Queen Malabeth is a minor character in the Valkyrie Profile series, appearing in Valkyrie Profile and briefly in Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria. She is the wife of Barbarossa, the last king of Dipan, and mother of Princess Alicia, the unwitting vessel for the soul of Silmeria, the youngest of the Valkyrie sisters.
Background/Storyline[]
When Barbarossa realized that Silmeria had been transmigrated into his daughter, he was furious at the gods for using his child and took council with the Three Mages to find a way to free Dipan from their rule. This involved creating a timeline separate from Yggdrasil with the help of the Dragon Orb. Dallas, Alicia's childhood friend, persuaded the king to pronounce her dead and send her away to a secluded location near Crell Monferaigne to keep her uninvolved in their research. A grieved Malabeth accompanied her daughter to the Royal Underground Path, where soldiers took her away. She then became a recluse within the castle.
However, Barbarossa's plans were doomed. Odin could not let a direct affront pass. After Hrist secured the Orb, Dipan was destroyed and Barbarossa executed. Even though Dallas managed to conceal her from Hrist before being captured, Malabeth was desperate at the loss of her family and her country, and ended up taking her own life.
Valkyrie Profile[]
Chapter 6[]
Lenneth encounters Malabeth
Lenneth senses the restless spirit of Barbarossa in Dipan, after the Three Mages summon him in order to lure her into a trap. After battling the king and realizing that she cannot defeat him while his spirit is so strongly bound to the land, she decides to find a way to release him. While exploring the castle, she finds the Time Machine, and the Mages activate it to send her to the time of Barbarossa's execution, hoping to trap her in the past. After seeing Hrist in the city, she questions the townspeople about the events and learns that there is a hidden chamber within the castle, where the queen must have taken refuge. Lenneth eventually discovers the hidden room and, despite not knowing who she is, Malabeth appears to instinctively trust her. She tells her that Barbarossa was deceived by the Three Mages and hands her his crown, so that she can return it to him, saying that he always wanted to die as a king.
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria[]
Chapter 1[]
As she travels through the Royal Underground Path on her way to Dipan, Alicia has a brief flashback of her mother, when she finds her necklace on the ground: she remembers tearing it from her neck as she clung to her when soldiers took her away to Crell Monferaigne. This is Malabeth's only physical appearance in the game.
Chapter 4[]
Alicia is unable to prevent Barbarossa's execution, but Hrist allows her and her companions an unexpected reprieve while she searches for Malabeth. As the party makes their way back to the castle, Alicia sees soldiers carrying a coffin, and it is revealed that her mother took her own life, presumably after having encountered Lenneth and given her the crown, never realizing that her daughter was still alive. Alicia initially suspects Hrist, but the latter says that she arrived too late to be able to kill the queen herself. Nevertheless, Alicia's grief turns to rage, and she attacks the Valkyrie.
Etymology[]
Malabeth is composed of mala, the feminine form of malus ("bad", "evil" or "ill" in Latin) [1] and beth, which could be derived from bayt, an old Semitic term for "house" [2]. The entire name would thus mean "bad house", an indication of the doomed fate of the royal family of Dipan.
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