History Literature / Gormenghast

A series by Mervyn Peake made of the novels ''Titus Groan'', ''Gormenghast'', and ''Titus Alone'' and the lesser-known novella "Boy In Darkness", which [[{{Interquel}} take place sometime before the second book]]. They are fantasy and take place in an [[TheVerse imaginary world]] but do not have any elves, dragons, magic, or PatchworkMap. They focus on [[DysfunctionJunction a group of weird and horrible people]] who live inside a [[CityInABottle huge castle with an apparently self-sustaining structure and no contact with the outside world other than a few villages, some lakes, and a mountain]].

The series should have been the first three in a series which should have followed the protagonist's entire life; sadly Peake's rapidly-evolving Parkinson disease prevented this goal from being realized; the fourth novel would have been entitled ''Titus Awakes'', the first few pages of which Peake wrote while he still physically capable of doing so, along with a list of events which would have taken place in the following volumes. The fragment was turned into a book by Peake's daughter, and published in June 2011 but it only contains a few pages of Peake's actual writing.

In 2000, the BBC adapted the work for the small screen as a project explicitly for the new millennium, focussing on the first two books involving Steerpike. Peake purists criticised it for being LighterAndSofter than the books.

%% * ImAHumanitarian: Swelter; implied. Please add context before un-commenting

%% * DeadlyDecadentCourt. Please add context before un-commenting

%% * DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Sepulchrave]]. Please add context before un-commenting
%% * EarnYourHappyEnding. Please add context before un-commenting

%% * FromNobodyToNightmare: Steerpike, and very much an InvokedTrope. Please add context before un-commenting

%% * LoveMartyr: Fuchsia all the way. Please add context before un-commenting

%%** Steerpike. Please add context before un-commenting

* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Barquentine]] attempts this, but [[spoiler:doesn't quite succeed. He does leave him burnt and with a severely rattled ego, though]].

%%* AffablyEvil: Steerpike. Please add context before un-commenting

* AmbiguouslyGay: Prunesquallor. His vocal disgust with Steerpike's naked chest (demonstrated on ''two'' separate occasions!) is a little ''too much'' protest. Also, in TheSeries , he is played by StraightGay actor John Sessions...

%% * AnyoneCanDie: Please add context before un-commenting

%% ** AxCrazy Swelter might also count. Please add context before un-commenting
* AuthorExistenceFailure: Peake was planning on a cycle of seven novels, but contracted Parkinson's Disease, which aggravated his emotional and mental instability, before writing the third and died after finishing only one chapter of ''Titus Awakes'', which would have been the fourth. The omnibus edition ends with a ''list of the tropes Peake intended to use later on'' (although not referred to by WikiWord, of course) and the words "[[WhatCouldHaveBeen what these books could have been]]." This was perhaps the biggest TearJerker of the whole damn series. For example, there was going to be a revisitation of Gormenghast during an interregnum in which ''Prunesquallor is in charge''. ''Titus Alone'' had to be edited severely because Peake had put in plot elements that arguably ''made absolutely no sense'' given the plots of the previous two books. You have to be pretty sick to forget the plot of your own epic...

* CreatorBreakdown: The aforementioned Parkinson's Disease killed him at the age of only 57, three novels into a planned seven-novel sequence.

* DyingLikeAnimals: Mice, mostly, but there are some bats, ostriches, and sheep to spice things up.

* AwesomeYetPractical: [[spoiler: Steerpike kills people with a ''slingshot'' and a '''''sword cane.''''' The gag is that whenever a character ''plans'' a particularly dramatic method by which to kill somebody, it inevitably fails. (The Twins' execution axe device, Steerpike's initial plan for Barquentine, Swelter's obsessively detailed cleaver ritual) The library burning is the only instance that ''doesn't'', and is particularly poignant in the post-9/11 conspiratorial era.]]
%% * BackForTheDead: Flay. Please add context before un-commenting
%% * BigDamnHeroes: Muzzlehatch. Please add context before un-commenting
%% * BrokenBird: Fuchsia. Please add context before un-commenting
%% * BuildingOfAdventure: Castle Gormenghast. Please add context before un-commenting
%% * CityInABottle Please add context before un-commenting

* AffablyEvil: Steerpike [[spoiler:at first...]]

* AnyoneCanDie

** AxCrazy [[spoiler: Swelter]] might also count.

* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:Flay.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Muzzlehatch]]
* BrokenBird: Fuchsia.
* BuildingOfAdventure: Castle Gormenghast.
* CityInABottle

* CoolBigSis: Subverted to hell and back.

