Princess Gwenevere, Sunstar, Sun Stone

Princess Gwenevere

  • Age: 16
  • Height: 5′ 6″ (167 cm)
  • Hair: Blonde, worn long (usually with a ponytail, sometimes with a fashionable braid)
  • Eyes: Piercing blue
  • Skin: Bronze golden/tan
  • Family: King Jared (Father), Queen Anya (Mother), Lady Kale (Aunt)
  • Favorite colors: Golds and pinks, offset by blues and violets.
  • Favorite foods: Ice pies, chocolate shakes.
  • Pet peeves: Tamara’s babies can be pesky troublemakers. Gwen has a big aversion to dirt and hates to get herself dirty.

Princess Gwenevere is the newest Jewel Rider. She is the beautiful daughter of Queen Anya and King Jared, the kingdom of Avalon’s royal family. She becomes the current leader of the group after she receives the Enchanted Jewel called the Sun Stone and is paired with the wondrous winged unicorn named Sunstar.

Gwenevere’s inheritance from her famous namesake includes courage, strong will, and a certain impulsiveness and coquettish attitude. Her loving royal parents have always had a difficult time controlling the headstrong girl and her fiery temper; they try to lead Gwen to realize her potential and her destiny to become the future queen of Avalon. 

Gwen is gorgeous, intelligent, graceful and poised, and always looking for romance and adventure. Being the Princess of the kingdom, Gwenevere is constantly aware of being in the public eye and is very concerned about her appearance and looks. Representing the new generation from the Crystal Palace, Gwen is quite at home in diplomatic affairs, especially royal parties. Hobnobbing and chit-chatting with the Lords and Ladies of the land comes very naturally to her and her innate intelligence, irresistible charm, and amazing beauty often puts her at the center of any crowd. 

She has many suitors, but clearly favours Drake and Ian, who both pledge their lives to her. Initially she is romantically attracted to Drake, the leader of the Knights of Avalon (the Pack) but finds his brashness annoying. Later, she also falls in love with the mysterious Prince of the Forest, Ian.

Although Gwen can be snobby and pretentious, sometimes taking the attitude of a pampered brat who loves being the center of attention and is obsessed with fashion and shopping, Sunstar always helps the girl develop her inner beauty.

“Did You Know?”: In countries outside the United States, Gwen is known as “Starla.” According to Greg Autore, this name was chosen for ease of copyright and translation. Gwen also originally had a little sister named Tara in early versions of the show!

Sunstar

The very rare winged unicorns are the most wonderful of all the unicorns. When Sunstar first met Princess Gwenevere, the unicorn was an outcast from her own kind because she was afraid to fly. But after she bonded with Gwenevere through the royal Sun Stone, and with Gwen’s love and support, Sunstar has matured into a powerful and graceful champion.

Sunstar has a sweet temperament and a sharp sense of what is right and wrong. Although Gwen has a tendency towards being selfish and shallow, the ever patient unicorn knows the young woman has a strong-willed nature and tremendous potential to someday be a great leader of the kingdom of Avalon.

 

 

 

Sun Stone

The Sun Stone is destined to be given to Princess Gwenevere. The jewel was handed down by Gwen’s mother, Queen Anya, after Merlin refused to give it to Anya’s twin sister, Princess Kale. Gwen’s mother used the Sun Stone in extraordinary ways. Everything Anya touched seemed to sparkle with life and beauty. It has its own theme garden at the Enchanted Gardens.

The Sun Stone emits a sparkling rainbow beam, Gwen is able to draw upon the colors of this rainbow to achieve different results. Green helps things to grow healthy, Yellow/Gold is “Beauty Energy” that transforms objects into beautiful things, Blue can be used to make force fields and power blasts. White grants Gwen telekinesis, the ability to move objects as well as herself, and can bend light to make things disappear and reappear.

The Sun Stone is most powerful at noon under the bright sun. The Sun Stone and the Moon Stone of Fallon work best together at the “magic hour,” at dawn and dusk, when the powers of the stones are balanced. 

 

 

Gwenevere vs Starla

Here at The Jewel Riders Archive, we are often asked: “Why was Gwenevere renamed Starla outside North America?”

To get the answer, we turned to our inside source, the Art Director of Jewel Riders, Greg Autore.

According to Greg, there are two possible reasons for the change:

  1. International names often have to have minor spelling changes or conjunction changes. so a simple less specific name translates better (too many ways to translate “princess”). You can also see the change when the characters say “Gwenevere vs Gwen and Princess Starla vs Starla.”
  2. Another reason may have been that Guinevere was probably legally trademarked in a country Kenner or New Frontier Entertainment wanted to release the show. For instance, Tamara was supposed to be Melody but that name was trademarked in the US. To this point, Sometimes toy companies already have some names registered for previously used IP. So it is easier to pick from available names. If Starla was one of those, it was probably a Fashion Star Filly, like Fallon.