Gillian "Gilly" Natasha Marks-Daye is the estranged daughter of October Daye, who lives with her human father, Cliff Marks, and her stepmother, Miranda Marks. She was born as a thin-blooded Dóchas Sidhe changeling, and after several changes to her blood balance, she is now a pureblood Roane. She is first mentioned in Rosemary and Rue, and she first appears in One Salt Sea.
Her first name, Gillian, comes from the word July and thus fits in with the family naming tradition, and her middle name, Natasha, was Amandine's alias while playing faerie bride.[3]
About[]
Appearance[]
Gillian has the dark hair she inherited from her father, which is striped with silver since she took on a Selkie skin. Her eyes, which used to be grey, became seal dark as a Selkie and carnival grass green as a Roane. Her ears are dully pointed, and she has webbing between her fingers.
Personality[]
Gillian has grown up into her own person. Similarly to Toby, she is headstrong and stubborn, however doesn't run into danger directly when compared to her mother. She is getting frustrated with her mothers for trying to tell her who to be, and she wants to make her own choices. Although seemingly unreasonable in regards to her biological mother Toby, she does accept that she is her mother and that while she left her, she didn't do it on purpose, and respected that Toby did what she could to protect her. While she accepts her status as Fae because of her circumstances and that Toby respected her choice before each kidnapping, Gillian however remains resentful because of often she lost her ability to make choices in situations that revolve around her life.
Abilities[]
As a Roane, Gillian can turn into a seal, and she can also breathe underwater in her humanoid form. Firtha is able to communicate with her while Gillian was wearing her skin, but it's unclear if she is able to communicate to her still after the binding. Like all Roane, she is able to fortell the future, but she has yet to have her first vision.
Biography[]
Gillian was born as a quarter-blood Dóchas Sidhe, although it was likely even less due to Amandine trying to turn Toby human. Her father, Cliff, never knew Toby wasn't human, and Gillian's blood was thin enough that she never needed to make the Changeling's Choice as a child: she could pass as a human perfectly, except for some pain at dawn and an allergy to iron, Gillian pointed out that she was always tired in the mornings and her skin easily broke out whenever she helped Cliff maintain his car. She could smell Toby's magic even as a baby, commenting that their place smelt like someone dumped a lawnmower on the carpet, and she was able to hear and see Pixies playing with her.
Toby disappeared without a word when Gillian was only two years old. By the time she returned fourteen years later, Cliff and Gillian - partly due to Miranda's influence - have decided that she walked out on her responsibilities, and refused to talk to her, but she noticed that when Toby had come, she looked miserable than she had been when they were still together and wondered why she wasn't worth fighting for.
In the Series[]
Rosemary and Rue[]
A Doppelganger masquerading as sixteen-year-old Gillian appears at Toby's doorstep without warning. Toby lets the Doppelganger in, then realizes something is wrong when "Gillian" doesn't react to seeing her without her illusions.The Doppelganger drops its disguise and assaults Toby before she and Dare exterminate it.
One Salt Sea[]
Seventeen-year-old Gillian is kidnapped by Rayseline Torquill after Bucer O’Malley gives out her location, as revenge for Toby not finding her when Rayseline was lost in the dark after Simon's actions. The Luidaeg notes that Gillian's blood, as thin as it is, could still be used to help Rayseline undo the mixed blood madness she was suffering. When Toby finds Gillian, she begins to untie her as she tells her to run before Rayseline and the Goblins she hires ambushes them. Gillian is exposed to Faerie and Toby orders her to keep her eyes closed. Rayseline shoots Gillian with elf-shot, and Toby can only save her by shifting the balance of her blood. She offers Gillian the Changeling's Choice she avoided as a child, and when Gillian chooses human, Toby shift the Dóchas Sidhe blood out of her veins and sends her home. The Luidaeg clouds Gillian's mind so she only remembers this encounter in dreams.
