Queen Tamara

Queen Tamara (Japanese: タマラ女王; Tamara joō) is a fictional character created by the Japanese writer Ida Keiko, she is the protagonist from the 1887 novel of the same name, where she is portrayed as a queen regent, who governs her country during the absence of her husband, King Sofónias, who left for a crusade in Saxony, on the Isle of Great Britain, however, 5 years later and Sofónias has not returned, Tamara ends up being definitively crowned Queen, although she still doubts the possibility of her husband's death.

Although disagreements, there is the theory that Tamara was inspired by Cleopatra, Virgin Mary and Queen Victoria, but this was never proven by Keiko on any occasion. However, it confirmed, in a 1901 republish of the novel, that the character was distantly inspired by Ranavalona I, which is evident due to the rigorous and mad behavior that the character takes over the course of the novel, and John Lackland, since Tamara takeover power after the "death" of the real monarch and became a extremely disapproved queen.

Development
Ida Keiko was an admirer of European history, and many of her novels were historical fiction set for the most part in Medieval Europe, one of the subjects she was most attracted to were female rulers in European history, and she knew a lot about various of these female figures, there arises the main factor that contributed to the idealization of Tamara. Keiko also enjoyed reading about Nordic peoples, the Britons and the Crusades, and putting these elements together, she idealized Queen Tamara, and began writing the novel in approximately 1884. Keiko, however, did not want a "politically correct" protagonist, but someone with notable defects that any ruler of the medieval period had, such as discrimination, authoritarianism, infidelity, arrogance, lust, etc.

To compose Tamara's personality, Keiko was based on the old popular saying "to know a person, give him power", and so, it was, creating a character that in the beginning would be a being that, covertly, presented itself as a humble being, kind, with total compassion and pacifist, however, once declared effective queen for not having heard from her husband for 5 years, she puts forward who she is and what her real intentions are, becoming a cruel, arrogant, violent, paranoid, sarcastic and relentless ruler, who is unpopular with many, and "loved" only by a minority whom she innocently trusts.

Queen Tamara
Tamara is the queen consort of the fictional kingdom Alpaland, which, geographically, is located in real-life Iceland, She is married to King Sófónías, who leads the country both politically and militarily. Alpaland has friction with the Breton kingdom of Saxony, for reasons that are not very clear in the novel, since the conflict between the kingdoms is secondary in the plot, but in the little explained in the book, Saxony and Alpaland have friction since before Tamara's birth, and that this was generated by the expulsion of the Alpalens (people of Alpaland) from Great Britain in the 10th century, remembering that the plot of the novel takes place in the 14th century, but they ended up taking everything that had been developed in the fertile British land, and the Saxons claim these goods and seek to claim them for themselves, moreover, it is also mentioned that this rivalry comes from religious disagreements, since the Britons are beginning their conversion to Christianity, while the Alpalens are mostly pagans.

Tensions between Alpaland and Saxony reached a limit, and Sófónías stated, first to Tamara, that he would have to be absent from the kingdom to fight the Saxons. With the departure of Sófónias to Great Britain, Tamara becomes queen regent of Alpaland, and she initially maintains the kingdom under the wishes of her husband, and still maintaining her docile and kind personality, however, the novel skips 5 years, and with no news of Sofónias, he is presumed dead, and so Tamara is crowned queen regnant.

After becoming reigning queen, Tamara begins to undergo a certain change in her personality, letting her selfish and authoritarian side show, in addition, she leaves aside the humble personality that made her so popular, and also becomes a strict isolationist, killing several immigrants, including even babies. While slaughtering several children, Tamara however decides that even if Sofónías is "dead", he must continue his lineage, and find someone with whom he can have a child, it is then that she meets the 14-year-old Tobbi, with whom, after analyzing appearance, chooses the boy as the ideal lover for her, but there is a problem, the conservatism of the kingdom in which she reigns. In order not to cause estrangement from the population, she says that she adopted Tobbi, claiming that he has no father or mother, when in fact she ordered to kill the boy's parents.

The "mother-son" relationship between Tamara and Tobbi becomes, in a certain half of the story, the main focus of the plot, since while she uses the boy for carnal pleasures, she actually starts to treat him as a son, giving him education and lots of pampering, although this is a ploy so that Tobii will always have a mutual affection for her, and it might facilitate Tamara's central goal, having an heir.

The novel jumps another 10 years into the future, Tamara, who was previously a 25-year-old, is now a mature 30-year-old, while the boy Tobbi, previously a teenager, is now fully grown in his 20s. It is revealed that Tamara and Tobbi were married in secret, and that he was named Prince Consort, but when asked by those who do not know her plans, she says that she put Tobbi in such a position because he was not only her heir, but also why Tobbi is the most obvious choice is due to him being the only man who has any ties to Tamara at that point. Tamara finally becomes pregnant with the boy after years of trying, which is celebrated by her, knowing that she can use this as a way to legitimize herself even more, since she is the one who is maintaining the royal family.

