Mercedes Lamballe
Names: Mercedes LamballeMercyMerceLamballeMercedes Lam-belleMercy LamballeMercedes Siobhan LamballeLamballe, M. S.RosmarMercy-RosmarLady of GoriahEnchantressLady Mercy-Rosmar of GoriahLady WildfireLady CreatorGreat QueenQueen Mercy-RosmarQueenCreator LadyQueen MercyQueen Merey-RosmarHer Late Majestythe golden Kral
First appears in Book 1: The Many-Colored Land, chapter 2 (1)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: The Many-Colored Land
- Ch 2Mercy operates the marshaling channel in a control room, cueing the pageant's flower girls, courtiers, filler voices, birds, butterflies and breezes.
- Ch 2She breaks down in tears during the springtime song and sees herself as a misfit among the Milieu's well-adjusted people.
- Ch 2She wears a comset with antennae, and Gaston suspects she sometimes 'fugues off' during work.
- Ch 2Mercy plans to go down to the orchard that evening with Bryan Grenfell, to talk of sailing to Ajaccio together.
- Ch 10Mercy was associate director of the Fête d'Auvergne, a slender red-haired woman with sea-colored eyes, called the most medieval lady alive in the Galactic Milieu.
- Ch 10Mercy told Grenfell there is no love at first sight, only sex at first sight, and asked him not to talk of love.
- Ch 10Mercy left Earth through the time-portal into Exile the day after Grenfell went offworld, two months before his return.
- Ch 15Mercy passed through the time-portal on her birthday, beginning her twenty-ninth year, going six million years before she was born.
- Ch 15Mercy was born in St.-Brieuc, France, on 15 May 2082, and lived in Riom; she is unmarried, with no children, and has lived alone.
- Ch 15Mercy is highly educated, holding degrees in French medieval history, anthropology and Celtic languages, and worked for the Imperial Pagan organization in Ireland and France.
- Ch 15Her psychiatric history includes alien refraction, fugue and mild depression, which Grenfell calls a deep heartwound.
- Ch 15Her skills include dyeing, sheep husbandry, smallholding, weaving and wool technology; she carries a harp, fife, spinning gear, plants and pregnant sheep.
- Ch 15In her portrait she wears a reddish-brown cowled cloak, a Nile-green gown with gold embroidery, and gold and amethyst jewelry, and has auburn hair.
- Ch 19Mercy has Breton ancestry and has gone somewhere in the Pliocene; Bryan feels illogically bound to find her.
- Ch 21Mercedes Lamballe arrived in Exile in mid-June and made a vivid impression on the castle staff.
Book 2: The Golden Torc
- Ch 1Mercy is a latent with auburn hair, presumably given a silver torc, who was sent to Muriah; Bryan fears she has changed.
- Ch 2Mercy is Bryan's lost love, auburn-haired; Nontusvel says she has been integrated into the Tanu fellowship and is happy in Goriah.
- Ch 8Rosmar is a human woman, Nodonn's bride, who never fit into Elder Earth and wholeheartedly embraces the Tanu world.
- Ch 8Rosmar cannot yet fly without Nodonn's help; she has gentler powers that the Tanu revere.
- Ch 10Rosmar, Nodonn's human consort, is also called Mercy and greets Bryan with a kiss as an old friend.
- Ch 11Mercy wears a golden torc, has become a Tanu-allied 'creator', and is the wife of Nodonn, expecting a child for the Thagdal first.
- Ch 11Mercy can gather energy to throw lightning, make things hot or cold, and transmute dust, moisture and matter into new things, such as cherries.
- Ch 11Mercy never fit into the Elder Earth; she used drugs, music and lovers to ease her pain and believes her unused latent metapsychic powers caused it.
- Ch 11Mercy plans to split zygotes with psychokinesis to bear many children and to become queen when Nodonn defeats the Thagdal.
- Ch 11Mercy tells Bryan she has enemies who could stop her from reaching what she was promised, and asks his lasting help.
- Ch 11Mercy was torn about the torc; Bryan sees it as marking the gulf between her and Rosmar.
- Ch 12Human wife of Nodonn with a rare creative gift; the Queen welcomes her as consort for the future King.
- Ch 22A human woman, wife of Nodonn and member of the Creators Guild, who formally challenged Aluteyn for the Guild presidency.
- Ch 22Passed Aluteyn's validation by answering his conjured lamprey with a cauldron of fish and chips, and farspoke Bryan to meet her that night.
- Ch 22Mercy manipulates Bryan through seduction and persuades him to hand over his copy of the survey, asking him to keep it secret.
