Line #46 WMG/Neverwhere


1	[[WMG: Neverwhere takes place in the London equivalent of [[VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou the Shibuya underground]] ]]
2	* Only people who have slipped through the cracks, or whose minds have cracked, can see and interact with those in the UG.
3	* There's a mysterious governing body of barons and rats. Composers?
4	* Those shepherds. Why should we pray never to meet them. Would they happen to be erase-happy Reapers?
5	* As Hunter said of [[spoiler:Anaesthesia]], sometimes they come back.
6	** Perhaps in a world under the Underground [[spoiler:Anaesthesia]], [[spoiler:Hunter]], and [[spoiler:de Carabas]] fight through seven days of tasks for another chance at life.
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8	[[WMG: Croup and Vandemar were involved in the crucifixion of Saint Andrew.]]
9	Because if they had crucified anyone, it would most likely have been on a Saint Andrew's Cross. They've been shown to use one, it brought back specific memories, and if it was someone famously crucified on one of them a little less than two millennia before the events of the book, it would most likely have been Saint Andrew.
10	* This troper assumed it was, you know, Jesus.
11	** Everyone does. You'd think otherwise after considering that Jesus is widely considered to have been crucified on a St. Anthony's (T) cross or a latin (t) cross, but no, people just [[SmallReferencePools go for the big name]].
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13	[[WMG: The Old Firm's last job prior to the monastery commission was [[Literature/{{Pinocchio}} catching a wooden golem for a puppetmaster]].]]
14	A fox and a wolf known for [[BringHimToMe making people deliveries]] and [[Webcomic/ScaryGoRound doing murders to people]] whose last job was [[ShoutOut in late-medieval Italy? Sound familiar]]?
15	* It's actually a fox and a cat but probably the fairy tales author just got it wrong. Also: "The Fox is portrayed as the more articulate of the two, with the Cat usually limiting itself to repeating the Fox' words."
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17	[[WMG: Croup and Vandemar are responsible for most if not all of the more unsavoury Reynard and Ysengrin/Isengrim tales.]]
18	The less unsavoury tales are mostly [[{{Bowdlerization}} Bowdlerized]] versions of their tales and made up from wholecloth, but there may be another, less malicious pair, sort of a set of Reverse {{Evil Twin}}s.
19
20	[[WMG: Richard's still in the Ordeal.]]
21	Only an angel or God it/him/herself can get through, there ''is'' no way for a mortal to pass.
22	* Why? This seems like a trial of will, and all of us sentients have will. Richard's predecessors just let themselves be convinced they should die - so they did.
23
24	[[WMG: Richard had a nervous breakdown; there is no London Below.]]
25	He may have had a remission or two, but he's quite mad.
26	* Alternatively, there ''is'' a London Below, but he can't go back there, and realising that drives him insane. The final scene is a hallucination.
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28	[[WMG: Richard had a nervous breakdown; there is no London Above.]]
29	Richard's stress of being the Warrior of a subterranean civilization caused him to briefly hallucinate about some sort of crazy, new-fangled city on the surface.
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31	Sheer madness.
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33	[[WMG: The Marquis called in Door's big favor in part by teaching him how to Open.]]
34	Explains the ending, and only the Marquis could keep track of Richard and know about his desire to return because, well he's the Marquis. And the ability is teachable (otherwise how would someone who married into the family walk about the House?), although perhaps not as easy to use or learn for someone without the Talent. Ofcourse this means that Richard now owed him a big favor as well eh?
35	-Not much reason to think it's teachable. Mainly because there's not much reason to think anyone can marry into the family. Mainly because there's no indication that anyone ages in London Below. I suspect that Door's grandfather was the founder of the House of Arch.
36	* Again, why? Although he does seem to open a passage, but then, maybe it's Door opening it from the background. As to aging - what about the Earl?
37	* And people do age in London Below - Door recalls her first Market when she was a little girl.
38
39	[[WMG: Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar are ghouls...]]
