Isabeau

This section may contain major spoilers!

Please refrain from reading if you are not yet familiar with all the latest media released.

Isabeau
Japanese Name	イザボー・ド・バヴィエール

Isabeau, also known as Isabeau de Bavière (イザボー・ド・バヴィエール, Izabō do Bavuiēru), is the main antagonist in Puella Magi Tart Magica: The Legend of "Jeanne d'Arc". She is the Queen of France.

General info

Physical features

• Eye colour: Yellow
• Hair colour: Blonde

Other

• Soul gem: Oval gem at the center of her necklace (largest oval)
• Weapon:
• Witch form: Crépuscule de La Reine (Real name Isabeau)
• Wish: For everything you (Kyubey) possess.
• Japanese pronoun: watashi (私)
• Known relatives: Charles VI of France (husband), Corbeau, Lapin and Minou (daughters)

Story

Backstory

In 1385, at the young age of fourteen, Isabeau was sent to France to wed the king. Due to the timing of her arrival and coronation, in the thick of the Hundred Years' War, much of the people of France pitied the young queen, who was in the heart of the turmoil. However Isabel used her beauty and charm to her ends and woo all the people around her. One day as the king was attending a ball organized by Isabeau to celebrate the marriage of one of her ladies-in-waiting, without warning the guests suddenly ignited and the flames spread throughout the room. While the king remained unharmed, his psyche was so scarred and his nerves so frayed that he was no longer fit to rule. The next incident occurred when the king’s younger brother, Louis I, duke of Orleans was assassinated in the streets of Paris by the king’s nephew, John of Burgundy, following a visit to Isabeau’s home. John of Burgundy was himself later assassinated in a plan orchestrated by Isabeau’s own son, the Dauphin Charles. Soon Isabeau was the only one with any real power in the regency and it was she, acting on behalf of her husband, who signed the treaty with England that ceded the right to inherit the throne of France to the offspring of the English King. Even though the Dauphin was the son of the king and the rightful heir to the throne, a condition of the treaty stated that the king of France would offer his daughter to the King of England to wed and their offspring would be the next king. This offspring would therefore be the king of both England and France, allowing Isabeau to wield her influence over both countries. In the end, Isabeau came to be known as "The woman who swore France away."

Warning, this section contains spoilers.

During Isabeau’s first days in France, Kyubey approached her in her bedchambers. While Kyubey was trying to work out a contract with her, Isabeau asked him a number of questions as well, such as what magical girls and witches were. She wanted details on contracts, wishes, and also about Kyubey's very existence. After Isabeau kills Kyubey with a candlestick to test the veracity of his words, she makes her wish “for everything he possesses” (in reference to Kyubey). This gave her the powers of an Incubator, but despite this she was still a magical girl and fated to eventually become a witch. As a young girl, Corbeau was chosen alongside her sisters Minou and Lapin to be among the first magical girls Isabeau contracted due to their closely interwoven fates. Isabeau grew to become like a mother to the three girls she took in. However, she eventually turned into a witch and was poised to kill the three girls, of whom only Corbeau had as yet contracted to become a magical girl. This lead to Lapin making her wish for her mother to “return to how she was.” Since the transformation from magical girl to witch is irreversible, her wish lead to Isabeau’s witch mind inhabiting the now empty husk of her former physical body. Isabeau was no longer mindless and now retained her original powers that were granted to her from her own wish. Even so, she still retained her witch’s ambition to destroy all of France.

During Tart Magica

Isabeau first appeared in Chapter 15, following the coronation of the Dauphin Charles. As the people celebrate the coronation, several of the women in attendance suddenly ignite in flame as the lights cut out. Isabeau suddenly appears without warning accompanied by Minou. As Charles stammers and crawls away from her, he begs Tart to save him and demands she kill the queen. At his word Tart rushes forward and stabs her sword straight through the queen's heart as she stands there. Charles initially laughs at this display, but the queen smiles as a white miasma escapes from the queen's wound and she merely stands there smiling. Tart leaps back, certain she had injured the queen but thinking to herself that it didn't feel like she had stabbed her. Riz summons her shadowy tendrils and ties the queen up as Elisa and Melissa both swing their weapons directly at her. Isabeau merely smiles more broadly, completely unharmed from both their attacks. She raises her finger and shoots a beam of magical energy at the two girls, causing them to be knocked away hard. As Minou knocks Riz away with her whip, Tart unleashes her “La Lumiere” attack on Isabeau. However Isabeau remains completely unharmed. As Minou begins to admonish Charles, Isabeau faints, prompting Minou to catch her in her arms. Isabeau whispers to Minou, who declares to all that in one year’s time death shall befall Tart. Minou and Isabeau leave through Minou’s portal as Charles cries and the magical girls tend to their wounds. From here on, the four magical girls travelled the lands of France for several months, possibly years in search of Isabeau’s stronghold in order to thwart her plan to spread grief seeds throughout France and allow them to hatch into witches. With the chaos brought on by these incidents, Isabeau planned to deliver these lands into the hands of the English army and their allies and thus bring the country under her influence.

Following the capture of Tart and her subsequent selling to her enemies in England, she is held capture in a prison tower in the town of Rouen near the border channel between England and France. Minou walks into the prison cell, followed by Isabeau and two maidens who hold the train of Isabeau's gown. Minou lashes at Tart and Kyubey with her whip, mocking them and accusing them of being the source of their troubles. Before she can continue to torture them, a large booming noise rings out causing the walls to shake. A soldier opens the door to the cell, informing Minou of reports of a French attack. She orders him to get rid of them, but the soldier informs her that it was a larger assault than they had expected since it seems there is a concerted effort throughout France to recapture Tart. She apologizes to Queen Isabeau for the disturbance and vows to go forth herself to handle this trouble. As Minou deals with the French forces outside, Elisa and Melissa fight their way towards her prison cell, disarming soldiers and sentries along the way.

