Jirel of Joiry by C. L. Moore
Review by Elaine Weaver

Along about the time Conan the Cimmerian was hacking and slashing his way across the imaginations of 1930’s pulp readers, another ferocious sword-slinger was battling the forces of darkness: Jirel of Joiry. A yellow-eyed redhead for whom the supernatural holds no terror, Jirel unflinchingly walks into a haunted castle, across the shifting realm of an evil sorceress, and into Hell itself. Jirel is a savage warrior whose thirst for vengeance would give pause to Conan himself.

Oh, yes, and Jirel is a woman.

The creation of Catherine Lucille Moore, Jirel appeared in the pages of Weird Tales between October of 1934 and April of 1939. Jirel’s little realm of Joiry is set in ancient France sometime after the fall of the Roman empire, and she is the prototype for later fantasy heroines such as Red Sonja and Xena. It’s pretty clear that she made some positive impressions where her male counterparts could not. Horror grand master Robert Bloch, who did not at all care for Conan, stated that he was “very taken” with Jirel in a 1979 interview with author Graeme Flanagan.

In the first two stories, “Black God’s Kiss” and “Black God’s Shadow”, Jirel is attempting to oust an arrogant invader from her stolen castle. To this end, with the reluctant help of her chaplain, she descends a hidden staircase into Hell in search of a weapon that will destroy her enemy. Her wish is granted, but at a terrible price. For in destroying the man, she realizes she actually loves him and must make a return trip to Hell to put his tortured spirit to rest. Jirel is rather rash in her actions, a character flaw that repeatedly get her into trouble.

Then it’s Jirel’s turn to invade a castle in which a murderous wizard has taken refuge. “Jirel Meets Magic” while seeking to avenge the deaths of her men who were killed by this wizard, but she soon finds herself in over her head. For the wizard has aligned himself with a powerful sorceress who keeps calling Jirel “earthling” for some reason. With the help of a dying dryad, Jirel procures a talisman that helps her overcome both her foe and the sorceress who protects him. Her quest takes her across the sorceress’ myriad realms, but the stoic Jirel is too focused on her vengeance to take much notice of it, which lends a certain crispness to the narrative.

The next story, “The Dark Land”, is by far the strangest in the book. A pike-wound has taken Jirel to the very brink of death, and she wakes to find herself in a shadowy netherworld called Romne. Even worse, she is at the mercy of Pav, the god-king of Romne, who has decided to take a bride. Guess who the bride-to-be is? The outraged Jirel enlists the help of a witch to free her from Pav, but ultimately discovers that all is not as it seems in Romne.

The final (and best) story in the book follows Jirel’s journey to “Hellsgarde”, a sinister castle that is accessible only at sunset. Hidden in this citadel of dark magic is a mysterious object coveted by a lord who has twenty of Jirel’s warriors chained up in his dungeons. Once she arrives, Jirel finds Hellsgarde guarded by dead men and occupied by a very strange group of people. In the process of retrieving the object that will win the freedom of her men, she learns the secret of Hellsgarde as well as the true nature of her strange hosts. Jirel suffers many indignities during this quest, and is mighty ticked off by the time she returns from Hellsgarde, carrying a box she has been warned not to open. As the story ends she is wearing a grim smile. The lord who has imprisoned her men will be the one to open the box.

While not the deepest character to ever grace genre fiction, Jirel is the first of her kind. She is courageous to the point of recklessness, and true to the men who serve her. Nothing arouses Jirel’s fury faster than a male chauvinist, and the stories are full of them.

It’s pretty clear that C. L. Moore had issues with sexism, but Farnsworth Wright liked these stories and published them. Fantasy fiction has not always belonged exclusively to lantern-jawed, half-naked barbarian warriors who can chop up giant snakes in a single axe stroke. By Crom, why let the guys have all the fun?

So if you’re weary of the cookie cutter fantasy hero, give Jirel a try. Spend a lazy summer’s day with the sovereign lady of Joiry, and you’ll never see adventure fantasy in the same light.

The Good: As opposed to the aforementioned half-naked barbarian warrior, Jirel is always fully clad in sensible armor of one kind or another. Another sign that she was way ahead of her time.

The Bad: I’m sure C. L. Moore had her reasons for giving Jirel yellow eyes, but they are beyond me. Maybe she’s part lynx.

The Snarky:  “Say, check this out. A passage that leads straight down into Hell. What a perfect spot to build a castle! Get busy, boys!”