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Gemmalie
- 246 statements
- 47 feature instances
- 1 referencing feature instances
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"Gemmalie" is a novelette published in 1825, April at the latest, in Paris by Ladvocat, Ponthieu, Delaunay, au Palais-Royal. It was published anonymously and stays that way to this day, but it contains an afterword that provides some insight into the booklet's genesis. "Gemmalie" was co-written by at least two people, who were members of a society where The Vampyre was met with positive reception. This may have been as early as 1819, when Henry Faber finished the first French translation. During discussions of the novel, the question was raised if a monster like Lord Ruthven would still work if they were female, which led to a challenge to write a story proving so. "Gemmalie" was completed in a few autumn evenings worth of penning, and the authors are the first to admit that the story is an experiment and not high literature.The protagonist, Charles Lindblad, is an English baronet and the lifelong companion of Georges Guilford. Their young adulthood was spent traveling together until Guilford joined the Greek War of Independence. After two-to-three years of separation, Georges returns home. While awaiting his friend's arrival in Marseille, Charles meets and becomes obsessed with Gemmalie, an uncanny but also astonishingly beautiful ostensibly Greek woman, and he reacts badly when he suspects her heart yearns for Georges. Upon his arrival, Georges relays that he met Gemmalie on the Greek battlefields, where she wandered freely amidst the violence and noticed him noticing her. Curiosity piqued, the two men resolve to get acquainted with her, but Gemmalie's evident interest in Georges infuriates Charles. The latter boldly asks her to marry him and she consents as long as he understands he's choosing doom. The newlyweds leave for Charles's estate of Stonehall in Northumberland, where Charles's further efforts to get to know Gemmalie remain fruitless. He also begins to suffer horrific dreams and to pine for Georges. Needing help understanding Gemmalie and banishing the nightmares, Charles invites his friend to Stonehall. However, Georges's presence soon rouses Charles's jealousy once more. One night, Charles awakens to what he believes is Georges trying to abduct Gemmalie and kills him in blind rage. The next night, Georges's ticked-off ghost manifests to show him the truth and leads him to the nearby cemetery, where Charles witnesses Gemmalie dining on his once-friend's corpse. Realizing the love of his life is a monstrous ghoul, he perishes from emotional exhaustion.In regards to the fact that "Gemmalie" resulted from a The Vampire-themed writing challenge, it is a quaint coincidence that The Vampire itself also came about due to a writing challenge, that one inspired by Fantasmagoriana. But for as much as The Vampire instigated the creation of "Gemmalie", the latter has little in common with the former and instead "The Story of Sidi Nouman", ambiguously referenced within the text by means of "les fables de l'Orient", is its template."Gemmalie" is a very early example, if not the origin work, of the typically French literary convention that holds ghouls as the female counterpart to male vampires. The story itself doesn't contain this duality, but the afterword opens by declaring ghouls a species of female vampires. Similar lines and context can be found in Théophile Gautier's The Dead Leman, Paul Féval's The Vampire Countess, and Alexandre Dumas's "The Pale Lady" and The Return of Lord Ruthven.As noted in the March 17, 1939 edition of La Cinématographie Française, a film based on "Gemmalie", to be named Gemmalie, Femme vampire, was in the works at the time. If nothing else, then the start of World War II in September will have put an end to this venture. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_106adcb7 | type |
Undeathly Pallor | |
| Gemmalie / int_106adcb7 | comment |
Undeathly Pallor: Gemmalie, a ghoul, is strikingly pale with not a whisper of blush to her cheeks. | |
| Gemmalie / int_106adcb7 | featureApplicability |
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| Gemmalie / int_1d2400e9 | type |
Green-Eyed Monster | |
| Gemmalie / int_1d2400e9 | comment |
Green-Eyed Monster: Gemmalie is the kind of ghoul committed to her purpose as a scavenger and never directly kills anyone herself. To get Georges Guilford as her meal, she relies entirely on an evil more thorough than she: Charles's romantic insecurity regarding her. It takes little more than an autumn worth of patience to get everything in place for Charles's jealousy and rivalry to outgrow his fraternal love for Georges and to be the death of Georges when Charles's thinks he catches him attempting to abduct Gemmalie. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_2be15316 | type |