Rumors begin to spread that the vessel that once took Sófónías and his army to the Island of Great Britain is returning, which gives Tamara a strange feeling that Sófónías, declared dead years ago, might be alive, to prevent her fear is realized and that all her deeds and rottenness are unmasked to her husband and to everyone in Alpaland, she bribes one of the maritime commanders to discover the vessel, if the rumor is true, and to shoot it down during the night, as if Sófónias is alive, he will have faithful soldiers by his side, who will help him if he wants to claim the throne and return to power. At the same time, Tobbi is sent to study in the Sicilian Kingdom, also on a frigate.

During her pregnancy, Tamara loses her baby after an intense blood leak, which she survives, but is forced to abort. This then makes her decree that no couple can have a child for 1 year, revolted by the loss. The commander she sent to shoot down the vessel from Great Britain returns saying that the barge was successfully shot down, but days later a vessel stops at the capital port of Alpaland, bringing not only military equipment, but also dead bodies, and even more, to the surprise of all the citizens, bringing a Sófónías alive and intact, almost the same as when he left earlier. Sofónías then goes to the castle, celebrated by the population, and when he arrives he notices the presence of several military and nobles, who, upon recognizing the king, switch sides fearing a serious punishment, but only one nobleman refuses saying that all are unfaithful and weak, and who seeks to be punished correctly for the mistake he made, this is Trúmann, to whom Tamara entrusted him to keep all her plans and her love with Tobbias in secrecy, later arrested and sentenced to death by beheading, Trúmann reveals everything that Tamara trusted him, which makes Sófónías angry with his wife's bad character.

Tamara, who at that time was locked up in one of the castle's towers, then decides to kill herself, cutting her neck with a sword, doing so. When Sofónías discovers which part of the castle the queen is in, he decides to go, but with the door closed, it is necessary to break it down, when he arrives where Tamara was, he finds the queen's body, the sword with which she committed suicide, and a letter, where she asks to be buried with Tobbi, describing his features, thus making the soldiers recognize that Tobbi was one of the dead they found on the high seas. So Sófónías, seized with rage, throws them both into the sea, where they will be drowned for all eternity, as stated by Sophonias, now reintroduced as king.

Chronicles of an Old Norse Monarch
In this "sequel" to the 1887 novel starring an old Sofónías, Tamara is not directly mentioned, being called "dissimulated", "traitor", "gypsy", "sly witch", "fox spirit" among others. However, here it is revealed that she and he had a forced marriage, which perhaps contributed to Tamara's lack of fidelity.

Film

 * Tamara was first portrayed on film by German-Italian actress Natascha Bacigalupo in the 1917 silent film The Queen and the Boy, which although it differs from the original work in its name, is completely faithful and based on the novel.
 * French actress Bérénice Exarchopoulos portrayed Tamara in the 1925 silent film Tamara: Mother and Lover.
 * English actress Keara Helies played Tamara in the 1949 film The Memoirs of the King, based on Chronicles of an Old Norse Monarch.
 * Libyan-American actress Scheherazade Abubakar played Tamara in the 1981 film Queen Tamara, which is the most famous film representation of the character.
 * the Portuguese-American actress Heloísa Sampaio gave life to Tamara in the 1992 film Tamara & Tobbi, in one of the most famous adaptations of the novel for cinema. Later, in 2009, Heloísa would act as Tamara again in King Sófónías.
 * Nippo-American actress Nahla Aihara played Tamara in the 2018 film An Adoption Lover.

Comic books
In 1973, Queen Tamara won a comic version by Italian authorship published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, in this version, Tamara is personified as a blonde, short and thin woman, deviating a little of what is proposed in illustrations of novels between the years 1890 and 1920, where she is chubby and has brown hair, in addition to being average height between 1.69m and 1.74m, the only thing that does not differ from the popular illustrations are her blue eyes, her reddish cheeks and her white skin tone bordering on pale. The comic book have a ligne claire draw style and was illustrated by Belgian cartoonist Hergé, known for creating the comic book series The Adventures of Tintim.

Japanese comics (Manga)
In 1980, Queen Tamara won a manga version, made by Akira Toriyama, who would later become famous for creating the Dragon Ball franchise. 1890, who are the most popularly associated with the character, being short, plump, with brown hair, blue eyes, and a white skin tone bordering on pale.

OVA
Between 1995 and 1998, Queen Tamara was adapted into OVA (Original video animation), which were released for VHS and Laserdisc, Tamara was voiced by Hiromi Tsuru, famous for voicing Bulma in the animations of the Dragon Ball franchise.