Roxanne

Roxanne in the original 1997 version

Roxanne is the Ruby Princess and ruler of the Red Mountains. She is the sister of Demetra, Emily, and Sabrina and is the daughter of King Regal and Queen Jemma. In the 2020 reprint, the other princesses are her cousins and the king and queen are her uncle and aunt.

## Biography

### The Ruby Princess Runs Away

On the day of her coronation, Roxanne is not ready. Instead, she nervously hides in the branches of a royalberry tree and glumly contemplates how she'll have to move away from her parents and sisters to her new castle in the Red Mountains. She is soon found by Twitter, the royal secretary, but Roxanne begs him not to tell her parents where she is. She explains to him that she doesn't feel like a princess; she feels ordinary and unable to face the responsibilities of being a leader. Suddenly, the heralds announce the arrival of the great wizard Gallivant. Everyone bows respectfully as he passes and Roxanne notes that soon, everyone will be bowing to her as well and she'll be whisked away to her lonely castle in the Red Mountains. While everyone is distracted, Roxanne realizes that she could simply run away and dashes out the palace gates before they can close. Twitter chases after, begging the princess to stop and go back to the palace, but she ignores him as she struggles to put on a cape and run at the same time. Twitter refuses to be left behind, however, and warns her to stay away from the Mysterious Forest, a dark tangle of trees that is said to conceal a secret passage straight to Castle Dread where the evil Lord Bleak and his Darkling followers were sent. Roxanne has heard stories of the terrible Lord Bleak and decides to head in the opposite direction, towards the bridge that crosses the Rushing River. But once they arrive, they are almost immediately greeted by two suspicious figures in dark cloaks. They glimpse her ruby-red dress and recognize her as the Ruby Princess. A third dark figure grabs a terrified Twitter when he tries to stammer out that the strangers may be Darklings, but before things can get any worse, Roxanne is snatched off the ground by a great green dragon.

The mighty creature swiftly carries her far away from the Darklings before gently setting her down and introducing himself as Hapgood. Roxanne is reluctant to give away her identity as the runaway princess, but she doesn't want to lie to her rescuer either so she compromises, calling herself Roxanne of the Rushing River. A ruffled Twitter soon catches up, slightly singed from Hapgood's flame. The dragon solemnly apologizes by saying he was aiming for the Darklings, confirming the bird's fears. They hear hoofbeats and Roxanne recognizes Armoral, the captain of the palace guards, riding towards them. Knowing that he'll surely recognize her as the Ruby Princess, Roxanne begs Hapgood to hide her, much to his puzzlement until Twitter quickly explains that she stole a banner from the palace courtyard as a souvenir from the coronation. Hapgood produces a silver and ruby shield and instructs the princess that it will magically turn her and anyone she touches invisible for a short time when she says the incantation. Hapgood does not give Roxanne away, even when the captain tells him that the king and queen are worried sick that their daughter has been kidnapped. The dragon suggests that he look near the stone bridge, thinking that Armoral may come across the Darklings and report them to the king. Roxanne, though guilty for upsetting her parents, is grateful that the shield works perfectly and thanks Hapgood for allowing her to borrow it, but since she may need it again, he lets her keep it.

