Iolanthe Compton-Jones is a British Royal and a former member of the Four Legendary Kingdoms. Despite some initial rivalries with them, she later became a trusted and knowledgeable member of Jack's West Jr's team.
History[]
Early History[]
Iolanthe Compton-Jones was born as a royal. She and her older brother, Orlando, became members of the Kingdom of Land that included their British homeland, as part of the ancient group known as the Four Legendary Kingdoms. Because of her membership in the Four Kingdoms, Iolanthe was taught about the true history of mankind, as well as learning of the trials set by super-ancient beings to test humanity.
When Iolanthe was a teenager, the Jesuit Bertie de Montreuil was assigned to be her mentor, and while the young princess behaved with a similar willfulness and insolence to other royals Bertie had met, he found that she was both brilliant and talented. Through Bertie's teachings, Iolanthe came to learn more about the trials than most other royals, and was even privileged enough to see some secret artefacts such as the Vatican globe (albeit only a brief glimpse of one side). Iolanthe quickly became Bertie's best student, coming to see him as a surrogate father figure, and was given the nickname Io after Jupiter's fourth moon by him.
Later, Iolanthe was granted the position of Official Keeper of the Royal Records for the House of Windsor. Throughout her years working at the Hall of Royal Records at St. Michael's Mount, Iolanthe was able to further learn more of the history and information that the Four Kingdoms had accumulated over the millennia, often reading or discovered documents containing new information that surprised her, such as a diary of Elizabeth I's mentioning a previously unknown chess championship in Constantinople. Among the other things Iolanthe learned was the royals' records on the Machine and how its components were affected over the years, a letter to Queen Elizabeth from Sir Francis Drake noting that he had the coordinates to the Three Secret Cities of the Trial of the Cities, and a lost Kings Eyes Only document revealing that the Altar of the Cosmos had inadvertently been uncovered in 1942.
As a high-ranking member of the British royals, Iolanthe was also allowed to access her family's talisman, one of the six Pillars - the Fourth - of the Machine. During the early 21st century, Iolanthe began working closely with her Russian cousin, Vladimir "Carnivore" Romanov, on attempting to relocate the components of the Machine that had become lost over the millennia, but as he was the current King of Land, she was subordinate to him on the project. She disliked his vicious and selfish nature, and only remained allied with him since her British relatives believed that their alliance would be beneficial to all the royal families in the Kingdom of Land.
Some time after the mission to restore the Golden Capstone in 2006, Iolanthe and Carnivore discovered an alliance between Jonathon "Wolf" West Sr, Mao Gongli, Vulture and Scimitar to find the remaining Pillars and restore the Machine to prevent the Dark Star from destroying life on Earth. Carnivore had Iolanthe join their alliance so that she could find out what they knew and, if possible, procure the Pillars for themselves.
The Six Sacred Stones[]
When Jack West Jr asked Astro to have Paul Robertson contact the British Royals to request the use of their Pillar, Iolanthe was chosen to take the Pillar to the meeting of nations on Mortimer Island. Upon arrival, Iolanthe showed off the Pillar and was introduced formally to Jack and the younger of the twin Oracles of Siwa Lily. She was amused by Lily's pride in Zoe Kissane's 'Princess' call-sign, but was taken down a peg when Jack pointed out the fact that her family name came from a house.
Once the dates for the laying of the Pillars and the first Vertex were determined through two of the other Sacred Stones, Iolanthe allowed her Pillar to be cleansed by the Philosopher's Stone. As Jack and his team prepared to leave for the first Vertex at Abu Simbel, Iolanthe stated that she had other information on the Pillars that she had to share, so he told her to accompany them.
En-route, while Iolanthe was out of the room, Vulture questioned Iolanthe's trustworthiness, and most of the others agreed that the royals had their own agenda. Iolanthe caught on to the discussion as they wondered where the other Pillars were likely to be and the necessity of royalty, adding her own opinion as well as noting that the rebuilding of the Machine was likely to change everything. Later in private, she discussed the team's loyalty to Jack, and informed him that the second Pillar likely resided with the Neetha and that she had no clues as the whereabouts or function of the Basin of Rameses II.
At Abu Simbel, Iolanthe ventured out with the others onto the lake, and waited on the surface as Jack, Max "Wizard" Epper and Zoe laid the Pillar. Once it was done, Lieutenant Ashmont and his team took the other team members hostage, as Iolanthe had arranged for them to lie in wait, and they proceeded to take the Pillar, Wizard and Lily, and left Jack, Zoe, Astro, Pooh Bear and Alby to the crocodiles. However, as they arrived at their cars, some Japanese men disguised as tourists suddenly suicide bombed them in an attempt to destroy the Pillar, Firestone and Philosopher's Stone. While Iolanthe was lucky enough to only be knocked unconscious, Wizard fled with Lily and the Pillar, and shortly afterward she was recovered by Wolf's men.
Later, Iolanthe joined Wolf at his mine in Ethiopia, where he had most of the Coalition team captive, and waited outside as he dealt with his son.