40	...Like the ones from ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook''. The physical descriptions are very similar, as are their diets. Could well just be Mr. Gaiman reusing things, though.
41	* Except that they don't look like withered corpses, and while ghouls are described as diminutive, Mr. Vandemar is huge. I find it seriously unlikely that those two are meant to reflect any kind of established mythological creatures.
42
43	[[WMG: The series takes place in the Old World Of Darkness.]]
44	The London Underground in it's entirety exists in the Umbra. Door, Hunter and The Marquis de Carabas are [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Mages]], with Door obviously taking several levels in Correspondence. Islington is a [[TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen Demon]], trapped in the Abyss, and Croup and Vandemar are [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Nephandi]] serving him. The Velvets are some bizarre, all female bloodline of [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade vampires]], or perhaps simply some of the residents of Enoch, which is said to exist in the Umbra.
45
46	[[WMG: The series takes place in the New World Of Darkness.]]
47	Specifically, in something like the Hedge from TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost. Croup and Vandemar are Privateers, Door and the Marquis are Wizened, Lamia and the Velvets are Leechfingers...
48
49	[[WMG: Richard is a Finder, or something.]]
50	Door says that she comes from a family of Openers, and that just happens to be her family's Talent. Richard may very well be from another London Below family, one whose Talent involves finding things. He just stumbles upon Door (literally) and near the end, when he finds the token before the Beast arrives, his description of finding things is a lot like Door's description of opening things. He may have come from London Below, originally, but his family might have sent him to London Above as a young child for some reason.
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52	[[WMG: Anaesthesia knew what fate was coming to her the instant she was told to take Richard to the Market.]]
53	Even Iliaster tries his darndest to get out of it. Explains why she was so scared about the journey, why she ended up telling Richard her life story. The rats and the Lord Rat-Speaker knew from the start that she was the 'tribute' for Knightsbridge.
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55	[[WMG: London Below is timeless.]]
56	I'm not even 100% sure that this is a WMG, it might just be canon and I never picked up on it, but considering all of the genre blending, mush of period pieces, and very ambiguous time involved, it feels like London Below is sort of outside time, perhaps a parallel London as opposed to one actually beneath its streets, which would explain things like the Roman soldiers, Croup and Vandemar, Door's anachronistic clothing, and the sort of sense of timelessness, like nobody really belongs in any particular time period.
57	* It is stated that London Below uses up all the time that goes unused by London Above. So, no. But it does seem to use it up in a slightly arbitrary order instead of a neat pattern.
58
59	[[WMG: Door's sister is Dawn Summers.]]
60
61	[[WMG: Neverwhere and exits in the univers of the Mythago Wood.]]
62	London Below is the urban version of the Ryhope Wood : a timeless place where old memories survive.
63
64	[[WMG: Richard is some sort of a seer.]]
65	There are the [[DreamingOfThingsToCome prophetic dreams]], but first and foremost - he ''sees'' Door when Jessica doesn't. Sure, it's hard to ignore someone falling right at your feet, but wouldn't a regular denizen of London Above just step over her? Jessica dismisses Door as a drunk or a vagrant, she doesn't seem to notice her, not really. He also has a prophetic (or not?) vision of what would happen if he went to bed with the IT girl. Maybe Richard has always been a little bit special?
66
67	[[WMG: ''[[Literature/{{Coraline}} Coraline's]]'' and Neverwhere's settings are in the same universe.]]
68	* The passage to the Other World in ''Coraline'' and the Knightsbridge are somewhat similar, don't you think?
69	* Both books have a door motif, either of literal or metaphorical doors.
70	** Maybe the door in Coraline was made by someone from Door's family, in a similar way to the portal Door creates to send away Croup, Vandemar and Islington? [[FridgeHorror Wait a minute...]]
71	* The Cat could be a benevolent and more intelligent cousin of the Beast of London, who is a great example of ItCanThink.
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Context WMG / Neverwhere