- Ch 22Mercy is Nodonn's wife and a Tanu who has always been one of them; Bryan thinks she is exempt from his survey's warnings.
- Ch 25Nodonn's human wife Rosmar; a genetic assay by Greg-Donnet showed her plasm is nearly identical to Tanu, with more Tanu genes than human.
- Ch 32Mercy is Lady of Goriah, wife of Nodonn and aspirant President of Creators; she loves Bryan in part and promised he could stay until the end.
- Ch 32Mercy will face Aluteyn in the manifestation of powers and expects to win; she projects the games for Bryan.
- Ch 32She was found astonishingly creative at Castle Gateway, flown to Muriah, then taken as consort by Nodonn in a wedding at Goriah.
- Ch 35Mercy, wife of Nodonn, challenged Aluteyn for the Creator Guild presidency and defeated him by creating lasting edible manna.
- Ch 35Mercy became Lady Creator and delegated Velteyn of Finiah as Second Creator, then demanded Aluteyn choose exile or life-offering.
- Ch 38Mercy showed Bryan what he had been missing by refusing the golden torc; Nodonn took him to her.
- Ch 41Mercy survived the flood by floating on bubbles of her gown, calling vainly for Nodonn, and was rescued by Aiken Drum.
Book 3: The Nonborn King
- Ch 4Mercy is pregnant with Nodonn's daughter Agraynel, due in about a month, and is still mourning Nodonn.
- Ch 4Mercy overpowers Aiken's mind-shields and out-matches his metapsychic powers. She plans to marry him at the Grand Loving in May and be his queen.
- Ch 4Mercy feels she has seen Aiken's face before, in Florence (Firenze) in the Old World, perhaps in a portrait at the Palazzo Vecchio.
- Ch 4Mercy refuses to have physical sex with Aiken, citing the baby, though she gives him metapsychic pleasure.
- Ch 11Mercy is pregnant, President of the Creator Guild and betrothed to Aiken; she designed the lavish Loving drawing on her Earth pageant-directing experience.
- Ch 11Mercy reveals telepathically that Nodonn had her genetically assayed and found she has more Tanu genes than human; Aiken had not known.
- Ch 11Mercy suggested the idea of royal progresses from English monarchs and is troubled by Aiken's resemblance to a portrait in a Florence palace.
- Ch 11Mercy grieves for Nodonn, who drowned, and deposed the Lord of the Howlers.
- Ch 18Mercy is a human woman born in Brittany six million years in the future, now bereaved after the loss of her lover Nodonn and the Flood.
- Ch 18Mercy chooses to give birth to Agraynel in a new, gentle way, publicly before hundreds of Tanu women, to teach them nurturing methods.
- Ch 18Mercy's powers are gentle and nurturing rather than aggressive or for battle; she is called Lady Creator and may be founding matriarch of a new Host.
- Ch 18Mercy expects to die and be buried in Brittany, imagining her fossil bones being found millions of years later by Georges Lamballe and Siobhan O'Connell.
- Ch 23Is jealous-guarded about her daughter Agraynel, giving Aiken little information about the child.
- Ch 23Disapproves of Aiken's harsh treatment of Raimo Hakkinen and warns of growing human resentment over tores.
- Ch 23Explains that Amadán was a Celtic Fatal Fool whose touch was death; she calls Aiken by that name and they become lovers.
- Ch 25Mercy co-hosts the houseparty with Aiken and supervised a musicale for those who avoided the Hunt.
- Ch 27Mercy-Rosmar is Lady of Goriah and Lady Creator; she mourns Nodonn, her daemon lover, whom she had married the previous June.
- Ch 27At the masquerade Mercy kisses Culluket in his Death costume, while the Firvulag fling their mind bolt.
- Ch 28Mercy is the one person Nodonn trusts to learn the truth and come to him; he calls her telepathically.
- Ch 31Mercy has been unresponsive to Aiken for five nights, blaming 'fey influences'; she no longer fears him.
- Ch 31Under probing, Mercy's replies about a lover named Joy referred to a hidden man; her dream showed Nodonn Battlemaster alive and hidden but not an immediate threat.
- Ch 32Mercy-Rosmar is married to Aiken Drum and crowned Queen, but secretly stays faithful to Nodonn on his orders.
- Ch 35Mercy learned in May that Nodonn lives, comatose on Kersic, and kept it hidden; she is overjoyed and wanted to flee with the Tanu lords.
- Ch 36Mercy's body was not found after the avalanche, though she is presumed dead.
