#jonathan strange

[speakingskies]

[slow-burn-sally]

Are you in an Age Of Sail fandom like The Terror, Black Sails, or Master and Commander?

Are you in a fantasy/time travel fandom like Dr. Who, The Librarians, or The Magicians?

Are you in a period piece fandom like Pride & Prejudice, Bridgerton, or Persuasion?

Are you looking for a new hyperfixation or special interest to absolutely lose your mind over? Well then, step right up! Have I got the fandom for you!

It's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell!

This book and series have everything, folks! True love! Intrigue! Magic! Ships! Politics! Sly, subtle jokes! The sweetest cinnamon rolls! The most dastardly villains!

And it comes in two flavors! You can either watch the well done and chock-full-of-hotties 2015 TV series, or! you can read Susanna Clarke's deceptively addictive 800 page book full of footnotes! Both are guaranteed to pull the soul from your body and keep you enslaved in an enchanted fairy kingdom for the rest of your earthly days!

The series is now available for the low, low price of $5 on Amazon! Or, watch it FREE on YouTube! You can buy the book at affordable rates on many platforms where books are sold, and the audiobook is great too!

And if That doesn't sell you on this fandom, then just wait until you lay your peepers on this boy:

So, drop everything! Run to your local internet source or bookseller, and start an adventure of a lifetime that will leave your heart buried in a dark wood beneath the snow where you can still feel its ache!

Invest now, and we'll even throw in this grumpy autistic guy for free!

[miserablejester]

Lascelles opened his mouth - doubtless to say some scathing thing - but was forestalled by Mr Norrell suddenly crying out in a tone of wonder, "But that is remarkable! That is truly... My dear Mr Strange! I've never even head of such magic before! It is not listed in Sutton-Grove! I assure you, my dear sir, it is not in Sutton-Grove!"

I do very much enjoy this scene - it is after all the beginning of their relationship - as a result I had to draw it! (It was clearly not an excuse to draw furniture).

[occasional-owl]

The babygirl PNG'ed for all your editing needs

+ bonus edit:

[queerolddad]

ok but my favorite Childermass scene is the one where Strange asks him to leave Norrell and come work with him instead.

First of all — why the fuck is Strange looking at him like that he’s just like me fr

But more importantly, I’m obsessed with the idea that Childermass does agree with Strange when it comes to magic being available to everyone and anyone.

He believes in the Raven King who was not high born and is he himself a man of magic who is of equally low birth. But he is so steadfastly loyal to Norrell, he refuses Strange: “Mr. Norrell and I are not done with each other yet.”

Childermass acts as the middle ground between Strange and Norrell — he is loyal to Norrell and what he has done for him and for magic, he agrees with Strange that magic is not to be held under lock and key. He is a servant to magic, not man.

[yeti-zeus]

is this anything? are there enough of us jsmn enjoyers out there for this to be anything?

[thinkanamelater]

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (well, Childermass & co.) + text messages

Original posts here and here

[swan-orpheus]

It is 2024 and I am here having feelings about Gilbert Norrell seated across from Jonathan Strange, his tea going cold before the fire, as tears form in his eyes and he pleads with Jonathan to not leave his side and thus make him bereft of the magical companionship that he never knew that he so desperately craved until the very moment that he found himself on the precipice of losing it (potentially) forever:

"There will be noone to talk to. We will be quite alone".

🔪💔

It is too good, the peak of cinema 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻

[letmeinimafairy]

An episode from 'Jonathan Strange and mister Norrell', Venice drowned by the forest because of Jonathan's spell. Painted this scene a couple of years ago, but this imagery won't let me go, so here's a resin and wood interpretation.

[owl-by-night]

Rewatching Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and just… so smitten with Jonathan Strange. He appears in the first episode as this absolute disaster of a man who hates Lyme Regis because it’s too rainy, completely failing to lie convincingly about going to church, drinking ‘scarcely a bottle a day’ and hopelessly in love with Bell. But then there’s his father and the comments about his mother, the way he is with Jeremy Johns. And I know what’s to come and how much he will live through and my heart breaks for him.