Ambiguously Jewish | |
| Gemmalie / int_2be15316 | comment |
Ambiguously Jewish: The story, which follows Charles's perspective, treats Gemmalie as Greek, but she herself is clear that she's from nowhere more specific than the Orient. Neither her being Greek nor her being from the Orient is communicated to the people of Northumberland, and they come up with their own rumors. One is that she's Jewish and a direct descendant of the Witch of Endor. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_2e8441c9 | type |
The Bad Guy Wins | |
| Gemmalie / int_2e8441c9 | comment |
The Bad Guy Wins: In the end, Charles murders Georges and Georges's ghost makes sure Charles comes to his own end. Gemmalie walks away from the drama without a scratch and with a stomach full of Georges's flesh, which is all she was after for the entire story. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_3b4185fb | type |
Stalker without a Crush | |
| Gemmalie / int_3b4185fb | comment |
Stalker Without A Crush: Georges and Gemmalie first meet during a nightly battle and take an interest in each other's unusual qualities. They meet a few more times and always keep track of the other, but never talk. Then during Georges's last night in Athens, they meet outside of battle and Gemmalie unpromptedly promises she'll follow him to his homeland. And she does, arriving at least a month before he does. When finally Georges arrives, she clings to him, only letting go when she marries Charles because she knows that if she emotionally torments Charles, he'll get his dear friend to come to them. But despite Charles jealous suspicions, Gemmalie never had feelings for Georges. She just wants to eat him, which she gets to do. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_44e0a33a | type |
The Oath-Breaker | |
| Gemmalie / int_44e0a33a | comment |
The Oath-Breaker: Charles invites Georges to Stonehall to help him uncover the reason behind his nightmares and to finally figure out Gemmalie's evident secrets, but quickly gets consumed by jealousy once more. To assure himself that Georges won't put the moves on Gemmalie, he has him swear a heavy oath not just to help him, but also to succeed. Georges does so without hesitation and one night discovers that Gemmalie is a corpse-eating ghoul. However, when Charles awakens, Gemmalie makes it look like Georges is trying to abduct her and begs her husband to save her. Charles, believing Georges to have broken his oath, all the while ignoring Georges's declaration that he knows Gemmalie's secret, fatally stabs him. Georges, in turn, gets his revenge for being mistrusted when his ghost appears to Charles and, fulfilling the oath, leads him to Gemmalie dining on Georges's corpse, shocking Charles to death. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_4a87d78d | type |
Circassian Beauty | |
| Gemmalie / int_4a87d78d | comment |
Circassian Beauty: The story, which follows Charles's perspective, treats Gemmalie as Greek, but she herself is clear that she's from nowhere more specific than the Orient. Neither her being Greek nor her being from the Orient is communicated to the people of Northumberland, and they come up with their own rumors. One is that she, with her jet-black curls strikingly and pleasingly contrasted by her pale skin and lively eyes, is the daughter of a renowned brigand of the Caucasus. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_5028baf2 | type |
What Is This Thing You Call "Love"? | |
| Gemmalie / int_5028baf2 | comment |
What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: During their first conversation, Gemmalie tells Charles that she knows neither love nor friendship. What Charles hears is that if he plays his cards right, he can become the first and only man Gemmalie will ever love. But Gemmalie is a ghoul and quite possibly inherently incapable of these feelings. Though she claims to love Charles at one point and may not object to him per se, she also doesn't care when he expires in front of her. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_51df5ca1 | type |
Animal Metaphor | |
| Gemmalie / int_51df5ca1 | comment |
Animal Metaphor: The night before Georges is to return to France, he travels through an abandoned battlefield to reach the port. Ravens are everywhere filling their bellies with human corpse meat, but he also spots a human figure whom he assumes is a widow looking for her slain husband. It is Gemmalie, and like the ravens, she's there for a meal, although Georges does not realize this until months later. | |
