"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."
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"In the street, you pass a tall, cheerful man with a brisk manner, a stovepipe hat and a row of bright brass buttons down the front of his coat. He winks familiarly as you pass and spreads his hands: eight fingers."[1]
The Manager of the Royal Bethlehem Hotel, is the former Priest-King of the First City and now operates the Royal Bethlehem Hotel.
"He also chucks you under the chin, which is a little over-familar, but, well. His buttons are so very shiny. It's difficult to quarrel with a man of such shiny buttons. 'Thank you,' he says. 'I do hope you'll continue to enjoy your stay.'"[2]
The Manager, as his title would suggest, runs the Royal Bethlehem Hotel: half resort, half recovery facility. He is most often encountered by the nightmare-addled,[3] as a Merry Gentleman with eight fingers (in total, or on each hand?).[3][4] Upon closer and less sleep-deprived inspection, he appears elderly,[5] with dark hair[6] and an olive complexion.[5] He dresses like an archetypal Victorian dandy: a stovepipe hat, a frock coat with very shiny brass buttons, gloves,[4] a silver-capped cane.[7]
The Manager roams London at night in search of patients to collect and take to the Hotel for study.[8] He sometimes walks with a pet scarlet lizard,[9] which he has nicknamed "pomegranate."[10] He cultivates his choicest selections from his guests in his Garden of Nightmares,[11] a moonlit dream-garden in Parabola.[12] In addition to his study of nightmares, he has a great fondness for ancient mysteries and lore.[13][14]
"The priest-king wears white linen, and many layers of shining copper and brass jewellery. He is unmistakably the Manager of the Royal Bethlehem Hotel."[17]
The Manager is responsible for the Fall of the First City, which he sold in exchange for the life of his lover, the King with a Hundred Hearts.[18] The process of resurrecting his lover was an imperfect one, and the King with a Hundred Hearts now lies at the heart of the island of Polythreme, as a living city and the progenitor of the Clay Men.[citation needed] Despite everything, the Manager still loves him thousands of years later,[19] and has taken up playing the Marvellous with the goal of sharing the King's fate and becoming a second living city.[20]
His uncle is the Capering Relicker, the man who brewed the first Hesperidean Cider.[21]
If the Crossroads Shaded by Cedars (the First City) is Uruk - though we don't know for sure, besides that it was from Ancient Mesopotamia - then the Manager would be Gilgamesh, the King with a Hundred Hearts would be Enkidu, and the Capering Relicker would be Utnapishtim. These three are key players in the Epic of Gilgamesh. That said, the King with a Hundred Hearts' origin is different (in the Fallen London universe, he is a traveler from China[22]), and most of the main events of the Epic aren't mentioned in the story of the First City.
↑ 3.03.1A merry gentleman, Fallen London"In the street, you pass a tall, cheerful man with a brisk manner, a stovepipe hat and a row of bright brass buttons down the front of his coat. He winks familiarly as you pass and spreads his hands: eight fingers." [Game Instructions: Your Nightmares are reaching a dangerous level.]
↑ 5.05.1Give him your key, Fallen London"For a moment, his airs leave him, and the fearsome manager is merely an old, olive-skinned man in a ridiculous frock coat."
↑Release the Manager from his promise, Fallen London"You meet him at the carnival, where his stovepipe hat bobs above the heads of the seething crowd. [...] "Marvellous!" he laughs, twirling his silver-capped cane."
↑Ask where you can locate the players, Fallen London"The Manager: often perambulates London at night, searching for those afflicted, to collect for his hotel. You will need to be more than a little mad to find him."
↑Ambition: Arm Yourself Against the Garden of Nightmares, Fallen London"The Manager's position affords him many privileges. One of the chiefest is his opportunity to harvest choice nightmares from his guests. Once he has studied, categorised and collected them, he fosters the most lurid and horrid in a hidden sanctuary: the Garden of Nightmares."
↑Ambition: The Garden of Nightmares, Fallen London"A silver gate leads to the Garden's Heart. It creaks musically as you push it open. Jade-green grass is bathed by silver moonlight. Violet roses and amber poppies peek from the flowerbeds."
↑Convince the Manager of the Royal Bethlehem to train you, Fallen London"The Manager listens [...] as you relate the glories of ancient cities. [...] When you finish, he applauds – the sound echoing in the dark and quiet London streets. "One day," he says, "I shall join their ranks. Oh, what a romantic ruin I'll make.""
↑Try your best to sleep, Fallen London"A man [sits] with you. […] You must last until the Liberation." […] "I am weary. I suspect that, even after the Liberation, I still will be. It may free everything, but not everyone." He plucks two brass buttons from his coat and lays them over your eyes."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"These are powerful tales: of hands touching for the first time on carnival rides; of intimacies stolen by doors which listen. The ecstasies captured in the middle section give way to a sombre conclusion: stories of old lovers separated by dark waters, and of hearts turned to stone."
↑A merry gentleman, Fallen London"The traveller writhes and twitches [...] in some kind of fit. He looks wretchedly thin [...] A short step from death. The priest-king weeps over him. Two figures step into the chamber [...] Masters of the Bazaar. [...] The one with the cup says, "I think we can be of service to each other. Allow me to propose an exchange...""
↑Meeting the King, Fallen London"I no longer love him. How could I, after what he had done to me? But his love abides, over the sea in London."
↑Ask about the Manager's heart's desire, Fallen London"My needs are simplicity itself. I want a bright diamond. I will make it my heart and grow from there into something strange and wild. Like my beloved. I will carry the seed of a new city. Perhaps I could be of sandstone and gold. That would look very splendid, don't you think?"
