Princess Dewdrop
Names: Princess DewdropDewdropthe princess
First appears in Book 3: Death's End, chapter 49 (The First Tale of Yun Tianming “The New Royal Painter”)
Appearances
What you know
Book 3: Death's End
- Ch 49Beautiful, kind, and smart, she was named heir apparent by the king and will be queen regnant.
- Ch 49Calm in crisis, she lets Ethereal into her room and helps him prepare the snow-wave paper.
- Ch 49Princess Dewdrop's king and queen have been painted into pictures and are gone; she must be shielded until her portrait is burned.
- Ch 49Princess Dewdrop flees the palace disguised as a commoner in a carriage toward the Glutton's Sea.
- Ch 50Dewdrop is the princess who has lived all her life in the palace and sees the outside world for the first time; she resolves to act as queen.
- Ch 50She longs to cross the sea by sailboat to faraway places, and compares herself to a dewdrop that will vanish in the sun if the umbrella closes.
- Ch 50She notices for the first time the needs of others, offering to spin the umbrella so the captain can rest.
- Ch 51Proves her identity by a blood test: her blood and Deep Water's turn blue when touched together, confirming they are siblings.
- Ch 51Concludes that her calm older brother is even better suited to the throne than she is.
- Ch 51Dewdrop chose not to be queen, believing her brother Deep Water better suited to rule, and wanted to leave to find stories.
- Ch 51Dewdrop carried a spinning black umbrella that protected her from her portrait's lethal effect; its cries rose as it slowed and the portrait burned.
Connections
- family ofAuntie Wideformer wet nurse and caretaker
- family ofPrince Ice Sandbrother
- family ofPrince Deep Waterbrother
- ally ofMaster Ethereal
- ally ofAuntie Widecaretaker
- ally ofcaptain of the palace guards
- led bycaptain of the palace guardsguards and drives her party
- enemy ofPrince Ice Sand
- partner ofcaptain of the palace guards
Key moments
- Book 3 · Ch 49Ice Sand's feigned loyalty
At the king's sixtieth birthday, where Dewdrop is named heir, Ice Sand humbly supports her and presents Needle-Eye as the new royal painter.
- Book 3 · Ch 49Ethereal warns the princess
Ethereal arrives with a spinning umbrella, explains Needle-Eye's magic, and with Auntie Wide's obsidian iron begins flattening snow-wave paper to paint Needle-Eye.
- Book 3 · Ch 49Ethereal sacrifices himself
Ethereal gives instructions for the umbrella and tells the princess to bring Deep Water to kill Needle-Eye. He urges her to leave, then is painted into a picture and vanishes.
- Book 3 · Ch 49Flight from the palace
At dawn the princess, Auntie Wide and the captain leave in a carriage in disguise, while Needle-Eye finishes the princess's portrait.
- Book 3 · Ch 50Flight to the sea
Having escaped the palace unpursued, the princess, Auntie Wide and Long-Sail travel a day by back routes, keeping the umbrella spinning, and reach the shore at midnight, where a plank is devoured by glutton fish.
- Book 3 · Ch 50Long-Sail tells the story of the glutton fish
At night on the beach, Long-Sail recounts how glutton fish escaped into the sea, sealed off the kingdom, and turned the Storyful Kingdom into the Storyless Kingdom. The princess confesses her yearning to sail away.
- Book 3 · Ch 51Crossing to Tomb Island
Long-Sail, Dewdrop and Auntie Wide row a small boat to Tomb Island, dragging soap foam that pacifies the glutton fish, and reach Prince Deep Water.
- Book 3 · Ch 51Identity proven and return
A blood test confirms Dewdrop's identity; Deep Water, his followers and the party return along the foam wake. Cavalry sent to kill the princess do not attack and escort them toward the palace.
- Book 3 · Ch 51Deep Water kills Ice Sand
Deep Water arrives at the palace with the army watching; in a duel Ice Sand misjudges distance because of Deep Water's lack of perspective and is stabbed through the chest.
- Book 3 · Ch 51Long-Sail burns the portrait
Long-Sail finds Needle-Eye's studio empty with his self-portrait and portraits of Dewdrop and others, and burns Dewdrop's portrait. Dewdrop then closes her umbrella unharmed.
- Book 3 · Ch 51Dewdrop and Long-Sail leave the kingdom
Dewdrop takes the last soap bars and sails away with Long-Sail at dawn, leaving the kingdom storyless and isolated.