| Gemmalie / int_51df5ca1 | featureApplicability |
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| Gemmalie / int_5c0fc07b | type |
Nightmare Sequence | |
| Gemmalie / int_5c0fc07b | comment |
Nightmare Sequence: Two times a paragraph is dedicated to Charles's prophetic nightmares. The first occurs shortly after Charles glimpses Gemmalie for the first time. He dreams about marrying her and what their marriage will be like: a marriage in which his love isn't reciprocated, which involves demons and the dead, symbolically ending with the onset of winter. The second nightmare Charles dreams before he murders Georges. In it, he imagines himself and Georges back in Greece, happy and together, but as a phantom comes between them, the dead themselves rise up to warn the two friends to flee. Charles, in his nightmare, knows that escape from a bloody end no longer is possible. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_62b72e | type |
Perilous Marriage Proposal | |
| Gemmalie / int_62b72e | comment |
Perilous Marriage Proposal: Charles's first proposal to Gemmalie occurs when a southern storm has Marseille in its grasp and the crew of one ship cannot reach the safety of the port in time. On shore, Charles is surprised to see Gemmalie out by day and locks her in a conversation that leads him to propose. Gemmalie rejects him and it's only after she leaves that Charles becomes aware of his surroundings again, such as the sailors' corpses washing up on shore a few feet away. He realizes this is a bad omen to his wish to marry Gemmalie, but it doesn't stick. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_6480c255 | type |
Robbing the Dead | |
| Gemmalie / int_6480c255 | comment |
Robbing the Dead: Gemmalie is noted to be alone in the world and to travel without cases or assets. She herself says she has no money to her name and evidently she has no source of income. Yet she always has money to pay the Paon innkeeper during her stay of at least a month. Her wealth is questioned, but not explained, and the only possibility in line with her activities is that she takes valuables from corpses. | |
| Gemmalie / int_6480c255 | featureApplicability |
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| Gemmalie / int_68f21cd6 | type |
Gorgeous Greek | |
| Gemmalie / int_68f21cd6 | comment |
Gorgeous Greek: The story, which follows Charles's perspective, treats Gemmalie as Greek, but she herself is clear that she's from nowhere more specific than the Orient. That she is Greek is proposed by the innkeeper and given credence by the fact that Georges meets Gemmalie in Greece. Regardless, Gemmalie is unanimously deemed exceptionally beautiful. Men admire or desire her and women admire or envy her. To the French and English people whose reactions to Gemmalie's pleasing appearance are written about, her assumed Greekness or Orientalism adds a peerless exotic flair. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_6bda9a30 | type |
Meaningful Name | |
| Gemmalie / int_6bda9a30 | comment |
Meaningful Name: Georges is to arrive in Marseille on a ship called Les Deux-Amis, that is The Two-Friends. Georges enjoys a brotherly friendship with Charles, who awaits their reunion in Marseille. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_6d89ad1a | type |
The Ophelia | |
| Gemmalie / int_6d89ad1a | comment |
The Ophelia: Whenever death is occurring near her, mania takes a hold of Gemmalie. Her movement becomes agitated and swift, while her emotions lean towards elation but can flip to wailful sorrow or utter indifference. Her appearance is ethereal and grave-like and her regard for social norms abysmal. All mysteriously, she only goes out at night, which during her time in Northumberland concerns women, frightens children, but titillates men, who don't mind the thought of running into her. | |
| Gemmalie / int_6d89ad1a | featureApplicability |
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| Gemmalie / int_6e65655f | type |
Rejected Marriage Proposal | |
| Gemmalie / int_6e65655f | comment |
Rejected Marriage Proposal: Charles proposes twice to Gemmalie and it goes without saying she rejects him the first time. And for good reason. She points out that his feelings are ridiculous because he doesn't know the first thing about her, and that's aside from the inappropriateness for her, an associate of the grave, to marry a mortal. Charles is startled, but not dissuaded. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_7360a6b6 | type |
