads them to victory over the forces of darkness. In the end, Gwen manages to overcome Kale once and for all and then turns the Dark Stone to good and joins it with her Sun Stone, which allows the Jewel Riders to successfully challenge the power of Morgana.

Fallon

Voiced by Deborah Allison (English); Laurence Crouzet (French); Cristina Paiva (Portuguese)

Fallon ("leader" in Irish) is a tough and resolute warrior who will take on her enemies in battle but has a soft and tender heart, who will fight to protect her friends. She is an agile gypsy girl and the athletic tomboy of the group. Rather than participating in Gwen and Tamara's more girly activities, Fallon prefers to race her unicorn friend, Moondance, with the Pack. Fallon owns the Moon Stone, a blue, moon-shaped jewel that is enhanced at night and has a power to create illusions and reveal hidden objects. Fallon, capable of performing daring acrobatic stunts and physical feats, is the toughest and the most graceful of the Jewel Riders, balancing the feminine Tamara and aesthetically minded Gwen. She is at odds with her parents, Alfred and Minerva (voiced by Deborah Allison in English), as they did not attend the "Friendship Ring" ceremony when she received her Moon Stone: Fallon's parents disapproved of her being a Jewel Rider because they wanted her to become a "Craft Master" as they did, but eventually they resolve their differences.

Tamara

Voiced by Laura Dean (English); Valérie Siclay (French); Cristina Cavalinhos (Portuguese)

The pink-haired Tamara is a bit older and more experienced than Gwen. Her gem is the Heart Stone, a pink, heart-shaped Wild Stone (which means it is unpredictable) that has the power of healing, can transform into or enhance any musical instrument, and allows Tamara to talk to animals (the other Jewel Riders can talk with their own unicorn and Archie the owl). Tamara is a gifted musician and artist, and also works as a caretaker who trains baby magical animals. Her songs include "Feel the Magic" (from "Song of the Rainbow"); "Heartland Farm" ("Home Sweet Heart Stone"); and "Nothing Like a Friend" ("Shadowsong"). Though she does not receive her special pink "zebracorn" animal friend (a hybrid of zebra and unicorn), Shadowsong, until the second season (prior to that, Tamara sits on the back of Moondance with Fallon). She is surrounded with baby animals because her parents, Doc and Charity, run "Heartland Farm"; a nursery for magical animals. Spiritual yet practical, Tamara is very motherly and always supports whoever she is with, acting as the voice of reason and settling the arguments.

Antagonists

Lady Kale

Voiced by Corinne Orr (English); Évelyne Grandjean (French); Cinzia Massironi (Italian); Annica Smedius (Swedish)

Lady Kale (named Kaile in Spanish version),[2] and Caluixa in Catalonian version[3] also known as Princess Kale or just Kale, is a "ravishing" and "infinitely charming"[4] but cruel, vengenful, and power-hungry evil twin of Queen Anya (and Princess Gwenevere's aunt). She refers to herself as Princess Kale of Avalon (and in two episodes she declares herself Queen Kale) and believes to be the rightful heir. Her former mentor Merlin did not choose her to receive the Sun Stone even though she had studied very hard and showed the ability to control its magic: it was Anya who received the stone and became the Queen instead, which made the jealous Kale very angry and bitter. While it is not mentioned in the series itself, in Kale's back story Merlin had her banished from the Crystal Palace for plotting to take the throne from her sister.[5] Since then, Kale has dedicated her life to seeking revenge upon Merlin and becoming an undisputed queen of Avalon. Her dream is to rule forever over "an empire that will last an eternity."[6] Kale uses the Dark Stone (which was created by Morgana to destroy Merlin), which contains evil powers is so powerful that she sometimes has trouble controlling it. She lives in her dark castle in the Thornwoods and has a large dragon named Grimm and two minions who are "dweezle" creatures. In "Dreamfields", when Kale and Gwen share the same dreams, she defends the kingdom from Gwen and the Dark Stone and starts to doubt her ways, leaving a jewel even when she had the chance to take it. In "Full Circle", Kale is outwitted by Merlin as she tries to use his Enchanted Jewel to tune with the Crown Jewels, and is destroyed when they, having been tuned to the Jewel Riders, cause her to shrink and then dematerialize. Is season two's first episode "Morgana",[7] the evil princess is accidentally brought back to existence by the exiled ancient wizard Morgana. As Kale now controls the Dark Stone and Morgana cannot return to Avalon, the two make a reluctant alliance and she then acts as Morgana's hands and eyes in material world. In the penultimate episode "Spirit of Avalon", Kale is defeated and turned into a stone statue by Gwen. Incientally, 'Kale' means "calm, pure" in Gaelic.

