Medea Clytemnestra Strong-In-The-Arm Lindenshield is a major antagonist in The Icemark Chronicles by Stuart Hill. The youngest daughter of Queen Thirrin and Oskan Witchfather, Medea is the only one of their children to inherit her father's Magical Gift. She is very antisocial and distant from her family and spends most of her time in her tower. She has never shown affection towards anyone or anything, even when she was a baby. She has great hatred for her youngest brother Charlemagne, also known as Sharley, as she feels he gets all the love and attention from Thirrin and Oskan because he has a withered leg due to polio, which he got when he was six.
Plot[]
Blade of Fire[]
When Oskan makes a prediction that Sharley is destined to go on a journey to the Desert People and come back with a 'Blade of Fire' in his hand, Medea has had enough and gives in to envy, and attempts to use her Magical Gift to murder him on several occasions, such as conjuring a magical storm when Sharley sails to the Southern Continent. She is told by Oskan that someday she will have to choose between the Light and the Dark, and in the end Medea ultimately chooses to follow the Dark, magically manipulating her family's minds to make them walk into a trap by the Polypontian General, Scipio Bellorum, which results in the death of another of her brothers, Cerdic. When Sharley returns to the Icemark as an admired warrior, Medea's hatred rises to dangerous levels and she tries to murder him by magically possessing his friend, Mekhmet, in order to kill him. This fails thanks to the help of the Blessed Women. Medea vows that she will destroy him, and as the the rest of the Icemark battle against Bellorum and the Polypontian Army, Medea sees her chance and sends down a bolt of lightning to kill Sharley. However, Oskan realises what she has done, deflects the lightning back at her and then banishes her to the Dark.
Last Battle of the Icemark[]
Unfortunately, two years later, Oskan realises that Medea is still alive in the Dark. Medea has successfully overcome all challenges in the Dark and is now the second most powerful being in that world, only second to the ruler of the Dark himself, Cronus, who also happens to be Oskan's father. On the night of Halloween, Medea manages to lure Sharley, Mekhmet and Kirimin to the Plain of Desolation where they get lost, and tries to kill them with a magically conjured Elephantus, a much bigger and more dangerous elephant. However, the trio manages to kill the Elephantus, much to Medea's fury. Eventually, Oskan manages to locate Sharley, Mekhmet and Kirimin, just as Medea is about to attack them. Oskan and Medea have a magical battle and Oskan manages to win and save the trio from the Plain of Desolation, but not before being burned to the bone by Medea. Cronus and Medea then plan to use an army of Ice Demons to invade the Physical Realms and conquer the Icemark while Thirrin is battling Erinor of the Hypolitan. The plan is a success and Cronus and Medea gain control of the Icemark, but not without resistance from the Vampire Queen and her vampires, who battle the Ice Demons. Cronus and Medea plan to conquer the entire world once the vampires are dealt with. Once Thirrin defeats Erinor, she and the rest of the Icemark, along with Oskan (who survived Medea's attack), hear of the invasion and go back to the Icemark to battle them. Thirrin and her army battle the Ice Demons while Oskan fights Medea and Cronus themselves. Oskan is eventually defeated and killed by the two evil beings, but this brings about Cronus and Medea's ultimate doom as well, as one of the Laws of Magic is that those with magic die if they kill those that they love. Deep down inside, Medea and even Cronus still had love for Oskan, and so they dissolve and finally die.
Origins[]
Medea, like most of Hill's characters, has her origins from a historical figure. She was based upon Medea from Greek mythology, the daughter of Aeëtes and a treacherous, evil sorceress who cold-bloodingly murdered innocent people, both outside of her family and within.