Noble Demon | |
| Gemmalie / int_7360a6b6 | comment |
Noble Demon: Whether Gemmalie is a true monster or a mere shepherd of fate is debatable to begin with, but there is one moment where a sense of honor unambiguously shines through. When Charles asks for her hand in marriage, she accepts, but warns him too that marrying her will doom him and that if they are to unite, he has to do so voluntarily and with this knowledge. After he chooses to dismiss her warning, she gives him another one and a way out when she retracts her acceptance if he insists on a priest to preside the ceremony. There is a possibility that Gemmalie needs Charles to see Georges dead, so she's risking her meal by warning her suitor. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_8b68d9a7 | type |
Stalker with a Crush | |
| Gemmalie / int_8b68d9a7 | comment |
Stalker with a Crush: Charles's obsession with Gemmalie starts when he merely hears of her. Both her beauty and her mystery speak to him, as his wild twenties are past him and life bores him. Once he's actually seen her, he won't leave her alone, despite her cut-and-dry disinterest. He tries to talk to her many times, which she brushes off with as few words as needed. He stalks her on one of her nightly outings to see what she's up to, but he loses sight of her at the church. The thought that she loves another eats at him until during a successful forced conversation he learns that she's never known love, at which point he resolves to be her first love. Charles's persistence eventually does get her to marry him, but it is a marriage that destroys him. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_8c4bafff | type |
Holy Burns Evil | |
| Gemmalie / int_8c4bafff | comment |
Holy Burns Evil: The ghoul Gemmalie belongs to no religion and has no god. She refuses to get married with a priest present, mentioning offense at the concept of a god having any authority over where she belongs. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_a63fd70f | type |
The Promise | |
| Gemmalie / int_a63fd70f | comment |
The Promise: There are two promises made and fulfilled. Gemmalie, upon meeting Georges on an abandoned battlefield in Greece the night before he is to leave for France, reveals she knows he is leaving and promises that she'll follow him. When finally Georges after a few weeks of delay reaches Marseille, Gemmalie comes up to his room in the Paon inn, where she'd been staying for even longer than those few weeks, to remind him of her promise and proclaim it now fulfilled. During Georges's stay at Stonehall, he vows to Charles that he will help him discover Gemmalie's purpose and find out what's behind his severe nightmares. Georges discovers that Gemmalie is a ghoul and tries to tell his friend, but the latter murders him in jealous rage because he thinks Georges is trying to take Gemmalie away from him. Thus the vow would remain unfulfilled were it not for Georges angrily returning as a ghost to lead Charles outside and show him Gemmalie munching on his own corpse. In doing so, Georges also assures his vengeance, because the sight is more than Charles's taxed health can handle. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_a7850fbf | type |
Only Known by Their Nickname | |
| Gemmalie / int_a7850fbf | comment |
Only Known by Their Nickname: During Charles's first marriage proposal, he doesn't know Gemmalie's name yet and asks for it. She asks rhetorically if she should have one, but acknowledges that humans use the name Gemmalie for her. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_af7d483f | type |
Dreaming of Things to Come | |
| Gemmalie / int_af7d483f | comment |
Dreaming of Things to Come: Charles has many nightmares, but only two get described. Both are prophetical. The first concerns Charles's eventual marriage to Gemmalie, taking the stormy scenery of his first proposal, adding a wall of fire to symbolize what little resistance he can put up against his obsession with her. This is followed by him travelling back home to England with his new wife where his marriage offers him no comfort and winter sets in. All of this comes true, although his death occurs just a little sooner by the end of autumn. The second nightmare is an ode to Charles's long-standing fraternal bond with Georges, taking place in the fields of Greece, which was when their friendship peaked. Gemmalie, represented by an unidentified phantom, comes between them, and even though the dead rise up to warn the friends to flee, they can't because it already is to late. When Charles wakes up from this nightmare, soon he murders Georges for Gemmalie's sake and perishes himself later that night. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_b5049d76 | type |
