"The Magic of Avalon" card
The Crystal Palace is a key location in Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. It is the magical residence of the royal family, located at Avalon's capital New Camelot. Queen Anya, King Jared and Princess Gwenevere all live there, as do the other Jewel Riders and the Pack, along with their respective mounts.
The main building of the Crystal Palace includes the Jewel Keep high atop over the main dome. The Enchanted Gardens spread behind it.
Crystal Palace[]
Located on an edge of the city of New Camelot, the Crystal Palace is divided into three main levels connected via the four elevator spires. The separate Jewel Keep was built above all of them, accessible via an elevator spire and a covered bridge. The guards watch over for intruders, stationed at the main gate to the inner courtyard and the entrance to the Jewel Keep.
The Crystal Palace is built on the most magical site in all of the kingdom. It is in fact the heart of Avalon and, unknown to most, it actually acts as a giant Enchanted Jewel resonating goodness outward across the lands. (Morgana's own dark magic has no power in or around it, but the magic of the evil Dark Stone is not jammed and works normally.)
Enchanted Gadens[]
- Main article: Enchanted Gardens
A young Lady Kale in the Enchanted Gardens in "Dreamfields"
The Enchanted Gardens with a special Travel Trees ring lie behind the Crystal Palace. From there, the Enchanted Jewels are assigned to the young people and animals in the glorious Circle of Friendship ceremonies at the Friendship Ring, which is one of the most magical places in all of Avalon.
Lower levels[]
The royal family's throne room in "Jewel Quest, Part I", displaying the symbols of their Sun Stone and Forest Stone and other Enchanted Jewels
From the royal chambers room at the Crystal Palace, the King and the Queen, with the help of their advisers, oversee such matters as resource management (land, water, air, and magic), commerce and travel (trading goods between peoples and the transportation of same), currency exchange (frequently bartering), public works (road building and repair and management of the lands), and judicial review (resolution of civil disputes and criminal violations). Administrative officials from all over the kingdom oversee the workings of all this, and periodically come to the Crystal Palace for a review of the process and to discuss what can be done to makes things stronger.
Princess Gwenevere and Fallon in the stables in "Jewel Quest, Part I"
The palace also houses kitchens, dining rooms, stables, training grounds, and the Jewel Keep. Each of the Jewel Riders has a room in the palace that they share with their magic animal best friend. The room is divided in half, one half for the animal in a stable, the other half, a room for the human, accenting the special bond between them. Tamara's room doubles as a nursery for a trio of young magic animals, the Babies.
Queen Anya's study with the map of New Camelot in "The Faery Princess"
The currently-reigning Queen Anya manages the Palace itself like a good executive manages any busy establishment, keeping a tight rein over every detail. She can be also often found in her own private study room. There, Anya can be often found studying the magic and history of Avalon with her daughter and heir, Princess Gwenevere: "The Queen's study looks like Indy Jane's archeological lab. Maps line the walls, ancient artifacts and interesting HG Wells / Jules Verne-style stuff is on the shelves. Maps, and record scrolls are spread out all over the desk."[1]
Jewel Keep[]
The Crystal Palace is also where magical jewels (and the Grail, apparently) are housed and collected, in the highly secured Jewel Keep which is like a giant sparkling jewel resting on top of the palace. All the unused Enchanted Jewels are kept there until the right combination of human and animal are found to share it. "The Jewel Keep is a magical Tiffany's vault. It is completely crystal with a high ceiling that tapers to a point, the transmitter. There is a crystal table in the center of the room, used to examine magic jewels."[2] It is accessible by an elevator and a bridge that leads to a guarded door with a magic lock. One cannot use the Enchanted Jewels in here or the magic will get out of control.
