King's Quest Omnipedia
Register
Advertisement

Icebella is a frozen monarch that Graham met in the high mountains of Serenia.

Background

Icebella's realms stretch across the highest peaks of the highest mountains, and encompass all of the world's polar regions. She rules from her Ice Palace in the northern mountains of Serenia.[1] Her palace is naturally guarded by the steeps cliffs and frozen banks dotting the mountains, and any traveler entering the mountains must be adequately protected or risk freezing to death. So private a monarch is she, that the tales told of her have in the past been considered fables and fancifications.

Icebella values her isolation and privacy and enforced a policy of capital punishment for all who enter her realm without invitation. She never issues invitations. One small kiss from her will chill a man's soul; the second is cold death.

It is said that Icebella once had a warmer heart, but it was pierced by a shard from a magic mirror. That mirror had the malevolent power of reflecting all good and beautiful things as ugly and deformed. One day the mirror was dropped and pieces of it, most as tiny as the smallest grains of fine sand, were scattered by the winds throughout the world. If a grain entered someone's eye, they would see the world as an ugly place. If one entered a person's body, their heart would turn as cold and solid as the hardest ice. And this is just what happened to Icebella.

It is also said that music has the power to thaw such a cold heart for a short time, and this quirk alone is what saved the lives of Graham and Cedric. Love alone can melt the hardness, and until Icebella finds love her heart is doomed to be as frigid as her kiss.

Icebella's sole pleasure is the Yeti Cave, a crystal cave. It is a beautiful natural paradise inside a nearby mountain containing green quartz pegmatite crystals of all sizes, as well as running waterfalls.

King Graham and Cedric ventured into the Great Mountains hoping to find some clue of the whereabouts of Mordack. Cedric was captured and Graham was forced to convince Icebella to spare both of their lives, in exchange for liberating her Crystal Cave from a yeti who had taken up residence. King Graham had heard stories about Icebella, but never believed there was truth to them until he encountered her in person.

Icebella apparently knew of Graham previously and foresaw his coming to her domain.

Personality and traits

Icebella, attended only by her army of wolves, rules the frigid peaks and icy wastes of that world. Her consort is the changeling and werewolf, Sir Greywolf.[2] Her only subjects appear to be a group of grey and dire wolves lead by Sir Greywolf. They act as her guardians and liaisons between her kingdom and the rest of Serenia.

Rumors suggest she is an unforgiving Ice Queen who uses sinister powers to promote her wicked cause.[3] Still others believe she is an ally of the Black Forest Witch and share the same cause.

Titles

  • Queen Icebella
  • Queen of Winter
  • Ice Queen
  • Queen of the North

See also

Behind the scenes

The Ice Queen, the magic mirror, and her frozen heart is based off of a number of various stories and fairy tales that include frozen queens/maidens/princesses.

Her being described as 'wicked' appears in several descriptions including back of the game synopses in InterAction magazione and KQ5 NES box.

These include, the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. She is also based on Jadis, White Witch of the Chronicle of Narnia series who had an army of wolves and werewolves under her command. This was more clear in the development concepts when she was known as the 'Ice Witch'... Another possible reference is Snegurochka, the Ice Maiden from a Russian fairy tale, adapted into English as the story Snowflake in Andrew Lang's Pink Fairy Book. In the story her heart warms after she learns to know love, but she also melts in the process. She appears to also be based on elements of the story of Heart of Ice (from which Genesta originally appeared in), and has a character with a frozen heart with a similar name Sabella (which is the source of Icebella's name). Sabella's frozen heart was kept on Ice Mountain (similarly Icebella lives on Snowy Mountain).

In KQV CD-ROM, she was voiced by Lori Ann Cole, designer of the Quest for Glory series.

Icebella's Wardrobe

  1. KQC4E, pg 207
  2. KQC2E, 498
  3. KQ5 NES Box
Advertisement