Faeries and the History of Fairyland – Guest Post by Lisa Dawn

Hey Jewel Fans! This month we’re celebrating fairies, and to do that we asked friend of the site Lisa Dawn, the force behind The Princess Blog, to share this amazing history of fairies with all of you!

The Fae Folk were once known as malicious tricksters who used magic to play dangerous pranks on the innocent. Over time, these mythological beings morphed into “faeries,” or “fairies,” who came to be known as adorable little creatures with wings and pointed ears that sprinkle magic dust everywhere they go. J.M. Barrie’s Tinker Bell from Peter Pan solidified this image, which is also referred to as a pixie. The concept of “Fairyland” grew from this child-friendly imagery to represent a magical place of glitter, rainbows, and tranquility. As children, we often imagine playing in our own personal Fairyland, where anything is possible. Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders brought this concept to life in the episode “The Faery Princess.”

Princess Wisp is a pink-haired faery that depicts the epitome of ‘90s “fairy princess” culture. She is adorable, playful, and has a big heart and big dreams. Her home of Fairyland looks exactly how a child from the ‘90s would have imagined it with pastel colors, enchanted lakes, and tiny castles. Even the rainbow bridge leading into Fairyland is a childhood fantasy reminiscent of the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz. This particular incarnation of Fairyland is ruled by King Odeon, which may be a play on the name Oberon, the fairy king from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in the same way that Princess Gwenevere’s name is a play on Queen Guinevere from the King Arthur tales.

In the Jewel Riders world, Fairyland is such a peaceful place that its inhabitants see the human world as chaotic in the same way that their fae ancestors were once portrayed. Long before Princess Gwenevere and her friends became Jewel Riders, King Odeon closed the rainbow bridge and cut off contact between the faeries and the humans in Avalon. Though we never learn the exact events that led to this, it is likely that someone similar to Kale attempted to invade their land generations earlier. When the Desert Star Crown Jewel ends up in Fairyland and opens the bridge, Odeon realizes that there are just as many good humans in the world as there are bad ones and signs a contract with Queen Anya to open the bridge permanently.

Faeries are not the only creatures that Avalon’s Fairyland is home to. King Odeon keeps a herd of prized sheep that he counts on a regular basis. Princess Wisp is sometimes tasked to keep an eye on them, but her penchant for daydreaming causes her to slack in her duties. Wisp is friends with a small purple dragon named Windy, another inhabitant of Fairyland. It is likely that more dragons live there even though Windy is the only one we see. Since Wisp never had her own toy, Windy was an accessory that came with the Jewel Adventure Deluxe Fallon doll and perched on Fallon’s arm using magnets.

Some people might find fault with the hyperbolic peace-loving nature of the faeries portrayed in Jewel Riders in comparison with the fae folk. However, for those of us who grew up in the ‘90s, it is a perfect representation of the type of magical and harmonious world that we loved to imagine as children. Princess Wisp is also a terrific foil to Princess Gwenevere. Where Gwenevere ushered in a new era of empowered princesses who led their teams on magical quests, Wisp harkened back to an age where princesses were locked away and desired to learn more about the outside world but were never given the skills to handle it. That’s why the Jewel Riders are the perfect companions for Avalon’s peaceful faeries.