In the opening scene, we find Jirel and her warhorse standing on a hill at sunset, gazing down at the ominous castle which is set in a glimmering marshland, and said only to appear at dusk. The warlord has promised Jirel that if she retrieves for him the mythical treasure said to reside in the reputedly haunted castle of Hellsgarde, her soldiers will be returned to her. In the story, Jirel's men have been taken captive in battle by the lord of a rival nation – Guy of Garlot, and are being held for ransom. Hellsgarde is the final tale in the cycle, and the one that most closely fits into the horror genre. Jirel's most unique aspect (along with being female) is that unlike most sword and sorcery heroes, her fiercest weapon is not a tempered broad sword, deadly rapier, or soul-stealing runeblade – but a strong, emotional will-power that allows her to plunge into hellish domains, facing evil and the supernatural, all in the name of Joiry. She leads her men into battle, raging beside them in wars that are usually the cause of her heroic adventures that lead her into strange worlds.

In the series, Jirel is the ruler of a fictional province of Medieval France, which is constantly at feud with other kingdoms. Moore’s Jirel tales are masterpieces of dark fantasy, bejeweled with rare words, and flashes of macabre weirdness – all containing a mystical, dreamy quality about them that conjure up a true sense of otherworldliness. I soon discovered the ACE paperback anthology featuring all five of the fiery sword-maiden’s strange adventures, simply titled Jirel of Joiry. Moore's husband, consequently) it was my favorite story in the book, and caused me to seek out Moore's other works. Along with The Citadel of Darkness by Henry Kuttner (C.L. This was my first introduction to the First Lady of Fantasy, Jirel of Joiry. Sprague de Camp, which was a thin paperback that I used to keep in the inside pocket of my leather jacket. The first time I came across Hellsgarde was in the 1963 anthology, Swords And Sorcery edited by L. As the lyricist of the group, I recently had to become heavily immersed in the story, in order to pen some descriptive words to the coinciding epic that will appear on the release. This tale will be one of the main concepts that my band Eternal Winter will be covering on our upcoming album, Archaic Lore Enshrined: Songs of Savage Swords and Dark Mysticism. In the spirit of Samhain which just passed, I would like to talk about one of my favorite ghost stories of all-time – Hellsgarde by C.L. Hellsgarde Enshrined – Jirel of Joiry’s Darkest Hour