- Ch 37Mercy's supposed death in the fight with Felice was a hoax arranged with Celadeyr to disarm the usurper's surveillance.
- Ch 37Mercy had a foreseeing that her death lies in Aiken Drum, who loves her but will kill her, as Cull foresaw of Felice.
- Ch 37Mercy transmutes Moreyn's tableware into a silver hand for Nodonn, naming him Nodonn of the Sliver Hand.
- Ch 37Mercy is a Most Exalted member of Celadeyr's Guild of Creators and has borne a child, which has deepened her.
- Ch 40Mercy returned to Goriah at the end of July, claiming amnesia after a landslide and rescue by plant hunters; the story is implausible.
- Ch 40Mercy says she is dry and has no life to give her daughter, and tells Aiken to take what he needs from her while he can.
- Ch 40Mercy calls Aiken 'Fatal Amadán of my soul', and he answers that he is not hers in heart.
- Ch 43Mercy is a psychocreative who can mould matter and energy, and she betrays Aiken Drum by ruining his stored Milieu weapons so that her lover Nodonn can fight him fairly.
- Ch 43Mercy is lover to Nodonn and resents Aiken Drum, who she says only does what he usually does to her.
- Ch 43Mercy fills the vault with corrosive, poisonous foam made from the polymers of its sealant, which will take weeks to clean out.
- Ch 44Mercy is dead, her body reduced to gray ash; Nodonn believes her creative vitality was consumed to restore Aiken's mind.
Book 4: The Adversary
- Ch 2Died on the day of the King's victory.
- Ch 4Queen Mercy-Rosmar rendered the Milieu weapons in the castle souterrain unusable with poison-filled foam; she is now dead.
- Ch 7She turned the storage-area wall insulation into a sticky foam full of hydrogen cyanide gas to keep Aiken from using the Milieu weapons against invaders.
- Ch 7Aiken had her belongings removed from the royal apartments; she once shared Old Earth culture with him and planned his seizure of the throne.
Connections
- member ofGastonworks on his pageant control crew
- friend ofBryan Grenfellclose, evening plans together
- partner ofBryan GrenfellGrenfell loves her after one day together; she has since left
- related toGastonworks with her as pageant director and associate director
- family ofGeorges Bradford Lamballedaughter of
- family ofSiobhan Maeve O'Connelldaughter of
- related toDeirdreloyal dog and companion of
- related toSt.-Brieucborn in
- inRiomresided in
- related toBryan GrenfellBryan is searching for Mercy
- partner ofNodonnnewly married
- family ofNodonnwife
- enemy ofAluteyn Craftsmasterchallenger for presidency
- leadsGoriahLady of Goriah
- ally ofAiken Drumco-hosts the houseparty
- partner ofAiken DrumBetrothed; he loves her, she has not said she returns it
- family ofAgraynelunborn daughter
- friend ofMorna-Ia
- ally ofDionket
- ally ofNodonn
- family ofAiken Drumhusband and wife
- ally ofCeladeyr
- member ofGuild of Creators
- related toFelice LandryAiken suspects she reports to him and left Aiken for him
- ally ofSullivan-Tonn
- enemy ofAiken Drum
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 2The May pageant at Riom
Mercy cues pageant elements as the ducal party stages a 1410 maying festival for tourists. Grief overwhelms her during a troubadour's song, but she recovers and carries on.
- Book 1 · Ch 10Grenfell learns Mercy has gone into Exile
On landing at Unst, Grenfell finds Mercy's teleview service canceled; Gaston tells him she quit and went through the time-portal into Exile.
- Book 1 · Ch 15Grenfell studies Mercy's file
After a lecture, Grenfell retrieves Mercy Lamballe's dossier, portrait and inventory from the terminal, studies them emotionally, and ponders finding her beyond the time-portal.
- Book 1 · Ch 19Elizabeth and Bryan confide
Elizabeth explains her latent state and the tornado that killed Lawrence; Bryan describes his plan to search for Mercy. The downpour begins and they go inside.
- Book 1 · Ch 21Interview with Tully
Tully interviews Bryan about his background and equipment. Bryan asks about population and disease and about Mercedes Lamballe; Tully says she went to the capital, then leaves and locks Bryan in.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Presentation to the High Table
The honorees are presented; Elizabeth is hailed with Slonshal. Thagdal and Nontusvel welcome them, Nontusvel promises Bryan he will see Mercy, and Ogmol is named as his assistant.