Added Alliterative Appeal | |
| Gemmalie / int_b5049d76 | comment |
Added Alliterative Appeal: "Charles", "Georges", and ostensibly "Gemmalie", the three main characters, are all names starting with a "sj" or "tsj" sound depending on the French or English pronunciation. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_b58b4e3c | type |
Too Dumb to Live | |
| Gemmalie / int_b58b4e3c | comment |
Too Dumb to Live: Gemmalie is very obviously, in her behavior and appearance, a being from beyond the grave. She looks like she has risen from the grave, with pale skin contrasted by purpurin lips, Oriental black hair, and eyes like hellfire, all packaged in a white dress that remind of funerary clothes. On her own, she only goes out at night, and usually to the cemetery, or when a big disaster claims multiple lives. Charles knows this. When he proposes to her for the first time, she tells him it's not done for her to be the wife of a mortal because she belongs to the grave. She has no family, no wealth, and she wants nothing to do with religion. When Charles proposes to her for the second time, she directly tells him it won't end well for him if they marry. Charles largely interprets all this as that Gemmalie is just despondent like that but he can make her better. Then after marriage he continuously suffers intense nightmares he cannot wake from until morning. Yet still he has the cheek to be shocked that Gemmalie turns out to be a ghoul. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_b5b18646 | type |
Fright Deathtrap | |
| Gemmalie / int_b5b18646 | comment |
Fright Deathtrap: Georges's ghost appears to Charles to clear his name, keep his oath, and get revenge after the latter murdered him. He leads Charles outside to the nearby cemetery where his corpse has been left to show him his wife, Gemmalie, greedily consuming the corpse's flesh. Charles hadn't been in great health for a long time already and the revelation that his wife is a ghoul is too much for his system, causing him to perish. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_b905c10c | type |
The Alcatraz | |
| Gemmalie / int_b905c10c | comment |
The Alcatraz: While staying in Marseille, Charles one sunny day makes a climb up a cliff to enjoy the view. Looking out over the Mediterranean Sea, he spots Château d'If, a prison island, as a black blot in the distance. As the sky darkens when a storm comes rolling in from the south, If is the first thing to become too obscured to see. | |
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| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
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| Gemmalie / int_b91eaeea | type |
Must Be Invited | |
| Gemmalie / int_b91eaeea | comment |
Must Be Invited: Gemmalie is a guest at the Paon inn and can move freely through it, but it seems she cannot enter other guests' rooms without their permission. When Charles and Georges retreat to Charles's room, just past midnight she throws open the door but stops at the threshold. Her eyes eerily fixed on Georges, she proclaims she's fulfilled her promise to see him again and leaves. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_b98b60fe | type |
Dissonant Laughter | |
| Gemmalie / int_b98b60fe | comment |
Dissonant Laughter: Gemmalie is ecstatic whenever death occurs, partly because it means she gets to eat, partly because the event itself just makes her happy. Notable is her laughter when a ship gets caught in a storm just of the coast of Marseille and its crew eithers drowns or get smashed by the waves. She also can't help but telepathically laugh when Charles has murdered Georges, even though her body pretends tears. On other occasions, she doesn't necessarily laugh, but shows other signs of delight, like when she hears the bells announcing a death or funeral, or amidst the violence of war. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_bd39588d | type |
Desecrating the Dead | |
| Gemmalie / int_bd39588d | comment |
Desecrating the Dead: Gemmalie is a ghoul who nourishes herself with human corpse meat. Her table manners when she gets herself a corpse are poor, letting pieces fall about as she relishes in her meal. | |
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| Gemmalie / int_bf3c06aa | type |
Nightmare Weaver | |
| Gemmalie / int_bf3c06aa | comment |
