In the beast form with his jewel
Prince Ian or the Prince of the Forest is a major character in the second season of Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, introduced in the titular episode "Prince of the Forest". Voiced by the late Bob Kaliban, he was originally designed as Tamara's boyfriend, inspired by the Beast character from Beauty and the Beast, and later himself inspired the character of Lorren in Avalon: Web of Magic.
Ian and Princess Gwenevere
Ian is a very handsome and strong young man who harbors a terrifying secret involving a missing Wizard Jewel. He is the protector of the Fairy Queen Arienda and becomes Drake's rival for the heart of Princess Gwenevere in the second season of the show. As a sworn defender and champion of the Princess, Ian becomes a key ally of the Jewel Riders when he arrives to aid Gwenevere in her final battles to save Avalon from evil.
"I have pledged my heart to you, Gwenevere. I am yours to command!"
Appearances[]
First appearance[]
Ian is introduced halfway through the second season as mysterious titular character of the episode "Prince of the Forest". He is really a hulking humanoid wolf known as the Beast using the magic of a lost Wizard Jewel, the Jewel of Arden, to appear human. (At first Ian speaks a very broken human language in his new human form but becomes quite fluent later.) He has been faithful protector of the faery wraith queen Arienda ever since he had lost "his one true love" many years ago.
Ian's first meeting with Gwen
Trapped by the Outlaws
One day, Princess Gwenevere meets him deep in the Forests of Arden, an enchanted forest of Avalon. He appears to Gwen as a very tall and extremely powerfully built young stranger who rescues her from sinking in a mud hole. Despite his awkwardness, they both instantly fall for each other, and the Princess gives him a human name of Ian. However, Ian does not reveal his secret to her. Now that he has met Gwen, he is worried that he would remain a beast forever and lose her love if he gave his jewel away. They soon meet again, as she saves him in turn from a bear trap in his (real) Beast form, but does not recognize him. Again unknowingly, Gwenevere then comes to his aid once more, this time from helping him to beat back an attack by the Outlaws, who have been setting the traps in the forest to catch him. It is revealed that the gang is again working for Gwen's evil aunt and enemy, Lady Kale, who wants his jewel for herself.
The evil Morgana tempting Ian to give the Jewel of Arden to her
Gwen and Ian share a kiss
Ian is then successfully captured by Kale herself when the cruel witch uses the caught Arienda as a bait to lure him into a wolf trap hole. The Outlaws bring a massive bolt thrower weapon to take him down, but Kale is amazed seeing Ian turn into his human form. Having decided to spare him, she instead promises to make him a human for good in exchange for the jewel. But when Ian comes to meet with Kale as agreed, Gwenevere arrives just in time with the other Jewel Riders to stop him. After the Princess convinces the beast boy that no matter what shape he takes she will always be his friend, Ian rejects Kale and Morgana who also appeared. When the two witches respond to this by capturing Gwen in a magic bubble, Ian, whom Kale regarded as "the hapless young beast-boy", suddenly turns into the enraged Beast to rescue his beloved. During the short and victorious fight, Fallon and Tamara save Ian's life when they deflect an incoming giant bolt fired by the Outlaws. Kale and Morgana are terrified by the beast-Ian and run away while he goes after the fleeing Outlaws. Later, Ian and Gwen meet again in his special place: the Magic Glade. He agrees to hand over his jewel to Gwen despite his fears of losing her love for him, and the Princess entrusts him to protect the magic of the faery wraiths. They dance, kiss, and promise to meet there other every year when the magic of the faery wraiths would let him become a human.
Return[]
Ian and Gwenevere with the Staff of Avalon as they prepare to vanquish the evil Lady Kale
The satisfied Ian watches as Kale's dragon Grimm crashes into a cliff after being hit by Gwen's spell
Ian returns in the show's two final episodes. In "Lady of the Lake" ("Spirit of Avalon"), Princess Gwenevere has already gained the magic to defeat Lady Kale and Morgana, but desperately needs his help as the other Jewel Riders have been just turned into statues. Ian comes to rescue of his Princess at the last moment, as she uses the Staff of Avalon to call upon him to aid her (the script: "Trapped and attacked from both sides, this could be the end of Gwen and Sunstar!"). Ian teleports into the crystal henge at the Heart of Avalon with the Jewel of Arden back around his neck for a moment, sending magic blasts from it (a new power apparently activated by the Staff), and again takes his human form. (Gwen comments: "With you by my side, I know we can win!") He then stands by Gwen in a magical confrontation with Kale as they finally defeat her and save the other Jewel Riders from peril (he does it in the human form but turned beast in the original script). Impressed, Fallon also becomes "definitely interested" in him.[1] Ian then safeguards the still dangerous Dark Stone that was the source of Kale's power, taking it with him when they go to fight Morgana to settle his scores with her too.
Gwen being forced by Morgana to save either Sunstar or Ian
The Princess about to revive Ian with a magic kiss
When helping the girls during the final contest for each of the Wizard Jewels against Morgana in "The Last Dance" ("The One Jewel"), Ian helps them in the fight in his Beast form. He then actually sacrifices his life for Gwen, freezing solid during the struggle for the Time Stone. But soon the Princess manages to revive him with a kiss and "the magic of love", at the same time also restoring Arden that had been just destroyed by Morgana, and thus also winning the Jewel of Arden for Merlin. In the end, along with the Jewel Riders and the Pack, Ian helps Merlin and Gwen to defeat Morgana and the other evil ancient wizards seemingly once and for all. In the very last scene, Gwen and Ian are seen as a pair (even as the usual Gwen-boyfriend candidate and destined future king Drake is also there), holding hands while looking in each other's eyes. He is shown still in his human form, even without the jewel.
Behind the scenes[]
Development[]
Prince concept art (boy form)
Ian's original concept was this of a character known as just a Prince. However, his name had to be changed due to copyright reasons.[2] According to art director Greg Autore, "this new character was to be a suggested love interest for Tamara with her affinity for animals. It was a prince who was trapped by dark wild magic to take the form of an animal."[3] For the canceled third season, "Ian was supposed to be Tamara's love. She always loved animals so I gave her a boyfriend that was also an animal. Yes, it had obvious influence from a certain beast."[4] Concept art shows him wearing a fur jacket and blue pants (turned red in the show) with a green belt he would carry his jewel on, instead of around his neck as a pendant.
Ian has been named Ranger in the show's known draft scripts, described therein as following: "He is tall with long rusty hair and a blonde streak (Fabio meets Tarzan)." The Beast was also not wolf-like in these scripts, but was instead described as a bear creature, and Gwen would actually profess her love to him.[5] The character of "Ranger" underwent several design changes during the development, mainly coloring changes, but at one point he was also considered to have the same clothing (that is, pants-only) in both of his forms:
He was also to have magic abilities of his own (i.e. "The Beast swirls the wild magic into a great ball of fire and sends it hurling back towards Morgana and Kale"[1]). The magic sparkle between Ian and Gwen on their first touch is similar to on the first meeting of Lancelot and Queen Guinevere in Arthurian legend. He was originally voiced by Bob Kaliban, dubbed over by Christian Stark in German.
Legacy[]
Kara and Lorren (with Lyra)
In Avalon: Web of Magic, the nonhuman character Lorren goes by the alias "Forest Prince" and is also one of love interests of Gwen's analogue character Kara Davies, as is the blonde warlock named Donovan. Another prince character from Aldenmor, Marlin, is also a love interest of Emily.
See also[]
References[]
| Characters |
|---|
| List of characters List of episodic characters Main characters |
| Magic |
|---|
  Magic, Wild Magic, Jewel Quest, Jewel Armor |
