- Dahlia Lynley-Chivers
-
Someday there will be a collection of Dahlia stories. I love Dahlia.—Charlaine Harris, Official Charlaine Harris Community Board[1]
Dahlia Lynley-Chivers [1]
Dahlia as presented in Dying for Daylight gameCreated by Charlaine Harris Information Nickname(s) Dahlia Species Vampire Occupation none particular mentioned Family Todd Swiftfoot (husband, deceased) Dahlia (pronounced /ˈdɑ:lɪə/) is a fictional character from The Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse Series by author Charlaine Harris. However, the only time Dahlia appears on the same page with Sookie Stackhouse is in All Together Dead.[2] Dahlia is the main character in a growing number of non-Sookie-related - though set in the same fictional universe - short stories and a computer game.
She is a vampire and lives in the city of Rhodes.It is mentioned in Bacon that her original name was too difficult to spell and pronounce for the XXth century and around 1925 she changed it to 'Dahlia' for her own convenience. In 1940, staying in London during the Blitz, Dahlia adopted a surname to get new papers. Since that time on her full name has been Dahlia Lynley-Chivers.[3]
In Dahlia Underground she tells humans that she "perhaps" has been a vampire for nine hundred years, but it is repeatedly said that she is very old, even ancient.
Dahlia... is an extremely old vamp who's gone through many personas.—Charlaine Harris, Official Charlaine Harris Community Board[4]Readers can get a couple more hits about her actual age. For example, she considers her knowledge of some no-longer-spoken languages really advantageous.[5] It is also said (in the same short story) that her friend Thalia, who is also originally from Greece and even older than Dahlia, is so ancient that she came across Odysseus "a time or two".
Contents
Human life
Dahlia is Greek, and it's pretty much everything we know about her. As a little girl she shared a tutor with her brother, but that stopped after it was decided that a girl didn't need any more education.[6] She was brought over (made a vampire) at the age of eighteen.[7]
Physical description
Dahlia is petite and beautiful. The author states in Sookie's words that the vampire has got "the straightest back and longest rippling black hair" she ever saw (All Together Dead).
Dahlia has big green eyes (Tacky) and her face is described either as round or as heart-shaped. Dahlia is really tiny: 4 feet 9 inches tall (A Very Vampire Christmas).
She wears stilettos whenever it's possible and is very particular about her clothes.
She possesses a rare ability to fly just as her nestmate Glenda (Tacky) or Sookie's vampire husband Eric, Sheriff of a fiefdom in Louisiana.
Personality and traits
Sookie sees Dahlia as very "direct in her judgement". She also mentions that Dahlia behaves "regally" in the company of the Queen Sophie-Anne. Dahlia is supremely confident in her strength, wits and lethality. She is usually very composed and has a violent, vengeful nature. Dahlia is rarely seen smiling (usually before a good battle), but she has got a dark sense of humour. Straight after her husband's death she experiences difficulties with controlling her temper.
Relationships
In The Sookie Stackhouse Companion ,[8] it is said that Dahlia "loves her men and her high-heels". Readers always witness Dahlia either involved in a romantic relationship or eager to get involved. In spite of her pronounced disgust with all non-vampiric, she is equally ready to notice strength, courage and physical beauty in all males: vamps, "breathers" and Weres.
In Tacky, she meets her future husband Todd, a werewolf, a second-in-command in the Swift-Foot pack. After about two years of happiness Todd is murdered and avenged by Dahlia.
In A Very Vampire Christmas, a reader sees her dating Matsudo Katamori, a vampire.
Dahlia has got a vampire best friend Taffy, married to Don Swiftfoot, a werewolf packleader. It is said in Tacky that Taffy and Dahlia have been friends for about two centuries and share a lot of memories. Dahlia is the maid of honour at Taffy and Don's wedding and is responsible for security on the bride's side.
After mutually saving each other's lives in Dahlia Underground Dahlia sort of befriends firefighters of Thirty-four Company.
Position within the vampire hierarchy
The nature of her occupation is not mentioned, but she tells her husband-to-be Todd that she does her nest leader's bidding and contributes to his wealth. The nest leader and vampire sheriff of Rhodes is Cedric Deeming. By the time readers first meet Dahlia in Tacky she has lived under his rule for about 20 years and plays the role of the nest reinforcer. Dahlia is respected enough among vampires to be on a judges panel (including Bill Compton and an unidentified blond vampire) at the vampire summit in Rhodes in All Together Dead. After the explosions at the 'Pyramid of Gizeh' hotel (Dahlia Underground) Dahlia and her friend Taffy are appointed by Cedric to conduct the investigation. In the Dying for Daylight game Dahlia once again performs as an investigator. Later on (Death by Dahlia) she and former policeman Matsuda Katamori are chosen by Joaquin, the new sheriff, for yet another investigation.
Dahlia's timeline
- Tacky
- Starts two weeks before Taffy's wedding, ends almost a year later with Dalia and Todd's wedding.
- Bacon
- Takes place about a year after Tacky, starts ~ half a month after Todd's death.
- All Together Dead, Chapter 16
- 24 September 2005 (according to Sookieverse timeline[9]). Dahlia takes part at vampire trials as a judge.
- Dahlia Underground
- Starts on 25 September 2005 (according to Sookieverse timeline), after the sunset.
- Dying for Daylight (computer game)
- Cedric is still the Sheriff of Rhodes.
- Death by Dahlia
- Introduces the new vampire sheriff of Rhodes and Dahlia's new lover. Takes place six years after the Great Revelation so it can be dated by summer 2008 (according to Sookieverse timeline). This clashes severely with the date given for the seemingly next Christmas story.
