This wood is like human memory. It does not need to take events in their correct order. Do you wish to go to an earlier time and start from
This wood is like human memory. It does not need to take events in their correct order. Do you wish to go to an earlier time and start from there?
It's a portal fantasy! It's a space opera! It's an office comedy! It's an epic romance! It's an exploration of parenthood! It's a metaphor for authorship and creative control! It's King Arthur! It's Siegfried! It's ten books in a trenchcoat playing 4D chess with each other, and we could probably talk about it for another four hours and still have more to say.
Transcript available here, and we'll be back in two weeks with Crown of Dalemark!
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Just saw someone say they disliked Fire & Hemlock because it was an age gap, and that’s fine and well (even though I think reducing F&H to an age gap is missing some points), but it made me think of how often DWJ uses the artifice of the age gap to bring her pairings together, and also how this artifice is often directly connected to the primary antagonist of the book.
Howl and Sophie is maybe the most glaring example, but I noticed again that it’s in Hexwood. Interestingly, DWJ uses the distance in age to collapse personal and individual distance. The “child’ Ann can read the riot act to Mordion as an older woman with more self-consciousness couldn’t, and we’re introduced to Mordion as unnaturally ancient to make him seem a bit weird and perplexing, but also with a wet and sympathetic side to his power. Conversely, crone Sophie can manage Howl and make him respect her as he wouldn’t a younger woman. And Polly needs to be a child, and see Tom Lynn as elderly, in order to establish the playful awkward unreality of their friendship. It simply wouldn’t work if we know that Tom is a youthful 24, which we don’t figure out until about the end of the novel. She also does this with Howl and Sophie in the opposite direction at the start, where Sophie is intimidated by Howl’s apparent sophistication and age until the enchantment that gives her confidence.
When the age gap collapses, then, the personal closeness falls apart. When Ann remembers who she is and who Mordion is in the castle, and that they’re only a few years apart, she thinks their relationship is hopeless. Polly stops seeing Tom as old twice—first when she starts to think of him romantically at Middleton Fair, the second when she regains her memories at 18—and each time she’s on the brink of losing him forever to Laurel. It’s less overt with Sophie and Howl, but Sophie does become young again right when she battles the Witch of the Waste for Howl’s soul. Each time, everyone’s true selves are revealed at the moment when the most is at stake.
Which is a very interesting but also relatable way to do the process of disenchantment and revelation. Misleading appearances are of course a mainstay of fantasy, but it’s in keeping with DWJ’s grounded and youth-centric approach that she portrays this through the universal medium of growing up. Of course we see people differently as we age and perform on new social levels. Of course where we are at each specific age really dictates how we interact with others. These processes change relationships and also push them to their final form.
Certainly, it can be uncomfortable--Polly/Tom is uncomfortable on purpose; Ann and Mordion create/summon a boy in the Bannus as a direct euphemism for having a baby together. But the discomfort is also dictated by the main villain of the plot. DWJ's characters move through ages and appearances that aren't entirely theirs in order to become the best versions of themselves. And idk I just think she's quite clever for taking a rather worn-out and sordid romance trope and turning it inside out to become new and serve the purpose of her stories.
Okay, so like I said, I think I more or less understood Hexwood this time. Listening to the @eightdaysofdiana episode helped sort out some of the remaining questions. Hence, I made a timeline. Obviously it doesn't cover everything that goes on in this complex book, and I'm also not sure that I got all the details right (especially once the characters enter the wood).
It really helps to start thinking at things from the intergalactic space consortium perspective, and how everything moves from here, rather than trying to figure out the Ann/Mordion/Hume plot, which happens in any which order and not the same for all involved.
1. Thousands of years ago, powerful families try to take control of the intergalactic space consortium. For the sake of peace, it is determined that five Reigners shall be chosen from five families. They will be elected every ten years years.
2. To ensure fairness, the Bannus is created. It will put the candidates through various scenarios and elect the five people it considers suitable as Reigners.
3. Martellian, one of the Reigners, takes a young Orm Pender under his wing.
4. Orm betrays Martellian and wrenches control over the Bannus, cheating the system. He, his girlfriend, his girlfriend's brother, and two more of their circle, install themselves as permanent Reigners.
5. Martellian is exiled to Earth, where he proceeds to raise heirs to fight for him against the Reigners, since he is banned from doing so himself. As Merlin, he creates Arthur. As Wolf, he creates Fitela.
