In the fantasy novels of Rick Cook, the hedge witch who assists the wizard Patrius in the Great Summoning that brings the Cupertino programmer Wiz Zumwalt to the magical World, and becomes his wife even as he becomes the greatest wizard in the land. Moira has long red hair, green eyes, pale freckled skin, and is very beautiful.

As a child, Moira lived on the Fringe of the Wild Wood with her family, but her parents and brother mysteriously vanished one day; their fate is uncertain. As she grew older and learned the ways of magic (studying, for a time, under the great wizard Patrius), she became the hedge witch for the village of Blackbrook Bend. It was on a Midsummer's Day, as she was gathering magical herbs for the village, that Patrius approached her and asked her to assist in a Great Summoning. She did, and Wiz Zumwalt was transported to the World. Patrius cast a love spell on Wiz to bind him to Moira, but was killed shortly thereafter by forces of the Dark League. Bal-Simba, leader of the Council of the North, arrived to investigate, and instructed Moira to convey Wis to Heart's Ease, where they would be safe.

Moira disliked Wiz at first, inwardly blaming him for Patrius' death and repelled by the way he mooned over her, thanks to the love spell's effect. When Wiz began practicing his new magic programming, she was furious; shortly thereafter, a raid by the Dark League resulted in her capture and imprisonment in the dungeons beneath the City of Night. When he showed up to rescue her, her attitude towards him was completely reversed, and she fell for him.

After their marriage, Moira and Wiz took up residence at the Wizard's Keep, where Moira soon grew frustrated that her own life and work was submerged in that of Wiz. After Wiz's disappearance, Moira risked her own life to be sent to his world, where she would enlist help from Jerry Andrews, Wiz's former cubicle-mate. With the arrival of the programming team from that world, Moira's role changed, as, knowing Wiz, she was better equipped to deal with them than anyone else. She was listed on the programmers' org chart as "liaison, staff support, and den mother," and felt more fulfilled with her new responsibilities. She later played the key role in the destruction of the demon Bale-Zur, as she was the only one who could perform the complex rite.

As she was named Queen of the Winter Fair one year, Moira learned that the efforts she and Wiz had made to conceive a child had finally succeeded. However, a mysterious entity stole her body and transferred her personality into the juvenile dragon Fluffy. She held up well under the strain, even making the trip to Las Vegas with Jerry Andrews and Bal-Simba to locate the code demigod E.T. Tajikawa at Comdex. She was successfully reunited with her body, with no harm done to the unborn baby.

Sources: Rick Cook, Wizard's Bane, The Wizardry Compiled, The Wizardry Cursed, The Wizardry Quested

Moi"ra (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. .] Greek Myth.

The deity who assigns to every man his lot.

 

© Webster 1913.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.