Mr Mirrors

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"Are you quite sure you want to know this?"

Beyond this point lie major spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include endgame or major Fate-locked spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

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"And Mr Mirrors?

""Ah, well, you just missed Mirrors," says Wines.

""Indeed, Mirrors was here just before you arrived," adds Apples."[1]

Mr Mirrors is a curiously missing Master of the Bazaar. Its identity and duties have been assumed by another Master in its absence.

An Assumed Identity[edit]

"The frangible and the fine!"[2]

In modern London, Mr Mirrors trades in "the frangible and the fine:"[3] all kinds of glasswork, such as mirrors and windows.[4] It also has an interest in dreams;[5] according to its version of Mr Sacks,[6] it wishes to reflect dreams, not rule them,[7] unlike Mr Wines and Mr Spices.[8][9] Mirrors has other odd hoards to its name, such as a large quantity of First City coins[10] and crates with "growling" contents.[11]

A three-sided mirror showing a green landscape.
Mr Mirrors' Most Heartfelt Reflection

Mr Mirrors never appears in public,[12] but can still be contacted and typically responds via letter.[13][14] The "Mr Mirrors" known to current Londoners is an alias taken on by Mr Cups.[15] Cups is also the true "Original"[16] of Mr Mirrors' version of Mr Sacks that appears in modern London.[6][7] This information is not known to the public,[17] who typically assume[18] them to be separate.[19] Cups took on this role after its colleague disappeared under mysterious circumstances.[15]

Through the Looking Glass[edit]

"For years she stalked one Master, Mr Mirrors. It's gone. It's been gone for years. She lured it into dreams. And dreams – nightmares – are her weapons."[20]

"Take this secret, and go: every dream imprisons its dreamer."[21]

A black and gold mask.
October

The original Mr Mirrors was imprisoned in Parabola[22] sometime after the Fall of London.[23][24] The party responsible was October of the Calendar Council,[25][26] who disguised herself and won the Marvellous, the Masters' game that awards winners their heart's desire;[27] she used her wish to gain great power in Parabola[28][29] and chain Mirrors in a "prison of its own failures",[30] destroying its presence in reality.[31] All that was left of Mirrors after this was a "reflection, cast by nothing."[32]

Mirrors is chained to a post in the Beggar's Wake, a crossroads[33] that guards the Grave of Mirrors[34] and is a manifestation of one of Mirrors' dreams.[35] The Claiming Wind, a tempestuous entity that was once its pet, was set free[36] and now vengefully torments its former master.[37][38]

Every dream imprisons its dreamer.

Around the Wake, Mirrors' other dreams have also manifested,[39] although these may each portray Mirrors as a reflection of another Master. The Court of Honey and Spice[40] represents its capture by other Curators, though the name at least is suggestive of Mr Spices;[41] the Convocation of Runts[42] shows Mirrors joining the Masters,[43] though it seems to have entered a devoured Master's dreams here in order to witness its own memories;[44] and the Pedlar King[45] represents its desire to become a king, though this may reflect the overthrown king Mr Wines instead.[46] Notably, Spices, Wines, and the one now known as Mr Eaten were all competitors with Mr Mirrors over the domain of dreams. Perhaps it is this detail that makes the Beggar's Wake "a prison" of Mirrors' failures.

In the Sunless Skies timeline, the original Mr Mirrors is called the Saint in the Glass by the Cult of the Sanctified at Avid Horizon.[47]

Appearance and Personality[edit]

"To be reduced to this. Undone by a perfidious revolutionary, given to my own pet as a toy, and now at the mercy of some anonymous Parabolan vagrant. Miserable."[48]

"It is a kingly gift you ask of us. But then we are a king. And what better demonstration of our quality than charity?"[49]

In the Beggar's Wake, Mirrors' eyes are mirrors.[50][51][52] Notably, one of its aspects has a chip in each eye,[53] a trait shared with the mirrors[54] in its now-abandoned London home.[55]

In its current state, Mr Mirrors is miserable and self-pitying, bemoaning its incapacitation and wounded pride.[56] Furthermore, Mirrors does not consider the Bazaar a worthwhile recipient of the services it once provided.[57]

The Glass-Whisperer[edit]

"Monstrous, winged, batlike. There are eleven; ten together, one alone. One stands before the rest. Its monstrous face is scarred, its jaw hanging by a thread of gristle. Its wings are torn. It limps. An accumulation of mistreatment, over years and years. It clutches a heavy box, which bucks and rattles. From inside it, you can hear a howling, like the wind on the moor.
"'Take me with you,' the creature whispers."[58]

A large bat-like being.
A Curator.