* CringeComedy: the way the characters behave in the books qualifies as this, though this is played UpToEleven in the television miniseries.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt

* DoomedHometown: Sort of.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Sepulchrave]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding
* EvilAlbino: Steerpike.
* EvilChef: Swelter.
* FatBastard: Again, Swelter.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Steerpike, and very much an InvokedTrope.
* FutureImperfect: Oh so very much.
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:Fuchsia, then Titus. They are not unrelated...]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: RealLife example: Peake and [[Literature/AClockworkOrange Anthony Burgess]].
* ImAHumanitarian: Swelter; implied.

* LoveMartyr: [[spoiler:Fuchsia all the way.]]
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: subverted. Dr Alfred Prunesquallor is used by Steerpike, but he's still probably the most genuinely ''good'' character in the entire series.

* NobleSavage: [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] with the Bright Carvers.

** Prunesquallor.
** Bellgrove is sane, but lazy.

* PurpleEyes: Titus.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Steerpike.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Steerpike's actions, in a crazy-awesome BatmanGambit.
** Swelter's plans.
* RoyallyScrewedUp

* [[spoiler:SpaceAmish: The world outside Gormenghast has RaygunGothic technology and a CrystalSpiresAndTogas feel.]]
* [[spoiler:StrangerInAFamiliarLand: Titus at the very end.]]

** Steerpike

* [[spoiler:StuffBlowingUp: The end of ''Titus Alone''.]]

* TheVamp: [[spoiler:Cheeta]]
* UpperClassTwit: Almost every character except Steerpike and Swelter, who aren't upper class. Justified in that Gormenghast was written as a parody of English society.
* VillainProtagonist: Steerpike in the first two books, though he is not ''the'' protagonist.

The series should have been the first three in a series which should have followed the protagonist's entire life; sadly Peake's rapidly-evolving Parkinson disease prevented this goal from being realized; the fourth novel would have been entitled "Titus Awakes" and a fragment of it is said to have been penned by Peake before he became totally incapacitated, along with a list of events which would have taken place in the following volumes. It has since been found and edited by Peake's daughter, and published June 2011.

* AppropriatedTitle: ''In''appropriately appropriated - the focus of the series was Titus Groan, title character of the first book, not Gormenghast, the childhood home that he departed from two books into [[AuthorExistenceFailure what should have been]] a much longer series. Double inverted in that Titus Groan, the first book, does not significantly feature Titus as a character, as he's a very young child.

* CobwebJungle: The attic in which Flay and Swelter fight.

* EvilAlbino: Steerpike's physical description (in the book) borders on this.

* InterestingSituationDuel Flay and Swelter have it out on the flooded, cobweb covered attic.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Fifty-five major characters and many more bit parts.
* LoveMartyr: Fuchsia all the way.
* MeaningfulName: Just about every character in the series.

* TheOphelia: Fuchsia, after her hardships take their toll on her.

* TheSociopath: Steerpike frequently reflects that part of his manipulation of people involves having to fake such things as empathy, love, basically any human quality beyond personal ambition. Everyone he meets is just a tool he wants to learn how to use to his benefit.
* SpaceAmish: The world outside Gormenghast has RaygunGothic technology and a CrystalSpiresAndTogas feel. It isn't clear if this is the future, another planet/universe, or both, though.

** The Philosopher leads a small cult of existentialist professors that only see the errors in his theories after he has been immolated.

* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: [[spoiler:Titus at the very end.]]

* StuffBlowingUp: The end of ''Titus Alone''.
* StuffedInTheFridge: [[spoiler:Fuschia and the Thing]] basically die for no purpose other than to further Titus's story.
* SympatheticMurderer: Steerpike, before he murders the twins.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Barquentine]] attempts this, but doesn't quite succeed in killing his murderer. He does leave him burnt and with a severely rattled ego, though.

* VillainProtagonist: Steerpike in the first two books, though he does not serve as the only protagonist.
* VillainousGlutton: Swelter

* AwesomeYetPractical: Steerpike kills people with a ''slingshot'' and a '''''sword cane.''''' The gag is that whenever a character ''plans'' a particularly dramatic method by which to kill somebody, it inevitably fails. (The Twins' execution axe device, Steerpike's initial plan for Barquentine, Swelter's obsessively detailed cleaver ritual) The library burning is the only instance that ''doesn't'', and is particularly poignant in the post-9/11 conspiratorial era.