The Five Greatest Warriors[]
Iolanthe was in Cape Town during the placing of the second Pillar at Table Mountain's vertex, and afterwards she, Wolf, Rapier, Mao, Vulture and Scimitar discussed their next move for the placing of the remaining Pillars, with Iolanthe pointing out her continued possession of the fourth Pillar, and the suspicion that the Japanese Imperials still had the third.
Over the next few months, Carnivore's agent with Jack's team, Diane Cassidy, informed Iolanthe and Carnivore of the Coalition team's discoveries during their research into the Five Greatest Warriors, while Iolanthe also relayed the CIEF's discoveries. In early March, the royals' spy network revealed that Pooh Bear, Stretch, Julius and Lachlan had recovered the Basin of Rameses II from the British Museum, and Iolanthe had them tracked to Scotland as they recovered water from the Spring of the Black Poplar.
It was as they were heading back to England that Iolanthe intercepted them, but rather than take the Basin from them, she set up a video link to Carnivore back in Russia, who had captured all of the others involved in the quest to rebuilt the Machine. Carnivore explained to all his plan to take all of the Pillars from them and lay the sixth by forcing them through holding hostages, and arranged for Jack, Lily and Sky Monster to take the fifth Pillar and meet Iolanthe at Diego Garcia where the fifth Vertex was located.
Having been sent the Firestone by Carnivore, Iolanthe used it and the Basin to give her Pillar its second cleansing, before leaving the Pillar with Pooh Bear's group and proceeding to Diego Garcia with the Basin and Firestone. Upon meeting Jack at the American base, Iolanthe remarked about him possibly being single after the revelation of Zoe having slept with someone else. After they were led by General Dyer and Felix Bonaventura into the Fifth Vertex, Iolanthe waited in the crane as Jack and Lily navigated the Vertex's traps.
However, Bonaventura accidentally set off the trap system before Jack reached the bottom, and remained with Jack and Lily at the pyramid's peak. Needing Iolanthe's help to place the Pillar, Jack asked that she hold on to him to keep the rushing water from dragging him in the abyss. Despite his expectation that she would allow him to fall into the abyss once he set the Pillar, Jack was surprised that Iolanthe actually kept him from been swept away. Once Diego Garcia's forces turned on them, Iolanthe was quick to stay by Jack's side as he led them to escape on the Halicarnassus.
When Jack made clear his plan to retrieve the Sixth Pillar from Jesus Christ's tomb before Vulture's team got it, Iolanthe noted that she would have to inform Carnivore. When Jack suggested she didn't have to, Iolanthe admitted she was unsure of whether her loyalty to her family was worthwhile, while he had certainly gained hers, and offered to let him join her in bed. Though Jack decided not to take her up on it, Iolanthe none-the-less joined Jack and Lily as they ventured into the ancient salt mine above Jesus' tomb, and was left to keep watch as Jack retrieved the Pillar. Though they were briefly accosted by Vulture and Scimitar, once Pooh and Stretch arrived and killed them, Iolanthe helped Jack take his wounded friends back to the surface.
Carnivore was waiting for them, however, and Iolanthe quickly returned to her cousin's side and reported what had happened in the mine. As Carnivore pondered about what to do about Jack, Iolanthe suggested that they let him live, claiming that he was special. Carnivore decided it was too risky, however, and as they made to depart, Iolanthe offered Jack an apology, believing things shouldn't have had to end this way for him. As Jack and Cieran began fighting, Iolanthe fled with Carnivore and began making their way to the final Vertex on Easter Island on his Tupolev, taking the Pillar and Lily with them.
Iolanthe was present as Carnivore prepared to perform the placing ceremony to repel the Dark Star, but when Jack arrived in the damaged Halicarnassus, Iolanthe took cover behind a pedestal with Cassidy, Lily and Alexander as Jack opened fire on Carnivore and his men. Once Carnivore was dead, Iolanthe remained silent as Jack noted that she had saved his life earlier and warned her not to give him a reason to kill her. When Lily placed the Pillar and gained the reward of Power, Iolanthe and Alexander feared they would be next after seeing her kill Mao and Cassidy with ease, but luckily Jack got Lily back under control.
After the Dark Star was repelled and Wolf fell to his death with the final Pillar, Jack allowed Iolanthe to join him and Lily as they retreated to Sea Ranger's submarine, and was dropped off in New Zealand to make her own way home. Jack believed that they were likely to see Iolanthe again, unsure as to whether she would be an ally or enemy when that time came.
Between The Five Greatest Warriors and The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
With Carnivore's death, the next in the Kingdom of Land's line of succession was Iolanthe's cousin Hardin "Sphinx" Lancaster's father. However, due to his timid nature and not desiring such a demanding role, he abdicated the title of King to his younger brother, Iolanthe and Orlando's father. During her father's brief rule, Iolanthe requested permission to investigate Mount Blanc to confirm if it was the Altar of the Cosmos, but was denied. Not long after, her father died and Orlando took the role of King of Land.
At some point after the Dark Star was repelled, Iolanthe came to the realisation that Jack was the Fifth Warrior of the ancient prophecy, and while this made him all the more desirable as a potential husband, Iolanthe was disappointed to learn that he had married Zoe.
