It’s a long-standing custom at Hogwarts Professor to put up posts for Serious Readers to share their finds on specific topics in the week following a new Rowling book’s publication. This Quiet week of little posting — because most folks are trying to find time to finish a ginormous tome while working a day job or studying for papers and exams and are staying away from online discussion of the books — merits an alternative outlet for those who read straight-through and want to share their first thoughts.
I have put up ten posts on the day of publication with specific subjects of interest to our global audience and an index post for easy access to each of those subjects. None have spoiler alerts because the comment threads of every one will be loaded with Hallmarked Man content and conversation. Caveat Lector.
[All the posts begin with the introduction above in case readers are sent links to specific pages in the set.]
This Index page has links and brief descriptions of every Hallmarked Man Placeholder Post for easy searching of the topics and access to the particular subject page. I have included a few Golden Threads that we have been discussing recently but have left out the great majority as well as all the Shed tools (Christian content, soul allegory, literary alchemy, ring composition, ostrananie, mythology, and inter/intratextuality) and most of the Lake springs we’ve been discussing the last six weeks. We’ll get to all that in a week, believe me!
Until then, here are the subjects of and links to the Hogwarts Professor Placeholder Post comment threads cum message boards. I look forward to reading your finds almost as much as I do the book about to ‘drop.’ Thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts here and for the Hallmarked Man conversations we’ll be having here in the coming months.
The Gaffes: Share all the mistakes you’ve found in Hallmarked Man’s continuity with the series, dates, ages, names, locations, and character experiences.
The Ghosts: Spot the ghosts haunting Cormoran and Robin in Hallmarked Man. Special points for sharing the hints and clues that out’ed the spectral influence.
Charlotte Campbell Murder: Did Milady Bezerko kill herself in Running Grave or has Rowling set us up for yet another faked suicide story twist? If the suicide note reappears, share your thoughts.
Lost Child: Rowling’s books have so many ‘lost children’ and grieving caretakers who feel remorse or longing for them (or who don’t!) that we had to come up with four categories into which the horde could be properly sorted. It’s an exercise in critical taxonomy but one that is fortifying to a Serious Reader’s grasp of this most persistent and prominent of Rowling’s Golden Threads.
Robin Is Sterile: One of the mythological templates of the Strike series is Strike as the avenging Fury Tisiphone and Robin as Artemis, the latter role all but requiring her to be infertile. What do we learn about Ms Ellacott in this regard during Hallmarked Man?
The Pregnancy Trap: Merope Gaunt, Leda Strike, Krystall Weedon — it seems the players in foundational roles in Rowling’s best known works are disproportionately women and ladies whose lives don’t end well. Is there a Pregnancy Trap in Hallmarked Man? What effect does it have on the Agency partners? Are there more than one? Discuss.
The Baby in the Lake: Rowling’s Lost Child and Pregnancy Trap Golden Threads suggest a possible inspiration of her work, a gusher of a spring feeding her Lake of story “stuff,” was an induced abortion. It’s a stretch and necessarily speculative, but let’s be looking for the death of a child even an induced abortion in Hallmarked Man to see what we can find.
Front and Back Pages: Nick Jeffery begins his readings of any Rowling novel by taking a long look at the Dedication before the story and the Acknowledgements after it. For those wanting to read like Nick (good idea!), share your thoughts and ask your questions after this Placeholder Post.
The Epigraphs: The epigraphs Rowling chooses for her book are like the background music in a restaurant, the almost invisible material that sets the mood and creates a particular atmosphere. There are at least five epigraph sources for Hallmarked Man and each was chosen, I’m sure, with no little care. Let’s get a jump on figuring out the thematic and environmental coloring made by epigraphs from the get-go!
Lake Shadows: Rowling inserts literary sketches of her childhood home and family life as well as of her first boyfriend (maybe!) and her first husband in her novels. You won’t see them, however, unless you’re wearing your Lake goggles; share your findings here.
Bonus Extra: I didn’t put up an Art post but please feel free to use this Index post’s comment thread to share any connections you see between the art on display in Hallmarked Man and the room, building, or street in which it is displayed and the action in the chapter it is hung or noticed. Cheers!
I believe I’ve found the “tree or ear of corn” carved in stone over the windows of Balenciaga that Robin wonders about in Chapter 13. You can find it here, https://www.dezeen.com/2022/04/28/balenciaga-store-pink-faux-fur-celebrate-le-cagole-it-bag/, in the first image. It looks like a broccoli stalk to me, define not corn. Why is it mentioned? Perhaps to educate us about a symbol that will later be important.
Have only read Part One, and here are some thoughts….
There’s some strong alchemical content so far. Which was strongly suspected. I noted the word “leaden” cropping up a couple of times in the narrative, and then a third time in an epigraph. Maybe not so much literary alchemy as good old-fashioned turning-lead-into-gold alchemy.
