Merry Gentry is the title character of fantasy series by US writer Laurell K. Hamilton, best-known for her previous series Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter. Since 2000, she has been alternating between the two series, publishing eight Merry Gentry novels as of 2009. According to the author's FAQ on her website, the next novel will be out in December 2012.
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Meredith NicEssus is a faerie princess turned private investigator in a world where faeries are not only known to the general public, but are also fashionable. She takes on the pseudonym "Merry Gentry" to hide from her family and her past while hiding out in Los Angeles, California as a private investigator at Grey's Detective Agency. Merry, the only Sidhe (pronounced "shEE") royal to be born on American soil, fearing the continuous assassination attempts on her life thinly disguised as duels, flees the Unseelie Court in a final act of self-preservation. Her glamour (the art of magical disguise through illusion) is nearly unrivaled at court, and she is able to pass herself off as a human with fey blood.
The general tone of the writing is less of an outright fantasy and more of an alternate history. The point of divergence from normal history is not provided, although hints are given about how the faerie history intersects with human history (Adolf Hitler, the Irish Potato Famine, and Thomas Jefferson are examples). In the books, Jefferson gave the Unseelie and Seelie courts asylum after the European courts exiled them—however with the caveat that they could not set themselves up as gods or make war on one another, by doing so they would risk being evicted from US soil.
Flash forward to present times. The fey are quite fashionable in the modern United States, and there are many faeriephiles. "Sightings" of the Elven American Princess have covered the tabloids for years now, and Queen Andais' magic is constantly following these false leads—which are becoming more popular than Elvis sightings.
At the beginning of the first book in the series, Merry's name full name and title is Princess Meredith NicEssus, Child of Peace, Besaba's Bane. "NicEssus" means, literally, "daughter of Essus"; it is the sort of name given to a child and laid aside once the child has come into his or her powers. That Merry used the name into her thirties is a sign that she is a late bloomer at best, a lesser sidhe at worst. After a child comes into their power, the last name is dropped. Later in the series it is revealed that Meredith is a fertility deity whose powers are of both courts.
As of the end of the second book in the series, Merry's titles are Princess of Flesh and Blood; at the end of the 4th book, The Red And White Goddess is added to her title by demi-fey who gave her the title when her magic gave wings to wingless demi-fey.
The series chronicles the return of Meredith to the Unseelie Court by way of an invitation sent by her Aunt Andais, the Queen of Air and Darkness in the form of her right hand, Doyle, also known as Darkness. She is given men from the queen's own guard, her Ravens, to guard her body and fill her bed as heir to the throne, provided she can conceive a child before her cousin. Later Merry adds to her collection of men first by taking the men offered to her by Queen Andais, as well as forming alliances with the Demi-fey and goblins.
Meredith formed her first alliance with Sholto King of the Sluagh when he is sent to Los Angelas by an unknown man (Later theorized to be Cel, her cousin). Once there Sholto uses his guards to track her down, however the hags (Sholto's guards and lovers) attempt to kill Merry. Once Sholto convinces Merry to accompany her to his hotel room they form an alliance which was to be consecrated by Merry having sex with Sholto. They are interrupted by Nerys The Gray who attempts to kill Merry. However, Merry comes into her first hand of power (the Hand of Flesh) due to her "shinning" moment with Sholto and uses her newly found hand of power on Nerys. She is eventually convinced to kill Nerys with Doyle's killing blade by Doyle and Sholto, because Nerys is immortal and cannot die even if she is turned into an inside-out ball of flesh.
The second alliance is formed between Merry and Kurag, King of the Goblins. This occurs when Merry is bled by the roses that line the entrance to the throne room of the Unseelie Court. She nearly passes out from blood loss and opens her eyes to see one of the goblins drinking from her open wound, (to goblins bodily fluids are sacred). She has the goblin detained and bargains with Kruag for a 6 month alliance in return for Merry taking a goblin (Kitto)into her bed. She deems this acceptable payment for the theft of her blood. Later Merry bargains for an extended alliance of 1 month for each sidhe-sided goblin that she brings into power. Also, Merry brings the Red Caps back to their full original power because she is the only Sidhe who possesses the full Hand of Blood. By doing so, the Red Caps owe here their own alliance outside of the one formed between Merry and Kurag.
