CHARACTER
A Discovery of Witchesby Deborah Harkness

Ysabeau de Clermont

Ysabeau de Clermont

A legendary matriarch whose poise cuts sharper than any blade, Ysabeau rules Sept-Tours with velvet-and-iron authority—an ancient vampire whose love, grief, and discipline shape the fate of her family.

Quick Facts

  • Role: De Clermont matriarch; vampire maker of Matthew Clairmont and later protector of Diana Bishop
  • Residence: Sept-Tours, Auvergne, France
  • First Appearance: Chapter 18
  • Key Ties: Husband Philippe (deceased), companion Marthe, the extended de Clermont family
  • Hallmarks: Regal control, lethal grace, unbending loyalty

Who They Are

From the moment she appears at Sept-Tours, Ysabeau de Clermont radiates a terrifying, timeless elegance: honey-colored hair, bell-clear voice, a gaze that assesses and dominates. She is history made flesh—centuries of loss and survival distilled into a single, formidable will. Ysabeau embodies the cost and allure of power maintained over generations, the paradox of a predator who safeguards what she loves with implacable tenderness. Her story is also a case study in the endurance of inherited wounds, a living example of The Power of History and Memory: the past doesn’t just haunt her; it organizes her instincts, prejudices, and choices—until love forces a reckoning.

Personality & Traits

Ysabeau projects queenly composure, but her decisions are driven by primal devotion to family. When confronted with threats—especially witches—she responds with speed and ferocity, yet she is disciplined enough to reassess when evidence and duty demand it. She is an apex predator and an apex parent, and the tension between those roles gives her scenes their crackling intensity.

  • Fiercely protective: Every early interaction with Diana is a test—of loyalty, courage, and suitability for Matthew. Ysabeau’s fixes are not impulsive but strategic, calibrated to keep danger far from Sept-Tours and her son.
  • Prejudiced and intolerant: Her hatred of witches springs from Philippe’s murder and becomes her default reading of Diana—an embodiment of Prejudice, Segregation, and Intolerance. The prejudice isn’t shallow; it’s ritualized grief.
  • Regal and authoritative: She expects obedience and gets it. Her stillness, clothes, and voice function as instruments of rule; even in silence, rooms move around her.
  • Pragmatic above principle: Once she measures Matthew’s love and the magnitude of external threats, she prioritizes survival and unity over personal animus, shifting from adversary to ally without surrendering her pride.
  • Deadly and predatory: The hunt with Diana (Chapter 24) is not mere spectacle; it’s pedagogy. Ysabeau instructs by exposing the raw truth of vampire life—and by showing how far she’ll go to guard her own.
  • Maternal in surprising registers: Her lullaby during the witchwater (Chapter 23) reveals a kind of power that doesn’t kill—it steadies, soothes, and claims.

Character Journey

Ysabeau enters as the granite obstacle to Matthew and Diana: elegant, cold, and convinced that a witch near her son is a catastrophe. Yet the more she watches, the more she recalibrates. When Domenico arrives (Chapter 21), she closes ranks around Matthew and Diana, revealing that her deepest allegiance is to family, not prejudice. Witnessing Diana’s witchwater (Chapter 23), she responds not with violence but with care—singing an ancient song that turns panic into calm and adversary into ward. The hunt (Chapter 24) tests resolve; Diana’s refusal to be frightened off becomes proof of worth. By Chapter 26, Ysabeau publicly names Diana her daughter, aligning the old order with the risky future the couple represents. Her arc is the narrative’s lesson in how love and loyalty can rewire even the oldest of hatreds.

Key Relationships

  • Matthew Clairmont: Maker, son, and sovereign priority. Their bond mixes maternal tenderness with absolute authority; the intimacy of creation binds them in responsibility as much as affection. Even when they clash, her will organizes itself around his safety and the preservation of his future.
  • Diana Bishop: The novel’s most volatile relationship becomes its most meaningful alliance. Ysabeau first treats Diana as a contaminant and a test subject; over time, Diana’s courage and vulnerability turn that scrutiny into sponsorship. Their final bond reframes the family as chosen as much as blood, central to the theme of Family, Lineage, and Belonging.
  • Philippe de Clermont: The absent presence that explains the present. His murder gives shape to Ysabeau’s hatred of witches and cements her devotion to lineage as a bulwark against loss; loving him means defending the family he built—at any cost.
  • Marthe: More than a housekeeper; she is Ysabeau’s witness and conscience. In their quiet exchanges, Marthe’s earthbound pragmatism steadies Ysabeau’s aristocratic severity, enabling care where wrath might otherwise rule.

Defining Moments

Even at her stillest, Ysabeau moves the plot. Her interventions teach Diana, protect Matthew, and reposition the de Clermonts for the storms ahead.

  • First meeting at Sept-Tours (Chapter 18)
    • What happens: Ysabeau greets Diana with glacial courtesy and open disdain.
    • Why it matters: Establishes her as gatekeeper and antagonist; the romance must pass through her judgment.
  • Domenico’s visit (Chapter 21)
    • What happens: Ysabeau sides with Matthew and Diana against an external predator.
    • Why it matters: Family loyalty outruns prejudice; the de Clermonts close ranks.
  • Witchwater crisis (Chapter 23)
    • What happens: Diana loses control; Ysabeau sings an ancient melody to steady her.
    • Why it matters: Care supplants contempt; maternal power reframes Diana as someone to protect, not purge.
  • The hunt (Chapter 24)
    • What happens: Ysabeau kills with economy and purpose, forcing Diana to confront vampire realities.
    • Why it matters: A brutal lesson and a moral test—Diana’s endurance earns respect.
  • Acceptance and pledge (Chapter 26)
    • What happens: Ysabeau declares Diana her daughter and extends full de Clermont protection.
    • Why it matters: Formalizes the new family order and signals a strategic alliance with love at its core.

Essential Quotes

"I do not like the way witches smell," Her English was flawless, her glittering eyes fixed on mine. "She is sweet and repulsively green, like spring." — Ysabeau de Clermont, Chapter 18

This line fuses elegance with cruelty—flawless diction used for a cutting appraisal. Ysabeau’s sensory authority reduces Diana to a category (“witch”), turning prejudice into aesthetic judgment and staking her claim as arbiter of what belongs in her house.

"Do you think vampires are beautiful now? Do you still think it would be easy to live with my son, knowing that he must kill to survive?" — Ysabeau de Clermont, Chapter 24

Part challenge, part lesson: Ysabeau uses horror as truth-telling. She forces Diana to confront the ethical cost of loving Matthew, redefining romance as a discipline that requires equal parts courage and clarity.

"You are my most beloved son. And Diana is now my daughter—my responsibility as well as yours. Your fight is my fight, your enemies are my enemies." — Ysabeau de Clermont, Chapter 26

A public vow that reframes the political map. By naming Diana “daughter,” Ysabeau translates affection into protection—and, crucially, into power—binding personal feeling to the machinery of the de Clermont name.

"The women of the de Clermont family defend themselves." — Ysabeau de Clermont, Chapter 26

A credo and a curriculum. Ysabeau claims a lineage of female strength and makes self-defense a condition of belonging, redefining family as an institution that equips rather than shelters.