Over the next eight years, Iolanthe became irked a servant of the Kingdom of Underworld, Vacheron, began attempting to charm her in the hope of one day marrying her to raise his status, though Iolanthe found him loathsome. Iolanthe would also take on Chloe Carnarvon as her assistant in her role as Keeper of Records, and was impressed by the young woman's cleverness. However, she later came to suspect that Chloe was sleeping with Orlando in order to try and work her way up through the ranks. Though Iolanthe decided to keep her assistant on, she remained aware of how ambitious Chloe was.
Iolanthe was invited to attend the wedding of the only daughter of the Zampieri family's patriarch on Tenedos Island. During the reception - held within the vault of Troy - Iolanthe was quietly awed by the various treasures stored in the ancient vault.
Also during this period, Iolanthe helped oversee some of her Kingdom's preparations for the next trial of the ancients, the diverting of the Hydra galaxy, such as Cardinal Ricardo Mendoza's provision of two disgraced Brazilian commandos to be two of the four participants to represent the Kingdom of Land during the Great Games of the Hydra.
In 2016, when the Star Chamber within the Underworld opened, allowing the nine Golden Spheres to be retrieved, King Anthony "Hades" DeSaxe informed the other Kingdoms of the development, and thus the next Great Games were arranged to begin in the next month. When the fourth participant that would have represented the Kingdom of Land perished shortly before the Games were to begin, Iolanthe requested permission from Hades to select a replacement. Once Hades agreed, Iolanthe suggested to her brother that they use Jack as a replacement, and when Orlando approved, she began using their Kingdom's resources in Australia to try and locate the Fifth Warrior.
When General Redbeard informed Iolanthe that his superior had requested Jack's presence at the Pine Gap facility to ask his opinion on the Hydra galaxy the SKA Array had recently caught sight of. Shortly after Jack and some members of his team arrived at Pine Gap, Iolanthe had her forces storm the outpost while Redbeard knocked out Jack. As they gathered up Jack, Lily, Alby, Sky Monster and Jack's dogs to serve as his "support team", Iolanthe noticed Horus flying above them, and had one of her men shoot her down before they departed for the Underworld.
The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
Iolanthe was present with many other members of the Four Kingdoms to watch the fourth Great Games of the Hydra as it began, and proceeded to watch the various struggles of the Champions as they progressed through the first two Challenges.
During the interim before the Third Challenge, Iolanthe brought Dr. Barnard to the hostage carriage containing Jack and his friends to look over Jack's injuries. After admitting to having Jack kidnapped for participation in the Great Games, Iolanthe learned that Jack and the others had never even heard of the Great Games through all of their experiences. The Royal proceeded to inform them about the Four Legendary Kingdoms, explain that the Games were a ritual to prevent the Hydra Galaxy from destroying the Earth in a trial set by the Super-Ancient Beings, and her reasons for bringing Jack in as a Champion. When Hades arrived to request Lily join the rest of the Royals, he placed the young Oracle in Iolanthe's care.
Iolanthe and Lily watched the Third Challenge together, and when someone questioned why Jack had gone back for his ally (Sky Monster) before departing the arena, Iolanthe simply replied that was what Jack did.
After the Third Challenge, Iolanthe prepared to attend the banquet dinner hosted by Hades, and had Chloe help her with Lily's hair and clothing to make the young woman more presentable to the gathered royals. When Lily questioned how Iolanthe could be so blasé about the people dying in the Games, Iolanthe responded that it was simply how the world really worked and that there was nothing either of them could do to change it.
At the banquet, Iolanthe guided Lily around and informed her about the various coats of arms Lily observed. After briefing conversing with Hades, Lily noted Vacheron's obvious desire for Iolanthe, and was surprised to find herself sorry for the amoral Royal as Iolanthe explained that she would have no choice in who she married, even Vacheron, as the decision would be her King's for political and strategic reasons. After encountering Mendoza, Iolanthe decided to introduce Lily to Hades's son Dion, only to learn that they had already met. As the banquet progressed, Iolanthe explained what had been discovered about the Golden Spheres and watched nonchalantly as Mephisto killed a minotaur for the Royals' amusement.
The following morning, Iolanthe and the other Royals watched the Champions traverse the wall-maze of the Fourth Challenge. As Corazon approached Chaos and the Sphere he guarded, Iolanthe noted to Mendoza that they would see if the Brazilian psychopaths that he had recruited were worthy. As Mendoza claimed that they were, Corazon was effortlessly cut down by Chaos, and Iolanthe gave the Cardinal a look in response. Soon afterwards, Vargas managed to obtain Chaos's Sphere, Mendoza gave Iolanthe a smug smile to show he had been correct with his selections.