- Book 2 · Ch 8The Hunt kills a plesiosaur
Nodonn stuns a plesiosaur in the Gulf of Aquitaine with lightning; Vrenol wounds and beheads it, taking the trophy head.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Nodonn reveals his troubles
Nodonn tells Rosmar they must go to Muriah on his mother's summons, voices worries about Delbaeth and hostile new humans, and Rosmar pledges to fight with him.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Nodonn arrives
Nodonn and Rosmar arrive; Rosmar reunites with Bryan. Nodonn goes to the arena, and Raimo desperately seeks Aiken.
- Book 2 · Ch 11Sail to the Great Brackish Marsh
Mercy and Bryan sail a trimaran with her psychokinetic wind through the lagoon and Long Fjord to the marsh and anchor for a picnic.
- Book 2 · Ch 11Mercy reveals her powers and plans
Mercy conjures cherries, explains her creator powers, ambitions with Nodonn and the Thagdal's child, then seduces Bryan and secures his promise to help her.
- Book 2 · Ch 22Mercy challenges Aluteyn
At an extraordinary assembly Mercy challenges Aluteyn for the Creators' presidency. Aluteyn conjures a lamprey; she answers with fish and chips and is validated to contend at the Grand Combat.
- Book 2 · Ch 22Night on the Mount of Heroes
Mercy and Bryan meet and make love on the mountain summit. Bryan asks whether she loves him and will stay after the Combat, and she evades.
- Book 2 · Ch 22Mercy obtains Bryan's survey
After seducing Bryan, Mercy persuades him to give her his copy of the survey and keep it secret, then drives down the mountain with him asleep.
- Book 2 · Ch 22Bryan handed over to Culluket
At Redact House Nodonn and Culluket receive the sleeping Bryan. Nodonn orders him protected and kept unaware until the Combat ends, then leaves with Mercy for Creation House to deal with the computer.
- Book 2 · Ch 25Nodonn reveals his strategy
Nodonn outlines his plan to exploit the planned raid and expose the survey at the Grand Combat, summoning the top fighters to a reunion luncheon, and reveals Mercy's genes.
- Book 2 · Ch 32Mercy visits Bryan
Mercy visits the confined Bryan, tells her story, projects the First Day games for him, and leaves, asking him to wait until they come for him.
- Book 2 · Ch 35Mercy defeats Aluteyn
Mercy challenged Aluteyn over the Kral, overcame his black creations, and rained edible manna on the crowd; she became Lady Creator and Aluteyn chose the Great Retort.
- Book 2 · Ch 38Bryan revived in the Great Retort
Aluteyn pulls Bryan from his mind-cave; Bryan, longing for Mercy, learns he is in the Great Retort while captives speculate about earthquakes.
- Book 2 · Ch 41Aiken Drum rescues Mercy
Adrift and despairing, Mercy is found by Aiken Drum aboard the floating Kral, who lifts her aboard and restores her.
- Book 3 · Ch 4Meteor shower on the spire
Aiken has the city lights put out and brings Mercy to the Castle of Glass parapet to watch the March meteors; he conjures a false crown of lights, which she dismisses as illusion.
- Book 3 · Ch 4Aiken's love exposed
Mercy probes Aiken's mind and discovers his love. They quarrel over Nodonn and the baby. She says she will marry him in May, and he admits he already loves her and that the meteors were not his doing.
- Book 3 · Ch 11Rocilan guests welcomed at Goriah
Aiken and Mercy greet Eadnar, Morna, Tirone and Bleyn from Rocilan on the quay with the Tanu Song; Morna criticises Aiken, who appeals to her telepathically and wins a grudging concession.
- Book 3 · Ch 11Tour of the Grove of May
Mercy leads a flight, with Aiken carrying the guests, to the Grove of May. He reveals the Firvulag royals are invited, gilds the maypole with psychokinesis, and Culluket announces a coronation at the Loving's finale.
- Book 3 · Ch 11Aiken pleads for kingship
Aiken rallies the High Tablers with spoken and mental persuasion, recalling his victories and showing no other viable king candidate exists against the Firvulag.
- Book 3 · Ch 11Royal progress planned
Using Mercy's idea, Aiken plans to tour the cities before his coronation, starting with Afaliah, accompanied by the High Tablers. They fly back to Goriah.
- Book 3 · Ch 11Culluket identifies the portrait
Mercy's thought about the portrait with Aiken's face is answered by Culluket, who recovers the memory and notes the resemblance to a Florentine politician.
- Book 3 · Ch 18The new-style birth of Agraynel
Before hundreds of cloaked Tanu women, Mercy gives birth with Dionket's Skin and healing, aided by Morna and three maidens. The baby is bathed, swaddled and nursed.