Mr Mirrors, along with the other Masters, is a Curator,[59] a bat-like being who scoured the High Wilderness for treasures to hoard.[60] It was hunted down by other Curators[61] for "glass-whispering:" a forbidden ritual to commune with the Fingerkings.[62] To escape further torment, the now heavily-scarred[63] Mr Mirrors chose to join the other Masters at Avid Horizon,[64] bringing it under the employ of the Echo Bazaar.[65] Mirrors brought with it a box containing its pet, the Claiming Wind.[66][67]

During the era of the First City,[68] Mr Mirrors was responsible for sealing the Sleeping Merchant in Parabola,[69] as the Merchant had made a dangerous deal with the Creditor on behalf of the Echo Bazaar.[68][70]

The Crocodile Plot[edit]

"But what was Mr Mirrors doing? I haven't the foggiest clue, but I can pretend that I know. Isn't that just as good? After all, what can the Master of Mirrors desire, except what others desire? Balance, perhaps, between reality and reflection. If the balance is off, from which side does one add or subtract the weight? What is the weight? It's probably more than honey."[71]

A picture of a crocodile zoomed in on the eye.
The Yolk-in-Yearning

During the era of the Second City, the Pharaoh's daughters[72] began exploring Parabola. For their glass-rituals, they needed a creature with an equal presence in both reality and dream,[73] so they created one called the Yolk-in-Yearning:[72] a crocodile possessed by a Fingerking.[74][75] Typically, host animals possessed by Fingerkings are considered their "retainers", but the Yolk was unique, as the crocodile and Fingerking formed a singular self.[76] The Yolk-in-Yearning later became a bodyguard for Mr Mirrors, even battling October when she strove to destroy the Master.[77]