As the progression prepared to move on to the Fifth Challenge, Iolanthe first attended a lunch Hades was hosting for all of the remaining Champions and their sponsoring Kings. Once Iolanthe formally introduced Jack to her brother, Orlando was stunned by his show of defiance and rudeness, to which Iolanthe reminded him that they had kidnapped Jack and forced him to participate in the Games against his will. As Mendoza explained to Jack the Omega Event and the trials of the Ancients, Iolanthe added that the Tartarus Rotation and Machine's restoration were only difficult because of the crucial knowledge that had been lost. As she prepared to take Lily to watch the Fifth Challenge, Dion requested Iolanthe allow him to escort Lily for a while, and while wary to do so, Iolanthe acceded to the higher ranking Royal.
Following the Fifth Challenge and the escape of Jack and Schofield's hostages, Iolanthe went with the rest of the procession to the Summit Temple to watch as the first five Golden Spheres were set into place within the mountain's obelisk. Before proceeding to the observatory for the remaining Challenges, Hades announced that he and Orlando had agreed to bring their Kingdoms closer together by organising a marriage between Iolanthe and Vacheron. As the other Royals applauded, only Jack saw Iolanthe's brief look of revulsion.
As she accompanied Lily to the observatory, Iolanthe found herself empathising with the Oracle for her similarly-forced betrothal to Dion. As she cited her distaste for Orlando's use of her as a pawn, Iolanthe reassured and encouraged Lily to stay strong. As Jack and Vargas began their fight, Iolanthe asked Mendoza his opinion on who would win; though Mendoza was sure it would be Vargas, ultimately Jack came out on top. When Jack became the last Champion standing and facing Cerberus, Iolanthe quietly commended Jack as he showed insight and humility to request Hades's permission to bring his warrior to him, winning the Great Games.
As the Royals proceeded back to the Summit Temple, Iolanthe was irked by the compliments being granted to Orlando for selecting Jack as his Champion when in fact it had been her that had suggested Jack. Iolanthe explained to Jack that the 'Antenna' mountain would send out a signal to divert the Hydra galaxy while also allowing whoever stood in the obelisk's recess to receive the Mysteries, vital knowledge regarding the final two trials. When Jack questioned what would happen if no one was in the recess, Iolanthe realised no one had considered the possibility, but theorised that while the Hydra galaxy would be diverted, the next two trials would be more difficult.
As Orlando was about to enter the recess, an explosion caused by the minotaurs and Jack and Schofield's returned allies distracted everyone as they turned against the Four Kingdoms, and Jack prevented Orlando from receiving the Mysteries. As the other Royals began fleeing, Iolanthe opted to join Jack, Lily and Hades after hearing Jack convince Hades to join him in saving the world the right way.
Iolanthe proceeded to join Jack's group as they departed the Underworld, learning her brother and Mendoza had also escape the carnage caused by the minotaurs, and headed to his farm. As Iolanthe disembarked the Sky Warrior, Zoe was surprised by her presence among her friends.
The Three Secret Cities[]
After a brief catch-up between the group and Zoe, Iolanthe decided that she needed to go into hiding since Orlando would be unhappy with her decision to stand with Jack, and to retrieve some documents from the Hall of Royal Records regarding the remaining trials. Pooh Bear and Stretch agreed to take her part-way to the U.K. on their way to Dubai, and Iolanthe gave Jack the number for a disposable phone she had if he needed to get in touch, irking Zoe by kissing her husband on the cheek as she left.
After eventually arriving back in the U.K., Iolanthe made her way inside St. Michael's Mount apparently undetected, and began gathering up documents she felt were important involving the Altar of the Cosmos. Soon, however, she witnessed the Knights of the Golden Eight hacking the world's television feeds in order to taunt Jack that he could not escape them. Not long after, Jack messaged Iolanthe to request information, and Iolanthe agreed to meet, providing a subtle hint as to where she was.
Moments later, Iolanthe heard heavy footsteps and slamming doors, and knew that she was about to be caught. Hiding her documents, Iolanthe found herself surrounded by Orlando and his troops. Furious that she had chosen to side with Jack instead of him, Orlando slapped his sister and stated that she would not be pretty for much longer. Brought to a dungeon under the Hall of Royal Records, Orlando set his personal torturer, Longworth, on Iolanthe, telling him to make sure she remembered her betrayal every time she looked in the mirror. Orlando chose to watch a brief while as Longworth proceeded to beat the princess, shaved her hair off, and pierced her nose with a thick nose ring.
Not long after Orlando departed to undertake the Trial of the Cities, Longworth went to fetch his tattoo gun, but when he returned, Iolanthe was surprised as Zoe appeared, killed Longworth and then set her free. Once Zoe removed the nose ring, the weary Iolanthe told her, Julius and Mae Merriweather to grab the documents she had hidden, and the group headed to London to meet up with Jack's group at a safe-house.
Resting from her ordeal until Jack, Lily and Sky Monster arrived, Iolanthe was eventually awoken so that the team could discuss their next move, first identifying Chloe working with Orlando's retinue from a photo Zoe had taken at St. Michael's Mount. Though Jack asked for the locations of the Knights of the Golden Eight's base and the Royal Prison of Erebus where Hades had been taken to, Iolanthe could only identify Aragon Castle as the Knight's base and had no idea where Erebus was. Iolanthe then went on to relay that the process for empowering the Immortal Weapons involved retrieving an unusual blue gemstone from each City, and her belief that the final ritual on the Altar of the Cosmos required a sacrifice. As for the locations of the Secret Cities, Iolanthe informed Jack and the others that Francis Drake had visited all the Cities on behalf of Elizabeth I and noted their locations on the inside of his yet-unfound coffin.
