Who is Kimpa Vita?
Kimpa Vita is the Flame of Forgotten Queens. Her fire rekindles the memory of the royal women of the Kingdom of Kongo, and in the ISOLELE Universe she is the fire of the universe itself.
She plays a great role in the life of Zaiire. Around her, one sentence is written in the languages of the world: "You can burn my body, but not the fire that sent me."
Her look
Kimpa Vita walks barefoot in a green draped gown, a gold band across her forehead with the crest of ISOLELE, gold ribbons falling from her headdress and a jeweled gold collar at her throat. In one hand she raises a golden lantern. From her leg, roots grow down into the earth.
Kimpa Vita and Zaiire
In Book II of his saga, Zaiire is carried back to June 30, 1960, where he meets Kimpa Vita alongside Mwindo Lumumba and Simon Kimbangu. His encounters there reveal that his mother Kimoya is the Kandake, and give his royal bloodline its true form.
African cultural inspiration
Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita was a young noblewoman and prophet of the Kingdom of Kongo. Born around 1684, at a time when civil war had divided the kingdom, she led a movement that called on the Kongo to reunite and return to its ancient capital, Mbanza Kongo.
She was burned at the stake in 1706. Her name lives on as a symbol of Kongo faith, courage and resistance, and of the African women who led their people.
Appearances
Kimpa Vita appears in the Zaiire saga, where she guides Zaiire through the memory of the Kongo: in Zaiire: The Prince of Kongo and the Necklace of Destiny (Book I) and in Zaiire, Book II, releasing October 23.