- Book 3 · Ch 18Naming of Agraynel and Morna's prophecy
Morna fastens a golden tore on the baby and names her Agraynel ul-Mercy-Rosmar vur-Thagdal. She foresees Agraynel as queen but flees when asked about the king; Dionket makes Mercy forget.
- Book 3 · Ch 23Aiken's cavalcade returns to Goriah
Aiken returns secretly by night, exhausted, and recounts the progress including the VarMesk assassination attempt by Miakonn, foiled by Culluket.
- Book 3 · Ch 23The General Store
Aiken shows Mercy the hidden armory of confiscated technology and retrieves a stem-shield generator to guard his mind during sleep.
- Book 3 · Ch 23Aiken and Mercy become lovers
After Mercy calls him Amadán, Aiken kisses her and they go upstairs for their first true coupling under auroras.
- Book 3 · Ch 27Tanu mass wedding and maypole night
On May Day the Tanu and human couples wed, led by Aiken and Mercy; that night they dance up the maypole in a mystical ecstasy and Mercy asks whose he is.
- Book 3 · Ch 27Coronation of Aiken Drum
Before 6000 Tanu, Firvulag guests and 15,000 humans, Elizabeth presents Aiken with a black glass crown; he names his High Table and is acclaimed King.
- Book 3 · Ch 28Nodonn calls Mercy
Weak, Nodonn climbs a promontory, sees the drowned land, and heeds a warning not to reveal himself. He sends a call only to Mercy.
- Book 3 · Ch 31Aiken probes Mercy
Aiken secretly probes sleeping Mercy's mind, learns of a hidden beloved named Joy, nearly alerts her subconscious, and vows never to probe her again.
- Book 3 · Ch 31Aiken sees Nodonn in Mercy's dream
After the contact, Aiken probes Mercy's dream again and confirms her lover is Nodonn Battlemaster, alive and hidden.
- Book 3 · Ch 32Moreyn finds Nodonn
Moreyn meets the cast-away Nodonn on the beach, learns of his plans and the kingship law, hears the Tanu-human kinship rumors, and takes him toward Var-Mesk to hide him.
- Book 3 · Ch 35Mercy tells the Tanu lords Nodonn lives
Mercy and Culluket meet Celadeyr, Aluteyn and Kuhal inside a sigma-field. She reveals Nodonn lives and proposes flight; they refuse, learn Abaddon's identity, and resolve to cooperate with Aiken's raid.
- Book 3 · Ch 37Mercy is revealed alive
Celadeyr brings Mercy secretly to Var-Mesk; Moreyn learns her death was a hoax and leads them through the trona tunnels to Nodonn.
- Book 3 · Ch 37Nodonn and Mercy reunite
The lovers reunite, confess their defilements, and discuss deposing Aiken, Mercy's foreseen death, Abaddon and Cloud Remillard. Nodonn asks she may have to return to Aiken, though she may stay a while.
- Book 3 · Ch 37The silver hand
Mercy transmutes silverware into a mirror-bright silver hand for Nodonn, who vows to wear it until he destroys Aiken Drum and becomes King.
- Book 3 · Ch 40Kite demonstration on the dunes
At the Strait of Redon, Yosh and Vilkas demonstrate man-carrying combat kites with naginata for Aiken and Mercy; Yosh shreds Vilkas's kite.
- Book 3 · Ch 40Aiken confronts Mercy
Aiken accuses Mercy of serving Felice, taunts about Nodonn's plans, and warns she may engineer her own defeat; Mercy stays and gives herself to him.
- Book 3 · Ch 43Vault sabotage
Mercy enlists Sullivan-Tonn to open the locked vault beneath the Castle of Glass, then destroys the computer and floods the Milieu weapons stores with caustic polymer foam to disable them against Nodonn.
- Book 3 · Ch 43Aiken's vengeance
Aiken Drum confronts them, tortures and burns Sullivan-Tonn to death, then takes Mercy upstairs where the Spear consumes her, leaving only ashes.
- Book 3 · Ch 44Battle in the Castle of Glass
Nodonn's knights fight loyalists in the courtyard. Congreve's elite guards stun Celadeyr's force after it surrenders. Kuhal finds Mercy's body in Aiken's bedroom, and Nodonn turns it to ash.
- Book 4 · Ch 12Aiken's dream of rebirth
Aiken dreams of dragon, hag and eagle ordeals, defeats and kisses Stein Oleson, and sees the chimaera as his reflection; Elizabeth explains he is reborn with an integrated psyche and resolves to be a true King.