Mirrors wanted to achieve balance between reality and dream,[78][79] and the Yolk was "balanced" by its metrics.[80] It made many attempts to replicate its own bodyguard, but these failed, and many of the test subjects were fed to the crocodile.[81]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Inquire after the other Masters, Fallen London
  2. ↑ Mr Mirrors, Fallen London
  3. ↑ Mr Mirrors, Fallen London "The frangible and the fine!"
  4. ↑ Incarnadine Fur Robe, Fallen London "Mirrors, we thought, for that is our name, this is a most excellent example of glasswork! [...] "Not like Mr Wines, no, who only appreciates the contents of a cup never its vessel. But we love all manner of glassware, from Murano delicates to the grand stained windows that we hear reside in the cathedrals of France— " It continues [...] At last Wines tires of its act [...]"
  5. ↑ Piece your clues together (1), Fallen London "The Calendar Council [...] Of that twelve, one stands in opposition to Mr Mirrors and its bailiwick over dreams [...]"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mr Sacks! Take my ignorance from me. Are you..., Fallen London "Yes, yes. I might be called Cups."
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Day 5: Mr Sacks, purringly, Fallen London ""Give of your dreams," it says. "You've met the ones who desire to rule dreams. I wish only to reflect them.""
  8. ↑ Tell him about your dreams of ice and fire, Fallen London "Entwined, symbiotic, in an orbit of hatred whose parabola describes fixated love... I can think of two who might be interested in the details of this. But perhaps I should tell only one, heh heh."
  9. ↑ Mr Sacks! Take my ignorance from me. Are you..., Fallen London "And I smell Spices here, and Wines, and a certain familiar flintiness."
  10. ↑ The Master's Voice, Fallen London
  11. ↑ Investigate the Embassy warehouses, Fallen London "[...] you discover a pile of boxes marked "PROPERTY OF MR MIRRORS" [...] Best not to open them. They growl."
  12. ↑ Incarnadine Fur Robe, Fallen London "Mr Mirrors never appears in public."
  13. ↑ The Master's Voice, Fallen London "You're not given an audience with Mr Mirrors itself, but a package is delivered [...] "Mr Mirrors wishes you good fortune," the messenger says. "He's certain you'll remember him.""
  14. ↑ Lost in Reflections, Fallen London "A word [...] will soon reach Mr Mirrors. [...] The Master doesn't [...] meet you in person, but it sends [...] Constables to retrieve the mirror, and a grateful note. 'Dear Friend: this has preserved more than you know. [...]"
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Distract yourself; read the newspaper, Fallen London "This is, [...] what they do when one of them falls. As Cups took over Mirrors' identity and bailiwick, [...]"
  16. ↑ Mr Sacks! Dispose of this sedition for me!, Fallen London "We shall see that these our consigned to the flames. Or if not us, our Original. Please ignore that last sentence. Purge it from your memory. Thank you."
  17. ↑ ...an incognito Master?, Fallen London "It indicates coyly that Mr Hearts and Mr Mirrors are trading names, though it doesn't say who for."
  18. ↑ Something to burn?, Fallen London "Perhaps […] Mr Mirrors is Mr Cups."
  19. ↑ Inquire after the other Masters, Fallen London ""And Mr Mirrors?" ""Ah, well, you just missed Mirrors," says Wines." ""Indeed, Mirrors was here just before you arrived," adds Apples.""
  20. ↑ The Shallows, Fallen London
  21. ↑ Offer a gift to the serpents, Fallen London
  22. ↑ Dreamer's End, Fallen London "[...] the Beggar's Wake is the dream of the [...] creature chained at its heart, that the creature is the last remnant of Mr Mirrors [...]"
  23. ↑ Piece your clues together (1), Fallen London "[...] one stands in opposition to Mr Mirrors [...] October. To your knowledge, October has not been seen in London for years."
  24. ↑ Ask an old friend, Fallen London "October achieved her goal and vacated the Council."
  25. ↑ Ask about her heart's desire, Fallen London "I used my reward to cast one of the Masters in a prison of its own failures. [...] October sighs wistfully, "I understand that most of them have had second thoughts about the game since then.""
  26. ↑ Ask for Gregory Beechwood's heart's desire, Fallen London "I said after the Mirrors incident that we should put an end to the d_mn thing."
  27. ↑ Ask about her heart's desire, Fallen London "I asked for my dreams to come true [...] I spent years constructing a false identity in order to join the Marvellous."
  28. ↑ Ask about her heart's desire, Fallen London "I asked for my dreams to come true, and the Masters arranged certain accommodations with the powers of the Is-Not."
  29. ↑ Leave October, Fallen London "Perhaps October's powers are not wholly spent."
  30. ↑ Ask about her heart's desire, Fallen London "I used my reward to cast one of the Masters in a prison of its own failures."