6. Orm, now Reigner One, puts Martellian in a stass tomb, along with Arthur and Fitela. The reprogrammed Bannus is put in the same place to reinforce the imprisonment.
7. The five Reigners manage to keep young(ish) and in power for more than a thousand years.
8. The Reigners use descendants of Martellian as Servants to do their killing for them. In modern time, the Servant is Mordion, who is raised under horrid conditions to become their loyal assassin.
9. Under the firm name Rayner Hexwood, the Reigners use Earth for its valuable flint. The people of Earth have no idea just how valuable the flint is.
11. The House of Guaranty are in opposition to the Reigners, but unable to do anything about it.
10. Mordion keeps a telepathic connection with Martellian, Arthur, Fitela, and eventually Vierran of Guaranty (who is younger than him and thus shows up late). None of them know the others by name, only by epiteths. Mordion and Vierran also meet in person. Vierran doesn't recognize Mordion, but is drawn to his role as the Servant.
(ETA: I'm not completely sure why Vierran needs to show up late, since they speak to the others over vast distances in time, but maybe she's contemporary enough to him that they're on the same timeline.)
12. Harrison Scudamore, a clerk who has scammed his way into Rayner Hexwood, finds the Bannus. He manages to start its field of power, in the hope of creating a virtual reality role playing game
13. The Bannus field starts drawing people in. It also starts mingling with the field of Hexwood, which, being a wood, is connected to the Great Forest that once was, and has magic of its own.
14. The Bannus wakes the three people in the stass tombs: Martellian, Arthur, and Fitela. Since the world they know is Arthuriana, that's the illusion they create inside the wood. Martellian is reshaped by the Bannus into a small child. Arthur becomes the outlaw Artegal.
15. Outside the wood, the Bannus field spreads further, but with a setting more familiar to the people there, i.e. modern Earth. Fitela seems to make it out of the forest, since he becomes part of the modern-Earth world as Martin, a greengrocer's son.
16. W. Madden, one of the Rayner Hexwood maintenance staff, sends a letter to his superiors, which eventually reaches Controller Borasus of Albion.
17. Controller Borasus calls Earth, which unbeknownst to him permits the Bannus field to spread across communication lines through the galaxy. He also calls Earth Headquarters, run by Sir John Bedford, who is alarmed to hear the news.
18. Controller Borasus goes down to Earth to find out what is wrong, and is pulled into the Arthuriana setting as Sir Bors.
19. The Reigners are contacted. Reigner Two sets out to find out what is happening. Along with Mordion and John Bedford, he heads to Hexwood, where all three are pulled into the Arthuriana setting as well: Reigner Two as King Ambitas, John Bedford as Sir Bedefer, and Mordion as a hermit.
20 . The scenes within Hexwood do not happen chronologically; something may be very early for one of the people involved and very late for another. Events that take mere moments appear to take years. (Typical fantasy wood!)
20. Since Reigner two isn't heard from, Reigner Four is sent out. He becomes Sir Fors in the king's court.
21. Reigner Five is sent out. He keeps his own memories even as he is sent into Arthuriana, but is immediately tricked by the Bannus into exploding himself. Refusing to accept that he is dead, he settles in Mordion's abandoned hermit hut.
22. Reigners One and Three decide to go to Earth themselves. Reigner Three has sussed out that Vierran is romantically interested in Mordion, and brings her along as a maid/bargaining chip.
23. Reigner Three enters Arthuriana as the king's fiancée, Morgan le Trey. Reigner One is transformed into a dragon. Vierran gets a dual role, as a lady in the king's court, and as Ann Stavely, a modern-day grocer's daughter living right outside of Hexwood.
24. At some point, Vierran's actual parents, who have been plotting the Reigners' downfall and hence arrested by them, are pulled into the field as Ann's greengrocer parents. Fitela becomes her brother Martin.
25. (Third chapter only!) "Ann", sick in bed, see strange things happening around Hexwood. She is not seeing them in order, but neither she nor we know that at this point.
26. Ann, feeling better, enters into the forest, where she wakes Mordion from a stass tomb. He has memories of being stuck in the tomb for millennia, but those are really Martellian's memories. From their mixed blood, Mordion appears to create the child Hume, though this is really Martellian de-aged.
27. Mordion the hermit raises Hume with the help of Ann and a robot called Yam, in random chronological order. Hume wants to be a knight and fight dragons. Ann intermittently returns to her parents and their seemingly ordinary life.