Nightmare Weaver: After marriage, Gemmalie keeps Charles subdued at night by subjecting him to nightmares that he cannot wake up from until she releases him or an external force wakes him. It isn't explained whether this is a passive power or one she actively has to engage nor what her influence, if any, is on the content of the nightmares. This cruelty serves the purpose of keep Charles malleable at day while at night he is prevented from finding out she's leaving his side to munch on human corpse meat. | |
| Gemmalie / int_bf3c06aa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_bf3c06aa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_bf3c06aa | |
| Gemmalie / int_c042eee9 | type |
Invisible to Normals | |
| Gemmalie / int_c042eee9 | comment |
Invisible to Normals: Gemmalie normally is visible to people, but she may not be when on the battlefield. Georges describes her as wandering through the violence of war without a care in the world, grabbing the arms of soldiers regardless of allegiance and directing their weapons to lethal outcomes. None of the numerous soldiers behave as if they are aware of her, except Georges, who does see her and tries to approach her. She notices and addressing him by name, she gives him hers and leaves. He sees her several more times during combat, and with one exception only during combat, and he always is the only one who seems to be aware of her and she keeps special track of his every movement too. | |
| Gemmalie / int_c042eee9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_c042eee9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_c042eee9 | |
| Gemmalie / int_c197275d | type |
Ethereal White Dress | |
| Gemmalie / int_c197275d | comment |
Ethereal White Dress: Gemmalie is a ghoul and every time her clothes are described, which is mostly before her marriage but also on the night of Georges's death, she's wearing a white dress reminiscent of a shroud or mourning clothes. | |
| Gemmalie / int_c197275d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_c197275d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_c197275d | |
| Gemmalie / int_c6d11745 | type |
Telepathy | |
| Gemmalie / int_c6d11745 | comment |
Telepathy: Gemmalie has some form of telepathy, which seems to be the reason Charles suffers nightmares for as long as she needs him to be asleep to come and go unnoticed. But twice she also uses it for direct communication. The first time is when she interjects in the conversation between the innkeeper, the grocer, Annette, and Charles about her. When the innkeeper declares that she must be Greek, she responds "Maybe..." None of the four understand where the fifth voice came from and chalk it up to imagination. Later, she telepathically calls out to Charles to come and save her from Georges when he's in bed and they're in the park. At the time, Charles doesn't recognize the voice, but he does have an inkling it's her when he hears the same voice laugh after he's murdered Georges. | |
| Gemmalie / int_c6d11745 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_c6d11745 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_c6d11745 | |
| Gemmalie / int_c75df49a | type |
Shout-Out | |
| Gemmalie / int_c75df49a | comment |
Shout-Out: There are a few references to other works and popular culture in "Gemmalie". Of the small cast, only the three main characters are named. And, for one reason or another, so is the side character Annette, the daughter of the owner of the Paon inn. Only two incidental lines in the text concern her and despite that her father and the grocer have a long and plot-relevant conversation with Charles, they are not named. Her name bears a resemblance to Ianthe, the name of the daughter of the innkeeper in The Vampyre. Georges is favorably put in the company of the historical Odysseas and Byron. Odysseas is Odysseas Androutsos, a major figure in the Greek War for Independence, and Lord Byron was an Englishman who fought in the Greek War of Independence on behalf of the Greeks. Byron also is important to the text as the (incorrectly credited) author of The Vampire. One of the theories the people of Northumberland concoct regarding Gemmalie's mysterious past is that she's Jewish and a direct descendant of the Witch of Endor from the Books of Samuel. Charles dies recalling "the fables of the Orient" in horror when he learns that Gemmalie is a ghoul. The plural "fables" probably includes stories about the Greek vrykolakas, but the main reference is to "The Story of Sidi Nouman". In this story, a man unknowingly marries a ghoul. Her behavior by day is off and one night he discovers her wanderings to the local cemetery to feast on corpses. | |
