Lud-in-the-Mist · Chapter
XVII: The World-in-Law explained
Nathaniel and Ambrose discuss the nature of law and delusion, with Nathaniel proposing that Endymion Leer and Christopher Pugwalker are the same person.
What happens
Nathaniel and Ambrose discuss the nature of law and delusion, with Nathaniel proposing that Endymion Leer and Christopher Pugwalker are the same person. He argues that the law is man's substitute for fairy fruit, a constructed reality where facts can be manipulated. They pledge an oath using wild thyme gin, and Nathaniel reveals his plan to use legal means to defeat Leer.
Themes in this chapter
Reality vs. Delusion
Nathaniel contrasts the world-in-law (constructed reality) with delusion/reality, arguing that law is man's substitute for fairy fruit.
Law and Justice
Nathaniel plans to use the law to trap Leer, viewing it as a net to catch shadows and a tool against fairy delusion.
Fatherhood and Responsibility
Nathaniel references his father Josiah's writings and portrait, pondering if he also fled to the world-in-law.
Characters to notice
- Master Nathaniel Chanticleer
Develops his theory of the world-in-law, linking Leer to Pugwalker, and takes an oath with Ambrose.
- Master Ambrose Honeysuckle
Listens to Nathaniel's theories, expresses skepticism but agrees to help, and gives Nathaniel the embroidered slipper.
- Endymion Leer
Suspect of being Christopher Pugwalker; Nathaniel believes he can be caught through legal means.
- Master Josiah Chanticleer
Portrait hangs in the room; Nathaniel wonders if he too heard the Note and fled to the world-in-law.
- Christopher Pugwalker
Nathaniel theorizes that Leer and Pugwalker are the same person, linking to the old murder case.
- Clementina Gibberty
Her trial thirty-six years ago is referenced; Leer was in Dorimare at that time.
Key passages
“Supposing then, that one planet reacts on the other, but that these reactions are translated, as it were, into the terms of the other? To take an example, supposing that what on one planet is a spiritual sin should turn on the other into a felony?”
Nathaniel suggests that events in the world of delusion manifest as legal crimes in the world-in-law.
Illustrates his theory linking fairy fruit to human bloodshed.
“What do you suppose the Law was invented for, Ambrose? ... I suppose it was invented to prevent rapine, and robbery, and murder, and all that sort of thing.”
Ambrose thinks law prevents crime, but Nathaniel argues it is a human-made delusion to control reality.
Sets up the central metaphor of the chapter.
“We (and then we say our own names), Nathaniel Chanticleer and Ambrose Honeysuckle, swear by the Living and the Dead, by the Past and the Future, by Memories and Hopes, that if a Vision comes begging at our door we will take it in and warm it at our hearth...”
Nathaniel and Ambrose recite an oath of openness to visions and mystery.
This oath is from the ancient Mysteries of Dorimare, foreshadowing Nathaniel's dead status in law.