No sooner has she strapped the shield to her arm than two gnomes from the Red Mountains stumble across them, one of them limping. Roxanne is shocked to see a deep gash in the leg of one of the gnomes and instantly tears a strip of cotton from her petticoat, ordering Twitter to dip it in the waters of the Rushing River as the woman, Marigold, tearfully explains that she and her husband were attacked by Darklings. Her husband, Applesap, is a goldsmith and had been tasked with forging the crown for the Ruby Princess, but the Darklings stole it from them as they were making their way to the Jewel Palace. Roxanne tries to console them as she tends to Applesap's wound, certain that he can make another crown just as fine as the first one, but the little gnome insists that he cannot go to the palace empty-handed and disappoint the princess. Twitter mentions that he needn't worry because the princess has run away, but Marigold shakes her head and informs them that she and Applesap saw the princess crossing the meadow in a glass coach. Roxanne is understandably shocked and declares the princess they saw an imposter. Although she demands that they go to the palace immediately, her companions merely stare at her, wondering how Roxanne of the Rushing River could know such a thing. She hastily backtracks and says that she is a very good friend of the princess, who told her that she feels like she doesn't know how to rule the Red Mountains and so decided to run away. A bemused Applesap and Marigold say that they only ask that their princess listen to their problems and is willing to help solve them, which surprises Roxanne because that sounds easy, like being a friend. Hapgood offers to fly them all to the palace so they can prevent the false princess from being crowned, but there really isn't room for all three of them on his back. Roxanne insists that he take the injured Applesap and Marigold, who should be with her husband, and promises that she'll meet them at the palace. Hapgood takes off, but not before reminding her to use the magic shield if she meets trouble and suggests that she take a shortcut through the Mysterious Forest. With Twitter nervously riding on her shoulder, the princess heads into the murky trees.

A scared Roxanne is fighting her way through the thorny brambles when she suddenly halts to standstill, thinking that she hears voices. Twitter hops forward to investigate and comes back trembling, reporting that there are Darklings camped just ahead. He begs Roxanne to turn back, but she is determined to get to the palace before the false princess is crowned and declares that the Darklings won't be able to see them with the help of her new shield. As they sneak invisibly past the cloaked huddle, they overhear their gloating. The Darklings brag to each other that their plan is working even better than they expected: they were supposed to kidnap the Ruby Princess so they could replace her with Lord Bleak's daughter, Rudgrin, but she saved them the trouble by running away, leaving Rudgrin free to put on a magical shape-changing mask that allows her to look just like Roxanne. Then, they can replace the other princesses one by one. Horrified at their plan to take over the kingdom, Roxanne has an idea to keep the Darklings out of the way for a while. She hurriedly ties their mounts (two roothogs and a large bird known as a Gorax) together so that she may have time to run to the palace for help. All is going well until she overhears the Darklings say that all they need to do now is kidnap the real Ruby Princess and take her back to Castle Dread. Roxanne accidentally blurts out that she'll never be taken there just as the shield's magic fades, leaving her and Twitter completely exposed. The Darklings lunge for Roxanne but she manages to dodge their grasp and leap onto the Gorax. Despite the extra weight of Roxanne and the roothogs, the bird is strong and begins to slowly fly upward. The Darklings desperately try to stop her escape by jumping onto their roothogs, but they, too, are dragged up into the treetops. Once they are thoroughly tangled in the upper branches, Twitter snips them loose from the Gorax which is then able to fly above the twisted trees towards the Jewel Palace. When they draw near the palace grounds, they spot Applesap and Marigold frantically waving them down. The gnomes had tried to delay the coronation, but no one would listen to them. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Roxanne throws open the doors to the throne room and commands the ceremony to stop.

Everyone, including her already-crowned sisters, stare between this Roxanne with the torn dress and messy hair and the neat, clean girl who looks exactly like her. Roxanne declares that the girl sitting on the throne is an imposter, and furthermore, is none other than Princess Rudgrin the daughter of Lord Bleak. She explains that Rudgrin is wearing a magical mask that disguises her true features, but Rudgrin orders the guards to arrest Roxanne for being the real imposter. The court is thrown into even further confusion, unsure of who is telling the truth, but fortunately the great wizard Gallivant steps forth and announces that there is a way to determine who is the true Roxanne: each princess is born with a mark in the shape of her jewel, so whichever girl bears the mark must be the real princess. Roxanne smiles confidently and raises her right arm, showing everyone the teardrop mark on her wrist. Twitter then darts out from behind Roxanne and pulls off Rudgrin's mask, revealing her twisted, ugly face to the whole court. Rudgrin is immediately taken away by the palace guards and Roxanne is welcomed home by her family. Finally ready to be crowned, Roxanne faces Gallivant. The wizard announces that the people of the Red Mountains have chosen one of their own to place the crown on their princess's head, and Roxanne races to the doors to greet Hapgood. She realizes that the dragon must have known her true identity all along, and he admits that when she ran away Gallivant gave him the shield and sent him to find her. Before she is crowned, Roxanne halts the ceremony once again and asks for the gnomes who made her crown to be by her side. An embarrassed Applesap and Marigold step forward and happily watch as Hapgood delicately crowns Roxanne, who vows to be not just the ruler of the Red Mountains, but also a friend to her people.