  31. ↑ Dreamer's End, Fallen London "I am only a splinter of myself, now. A dream, dreaming. A reflection, cast by nothing."
  32. ↑ Dreamer's End, Fallen London "[...] the creature is the last remnant of Mr Mirrors [...] The chained thing spits [...] I am [...] A reflection, cast by nothing."
  33. ↑ Ambition Nemesis %E2%80%93 A Guardian (2), Fallen London "A [...] fence-post stands at the centre of a crossroads [...] Chained to it is an emaciated winged creature, clad in [...] robes."
  34. ↑ Journey to the Beggar's Wake, Fallen London "This is the Beggar's Wake: you must pass through to reach the Grave of Mirrors."
  35. ↑ Dreamer's End, Fallen London "[...] the Beggar's Wake is the dream of the pitiful creature chained at its heart [...]"
  36. ↑ Accept the creature's help, Fallen London "The wind is hungry. [...] used to be mine. Now free and angry."
  37. ↑ Speak its name, and unchain it, Fallen London "[...] you speak the words – "Mr. Mirrors," [...] The Claiming Wind is not pleased [...] you have freed its toy. [...] It is [...] full of vengeance."
  38. ↑ Find the Grave of Mirrors, Fallen London "[...] given to my own pet as a toy—" [...] it shoots a wounded look [...] to where the Claiming Wind harries the heathers [...]"
  39. ↑ Ambition: Nemesis - The Beggar's Wake, Fallen London "Signs point to the 'Pedlar King', 'the Convocation of Runts' and 'The Court of Honey and Spice'. A fourth sign lies toppled in the dark grass."
  40. ↑ Offer a gift to the serpents, Fallen London ""No. Don't want to dream of this again," [...]"
  41. ↑ Offer a gift to the serpents, Fallen London "The shrill cries of the hunters above echo through the tunnels, and the bat-thing shivers. "No. Don't want to dream of this again," [...]"
  42. ↑ The Convocation of Runts, Fallen London "The lone, [...] one with the box glares at you. Its eyes are mirrors. "What are you doing in my dreams?""
  43. ↑ Approach the Convocation, Fallen London "Monstrous, winged, batlike. There are eleven; ten together, one alone. [...] One stands before the rest. [...] "Take me with you," the creature whispers."
  44. ↑ The Convocation of Runts 2, Fallen London "The lone, scarred, whispering one with the box glares at you. Its eyes are mirrors. "What are you doing in my dreams?" it hisses. Its tone is possessive, wheedling, pleading."
  45. ↑ Entreat the Pedlar King to forgo its demands, Fallen London "This place, all of it, is the dream of the one shackled at its heart."
  46. ↑ The Pedlar King, Fallen London ""We would have been an excellent sovereign, were it permitted." [...] "But these things are only allowed to us in dreams. And I am only a king in the glass.""
  47. ↑ Recite the litany of the dead, Sunless Skies "It's true. They were lost before the rest. The Saint of Tapers and the Saint in the Glass. We never speak their names. One we have hope of seeking, the other is gone. That saint will not be with us again."
  48. ↑ Find the Grave of Mirrors, Fallen London
  49. ↑ Entreat the Pedlar King to forgo its demands, Fallen London
  50. ↑ Sneak past the serpents, Fallen London "The creature opens its eyes, and its eyes are mirrors, too.[...] "No. Don't want to dream of this again," it whispers. "Take this secret, and go: every dream imprisons its dreamer. Find the prisoner.""
  51. ↑ The Convocation of Runts, Fallen London "The lone, [...] one with the box glares at you. Its eyes are mirrors. "What are you doing in my dreams?" [...]"
  52. ↑ Provide the Pedlar King with gifts for its hall, Fallen London "The shine of your gifts reflects in the kings' eyes, for its eyes are mirrors."
  53. ↑ Ambition Nemesis - A Guardian (2), Fallen London "Eyes glint within the hood – eyes of mirrored glass, each missing a chip."
  54. ↑ Assemble your salvaged thoughts, Fallen London "Each has a chip removed; a small technique which makes the mirror incomplete, [...]"
  55. ↑ Search for mirrors, Fallen London ""The framed mirrors [...] Black mirrors and red, gold and polished amethyst. A pale mirror made of diamond. [...] an entry on a mirror that was a gift from the Priest-Kings of the Third City [...]""
  56. ↑ Find the Grave of Mirrors, Fallen London ""To be reduced to this," [...] "Undone by a perfidious revolutionary, given to my own pet as a toy—" [...] "—and now at the mercy of some anonymous Parabolan vagrant." [...] "Miserable.""
  57. ↑ Call on the Shadow of Mr Mirrors, Fallen London ""I remember this," [...] "A service I once did for the Bazaar. [...] Not the first such service and not the last. One of far too many." The thing's voice is gloating."
  58. ↑ Approach the Convocation, Fallen London
  59. ↑ A secret about the Masters, Failbetter Games "[...] the Masters' kind are denizens of the High Wilderness. Their hunting-grounds lie in the dark span between the stars. [...] Their chiefs are victorious, merciless pedlar-magnates."