Then there’s Albie Simpson-White. A double albedo name. In fact with the name Simpson, perhaps especially in the context of the fine dining London elite, calls to mind the restaurant Simpsons on the Strand, which is chess themed and dominated by a black and white colour scheme.
Oh, and Peggy! Short for Margaret, so we have another pearl reference.
Now at the end of Part Two. I find it hard to draw conclusions or even see patterns once you get more into the story because it’s so enthralling and there are so many threads and mysteries to try and juggle in my head.
A few things I have noticed…
Red lights, red roses, red edam, crimson dress – lots of red
There are lots of lions – Lion Mullins, Wright asking about lions passant, Dangerous Dick de Lion, lions on the pub’s Royal Standard.
And there seems to be a lot of talking on the phone with one finger in your ear going on for some unknown reason.
End of Part Three.
We’ve had a spectral Charlotte, a probable Ellacott pregnancy trap and a enchanted silver snitch.
Finished Part Four. So much going on. So many questions. So many things that might be significant. Strike and Robin proving such a rollercoaster, all the dynamics of their relationship to date crammed into a short space of time and turned up to eleven.
The whole book seems like that – extremely eventful and larger than life. And there are far more characters from past books popping up than ever before.
With the case itself, the silver must play an important role. It seems clear there was some sort of heist carried out with the driver and William Wright implicated. Did Pamela also play a part? It seems like there may have been some deliberate swapping of crates and some of those crates may not have contained what we thought they contained. Was John Auclair involved? What is the special masonic significance of the stolen pieces? Were the things Oz and Sofia removed from Wright’s flat also stolen silver?
And was the murder essential for the heist to be carried out? Or was there somehow an opportunity to use the heist to also make an example of the victim?
Was it perhaps not just the crates that were switched but people too? Was there more than one guy with the beard and glasses disguise, hence the ambidextrousness? Was one of those crates big enough to hold a body?
As we know so little about Dick de Lion, could he be the alter ego of one the other potential Wrights? Or is he Fleetwood, given the Lion connection?
So many questions!
End of part 5…
Just had the big argument at the SWAN Taphouse… Lots of emotion, and lots of theories being thrown around. Is something approximating the truth buried among them?
Is this the albedo phase? Lots of recriminations, but the air getting somewhat cleared. Strike’s stump is sore again. Is the pain cleansing?
We’ve had a lot of people falling over – Strike, Dilys and little Griff, who feels like he might ba allegory from classical mythology, popping up with his guitar.
We’ve had some more fingers in ears. Are they refusing to listen to what needs to be heard?
There are lots of colours – reds, greens, blues, pinks, silver of course, but also gold and even platinum.
The attacks on Robin had some clear precursors, is there a chiastic pattern there? Or with Christmas text messages? There so many echoes and callbacks a bit of ring plotting could be enlightening…
Oh, and the one little surreptitious bombshell of Valentine Longcaster revealing that he thinks Strike spoke to Charlotte on the night she died! There’s more to this than meets the eye…
End of Part Six…
Another East Anglian compound. Pepper spray saves the day. Lots of eyes… Strike’s enflamed eyes, masonic eyes, Abused and Accused eyes, eyes in gorilla masks and William Wright’s gouged eyes.
The Sark flag has more lions passant and a St George cross. St George has cropped up already, including a username on a masonic forum. It seemed like the Sark flag might have come up before, maybe on a masonic sash? Can’t remember if or when we’ve seen it though.
Robin has lost a child that didn’t live, that she didn’t know she had. And Strike has now lost a child he didn’t know about, that lived, but isn’t his.
End of Part Seven.
What an incredible book this is!
We can appreciate the depth of her books and the many layers of meaning and feeling. We can appreciate that doubtlessly part of her massive success is how she is able to draw from her well of life experience and then use powerful archetypes to deliver resolutions that resonant with universal experiences of the human condition. But it is also worth appreciating what a linguistic virtuoso she is. Her writing flows and carries us with it on a fabulous journey.
Lots of inspiration very near the surface of the lake with the revelations at the Old Forge.
The Riccis return! And their serendipitous presence may hint at some supernatural intervention. The ghost of Margot Bamborough perhaps? I’m not sure we’ve seen a connection being made between two cases the agency is investigating before? This wasn’t quite that as the connection is a common locality in Carnival Street, rather than any direct usage of Barnaby’s by Plug, but it’s very close to a big deus ex machina coincidence.
End of Part Eight…
Strike and Rokeby meet! Leda wasn’t just a one night stand, and Strike wasn’t conceived in public. They see they have quite a lot in common and are on the way to reconciliation.
Still a lot needs to be resolved in the silver vault case. I’m still thinking a body or a killer might have been in a big heavy crate.
I think this still looks like a parallel story to the Ickabog, and just as the Ickabog proved to be a real being after all the lies and misdirection, I think the body might be Fleetwood, but with a raft of lies around him.