Morgana

Voiced by Deborah Allison (English); Françoise Cadol (French); Aleksandra Cucic (Serbo-Croat)

Morgana, loosely based on the Arthurian character Morgan le Fay, is a vicious witch who is the principle villainess of season two. Morgana is the creator of the Dark Stone, the only magic stone in Avalon that was not tuned by Merlin, but she can no longer use it as it re-tuned itself to Lady Kale. Like Merlin (and the other wizards), she seems to be immortal, but looks much younger than them. As it is with other wizards, Morgana does not need jewels to make her magic. Morgana's appearance resembles a fantasy dark elf, as she has pointy ears, dark skin and white hair; she is also able to levitate and fly while seated on her throne. One thousand years before the show begins, Morgana, "the great witch out of legend" was the leader of the "Great Wizards"; when she and the wizards attempted to overthrow Merlin and take control of Avalon, they were defeated by Merlin and banished into Wild Magic. Since then, Morgana was set adrift inside her own palace as part of the magic itself.[7] Morgana can only make illusions of herself in Avalon and she appears in insubstantial projections. In the second season, Morgana tasks Kale with gathering the jewels of the ancient wizards that will increase her power. The two villainesses do have a clash of egos, but Morgana comes out on top. Later, she returns to Avalon with all the Wizard Jewels and accidentally conjures the ghosts of evil wizards, but they submit to the will of "Queen Morgana", before Merlin and his friends conclusively vanquish both Morgana and them.[8]

Other recurring characters

Humans

Merlin

Voiced by Bob Kaliban (English); Roger Carel (French); Maurizio Scattorin (Italian)

Merlin, loosely based on the Arthurian character of the same name, is a wise, powerful, and good wizard who trains the Jewel Riders. It was Merlin who has discovered Avalon and bound the Crown Jewels together. Centuries in the past, Merlin had also defeated the evil wizards and banished their leader, sorceress Morgana, into the Wild Magic. When Kale uses her Dark Stone to send Merlin into the Wild Magic, he scatters the Seven Crown Jewels. The Jewel Riders then try to find and rescue him through the series. The jewel on the top of his staff is the key to the Jewel Box that holds Crown Jewels. In the final episode of the first season, Merlin's staff is broken when Kale is destroyed and he is unable to return to Avalon until Gwenevere gives him the One Jewel Staff at the end of the second season.

Drake

Voiced by John Beach Voiceguy (English); Thierry Ragueneau (French)

Drake is the dashing leader of the Pack, a band of three wolf-riding knights and protectors of the Crystal Palace. His wolf is named Thunderbolt. Drake is rugged and with a good heart, but he can also be immature and arrogant. Drake is romantically attracted to Gwen but she plays mind games and teases him. Gwen likes his charisma but does not admit to more than friendship, and saves him several occasions. He also has a friendly ongoing competition with Fallon in the field games put on by King Jared.

Queen Anya

Voiced by Corinne Orr (English); Laurence Crouzet (French)

Queen Anya (named Angelene in Spanish version)[9] is Princess Gwenevere's protective and caring mother, married to King Jared. She is the noble ruler of Avalon who has compassion for all people and animals. Merlin selected Anya to become Queen over her sister, Lady Kale, and her goal is to keep peace and harmony in Avalon. Anya has some facial similarity to Kale and wears similar earrings, but she has blonde hair and blue eyes and wears mostly blue costumes (while Kale has black hair and violet eyes and wears mostly red). Anya is the former owner of the Sun Stone and has a large purple and white striped tiger named Wintermane. She has a large collection of magical maps and studies ancient lore and legends in the Jewel Keep, that only she can enter. Anya means "graceful" in Hebrew.