| Gemmalie / int_c75df49a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_c75df49a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_c75df49a | |
| Gemmalie / int_ca063422 | type |
Disease Bleach | |
| Gemmalie / int_ca063422 | comment |
Disease Bleach: Although Gemmalie has luscious jet-black hair, her pale skin is devoid of any hint of pink hues. She is like this because she's grave-born, but the people of Northumberland don't know this. Therefore, one of the rumors spread about her is that she's the daughter of a Caucasian brigand and that the horrors he'd dragged her too forever altered her visage. | |
| Gemmalie / int_ca063422 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_ca063422 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_ca063422 | |
| Gemmalie / int_cde51255 | type |
Antagonist Title | |
| Gemmalie / int_cde51255 | comment |
Antagonist Title: "Gemmalie" refers to the ghoul whose main concern in the story is getting to eat Georges Guilford. | |
| Gemmalie / int_cde51255 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_cde51255 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_cde51255 | |
| Gemmalie / int_d2d520f4 | type |
Our Ghouls Are Creepier | |
| Gemmalie / int_d2d520f4 | comment |
Our Ghouls Are Creepier: Gemmalie is identified as a ghoul but she also has aspects of the vrykolakas and succubus and may or may not function as a psychopomp. As a ghoul she is a consumer of corpses and appears to be an early example of a ghoul that cannot kill their own prey, but must rely on circumstances and manipulation. She delights when death occurs around her, but insists on treating the dead with respect when she's not eating them. She has telepathic abilities and possibly oracular qualities as she seems to be able to sense people's deaths-to-be and what needs to be in place to make them occur. While usually visible, there are circumstances when humans cannot perceive her, and she can become intangible, possibly by becoming one with darkness. Her main vrykolakas aspect is that she's ostensibly a Greek vampiric being and her main succubus aspect is that she is highly desirable but unattainable, leaving those who do get close to her with inescapable nightmares. | |
| Gemmalie / int_d2d520f4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_d2d520f4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_d2d520f4 | |
| Gemmalie / int_d71f18e | type |
Rescue Sex | |
| Gemmalie / int_d71f18e | comment |
Rescue Sex: After Charles kills Georges to save Gemmalie from abduction, he second-guesses himself. Gemmalie, so close to finally being able to eat Georges, does not need Charles obstructing her with an emotional crisis. She cuddles up to him, emphasizing that he saved his wife, and leads him back to their bedroom where the bed is prepared, perfumes released, and a suitable light ignited. But it doesn't come to actual sex because Gemmalie puts Charles into a deep, nightmare-ridden sleep. This scene, incidentally, suggests that Charles and Gemmalie never consumed their marriage, and that she always has pulled this trick on him. | |
| Gemmalie / int_d71f18e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_d71f18e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_d71f18e | |
| Gemmalie / int_dd95a27b | type |
I Never Told You My Name | |
| Gemmalie / int_dd95a27b | comment |
I Never Told You My Name: When Georges encounters Gemmalie during a midnight skirmish, she calls him by his name and introduces herself as Gemmalie. Amidst all the other weird things about her, neither he nor Charles when he recalls the meeting, take notice of the fact she knew his name without being introduced. | |
| Gemmalie / int_dd95a27b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_dd95a27b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_dd95a27b | |
| Gemmalie / int_e07342ac | type |
Makeup Is Evil | |
| Gemmalie / int_e07342ac | comment |
Makeup Is Evil: One of Gemmalie's aspects are her lips the color of purpurin. It is assumed to be natural because it's not the only peculiar thing about her, but it's eventually revealed her lips are either permanently or repeatedly stained by human blood. | |
| Gemmalie / int_e07342ac | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_e07342ac | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_e07342ac | |
| Gemmalie / int_eba6a077 | type |
Cain and Abel | |
| Gemmalie / int_eba6a077 | comment |