Only the Queen of Avalon has access to the Keep, and Anya is often there studying the magic. Later, she also lets her daughter Gwenevere in and they together with Gwen's friends, using the Sun Stone and scrolls, construct a radar-like device to locate the Wizard Jewels. "The Jewel amplifier is creating a holographic projection on the interior of the Jewel Keep dome, like a planetarium. The image is like a radar grid with a sweeping sonar searching the wild magic for signs of intense magical spots. The sweeping scope reveals red lights flashing at a point on the holographic grid."[3]
Dark Palace[]
The Dark Palace first appears in a dream in "Dreamfields", turned a dark shade of purple and "seething with dark energy emanating from the Jewel Keep. Thorntrees fill the gardens."[4] In the second season's "The Fortune Jewel", a prophecy of the Fortune Jewel also shows the Crystal Palace made of "black ice" in a vision of the dark future under the reign of Queen Morgana, once "a great witch out of legend will appear to rule the magic of Avalon."
The Palace in Kale's dark magic power
The Palace's good magic in "Full Circle"
Its main apperance comes during the finale of the first season, the evil Lady Kale, Queen Anya's twin sister banished from the Palace, takes it over and turns it over to dark magic as she works to usurp both the throne of Avalon and Merlin's own power: "The Palace is dark and cold with deep purple and red colors running through the crystal. A dark portal of wild magic hangs over the Palace. Magic lightning flashes from the top of the Jewel Keep into it. The portal flashes from the impact and wild magic comes streaming out covering the Crystal Palace, and spreading like an evil vapor over the gardens, the lands and beyond."[5] But just when the witch is about to finally tune the Crown Jewels to herself and become invincible, the Jewel Riders manage to activate the great good power of the Crystal Palace as they have been instructed by Merlin. Kale is shocked to be trapped in her own magic matrix, where Merlin's Jewel in her hand explodes and she herself shrinks and turns into magic dust that the Crystal Palace instantly disposes of. It then also quickly undoes the dark spells that Kale had cast on Avalon, restoring everything to its normal state.
Behind the scenes[]
Development[]
The Crystal Palace might have been one of the show's elements that were inspired by She-Ra: Princess of Power.[6] An early script described it as "a faceted castle topped with jeweled spires."
Art director Greg Autore said, he made "the castle play set shown to consumers in the original testing. (...) It was more like a castle keep but expanded up and out to make a good backdrop for play. But the castle eventually designed for the show did not match it all."[7] The early version of the throne room was similar but with some differences: "The large windows are all faceted like crystals. Beautiful tapestries line the walls. A large fire burns warmly in the fireplace. The Queen's white tiger, Wintermane, and the King's black wolf, Goliath sit to one side."[8]
Legacy[]
In Avalon: Web of Magic, a crystal city in the dark Avalon, corrupted by the evil magic, is visited (and destroyed, together with the Dark Sorceress) at the end of the final book, Full Circle. There also was the Crystal Keep location in The Garden, as well as the Pet Palace at the Stonehill Animal Hospital. Furthermore, the Ravenswood Manor library (similar to one within the Wizard's Peak) contains a map of the Magic Web that looks like the map in the Jewel Keep. ("A fairy map is a guide to locate portals leading in and out of worlds, connecting to the larger and all encompassing Magic Web. Fairy maps also indicate other places of highly concentrated magic. It is possible to combine multiple fairy maps to create a larger scale map."[9]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ The Faery Princess (script)
- ↑ Revenge of the Dark Stone script
- ↑ Shadowsong script
- ↑ Dreamfields (script)
- ↑ Full Circle script
- ↑ Princess of Power | The Jewel Riders Archive
- ↑ Greg Autore and the Toy Design of Jewel Riders - Part Two - The Jewel Riders Archive
- ↑ Jewel Quest script (Enchanted Quest)
- ↑ What's What | Avalon Web of Magic
| Avalon |
|---|
| Avalon (Merlin, royal family) Magic (Crown Jewels, Enchanted Jewels, Jewel Riders, Travel Trees)   Geography |
| Magic |
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  Magic, Wild Magic, Jewel Quest, Jewel Armor |
