#vinculus

[miserablejester]

Vinculus stared at the man suspiciously. "You are no more a milliner than I am a... a..." "A magician?" suggested the unlikely milliner. "You must certainly admit that is not your only profession. After all you just picked my pockets."

Incredibly fascinated by the fact that the yellow tents are spoken of as something of the past, especially considering the fact that the church which Vinculus' tent is placed in front of (St Christopher's le stocks) was demolished in 1781, almost thirty years before the book takes place.

I had to make use of sketches and copper engravings as well as someone's minecraft model to draw it!

[thinkanamelater]

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

Original posts here and here

[uskglass-mirror-house]

Thoughts about chapter 21: the cards of Marseilles

I have been reading bits and pieces from the book as part of the 20th anniversary read-along. I wanted to join in once it reached chapter 29 (where I left the book on my third re-read), but then I remembered how cool chapter 21 was and went through it and ho boiiii I have so many thoughts. I am definitely going to make a massive breakdown of the fortune-telling and why it is so genius, but now I'm just sharing random thoughts I had while reading. Enjoy (and mind the spoilers)!

The start of the chapter reminded me of my old theory about the author of the book. The first time I read jsamn I had this theory that the author of the book was either a magician or a fairy and when Jonathan Strange met that one fairy in the brugh I became convinced that it was her. I had this impression because of the footnotes and some descriptions, including the one of the ale-house at the start of this chapter. Why? Well, the footnotes can be divided into two categories: the academic ones, which cite specific in-universe texts (or real ones from our world); and the folklore ones, which usually inform us of some magical event, fairy culture, stories from in-universe folklore, and so on. Now, I always assumed that while many scholars would know the former, the latter was mostly the domain of fairy/ magicians that had first knowledge coming from the Otherlands. But the curious thing is that some descriptions within the story are narrated in the same way as the folklore notes, giving me the impression that these places exist at a junction between reality and the Otherlands and also that the knowledge about some specific events was obtained through magical means. Page 197 is a perfect example of this kind of narration.

I love how this is basically a date between Childermass and Vinculus. This is the first convo between the Book and its reader and it went exactly as well as you could imagine.

THE ACTUAL FORTUNE READING IS SO GOOD AND MULTILAYERED AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Childermass copied the card for a sailor and then told him his fortune: "that he would be drowned dead before the year was out." And now I am here wondering... was that a sailor on the Penlaw, the ship that transported Stephen Black and his mother??? That ship also ended up in a shipwreck according to the Gentleman...

I like thinking that the Raven King was watching this whole thing go down in some magical manner. Looking over Childermass' shoulder and being like "bro, you're cooking right now, not gonna lie". Or going "How dramatic." in the most deadpan voice ever when Vinculus changes the cards to look like him.... aaaaa I love Uskglass so much.

It would also be cool if Uskglass followed the events through Childermass' card (since we know that L'Empereur did not go back to look like a regular card but stayed that way). I like to think that this is how Childermass was enchanted when he saved Norrell's life later on. The card acted as a path for Uskglass' magic.

In a similar way, I like thinking that Uskglass was watching over in other scenes like the Genlteman was doing while pestering Strange. It would make it so funny if he were present while Lascelles berates him, or whenever Norrell does. Like imagine:

Norrell: "He abandoned us! He was evil!!"

Uskglass (invisible): "u sure 'bout that? lol"

Norrell: "I foolishly tried to summon him when I was younger..."

Uskglass: "You surely did buddy. Can't say I was impressed, though."

Norrell: "...but it never worked and I think that was fortunate!"

Uskglass: "This is why nobody likes you, Gilbert."

ok, these are all the things that came to mind. For the breakdown of the tarot reading, I'm going to make a separate post one of these days. Definitely going to re-read the whole novel now, my fixation has returned!!!!

[slow-burn-sally]

English Magic is finished!

Rating: E

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell/BBC Sherlock crossover fic

Alternate Universe - Magical Setting

Thank you to the small crowd of dedicated readers who have been leaving the best comments! Especially thank you @keirgreeneyes for your support and amazing comments! I want to cross stitch them on pillows!

