Literature: The Chronicles Of The Imaginarium Geographica
The Imaginarium Geographica...
“What is it?” John asked.
The little man blinked and arched an eyebrow. “It is the world, my boy,” he said. “All the World, in ink and blood, vellum and parchment, leather and hide. It is the World, and it is yours to save or lose.”
A murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, known to us as J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams on a rainy night in London during the First World War. An eccentric little man called Bert H.G.Wells tells them that they are now the caretakers of The Imaginarium Geographica, an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship The Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams.Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.The books in the series are:
Alternate Timeline: Run all over the place and each other... which is why there can be two H.G. Wells running around the same point in time.
Alternate Universe: Expect to find a Charles there. There are at least two of them (or more, if you want to count altered timelines as separate universes), but who really knows?
Badass Bookworm: Most of the Caretakers, to a certain extent—especially Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Big Bad: The main antagonist of the series is John Dee, who leads the Cabal, a group of corrupted Caretakers, and is responsible for the rise of the Winter King. However, most books have their own Big Bad.
Here, There Be Dragons: The Winter King/Mordred
The Search for the Red Dragon: The King of Crickets, also known as Mordred's shadow, although he was thought to be Orpheus at first.
The Indigo King: The Winter King again, now with his own Villain World.
The Shadow Dragons: The Shadow King, Mordred's corrupted shadow.
The Dragon's Apprentice: John Dee, leader of the Cabal
The Dragons of Winter: Lord Winter, John Dee, and Coal form a Big Bad Ensemble under the Echthroi.
Butt Monkey: Poor Magwich—he really does try, you know. He just isn't very good at it. Life, I mean.
Diabolus ex Machina: In The Search For The Red Dragon, the protagonists are surrounded by giant, mechanical creatures, betrayed by Daedalus and have nowhere to run. It looks like things are looking up when the Red Dragon appears until they realize it's commandeered by Hugh the Pig and Will the Iron and an army of brainwashed children. Cue the Darkest Hour
For Want of a Nail: A Hugo Dyson walks through a (free-standing) door, and—boom. Instant Villain World. Granted, a lot went on, on his side of things, but nobody told that to the fellows who went in to find him a few minutes later.
Friend to All Living Things: Charles seems to be universally loved by the animals, especially the badgers. At least eleven have named their children after him.
Historical In-Joke: In "Here, There Be Dragons" when Jack points out the inscription "Declare allegiance, and be welcomed" implies Speak Friend and Enter, John calls it stupid.
King Arthur: The core mythology on which the series' mythology is based.
Laser-Guided Karma: Knock a man unconscious on a sinking ship? You have to rescue him. Deliver a poison-tipped Reason You Suck Speech? Prepare to have to come up with one reason he doesn't suck (and get gross, sticky tears all over your jacket). Set a building on fire, knowing that someone is in it? He burns down into a shrubbery, and you're the one who has to take care of him.
Lost World: The Archipelago of Dreams is this to our world.
Magical Land: The Archipelago of Dreams. Contains anything religious, mythological, historical or literary we know and that only scratches the surface.
Man on Fire: But even that's not enough to kill Magwich.
Only Sane Man: John (aka the man who dreamt up Tom Bombadil) is positively normal compared to the company he keeps. Charles seems to be this at first, but it is quickly, quickly averted.
Oxbridge: Which one you attend is taken into consideration when becoming a Caretaker.
God help you if you went to Cambridge. They're getting better about that, though, now that Jack is stationed there.
Plant People: First Magwich gets turned into a wooden man, then he's downgraded to a shrubbery.
Rappaccini's daughter, Beatrice, is slowly becoming a plant due to his experiments on her.
The Guardians of the Green are living plants, caretakers of all flora.
Real Person Fic: When you get right down to it, isn't that what this series is?
Seen It All: Samaranth and Ordo Maas most likely have.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: John suffers from this in the first book, having fought in WWI.
The Storyteller: What each of the caretakers become in some way or another.
Trapped in the Past: Hugo Dyson in the 6th century. Perhaps also Bert in Book 3, where it seems he missed the mark while trying to rescue the Caretakers and ended up stranded in an alternate timeline for 14 years, waiting for them to get there. Though, technically, that was the future...
Twice Told Tale: If you don't have a decent knowledge of Greek and Arthurian mythology, along with the works of a variety of writers, prepare to miss out on a lot.
Villain World: In which Mordred becomes king and begins a 1,404-year reign of terror, destroying the Archipelago and laying waste to the Summer Country.
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