 | Network: | GMA |
| Series Run: | May 2, 2005 to (present) | |
| This Story: | May 2 - 6, 2005 | |
| Genre: | Adventure, Fantasy | |
| Time Slot: | Weekdays, 9:00 p.m. |
I'm a sucker for fantasy series ... and I really looked forward to this one. In contrast to Mulawin where I had to wonder what the story was, GMA kept showing teaser trailers of Encantadia during commercial breaks. Worse, they had a "primer" last Sunday, May 1, that offered a sneak peek into the series.
So there I was last Monday, patiently waiting for the show to start after MANY advertisements. I swear, if I didn't want to watch the first episode so much, I would've switched channels (and the score goes to the advertising guys). Verdict? the first episode wasn't as good as I expected. If I'm going to base the whole series by this one, I won't stick to watching the whole season. But... I am a person who hopes for something better and so I watch the second episode. Episode 2 also raises questions but the flow of the story's much better. Maybe if the first episode was edited well I would've said it rocked. I can proudly say the series gets better with each episode.
The story so far is this:
Encantadia's peace is maintained by each of the four kingdoms possessing a jewel of power. The Hathors, an ambitious people whose skills and craft are in making machines and weapons, aptly has the jewel of fire for they reside near the volcanoes where I guess they make use of the heat and lava in their craft. The Adamyans, a peaceful people of small stature and who dwell near the water, keep the water jewel. The Sapiryans, people skilled with battle arts, take care of the jewel of the earth. Finally, the jewel of air is in the custody of the fairies of Lireo.
As mentioned earlier, the Hathors are ambitious and greedy. They wanted to rule all of Encantadia. They know they will need all the jewels to tip the balance of power in their favor. They decided to start with Adamya, whose people and water jewel they easily conquered.
The Sapiryans learned about the attack and arrive to aid the Adamyans. The Sapiryan king, Arameo, is slain by King Arvak of Hathoria, and they also lose their jewel to the Hathors. Before Hathoria's king could bring home his booty, Raquim, Arameo's cousin and a master swordsman, kills him. The Hathors flee upon learning their king is dead.
With King Arameo dead, Adamya in ruins, and Sapiro the next likely target of the Hathors, Raquim brings Imaw - the wise one of Adamya, and the three jewels to the fairies of Lireo. The Sapiryans and Adamyans agree that all four jewels should be guarded by the fairies. It is possible that Raquim and Queen Mine-a of Lireo became romantically linked at this time.
In Lireo, the responsibilities of the throne always come before everything else, which is why their law forbids rulers, always women, from marrying. Therefore the romance between Mine-a and Raquim remained a fling, though it has been said that among her lovers, the queen favored the Sapiryan most.
It seems that the queen already had a daughter from a previous romance when she took Raquim as her lover. To Raquim, she bore another daughter, Amihan. We would find that Raquim would later leave Lireo and Encantadia itself, bringing his daughter with him, in order to hide from the Hathors.
With Sapiro destroyed because of the wrath of the Hathors, and any surviving Sapiryan hunted down, Raquim hid in the world of mortals. Once there, he had to work as a miner to feed himself and his daughter. The other miners thought he was extremely lucky in finding gold, not knowing that as a Sapiryan (who had once been keepers of the jewel of the earth), Raquim would naturally know how to find elements in rock.
Raquim would bring up his daughter the only way he knew how - teaching her the sword craft that Sapiryans are known for. Amihan does not appreciate her training though, as she sees other children being sent to learn in a place called school. Amihan would try to make friends with other kids her age, but the others find her odd and often than not, would make fun of her.
Amihan would later find out how different from other kids she is when she realized she just pulled off a disappearing act. She tells this to her father who gets a bit rattled. With her power surfacing, Raquim realizes that his daughter must be told about their real world. One night, he pulls out a map and tells her a story about a land called Encantadia. Amihan liked the story but never thought it real. She did however, have a dream where a beautiful woman called her daughter and warned her that she and her father are in danger. Amihan barely finished telling Raquim about her dream when strange looking people appeared outside their house. These are the Hathors.
Leading this band was King Hagorn, who had a special interest in finding Raquim. It was Raquim who killed Hagorn's father, Arvak. Raquim pulls out an elegant sword from a chest and hands it to Amihan, telling her to use it to defend herself. Tucking Amihan away in a safe place, Raquim faces Hagorn's men, puts up a brave fight, but is struck down by Hagorn. Amihan rushes out of her hiding place with her father's sword in her hand, trying her best to strike the Hathors. The bemused Hathors capture the little girl, threaten to chop her head off, but King Hagorn held back the moment he saw the mark of the sang'gre on the girl's shoulder. A sang'gre is a fairy of the royal house, and are identified by a birthmark on their shouler.
Around this time, another group of strange people appeared looking for Raquim and Amihan in what they knew to be their house. These are the soldiers sent by Mine-a to fetch her lover and daughter and bring them to the safety of Lireo. The soldiers find artifacts from Encantadia, confirming that they have found the house of Raquim, but the people they came for are gone and from the mess the house was in, they realize that the Hathors had found their quarry.
The soldiers search the grounds for any traces of Raquim or Amihan. Finally, they find the queen's daughter crying over the dead body of her father. The soldiers convince the girl to go with them back to Encantadia.