As Jack prepared to come up with a plan, a commotion on the Thames led them to discover how far the Knights were willing to go to draw Jack and Lily out, displaying feeds of Lachlan and his family being blown up, followed moments later by Sky Monster's parents. As Jack and Lily prepared to confront the Knights, Iolanthe gave Lily a pistol, and waited in the safe-house with Mae. Zoe soon returned and demanded that Iolanthe tell her where Erebus was located so that she could free Jack, who had been captured by the Slave King. Iolanthe reiterated that she didn't know, but agreed to help her and Mae research, eventually narrowing it down to a section on the Algerian coast.
While Zoe mounted a rescue mission with Stretch and Pooh Bear, Iolanthe and Mae went to rendezvous with Jack's oceanographer friend David "Nobody" Black and set out on the Betty White to locate Drake's coffin in Venezuela's Orinoco Delta, having deciphered the sailor's message to Elizabeth I. As they scanned the ocean floor with radar, Nobody tried to reassure Iolanthe about her tortured appearance until they detected the lead coffin. While down in the Spider submersible, Iolanthe, Mae and Nobody discovered the Brazilian Navy were sinking the Betty. Hastily opening the coffin to take the parchment with the Cities' locations from Drake's corpse, Iolanthe and the others soon made their escape using the Betty's undamaged floatplane.
Sending the co-ordinates to Jack so that the rest of the team could locate the other Cities, Iolanthe, Nobody and Mae began journeying to the co-ordinates of Ra to ensure the Immortal Weapons were empowered in case Orlando's people failed following his blunder in activating all the Cities' defences. Soon the trio came upon the ranger station that covered for the watchtower and entrance into the ancient City, and Iolanthe convinced the Trismagi watchman Sir Inigo Defenestra to allow them entrance. Since Orlando's people had tracked mud through the booby-trapped path into the City, the group quickly made their way into Ra, where they spotted Chloe and her troops trapped between hundreds of bronze guardians and a few silver ones on a cupola preceding the City's vault.
Being informed by Jack that the Weapons were the key to getting past the Guardians, Iolanthe and Nobody navigated their way past the Bronze Guardians using vines to climb over the buildings. Calling out to Chloe, Iolanthe took the Helmet of Hades off her former assistant, and tossed it down to Nobody when he fell in among the bronzemen, instructing him to put it on. Once Nobody was "invisible" to the guardians' sight, he returned the Helmet to Iolanthe, who donned it herself and proceeded past the silver automatons unnoticed. Iolanthe made her way into Ra's vault, where she claimed the blue gem from the vault's diamond altar and used it to empower the Helmet. However, upon returning to the bridge, Iolanthe was forced to hand the Helmet over to Chloe as her former assistant revealed a video displaying Lily's life in peril within a tidal cell.
Soon afterwards, Iolanthe, Nobody and Mae heard Aloysius Knight report that he and Jack had been too late to save Lily, who had been sacrificed on the Altar of the Cosmos by Sphinx to complete the trial. With nothing else to be done, Iolanthe and the rest of the team agreed to rendezvous back at Hades' safe-house in Rome.
The Two Lost Mountains[]
In the next few weeks after the Trial of the Cities and Pooh Bear's discovery that it was Alexander's body in the sacrificial pool at the Altar of the Cosmos and not Lily's, Iolanthe and the rest of the team based themselves at Hades's estate in Alsace-Lorraine as they began using facial recognition software to comb the world's security cameras in the hope of finding Lily, while also preparing for the Trial of the Mountains.
Iolanthe was among those who remained at the estate with while Jack and the others went to Moscow to rescue Lily, and while they awaited their return, heard about the people in the Russian capital being send into a collective sleep, which was soon followed by a similar incident in Rome, both caused by the Siren bells under Sphinx's control.
After the team's return, Iolanthe joined in the discussion of what must needed to happen during the Trial of the Mountains, with Iolanthe speaking up to note that the Supreme Labyrinth's location was one of history's greatest secrets, the difficulties throughout history in identifying the five iron mountains, and reminding them of her previous mention of the Vatican globe that identified the mountains back in London. As she recalled what she knew of the globe, Iolanthe realised that Bertie might have been caught up in the recent events and excused herself to contact her former tutor.
Sending Bertie an encrypted message, Iolanthe asked the old Jesuit for his help in order to stop Sphinx and locate the iron mountains, mentioning her alliance with Jack and asking if he knew of any alternate ways to identify the mountains. Eager to help, Bertie replied to tell Iolanthe of the Javier journal in the Vatican Secret Archives, and suggested that they meet at the first mountain at Mont Saint-Michel and for her to use the Tombelaine Island tunnel, while also warning her that Sphinx was en-route. Sharing this information with the others and assuring them of Bertie's trustworthiness, Iolanthe was then picked to join Jack's group in heading to the first mountain.
