Princess Miriamele

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Princess Miriamele, also known as Miri, is a fictional character in the world of Osten Ard in the books Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by author Tad Williams. She is the only child of Prince (later King) Elias. In looks she is attractive in a boyish way. With her golden hair and green eyes, she resembles her grandfather King John Presbyter, rather than either of her dark-haired parents.

Contents 1 The Hayholt 2 Naglimund 3 Road to Nabban 4 Sancellan Aedonites

[edit] The Hayholt

We first encounter Miriamele through Simon's eyes. As a kitchen boy and apprentice to Doctor Morgenes, he only hears the gossip about the nobles. She arrived at Hayholt with her father when King John summoned his sons to attend his deathbed. Rumours that Simon hears include her being beautiful and also the Princess being sad and wanting to return to Meremund, her childhood home. Simon also saw her once from afar, standing on a tower with the sun flashing in her golden hair.
He does encounter a slender youth with short black hair who spies on the two Princes. The next time when the youth seemed to spy on him, Simon caught him and he offered the name Malachias to Simon. While travelling through Aldheorte when Simon and Binabik saves Malachias and a small girl from the Stormspike hounds, we again see the princess in disguise, this time as the serving Marya. It is only at Naglimund that we see the real Princess Miriamele for the first time, her disguise now stripped away.

[edit] Naglimund

At Naglimund we still see Miriamele only through Simon's eyes. She talks to Simon about her frustrations since her uncle Josua won't let her travel to Nabban to gain the aid of her mother's kin. But Miri is uninformed and doesn't realise that Josua had already obtained her uncle, the Duke of Nabban's aid and support. She is very excited for Simon's part when he announces that is going north after the sword and gives him a blue scarf as reminder of her. There is definitely something blossoming between the two youths but they travel on different paths for a long time.
But after Simon, Binabik and their companions set out towards the north to retrieve Thorn, Miriamele left Naglimund in secret with only the drunken monk Cadrach for company. Vorzheva, the prince's concubine, is the one who helps her escape by providing coin, provisions and horses. Josua is furious with Vorzheva and sends Duke Isgrimmnur after Miriamele, since he is the only one she would listen to and return with.

[edit] Road to Nabban

From the second book onwards, we get 'n POV from Miriamele herself. She and Cadrach travel ever southward and she realises more and more that Cadrach is a drunkard and cheat and will sell her to the highest bidder. She is sought far and wide and will be a prize for any who catches her. They come upon the slaughtered Hernystiri where King Lluth and his so Gwythinn had falled, together with most of their soldiers. There a dying nobleman names Cadrach "Padreic" and although the monk tries to shrug it away, Miriamele is suspicious. On the island of Perdruinn, she is abducted by the Count Streawe, the absolute and nearly benevolent ruler of Perdruinn. He tells her that someone already knows where she is and that since he owes this person a favour, he will hand Miriamele over to him. Miri is furious and also realises that it was Cadrach who had betrayed her. For a couple of weeks she relinquishes in the Count's estate to await word from her mysterious "buyer". It is while in Perdruinn that she learns of the fall of Naglimund and a kind of hopelessness settles on her.
She and Cadrach are rowed across the Bay and without preamble she pushes Cadrach in the freezing water. She helps him get into the boat again also but vows that she will never trust him again until the stars shine at noon. Her captor is however an old friend, Father Dinivan, the aide of the lector of the Holy Mother Church, Lector Rannessin. He is also a member of the League of the Scroll and a very learned man, trained in the Art. He wants Miriamele to tell her story of what she had seen to the Lector, so that the Church may decide what to do. [The Church in Osten Ard is very like to the Roman Catholic church.] He is shocked however to see Cadrach, whom also he name Padreic. Later when Cadrach is sleeping, Dinivan tell Miriamele that Cadrach had once been called Padreic and that he was a prolific scholar who had been a member of the League as well. He suddenly fell away from them however, descending into drunkenness.

[edit] Sancellan Aedonites

Father Dinivan leads Miriamele and Cadrach to the city of Nabban where the Sancellan Aedonites is, the headquarters of the Aedonite church. There the lector Ranessin resides, a good and wise man in his seventies. Dinivan assure Miri that her story will be heard and judged in fairness by the Lector. The day after their arrival, Miriamele is summoned to the Lector and there she tells him of all she has seen and heard since before leaving Hayholt. She tells of her father's descent into madness, the hounds of Stormspike that had chased them, the Raed at Naglimund and the revelations of Jarnauga.