Cain and Abel: Charles and Georges are one in a friendship that goes back to their early childhood and that up to their late twenties makes them each other's only noteworthy companion, to the point that they join the Greek War of Independence in the hope to die together. And then Gemmalie steps into the scene. Charles becomes obsessed beyond all reason. Yet Gemmalie cold-shoulders him. Georges becomes fascinated and distracted but no more than that. Of course, Gemmalie constantly tries to be with him, preferably alone. Even though she asserts on several occasions to Charles that she doesn't love Georges and Georges on several occasions swears to Charles he loves him too much to get between him and the woman that he desires, jealousy consumes Charles. In the end, being very willing to believe that Georges is trying to abduct Gemmalie, he murders him. | |
| Gemmalie / int_eba6a077 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_eba6a077 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_eba6a077 | |
| Gemmalie / int_f10d3363 | type |
Distracted by the Sexy | |
| Gemmalie / int_f10d3363 | comment |
Distracted by the Sexy: Charles receives many clues and outright declarations that trying to get romantically involved with Gemmalie is going to lead to death, but he is so enchanted by her beauty spiced with an air of mystery that he's convinced he can make it work. It gets worse after their marriage. Charles had hoped that as his wife she'd come around and let him know her, but she remains cold and distant. Yet whenever he despairs, she casts him a glance that makes him run back like a hopeful puppy, only for her to instantly turn cold again when he's hooked, leaving him teetering on the edge. She has a similar effect on Georges, but he manages to return to himself every time instead of spiraling like Charles. In the end, Charles kills Georges and Gemmalie gets his mind of doubting the necessity of what he's done and possibly interfere with her intents by initiating rescue sex. | |
| Gemmalie / int_f10d3363 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_f10d3363 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_f10d3363 | |
| Gemmalie / int_f1d2c779 | type |
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin | |
| Gemmalie / int_f1d2c779 | comment |
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Gemmalie's skin is "pale, but dazzling like alabaster" and her teeth as white as milk. They contrast with her curly jet-black hair and pronounced dark eyelashes as well as her purpurin lips. Her appearance never changes from this and no one who sees her denies her unfathomable, even angelic beauty. | |
| Gemmalie / int_f1d2c779 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_f1d2c779 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_f1d2c779 | |
| Gemmalie / int_f3da74ff | type |
Creepy Crows | |
| Gemmalie / int_f3da74ff | comment |
Creepy Crows: The last night Georges spends in Greece, his travel to the port takes him through an abandoned battlefield that's blackened by the thousands of ravens feasting on the corpses. They fly up as he guides his horse through and their croaking seems to him admonishment for disturbing their midnight meal. | |
| Gemmalie / int_f3da74ff | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_f3da74ff | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_f3da74ff | |
| Gemmalie / int_f6624c30 | type |
Together in Death | |
| Gemmalie / int_f6624c30 | comment |
Together in Death: By the time Georges and Charles join the Greek effort to drive out the Ottomans, they have spent their twenties seeing everything and believing there is no more. The Independence War gives them purpose and they both cherish some hope to die side-by-side in battle. They both survive, but their joining of the war does circumstantially lead them to die together some years later as each other's killers. | |
| Gemmalie / int_f6624c30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_f6624c30 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_f6624c30 | |
| Gemmalie / int_ff6ae1f6 | type |
Evil-Detecting Dog | |
| Gemmalie / int_ff6ae1f6 | comment |
Evil-Detecting Dog: Unlike Georges, the horse he rides on does not need Gemmalie to tell them to leave twice. | |
| Gemmalie / int_ff6ae1f6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_ff6ae1f6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_ff6ae1f6 | |
| Gemmalie / int_name | type |
ItemName | |
| Gemmalie / int_name | comment |
||
| Gemmalie / int_name | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie / int_name | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Gemmalie / int_name | |
| Gemmalie / int_name | itemName |
Gemmalie |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
| Gemmalie | hasFeature |
Our Ghouls Are Creepier / int_d033df92 |
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