### The Sapphire Princess Meets a Monster

Roxanne is invited to her sister Sabrina's realm for a picnic. She's excited to go, but runs very late. As soon as Hapgood packs two large baskets full of food, they fly over the Mysterious Forest towards the Blue Lake. As they glide over the murky woods, they spot several Darklings running into the trees, apparently very upset about something.

Soon, they are circling above the Blue Lake to the cheers of its people. Roxanne embraces her sisters and listens curiously to their summaries of what has happened while they were waiting for her. Her sisters try to explain the adventure they just had, mentioning that their picnic basket was poisoned and that Sabrina's only alive because their new friend Oona saved her. A shocked Roxanne tells them about the Darklings she and Hapgood saw earlier and the girls speculate that the evil creatures were probably angry that their plan to poison Sabrina failed. Luckily, Hapgood had thought ahead and reveals their own picnic baskets with enough food for everyone.

### The Emerald Princess Plays a Trick

After visiting the White Winterland to see her eldest sister Demetra, Roxanne travels south to visit her youngest sister Emily. After hopping across the Rushing River that serves as a border of the Greenwood, a dark figure in a black hooded cloak leaps out at her, scaring her so badly she screams. The figure finds her reaction so funny, it laughs so hard it cries. Roxanne realizes that it's only Emily playing a trick, and is furious because she thought Emily was a Darkling and was genuinely scared. The youngest Jewel Princess doesn't understand why her sister is so mad at her and claims that the people of the Greenwood all find her tricks funny. Roxanne is skeptical and asks Arden, Emily's royal advisor, to settle their discussion. Reservedly, Arden finally admits that she thinks pranks are only funny to those who pull them, but Emily simply waves away her opinion. She then describes all the fun things they *were* going to do together. Roxanne is bewildered by the past tense until Emily dramatically sticks her nose in the air and declares that Roxanne is being to grumpy to have fun with. Shocked and angry at her sister's behavior, Roxanne turns right around and marches out of the woods, announcing that she's going to visit Sabrina instead. As soon as she reaches the Rushing River's opposite bank, she raises her magical shield and turns invisible.

## Abilities

I**nvisibility-** Roxanne is capable of turning invisible with the help of her magical silver-and-ruby shield. She must say an incantation for it to work, and it only works for a short time, but during that time she and anyone she touches will remain unseen.

**Flight-** Technically, Roxanne can fly when she is riding on the back of her best friend and royal advisor, the dragon Hapgood.

## Gallery

The Ruby Princess and the Baby DragonThe Ruby Princess Sees a GhostThe Ruby Princess Runs AwayRoxanne's Ruby PalaceMichelle Horn as Roxanne in *The Ruby Princess Runs Away* movie.Roxanne's 2020 designRoxanne and Hapgood on *The Ruby Princess Runs Away* movie posterRoxanne and Hapgood's 2020 designs
## Quotes

* "How can I rule and protect the people of the Red Mountains, when I can't protect myself?"
* "As the ruler of the Red Mountains, I vow to have a keen ear and a kind heart, that I might always be a loving and giving... friend."

## Trivia

* Roxanne prefers to wear breeches instead of dresses.
* Roxanne's dress is made of red satin.
* Roxanne likes to climb trees, horseback ride, and swim.
* In the short film, Roxanne is played by *Lion King II* child actress Michelle Horn, but her singing is dubbed by Molly Bauckham, the girl playing Rudgrin in the same film.