Polly Weird

Polly Weird Spoilers for the original Hellchild series. If I had accidentally brought Hades' daughter back as a vampire, I would probably want somebody who understood the situation before I tried another spell. Marian takes that problem to Polly Weird, and Polly's reaction gives you a pretty good idea of the kind of woman she is. She listens to what happened, works out where the magic went wrong, and gets straight to explaining it. Apparently this is the sort of conversation you can have in a place called Polly Weird Magical Antiques. Her appearance is memorable enough, with the blonde hair and stars around her eye, but her knowledge is what makes her useful in Hellchild. Marian knows she brought Angelica back. She doesn't understand why bringing her back left her like this. Polly can explain the difference between restoring a life and finishing something that had already been started. According to Polly, a vampire normally drains someone and then feeds them its own blood as their heart stops. The person dies and is reborn through blood magic. Angelica's situation had been sitting unfinished for a very long time. Dracula drained her, and Marian's attempt to breathe life back into her completed a process Dracula hadn't intended to complete. That's a much more specific problem than a resurrection spell simply producing the wrong result. I like that Polly doesn't need to have caused the disaster or be the person who eventually wins the fight to matter here. She's the one who makes the disaster understandable. Marian has been acting out of guilt and trying to fix what she did, while Sam is understandably more concerned about keeping them alive. Having somebody explain what actually happened gives them something useful to work with. Polly also has some backbone. When she senses a visitor approaching, she makes it clear that the witches under her roof are protected. That visitor turns out to be Hades. She puts herself between him and her guests before he's even explained why he's there. Hades comes in willing to talk, and Marian agrees to help him with Angelica. Nobody has to fight, but Polly has made it clear whose house they're standing in. Her help continues after they leave the shop. Marian and Sam use Polly's summoning spell to bring Angelica to the abandoned building. Marian describes her as an old, immortal witch and makes it clear that her assistance comes with debts she remembers. So there's a little more going on than a friendly shopkeeper handing over advice for free. Polly only has a small role in this story, but it's a useful one. Between the explanation, the protection she offers, and the spell she supplies, she helps get people out of the guessing stage. In a mess involving vampires, witches, and an angry god trying to reach his daughter, that is somebody worth knowing.