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Tamara (Lady Tamara[1]) is one of protagonist characters and titular heroines of Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, voiced by Laura Dean. Tamara-centered episodes include "Song of the Rainbow", "Home Sweet Heart Stone" (where she sings "Heartland Farm"), "Shadowsong", and "The Jewel of the Sea". She later inspired the character of Emily in Avalon: Web of Magic. Tamara herself was confirmed to return in the Jewel Riders comics sequel.

Heart Stone Tamara

As a Jewel Rider, Tamara uses the ruby-red Heart Stone, the Stone of Healing, which also allows her to talk to all animals. Practical, wise, and gorgeous, Tamara is a musician and songwriter who works in tune with the music of nature and animals. As the Head of the Crystal Palace's magic animal nursery, she is also responsible for raising the baby animals, bonded with her through the Heart Stone.

Tamara is a daughter of Doc and Charity from Heartland Farms, and a close friend of Archie the talking owl as well as of her fellow Jewel Rider, Fallon, together with whom she sometimes rides on Moondance. She was a special student of the wizard Merlin because of her exceptional musical abilities. Tamara's gift of music and compassion for all living creatures inspires the powers of the Enchanted Jewels, and so she pledges to Merlin that she will help her best friend Princess Gwenevere learn to use the Sun Stone. In the second season, Tamara becomes bonded with the unique unicorn named Shadowsong, sharing her jewel with him and being able to call upon him to arrive anytime.

Tamara CB

Official description[]

Tamara 2 CB

"TAMARA - Singer/Songwriter/Baby Animal Wrangler

Tamara is a sweet-singing songwriter. She is very spiritual and in touch with the land and all the animals. Tamara is a healer and uses her Heart Stone to help others. Tamara loves to sing, play music and dance with her baby animals. All the animals love Tamara because she is kind and gentle and understands them. Tamara's responsibilities include running a nursery for baby magical animals-in-training.

Tamara may have a rare ability to use magic even without a jewel, though she'd need the right training and experience. That's why she is one of the rare youngsters who can use the Heart Stone, and why she was chosen by Merlin as his apprentice."

In the show[]

Physical attributes[]

  • Age: 15
  • Height: 5' 7" (170 cm)
  • Hair: Pink, worn long
  • Eyes: Green

The young Tamara is already known through the kingdom of Avalon for her strikingly good looks. She is shapely, slender and graceful—no matter what she eats, she never becomes fat (which is a constant annoyance to her friend, Princess Gwenevere). She is the youngest but also the tallest of the three current Jewel Riders.

Personality[]

Harmony Cleo

Tamara with Cleo the unicorn

Lady Tamara

Tamara calling on the Babies in "Mystery Island"

Tamara has an adventuresome spirit and her good-natured, well-mannered ways and irresistibly winsome character make her very easy to like. She is sensitive, compassionate, perceptive and capable of intense concentration, exactly the temperament and personality to learn the crafts of music and magic. She is straightforward, honest and expresses herself eloquently through her music and other artistic endeavours. But when Tamara is involved in her music and magic, she gets dreamy and tends to forget everything else, becoming caught in the music's spell.

Rightous Road Warriors

"Rightous Road Warriors" card

Tamara with Fallon

Tamara and Fallon on Moondance in "Revenge of the Dark Stone"

Tamara is very wise and spiritual, yet sensible and down-to-Earth, and possesses a homespun philosophy that gives her a practical wisdom and perceptive instinct—she is the one the others can go to for advice and kind words of reassurance. Now, like her friends, Tamara is dedicated to saving Merlin and all Avalon from the evil Lady Kale. With Merlin's absence, she spouts the philosophy of Merlin's teachings even though she may not fully understand their meanings.

She has an especially good relationship with her fellow Jewel Rider, the warrior-tomboy Fallon. During the first season, Tamara always rides with Fallon on Moondance (and never with Gwenevere on Sunstar). Tamara's and Fallon's close friendship comes from both having been novice Jewel Riders together before Gwen became one.

Abilities[]

Tamara music

Tamara playing a magical violin in "Home Sweet Heart Stone"

Tam and Gwen with the Babies

Tamara is a natural artist and poet. She sees the world through eyes filled with childlike wonder and expresses the beauty of what she sees with her gifted artistic abilities. Because of her abilities with music, Tamara has a natural talent for making good magic—Merlin knew this and made her his special apprentice. She has an especially strong talent for songwriting and music, and the Fortune Jewel predicts she is "destined to be the most famous musician Avalon has ever known."[2] Her instruments include a flute, a violin, and a small harp.

As part of Tamara's responsibilities, she searches the world for baby magic animals that have the right resonance for an Enchanted Jewel—if the baby shows potential, it is brought to the nursery where Tamara looks after it. In the nursery, she raises and trains a trio of young magic animals. Eager to show their stuff, the Babies tend to be pesky troublemakers and can cause quite a ruckus. Tamara possesses tremendous self-control, tolerance, and patience in dealing with them. Her remarkable relationship with the baby animals is becoming legendary throughout Avalon. She has been dubbed the "Pied Piper" because the Babies and other animals will follow her anywhere to hear her sing.

