Nathaniel (Bartimaeus trilogy)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nathaniel is a character in Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy. Nathaniel is one of the main characters of this series. After coming of age as a magician when he was 12 years old, he was granted the new name of "John Mandrake," and is known by this name to everyone but the title character, Bartimaeus and in the later part of Ptomley's Gate to Kitty.
Contents |
[edit] Role in books
[edit] The Amulet of Samarkand
In The Amulet of Samarkand, Nathaniel starts off as a young boy who, at the age of five, had been given up by his parents to apprenticeship under a mediocre Whitehall magician named Arthur Underwood, the assistant minister of Internal Affairs. Underwood begins teaching the boy in magic, but Nathaniel, being curious and inquisitive, decides to advance his education to higher levels without the knowledge of his tutor.
However, at the age of ten, in his master's house, Nathaniel is publicly humiliated by a greedy and ambitious young fellow magician named Simon Lovelace. In a fit of juvenile fury, Nathaniel hatches a plan for vengeance. He sets several mites (a weak kind of imp) on Lovelace, but he is too powerful. Lovelace stops the mites and beats Nathaniel for setting them on him.
Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus, a 5,010-year-old djinni, to exact his revenge on Lovelace. Mrs. Underwood - Nathaniel's master's wife - inadvertently reveals his real name to Bartimaeus. This vastly limits Nathaniel's control over the djinni, who can launch counterspells incorporating Nathaniel's name (hence the practice of assigning names).
In the end, he earns the respect of the majority of the other magicians including Rupert Devereaux, the Prime Minister. He is accepted as a magician in the government.
[edit] The Golem's Eye
Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus again, facing off against the Resistance and sinister magicians.
The second book picks up almost three years later and features Nathaniel as a junior magician working his way up the government ranks. In this book Kitty Jones is introduced as an important character. She is a part of the Resistance movement, which seeks to end the oppressive rule of the magicians. Nathaniel is tasked by his superiors to crush the Resistance movement and capture the members. His task is complicated when a seemingly invulnerable clay golem starts to make random attacks on London. Much to the displeasure of Bartimaeus, Nathaniel recalls the djinni to aid him in uncovering the origins of the golem, and to save his own skin.
[edit] Ptolemy's Gate
In the Ptolemy's Gate, Nathaniel, risen to the ruling Council, is faced by a massive revolt of magicians and spirits together, led by Nouda, a spirit of awesome power who can not even be defeated by the legendary William Gladstone's Staff. The best efforts of Nathaniel, Bartimaeus and Kitty working together reluctantly will not be enough to stop Nouda without a supreme sacrifice (i.e. death). During the course of the book, Nathaniel rejects his magician name of John Mandrake and the shallow lifestyle he adopted to rise in the government, and goes back to the more selfless persona of Nathaniel. Mutual romantic feelings are hinted at in the book at various points between Kitty and himself. At one point, Bartimaeus states how Nathaniel had thoughts that "...if Kitty only knew!"
[edit] Death
Nathaniel selflessly sacrifices himself to save London, Kitty, and Bartimaeus. He broke Gladstone's Staff by dismissing Bartimeus (who was keeping it from exploding, after Nathaniel unlocked all its energies), destroying himself and the antagonist Nouda who had grown too powerful for the body of Makepeace and destroyed it. Although it is highly probable that he is dead, there remains a little ambiguity as his corpse was never found and his death is not directly mentioned. The reader's greatest indicator is that Kitty says to the ruins of the Crystal Palace, "So much for your promises." This references a statement by Nathaniel earlier in the book that he would see Kitty outside the Palace.
[edit] Trivia
- Nathanial's chosen magician name, John Mandrake, may be a reference to the popular comic strip and real life magician, Mandrake the Magician
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- The Amulet of Samarkand ISBN 0552552577
- The Golem's Eye ISBN 038560615X
- Ptolemy's Gate ISBN 0385608683
| Bartimaeus Trilogy | |
|---|---|
| Books | The Amulet of Samarkand | The Golem's Eye | Ptolemy's Gate |
| Main characters | Nathaniel | Bartimaeus | Kitty Jones |
| Other topics | Magic in the Bartimaeus trilogy | Characters of the Bartimaeus trilogy |