The final alliance is struck between Merry and Queen Niceven (of the Demi-Fey). This is struck when Merry bargains for the cure to a curse that the Demi-Fey placed on Galen, under the direction of Cel. She bargains with Niceven for a year alliance during which the demi-fey will spy for Merry in exchange for weekly blood donations by Merry. This alliance is brought into question later on when Queen Niceven's surrogate, who can become nearly human sized, has sex with Meredith and becomes stuck in his form (at the same time, Meredith brings Nicca, one of her lovers, the wings that he should have been born with but instead had become a supernatural tattoo on his back) because of this, Queen Niceven sends to Meredith the Demi-Fey that were born without wings in hopes that she will also give them their wings.
To name the most prominent of her lovers (with titles in parentheses):
In A Lick of Frost, it was revealed that Merry was pregnant with twins, each with three fathers; the six fathers were Doyle, Frost, Sholto, Galen, Mistral and Rhys. These six, therefore, will become her kings if and when she ever takes the throne. She has (as of Swallowing Darkness) been specifically crowned by Faerie as Sholto's queen as well as Doyle's queen; however, she has made it quite clear that this does not mean she is bound to have either of them as her only king.
In addition, she has also bedded the Sidhe Adair, Amatheon, Ivi, and Brii, the half-goblin twins Ash and Holly, and the demi-fey named Sage. She has also had metaphysical sex with Barinthus (formerly Manannan Mac Lir).
In Swallowing Darkness, Merry was crowned Queen of the Sluagh by Faerie, and soon was formally recognized by the Sluagh as Sholto's queen. Near the end of the same book, Merry was crowned Queen of the Unseelie Court (the Crown of Moonlight and Shadows) and Doyle was crowned her king (with the Crown of Thorn and Silver); however, when offered a chance by the Goddess, they gave up the Unseelie throne in exchange for Frost's life.
She has also been offered the Seelie throne by certain members of the Seelie court, as their infertile king has gone mad and is no longer fit to rule, but has refused. Merry repeatedly states, both in her own thoughts and to her guards, that she does not believe she would be accepted on either the Seelie or Unseelie thrones because of her mortality and mixed (human, brownie, and Sidhe) blood, and that she would invite certain death for either herself or some of her men by attempting to rule either court.
Early in A Kiss of Shadows, Merry is assaulted by a human using Branwyn's Tears, a magical aphrodisiac/date-rape drug; this apparently unlocked her powers, as when she later had intercourse with her boyfriend, who was a roane, she returned his ability to change shapes (which he had lost after a fisherman burned his seal-skin) back to him. Later, she is attacked by Nerys the Grey, a night hag, and in the process of defending herself, accidentally turns Nerys into a screaming, agonized ball of inside-out flesh. (As Nerys was a creature of Faerie, she was able to survive the process, much to Merry's horror and revulsion.) This power is known as the Hand of Flesh, which Merry's father, Essus, also possessed. After this, Doyle gives her Queen Andais's sword, Mortal Dread, which she uses to put the inside-out night hag out of her misery. In the process, she becomes covered with blood, and Doyle tells her that in order to cement her powers, she had to cover herself in the blood of an enemy (which was his purpose in giving her the blade).
In A Caress of Twilight, Merry must protect Maeve Reed, an exile from the Seelie court, from the Nameless. During the battle, she charges the mass of energy and puts her left hand out; she feels her blood begin to boil, and large gashes appear on the enormous mass of magic. All Merry has to do is think "Bleed" (occasionally "Bleed for me!"), and the person (or things) bleeds. This is the development of the Hand of Blood.
Near the end of Seduced by Moonlight, after Merry duels with a Sidhe, her opponent does not die, though she is mortally wounded and has (as part of the pre-battle ritual) shared blood with Merry. As sharing Merry's mortal blood has previously caused other opponents to become mortal in battle, this may indicate that Merry is no longer a mortal. However, later books have not yet followed up on this development, and Merry herself still believes she is mortal.
In Swallowing Darkness, we see a darker side to Merry and her magic. For the second time she uses her magic as a tool for death. When facing Onilwyn she puts her left hand out and thinks "die' not "bleed". It is also detailed that during her fight with her cousin Cel she visualizes a fist inside him and when she opens that fist he exploded.
However for all the dark deeds done with her magic there is a lighter side. It seems that many times when she has sex with another person of power, something natural and beautiful grows. This is witnessed frequently throughout the books. The most amazing example of the lighter side to her magic is during one of the battle scenes in Swallowing Darkness Merry uses the hands of Flesh and Blood to heal wounded and dying soldiers who have fallen protecting her, showing that for every dark power there is a light use for it.
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