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'The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City' by Susanna Clarke
Susanna Clarke has just, suddenly and unexpectedly as far as I was concerned, published a new short story about the beginning of the Raven King's reign. I read it yesterday morning, and now I have Thoughts. This won't be a proper review post, it's an 'omg new canon material about blorbo!!' post, so here we go:
So first of all, it does contradict chapter 45 of JSMN in a couple of points: the Prologue to The History and Practice of English Magic states that the fairy host captured and held Durham apparently in the usual way, and it gives the impression that the young King was absolutely confident in and committed to his own cause. But of course that's Strange writing, not the omniscient narrator, and perhaps this story shows how far he's not a completely reliable narrator.
The first shocking revelation to come from this story is that Thomas of Dundale, the Raven King's first human servant and valued adviser, on whom he apparently conferred some of his own magical longevity, is... evil??? Or at least self-interested, manipulative and decidedly not the King's friend. But perhaps even more shocking is the revelation that (if the fairy Nicol is to be believed) Dundale was the main motive force behind the invasion of England. What are the implications of this???
Something that's puzzled me for a while about JSMN is how the world seems to respond to the fairies as soon as they enter England, when that sort of magical relationship is supposedly all about the alliances the King made and he hasn't made them yet:
More significant still in that passage is the implication/suggestion that the King ultimately decided to make those alliances and build English magic because... he was lonely and wanted someone to talk to. Darling ;_;
So who exactly is this 'shining person', apparently White Flowers's husband, the 'true leader' of Dundale's faction in the court squabbles? I was half expecting the gentleman with the thistledown hair to turn up at some point and wondered if he was him, but the description doesn't really seem right and I don't think the gentleman ever mentions a wife, so perhaps not. But it seems like he ought to be someone significant!
Serlo is presumably as in Serlo's Blessing, right? Aww.
The view of Hell—'A surprisingly ordinary view of fields, woods and a crossroads – a place very much like England, except that the air was oddly stale and warm.—seems fitting; I can imagine the King's third kingdom being on the far side of that.
Seriously—why are the English so sure he's English? If Strange is to be believed, the King was already asserting the Norman story of his origins at this time: there are no grounds for thinking he's English by descent (unless perhaps John d'Uskglass had married an English wife, but I think if it was that it would have been mentioned), and he's certainly not by upbringing. I suppose it's just the sheer appeal, post-Conquest and -Harrying of the North, of having someone who opposes and defeats the (other) Norman kings?
So first of all, it does contradict chapter 45 of JSMN in a couple of points: the Prologue to The History and Practice of English Magic states that the fairy host captured and held Durham apparently in the usual way, and it gives the impression that the young King was absolutely confident in and committed to his own cause. But of course that's Strange writing, not the omniscient narrator, and perhaps this story shows how far he's not a completely reliable narrator.
The first shocking revelation to come from this story is that Thomas of Dundale, the Raven King's first human servant and valued adviser, on whom he apparently conferred some of his own magical longevity, is... evil??? Or at least self-interested, manipulative and decidedly not the King's friend. But perhaps even more shocking is the revelation that (if the fairy Nicol is to be believed) Dundale was the main motive force behind the invasion of England. What are the implications of this???
Something that's puzzled me for a while about JSMN is how the world seems to respond to the fairies as soon as they enter England, when that sort of magical relationship is supposedly all about the alliances the King made and he hasn't made them yet:
At the moment when all fell silent and it became clear that King Henry had been defeated the birds for miles around began singing as if for joy.And this story gives us an explanation:
“Oh, we can instruct the elements of England to do as we want. Of course we can do that!” Nicol was almost contemptuous that anyone should doubt it. “That is not what I am talking about. I am speaking of the flow of words that ought to exist between us and the world. The great conversation! That has fallen silent. Or else it is carried on in voices we cannot hear.”I'm not sure I find this quite satisfying, but there you go.
More significant still in that passage is the implication/suggestion that the King ultimately decided to make those alliances and build English magic because... he was lonely and wanted someone to talk to. Darling ;_;
So who exactly is this 'shining person', apparently White Flowers's husband, the 'true leader' of Dundale's faction in the court squabbles? I was half expecting the gentleman with the thistledown hair to turn up at some point and wondered if he was him, but the description doesn't really seem right and I don't think the gentleman ever mentions a wife, so perhaps not. But it seems like he ought to be someone significant!
Serlo is presumably as in Serlo's Blessing, right? Aww.
The view of Hell—'A surprisingly ordinary view of fields, woods and a crossroads – a place very much like England, except that the air was oddly stale and warm.—seems fitting; I can imagine the King's third kingdom being on the far side of that.
“And the bruising on his face? The wound to his leg? None of the reports mentioned that he had been injured during the conquest.”! ! Oh no, darling ;___;
“That happened later,” said Nicol. “After we came here. He fell from a high place in the castle.”
“Fell,” said Leobwin, “or allowed himself to fall. Or perhaps threw himself down.”
...the Normans were sure he was Norman, the English sure he was English, and the fairies, having brought him up, were confident that he was one of them.He's my blorbo, is what he is.
Seriously—why are the English so sure he's English? If Strange is to be believed, the King was already asserting the Norman story of his origins at this time: there are no grounds for thinking he's English by descent (unless perhaps John d'Uskglass had married an English wife, but I think if it was that it would have been mentioned), and he's certainly not by upbringing. I suppose it's just the sheer appeal, post-Conquest and -Harrying of the North, of having someone who opposes and defeats the (other) Norman kings?