Jemis Greenwing

From The Nine Worlds by Victoria Goddard Wiki
Jemis Greenwing
Pronouns he/him
Title(s) Viscount St-Noire
Status Alive (resurrected)
Biographical Information
Age 20[1]or 21[2][3]
Ethnicity Alinorel
Woods Noirell
Culture Alinorel
World Alinor
Origin Ragnor Barony
Social Information
Affiliated With Peregrine Dart
Hal Leaveringham
Roald Ragnor
Parents Jakory Greenwing
Olive St. Noire
Benneret Buchance (step-father)
Siblings Sela Buchance(half-sister)
Lauren Buchance(half-sister)
Relatives Marchioness Noirell (maternal grandmother)
Vorel Greenwing
(see family tree for more)
Appearances

Clary Sage
Stargazy Pie
Bee Sting Cake
Whiskeyjack
Blackcurrant Fool
Love-in-a-Mist
Plum Duff
The Saint of the Bookstore
The Return of Fitzroy Angursell

Jemis Greenwing, the Viscount St-Noire and heir to the Marquisate of the Woods Noirell, is a minor noble and bookshop assistant at Elderflower Books from Ragnor Bella. He is the narrator and POV character for all of the main Greenwing & Dart series books, as of Plum Duff.

Biography[edit]

Early Life[edit]

Jemis Greenwing is the son of Olive St. Noire and Jakory Greenwing. He grew up in the Dower Cottage of Arguty Manor in Ragnor Bella. His father was frequently gone on tours with the army, but usually came home at least once a year. Jemis was good friends with Perry Dart and Roald Ragnor.

When Jemis was 10, his mother received word his father had died as the traitor of Loe. Two months later, another letter came that Jack died a hero, but by that time Jemis and his mother were marked as relatives of a traitor.

The Fall came before Olive could get clarification on the two letters. Benneret Buchance, a merchant who was quickly gaining wealth from his non-magical jars, courted Olive and they soon married. They moved from the Dower Cottage into town, and had two children, Sela and Lauren Buchance.

When Jemis was 14, Jack returned. Olive faced scorn for her accidental bigamy. After three weeks, Jack's body was found hanging in the woods. His suicide was taken as proof of his treachery. When Jemis was 15, his mother Olive got influenza and died. A year later Mr. Buchance married Elinor Buchance, and they had three children together: Elinor, Zangora, and Lamissa Buchance.

At 18, Jemis took the Entrance Exams and came in second place across the whole of Fiellan. He therefore was able to go to Morrowlea on scholarship.

Morrowlea[edit]

At Morrowlea, all students were required to use only their first names, no family names or titles. Thus Jemis was able to avoid the gossip about his father being connected to him.

Jemis was roommates with Hal Leaveringham and they became fast friends. He started his studies with History of Magic. At the Yule ball the first winter, Jemis met Lark Indrilline and began courting her. Lark convinced Jemis to switch his major to Classical Literature. Jemis became friends with Violet, who was part of Lark's group and the only other Classical Literature student in his year.

Unbeknownst to Jemis, Lark was giving Jemis wireweed and using it to steal Jemis's unknown small gift of magic. He attributed the euphoria it gave him to being in love with Lark. Jemis found that running helped him focus when he felt too full of energy, and on Violet's suggestion joined the cross-country team. He would often spend three or four hours a day running.

In the spring of his last semester, Jemis told Lark his family history. Shortly after she stopped giving him wireweed and Jemis went through withdraw, thinking it was hay fever. His final paper was largely unintelligible as a result. But before he could present it, Lark read her final paper arguing for the disgrace of Jackory Greenwing. Jemis responded by taking apart the logical arguments of her paper. Lark convinced the other students to attack Jemis for this, and he was pelted with their voting stones. Hal got Jemis to the school hospital, and the next day they and Marcan left the school early to avoid any more attacks.

