A Wood Engraving of Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel
ROLE IN THE SERIES
Perenelle Flamel is the wife of Nicholas Flamel in the series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. Whereas Flamel is known for being an alchemyst, over the centuries since their faked death Perenelle has become an accomplished sorceress. She possesses extreme power, and has even tangled with Elders one on one, a feat that few humans can claim. It leads to in the series numerous attacks against Perenelle, due to the theory of Dee and the Dark Elders that if they can get rid of Perenelle, it will make Flamel that much weaker. While Flamel seems determined to do anything and everything to Awaken the twins no matter what it takes, Perenelle seems to be the voice of reason several times and is a mother figure. Perenelle is described in the series as a strong woman with long flowing black hair. Her aura is ice white.
In The Alchemyst, Flamel and Perenelle run a bookshop in San Francisco. When Dee attacks the bookshop, Perenelle and Sophie rush across from the coffee shop to stop Dee, only to have them defeated and Perenelle kidnapped by Dee. Dee then takes Perenelle to Alcatraz, where she is imprisoned and guarded by a sphinx that saps her magic power. However, Perenelle is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, which in addition to her tremendous magical power allows her to communicate with ghosts. She enlists the help of one named Jefferson Miller, who was a former security guard, who distracts the guards and allows her to take control of Sophie through water during the battle against Hekate. She then wields a powerful silver whip through Sophie which she uses to help turn the tide of battle before returning to Alcatraz and being guarded by the sphinx.
In The Magician, Perenelle contacts another ghost on the island, De Ayala, who was the founder and discoverer of Alcatraz. De Ayala distracts the sphinx which allows her magic power to return. When she escapes her cell, she happens upon a large number of monsters of myth and legend imprisoned in Alcatraz. As the Morrigan moves against her, she descends into the depths of Alcatraz to discover an Elder, the spider Areop - Enap, who at first attacks her, but then forms an alliance with her against the Morrigan. They then capture the Morrigan and imprison her in Areop - Enap's old cell.
In The Sorceress, Pernelle and Areop - Enap now remain on Alcatraz, held prisoner partially by the Old Man in the Sea, Nereus, and his daughters the Nereids. After an attack by Billy the Kid, Areop must now rest to heal after being poisoned. While wandering the halls of Alcatraz, she encounters Flamel and the twins in a spider web of water while they are scrying. She briefly informs them of her status when the sphinx attacks. Depserate to save her, Flamel and the twins send their power through the scrying to her, which she initially thinks will kill her, but then she uses her power to freeze the sphinx as it attacks her. After defeating her, Pernelle descends to speak with the Morrigan, to discover that her sisters, the Babd and Macha, have taken over her body. They then enter into an unlikely alliance, and then Nereus attacks intent on making Perenelle his bride. She barely escapes, and then when Machiavelli and The Kid come to the island, the two sisters decieve them and after a close encounter with Nereus, Perenelle escapes to be reunited with the twins and Flamel at the end of the book.
THE HISTORICAL PERENELLE FLAMEL
Unfortunately, not as much is known about the real Perenelle Flamel, except that before she married Nicholas Flamel she was a widower and that she supposedly died in 1402. Like Flamel, though, she is reported to have been a skilled alchemist and also is rumored to still be living and has been sighted along with her husband throughout the ages.