#world historyan

[after-witch]

Character Profile: The Smiling Man [Small Spaces book series by Katherine Arden]

**Note: This character profile contains direct spoilers for books 1-2 in the Small Spaces series. Read at your own risk!**

Name

True name unknown; he may not have a true name. One of his servants notes that he has as many names “as people have words.” He is primarily known as “the smiling man,” by the characters in the series, but he takes various disguises over the series and also gives the names “Seth” and “Don Voland.”

Age

Unknown. Likely as old as the world. In the series, he offhandedly comments about playing chess with knights, being around when there was plague in Europe, and referencing a time before Europeans were in North America. 

Appearance

Varies throughout the series. It is unknown if he has a true appearance or he simply chooses his appearance as it suits him. In the first book, he appears as an attractive young man with light blonde hair that falls somewhat over his face, and light colored eyes. In the second book, he appears as a man of unknown age with brown hair, glasses, freckles, and two different colored eyes.

“What’s a face? Just another kind of deception.” --The Smiling Man, when told that he looked different the last time they saw him.

Basic History

An otherworldly entity of unknown origin who is from the “world behind the mist,” a supernatural world where things are sideways, strange, and often scary. Characters in the series typically enter the world behind the mist unknowingly, but its appearance is always marked by a thick mist or fog. Another sign that the smiling man is on his way is flickering lights, whether they are candles or electric lights. 

The smiling man often appears when people are desperate for something. He makes deals with people, and offers them the thing they want most in the world, in exchange for something he wants. That “something” may include servitude to him, a group of souls delivered into his grasp, destroying an object, etc. His agreements seem to also include the caveat that a long time from now, he will return, and the person will have to ‘let him in’ and do what he says. It is implied that he brings these people to the world behind the mist and keeps them there until their souls are used up. 

A local legend in East Evansburg, where the series takes place, notes :”When the mist rises, and the smiling man comes walking, you must avoid large places at night. Keep to small.”

The smiling man has two known servants behind the mist: a Hound without a name, who is barely fed and sometimes given dried-up souls to eat; and a black cat who can easily travel between worlds and is used to spy on people. He also uses people he’s trapped behind the mist as his servants, including people that he’s transformed into scarecrows. He can make them do his bidding; they are used as his eyes and ears when they are in the sunshine world, and they keep the doorway between the world behind the mist open as well.

Powers/Abilities

The smiling man is supernatural and presumably immortal. He has immense powers and can do seemingly anything he wants. He can raise the dead, he can alter memories, even making everyone forget certain people existed; he can make it so people are happy or sad. He can control their bodies and their ability to perceive reality. He can trap them behind the mist, even if they don’t make a deal with them. 

He has some power over technology and can make technology cease to work. Notably, the technology will have nothing physically or noticeably wrong with it (ex: car engine will not work, but will appear 100% fine) but will still be unable to work.

He can interact with ghosts and it is implied that he can free ghosts from their in-between state as well. Although he can interact with ghosts, he has no power whatsoever over the dead, and they can do as they like. 

The smiling man is implied to know things about people without being told. He may not know the exact details, though this seems to vary from character to character and how confident he is that he knows them. 

In Small Spaces, a book written by a woman named Beth Webster details how her husband Jonathan made a deal with the smiling man to bring his brother Caleb back from the dead. In exchange, Jonathan agreed to be the servant of the smiling man one day, when the smiling man came back for him. Jonathan noted that he felt as if he’d know the smiling man since the day he was born, reinforcing the idea of the smiling man having some type of innate connection with people that allows him a window into their soul. 

"He smiled,“ Jonathan told me. “He didn’t tell me his name. I don’t think he has a name. He had long fingers. Long, thin fingers, and oh, I can’t remember the rest. I felt as though I’d known him since the day I was born, and I felt the most indescribable horror at the sight of him." --Beth Webster, in her book detailing the history of her family

Personality

Seemingly kind, polite and gentle for the most part. 

He sometimes uses this outwardly kind personality to make people trust him and not suspect that he is anything but a nice person. He also appears kind and sympathetic when attempting to convince people to make deals. 

But he can also be cruel and spiteful and wicked, especially if you beat him at his games; he detests being beaten. He doesn’t hesitate to use someone’s personal weakness--such as the death of their parent or their fear of being abandoned--against them. 

He is somewhat refined in terms of his manner. He bows theatrically in an old-fashioned way, uses old handkerchiefs, and reminds characters throughout the series to mind their manners. 

He is very confident in his ability to get one over on anybody, and is displeased but also somewhat pleasantly surprised when someone is able to beat him. However, when someone beats him, he does not let it alone and promises to return for a rematch. 

He enjoys scaring people and has great fun doing so. His go-to method for scaring someone when facing them in person is stretching his smile until it reaches from ear to ear, like a twisted version of the Cheshire Cat. 

Above all, the smiling man is tricky, manipulative, and will say and do just about anything to get what he wants from people. 

"See, girl, you say you want to get home. I know you do. But it's not the thing you want most in all the world. I know it. Tell me what you want most, Olivia Adler. I'm not in the business of granting second-rate wishes." --the smiling man, confronting Olivia Adler in the cornfield.

[shabaababa]

The World of Mianite theory #whyisworldhistoryananasshole

When Botan was young he got a skin colour disease that made his skin slowly turn gray. No one wanted to be around him because of this. But then he met a girl named Akemi who made swords for a living. She was the first person who was kind to him. So later they got married and had 3 kids (who I don’t need to name).

But when she died, Botan started to hate their children for making her body weaker. And so he found a way to bring her back (at least that's what he believed). He needed to gather enough quintessence to do that. And so he killed all his 3 children and the rest is what happend in season 2.