Vanessa

‘‘ You're too beautiful for this world, Sophie ’’

—Vanessa

Vanessa
Alias	Vanessa Eve
Personal Status
Status	Deceased
Relatives	Stefan (husband) Agatha (estranged daughter) Sophie (daughter)
Place of Origin	Gavaldon
Characteristics
Gender	Female
Abilities and Equipment
Talent	No known talent
Fingerglow	No known color
Weapons	No known weapon
Professional Status
Position	Unknown
Occupation	Housewife
School	Unknown
Physical attributes
Hair Color	Black (natural color) Blonde (currently)
Eye Color	Brown (natural color) Green (currently)

Vanessa was the first wife of Stefan, and Sophie and Agatha's biological mother.

Biography

Before the Book

As a young woman living in Gavaldon, Vanessa was, despite her plain features, immensely shallow and self-centered. The only person she deemed worthy of her attention was Stefan, the most handsome and popular boy in the village. Desperate to be loved by him, Vanessa used deception to gain his attention, including befriending his sweetheart, Honora. When all her attempts to seduce Stefan failed, Vanessa wished for the means to steal his heart. Callis, a witch from the School for Evil, arrived at Gavaldon (since she has the ability to hear ones wishes as a witch). Feeling that she owed her escape from the School Master to Vanessa, Callis agreed to perform magic to help grant Vanessa her wish in the form of a love potion. Ignoring Callis’ warnings that the potion’s effects only lasted one day, and there would be a price for using it, Vanessa drugged Stefan, and became pregnant shortly afterwards. At the behest of Gavaldon’s council of elders, Vanessa and Stefan were wed.

Although it appeared that her dreams had come true, Vanessa’s happiness was short-lived. The baby she was carrying was stillborn, and all her later attempts to have children were the same. Because of this, Vanessa sadly saw Stefan lose interest in her. Even though Honora was already married to the local butcher, Vanessa feared that Stefan would seek out his old love. To prevent this, Vanessa sought help from Callis yet again. A reluctant Callis gave her a fertility potion and another warning that went unheard. Several months after taking the potion, Vanessa successfully gave birth to twin daughters. One was beautiful like Stefan and one was homely like her. Vanessa told Callis to take the ugly baby to the woods to die, as she feared Stefan would never accept an ugly daughter, but hoped that a child as attractive as he was would save their marriage.

Unfortunately for Vanessa, having a beautiful daughter did not make Stefan love her as she hoped. For the following years, Vanessa then attempted to make a massive change in her appearance by using creams and beauty aids to pretty up herself and Sophie for Stefan, but eventually, she finally realized her feats were in vain, and that his heart would always belong to Honora. In the end, Vanessa died friendless and brokenhearted.

However, her daughter Sophie idolized her seemingly beautiful mother, and throughout the books, Sophie tries to imitate her mother, both in her use of beauty treatments and in her belief that appearances were what mattered most. Sophie only learned the truth about Vanessa, and about being related to Agatha (the supposedly ugly twin whom Callis didn't abandon, but raised as her own child) before the final battle between the School Master's army and Tedros's in The Last Ever After.

The School for Good and Evil

In this book she was mentioned only by Sophie. Sophie wanted to make her mother proud and go where she will be happy.

A World Without Princes

Even when Sophie is happy with Agatha she still missed her mother, for the first time Sophie went to her graveyard and made a wish, she wished to see her mother again no matter what. She saw an illusion of her mother and kissed it by the end of the book

The Last Ever After

In this book Sophie learned the truth about her mother.After hearing the story of her mother, Sophie became increasingly dark and desperate because she thought that she had always been bad like her mother and that everyone, including her father, hated her for being like her. Feeling more that Rafal was her only hope of not end up dead and alone like her mother.

Agatha tried to tell her that she is nothing like her but Sophie answered her if she is deaf or stupid and if she heard the story, saying that everything,that Sophie had done to achieve happiness was done by her mother and that only led her to self-destruction. And that how she would be destined to end up dead and abandoned in a frozen dungeon surrounded by villains, ending up telling Agatha that she would do whatever it takes to be happy no matter what price she had to pay or how bad it was.

When Sophie was about to kill her father, Agatha tried again to make her see reason but Sophie refused, telling her that she was like her mother, bad to the core and that was the only thing that everyone would ever see in her.

