Julie the Dancing Bear

Creation

Julie the Dancing Bear was created by writer Bronwyn Carlton and artist Peter Gross in The Books of Faerie issue 3, in 1997.

Major Story Arcs

Julie was originally the god of the Great Bear Clan in ancient Earth. Her followers all died out except one priest, the man who eventually became the Lord of the Hunt. While it was his job to kill all unnecessary gods, he refused to kill her due to his relationship with her–despite the fact that she wished to die.

Julie then became a dancer in Faerie, where she had a painful, abusive relationship with those she danced for. She did this for a very long time.

She can be seen dancing in the palace of the king and queen of Faerie, along with many other fairies. She seems joyful, but once she is seen eating a guest. She also dances through the woods when some fairies find the oak tree that once was Queen Dymphna.

When Faerie was in danger of being destroyed due to the fires set by Molly, who had been cursed by Titania, Julie and many others ran from their devastated homes as refugees. She was seen carrying another discombobulated-looking man in her arms at that time.

When Faerie was in the process of being reshaped by Huon, Julie was the only being in all of Faerie to share the same space with Huon and Tim Hunter. Everyone else was living in their own headspace. This implies that Julie knew who she was in a way that others did not.

She set a picnic for them, and shared their meal. When Faerie returned to existence due to Yarrow, Julie sniffed at the small tankard they had been supping from, and then seemingly stuffed herself into its tiny neck, disappearing. Titania later wraps that tankard and the other picnic items up for Molly to eat on Earth, but Julie must somehow return to her normal place in Faerie.

During all her time dancing, Julie had protected the flitling, Rosehip. When a magical storm hits the realms, causing chaos, Julie and Rosehip escape, and join a group of beings, including Tim in his guise as Mary, Henry Lywood, Brother Hugh, and Joh, in the outskirts of the lands of the dead.

Rosehip explains that she will now take care of Julie the way Julie used to take care of her.

They travel for a while until reaching other realms, with the aid of Henry, who dies in the process.

They soon find the Day family, who are all ghosts. They are being kept there by the matriarch of the family because she thinks they didn’t love her enough.

Brother Hugh attempts to use the pure faith of the youngest ghost child to ascend to heaven, but Rosehip intervenes and stops them. Then Julie, belying her normally sweet nature, rips Hugh open, revealing that he was just a skin bag holding together a giant mass of maggots.

Rosehip and Julie feel bad for Mother Day, however, who no longer has her ghost children, and they decide to stay with her until her time there is over.

When she dies, Julie and Rosehip bury her, but they don’t know how to mark her name on the grave. The Lord of the Hunt, who has now lost his leadership of the Wild Hunt, walks by, and writes Mother Day’s name on the cross in Latin for them.

Then, however, Rosehip tells the Lord of the Hunt that Julie was once his god, and that only his belief in her sustains her existence, which she is tired of. She will now hunt him and set herself free.