Jemis, Hal, and Marcan take a walking tour on their way home. Marcan returns home to Westmoor after a while and Jemis and Hal continue on to Fillering Pool where Hal lives. Jemis stays there for a bit, then continues walking along the coast alone. He stops sending letters to his friends and family sometime in June, so it takes him too long to get the letter that Mr. Buchance died. Jemis returns to Ragnor Bella near the end of September, too late for the reading of the will.

Home Again[edit]

Jemis got a job at the local bookshop, Elderflower Books, because his step-father's inheritance couldn't be given until the Winter Assizes, and Jemis presumed he failed his final paper at Morrowlea, so can't continue his education.

His first weekend back, he reunited with Perry Dart, and they got involved with a mystery about a stargazy pie, a cult, a mermaid, and wireweed at the Talgarth Manor (See Stargazy Pie for more detail). Jemis found out from Violet that the teachers awarded him a First for his condemnation of Lark's paper, meaning he could get a second degree if he wished.

The next week, Jemis was confronted with a dragon that told him a riddle. Answering the riddle involved breaking the curse on the town of St-Noire and proving himself the heir of the Marquisate of the Woods Noirell.

In November, Jemis was kidnapped by his Uncle Vorel and Aunt Flora and prepared as a vessel for the Dark Kings. Jemis did not remember this, but found himself in Yellton prison with two men, who were later revealed to be his father Jackory, once more not dead, and Hal's great uncle Benneret Halioren. They were able to stop the ritual that would have brought a Dark King into this world using Jemis's body. Vorel and Flora were both arrested. Mr. Buchance's will was read, providing Jemis with half his fortune.

Not long after, Jemis traveled with Mr. Dart to Orio City to pick up Dart's relatives, get money from Mr. Buchance's banker, and buy supplies for the bookstore and the village St-Noire. While there, Jemis was kidnapped by Lark and locked in Orio Prison, along with his companions. Violet joined them and asked them to find her brother who was also trapped there. They were able to find and free him, and themselves, but at the cost of Jemis's life. In the afterlife, Jemis talked to the Lady of Green and White. She offered to bring him back to life if he and Mr. Dart could keep the Dark Kings from using this opportunity to inhabit Jemis's prepared body. They succeeded, and Jemis returned to life.

The group tried to head home, but had to wait out a blizzard in Master Boring's house. After finding a unicorn and solving a murder, they returned to Ragnor Bella.

Physical Description[edit]

"I’d inherited the long Greenwing nose and dark hair, but otherwise took after my maternal grandfather, or so people said, being short and lean and prone to freckles."[4]

"The young man was perhaps twenty or a bit older, rather short, lean, with disheveled dark brown hair and intelligent brown eyes. He was pale-skinned, lightly tanned, and I could see the wild remnants of a quite extraordinary array of magic still lingering about him. He was dressed in dusty, useful clothing, blue and brown hose and tunic, and carried nothing."[5]

Family Tree[edit]

 
 
The Honourable Lorkin
 
Jullanar Greenwing
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rinald Greenwing Sr
 
 
 
Marchioness Noirell
 
Marquis Udo
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Torquin Dart
 
Hamish Lorkin
 
Flora Greenwing
 
Vorel Greenwing
 
Rinald Greenwing Jr
 
Jakory Greenwing
 
Olive St. Noire
 
Benneret Buchance
 
Elinor Buchance
 
Jackory Inglesides
 
Elinor Inglesides
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jemis Greenwing
 
Lauren Buchance
 
Sela Buchance
 
Elinor Buchance (younger)
 
Zangora Buchance
 
Lamissa Buchance
 


Appearances[edit]

Greenwing and Dart series
The Return of Fitzroy Angursell
The Redoubtable Pali Avramapul

References[edit]

  1. Whiskeyjack, Chapter 22
  2. Stargazy Pie, Chapter 1
  3. Canon is somewhat ambiguous, with Jemis referring to Roald in SGP as "...around my age―twenty-one..." and in WJ says that his birthday isn't until February when the Marchioness wants to discuss his coming-of-age ball
  4. Stargazy Pie, Chapter 7
  5. The Return of Fitzroy Angursell, Chapter 19