Appearance

When she was young, Vanessa looked a lot like Agatha. She was a skinny girl with pasty skin, a sharp nose, big brown eyes, black hair and thin pink lips. Unlike Agatha, Vanessa had a cruel mouth and a vicious gleam in her eyes, revealing the darkness and bitterness within her.

After having Sophie, Vanessa beautified herself (including changing her hair and eye color) to get Stefan's attention. She thickened her lips with a special paste, made her eyes green with herbal drops, and dyed her hair golden-blonde with homemade brew. When she was finished, her skin was flawless vanilla pale, her lips luscious, a small rounded nose, a long, swan-like neck and hair like hand-spun gold. Agatha thought she was as beautiful as a golden-haired nymph.

Personality

Sophie, who had revered Vanessa as a "Storybook Queen," believed her mother to be as kind and pure as she was beautiful. In reality, she was a callous woman who cared for nothing but her own interests. In the pursuit of Stefan's eternal love, Vanessa befriended his sweetheart in hopes to steal him, blackmailed Callis into giving her potions, and chose to abandon her newborn baby, Agatha, without a second thought. She was also impulsive, as she habitually took Callis' potions without listening to the side effects.

Despite her bad behavior, Vanessa did show great affection and appreciation for her daughter Sophie, wishing that at least she had what she never had, love.

Abilities

Beautification - Vanessa used things to color her hair golden blonde and drops to make her eyes green. She thickened her lips with a special paste and for the rest she used several creams, lotions, and more to look beautiful. Her daugther, Sophie, mimics her actions as well.

Deception - Vanessa is a self-centered woman who thought she was far better than the world she lived in. She is skilled at deceiving and manipulating others: making Honora think she's good friends with her even thought she used her so that she can get closer to Stefan and Vanessa blackmailing Callis that if she doesn't make a potion so that she can conceive a healthy child, she'll tell the elders that Callis was responsible for the wood's attacks and the mysterious kidnapping of the children. It's also implied that Vanessa never felt guilty of her actions. Even after she drugged and tricked Stefan several times, she never felt sympathetic for his own feelings and instead thought of winning Stefan's heart as a goal for her own happiness. She only felt low whenever Stefan doesn't show the same feelings towards her and eventually gave up after realizing Stefan was more happier with Honora and her sons than Vanessa with her daugther.

Relationships

Stefan

Vanessa and Stefan's relationship was unhealthy because of Vanessa. For a long time Vanessa had loved him but he didn't return the feelings. She used a love potion on him so she can finally be loved by him and baby-trap him into marriage, Stefan did not love his wife so he grew distant from her after the two boys had died. He cheated on Vanessa seeing Honora quite often, Later on Vanessa got pregnant again in attempt to make Stefan love her again. She was successful this time because of the tonic Callis had made for her, seeing Vanessa finally pregnant with a healthy child Stefan felt guilt thinking that Vanessa really loved him and is now giving him a real child. After Vanessa gave birth to Sophie she was happy but Stefan wasn't happy at all, again he went to see Honora and her children leaving Vanessa heartbroken.

Sophie

Sophie said that Vanessa loved Sophie deeply and no matter what happened her love to Sophie was the same as always. When Sophie was born Vanessa loved her and believed that Stefan would feel the same. She would always desperately try to make Sophie prettier and her daugther would do the same.

Honora

Vanessa's friendship with Honora was just to get closer to Stefan; she pretended to be friendly with her holding her hand. Honora at the time was unaware of her friends true intentions.

Callis

Vanessa had been praying at a grave and Callis popped up, she smiled when she saw her and made her make a potion for her. Later on when she went to get another potion to get a child Callis refused saying she was done with the school for evil's magic, but Vanessa had threatened her and Callis had no choice but to make a tonic for her. Vanessa had only used Callis and Callis was afraid of her because of Vanessa's lies.

Agatha

Vanessa was disgusted at the sight of Agatha when she was born, she despised Agatha and she ordered Callis to dump her in the woods to die (Fortunately, Agatha was saved and adopted by Callis).

Trivia

• The name "Vanessa" is a genus of butterflies, an insect she is associated with. Initially, Sophie credits this meaning to her mother's beautiful and tragically brief life. However, this better acknowledges her transformation from an unassuming woman to a lovely one with Callis' magic, similar to a caterpillar.
• In book 3, her real face was revealed to look similar to Agatha's.
• It is revealed that Agatha never knew Vanessa's name until book 3 due to never bothering to ask Sophie what her mother's name was.

Quotes

"You're too beautiful for this world, Sophie" - Book 1