  60. ↑ Curator, Sunless Skies "Intelligent, locomotive-sized chiroptera [...] Curators accumulate hoards, which they guard violently. Each hoard collects artifacts or creatures themed to the Curator’s particular obsession."
  61. ↑ The Court of Honey and Spice, Fallen London "Above and below, winged, chiropterous shapes flit across the stars. Their shrill hunting-cries pierce the air. But what are they hunting?"
  62. ↑ Enter the castle in the sky, Fallen London "[...] the winged creatures circle and scream. [...] You follow a sound through the shadows: a thin whispering, [...] you find the source. A hunched batlike creature cradles a shard of mirror. [...] its snout whispering soft nonsense to the glass. It is not alone. Serpents coil about it; a braid of monstrous, tangled serpents, banded in corn-yellow and midnight-black."
  63. ↑ Approach the Convocation, Fallen London "One stands before the rest. Its monstrous face is scarred, [...] Its wings are torn. [...] An accumulation of mistreatment, [...]"
  64. ↑ A Conversation on the Road, Fallen London "[...] I have grown [...] fond even of our new associate here. Lowly origins notwithstanding." [...] he gestures at you, and at the wound-in-the-world far, far behind you."
  65. ↑ Approach the Convocation, Fallen London "One stands before the rest. Its monstrous face is scarred, its jaw hanging by a thread of gristle. Its wings are torn. It limps. [...] "Take me with you," the creature whispers. Another answers, [...] "We have found a way: through a wound in the sky. [...] Behind them, something massive looms [...] Spires hang in the gloom. Sigils flare on its skin."
  66. ↑ Force the Convocation tell you how to reach the Grave of Mirrors, Fallen London ""The Claiming Wind has not yet been tamed. Releasing it would be unfortunate for everyone concerned. Best to keep it in its box.""
  67. ↑ Approach the Convocation, Fallen London ""Take me with you," the creature whispers. [...] "We have found a way: [...] You could even bring your pet," it inclines its head at the box."
  68. ↑ 68.0 68.1 The Sleeper, Fallen London ""The Debtor cannot be woken," [...] Parabola takes the shape of her story. A caravan on the road. A man who carried the clay seal that allowed him to pledge the faith of the Bazaar itself for an impossible ransom. [...] The city almost sold, and the loophole [...] that sent the Debtor to sleep instead. "His promise was sworn by the Cedar that stood in the square of the first of all cities. It hears him still.""
  69. ↑ A Conclave of the Masters, Fallen London "The Merchant will not wake," [...] "Mr Mirrors did solid work there." [...] "Mr Mirrors may have sealed him into Parabola," [...]"
  70. ↑ The Way West, Fallen London "A payment was offered long ago, in the Bazaar's name. The Creditor still lives."
  71. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London
  72. ↑ 72.0 72.1 The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "And the pharaoh's daughters didn't always care for me. After I opened the glass, I was lucky to get scraps [...]"
  73. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "In order to open the glass, the Egyptians developed certain rites. During the Second City, those rites came to fruition. They needed [...] Something with one foot on this side, and one foot decidedly not."
  74. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "[...] mirrored, the crocodile gazes back at you. Its reflection [...] and the reflected serpent coiled around its head, [...] There is no serpent, [...] outside the reflection."
  75. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "When the crocodile speaks, the serpent speaks too: "The Yolk-in-Yearning, at your disposal.""
  76. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "How are the serpent and the crocodile truly related? [...] "You might as well ask how you're related to yourself. [...] Behind the glass, it's not unknown for kings to claim retainers on this side. [...] But our crocodile isn't a retainer."
  77. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London ""Mr Mirrors, [...] has been delinquent," [...] "When was it? Since October?" [...] "What a bite! What a battle!" [...] "I have been a guard-dog on a chain,""
  78. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "[...] what can the Master of Mirrors desire, [...] Balance, perhaps, between reality and reflection."
  79. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London "They weren't balanced. Mr Mirrors taught me all about balance."
  80. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London ""Nobody can imitate me," [...] They weren't balanced."
  81. ↑ The Crocodile Who Would Be King, Fallen London ""Nobody can imitate me," [...] "But who wouldn't make an attempt? And when the experiments failed, I had the most lovely suppers. They sank into my tank. They weren't balanced."
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