Night and Silence[]
Twenty years old and in college, Gillian is once again kidnapped, this time from her car parked on the UC Berkeley campus. Toby follows the trail laid by Gillian's thin-blooded roommate Jocelyn Lewis, and finds her at the old knowe on the coast where the Queen of the Mists tries to blackmail Toby into giving her back the bloodline Toby took out - something that is impossible to do. The False Queen elf-shoots Gillian again to force Toby's hand, but this time, there is nothing to shift. Toby sends Tybalt to take Gillian to the Luidaeg, who does the only thing she can to keep Gillian alive, and makes her into a Selkie by wrapping her in the skin of her youngest daughter, Firtha. She and Toby reconcile as much as they can, and although Gillian discovers that Miranda knew about the existence of Faerie, Gillian also hints at Dugan's hand in her kidnapping when she mentions that Jocelyn had a boyfriend who was both pretty and had a bizarre taste in clothing that purebloods attempted to use to integrate into society.
Suffer a Sea-Change[]
Gillian must learn about the existence of Faerie, and how both of her mothers were aware of its existence. She also has several dream sequences where she gets to talk to Firtha, the Roane whose skin she must wear for a hundred years if she doesn't want the elf-shot to kill her. Toby leaves her alone after asking her about the people who kidnapped her, and she also discovers that Janet lied to her about her heritage and Toby's. Even though she loves Janet, she is distraught when she realised what Janet did and how much danger it had put her in, and was horrified when she realised that Toby never meant to leave her behind. Gillian must go with the Luidaeg and her step-mother Janet to Roan Rathad, where the Luidaeg convinces Elizabeth Ryan to teach Gillian how to be a Selkie. Although she is overwhelmed and angry because of the changes forced upon her, Gillian falls asleep in the Selkie house thinking that she might be happy with the sea after all.
The Unkindest Tide[]
Gillian lives at home with Janet and Cliff, having been trained by Elizabeth to weave illusions to allow herself to blend into society. She must go with the other Selkies to the Duchy of Ships where they are permanently bound to their skins. Gillian is unhappy that her choice is taken from her again and she will have to be a Roane forever instead of the one hundred years she was previously told, but she goes along with it because she doesn't want to die, and acknowledges that Toby did it to save her life but not to steal her from Janet. She is also unhappy with Janet and Toby fighting over whose daughter she is, and declares that she is her own person, but she makes it clear to Janet that while Toby is her mother, Janet will not lose her as a daughter.
Gillian is taken hostage when she tries to find Toby to get her to stop the Selkies from fighting. During the fight with Torin, Gillian is threatened and almost suffocated to make Toby stand down. Afterwards, she tells Toby that she forgives her for going away, but she wants no part of Faerie after all that happened to her, accepting that she will only be a part of Faerie because of her circumstances. Gillian acts as a conduit to the spell when Toby binds the Selkies to their skins and becomes Roane, but she makes it clear that she's still not talking to her mother.
When Sorrows Come[]
Twenty-one-year-old Gillian attends Toby's wedding.
And With Reveling[]
Quentin mentions to Toby that Chelsea and Gillian were convincing Kerry to allow them to sample some of the wedding cake before the cutting. After the cake cutting, she approaches Toby and talks to her properly for the first time since the Convocation of Consequences, revealling that Liz had sent her. Although still tense, and still unsure of her readiness, she is willing to try and forge a connection with her birthmother with encouragement from Tybalt.
Be the Serpent[]
Gillian testifies on Raysel's behalf. She remarks that she was unsure of what life would've been like had Raysel not interfered, but she remarked that she's happy as she is with being Roane and having Firtha with her. She, along with Dean and Toby agree in unison that the Luidaeg would be willing to flood the receiving room of Arden's knowe should Luna start a fight with her.
Relationships[]
October Daye[]
Gillian's estranged biological mother. Their relationship is complicated: Gillian loves her, and recognizes that Toby saved her life, and she even thinks about running and hiding at Toby's place if the Luidaeg tries to hurt her. She is however resentful of Toby because many of her choices keep being stripped away by circumstance, even though Toby did whatever she could to save her life. However, after the events of The Unkindest Tide where Gillian is used as a bargaining chip by Torin, she declares that she wants Toby (and the trouble she gets into) to stay away, although she reconciles the fact that Toby didn't leave her on purpose. Toby still hopes that Gillian can reconnect with her.
