The Unofficial Pibgorn Tribute Site

Pibgorn

The heroine of the story, Pibgorn is a fairy who would rather be anything else. She began life as a nameless wood sprite, was re-christened "Oola Inch" in an earlier but unpublished strip called "The Titans", and took on her present name in 2001 for her debut in A Fairy Merry Christmas. In her natural state she's beautiful and lithe, with reddish-blond hair and gossamer wings, six inches tall and covered with dappled green skin (yes, folks, that's not a body stocking, fairies and demons for the most part go naked - McEldowney's word is "starkers".) She's curious, passionate, a bit innocent, devoted and somewhat of a rebel at heart.

Possessed of the usual variety of fairy magic, she can discharge plasma ("To cast an effective spell, all I really need is good, solid body contact."); wrap those beautiful wings around her body and transform them into all sorts of clothing when the need arises; and use her tool of choice, the baiser de la fée (a fairy's kiss - magic always sounds more impressive in French). With this she can assume human size, shrink others down to her scale, and heal injuries. Magical energy of this nature, however, is not cheap, and she often needs to regenerate in a candle flame or by transforming herself into a tree to photosynthesize.

Tiring of fairy work - mostly lugging dewdrops from place to place for hundreds of years (she's currently 471, and old enough to know better, thank you) - she left the fairy world and is now involved in the important work of protecting mankind from a demon-spawned Armageddon.

Pibgorn has a former church organist for a lover and a succubus for a best friend and business partner. How she got from there to here is a romp through time and space, earth and Hell, politicians and lawyers, love, sex, triumph, loss, growth and self-discovery. But don't think this is a soap-opera strip... far from it. For all its phantasmagoria, McEldowney has created a world of warmth and humanity. People, fairies and demons alike show their best sides and their worst. You might even see yourself in one of the characters somewhere.

Drusilla

Drusilla is a succubus. She was introduced to the strip as Geoff's girlfriend, and at the time the author indicated that he had no idea what she would become, but has since developed into one of the strip's three main characters. Drusilla is around 825 years old¹, tall, extremely shapely, with long jet-black hair and covered - usually - in red-dappled skin. She was sent from Hell, charged with infiltrating a place of worship to see how readily the congregants would capitulate to evil. Unfortunately for her, she fell in love with Geoff, and abandoned her assignment, for which she was later tormented by a demonic game show host in Hell. As the story developed, however, Pibgorn and Geoff became lovers, and despite being a demon, Drusilla has determined to watch over and protect the couple, and subsequently all of humanity, in the name of her love for Geoff. For someone so archetypically evil, there is a goodness about her that she can't hide - which makes her very endearing. Oh, and did I mention that she's drop-dead gorgeous?

As a succubus, Drusilla does what succubi do - she glories in the passions of the flesh, spends the occasional vacation in Sheol, discharges bolts of plasma with hip-grinding pleasure, revels in her sexiness and misses no opportunity to invade the dreams of hapless men (and other demons) to ravish them in their sleep. Not only does she get a huge kick out of this, but she learns lots of things along the way which are important to the storylines. She has formed a partnership with Pibgorn to protect mankind from the demons which are massing to unleash Armageddon. Geoff's love for Pibgorn seems to be no barrier to Drusilla's carrying him away for an occasional passionate interlude when the mood strikes her.

We have learned somewhat of Drusilla's past - we know she has been Shakespeare's lover and once had a daughter, whom she subsequently lost - but there is much about her that remains to be learned. Whatever she does, it will be sexy.

Geoff

Geoff is an Episcopalian church organist - or was, until he became persona non grata in his congregation. He woefully commented that his parishioners razed his home and sowed the ground with salt, although this may be figurative. If he has a last name, we don't know it. From a stodgy life in an isolated cottage among predictable and boring humans, Geoff has been catapulted into a world of fantasy he never dreamed existed, let alone that he would participate in.

Geoff rescued Pibgorn from freezing to death after her wings had iced up on an unauthorized winter solstice flight. In exchange, she pledged to become his slave for life, which made Geoff rather nervous, given how sticky Episcopalians can be about things like magic and fairies. Initially bumbling through his adventures as an unwilling observer, Geoff has developed a greater understanding of the world of magic, fairies and demons and has begun to appreciate the rôle he plays in helping to save humanity from the forces of darkness. On occasion, however, the old organist still surfaces, and we often see Geoff with a bemused look on his face that seems to say "How did I get myself into this mess?" Despite finding himself in the most unusual predicaments, he somehow manages to maintain a calm sense of decorum; he is, at heart, a very decent person.