28. Running out of food in the castle, the knights ransack the nearby (modern day) town. This starts a revolt, led by the outlaw Artegal (Arthur), and consisting of people both from Earth and from the rest of the galaxy, including Vierran's/Ann's parents.
29. In a motel room, Vierran listens to a recorded message of herself and realizes she has lived the same scenes multiple times. She remembers her time as Ann and figures out that the Bannus field is much wider than the wood.
30. Vierran goes to find Mordion, but encounters Reigner Five instead. He chases her, but breaks his neck, drowns in the river, and is forced to admit that he was dead all along.
31. Still with her own memories, Vierran returns to her role as a court lady. Her cousin Siri is also there, as Lady Sylvia.
32. Mordion arrives at the castle, pretending to be a magician controlling a mechanical man (Yam). Hume becomes a squire.
33. The knights set out to punish the outlaws. They encounter a dragon (Reigner One), and Sir Fors/Reigner Four is eaten.
34. Reigner Three turns Mordion into a dragon. With the aid of the Bannus, he starts facing his own awful memories.
35. Returning to human form, Mordion enters the outlaw camp with Martin and Sir John Bedford. The outlaws are very suspicious until Artegal/Arthur recognizes Mordion as one of the voices in his head.
36. Hume volunteers to fight a dragon, believing it to be Mordion. He is horrified to find Reigner One instead, who has recently killed Sir Harrisoun (Harrison Scudamore). Hume calls Mordion for help, and with joined effort they defeat the dragon.
37. Reigners Three and Two try to poison each other and are turning into dragons. Mordion kills them both.
38. Mordion realizes that Yam is actually the Bannus and demands that he puts a stop to this.
39. After Yam/The Bannus has had a moment of gloating over the dying Reigner One, Hume pulls out his sword from the dragon's body, killing him.
39. Everyone starts sorting out who they are to each other. Yam declares the five new Reigners: Mordion, Vierran/Ann, Martellian/Hume, Arthur/Artegal and Fitela/Martin. They reluctantly agree to rule the galaxy, not sure that the Bannus can be trusted.
40. The wood doesn't want to let go until everyone, with joined effort, has turned it into a permanent part of the Great Forest.
rereading Hexwood (Diana Wynne Jonees) certainly illustrates why, when I read Middlegame (Seanan McGuire), I spent a non-zero amount of time going, “why did people warn me this timeline is complex? they’re just rebooting at directly sequential points, with repeated glimpses of a slightly-changing future point which the main narrative hasn’t reach yet. There’s no question of what happens in what order.”
'Can't you treat yourself with a bit more consideration?'
'Why should I?' Mordion said, hugging the duvet round himself. 'Because you're a person, of course!' Ann snapped at him. 'One person ought to treat another person properly even if the person's himself!'
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- I said here, my 2021 2026 resolution is gonna be READING EVERY DIANA WYNNE JONES BOOK I CAN FIND, and due to my love of making lists and taking notes, I’ve decided keeping track of this reading project here in this post, which I’ll keep updated as I make progress. It’s mostly for my own pleasure, but maybe it helps someone who wants to give it a try to this amazing writer and doesn’t know where to start.
Part I (1970 - 1976 & The Dalemark Quartet)
Part II (1977 - 1981 & The Chrestomanci Series )
Part III (1984 - 1992 & Land of Ingary Series)
- Hexwood (1993): This book is like a puzzle, and it seems to be made to be re-read several times. I had to start it again a couple times, and at some point I just made a spreadsheet to keep track of things because if I took too long between reading sessions I got lost again. I became obsessed not with the plot or the characters (which are great too), but with the structure. Diana really outdid herself with this one. Once again, I just cant sum up the story, but I'll say it's her classic mix of scifi and fantasy, different characters with different identities, several plot twists, great humor, some drama... Probably one of my faves so far.
I also want to share this awesome timeline made by @kattahj, for those who finished the book and, like me, need some extra cleareance about the events (it contains spoilers so dont check it if you havent finished the book)
Her sigh was because she was realising she would have to go to the wood again, not because of Hume, but because of Mordion. Mordion needed her to keep dinning the truth into him.
There's a few other quotes we've come across into he last little bit that shows Anne is totally confident challenging Mordion, even though she's apparently a teenage girl, and he's allegedly an adult.
Spoliers under the cut
I think that one of the bits that makes their relationship feel more comfortable