The novels are ''very'' gloomy, disguising their actually fairly left-handed place on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. They have been described variously as [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs Dickens on acid]], an Edward Gorey drawing that goes on for a thousand pages, Kafka mainlining Yorkshire pudding and opium, and a DarkerAndEdgier Shakespeare. They are also cluttered and sprawling in a way that few major authors have managed to get away with before or since. The physical clutter of Gormenghast's sprawling castle and spiritual clutter of pointless custom and ritual are all lovingly described, sometimes at great length. In addition, there are [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment whole passages where Peake departs from the plot(s)]] to stage dialogues and visit places and characters that are not even vaguely tied to the story and are never referred to again. Think ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings LotR]]'' needed some ruthless editing? ''Gormenghast'' will have you reaching for the shears.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Steerpike's actions are this trope incarnated as a crazy-awesome BatmanGambit.

The novels are ''very'' gloomy, disguising their actually fairly left-handed place on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. They have been described variously as [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs Dickens on acid]], an Edward Gorey drawing that goes on for a thousand pages, Kafka mainlining Yorkshire pudding and opium, and a DarkerAndEdgier Shakespeare. They are also cluttered and sprawling in a way that few major authors have managed to get away with before or since. The physical clutter of Gormenghast's sprawling castle and spiritual clutter of pointless custom and ritual are all lovingly described, sometimes at great length. In addition, there are [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment whole passages where Peake departs from the plot(s)]] to stage dialogues and visit places and characters that are not even vaguely tied to the story and are never referred to again. Think ''[[TheLordOfTheRings LotR]]'' needed some ruthless editing? ''Gormenghast'' will have you reaching for the shears.

* ShirtlessScene: Steerpike, [[WalkingShirtlessScene constantly]]. [[FetishFuel Both times he's soaking wet,]] and [[EatingTheEyeCandy copious amounts of eye candy get eaten by any female character present.]] [[RunningGag Any female character...]] [[AmbiguouslyGay and Prunesquallor.]]

* ShirtlessScene: Steerpike, [[WalkingShirtlessScene ''constantly'']]. [[FetishFuel Both times he's soaking wet,]] and [[EatingTheEyeCandy copious amounts of eye candy get eaten by any female character present.]] [[RunningGag Any female character...]] [[AmbiguouslyGay and Prunesquallor.]]

* AmbiguouslyGay: Prunesquallor. His vocal disgust with Steerpike's naked chest is a little ''too much'' protest. Also, in TheSeries , he is played by StraightGay actor John Sessions...

* EvilChef: Swelter

* PurpleEyes: Titus

* TheOphelia: Fuchsia, after

* AManIsNotAVirgin: averted with Prunesquallor, who is a fifty-something virgin and probably the single most BadAss character in the novels (a BadassBookworm, no less!). ManlyTears are shed in many scenes involving him.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Prunesquallor.
** His vocal disgust with Steerpike's naked chest is a little ''too much'' protest.
*** Also, in TheSeries , he is played by StraightGay actor John Sessions...

* AssholeVictim: Most people in Gormenghast are complete and utter tools. Steerpike kills a lot of people. Do the math.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Peake was planning on a cycle of seven novels, but contracted Parkinson's Disease, which aggravated his emotional and mental instability, before writing the third and died after finishing only one chapter of ''Titus Awakes'', which would have been the fourth.
** The omnibus edition ends with a ''list of the tropes Peake intended to use later on'' (although not referred to by WikiWord, of course) and the words "[[WhatCouldHaveBeen what these books could have been]]." This was perhaps the biggest TearJerker of the whole damn series. For example, there was going to be a revisitation of Gormenghast during an interregnum in which ''Prunesquallor is in charge''.
** ''Titus Alone'' had to be edited severely because Peake had put in plot elements that arguably ''made absolutely no sense'' given the plots of the previous two books. You have to be pretty sick to forget the plot of your own epic...
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: So, so subverted...
* AwesomeYetPractical: Steerpike kills people with a ''slingshot'' and a '''''sword cane.'''''
** The gag is that whenever a character ''plans'' a particularly dramatic method by which to kill somebody, it inevitably fails. (The Twins' execution axe device, Steerpike's initial plan for Barquentine, Swelter's obsessively detailed cleaver ritual) The library burning is the only instance that ''doesn't'', and is particularly poignant in the post-9/11 conspiratorial era.

* FisherKing: Sepulchrave.
** All the Earls have this potential, and it seems like Titus is the only one ''aware'' of the curse of being captain aboard the sinking ship that is Gormenghast.

* NietzscheWannabe: ''Guess.''
** The Philosopher leads a small cult of existentialist professors that only see the errors in his theories after he has been immolated.

* OnlySaneMan: Prunesquallor.

* TheOphelia: '''''Guess.'''''

[[redirect:Main/{{Gormenghast}}]]