Ian

Voiced by Bob Kaliban (English)

Ian is a handsome but mysterious young prince of the Forest of Arden. He is a humanoid wolf who uses the power of a Wizard Jewel to remain human. In his beast form he is very strong, able to lift and throw a horse wagon. Lady Kale and Morgana tempt Ian to give away the Wizard Jewel, but Ian sacrifices the Wizard Jewel to save Gwen. However, Gwen convinces him that no matter what shape he takes, she will always be his friend.[10] Ian returns to aid the Jewel Riders in the final episodes, when he rescues Gwen and helps her stop Kale,[8] and then helps to defeat Morgana, after being revived by Gwen's kiss.[8]

Others

Magic animals

Archie

Voiced by John Beach Voiceguy (English); Jean-Francois Kopf (French); Pietro Ubaldi (Italian)

Archimedes (Archie) is an owl. When Merlin is absent, Archie guides the Jewel Riders and helps them to learn the magic of their Enchanted Jewels. Archie wears clothes and spectacles and is the most humanoid of all the major animal characters. 'Archimedes' (derived from the Ancient Greek scientist Archimedes) is also the name of Merlin's owl in the novel The Once and Future King and in the animated Disney film The Sword in the Stone.

Dweezles

Voiced by John Beach Voiceguy (English); Daniele Demma (Italian) - Rufus
Voiced by Henry Mandell (English) - Twig

Rufus (meaning "Red" in Latin) and Twig are a pair of bumbling "dweezle" (or "Dweasel"[7]) creature servants of Lady Kale, who treats them roughly. They are mischievous yet cowardly (or "daring", in their own minds). The dweezles have an uncanny ability to smell wild magic, so Kale uses them to locate the Enchanted Jewels and to spy on the Jewel Riders. They address Kale "Witchy/Queenie One" (and "Witchy Thing" when she is not listening).[7] In the end, they are turned to stone along with Kale. In the final episode, their cousins Pepe and Gidney[8] make a brief appearance.

Grimm

Grimm (voiced by Peter Fernandez in English and renamed Szatan ["Satan"] in Polish version) is a mean, large red dragon entirely devoted to Lady Kale. Grimm transports her in a "dragon wagon" and is the only creature the otherwise heartless Kale is warm towards as she treats him as her "big baby".[7] The dragon is powerful, fast and capable of fire-breathing, but also heavy, clumsy and not very clever (able to speak only a few words). In "Home Sweet Heart Stone", when Kale and her animals form a gothic band to compete with the Jewel Riders' pop music band in a magical music duel, Grimm powers Kale's pipe organ and the dweasels play electric guitars. He too ends up turned to stone.

Sunstar

Voiced by Deborah Allison (English)

Sunstar is a golden-white winged unicorn that could not fly because she was afraid and so she was ostracised by the other unicorns. In the first two episodes, Lady Kale captures Sunstar and holds her hostage to exchange her for the key to Merlin's Jewel Box. Kale also uses her magic to turn Sunstar evil and into her own unicorn, but Merlin breaks the bond and Sunstar learns to fly as she and Gwen and escape. Sunstar then becomes Gwen's special friend at the Friendship Ring ceremony.

Moondance

Voiced by Barbara Jean Kearney (English)

Moondance is a gentle and patient dark-blue unicorn princess who is Fallon's special friend. Like Fallon, she is brave and athletic. Moondance is fast and always ready for exploring. Together, Moondance and Fallon can overcome any obstacle, and they are open and loyal to each other. When Sierra, the "Queen of the Unicorns" vanishes into Wild Magic (after thwarting Morgana's efforts to retrieve a Wizard Jewel), Moondance returns to her home to take a series of trials which prove her worthy of being the new Queen of the Unicorns. Fallon and Moondance rescue Queen Sierra and the Unicorn Jewel.

Shadowsong

Voiced by Henry Mandell (English)

Shadowsong is a purple-violet male zebracorn who is Tamara's special friend introduced in the season two.[11] In the episode "Shadowsong", Tamara hears a voice calling to her Heart Stone. She finds a unicorn, Shadowsong, who rescues her from a spider monster. When Tamara thinks Shadowsong has died, her Heart Stone breaks in half. Then, the stone forms two separate jewels and one of them becomes tuned to Shadowsong.

