La Pucelle
the shrine maiden
The term "la pucelle" is French and means "the virgin", which is mainly associated with Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc was a young heroine in France who fought at the head of the French army and liberated the city of Orléans from the English in 1429. But two years later she was burned at the stake as a witch. Actually, that sounds a bit like Helena's story doesn't it?
Joan of Arc
was a 17-year-old girl that felt called by God to liberate France from the English occupiers. At first no one wanted to believe the farmer's daughter. But she managed to get an audience with the French heir Charles VII and convinced him of her mission. She must have benefited from a legend according to which a virgin would save France. So Charles
believed her, and the young girl went into battle.
Joan was so brave and so confident in her task that the soldiers at her side took heart and actually won a decisive battle against England. As
Joan had predicted, Charles VII was crowned King of France in Reims Cathedral.
Joan was also present at this ceremony and from then on very famous.
But after that, the king no longer needed the young woman's advice...
He allowed her to go into battle against the Burgundians but Joan of Arc was taken prisoner and delivered to England. She was accused of heresy
and sentenced by the church to be burned at the stake. The king did not want to be
associated with a witch and did nothing to help her.
On May 30, 1431, Joan was
burned alive in the French city of Rouen. It was later recognized that she had
been wrongly convicted.
The anime "Fena: Pirate Princess" takes up the story of the legendary Joan of Arc and describes her as the holy virgin who determines the fate of the world. But what exactly is the holy virgin? In the anime, the virgin is allowed to decide whether the world will be destroyed and everything will start anew with her as Eve and her guardian as Adam, or whether the world with all its facets will continue to exist as it is. Both Joan of Arc and Helena have already been allowed to decide the future of the world. What is very interesting here is the parallels between Helena des Armoise's death and the death of the real Joan of Arc. Unlike Joan, Helena was a French noblewoman and was commissioned to conceive a child with the king
of England. Because only a king's daughter could become the new Shrine Maiden.
As she seduced the king and
now carrying his child under her heart, it was no longer safe for her in England
and she fled with the royal butler Franz Houtman.
While it's not fully explained in the anime, I think she is found and captured by the English after Fena's birth (like Joan of Arc, btw) and accused of witchcraft for seducing the king. Like Joan, Helena is also burned at the stake.
