Line #18 Literature/JirelOfJoiry


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jirel_of_joiry_0001.jpg]]
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3	--> Jirel of Joiry is riding down with a score of men at her back,\
4	For none is safe in the outer lands from Jirel's outlaw pack;\
5	The vaults of the wizard are over-full, and locked with golden key,\
6	And Jirel says, "If he hath so much, then he shall share with me!"\
7	And fires flame high on the altar fare in the lair of the wizard folk,\
8	And magic crackles and Jirel's name goes whispering through the smoke.\
9	But magic fails in the stronger spell that the Joiry outlaws own:\
10	The splintering crash of a broadsword blade that shivers against the bone,\
11	And blood that bursts through a warlock's teeth can strangle a half-voiced spell.\
12	Though it rises hot from the blistering coals on the red-hot floor of Hell!
13	-->-- '''Jirel's BraggingThemeTune from Quest of the Starstone.'''
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16	Jirel of Joiry is the heroine of a series of SwordAndSorcery short stories by Creator/CLMoore, running from 1934 to 1939 in ''Magazine/WeirdTales''. Notable for being the first female {{Fantasy}} hero. The stories are:
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18	* ''Black God's Kiss'' (October 1934)
19	* ''Black God's Shadow'' (December 1934)
20	* ''Jirel Meets Magic'' (July 1935)
21	* ''The Dark Land'' (January 1936)
22	* ''Hellsgarde'' (April 1939)
23	* ''Quest of the Starstone'' (November 1937) - A {{Crossover}} story with her other famous character Literature/NorthwestSmith, co-written with her husband Creator/HenryKuttner.
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25	Modern readers may have been introduced to Jirel through the popular FilkSong "Jirel Of Joiry" written by a young lyricist who later went on to become a noted FeministFantasy author herself, Creator/MercedesLackey.
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27	!!Tropes found in these stories:
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29	* ActionGirl: Jirel. Badass enough to give [[Series/XenaWarriorPrincess Xena]] a run for her money. The UrExample in fantasy literature.
30	** Jirel is stablished as a dreadful military leader of acknowledged fighting skills, but that kind of action keeps happening right before the stories start. Jirel barely fights and when she does, she usually loses as her enemies use to be much more powerful supernatural beings. You could make the case that she borders FauxActionGirl.
31	* AmazonianBeauty: Jirel herself is very much this. Northwest Smith even compares her directly to an amazon during their meeting.
32	* AndTheAdventureContinues: Every story ends with Jirel safely travelling back home, ready to continue her adventures another day. Perhaps deliberately, the series never provides an "ending" for the title character, aside from Northwest Smith sadly-but-logically musing that she's probably long dead by his -- far future -- time.
33	* BadassNormal: Oh yes. No matter if it's demons, elder gods, [[DimensionLord beings from alternate dimensions,]] [[MakesSenseInContext wizards from the future]], or just plain foreign invaders, she'll fight tooth and nail to protect her people.
34	** EmpoweredBadassNormal: She also becomes this on occasion -- generally towards the climax of the story -- by being possessed by some entity (''Black God's Kiss'') or by being in another world where the laws of physics are different (''The Dark Land'').
35	* ChainmailBikini: Averted, no matter what the cover art of the ''Planet Stories'' edition would have you believe. Jirel is said to wear heavy armor into battle, to the point that the villain of her first story doesn't even realise that she's a woman until her helmet is removed. Her adventuring outfit plays this trope a bit more straight, as it includes a chainmail vest and metal greaves, but still leave parts of her thighs exposed. Some artists, however, have put her in literal metal bikinis which have no precedence in the actual writings of Creator/CLMoore.
36	* {{Crossover}}: With Moore's SF character Literature/NorthwestSmith. This is not as mad as it sounds - both characters often end up in strange realms facing powerful, mysterious creatures and the word "magic" even pops up a few times in the Northwest Smith stories. Not to mention that ''Jirel Meets Magic'' established that both TimeTravel and other planets exists in Jirel's world, as much as the characters themselves may think that they inhabit a FlatWorld.
37	* DarkFantasy: As with the the Northwest Smith stories, a [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraft]] influence is obvious with the evocative PurpleProse, AlienGeometries, and strange and otherworldly forces man cannot comprehend.
38	* DarkIsEvil: Generally speaking, if something or someone has "dark" or "black" in their name, they're not to be trusted.
39	* DatingCatwoman: Jirel hates Guillaume the Conqueror who conquered her castle and humiliated her, and is determined to kill him - which she succeeds to do after undergoing many dangers and perils. Only when seeing him dead does she realize she had been passionately in love with him. It's implied that this is the price she pays for the curse she used to kill him.
