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The Language of the Night: Thinking about demons [1]

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Date: 2025-04-21

Sigh. It’s been another of those weeks, and I’m not finished with The Wonder Engine, the second half of T. Kingfisher’s Clocktaur War duology, so can we do an open thread?

I’ve been thinking about demons this week. There’s a backstory here, one I hadn’t really considered before. There seem to be an awful lot of them mucking around in the the Clockwork world. The paladins are tasked to send them “back” (not exactly clear, though, where “back” is). It’s also unclear when and how they got into this world in the first place.

We know from Caliban’s experience that demons usually possess livestock, which is odd, because the lack of speech and opposable thumbs really limit what a demon can accomplish. We take it as a given at this point that they rarely possess people, which is good, because when they do, though, the results can be catastrophic. The demon that possessed Caliban forced him to commit mass murder and he remembers the event as if he were a (mostly) helpless bystander.

The demon that possesses the rune shaman reads minds. It terrifies Caliban with its power, intelligence, and subtlety. It’s ambitious; it can plan. How do we account for some demons being stunningly stupid and others being horrifically intelligent? We need a unified field theory of Kingfisher Clockwork demons.

Or are the dumb ones really dumb? On one hand, maybe farm animals represent safe harbor, at least until they start levitating. If a demon is fugitive and doesn’t want to be sent back, is there anyplace that would be better than another? Once they possess a body, can they leave that body? Is there anything short of death that can make a demon hop from one body to another?

What are demons doing in this world anyway? Do they have any relationship to gods, and why is it that the Dreaming God is the one whose followers are tasked as exorcists?

While we at it, we should also talk about possession, and how that happens. If you’ve finished The Wonder Engine (I’m working from memory, since I’m only halfway through), we know about willing, or informed, possession, and we know a little about unwilling possession, given Caliban’s memories and the level of his trauma. Apparently the dead demon in his soul still possesses some sensibility, since it too reacts to the rune demon and remains mute after Brenner kills the shaman.

Another character (and by extension, race) worth talking about is the indominable gnole Grimehug, whose relationship with Slate is both hilarious and heartwarming. It’s obvious that Grimehug is much more astute than the other characters assume. It’s also clear that Grimehug wants something from this arrangement more than steady meals and a comfy bed — so what is it?

Next week I promise I’ll have something coherent to share instead of some random musings and meanderings. One thing I want to look at is the economy of warfare, since our protagonists have some insightful criticisms of the governments and economics involved that translate fairly neatly to our world.

And we have to discuss Learned Edmund, the character who grows most in these books. Ashes Magnus is a hoot, Learned Edmund is adorable, and indexes are, indeed, essential to a civilized society.

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