The Power of the Heart Stone

"The Power of the Heart Stone"

Tamara Anya

Tamara always took her magical studies very seriously. Her empathetic abilities are now enhanced by the Heart Stone, allowing her to sense the emotions of humans and animals. She can sense when animals are in need of help and rushes to their aid. Any animal Tamara comes in contact with, can sense the girl's strong personality, emphatic vibes and her great love for all living creatures.

Tamara is very good at singing and proficient in nearly every instrument, and always carries a flute. Her Heart Stone is furthermore able to amplify and enchant any music. As part of her duties for Gwenevere's mother, Queen Anya of the Crystal Palace, Tamara travels by her Crystal Carriage to many towns and villages spreading joy and good will through music. This is fine with her because she wants to discover the music that exists everywhere—all of nature has music and sound that can be used to expand the goodness of the Crystal Palace.

Jewel power[]

Main article: Heart Stone
Tamara Heart Stone sketch

Tamara with the Heart Stone

Tamara Heart Stone Spike

Tamara with Archie, healing Spike in "Jewel Quest, Part II"

Lady Tamara wears a very special Enchanted Jewel, the ruby red Heart Stone, a stone of healing. With Tamara's sensitivity and natural empathetic connection with animals, she is able to use the Heart Stone in extraordinary ways. However, she it also makes her vulnerable to the wild magic.

The Heart Stone is a wild crystal which makes it difficult and erratic to control. Tamara's natural musical abilities and strong compassion for all living creatures help her focus the Enchanted Jewel to help those that need aid. She can use her Heart Stone to heal living beings, which can be magnified by an Enchanted Jewel Circle with other Jewel Riders to revive. She also can put a protective force shield dome around her and others nearby.

Tamara HS

Tamara with Thunderbolt and Sunstar in "Wizard's Peak"

Tamara Shadowsong

Tamara can use the Heart Stone to talk to all magical animals, in the same way Merlin does. She can also sense which animals can bond with a lucky youngster and join the Jewel Riders. Sometimes, when her Enchanted Jewel is working just right, Tamara can use it to sense what animals sense, see through their eyes, hear through their ears and smell what they smell. Although she is strong, the depth of these powers could overwhelm her if she is not careful.

In the second season, Tamara eventually shares the Heart Stone with the special 'zebracorn' unicorn whom she names Shadowsong after they rescue each other and get bonded in his titular episode. Shadowsong and Tamara are a unique Jewel Riders pair in the show as they are the only among them to be paired male-with-female (the evil Kale also shares her Dark Stone with her male dweasels). With his special ability of entering the Wild Magic at will, Shadowsong can be summoned by Tamara at any moment from any location in Avalon and elsewhere.

Background and relationships[]

Tamara Kit

Tamara with Kit at the Heartland Farms in "Home Sweet Heart Stone"

Drake Tamara

Drake coming to Tamara's rescue from Kale's castle in "Jewel Quest, Part II"

Tamara comes from Heartland Farms in the Great Plains. She is the youngest child of the caring farmers Doc and Charity and was raised with a farm full of animals—which makes her connection with them that much more natural and comfortable. She visits her parents often, usually with an armful of baby animals for her mother to love and cuddle. Tamara's lovely beauty grants her many young suitors, such as Sorrel. Even Drake, the handsome leader of the Pack in love with Gwenevere, has a crush on her and thus always strives to protect her from dangers. Tamara and Drake are seen on a date in "Dreamfields".

Archie Tamara

Tamara with Merlin's owl, Archimedes

Tamara to the rescue

Tamara herself saving Gwenevere from Kale's dweasels in "Jewel Quest, Part I"

Friendly animals just seem to sense Tamara's love for all good living beings. She loves to talk to her parents and is always excited to share her constant activities that includes studying, writing music, performing, exploring, and baby animal wrangling. During the first season, before meeting Shadowsong, Tamara was accompanied by Merlin's familiar owl Archimedes (also known as Archie) and usually would ride with her best friend Fallon on Moondance when not driving the Crystal Carriage with the Babies. She also rode on the great wolf Stormrunner in "For Whom the Bell Trolls". And, unlike Fallon, Tamara always gets along with Gwen.

Fashion and style[]

Tamara Fashion

As a Jewel Rider, Tamara's magical armor represents her love of nature. The helmet symbolizes a butterfly to signify her respect for nature's eternal innocence and ever-changing beauty.