Using the undersea tunnel to reach the Mont, Iolanthe and Jack were met by Bertie, who was shocked by Iolanthe's appearance after her brother's torturing, who then led the pair to the Hall of the Falling Temple while explaining the nature of the Fall. As he prepared to leave them, Bertie told Iolanthe that he was proud of how she had turned out and how it was Jack's influence; Iolanthe was warmed by his praise but when Jack teasingly offered to tell the Jesuit all that she had tried to do to him throughout the time he'd known her, she was annoyed that he had taken away her moment.
After watching Sphinx perform the Fall and being powerless to help as a captured Hades was brutally executed, Iolanthe stood beside Jack as the Trismagi called the latter out. As she affirmed her choice to side with the Australian at her cousin's questioning, Iolanthe asked Chloe if her questioning of Orlando had led her to betray him for Sphinx, and her former assistant claimed that she had simply made better choices than her. As they and Bertie fled from the pursuing bronzemen through the tunnel, Iolanthe was impressed as Jack used a vial of greystone powder to seal the automatons, saying she'd kiss him on the lips if he weren't spoken for.
Iolanthe soon tagged along as the Jack led a mission to rescue Easton from Yago on the latter's plane, helping Nobody overthrow the pilots. As Jack and Easton prepared to infiltrate the second mountain at Aiguille du Midi, Iolanthe and Nobody parachuted from the Super Galaxy to make a discreet approach to the observatory on its peak. Arriving shortly after Jaeger Vier took off, the pair found that a lunar rover had been used to cover the moon pedestal before Vier destroyed the uplink, preventing anyone from doing a follow-up Fall. When Jack and Easton came up the moon shaft, Iolanthe and Nobody showed them what they'd found, right before Dion sent a missile to destroy the observatory in an attempt to kill them. As the observatory began sliding towards the edge of the mountain, Iolanthe and the others were lucky enough to be narrowly escape by jumping onto the pontoon of Pooh Bear and Sky Monster's seaplane.
Afterwards, as the team reunited outside Dijon and began discussing plans to find one of the two lost mountains, Iolanthe asked Bertie if he'd known that the Church had kept the lost uraeus of the Great Sphinx of Giza in the Archives. Following a brief side-discussion between Iolanthe and her old mentor, Bertie told Jack that he wanted to follow a lead regarding the Orphean bell's location, and Iolanthe agreed to accompany the Jesuit to Italy.
The One Impossible Labyrinth[]
Led by Bertie to Castel Gandolfo, Iolanthe and Nobody listened as the Jesuit gave his reasoning that suggested that notes the Church kept on the Orphean bell's location were contained within a secret vault in the ruins of an old Roman emissary at Lake Albano. As they began their search for the vault, Iolanthe helped to explain to Nobody the history and relevance of Emperor Domitian and the Vestals. Once they had found and entered the vault, Iolanthe and the others started searching for the notes on the Orphean bell, during which she noted some of the significant contents contained inside.
Once Bertie found and read out of a clue from a scroll that relayed that there was an the inscription containing the Orphean bell's location on the crown that had once belonged to Priam, Iolanthe revealed that Priam's crown had been among many artefacts destroyed in a fire. Fortunately, Iolanthe knew of a copy of the crown that still existed; upon a statue of Priam kept at the vault of Troy on Tenedos Island. Before they could leave, Iolanthe and the others were forced to take cover in Khufu's sarcophagus to avoid detection from a Golden Knight when they arrived at the vault on Chloe's behalf. Overhearing that Chloe might not be aware of the original crown's destruction and that they would not have much time, Iolanthe, Bertie and Nobody hurried to try to get to Tenedos first.
While en-route to Tenedos, Iolanthe's team checked in with Pooh Bear and Stretch's team; after learning that they had kidnapped the royal banker John Marren, Iolanthe commended them on their bold move, but warned that Marren was ruthless and to watch him closely.
While preparing to land on Tenedos Island, Iolanthe explained the truth of the history of Troy being a vault and not a city to Nobody, and her previous visit to the vault. Once inside the vault of Troy, Iolanthe pointed out the statue of Priam and the crown they needed to examine; before they could, however, Chloe spoke to them through hidden speakers in the vault. Chloe taunted Iolanthe that her people had already come and gone, and that it hadn't been hard to learn of the crown's destruction since she had spent much time researching in the Royal Hall of Records while Iolanthe was off busy concerning herself with her status and attending various parties. With a final remark that the answer they'd sought about the Orphean bell's location lay in London and that the spoiled rich-girl's mission was over, Chloe had explosives laid out in the vault set off.
