From TES issue 27 (May 2004)

Series 6/7. Level 2/3.
QUEEN GREYSTAGG
If you're looking for evidence of Girl Power in medieval times, you need look no further than the proud and haughty Queen Greystagg. The witch queen and ruler of Witch Haven was played by Iona Kennedy, the actress who also gave us Sidriss and Maldame.

In series 6, level two consisted mostly of a place called Witch Haven, which was the home of the witches (or grey sisters) over which Greystagg ruled. Greystagg's air of majesty and mystery could not be denied, and she was always a quietly commanding presence.

The witch queen held valuable information about passing through Witch Haven, and any dungeoneer who encountered her would have to be respectful and not afraid to subordinate themselves a bit. Like any self-respecting Knightmare character, however, Greystagg was susceptible to bribery, and helped Ben II in exchange for a ring and later Chris IV in exchange for witch amber.

Greystagg and the other witches were unaligned ("Rather like cats, we take our own paths; we know no masters" - Greystagg) in series 6, which is why Lord Fear spent a great deal of this series trying to get Greystagg to sign a treaty with him and join the Opposition. In the end, Greystagg refused the alliance.

For this reason, Lord Fear had completely destroyed Witch Haven in time for the next series, which meant that Greystagg had a somewhat different role in series 7. Instead of being unaligned, she was now dedicated to fighting the tyrant Lord Fear, and sometimes helped dungeoneers just because they were out to oppose him. The quiet, majestic Greystagg became a bitter, vengeful character, but she was still very proud and haughty and needed to be handled with kid gloves: "The Witch Queen is notoriously difficult to deal with." - Treguard.

Little remained of Witch Haven in level two, but Greystagg seemed to have managed to hang onto her throne room, where she struck up deals with Alex II and Barry. On both these occasions she still demanded payment, but, when she began to appear in level three later in the series, Greystagg served as an integral part of both Julie's and Barry's winning quests just so she could try to get one up on Lord Fear: "If it harms Lord Fear then I will help!" - Greystagg.

If she had appeared in series 8, the logical progression for Greystagg would have been to rule over the Great Mire and try to get the better of Lord Fear, just like Maldame did. Still, I suppose we have Iona Kennedy's pregnancy to thank for that. As she stands with her two series, Greystagg is a powerful, noteworthy character, and is involved in some memorable Knightmare scenes and scenarios.

Fear Factor: 5 She always asserted her authority, even over Barry!
Killer Instinct: 2 She would have killed if handled incorrectly.
Humour Rating: 1 Took everything very seriously.
Oscar Standard: 7 Not as memorable as Sidriss.

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Greystagg the Queen of the Grey Sisters played a small but key role in the Knightmare-based audio play, Famous For Retreating. The part was played by native of Stirling, Clare Speedie, who thus gave the character an interesting Scottish flavour.

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In 2014, Knightmare.com forum member Daphne underwent a change of username, becoming Greystagg. Daphne, who had joined the forum in November 2009, also attended the 2014 Knightmare Convention.

Aesstagg, who joined the Knightmare.com forum in September 2014, had a username inspired by two characters. This was illustrated by Aesstagg's forum signature: 'With the ice-cold snap of Aesandre, and the cruel authority of Greystagg, your doom is prepared!' Aesstagg has made 4 posts to date.

[Previous version: 2014-05-31 20:37:04]

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