[recurringtransgender]

Bro ate a book

[algumaideia]

Vinculus is back!!!!!!!!!!

[uskglass-mirror-house]

Hell yeah!

The fact that the agenda happens to be tattooed on the body of a dead (but soon-to-be-revived) street magician is irrelevant.

[kazz-brekker]

my favorite magic detail in jonathan strange and mr norrell that i had completely forgotten until my reread is that childermass's tarot set is half written on the back of letters, receipts, playbills, etc because he didn't have enough money to buy paper when making it. very interesting contrast to mr norrell and his gigantic library of books that he can afford to gatekeep from other people because he's a gentleman and has loads of money.

[miserablejester]

Cunk on Magic pt. 1/?

[thinkanamelater]

Assorted JS&MN memes and text posts

[fluentisonus]

still so crazy to me there's only 7 childermass/vinculus fics on ao3. did no one else read their ending. am i crazy

[lacnunga]

*me gripping my pen so so tight and blood is streaming Out of my nose & eyes & ears* im writing this for me :)

[slow-burn-sally]

An affordable way to confound local milliners!

"tator" cards from a Milwaukee goodwill

[algumaideia]

Vinculus, you are such an icon.

[himbohaggins]

ok without context i'm just gonna post all the rest of the reaction memes i made and sent to bestie while i was reading

ID: 4 memes with the original text edited. 1) the umbrella academy drive-by meme, with "mr segundus" and "jonathan strange" edited over viktor and five respectively. 2) the "beyoncé?!" meme but edited to say "mr segundus??" as the bottom text. 3) the jesse screaming and crying breaking bad meme edited to read "VINCULUS!!!!" 4) the time knife meme from the good place with "strange" written over michael and written at the bottom, "yeah, yeah the raven eye, we've all seen it." end ID

[cheesybadgers]

JSAMN 20 Readalong

I don't know why but I'm always a big fan of scenes between characters who don't spend much time together one-to-one, which is why the interaction between Strange and Childermass in chapter 48 is one of my favourites.

Some of my personal highlights from this chapter:

I hadn't actually noticed Piranesi gets name-dropped in JSAMN! I think I last read JSAMN quite a while before Piranesi (the book) came out, so I wouldn't have thought anything of it at the time. I do love how all of Susanna Clarke's books connect to each other in some way, and I can definitely see parallels between the labyrinth qualities of the King's Roads in JSAMN and the house in Piranesi.

"Strange had his umbrella and Childermass was entirely indifferent to the rain falling upon him." I love this contrast for some reason, not only the north/south (and class) divide in their attitudes to bad weather lol, but because it says a lot about their styles of magic. Strange spends the start of this chapter moaning to Sir Walter about how small fry weather magic is and how he wants to try something grander and more ambitious, but Childermass, who has spent the last 20+ years in the service of Norrell, who we know has a special talent for rain magic, seems more at one with the elements. You can take the man out of Yorkshire and all that...

Childermass attempting to speak French but being unable to hide his Yorkshire accent (as someone from Yorkshire myself, I feel his pain lol).

Strange calling Childermass "magician" makes me swoon tbh (along with "Why not come and be contrary with me?"), so I can only imagine how that made Childermass feel 😂 Although, I think Strange blew it by thinking pupil/assistant was a vast improvement on servant/man of business, and as Childermass says, he and Norrell "aren't done with each other yet." I like the pragmatism of Childermass' counter-offer and it feels truer to his character, but oh how I wish we'd gotten to see him and Strange exploring the King's Roads together (so much so, I made a moodboard about it not long after the TV adaptation aired).

Childermass' promise to put forward an opposing magical view if either Strange or Norrell fail becomes even more fascinating when we know how their story actually ends, and given the position Childermass finds himself in at the end as well. It sounds like Susanna Clarke still has plans to write more books in this universe, so I can only hope that one day she pops back in on Childermass (and Vinculus).