Gillian attends Toby's wedding, and although it is still tense, Gillian finally allows herself to reconnect with Toby willingly. She is unaware Toby is pregnant with her unborn stepsibling.
Tybalt[]
Although Gillian holds some respect to Tybalt, she still isn't able to acknowledge Tybalt as her stepfather after the wedding. Tybalt however still values her as a stepdaughter as he was willing to claim offense against Raysel on her and Toby's behalf.
Cliff Marks[]
Gillian's father. They presumably have a good relationship, although it is now tainted by the fact that Gillian can never tell him about the existence of Faerie, and has to wear illusions at home so her father doesn't notice anything.
Miranda Marks[]
Miranda, otherwise known as Janet, is Gillian's step-mother. Gillian says Miranda is the one she thinks of when she hears "Mom", but she is disappointed when she finds out that Miranda knew about the existence of Faerie, and that she alienated Toby on purpose. Gillian still loves Miranda, but she is upset that she still keeps secrets from her, even acknowledging that she had been the one who pushed Toby away.
Firtha[]
Firtha is the original owner of the skin Gillian wears. Because Gillian is aware of her existence, the two of them can sometimes talk in a space that is not exactly a dream. Firtha says she is sort of like Gillian's third mother. Firtha isn't mad at Gillian for having to use her skin to survive, knowing that its the only way that it can save her life.
After the Convocation of Consequences, Gillian and Firtha are still in contact with each other.
Luidaeg[]
As a Selkie and then Roane, the Luidaeg is technically Gillian's Firstborn, although Gillian is not her direct descendant.
Trivia[]
- When Toby was pregnant with Gillian, Devin extracted a promise in payment for the favors past: that she wouldn’t marry Cliff until Gillian was thirteen years old. Until Gilly made the Choice, Devin wanted Toby to be ready to walk away.[4]
- As a child, fond of Sesame Street, coloring, chocolate ice cream.[5]
- She likes her sandwiches with cold chicken, cheddar cheese and strawberry jam, which are the same as Toby's favorite. Cliff used to make them for her, calling them "mommy sandwiches". Gillian tells people they are Miranda's favorite.[6]
- Before Rayseline had been kidnapped, she had ironically asked Toby if she and Gillian would be best friends.
- Gillian is the only reported changeling to choose human and live because Toby, being Dóchas Sidhe, was able to save her life.[citation needed]
- As a Selkie, Gillian's magical signature smells like flowering fennel and primroses. Before, her magic smelt like fresh grass and primroses.
Quotes[]
- "Sometimes I get fear and bravery confused. Dad says Toby was the same way. I’ve never been sure whether it was a gift or a burden."[7]
- "You all need therapy."[7]
- "You raised me. You’re the face I picture when I think of the word ‘mom.’ But . . . I don’t know how I feel about that right now. Because maybe no one can take it away from you, but maybe you took it away from someone else. Please leave. I don’t want to be mad at you, and I think I will be if you stay.” - Gillian to Miranda[7]
- "They said they could give me the sea. I was starting to think that I might want it."[7]
- “No,” said Gillian again. “I’m not a toy that passes from hand to hand. She doesn’t get to ‘take’ me just because I have to change again. The only way you’d lose me is if I died, and since I’m not going to do that, you’re just going to have to get over this."[8]
References[]
- ↑ The Unkindest Tide Ch. 3
- ↑ One Salt Sea Ch. 31
- ↑ http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/462645.html
- ↑ Rosemary and Rue, ch. 7.
- ↑ Rosemary and Rue, ch. 1.
- ↑ Night and Silence, ch. 15.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Suffer a Sea-Change
- ↑ The Unkindest Tide, ch. 3.