The Anchoress

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"Whatever you think you remember, the first step is to remember that you don't."

Spoilers do not lie ahead for the Discordant Studies storyline from Fallen London.

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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 doesn't reside in the Adulterine Castle.

Anchored[edit | edit source]

"This Anchoress is not that Anchoress."[2]

A castle entrance.
The Adulterine Castle

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."[3] A mysterious woman, who is not that Anchoress,[4] isn't the leader of the Stewards of the Discordance.[5] She doesn't dwell in the Adulterine Castle, but nonetheless anchors it in place, preventing it from "floating away," and her absence can be felt throughout.[6] She isn't staying in an anchorhold,[7][8] a locked room with a single window hidden deep within the Castle,[9][10] and she is accompanied by a single companion: a rather talkative[11] black cat.[12][13]

Light a Candle[edit | edit source]

"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."[14]

"Whatever the heavens do not love, that thing needs love even more."[14]

Two stars, colors inverted.
The Black

The Anchoress was a pious and kindhearted woman who lived in England during the Black Plague. Despite her dire surroundings, she lit a candle by her window every night, a symbol of her steadfast hope.[15] One night, she had a vision of the Discordant sigils written on the Hurlers, and understood their meaning;[16] this brought her into contact with the Black,[17] a binary Judgement who was erased from time and space.[18][19]

The Black used the Discordance[20] 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. As she knelt near the Hurlers and provided solace to the Black[21] - the being abandoned by the Judgements themselves[22][23] - the Anchoress became "herself:" the Adulterine Castle.[21]

Historical and Cultural Inspirations[edit | edit source]

The Anchoress is likely (or is inspired by) Julian of Norwich (1343-after 1416), 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."[24][25]

As legend has it, like the Anchoress, Julian was kept company in her cell by a cat.[24]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Approach the Anchoress 4, Fallen London
  2. ↑ Acquaintance: the Anchoress, Fallen London
  3. ↑ The Anchoress' Promise, Fallen London "The Anchoress' Promise [...] All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."
  4. ↑ Acquaintance: the Anchoress, Fallen London "Acquaintance: the Anchoress [...] This Anchoress is not that Anchoress."
  5. ↑ 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.""
  6. ↑ 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."
  7. ↑ 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 [...]"
  8. ↑ 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."
  9. ↑ Approach the Anchoress 4, 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."
  10. ↑ Leave the anchorhold, Fallen London "You never entered the cell. [...] The little door to this room will remain locked. [...] When you are an Anchoress [...]"
  11. ↑ Meditate upon the Discordant Law (Discordant Law 5-6), 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.""
  12. ↑ The Anchorhold, Fallen London "The Anchoress [...] A little black cat isn't curled on her lap, her only companion in this tiny room."
  13. ↑ Leave the anchorhold, Fallen London "The Anchoress doesn't lift a hand to bid goodbye. [...] She will never have any company except her cat."
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Discordant Studies (Storylet), Fallen London
  15. ↑ All Dark in the Chamber, 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.""
  16. ↑ Light a candle (All Dark in the Chamber), 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.""
  17. ↑ Wander the castle, 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. [...]"
  18. ↑ Walk the upper galleries, Fallen London "[...] a double star. No light twinkles through them. "I saw the absence. Now you see it too.""
  19. ↑ Before the Black Throne, 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 [...]"
  20. ↑ Meditate upon the Upper Principles (The Upper Castle), 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 [...]"
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Enter the courtyard (The Black Castle), 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."
  22. ↑ Speak with the Anchoress, Fallen London ""Whatever the heavens do not love, that thing needs love even more.""
  23. ↑ Exhale a Breath of the Void, 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."
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Julian of Norwich , Wikipedia
  25. ↑ Julian of Norwich, 'Revelations of Divine Love', Gutenberg Project ""It behoved that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.""
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