Jirel of Joiry is a fictional character created by American writer C. L. Moore, who appeared in a series of sword and sorcery stories published first in the pulp magazine Weird Tales.
The character Jirel is the proud, tough, arrogant and beautiful ruler of her own domain, Joiry; somewhere in late medieval France. "Quest of the Starstone", says that she lived circa 1500 CE. Her adventures continually involve her in dangerous brushes with the supernatural. In her afterword to the collection The Best of C. L. Moore, the author stated that Jirel and her earlier creation Shambleau, both represented idealized images of herself.
Significance These stories are among the first to show the influence of Robert E. Howard on sword and sorcery, and among the first sword and sorcery stories of any kind. They also introduced a female protagonist to the genre.Lin Carter, ed. Realms of Wizardry p 205 Doubleday and Company Garden City, New York, 1976
Stories C. L. Moore, "The Black God's Kiss", Weird Tales, 24.4 (October 1934), pp. 402–21 C. L. Moore, "Black God's Shadow", Weird Tales, 24.6 (December 1934), pp. 701–18 C. L. Moore, "Jirel Meets Magic", Weird Tales, 26.1 (July 1935), pp. 30–53 C. L. Moore, "The Dark Land", Weird Tales, 27.1 (January 1936), pp. 53–71 C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner, "Quest of the Starstone", Weird Tales, 30.5 (November 1937), pp. 556–75. (This story also featured Moore's other series character, the future space adventurer Northwest Smith.) C. L. Moore, "Hellsgarde", Weird Tales, 33.4 (April 1939), pp. 37–60.
Continuation by other writers In 2024, "Jirel and the Mirror of Truth" by Molly Tanzer, appeared in the third issue of New Edge Sword and Sorcery. This was written with the permission of Moore's estate.
Reception She has been described as one of the first strong female characters in fantasy and "the world's first female sword-and-sorcery hero".Helland, Jonathan. "CL Moore, M. Brundage, and Jirel of Joiry: Women and Gender in the October 1934 Weird Tales." The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror (2015). Despite being a female character, her masculine traits have led to her being analyzed in the context of gender bending fiction.Toland, Jacqueline. "Gender-Bending Genres: Queerness, Female Masculinity, and Warriorship in C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry." Masters thesis., Florida Atlantic University, 2020.
Bibliography
. This collects all of the Jirel stories and the majority of stories featuring Northwest Smith. .
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