The Empress

"'Oh, darling, you might as well kill me.' - Malice to Gillion Tidestrider after her defeat in episode 25"The Empress is a powerful, human woman reminiscent of medusa, should her powers have stemmed from music. She is played by Grizzly_Plays.

Appearance
The Empress, AKA Stella or her stage name Malice, is a slender woman with sharp features and scarlet hair that moves like flames. She wears a garnet red bodysuit etched with golden reptilian patterns that sports glistening, golden armor around the neck and going down her arm and one side. Her legs are covered with a pair of thigh-high boots, and underneath golden armbands attached to a flowing red cape is a tattoo of eight colourful snakes curling up her arm. Her bottom lip is covered in red lipstick.

In episode 24, her hair turns from scarlet red to a vibrant shade of blue. After she is defeated by the Riptide pirates, her hair turns back to red but falls flat against her shoulders.

Personality
Stella was an impromptu, sudden sort of 'ruler' of Desire Island a mystical island spoken in pirates tales and stories, though after her arrival was reduced to a quiet, stone-filled place known as the Isle of Ire. She owns a sparkling magic keyboard that disappears and reappears at her will and can transform into a wide circular keyboard. Playing this keyboard has the ability, or moreso the curse, of turning those who hear it to stone- though not everyone is automatically turned entirely to stone, and very few can fight it off.

Stella was cold, brutal and persistent in her one goal; find the compass hidden within the ruins of Desire Island. While she is collected and elegant for the majority of the arc, even willing to negotiate with the crew/her prisoners after Gillion was revealed to be her 'the one' and promising to grant them and the sisters freedom after she was given the compass, when she doesn't get her way- she erupts. Willing to kill and to control to get what she wants, no matter the cost, no matter if she survives or dies in the end. And by the end of her biggest goal, she winds up in a place just in the middle.

Prior to the events of Riptide
Stella was an aspiring musician and entertainer raised in a place where music and fame were everything, so much so that she was willing to make a binding deal with the 'Wish Doctor,' Niklaus Hendrix.

When the deal was formally made and agreed on by both parties, her wish was one of popularity, to be seen by audiences and in concerts, which she received. At one, overwhelming cost though; Every time she'd play her keyboard, everyone who heard it would turn to stone.

She learned this the hard way during one concert, watching as the entire audience became immortalized in rock. Fleeing from the island with an agony and hatred deep in her heart, swearing vengeance on the man who cursed her music, even though he had vanished after her price was paid. She sought out Desire Island because of how Niklaus had spoken of it, hellbent on retrieving the compass deep within its ruins under the assumption it would lead her to him.

As she arrived and attempted to break through the sealed walls and doors of the ruins, she was attacked by the daughters of Alveros -- Maria, Satasha and Aslana, though Aslana was more than likely a bystander as her seabound tail and fins could not allow her to fight on land. Unfortunately for the three sisters, Stella was stronger thanks in part to her curse, and when she was attacked she fought back with fury and anger, looking back on this years later after her defeat with the line "Maybe I was an emotional wreck... But I fought them anyways. Played my music for the whole island, and the whole island lost."

After she had defeated the sisters, the entirety of Desire Island was turned to stone. Perhaps even the sisters as well, as then here this could have been when Stella discovered the solution to freeing people from their rock prisons -- a mixture of her blood and the Limonium flowers that grew on the island, though a lot of both was needed to unfreeze even a handful of victims.

Whatever the case, once Stella had gained control of the island she found she could not enter the ruins regardless. Maybe in part of the door that only opened if one could read the Celestial writing out loud. She made herself the ruler of the now Island of Ire, referring to herself as The Empress as she placed a curse of her own on the sisters, turning Maria's already winged form into a more animalistic Harpy, blinding Satasha, but turning both them and Aslana into puppets under her control that would turn into monsters at Stella's command; teeth sharpening, faces cracking, gaining a bloodlust for people.

From then on, maybe for a decade or longer including her search for the island, Stella waited on the island for sailors to pass by its waters too close; Aslana luring them in deeper like a siren before they'd be captured. They would then be brought before Stella, and she'd ask them two questions. After those questions, she'd play her music, and she'd test to see if any of them would be able to break free from the stone. If not, or if only partially, they'd be thrown with the rest of the stone statues or killed by Maria or Satasha.

And this cycle continued with little to no end in sight, until Chip, Jay and Gillion were brought to her throne.

Niklaus Hendrix
Stella had a close relationship with Niklaus that went beyond their deal, them often spending time talking over their past lives and travels, as said by Stella after her defeat in episodes 24 and 25. In said episodes, she mentioned that Niklaus would talk about his life on Desire Island, the king Alveros, and the compass he had made for that king. In episode 56, Niklaus makes a joke about Stella, implying an intimate relationship they might have had before she was cursed. After her curse though, she became vengeful and furious towards him, wanting nothing but to track him down and have him turn her back to the way she was before- even if by force.

Maria
Maria was an unwilling bodyguard and assistant to Stella, but the two appeared to have had formed a shaky sense of trust over the years. Even with her obvious resentment, Maria would willingly move to protect the Empress, even bursting into the palace in a panic when the roof was broken by the Riptide pirate's ice sled, calling out for the Empress first. Chances are though, this protective nature comes from complacency and fear. When in the final battle with the pirates and Stella, Maria was quick to turn on her when snapped out of her trance.

Satasha
As with Maria, Satasha served as one of Stella's bodyguards and jailers during her decade on the island. Satasha shared a similar sentiment of the Empress to Maria, but notably, the two were closer than Stella was to the other sisters. Close enough that Stella indulged Satasha on the specifics of her questions and trial, when that information was hidden from everyone else.

Aslana
The two did not interact as much as the other sisters and Stella did, thanks mostly to Aslana's state as a mermaid. Aslana mentioned being scared of Stella, but showed a little more courage and willingness to go against the Empress' orders, especially if it meant saving her sisters and the island.

Ethereal Keyboard
The main source of her power and curse, Stella's ethereal keyboard is a beautiful, floating keyboard that partially surrounds her. Upon the keys being played, it releases a flash of red energy that causes a victim to begin turning to stone. It can shift forms, seen in episode 25 when she transforms it into a larger, circular keyboard. It manifests at will, and when Stella poofs it away, it disperses into red and pink glitter.

Trivia

 * Her design was inspired by Symone, a drag queen; her outfit was inspired by this look in particular.

Art References