My fingers are already itching towards the partly written fix-it fic…

[the-busy-ghost]

Men Called Him Sir Gray Steele

Having many Strange and Norrell thoughts at the moment, but since I'm not exactly the type of fan who goes through and annotates and analyses I'm probably missing things or overthinking other details that have already been noticed.

That being said I've arrived at Chapter 51, "A Family by the Name of Greysteel" and this reminds me of my old theory about Flora Greysteel's name. Potentially the most famous Flora in British history was Flora MacDonald, who in 1746 assisted Charles Edward Stuart in escaping to Skye in the aftermath of the failed Jacobite Rising. I may be overthinking this aspect, since as a Scot I'm naturally conditioned to associate the name Flora with both that story, and stories about women who help historical and mythical "heroes" generally (note- no opinions are to be given on the character of Jacobite claimants in this post, but I have many).

What I am now less convinced that I'm overthinking is the 'Greysteel' aspect. Now Greysteil was a ballad which was extremely popular in sixteenth century Scotland (though like many popular ballads and poems from this period it may have its roots on the other side of the border in northern England as well). The references to Greysteil in Scottish history are probably related to the poem Sir Eger and Sir Grime, which may be fifteenth century in origin, but chiefly survives from 17th century versions, including in Bishop Percy's collection. The plot synopsis on wikipedia makes it clear that this is a poem replete with strange knights, and, perhaps more importantly, helpful female characters who go around giving gifts of magical swords to the heroes or generally acting as 'cunning' leeches (a leech was the term often given to a medical person, but it's more ambiguous than the rather more specific terms 'surgeon' or 'physician'). The name Greysteil refers to the antagonist of Eger and Grime in the poem- he is a mysterious knight who lives in the 'forbidden' country.

In preparation for reading chapter 51, therefore, (and while my food is cooking), I'm skim-reading a copy of the version of this poem in the Percy folio and trying to keep any important details in mind so I can compare it with Strange and Norrell. (Copy printed here)

What I do notice immediately is that when Greysteil (clad in red and gold) defeats knights who have the misfortune of coming across him, as a prize he takes the little finger of the man's right hand. This is his calling card.

It's a bit early in my read to say for certain but this absolutely calls to mind the fact that the gentleman with the thistle-down hair takes the little finger of Lady Pole's left hand as a token of the agreement when he agrees to help Norrell bring her back to life. Now taking a little finger may be a common motif in other literature too, I'm not sure, but given that there are other reasons to connect Strange and Norrell to the old poem Greysteel I have to wonder if this is significant.

In heraldry, the man's coat of arms often went on the right or dexter (viewer's left) and the woman's on the left or sinister. From what I've come across over the last decade this tends to be seen in other depictions of male-female relations in mediaeval and early modern culture, with maleness associated with the right and female associated with the left (bearing in mind that these were often married couples where the straightforward gender binary was at its most evident). So I have to wonder if Greysteil taking the little finger from the right hand of his (presumably all) male enemies, and the fairy in Strange and Norrell taking the little finger of the left hand of the woman he enchants, can be compared.

Again I have no idea yet what this may mean for the significance of Flora Greysteel, and whether we are to assume that her family has some connection to either the figure in the ballad or the gentleman with the thistle-down hair- I have yet to actually re-read chapter 51 and find out. But I'm posting this here in case it's useful to more observant fans than me and in case anyone can offer any insight. It was always a question I'd have loved to ask the author if there was ever a Q&A but I may be twenty years too late on this one.

Anyway, on with my re-read of Sir Eger and Sir Grime (and dinner)!

[brainrotforghouls]

Just finished listening to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Loved it so much. Should I watch the show? Anyone around here still interact with this media?

Well I'm here now

[mrsducky]

JONATHAN & ARABELLA STRANGE + kisses

[alatariel-gildaen]

She was dressed in a white gown with an overdress of pale blue net and diamonds. It glittered like frost and snow, and was far prettier than any gown she had possessed when she lived in England. In her hair were sprays of some tiny, star-like blossoms and there was a black velvet ribbon tied around her throat.

"Arabella..."

Jonathan and Arabella Strange, Polychromos and Luminance on Pastelmat

[sarademian]

JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL (2015)

[knitepercival]

I’ve been reading so many Major Merlin fics lately, drawing them was inevitable~ 😌❤️