Isabeau makes her way outside, Minou humbling herself before her. Isabeau waves her hands before her which causes the troops to collapse to their knees, their strength being sucked out from them. As she aims her hand forward, a magic circle having formed around it, Tart stabs a standard into the ground before her and blocks her next move. Minou orders the magical girl slaves she brought with her to stop Tart, but Elisa and Melissa hold them off so Tart can race in towards Isabeau. Once more her sword attacks seem to have no effect on the queen. Isabeau raises her hands once more and fires a beam of magic directly at her. As the dust settles, Tart looks up from behind her shield to find that Pernelle has blocked the attack with her own magic circle, explaining to Tart that Isabeau is immune to attacks due to someone else’s wish.

Warning, this section contains spoilers.

Kyubey and Pernelle explain to Tart that Isabeau is now part magical girl, part witch, and part incubator thanks to her and Lapin’s wish. Minou declares to all that she wished for Isabeau to be undefeated by any magical girl. Isabeau transforms into her witch state as the empty shell of her human body sits cradled in an enormous hand jutting from the ground nearby. As Tart, Elisa and Melissa continues the struggle against the witch Crepuscule de la Reine (Twilight of the Queen), all of their attacks having no effect on the witch. Tart’s soul gem grows black with impurities as she reaches her limit, when she suddenly hears the voice of Riz reminding her of her sword training back in her home village. From before Tart, Riz's soul gem materializes from a shadow as Riz tells her that her final vow was for her soul to remain with her from that day forward. Even if Riz's body was lost, her soul remained behind like her shadow, always by Tart's side. Tart’s gauntlet turns black with Riz’s soul gem encased on the back. As Tart’s soul gem crackles with impurities, she slashes her sword down and successfully injures the witch. Due to Riz’s wish, Tart’s soul gem has been prevented from transforming into a grief seed, making her more than just a magical girl. Before Tart can finish her off, Isabea's body begins to shake as a larger body emerges from underneath, a second larger witch form that causes the cathedral to crumble under the size and might of this new body as everyone gazes up in terror at the true form of Crepuscule de la Reine. However, Tart remains determined as ever as she faces down her foe. Isabeau begins to charge her cannon and aims it at Tart who immediately summons her standard and smashes through the center of it, causing the cannon to crumble. As Isabeau flies above the ruined cathedral, Tart summons a massive magic circle in the sky above her in an attack known as the Gate of Heaven. The center of the circle slides open like a gateway as crosses of light pierce Isabeau and hold her in place. Tart leaps up and swings her weapon down at the witch, slicing the massive body in half and then half again. As the pieces of the witch's corpse fall back to earth, the gate closes and disappears. Tart's shadowy gauntlet also begins to dissipate as Riz's soul gem crumbles. Tart thanks Riz for protecting her until the very end. Isabeau de Baviere was reviled throughout the land as the woman who sold out her country. When she met her end in 1435, her funeral service was so quiet and subdued, you wouldn't have thought it was for a former queen.

Magia Record Witch Description

La Reine’s Twilight. Her nature is dominion. An avaricious witch who desires endless power and influence. This witch’s main body is actually separate from her larva-shaped legs, and the real body protected by a hard outer shell only rarely reveals its true form. Her Labyrinth is immense enough to cover an entire country, and the populace trapped within it remain none the wiser. The witch feeds on the grief, terror and other negative emotions of the populace swallowed by her Labyrinth’s darkness, and expands her power and territory to become an ever-mightier witch within an ever-larger Labyrinth.

Powers

Warning, this section contains spoilers.

Because of her wish, Isabeau gained the same abilities and knowledge as Kyubey, making her partly an Incubator, magical girl, and ultimately a Witch. She could form contracts with magical girls and grant their wishes, and her body also couldn't be permanently destroyed. But her power was limited as she was unable to fully comprehend her abilities and knowledge, and despite becoming everything an Incubator was she still became a Witch because according to Kyubey, the transformation from magical girl to Witch only happens to other lifeforms and not Incubators (this is possibly because Isabeau still had a soul gem and emotions, the necessary element for witchification to occur, which Incubators don't have.) When she became a Witch her labyrinth encased all of France, allowing Witches to be seen by humans. Any girl who contracted with Isabeau after that lost their wills and souls, and Kyubey notes that this prevented his race from collecting the energy made by those magical girls when they became Witches. When she died, the magic of her contracts caused Minou (her remaining daughter) to become a normal girl again as Isabeau was an imperfect creator. Due to the wishes to Minou and Lapin, Isabeau also became a Witch in a human shell and couldn't be defeated by any ordinary magical girl with the exception of Tart. Any magical girls who tried to fight her would have their attacks go right through her, leaving her completely unharmed. While in her human guise, she possesses the ability to cause those around her to spontaneously combust.

Observations

• Out of all the witches that appear in Tart Magica, Isabeau's witch is the only one that is named.
• Her witch name is French and translates to, "Twilight of the Queen".

Trivia

• Her ability to cause spontaneous combustion is a reference to the Bal des Ardents ("Ball of the Burning Men"), a ball Isabeau of Bacaria held to entertain her son, Charles VII, who had suffered an attack of insanity the year prior. During the ball, several dancers were killed by a fire caused by a torch brought by Charles' brother; Charles and one other dancer survived. The incident undermined faith in Charles' ability to rule.

Gallery

• 

  Isabeau's character bio from Tart Magica volume 5.

• 

  Isabeau's witch form

• 
• 
• 
• 

  Isabeu's true witch form

• 

  Isabeau's witch barrier. Note the cuckoo-like image at the center

Magia Record

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

  Note the eyes on the wings being the same as Kyubey's.