40	* DeathEqualsRedemption: Jirel kills Guillaume thanks to a DealWithTheDevil with the drawback that she falls in love with him after he dies
41	* TheDeterminator: Jirel's most notable trait might be her utter refusal to ''ever'' give up. Her HeroicWillpower is probably the most consistent "superpower" she has. She'll reach her goal, whatever it is at the moment, [[DoNotGoGentle or die trying.]]
42	* EldritchAbomination: The Black God. Pav might also qualify.
43	* EldritchLocation: Moore loved this trope. Part of the fun of the stories is finding out what creatively weird and fantastical landscapes the author could come up with next.
44	* EscapedFromHell: Jirel, the first pulp fantasy heroine, fought her way out of Hell. Repeatedly, in several variations.
45	* EveryoneHasStandards: When you get down to it, Jirel is a pretty cruel and brutal LadyOfWar in her own right, but there are some behavior even she considers morally repugnant. Namely cowardice, treachery and a willingness to hurt the innocent.
46	* FeministFantasy: One of the earliest on record.
47	* FieryRedhead: Jirel herself. The "fiery" part is pretty much mandatory for a literal BloodKnight, after all.
48	* GeniusLoci: Pav's human form is basically an avatar and he actually IS the dimension he lives in.
49	* GoodIsNotNice: Jirel may be TheHero, but she has few qualms of killing her enemies if she feels that they deserve it. Joiry Castle is even repeatedly described as having its' own, very-much-in-use TortureCellar, though it never plays any direct role in the plot.
50	* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: The guards of Joiry are repeatedly shown to be either unable to score important victories, or too cowardly to provide ''any'' assistance to their commander during her journeys. Though one ''could'' argue that Jirel is the one who has SuicidalOverconfidence, but is just enough of a badass to pull it off consistently.
51	* HeroicFantasy: Notable for introducing the first female protagonist in the genre.
52	* InMediasRes: Most stories open up in the middle or even after an otherwise unseen comflict. ''Black God's Shadow'' is an exception, as it's a direct sequel to ''Black God's Kiss.''
53	* KissOfDeath: A demon gives Jirel the ability to do this once to kill Guillaume.
54	* TheLateMiddleAges: Set in a [[TheTimeOfMyths highly mythologized]] version of this era, (''Quest of the Starstone'' explicity gives the date as the year 1500,) [[CrapsackWorld filled with evil gods, wizards and demons.]]
55	* NarrativeProfanityFilter: Generally used whenever a character utters some rude exclamative.
56	* NoOntologicalInertia: Jarisme's tower returns to its original location after her death.
57	* PurpleProse: Like the better authors at the time writing for ''Weird Tales'', Moore could actually pull off lush and haunting description especially pertaining to emotions and fantastic landscapes surprisingly well.
58	* ReligionIsMagic: Wearing a crucifix will protect one against the Black God's realm - in the sense that the realm can not be entered or even seen while wearing it.
59	* RescuedFromTheUnderworld: Jirel has to go back to Hell to rescue Guillaume.
60	* SamusIsAGirl: Jirel's introduction in ''Black God's Kiss,'' which keeps her gender and her identity secret from both Guillaume and the reader until she's unmasked.
61	* SaveTheVillain: Jirel's second adventure sees her return to Hell to free Guillaume's soul, though she's not bringing him back to life, just releasing him from his torment.
62	* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The ''Literature/NorthwestSmith'' crossover ends with Smith being transported back to future Mars which is said to be light-years away. In reality, it only takes light minutes to go from Mars to Earth.
63	* SingleTargetSexuality: When Jirel falls in love with Guillaume she realized she'll never love anyone else. It seems to have been undone after she rescues him from Hell, though.
64	* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Jirel's beauty probably played a part in providing her with her [[AmazonChaser decently-sized list of offscreen lovers,]] but it also leads to [[VillainousCrush some unwanted attention]] from a worrying amount of evil entities -- human or otherwise -- [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty who care nothing about her own consent...]]
65	* ToHellAndBack: Jirel goes in the first two stories. In the first to find a way to defeat Guillaume and in the second to rescue him.
66	* UncertainDoom: While definitely dead, it's not clear what state Guillaume is in after Jirel rescues him from Hell. She wonders if he moved on to some other afterlife or [[CessationOfExistence just stopped existing]]. She just knows he isn't in Hell any more.

Context Literature / JirelOfJoiry