He is also a very talented musician. He has superb keyboard skills, including organ, piano and even the accordion. (Did you know accordion music is the ultimate force against the powers of darkness?) When Geoff cuts loose on the squeeze box, his volume magically boosted by Drusilla, it's a bit more potent than - with all respect to Charles Schulz - "polkas, schottisches and waltzes" Not only talented, we see that Geoff has a deep understanding of and appreciation for musical history. At one point he desperately attempts to reconstruct Mozart's "Requiem" from memory...

Oognat

Oognat is the hair fairy. If you ever wondered where that dratted hair in your mouth came from as you woke up, or found one in your eye, now you know. Her job is to make life interesting for us mortals. Normally covered with - you guessed it - hair, she looks somewhat like a cross between a pixie and a satyr.

Oognat began life as a minor character in the "Internal Fairy Harvesting Service" story arc, but later played an important rôle as Bottom in "A Pibsummer Night's Dream". Like some of the other characters in Pibgorn, she has passed through the veil of death at least once, only to be magically restored with a thermonuclear baiser de la fée.

Maurice

Maurice is a field mouse, one of three speaking animal characters to be introduced to the strip, and the only one who has played a part of any importance. He is a true friend to Pibgorn, very practical, solid and down-to-earth by nature. Heartbroken the first time Pibgorn is killed (oops, a spoiler!), he becomes the magical instrument of her restoration to life. Geoff's first kiss from Pibgorn gives him the ability to understand Maurice when he speaks, which comes in rather handy in more than one instance, even though it remains somewhat unsettling to poor Geoff. Maurice appears in several episodes including an important part in "The Borgia Cantus".

Prince Crewth

Prince Crewth is in charge of the fairy realm. Given his nature, it is surprising that McEldowney didn't draw him with pointy hair, instead of making him look like a cross between a satyr, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Crewth works hard at being lazy, capricious, bureaucratic and insensitive, like many politicians of today. He can also be murderous without a shred of conscience.

As well as providing comic relief, he functions as a vehicle for some of McEldowney's opinions of modern leadership, and is not what one would expect for a denizen of the fairy kingdom. But then, almost nothing in the Pibgorn universe is what you would expect...

Gaggot

Gaggot is Prince Crewth's advisor, doctor, and attorney. He combines all the worst qualities of a court sycophant and the latter two professions, and while he serves at Crewth's pleasure, we have no doubt that he has only contempt for his sovereign and considers himself to be the true power behind the throne. Gaggot looks somewhat like a wizard, with long gray hair and beard, and thus far we have seen no magical qualities about him. Top

Henmellyn

Henmellyn is Drusilla's daughter. To say more would be to spoil the story for those who wish to read it, although the details are listed in the story arc below. She is one of McEldowney's most tragic figures.

The gang from 9 Chickweed Lane

McEldowney allows characters from both his universes to make visits to the other on occasion. Edda and Solange the cat appear on an overturned mug in "The Internal Fairy Harvesting Service". The "Pibsummer Night's Dream" story arc featured the following cast members:

Helena	Edda Burber
Demetrius	Burkhardt Kriegl
Lysander	Seth Appleby
Hermia	Isabel Florin
Theseus	Thorax
Hippolyta	Juliette Burber
Peter Quince	Amos van Hoesen

Thorax is a unique case, appearing often enough to be considered a main character in Pibgorn, although he originates in 9 Chickweed Lane. We know very little about him other than that he seems to be Not of This World, a "non-linear, omniscient entity and llama cheese mogul". After all, he keeps a quantum anomaly in his garden shed. He can work magic, although he does so via technology. Whereas Drusilla can only with difficulty transform herself into a gateway between two universes, Thorax creates a stable quantum rift using a cigar box, a few nails, a light bulb and other assorted trash. When pressed to reveal the secrets of his knowledge, he demurs, saying "What good is omnipotence if it is nobbled by a knowledge of what it does?" McEldowney often uses Thorax as a sort of deus ex insanitate, both for comic relief and as a spokesperson for pragmatist and egalitarian viewpoints, although those are poor and oversimplified characterizations of his philosophies.