While Nobody was able to depress the detonation switch, he could not let go without the semtex exploding, and so Bertie resolved to take his place and sacrifice himself instead. Despite Iolanthe's attempt to protest, Bertie assured her that he was old and his life was almost over anyway, and that he thought she and Nobody were a good couple and didn't want their time together cut short, putting his own finger on the switch and ordering Iolanthe to quickly examine the inscription on the statue of Priam's crown. As she read out the inscription, Iolanthe and Bertie quickly determined that Chloe's deduction had been mistaken and that the Orphean bell was actually in New York's Heliopolis Needle. Sharing a quick-yet-emotional farewell with her former mentor, Iolanthe and Nobody fled through a hidden passage as Bertie released his finger and set off the semtex.
Iolanthe and Nobody soon began making their way to New York, and during the first part of the journey Iolanthe spent some time trying to come to terms with Bertie's sacrifice and reflecting on Chloe's last comment about her. When Nobody asked if she was alright, Iolanthe conceded that Chloe had been right about her being a spoilt bitch. Nobody assured her that while he hadn't known her before, he liked the new version Iolanthe, and asked her on a date. Iolanthe tried to claim that she didn't deserve someone as good him, only for Nobody to point out that she had been making the effort to change from who she used to be and that her current look didn't concern him. While still doubtful of his assessment of her, Iolanthe agreed to go on a date with him if they survived.
Once they landed in New York, Iolanthe and Nobody rushed to Central Park and toppled over the obelisk, with Iolanthe quickly finding and removing the Orphean bell from within. Their accomplishment was immediately marred by the arrival of Chloe and her forces, who resolved to take the blue bell from them. Iolanthe and Nobody quickly fled in their chopper through the New York streets, knowing that whoever got away with the bell would hold the fate of the world's population. During the pursuit, Iolanthe started ringing the Orphean bell, which began awakening the sleep-struck citizens below, and Nobody ended the chase by tricking the choppers pursuing them into crashing in the Brooklyn Bridge. As she looked at the fiery wreckage, Iolanthe quietly remarked that Chloe had picked the wrong team.
With the blue bell secured, Iolanthe and Nobody used it to awaken the remainder of the sleepers in New York before proceeding on to Washington, D.C., ringing the bell along the way. Along the way, they were contacted by the rest of the team, learning that Jack had successfully thwarted the Omega Event and that Stretch's team had knocked out several royals with a Siren bell at Raven Rock. Iolanthe confirmed to the others that she and Nobody had the bell and were ringing it to awaken people, but would be cautious once they reached the latter's location.
As the world got back to normal in the aftermath of the events of the trials and Sphinx's actions, Iolanthe went on her date with Nobody, later moving in with him at his estate in Jamaica. Embracing the new version of herself, Iolanthe chose to never let her hair grow back and remain shaven, having come to prefer it that way.
Personality[]
Iolanthe Compton-Jones is a very complex woman. Her status as a royal from the House of Windsor plays a role in this, where she has been expected to remain loyal to her royal equals above the masses. Holding an important position allows her access to much knowledge, and thus leverage. Iolanthe's loyalty and beliefs, while on occasion for her own, is beneficial to her family, and nowhere near as such for those she allies with. On rare occasions where she has acted for others, it has been only in the hope of receiving something for herself. When it comes to her status as a royal member of the Four Legendary Kingdoms, however, Iolanthe's almost non-existent empathy for those beneath her is made clearer.
Despite this, she is all too aware of the power wielded by the Kingdoms, and if her King orders her to do something she rather would not, she would go along with it without voicing her protests. This is what makes it hard for anyone to truly pin her down as an ally or enemy. Following the announcement that Orlando was giving his sister to Vacheron to marry, Iolanthe, though saying nothing, was repulsed, and was surprisingly sympathetic to Lily when she was to be married to Dion. He brother's use of her as a pawn played a part in her decision to side with Jack in taking on the remaining trials when the opportunity to leave the the Four Kingdoms arose.
As recalled by Bertie, when Iolanthe was a teenager, she was as entitled and insolent as many other young royals from the Four Kingdoms, to the point that her other teachers thought that Iolanthe would end up being a nasty princess. Bertie, on the other hand, saw the good in her, and was able to instill in her enough care and affection while tutoring her, which may have contributed to her later wavering of allegiance to her relatives. Upon meeting her again years later, Bertie believed that it was Jack's influence on her that had helped her break away from the Four Kingdoms; Jack teased her by suggesting he tell the Jesuit all that she had tried to do to him throughout the time he'd known her, which Iolanthe took more good-naturedly than she would have in the past.
Though she had begun to change into a significantly better person since being tortured, some words from Chloe pointing out her long history of being spoiled and shallow made Iolanthe become concerned that she was still as superficial as her former assistant claimed. However, Nobody was able to assure her that she was making an effort to change, and that Iolanthe's own self-reflection was proof of that.
Skills[]
- Ancient Knowledge: As a high-ranking royal in the Four Legendary Kingdoms, Iolanthe has been taught many things regarding the true history of mankind. Thanks to studying under Bertie de Montreuil and as a result of serving as the Keeper of Royal Records for several years, Iolanthe has also accumulated a greater wealth of knowledge than most of royals regarding the secret history involving the Four Kingdoms and the Super-Ancients' trials.
- Trained Marksman: Presumably as a necessity to protect herself, Iolanthe has apparently been trained in using pistols.
