Marquise Gertrude was a female Snowy Owl, or Bubo scandiacus, who was the mate Marquis Henryk V and mother of Marquis Henryk VI. She and her family prided themselves in being descendants of nobles from the H'rathian Court and were known to have been affiliated with the League of the Ice Talons during their war.
History[]
The daughter of a family that traced its bloodline straight from members of King H'rath's royal court, Gertrude and her husband, Henryk V, though apparently not soldiers of Bylyric, still bore close connections to the Ice Talon League and experienced a surge in political power in the wake of the Ice Talons' victory. Their clan was known for associating only with owls of their own kind and were labelled by those who did not agree with such ideology as 'snow snobs'.
Lost Tales of Ga'Hoole[]
Along with her mate and their son, Henryk VI, Gertrude, during a brief excursion to the Firth of Canis, accepted an invitation to dinner with members of the Plonk Family extended to them by Rodmilla. Arriving at the hollow side by side with her mate, Henryk and Gertrude were greeted by Rodmilla, who first inquired to the health of the plump Snowy couple. Agreeing with her husband's feeling of displeasure towards the weather, Gertrude praised the flight skills of her mate, which earned her a bow and Rodmilla's sycophantic sympathies.
As the dinner dragged on, Gertrude helped herself to four of the feast of lemmings presented to the nobles, joining Henryk V in his toast to their host, then again toasted, this time to the subtle suggestion of the thought of chicks born from a union between her son Marquis Henryk VI and Brunwella Plonk, as well churring in slight discomfort when Thora erupted into explosive laughter.
Rodmilla, after being exposed as an infiltrator for the forces of the Ice Talons, she revealed that Henryk VI had been motivated to propose to Brunwella at least partially on her orders, as the whole dinner had been part of Rodmilla's plan to marry of Brunwella to Henryk's clan and thus strengthen their firth's allegiance to Bylyric, while also restricting her mate Berrick's contact with the Resistance. This implies that Gertrude, like her son, might have been aware, at least partially, of Rodmilla's double life.