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This article is part of a series about the Sencen family |
Basic Information
Sencen
Current Members
Cassius Sencen • Gisela Minette Sencen • Keefe Sencen
History
Keefe's Legacy
Residence(s)
Candleshade • Shores of Solace
Lady Gisela Minette Sencen (pronounced Ji-sell-uh Min-net Sen-sin) is a series antagonist. She was one of the leaders of the Neverseen, but she has since split off (revealed in Stellarlune). She is Keefe's mother and Lord Cassius' wife.
Appearance
Lady Gisela is described as a very beautiful woman, with pale peach skin and blonde hair, which usually styles in intricate updos. Her eyes are ice blue, the same color as her son's. In Everblaze, she also has a red wound on her shoulder from when Keefe hit her with a goblin throwing star when she attacked Sophie, Keefe, and Silveny in Exile. When Tam gets taken into the Neverseen, he describes her as looking like "her face was so stretched it looked like it hurt." This appearance came from surgery to remove scars given to her by a shamkniv, King Dimitar’s [1]weapon of choice.
In Neverseen, two gnomes working for the Black Swan, Lur and Mitya, saw Lady Gisela being dragged to a cave near the Lake of Blood. She had dozens of wounds on her cheeks, chin, and neck, caused by a shamkniv by King Dimitar of the ogres. However, later in Flashback, it seems that the scars are gone, with her face looking like "the women Sophie sometimes saw growing up who'd had too much plastic surgery."
Personality
Although on first impression she seems like a somewhat normal person (although unnaturally cold and distant) the series has slowly revealed her true nature. In Flashback, it is said that she would crack “if she let her hair down or gave a true smile.”[2] She does seem to care about her son, but in a cruel manner. Throughout the series, this is shown when she wants him to complete his legacy. Gisela is ruthless and ambitious, doing whatever it takes to complete her goals. She is also very intelligent, which makes her dangerous. In Flashback, when Sophie and Fitz look into Keefe’s memories, she appears nice to Keefe, along with Lord Cassius. In fact, the theme of the memories became increasingly clear: two awful parents; but one was better. That was why Keefe was so shocked when they found out that Lady Gisela was a part of the Neverseen instead of Lord Cassius. Lady Gisela is also the master of mind games and manipulation, knows a special technique to block Telepaths, and has been known to have the capability to lie to Empaths.
Relationships
Notable Relationships
Keefe Sencen
- Son
Keefe is Gisela's son. Their relationship is bad at best, due to Gisela being a member of the Neverseen. Gisela seems to care about Keefe, although that may be only because of his legacy. But nonetheless, Gisela does seem to have a small place in her heart for Keefe, who might be the only person other than herself Gisela cares for.
Lord Cassius Sencen
Lord Cassius is Gisela's husband. Not much is known about their relationship, but they are both very cold parents to Keefe, yet all evidence indicates that Gisela cared very little, if anything, for Cassius. But while Cassius is a member of the Black Swan, Gisela is a known member of the Neverseen. Despite being on opposing sides and living apart, neither Cassius nor Gisela have filed for match-fail. Gisela has also mentioned that she only married him for his Empathy. But time will tell if that was all it was for.
Less Notable Relationships
Fintan Pyren
- Former ally/Enemy
Vespera
- Former coerced ally/Enemy/ Victim (Deceased)/Possible Love Interest
Umber
- Former ally
Trix
- Former ally
Tam Song
- Former coerced ally
Alvar Vacker
- Abandoned ally
Glimmer
- Former ally
Empress Pernille
- Current ally
Sophie Foster
- Enemy
Abilities
Lady Gisela is a Polyglot. This ability comes with the skill of mimicking as well, which she teaches to Keefe. She made herself sound like Keefe's dad so that the suspicion would not be on her at Candleshade. She has a photographic memory, which is where Keefe got his. As a Polyglot, her genes are primed for manifesting twice.
Lady Gisela is also a Conjurer as revealed in Stellarlune, when Lord Cassius showed Sophie his memory. Sophie and her friends also witness her use this ability when she conjures the explosives that killed Vespera, but it is thought that Lady Gisela is still learning how to use it (for lack of formal training).
She is not an Empath. Due to this, she married Lord Cassius and wanted to create an alliance with Vespera. This is because she needed an Empath for her version of Nightfall.
Involvement
Book 2: Exile
Sophie informally meets Lady Gisela on page 440 of Exile, at Alden's funeral. Gisela is sniping at Keefe, and Sophie is not impressed by her.
Book 3: Everblaze
Sophie formally meets Lady Gisela when she and Keefe visit Keefe's house. She notices that Lady Gisela has a scar on her shoulder. Later, they find out that Gisela got the scar when Keefe threw a goblin throwing star at her shoulder in Exile. It is revealed that Lady Gisela is part of the secret organization called the Neverseen. At first, Keefe believed his father was part of this group, but later realized it was his mother mimicking his father's voice when the Black Swan and the Neverseen fought on Mount Everest. Keefe was shocked by this, starting an everlasting grudge between him and his mother.
