Jirel of Joiry

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.

Stories

C. L. Moore, "", Weird Tales, 24.4, pp. 402–21
C. L. Moore, "", Weird Tales, 24.6, pp. 701–18
C. L. Moore, "", Weird Tales, 26.1, pp. 30–53
C. L. Moore, "", Weird Tales, 27.1, pp. 53–71
C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner, "", Weird Tales, 30.5, pp. 556–75.
C. L. Moore, "", Weird Tales, 33.4, 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". Despite being a female character, her masculine traits have led to her being analyzed in the context of gender bending fiction.