I have simply never thought of trying to write the Dahlia stories to tie in with the chronology of the Sookie stories. I'm sorry if I've given contradictory dating, but I don't doubt that it's a possibility I have done so. Dahlia is ageless and unchanging and as far as I'm concerned, the stories might take place a year or two apart.—Charlaine Harris, Official Charlaine Harris Community Board[10]- A Very Vampire Christmas
- Takes place approximately on 17 December 2006 (it is said that it's a year since the events of 'Dahlia Underground'). Besides everything else, describes new rules introduced by the new Sheriff.
Dying For Daylight computer game
Charlaine Harris... has placed her stake in the casual gaming arena.—Merlina McGovern, Adventure Gamers[11]Game description
- The game was developed by Nikitova Games under the supervision of famous game-designer Jane Jensen and released on February 11, 2011, by I-play. Charlaine Harris herself interfered the creation of Dahlia's looks and "picked the story" I-play used.[12] The theme song "Young Goodman" was written by Robert Holmes and performed by his band "The Scarlet Furies".[13] Tony Leamer, I-play VP of Marketing, says in an interview that the game is "much more adventure than hidden object" search.[14]
- The released first part of Dahlia's computer-based quest consists of four sequential episodes.[15] Four more episodes are yet to come in the second part of the game, and according to Mr.Leamer the mystery will be unravelled in the very last one.
I think Dahlia makes such a great character because she's very action-oriented, she's very physical and she's very visual... She never hesitates to take direct action, and I think that's a really good characteristic of someone who is the protagonist of a video game.—Charlaine Harris, Dying for Daylight: An interview with Charlaine Harris at GamezeboPlot
- A vampire has been noticed in public during the daytime. Dahlia is given (by her sheriff Cedric Deeming) a special task to find a legendary potion which allows vampires to day-walk without being burnt into ashes. Dahlia herself is interested in solving the mystery because the fashion conscious ancient vampire dreams of shopping at Tiffany's during the day. To fulfil the task she has to go to Vampire Quarter in New Orleans and investigate the strange events happened there. It appears that all the hell has broken loose and a lot of vampires have ended up "finally dead".
References
- ^ "Official Charlaine Harris Community Board". December 12, 2010. http://charlaineharris.master.com/texis/master/search/showmsg.html?id=4cfe20a311&Catid=4061d6053#msg29. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
- ^ Harris, Charlaine. All Together Dead. Chapter 16: ACE. ISBN 0-441-01494-1.
- ^ A Very Vampire Christmas by Charleine Harris in the Glamour Magazine, Dec.2010
- ^ "Official Charlaine Harris Community Board". May 22, 2010. http://charlaineharris.master.com/texis/master/search/showmsg.html?id=4bf7620212&Catid=4061d6053. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
- ^ Bacon by Charleine Harris in the Strange Brew anthology: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-38336-3.
- ^ Tacky by Charleine Harris in the My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding anthology: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-739-47369-7.
- ^ Dahlia Underground by Charleine Harris in the Crimes by Moonlight anthology: Berkley Hardcover. ISBN 0-425-23563-7.
- ^ "A Guide" by Victoria Koski (Dahlia Lynley-Chivers), The Sookie Stackhouse Companion: ACE. ISBN 0-441-01971-4
- ^ "Life in Bon Temps" by Victoria Koski (Timelines), The Sookie Stackhouse Companion: ACE. ISBN 0-441-01971-4
- ^ "Official Charlaine Harris Community Board: Dahlia Lynley-Chivers and Her Short Stories ~ SPOILERS". October 23, 2011. http://charlaineharris.master.com/texis/master/search/showmsg.html?id=4ea5d72211#m4ea5d72211. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
- ^ "Adventure Gamers: Casual Collection - February 2011 releases". March 9, 2011. http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,1284. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ "Official Charlaine Harris Community Board". February 2, 2011. http://charlaineharris.master.com/texis/master/search/showmsg.html?id=4d5c5b3611&Catid=4061d6053#msg74. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
- ^ "The Scarlet Furies". http://www.scarletfuries.com.
- ^ "Dying for Daylight: An interview with Charlaine Harris at Gamezebo". November 8, 2010. http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2010/11/08/dying-daylight-interview-charlaine-harris. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
- ^ "Dying for Daylight official site". http://www.dyingfordaylight.com.
Novels Dead Until Dark · Living Dead in Dallas · Club Dead · Dead to the World · Dead as a Doornail · Definitely Dead · All Together Dead · From Dead to Worse · Dead and Gone · Dead in the Family · Dead Reckoning · DeadlockedShort stories "Fairy Dust" · "Dancers in the Dark" · "One Word Answer" · "Dracula Night" · "Tacky" · "Gift Wrap" · "Bacon" · "Lucky" · "A Touch of Dead" · "Dahlia Underground" · "Two Blondes" · "Death by Dahlia" · "A Very Vampire Christmas" · "Small-Town Wedding" · "If I Had A Hammer"Characters Sookie Stackhouse · Bill Compton · Eric Northman · Sam Merlotte · Pam Ravenscroft · Jason Stackhouse · Alcide Herveaux · Quinn · Niall Brigant · Tara Thornton · Dahlia Lynley-Chivers · Full list of charactersSee also Categories:- Fictional vampires
- Fictional characters with superhuman strength
- Fictional characters who can move at superhuman speeds
- Fictional characters with accelerated healing
- Fictional Greek people
- Characters in fantasy novel series
- Tacky
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