Juni Swan

Infobox character
name = Nadia Moore


caption =
creator = Darren Shan
alias = Juni Swan
first = "Demon Thief"
last =
species = Demon
(Formerly Human)
gender = Female
age =
born = June, early twentieth century
death =
significantother=
children =
relatives = Dervish Grady (distant relative) Grubitsch "Grubbs" Grady (distant relative)
Billy "Bill-E" Spleen (distant relative, deceased)
Cal Grady (distant relative, deceased)
Gretelda "Gret" Grady (distant relative, deceased)
Bartholomew Garadex (ancestor, deceased)
Bec MacConn (ancestor)
residence =
nationality =
lbl24 = Powers
data24 =

Typical Mage powers

Precognition

Juni Swan is a character in "The Demonata", a series of books by Darren Shan. She is the albino love interest of Dervish Grady and has the ability to see things before they happen. Juni is described as being very beautiful, apparently even more so when she is engaged in some act of evil. While she seduces Dervish in the cave in "Demon Apocalypse", Grubbs claims that "unconcelaed evil suits her. She's more stunning now than she ever was when she was pretending to be good."

In the 6th book, "Demon Apocalypse", it is revealed that Juni is in fact Nadia Moore from the 2nd book, "Demon Thief", who has now joined forces with Lord Loss.

Biography

Early years

Juni Swan was born Nadia Moore, in the early part of the twentieth century. From an early age, Nadia's parents noticed that she had the ability to accurately predict the future, and during her childhood, she travelled around, gaining money using her powers. Beranabus found out about her, and kidnapped her in June of 1929, so that he could make her one of The Disciples, in the hope that her gift would give them an advantage against the Demonata. Nadia gained an undying hatred for Beranabus because of this, which she retained even after she had travelled with the Disciples for years.

When she first appears in "Demon Thief", Nadia is described as being quite plump, with blonde hair, blue eyes, bony limbs, and bad acne scars. She is considered to be rather unappealling, but it is mentioned that she become much more attractive when she smiles. Her visions of the future are never specific, but often still helpful. In "Demon Thief", she told Beranabus that a piece of the Kah-Gash would be found soon, and that somebody from the group would die (this turns out to be Raz). Although many people have claimed to be able to foretell the future, Nadia states that beings who truly possess the gift are extremely rare, even more so than magicians. Although in the book Kernel is able to lead her to freedom in the human world, Beranabus makes Kernel open a portal so that Nadia can be taken back into the Demonata universe. Nadia hated Beranabus even more for it.

When The Disciples arrive at the castle of Lord Loss in "Demon Thief", Nadia makes a deal with Lord Loss that, if he will stage her death and relieve her of Beranabus, she will use her abilities to help him. This deal goes through, and Nadia is presumed dead by all the Disciples, except for Kernel, to whom she reveals her secret when she saves him from dying in Lord Loss' magical chessboard. Nadia claims to Kernel that she doesn't hate any of the Disciples except for Beranabus, but will still fight on the side of Lord Loss.

In "Blood Beast", Juni claims to have been at a concert also attended by Dervish, but this is almost definitely a lie because she spent most of her time between "Demon Thief" and "Slawter" in the Demonata universe.

As Juni Swan

After helping Kernel in the chessboard in "Demon Thief", Nadia changes into a swan demon. She changes her name to Juni Swan and tries to help Lord Loss capture Grubbs, Bill-E and Dervish. She takes a job as Davida Haym's assistant on the set of Slawter, but she is really working for Lord Loss. Her job is to make sure the children on the set are being treated well. She pretends to join forces with Dervish and Grubbs to save those on the set from being massacred by Lord Loss and his familiars (summoned by Davida Haym), but is actually planning to turn Grubbs and Dervish over to Lord Loss just as they are within sight of their goal. However, she is knocked unconscious by a demon before she can do so. Dervish falls for her during the book, and Juni mentions at the end that she has strong feelings for him as well. However, she kills one of the leaders of the massacre plot (pretending to be doing it to avenge those who were killed in Slawter, but actually because he knew of her true allegiances) and leaves in the night, leaving a note saying she has to think about things and that Dervish shouldn't search for her.

In "Blood Beast", she reappears as Grubbs' school councillor and continues her relationship with Dervish, as well as helping him in his attempt to cure Grubbs of the curse. Dervish and Juni's relationship becomes more serious and she nearly moves in with him. When Grubbs becomes a werewolf and kills Ma and Pa Spleen, she convinces him to board a plane with her, where she summons Lord Loss and several of his familiars to kill him, thus revealing herself to be in league with the demon master. The demons kill the plane's passengers, but Grubbs escapes following the arrival of Beranabus.

In "Demon Apocalypse", Grubbs discovers that Juni had actually killed Ma and Pa Spleen, and convinced him that he was a murderer. Later in the story, she is thought by Beranabus to be the key to opening the portal to the demon universe that would lead to the "demon apocalypse" the title of the book suggests. Beranabus, along with Grubbs and Kernel, are tasked with killing her before she opens the portal for the demons to slip through. Beranabus uses a spell to reveal her true form, and she is shown to actually be Nadia Moore, first seen in "Demon Thief". She seduces Dervish, who she had previously tied up, but Dervish does not fall for this, and impales her on a stalagmite in the cave, killing her. Lord Loss shows affection for Juni, screaming "My Swan!", and taking her body with him after this confrontation.

Reanimation

In "Death's Shadow" Juni Swan returns, as a hideously deformed monster with raw, 'jellyish' skin covered in sores. She leads a demon attack on Earth in a hospital and attempting to kill Bec and Sharmila, before they are rescued by Dervish Grady. She escapes and later appears on a ship with the demon Cadavar, before escaping through a window along with most of the demons she had brought with her. Cadaver remains behind, and is sacrificed in order to open the portal which releases the Shadow.

Although no direct explanation has been given thus far to her resurrection, the Shadow is revealed to be Death itself by the end of the story, which could possibly have something to do with her escape from death. Her deformed appearance is not explained either, though she states in the story that she is trapped in that form. During the encounter at the hospital, Bec realizes that Juni's magic has grown stronger in the time since her last appearance, and that the pain of her mutated body may have driven her mad.

Relationships

It is implied that Lord Loss and Juni had a romantic attachment towards one another, as Juni states her love for him before she dies, and he, in turn, calls her his "sweet swan", the only occasion in which he has shown any sign of affection towards a human. After her death, Lord Loss states that killing her makes him even more determined to see the Gradys suffer. In "Blood Beast" Juni says she once had a baby, but that he died. In light of her aforementioned romantic involvment with Lord Loss, there is a possibility that the baby was his.

Nadia is distantly related to the Gradys, and hence descended from the Demonata. In "Demon Apocalypse", Bec suggests that this ancestry may be the reason Nadia possesses special powers.

Name Origins

In "Demon Thief", Nadia has said that her favorite month was June (hence the name "Juni"), as well telling Kernel that her father told her that she was "an ugly duckling", and would turn into a beautiful swan one day (hence the last name of "Swan"). Also, in "Demon Thief", Nadia transforms into a swan-like demon. In "Slawter", Dervish mispronounces her name in the far beginning of the book, calling her 'June', another clue to the fact of her birth month. Even prior to the revelation of her identity in "Demon Apocalypse", these facts had sparked much speculation that Juni and Nadia may be one and the same.

Appearances

*Demon Thief (as Nadia Moore)
*Slawter
*Blood Beast
*Demon Apocalypse
*Death's Shadow
*Wolf Island