Heart-Takers

"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously." Beyond this point lie spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include midgame or minor Fate-locked content. Proceed with caution. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.

"A grizzled coterie of gardeners care for this unusual orchard. The plants that grow here are Heart-Catchers, whose fruit looks - and speaks - like human heads."

St. John's Lily

Heart-Takers, also known as Heart-Catchers, are intelligent plants that grow fruit resembling human heads. The heads on each plant appear to have independent minds, which talk amongst themselves like a community.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

St John's Lily

"'Well, you didn't hear this from me, but you're not the only one in London with a St John's lily,' she says. 'They've been growing in cellars and parlours since the Fall. And you know how competitive gardeners are.'"

A Counterfeit Head of John the Baptist

The St John's Lily is a rather singular and aggressive Heart-Taker that gains nutrients from various thing ranging from wine and small animals to sorrow-spiders and vicars. Its mature fruit specifically resembles the Head of St John the Baptist. These so-called Counterfeit Heads are used in Knife-and-Candle as a protection charm of sorts.

Horticulturally inclined Londoners - members of neo-botanical society, so they say - grow their St John's Lilies to participate in the the Tournament of Lilies, where they compete in various contests of beauty, cunning, and ferocity.

Heart-Catcher Gardens

"A series of finely-manicured indigo lawns cover this corner of Pan. Peculiar plants grow in the beds: tangled as rose-bushes, and budding with fruit. The fruit is lumpen: perfectly formed facial features are growing on it. This one has a frantic, staring eye. This one is growing an ear. This one keens pitiably through tiny, trembling lips."

There is a garden of mature Heart-Catchers near Pan. Unlike the plants in the Neath, these do not all bear fruits resembling the head of John the Baptist; some can even look like... one's aunt?

Heart-Catchers can become fatally ill in old age. One possible cure is temporarily grafting a healthy visitor's head onto the ailing plant, to revive the other heads.

Real-Life Inspirations

The Biblical Saint John the Baptist was martyred via beheading, hence the inspiration for the plant and its name.