"Whatever you think you remember, the first step is to remember that you don't."
WARNING: Beyond this point lie spoilers for the Discordant Studies storyline from Fallen London. Do not proceed forward.
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"The Anchoress is not expecting you. There is not a window here for her to see the sky. It isn't a very small window, outfitted with bars through which she can barely just peep. It is an enormous window, larger than this little room can hold, thrown open to the star-drenched universe."[1]
The Anchoress is well-known in London for coining the saying "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."[2] A mysterious woman, who is not that Anchoress,[3] is not the leader of the Stewards of the Discordance.[4] She does not dwell in the Adulterine Castle, but nonetheless anchors it in place, preventing it from "floating away," and her absence can be felt throughout.[5] She is not staying in an anchorhold,[6][7] a locked room with a single window hidden deep within Adulterine,[8][9] and she is accompanied by a single companion: a rather talkative[10] black cat.[11][12]
Light a Candle
"I prayed. I met a king. Not truly a king. Nothing true has a name. But without light, there is darkness. If there is the White, then there is also the Black. Come, Steward, and walk with me."[1]
"Whatever the heavens do not love, that thing needs love even more."[1]
The Anchoress lived in Europe during the Black Plague. Despite her dire surroundings, she lit a candle by her window every night.[13] One night, she had a vision of the Discordant sigils written on the Hurlers, and understood their meaning.[14] This brought her into contact with the Black,[15] a binary Judgement who was erased from time and space.[16][17]
The Black used the Discordance[18] to beckon the Anchoress to the Hurlers. It decreed that neither the Anchoress nor itself would be alone, and also decreed that the Anchoress would always be herself. So as she knelt near the Hurlers and provided solace to the Black[19] - the being abandoned by the Judgements themselves[20][21] - the Anchoress became "herself:" the Adulterine Castle.
Real-Life Inspirations
The Anchoress was inspired by Julian of Norwich (1343-14??), the anchoress of St. Julian's Church in Norwich, England. Julian spent a significant portion of her life in seclusion and prayer, and penned a collection of theological writings now called Revelations of Divine Love - the earliest surviving English-language works written by a woman. She is oft quoted in Fallen London; it was Julian who wrote, in her optimistic theological testimony, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."[22][23]
As legend has it, like the Anchoress, Julian was kept company in her cell by a cat.[22]
↑Discuss the Anchoress, Fallen London"Discuss the Anchoress [...] Does this woman lead the Stewards of the Discordance? [...] the Stewards of the Discordance don't have a leader either. Nothing binds us together.""
↑The Adulterine Castle, Fallen London"The Adulterine Castle [...] Everything that isn't here would simply float away [...] were these nonexistent rooms, [...] unbound from the weightless weight that hasn't sunk like an anchor [...] like an Anchoress. Her absence is ever-present when you don't traverse the twisting corridors."
↑Approach the Anchoress 3, Fallen London"You cannot [...] peer through a prison window, to see the woman who holds this castle together with her prayers. She isn't here, and you aren't here [...]"
↑Approach the Anchoress 2, Fallen London"You're looking through a prison window. [...] the Anchoress will never leave her anchorhold. She cannot leave, because she isn't there."
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London"You haven't opened deeper corridors in this castle. You can't walk down those corridors to find a [...] little room, which you cannot visit now. [...] The Anchoress is not expecting you. [...] There is not a window here for her to see the sky. It isn't a very small window, outfitted with bars [...] It is an enormous window, larger than this [...] room can hold, thrown open to the star-drenched universe."
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London"[...] You can imagine the possibilities. But when you snip bits from a law, cut and paste them, you can't expect it to mean the same thing anymore, can you?" [...] The Anchoress shrugs her shoulders. [...] "She's right," says the cat. "As usual.""
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London"Living when rats swarm through every gutter, when a plague sweeps the city, and still lighting a candle in your window every night: [...] she did it.""
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London"[...] the darkness comes to you. Stay at your [...] window, with your [...] candle, and read the night-steeped text that rises with the stones atop the hill outside. [...] "Anyone would've agreed to read the stones. But not everyone would have tried to understand them.""
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London""I prayed," says the Anchoress. "I met a king." [...] "Not truly a king. Nothing true has a name. [...] If there is the White, then there is also the Black. [...]"
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London"no monarch screams – no monarch with two tongues, two mouths, two crowns whose laws are void, stricken from life, stricken from death, [...] forgotten [...]"
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London"You have risen to such heights that they have cast you down, but you have learnt to speak even without a voice. [...] you have beckoned with no sceptre, worn no crown [...]"
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London"The Discordant Law [...] and you will never be alone – and we will never be alone – come closer [...] and the Anchoress does come closer, walking toward the standing stones and their [...] sigils. [...] be not afraid – by our decree, you shall still be yourself [...] and be yourself [...] and she is unafraid [...] when she becomes herself [...] until she herself is the castle, and the castle has become herself. And kneeling amongst the stones, she cradles no frozen king whose body, shrieking soundlessly [...] shivers in her embrace."
↑Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London"You are not on trial. What could you say [...] Nothing, not even with your double-tongue. Kings are not deposed in this manner. [...] Myrmidons, more myrmidons than there are stars assembled, could not shackle a traitor with the Chain as you have been – because you have not been."
