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On the day the princess was born, the king held a great festival and invited all but one godmother, who was strong in sorcery yet wicked at heart. |
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| —Opening Tale, Curse of Briar Rose | ||
The Stewartson King and Queen were a pair of minor characters mentioned in the first Dark Parables game, Curse of Briar Rose.
They were the rulers of the Scottish Stewartson Kingdom and the parents of Briar Rose and Ivy Green.
The Stewartson King and Queen were based on king and queen from the French fairytale, Sleeping Beauty.
Appearances and Personality[]
In life, the King was a tall handsome man with angular features. In his youth, he had light blond hair and was clean-shaven but as he aged he grew a beard and his hair turned white. He wore a long cloak and carried a large broadsword.
The Queen was about a head shorter than her husband and had a softer face. In her youth, she had light blonde hair but as she aged, it turned white and she took to wearing long, draping robes with a wimple under her crown.
Not much is known about the personalities of the King and Queen except that they were deeply caring parents to their daughters - they tried everything in their power to avert Briar Rose's fate and sent Ivy Green away for her own safety.
History[]
The King and the Queen ruled over a kingdom in Edinburgh, Scotland. When their first child, Princess Briar Rose, was born, they held a grand festival and invited all of the fairy godmothers of the land. However, they did not invite the Evil Godmother, as she was a wicked woman.
Angry at the slight, the Evil Godmother cursed the infant princess, dooming her to pricking her finger on a spindle and falling into an eternal sleep. In spite of this, the Goddess Flora decided to honor the child by making her one of her immortal Guardians.
When the King and Queen had another daughter, Princess Ivy Green, they were afraid that a similar curse would befall her, so they sent her away to Germany and struck all evidence of her existence from their castle, save for one small figurine in a sealed attic room.
When Briar Rose came of age, the events foretold by her curse also came to pass. She pricked her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fell immediately into a deep sleep. The other inhabitants of the castle, including the King and Queen, also fell into sleep. Briars sprang up throughout the castle and around it, forming a protective barrier for the sleeping princess and those also sleeping inside.
In time, a Prince came and made his way past the briars into the castle. He kissed the sleeping princess, waking the King and Queen and all of the other castle inhabitants - but not Briar Rose. Shortly after waking her, the Prince fell gravely ill as a result of the curse on the princess. He died and was entombed in the Stewartson Castle to honor him.
The King and Queen waited out for the rest of their lives, hoping for their sleeping daughter to emerge from the curse. Sadly, this never came to be. They passed away and were buried next to each other on the castle grounds, with a secret passage to their beloved daughter's resting place hidden beside their graves.
What remains of the inscription on the King's grave reads as thus: "Suddenly A Flower Sweet / Is Awoken From The Garden / At Our Feet / ___ ___ She's Flown Away / The Wind Of Her Wings Will ___ One Day" It seems to be a clue to Briar Rose's hidden sleeping chamber, located at the foot of their graves ("at our feet").
Through their second daughter, Ivy Green, they are the ancestors of Princess Wanda and Princess Brigid.
Relationships[]
- Briar Rose (elder daughter)
- Ivy Green (younger daughter, deceased)
- Unnamed granddaughter (deceased)
- Unnamed great-grandson or great-granddaughter (deceased)
- Prince James (son-in-law, deceased)
- Unnamed Writer (descendant, deceased)
- Princess Wanda (long great-granddaughter, deceased)
- Princess Brigid (long great-granddaughter)
First Names[]
The names of the King and Queen are currently unknown. Their tombstone markers clearly read "Stewartson" - but their first names are largely smudged out. Comparing the two markers side by side, we can see that both first names seem extremely similar. They both appear to contain only three letters, each name ending with an A. The developers could very well have used the same text on both tombstones, as it's such a last-minute detail.
Assuming that these actually were intended to be two separate names, the King's first name is possibly Lon or Liam. The Queen's name has fared a bit better, but is still hard to read; it appears to be most likely either Ella, Eia, Efa, Lia or Lea.
Trivia[]
- Given that the Stewartsons are a Scottish royal family, it's entirely possible that their last name was deliberately chosen by the developers to match. The House of Stuart ruled Scotland for several generations, and prior to that had been a family of stewards to the ruling clan. The implication may be that the Stewartson family of these games is somehow related to the royal Stuarts.
Gallery[]
