''Le Bois des Vierges'' (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''The Wood of Virgins'') is a French

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series created by

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

Jean Dufaux Jean Dufaux (; born 7 June 1949) is a Belgian comic book writer. Beginning his professional career as a journalist for "CINÉ-PRESSE", Dufaux started writing comic books in the 1980s. Perhaps his most well-known, and certainly his most long-runn ...

(writer) and

Béatrice Tillier Béatrice Tillier (born 18 September 1972) is a French illustrator and ''bande dessinée'' (BD) cartoonist. In 2008, ''Le Bois des Vierges'' was shortlisted for the Prix Saint-Michel, Prix Saint-Michel's Best comic (French language). Biography Bé ...

(artist), and published by Robert Laffont Fantastique. The comic is set in a fantasy world populated by

humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

in a

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level of technological sophistication, and several races of

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

carnivora Carnivora is a Clade, monophyletic order of Placentalia, placental mammals consisting of the most recent common ancestor of all felidae, cat-like and canidae, dog-like animals, and all descendants of that ancestor. Members of this group are f ...

; including

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(referred to as ''Bêtes d'haute taille'' or High Beasts),

lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

es and

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

es (both of which are referred to as ''Bêtes de basse taille'' or Low Beasts). The first volume was published in February 2008.

Main characters

Humans

* Arcan: A nobleman, father of Aube and Salviat. Along with Loup-de-Traille, he tries to broker a peace between the constantly fighting humans and High Beasts. * Aube: The headstrong daughter of Arcan, she refuses to go through the arranged marriage with Loup-de-Feu. * Salviat: The brother of Aube, he murders Loup-de-Feu, thus igniting an exhausting war with the High Beasts. * Hugo: A young scout, sent by the Armour Prince to find Lord Clam. * Lord Clam: A pale man, responsible for an unclarified crime, and famed wolf killer.

High Beasts

* Loup-de-Feu: The youngest son of Loup-de-Traille, he is a former soldier in the High Beast army engaged to marry Aube. He is murdered by Saliat. * Loup-de-Traille: Father of Loup-de-Feu and Loup-Gris, Loup-de-Traille originally agrees with Arcan's desire for peace, until his son's assassination. * Loup-Gris: The eldest son of Loup-de-Traille, Loup-Gris, like his brother was a soldier. He was banished from his clan after he married Lady Goupil, a Low Beast with whom he has two hybrid children.

Low Beasts

* Griffe-Tout: A lynx and chieftain of a band of mercenaries. * Lady Goupil: A vixen for whom Loup-Gris was abandoned by his tribe.

Volumes

One: Hache

Published in 2008 After years of incessant fighting, the war between humanity and the High Beasts is brought to an end after the humans begin using

firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...

, forcing the comparatively primitive High Beasts to declare a truce. It is decided that an interspecific marriage be formed between Aube, the daughter of the human nobleman Arcan, and Loup-de-Feu, the son of the Beast Lord Loup-de-Traille. Aube is not pleased with the arrangement, believing that the product of such a union would be a

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

. When the time comes to consummate the marriage, Aube's brother Saliat assassinates Loup-de-Feu, and escapes with his sister while the High Beasts declare the truce null. After the High Beasts indulge in a slaughter, Arcan is approached by Griffe-Tout, a lynx who offers to give him information on his daughter on the condition that he sacrifice a pound of his own flesh to him. He reveals that Saliat has been killed by the High Beasts, while Aube escaped to the Wood of Virgins, an area from only

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

s can come out alive. Years later, the war between the two races has reached a

stalemate Stalemate is a situation in the game of chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior ...

, with neither side gaining advantage over the other. Though the humans are technologically superior, the High Beasts are physically stronger, more numerous, and have faster growth rates, thus allowing troops to be replenished quicker. In order to break the stalemate, the humans send an envoy, Hugo, to find the banished Lord Clam, who is a famed wolf killer. Under similar orders from his own superior officer, Loup-de-Traille reluctantly accepts to find his eldest and most skilled son, Loup-Gris whom he previously disowned for having married a fox. Loup-de-Traille discovers that his son now has two hybrid children, and refuses to involve himself in the war. Suspecting that his son's wife Lady Goupil has softened him, Loup-de-Traille leaves heavy hearted. Along the way, he finds a band of human bandits attacking a group of foxes. Loup-de-Traille intervenes, but is decapitated by the bandit leader. His body is found by Griffe-Tout and his band of lynxes, and is taken to his son, who decides to form an alliance of High and Low Beasts in order to defeat the human forces. Meanwhile, Hugo discovers a delirious human soldier covered in plant-like growths. Hugo takes him to a monastery, where it is discovered that he found Aube in the Wood of Virgins. The abbot of the monastery reveals himself to be the disgraced Arcan, who offers to aide in the war effort on condition that his daughter be found and returned to him. Hugo crosses a cursed swamp filled inhabited by tree spirits, and finds Clam in a Church, taking a sacrament. The two depart to the Wood of Virgins.

Two: Loup

Published in 2010

Three: Épousailles

2012

External links

Site on "Le Bois des Vierges"

Official site on the comic's illustrator Béatrice Tillier

Official site

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080927183813/http://www.michel-edouard-leclerc.com/blog/m.e.l/archives/2008/03/le_bois_des_vierges.php Site on the comic's illustrator Béatrice Tillier {{DEFAULTSORT:Bois de Vierges French graphic novels Fictional wolves 2008 comics debuts Comics based on fairy tales Comics about animals Fantasy comics Éditions Robert Laffont books