Tsarmina Greeneyes was a female wildcat and the main antagonist of Mossflower. She was the daughter of Verdauga, the sister of Gingivere, the niece of Ungatt Trunn and the granddaughter of King Mortspear. Tsarmina was wicked, cruel, partly insane, deathly afraid of water and very intelligent. One of her first orders of business was to break the Sword of Martin the Warrior when he was brought before her father; Martin then vowed to slay her one day.
Tsarmina had her ill father murdered by the healer fox, Fortunata, who poisoned him. She then blamed the murder on her hapless brother, and subsequently had him imprisoned in Kotir's dungeons.
Tsarmina in her war gear
Secure as the new ruler of Kotir, Tsarmina ruled with an iron claw. As ruler, Tsarmina's main title was Queen of the Thousand Eyes (her other titles included Queen of Mossflower, Lady of the Thousand Eyes, Slayer of Enemies, Ruler of Kotir, Conqueror of all Creatures, and Tsarmina the Magnificent, as she immediately rejected any title with her father's name). She commanded the Thousand Eye Army.
Tsarmina was determined to rule all of Mossflower Woods and have the resident woodlanders as her slaves. She waged a long war against the Corim, who retaliated with guerrilla tactics. She frequently had frightening dreams of water, by far her greatest fear after she became queen. She tried to kill the eagle Argulor whenever she had the chance, but the eagle always flew out of range of her bow and arrow. She later joined forces with the mercenary Bane, who was traveling through Mossflower with his band. Bane saw Kotir and sought to conquer it. When Tsarmina discovered this, she tricked him, using him as bait for Argulor and eliminating two enemies at once.
The final blow arrived when the woodlanders flooded Kotir, which in turn took advantage of Tsarmina's fear of water. Her fortress was eventually brought down by a concerted assault by the Corim, during which they used a ballista to pound her fortress to rubble. Thinking her brother Gingivere was plotting against her, Tsarmina grew crazy. She was subsequently killed in a terrific battle at the edge of Kotir's former site by Martin the Warrior. Tsarmina was driven into the lake and her crippling fear of water, together with her wounds and apparent inability to swim, caused her to drown. The Thousand Eye Army was subsequently disbanded, putting a permanent end to her rule over Mossflower.
Trivia
- Tsarmina's name is a play on words involving the Russian title for a female ruler, Tsarina, and the word "mean".