Jurgen · Character
Queen Sylvia Tereu
Smoit's ninth wife, a ghost who shares his haunting and insists, with wounded dignity, that her murder was through no fault of hers.
supporting
Also known as Sylvia Tereu, Queen Sylvia, Sylvia
First appearance: xxiv of compromises in cocaigne
As a supporting figure in Jurgen, Queen Sylvia Tereu is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.
Ghost of Smoit's ninth wife; assists in the haunting plan and offers Jurgen the potion.
Sylvia Tereu drifts through the White Turret beside the husband who killed her, her protestations of innocence delivered with the weariness of long practice. She vanishes at cockcrow, leaving Jurgen to explain her to Dame Anaïtis and to reckon with the absurdity of his own midnight company. Her patient grievance against Smoit gives the ghostly visitation its comic and faintly melancholy edge, and her disappearance marks the boundary between dream and daylight.
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Character Web
2 connectionsA slice of how Queen Sylvia Tereu sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.
Relationship types
- Other
Character groups
- Mythological and Historical Figures
- Mortal and Mythic Women
- Protagonist
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Open in readerNarrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This is the dramatic climax because Jurgen’s calm, rational dismissal of his father Coth’s lifelong guilt—redu…
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Queen Sylvia Tereu appears across 2 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.
Chapter companion notes
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See Queen Sylvia Tereu in xxiv of compromises in cocaigne