THE SIX SISTERS OF THARMELIDE.
guinevere has five recognized sisters, however it is likely that she has more for these listed are the only ones her father claims. it would also be just as accurate to say that she has none, for all but one of her sisters were born out of wedlock, and even her twin sister is disinherited and delegitimized at one point. her relationships with her sisters vary wildly from her youth to the end of camelot. she was close to them, and wants to be close to them, but what wasn't shattered by the false guinevere affairs is hindered by guinevere's high queen status and, more significantly, by the fact that her loyalty after marriage is first and foremost meant to be to her husband over any birth family.
GUINEVERE, GUINEVAK,and GUINEURE were so close during their girlhood that they were often referred to as a collective: THE GUINS. guineure was born only two weeks after the twins, and guineure, also, predominately inherited their father's look, as the twins did, so the three resembled each other so closely that they were often mistaken for each other (or, at least, guinevak and guineure were mistaken for guinevere). it's guinevak and guineure, however, who betray guinevere and tharmelide during the false guinevere affairs, and guinevere's relationships with them never fully recovers from that.
ANGHARHAD, LENOMIE, and FLORI are mistress-born daughters, all with different mothers, who were raised in denebleise instead of tharmelide's main court of carolaise (this is where denebleise's reputation of being leodegans' 'pleasure palace' comes from). once they reached the age of maidenhood, they were brought to carolaise to act as companions for guinevere and guinevak. while all the sisters knew each other before this migration, they become closest afterward. however, after the first false guinevere affair, guineure, angharhad, lenomie, and flori were forced to leave tharmelide as well. despite the nonsense, arthur still married guinevere, and so needed to punish leodegans (and tharmelide) further to make a point; guinevere's sisters were, then, made part of her household as palace women, effectively hostages to keep leodegans controlled. this new power dynamic, on top of guinevere's new paranoia about her sisters' love and loyalty to her, put an ever present barrier between guinevere and her sisters that they never, quite, get passed; the closeness of their youth is never reconciled.
GUINEVAK: her twin. if guinevere was known for being charming, bold, and clever, then guinevak was known for naturally adhering more toward society's expectations for women -- pretty, dutiful, graceful, etc. leodegans kept guinevere close, but as a result, guinevak was often left to the seneschal's, cleodalis', care; cleodalis, whose wife leodegans had guineure on and who did not believe tharmelide ought to have an overlord in arthur. to say guinevak was outright manipulated into working against guinevere would be exaggerated -- for guinevak believed guinevere shouldn't be the one to marry arthur, if leodegans' heir she supposedly was, and she was skeptical of having an overlord too -- but she never would have gone to the extremes the plot did independently. she paid the more burdensome price for her part, as she was delegitimized and disinherited and banished. through her own scheming, she is eventually allowed in guinevere's household, but as a gold-torqued woman rather than her own person. guinevak serves her penance, acting as guinevere's double when need be (even being kidnapped in her stead at one point) and the sisters in this time reach enough of a truce that guinevak feels comfortable to request guinevere's assistance in getting married, and guinevere feels comfortable to allow it. when guinevak marries sir medraut, the gold-torque is removed. during this time the sisters become the closest they've been since their girlhood. it's the complications between arthur and medraut that creates any tension between them, rather than any distrust between the sisters themselves. melehan, guinevak's son, is discussed to be arthur's heir with further discussion on reinstating guinevak's rights. guinevere, eventually, takes melehan in to foster for this purpose, which guinevak does not want but can't truly go against. once the affair is discovered by guinevak, and lancelot kills several of the orkney brothers (guinevak's brothers-in-law), any good relationship or trust between the sisters is killed dead; the slap does not just crack the table or break prydain, it signals the end of any sisterhood.
GUINEURE: born premature to the wife of leodegans' seneschal, and two weeks after the princesses, it was like guineure had a constant view of what her life would be like if just one or two details were different -- she was sensitive, health-wise, where the twins were hearty; she wasn't to inherit anything, where the twins had all of tharmelide in their future, despite all three of them having the same father; and so on, and so on. if guinevak betrayed guinevere out of some sense of justice, then guineure betrayed guinevere for the ambition, the greed of it all. she wanted tharmelide for herself, as a daughter of leodegans. it was easy to cover up her part in the plot and pin all the blame on guinevak. once in camelot, guineure focused on trying to obtain a good marriage for herself, but even that much proved too great for guinevere to favor her for. under the pretense of visiting an ailing leodegans, guineure leaves camelot and reunites with the banished sir bertholai and guinevak. guineure and bertholai hatch a plan to destabilize guinevere, which guinevak betrays them on. during the tournament to prove the true identity of 'guinevere', guineure (and bertholai) fall under a paralysis which they never recover from. guinevere never exactly processes guineure's fate, much less understands why it came about.
ANGHARHAD: the oldest of the denebleise daughters, angharhad is stately, virtuous, and clever. she remains steadfastly loyal to guinevere during the plots, and guinevere, in turn, keeps a degree of trust in angharhad -- she becomes more of an assistant to guinevere, the one 'in charge' of her palace women. angharhad becomes known as the golden-hand in camelot, for her generous, good-hearted spirit (and, possibly, her golden hair too), and comes to love sir peredur. at the time of guinevere's trial(s), however, angharhad remains at guinevak's side, believing the affair and faults of guinevere, even speaking out against her.
LENOMIE: the middle child. quiet and bookish, lenomie keeps to herself, and never quite bonded with guinevere, a fact that only grew stronger post-false guinevere plots (as lenomie now feared forming a bond with guinevere after seeing what happened to guinevak). however, lenomie was by and large considered the most beautiful out of, if not all the tharmelide sisters, then at least out of all the denebleise daughters. this gave her more attention than she would have liked, but it also secured her a bright future. a visiting royal from alexandria took to her and by some miracle, guinevere agreed to the match (for this, in guinevere's thinking, would help solidify guinevere's authority in arthur's lands beyond prydain). lenomie, then, was relocated to alexandria where she became a queen. she never visited camelot again. it is a sad irony in that guinevere and lenomie likely could have been closest of all the sisters, had camelot and alexandria been closer.
FLORI: the youngest of the sisters, and the sweetest and simplest of them all. at one point (like so many others) she falls into bed with gawain, which tarnishes her reputation after she failed a chastity test, but not her sweetness, forever after. guinevere might value anghargad's opinion more, but it is flori that she is truly closest with. this closeness pays off, as flori is the only sister that remains at guinevere's side after the affair is revealed. she was with guinevere at camlann, having been kidnapped by medraut with her, and took to the church as well.