Another example of eyes that I forgot to pick out before is the mirror of the blonde on CCTV with a tattoo under her eye and Robin arriving in Ironbridge with mascara under hers.
End of Part Nine…
Lions. Eyes. Bridges. Silver. Swans. Steps.
I think I know who’s behind the gorilla mask. Or is that a red herring?
End of Part Ten…
The case is cracked, so we have the obligatory exposition and conclusive final pieces of evidence.
People going into and coming out of boxes…
The finger in ear we’ve had foreshadowed.
Strike’s ear cut off in an underground chamber like Wright’s was.
End of the Epilogue…
Brothers and sisters.
Iron & brick. The clang of brick on silver and spoon on saucer.
Briefcases carrying heavy secrets.
Back on the metal stairs again…
This book has so many encounters and insights involving people and events from Robin and Strike’s past. Rokeby, Leda/Peggy, Heberley House, Charlotte, the Ellacott family, Masham, and their respective key traumatic experiences.
One which I find particularly profound is the revelation of Strike’s role in the IED explosion that took his leg. He carries the guilt of his comrades’ deaths. He’s recognised this for the first time in 8 years.
I don’t know if this counts as artwork but when Strike and Robin go to Ramsay Silver, a silver orb charm catches her eye, and Ramsay shows her how it opens into a jointed cross with each joint showing Masonic symbols, the joints having a sort of pyramid shape:
https://www.etsy.com/market/masonic_orb_pendant
They continue their interview, in which Ramsay mentions the Oriental Lodge centerpiece, and
later in their debrief, they see a picture of it in the catalog Ramsay gave them. Its description included Jacob’s ladder and the all-seeing eye, among other things and I was intrigued by the mention of Jacob’s ladder, often depicted in art as a staircase. Meanwhile Robin was dealing with increasing unease, wondering how much of the subsequent investigation would get back to Ryan, especially when Strike comments about personal loyalties overriding professional duty. And then he mentions Charlotte’s suicide note when he suggests Robin might have to be the one who interviews Sacha, which causes Robin significant agitation and annoyance that Strike chose to speak to her out of the mouth of a dead woman instead of being direct about his own feelings. This tendency of Strike, to always be holding his feelings in check, to be rather secretive, parallels the secrecy of the Masons in general and the secret inside the orb in particular. Interestingly some of these charms have a capital “G” on them, may stand for GAOTU…
When later he gives the orb charm to Robin as part of a charm bracelet with other charms that would only be meaningful to them as partners of the agency, she dissolves into tears, reflecting that “nothing else anyone gave her today (because it must now be Christmas Day) could possibly mean as much to her…”
Getting back to Jacob’s ladder/staircase, when Strike and Hardacre visit the Freemason Museum, Strike asks to see the museum and Temple 17. Now I don’t know if one has to go through the Grand Temple to get to Temple 17, but the ceiling is an incredible mosaic depicting various Masonic symbols and one panel includes Jacob’s ladder:
https://www.alamy.com/mosaic-panel-depicting-the-ark-of-the-covenant-jacobs-ladder-and-king-solomon-eastern-side-of-the-coving-in-the-grand-temple-freemasons-hall-image187932190.html
Then in Temple 17 Strike sees a large chained swan carved into the wall. I couldn’t find a picture of this carving, but it is mainly a heraldic device, although it’s also been sculpted or made into a brooch:
https://www.google.com/search?q=bohun+swan+images&client=safari&sca_esv=7363e84110bffb1e&hl=en-us&udm=2&biw=390&bih=663&ei=ginDaMK3FOna0PEPucWGgAY&oq=bohun+swan+images&gs_lp=EhJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWciEWJvaHVuIHN3YW4gaW1hZ2VzMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYogQYiQUyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBEiDowJQzTNY7PwBcAF4AJABAZgB8AGgAdcaqgEHMTQuMTYuMbgBA8gBAPgBAZgCHqACqhnCAgUQIRirAsICBBAhGArCAgQQABgemAMAiAYBkgcHMTEuMTguMaAH1TuyBwcxMC4xOC4xuAeoGcIHBjAuOC4yMsgHaQ&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img#ip=1
So then I had to look up swans in mythology and in addition to being shapeshifters, I found a reference to Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Ugly Duckling”:
“This story, spanning across different eras, explores the timeless concepts of fitting in and changing, showing the evolution of a rejected duckling into a graceful swan. It serves as a strong symbol of personal development and self-discovery, enhancing the idea of the swan as representing internal beauty and self-approval.” I immediately thought of Strike, because the carving of the chained swan stuck with him and because he’s going through personal changes.
After hearing your comments on the most recent podcast regarding the references to peas in every Strike novel thus far, I am wondering if Ms. Rowling-Galbraith is playing a clever (and subtle!) word game with her readers. There is a variety of English pea called “Strike.” https://www.joymaxjardin.com/seedshop/p/strike-pea