Other beings

Development history

Gwenevere was named Guinevere (but still shortened to 'Gwen') in an 1994 draft. She was also supposed to have a younger sister named Tara.[6] In another early concept, the Sun Stone would be using different colors of the rainbow to access different powers.[4] Fallon was named Alexandra (shortened to 'Alex') in an 1994 draft, and she would also carry a sword.[6] In an early concept, a fourth member of the Pack, Brand, was going to be a "stubborn traditionalist" who had objected to Alex riding with the boys of the Pack, but eventually she was accepted as the first girl allowed to do this. Alex was supposed to have a little dragon named Sky Dancer.[4] Tamara was named Melody in an 1994 draft.[6] Her parents would be named May and Orvan (changed to Doc and Charity in the final version).[4]

It has been speculated by some authors that 'Lady Kale' may be an anagram for Lady of the Lake,[12][13][14] but Lady of the Lake is a different character featured in the season two episode "Lady of the Lake". In one early draft of the show, the Dark Stone was supposed to be simply a generic name for a jewel untuned by Merlin instead of the specific jewel; it would be green colored and to be found in a magical pool, after which Kale would wear it on a necklace.[6] In an early concept, Kale’s original hair color was described as "fluorescent" and her color scheme was going to be "bruised purple" (these became black and shades of red in the show's final version); whenever Kale used the Dark Stone, the power would possess her and shine purple light through her eyes.[4] Her dragon helmet was also supposed to "glow red with power".[7] In an 1994 draft, Kale would not just throw Merlin into Wild Magic, she instead vaporizes him into "pixie dust" (the fate ultimately bestowed on her at the end of season one).[6] In early scripts, she was supposed to end up as a crystal statue in the final episodes.[8][15]

Queen Anya was named Queen Angelene in an 1994 draft, and Queen Adrianna in an early 1995 script;[16] Drake was named Shawn in an 1994 draft, where his wolf was named Thunder.[6] In an early concept, there was going to be much more of a love triangle between him (described as a son of the Earl of the Riverdells Township), Gwen, and Melody (Tamara).[4] Max was named Thomas in an 1994 draft.[6] In early scripts, Ian was named Ranger.[15] he was described as "'Fabio' meets Tarzan'" and was originally envisioned as a bearlike beast.[10]

Sunstar was golden-colored and named Amber in an 1994 draft.[6] Moondance was named Midnight in an 1994 draft,[6] and Moonglow in a later concept.[4] The dweezles were originally described as "weasel stooges" in an 1994 draft[6] and the Babies were named Cleo, Samantha and Rusty while Wintermane was to be a white tiger.[6] In a 1994 draft, aside from Grimm, Rufus and Twig, Kale would also have a giant blue bat named Nitemary, a green snake named Slither, and a purple singing goblin named Geezer.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Princess Gwenevere". Amazin.com. Archived from the original on 8 February 1997. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  2. ↑ Ediciones El País. "La princesa Starla". EL PAÍS. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "tv3.cat". Tv3.cat. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Enchanted Jewel Riders - Show Bible". Scribd.com. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "Lady Kale/nt". Amazin.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 1997. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders - Enchanted Camelot". Scribd.com. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Jewel Riders Episode 14 - Morgana Script". Scribd.com. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Episode 26 - The Last Dance". Scribd.com. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  9. ↑ "Orbyt - El Mundo". Elmundo.es. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Episode 19 - Prince of the Forest". Scribd.com. 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
  11. ↑ Vincent Terrace, Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 Through 1997, 2008 (p. 1222).
  12. ↑ Michael Norman Salda, Arthurian Animation: A Study of Cartoon Camelots on Film and Television.
  13. ↑ King Arthur on Film: New Essays on Arthurian Cinema by Kevin J. Harty.
  14. ↑ Adapting the Arthurian Legends for Children: Essays on Arthurian Juvenalia by Barbara Tepa Lupack.
  15. 1 2 "Episode 25 - Lady of the Lake". Scribd.com. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  16. ↑ "Episode 8 - Badlands". Scribd.com. Retrieved 17 January 2015.

External links

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