Book 4: Neverseen
It is unknown exactly what happened to Lady Gisela after Everblaze. But it was assumed she was tortured by the Ogres after two gnomes saw her being dragged away by two Neverseen members (one being Brant) in a horribly beaten state. During Neverseen, Keefe regains a memory that Lady Gisela erased about her involvement with a secret plan called the Lodestar Initiative. Along with this, Keefe is shown to secretly (but not strongly) have affection for her, with her being a mother, despite his contempt towards her.
Book 5: Lodestar
Lady Gisela escaped the Ogre prison in Lodestar.
Book 6: Nightfall
Lady Gisela helps Sophie find her parents throughout Nightfall in return for favors, one of which is to find and retrieve her Archetype, which she later reveals to be a test for Keefe. In the end, Lady Gisela forces Vespera to ally with her by using Ruy to keep her in a force field. She tells Vespera that she could either join her or be caught by the Council again.
Book 7: Flashback
Lady Gisela leads the Neverseen and follows Vespera's plan at the time of the eclipse. She later appears threatening the alicorns and Linh leading up to where she then blackmails Tam into joining the Neverseen.
Book 8: Legacy
Lady Gisela is mentioned before Sophie, Keefe, and Fitz go to London, before going to London to search for the leaping crystal, the three friends found out that the man who Gisela was trying to recruit was ruthlessly killed along with his daughter, the memory was uncovered in Flashback, with Keefe uncovering that his mother had sent him on a mysterious mission to the forbidden cities to deliver the letter that the man received. The man was named Ethan Benedict Wright and his daughter Eleanor Olivia Wright. Gisela was spotted on cameras shortly after the ruthless killing of the two humans with her hood blow back and her eye focused on a certain spot outside of the frame, which was believed to be the leaping crystal, shortly after this she mysteriously disappears.
Lady Gisela appears when Sophie is in London with Fitz and Keefe, looking for a leaping crystal that Gisela was hiding in the Forbidden Cities. After discovering it, Lady Gisela shows up with Tam and congratulates them for finding the leaping crystal. She also instructs Keefe to "embrace the change", and mentions his legacy several times. This causes Sophie to use her full inflicting and leaves Gisela lying on the ground, twitching. Sophie, Keefe and Fitz attempt to capture Lady Gisela, but Tam uses his shadows to take her back to the Neverseen with him. Sophie thinks that this is a betrayal from Tam's side and decides not to think too much about it. She finally decides that Tam would never do that and that it was a way to protect their lives.
In the note that the Neverseen sends Sophie two days after their encounter with them, Lady Gisela writes, "Bring Keefe. XOXO" at the bottom of it.
She is soon seen in Loamnore and is able to take control of the situation after warping Maruca into protecting her with a misguided forcefield. Once Keefe arrives, she uses her alliance with King Enki to knock everyone but Sophie and Keefe out and then uses Stellarlune to prompt a transformation for Keefe's legacy. Shortly after, Glimmer defects from the Neverseen, and Tam attacks Lady Gisela with shadowflux and injures her. However, she is able to escape. This proves to Sophie that Tam is still on their side of the battle and Tam is then reunited with his sister soon after. A notable thing though that Linh mentions is that she thinks that Tam is 'different' in a way. She then heads back to Choralmere because she seems to not like Glimmer very much.
Unlocked Linh Short Story
Lady Gisela is revealed to have escaped Loamnore and the bonds that Tam put on her.
Book 9: Stellarlune
Lady Gisela first appears in this novel in a washed memory that Lord Cassius was able to recover, where she reveals that she is a conjurer. She also tells Cassius in that memory that her stellarlune plan for her son has three steps.
Somewhere along the timeline of Stellarlune, Lady Gisela formed an alliance with Trollish empress, Pernille, in exchange for three human islands. This alliance caused Pernille to cancel all treaty negotiations with the Council. It also allows Gisela to use the troll's mutant newborn army.
Gisela's next appearance is at the very end of the book when she is in the stained-glass dome of Elysian. She calls her mutant trolls on Sophie and her friends, and kills her former ally, Vespera, with a shard of crystal from the power source. Sophie attempts to inflict on her, but her powers shut off when Elysian reveals herself.
Quotes
“Sometimes it’s better to be underestimated.”
“Honestly, Keefe”
“Sounds like the moonlark is finally learning to ask the right questions.”
“I know you're young and blissfully idealistic. But sooner or later you're going to realize that there's no such thing as loyalty.”
Trivia
- The name “Gisela” is from the Old High German[3] word gīsal, which means "pledge."[4]
- Minette means "Star of the Sea" and/or "Love" in Latin, and "kitty" in French.
- Lady Gisela hid her conjuring ability after manifesting, wanting to be underestimated rather than having everyone know that she is both a Polyglot and Conjurer.
- Lady Gisela has a photographic memory.
References
- ↑ King Dimitar
- ↑ Mentioned on pg. 353 on the hardcover version of Flashback
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_High_German
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisela_(name)