Equipment[]
Weapons[]
- Pistol: A pearl-handled pistol that Iolanthe kept for her own protection, which she loaned to Lily for use during the confrontation with the Knights of the Golden Eight in London.
Other Equipment[]
- Pillars: The bizarre uncut diamonds the size of a brick that were created by a race of super-ancient people for use in the Machine's restoration. On behalf of the British royals, Iolanthe was allowed to carry around their Fourth Pillar while manipulating the Coalition of Minnows and the Commander-in-Chief's In Extremis Force to further Carnivore's ambitions. She had the Fourth Pillar cleansed at the Mortimer Island meeting, and continued holding it until Carnivore manipulated Pooh Bear's group to give it it's second cleansing and she allowed them to take it for placing at the Fourth Vertex.
- Firestone: To Be Added.
- Philosopher's Stone: To Be Added.
- Helmet of Hades: The helmet of the three Immortal Weapons, which was held by the Kingdom of Underworld for millennia. While working to ensure it was empowered for the Trial of the Cities' success, Iolanthe realised that whomever wore it became invisible to the automatons, and used it to get past the silver guardians. After obtaining the blue gem to empower the Helmet, Iolanthe was forced to hand it back over to Chloe.
- Orphean Bell: One of the 15 Siren bells, but which is made to reverse the effect of the siren sleep caused by its counterparts. Finding it within the New York obelisk, Iolanthe began ringing it during their escape over the streets from Chloe's choppers, waking up the citizens there before proceeding to ring the Orphean bell on their way to Washington D.C..
Assets[]
- Hall of Royal Records: The long-serving repository located within St. Michael's Mount, containing documents relating to the Four Kingdoms and which the Kingdom of Land has maintained through its long history. For over ten years, Iolanthe served as the Keeper of Royal Records.
Relationships[]
Jack West Jr[]
Shortly after Jack and Iolanthe met in The Six Sacred Stones, it became clear that she found him attractive. They were never romantically involved beyond a brief kiss shared in Jack's cabin aboard the Halicarnassus in The Five Greatest Warriors. The kiss took place after Jack found out from Carnivore that Zoe had slept with another man after the Capstone mission. After he saved her life in the Fifth Vertex, Iolanthe invited Jack to her cabin after the kiss, but he declined to join her.
While neither of them bring it up again, Iolanthe did ask Carnivore to consider sparing Jack, suggesting that she held no resentment, perhaps still hoping that Jack might change his mind. However, she was revealed to have been quite disheartened to learn that Jack married Zoe after The Five Greatest Warriors.
By the time they were working together to infiltrate the First Iron Mountain, Jack and Iolanthe were amicable enough that Bertie suggested that Jack had been a good influence on Iolanthe (leading Jack to tease her about possibly telling her mentor the nature of their previous encounters). After Jack saved them from the bronzemen in the undersea tunnel, Iolanthe remarked that if he wasn't taken, she'd have kissed him on the lips.
David "Nobody" Black[]
Hints at romance between Iolanthe and Nobody began shortly after their first meeting during The Three Secret Cities, as during the search for Sir Francis Drake's coffin Nobody suggested that he liked her "punk-rocker' look. While this initially made Iolanthe self-conscious, Nobody was in fact genuine and assured her that her shaven-headed look worked for her, to which Iolanthe smiled in appreciation.
During their time working with Bertie to locate the Orphean bell, Iolanthe's former mentor was easily able to see the sparks between her and Nobody, and as he prepared to sacrifice himself he noted that they were a good couple and didn't want their time together to be cut short by Nobody's initial decision to sacrifice himself. As Iolanthe shared her concerns and negative self-reflection with Nobody, he was able to console her and point out the changes she'd made to herself, going on to ask her out on a date. While Iolanthe held the impression that she didn't deserve a nice guy like him, Nobody remained resolute in that neither her appearance nor her past mattered to him, liking the person he knew her as presently, and so Iolanthe agreed to the date should they survive.
After the Omega Event was averted, Iolanthe and Nobody went out on their agreed date, which went well, and would thus their romance to the point that Iolanthe would soon start living with the latter in Jamaica.
Trivia[]
- Iolanthe is thus far the only female antagonist to survive through three novels (in which she has an antagonistic role).
- Chloe Carnarvon would share an equal number of appearances for a female antagonist, but would meet her end in her third antagonistic appearance (remembering that Chloe's first appearance in The Four Legendary Kingdoms was not an antagonistic role and more akin to a cameo).
- Following Hades, Iolanthe is the second notable antagonist who changes their ways and joins the protagonist.
- In The Two Lost Mountains, Iolanthe is revealed to have her own nickname, Io - after the fourth moon of Jupiter - given to her by Bertie, though he is the only one who has used it.
- Though it is not mentioned in the epilogue of The One Impossible Labyrinth, it is suggested that either Iolanthe was not recognised as being formerly a part of the Four Kingdoms during the subsequent investigations, or that her actions assisting Jack's team in saving the world from Sphinx's plans absolved her from being prosecuted with the other royals.