Background[]
The Lady of the East is a character better known as "Beauty" from the well-known French fairy tale "The Beauty and the Beast"[1], and refers to a girl who meets and falls in love with a prince who is cursed to live out his days as a beast by an Enchantress. By falling in love with him despite his looks, she breaks the curse on him, turning him back into a human.
The Land of Stories series takes place long after the events of this fairy tale - the current Queen Beauty is the Lady of the East's granddaughter. The Lady of the East is also referred to as "Old Queen Beauty". She has died, but haunts the Sleeping Kingdom as a ghost.
Appearance[]
"She was beautiful and transparent. She had long, flowing hair with a single rose behind her ear. She wore a long nightgown under a robe that was tied at the waist. Although Conner was certain he had never seen her before, she looked oddly familiar."[2]
Beuty I I is described as quite a beautiful ghostly figure, she has hip-length loose hair and wears a white nightgown that billows in the air, has a red rose in her ear and is semi-transparent.
She resembles her granddaughter, Sleeping Beauty.
Personality[]
Beauty was a kind woman who was prepared to sacrifice herself for the ones she loved. She could love someone for who they were despite their appearance.
Relationships[]
She was Sleeping Beauty's grandmother, and was married to the king who was cursed to live as a beast.
Biography[]
Before she came to live in the castle of the Sleeping Kingdom (then: the Eastern Kingdom), she and her sisters would spin thread in a village nearby. She was very young and was meant to settle her father's debt by marrying a king cursed to live as a hideous beast. But when she fell in love with the beast, the curse was lifted.
The Enchantress Ezmia was also in love with the King, but he only ever loved her as a friend. She was the one who cursed him into looking like a beast. Ezmia couldn't stand that the king chose a spinner over her, and cursed her family ever since, always using the spinning wheel: She bewitched Old Queen Beauty's son into desiring a wife who could spin hay into gold (see Rumpelstiltskin); and cursed her granddaughter to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and fall into a hundred years' sleep (see Sleeping Beauty).[3]
As a ghost, the Lady of the East can only speak in Queen Sleeping Beauty's Castle. After her death, she remained in the Land of Stories as a ghost because the soul of her husband was still trapped by Ezmia and she refused to move on without him.[4] She helps Alex and Conner figure out what Ezmia's most prized possession is. When Ezmia is defeated, the two souls reunite and move on.
References[]
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast
- ↑ The Enchantress Returns, ch 15 p. 265
- ↑ The Enchantress Returns, ch 24, p. 432-435
- ↑ The Enchantress Returns, ch 224, p. 435