In Lireo, Amihan realizes that her father's story is true. The shock of her father's loss and being brought to a strange world is somewhat abated upon learning that her mother is still alive and is happy to be reunited with her. Amihan also learns that she has an older sister, Pirena, and two younger sisters - Alena and Danaya. They have different fathers, but none married their mother, which is a strange concept to Amihan who grew up amongst mortals who married before having children. Alena and Danaya befriend Amihan, but it would take a mother's coaxing for Pirena to accept Amihan as her sister.
Amihan would learn from her sisters that fairies have different kinds of power. Amihan could control the wind, Pirena could control fire and also take on the shape of any humanoid, Alena has the voice to kill or make a person fall in love, and Danaya could transform into either a plant or an animal at will. Amihan would also be told that the use of weapons, unless you are a soldier, is frowned upon at Lireo. This attitude of the fairies towards warfare came to scrutiny when the girls were attacked by Hathors. Imaw, who had taken residence in Lireo after Adamya was destroyed, suggested to Mine-a that if the Hathors are brazen enough to set foot on Lireo, then perhaps learning to wield a weapon or two would benefit the princesses.
We do not know what Mine-a thought of Imaw's suggestion, for the next scene shows us that the girls have grown up although still at the stage where they play games with each other - the exception would be Pirena who finds it ridiculous to play children's games at her age. It would seem though that the queen allowed the girls to learn how to wield weapons for we see Mine-a voicing her concern to Imaw that Amihan has taken to the sword-bearing ways of her father, and later, when it was time to choose her heir, Mine-a decided the test would include duelling.
Pirena had grown up expecting to be heir to her mother's throne as she is the oldest. It was therefore upsetting to her that when the butterflies came to tell Mine-a that the time to go to Devas is approaching, Mine-a announced that she will put the four princesses to a test to decide which one should be the next queen. Pirena's insecurity was heightened when she overheard her mother telling Imaw that one of her reservations against choosing Pirena is that she is afraid of the blood flowing through her veins. Had Pirena heard the whole conversation, she would know that Mine-a also had issues with the other princesses. Unfortunately, Pirena walked away thinking her mother does not like her as much as her sisters.
As the night of the tournament nears, Pirena broods and swears she will be queen; Amihan and Danaya prepare excitedly, wondering if they have what it takes to be queen; and Alena prepares half-heartedly, admitting to Amihan that she doesn't fancy being queen, but rather, when the trial is over and she knows she will not be chosen, Alena wants to be like other fairies who fall in love, marry, and raise a family. As fate would have it, someone would fall in love with Alena even before the trial starts.
This would be Ybarro, the Mandirigma. His people are skilled in martial arts but are looked down upon by other denizens of Encantadia for they would rather steal than grow their own food or make their own implements. As he passed the forest on his way home, he hears a beautiful voice, follows it and gazes upon the beauty of Alena. He followed her to the waterfall where she took a bath, boldly approached her, and promptly earns the ire of Alena. Gazing at the fleeing fairy, the cocky Ybarro swears he will make her fall in love with him.
At the tournament, the four princesses don their war suits which are woven out of the elements they control (Pirena=fire, Amihan=wind, Alena=water, Danaya=earth). They find out that they must fight the warrior dressed in white and get the key. They do not know his identity for his face is covered. Alena and Danaya were immediately beaten, and Amihan's turn was not yet finished when Pirena joined in the fray. Amihan makes a wrong move and found herself hanging on the side of a cliff. Pirena ignores her calls for help and continues fighting the warrior in white. Amihan falls and is caught by the white warrior. Amihan suddenly realizes the warrior is her mother. Pirena follows them and snatches the key the warrior is wearing, claiming that she won. Mine-a uncovers her face and tells Pirena she got the wrong key. Mine-a reveals that she is the key, and part of the challenge was to recognize her. This meant that Amihan won the throne.
| Pirena refuses to acknowledge the outcome, claiming she won fair and square and that Mine-a changed the rules at the last minute so that Amihan would win. Pirena challenges her mother to another duel, which according to law, could not be refused. |  |
The tournament revealed that Mine-a herself was a skilled warrior despite her known distate for weapons. The only way Pirena could think of to defeat the queen is by using the jewels. Taking the form of Aquil, Captain of the Guard, Pirena sneaks into the chamber where the jewels are kept. Pirena realizes quickly that the task is not easy - for the jewels would evade her grasp. Luckily for Pirena, the jewel of fire beckons to her and tells her to use it for they control the same element. Pirena sneaks out with the jewel, without anyone realizing it is gone.
While the rest of the palace is trying to deal with the conflict growing between Pirena and her mother, Alena finds out that the cocky Mandirigma she saw at the falls is stalking her. However, whenever Alena finally gets around to calling for help, Ybarro would disappear.
Finally the day of the duel arrives, and Pirena fights with more strength than she did at the tournament, almost defeating Mine-a. Her three sisters however decide to step in at the last moment, unwilling to give Pirena her victory. An enraged Pirena disavows her mother and sisters, announces that she is leaving Lireo but swears to come back one day to claim the throne.
Pirena goes to the people she knows hates Lireo most - the Hathors. King Hagorn willingly accepts her, especially when he learns that the fairy princess has brought with her the jewel of fire which had once belonged to Hathoria.
As Amihan was being crowned queen of Lireo, Pirena was also celebrating with the Hathors. Alena on the other hand was falling in love with Ybarro, and the only other person in the palace who knows this is Muyak, a dame in the palace and a pixie.
After the theft of the fire jewel by Pirena, Mine-a decides that her other daughters would each take care of one of the remaining jewels. Amihan gets the air jewel, Alena gets the water jewel, and Danaya gets the earth jewel.
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