Clip 12-0

Fallon's butterfly-themed Level II Jewel Armor with matching glider wings

Tamara fashion 2

Tamara usually wears eye-catching, form-fitting bodysuits, mostly in the shades of green with pink elements, and often with a miniskirt. For formal affairs and parties, she prefers elegant dresses of classic beauty rather than frilly fashionable flavors that may be in today and out tomorrow. Her non-armor clothes are made mostly from "light weight but fluffy" materials such as Egyptian cotton and velvet.[3]

  • Favorite colors: Greens, pinks, and white.
  • Favorite foods: Fresh fruit
  • and veggie salads, lots of bubble berry, peanut butter.
  • Pet peeves: Mistreatment of animals, off key instruments, people who lose patience with themselves or their friends.
Tamara 2
Tamara 1

Behind the scenes[]

Tamara was portrayed by Laura Dean. Locally, she was dubbed by Kristina von Weltzien in German, by Valérie Siclay in French, by Cristina Cavalinhos in Portuguese, and by Lee Jin-hwa in Korean.

Development[]

Enchanted Camelot Tamara

Enchanted Camelot prototype

Melody

Enchanted Jewel Riders concept art

Fallon AF2

In some early drafts of the show, following the Menolly from the original project to adapt Dragonriders of Pern ("musician/aventurer, talented and eccentric"),[4] the future Tamara was renamed first as Melody[5] (pictured) and later Harmony,[6][7][8] while her parents ahave been named May and Orvan.[9] As in the case of Fallon, Tamara was chosen because Hasbro had already owned copyrights to this name. Her light skin tone was intended to contrast with these of Fallon's and Gwenevere's and evoke an image of an Irish princess, but her hair color was changed from red to pink.[10] An early prototype of the character (with brown hair and a brown costume) can be seen in the image on the left, along with some early versions of Archie and the Babies (including an eventually removed wolf pup). For the canceled third season, Tamara would "had a shield that would fan out from her gauntlet in segments. She was always more concerned with nurturing and protecting so that feature fit her the best." Tamara was also "to be given some power over snow and ice for an episode."[11]

Ian Tamara

Ian defending Tamara from Morgana's magic creatures in "The Last Dance"

Harmony Fallon

Harmony in a skirtless amor

According to art director Greg Autore, the character that would become the werewolf known as Ian had been originally "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. Ian was supposed to be Tamara's love. She always loved animals so I gave her a boyfriend that was also an animal."[12] He also said about Tamara herself: "Pink was a cuter way to depict a red-head. It also gave me two pink characters – one with pink hair and one with pink clothing - Win/Win!" Her name was first changed because Melody was trademarked in the United States.[13] The original idea for Tamara's own special animal friend to ride on was an elk, already in the first season, but the series creator and director Robert Mandell hated it.[14]

Legacy[]

AvalonWM

Avalon series'Emily with friends

In the Avalon: Web of Magic book series, like Tamara served as an inspiration for the character of Emily Fletcher.[15] Emily lives with a veterinarian (a combination of Tamara’s parents) and cares for a lot of animals. Both Tamara and Emily also both play flute, though Emily plays a concert flute while Tamara plays a recorder-like instrument. (The concept of using music and lyrics to amplify magic and create magic spells has the name in Avalon, known there as spellsinging.)

See also[]

References[]

External links[]


Characters
List of characters
List of episodic characters

Main characters
Jewel Riders (Princess Gwenevere, Fallon, Tamara, Sunstar, Moondance), Lady Kale, Morgana, Archimedes, Drake
Major characters
Merlin, the Pack, Shadowsong, Queen Anya, Ian, Rufus and Twig, baby animals
Other characters
King Jared and Goliath, Grimm, Thunderbolt, Cleo, Spike, Travel Trees, Guardian, ancient wizards, Lord Batton, Gliders, Kit, Arienda and the Faery Wraiths, Outlaws, Wintermane

Jewel Riders
The Jewel Riders

Enchanted Jewels and the Jewel Riders
Sun Stone - Gwenevere and Sunstar, Anya and Wintermane
Moon Stone - Fallon and Moondance
Heart Stone - Tamara and the Babies & Shadowsong


Magic, Jewel Armor, Crystal Palace, Enchanted Gardens, the Pack, Jewel Quest

Magic
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Magic, Wild Magic, Jewel Quest, Jewel Armor
Magic jewels
Enchanted Jewels (Sun Stone, Moon Stone, Heart Stone), Crown Jewels, Wizard Jewels (Dark Stone)
Places and items
Avalon, Crystal Palace, Enchanted Gardens, Hall of Wizards, Morgana's lair, Jewel Box, Merlin's key
Main magic users
Merlin, Wizards (Morgana), Kale, Jewel Riders (Gwenevere, Fallon, Tamara, Sunstar, Shadowsong, Moondance)
Other magic users
Anya, The Pack (Drake, Thunderbolt), Ian, Rufus and Twig, Babies (Cleo, Spike), Travel Trees, Guardian of the Magic, Arienda and the Faery Wraiths, Wild Magic Gliders, Kit

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