# XXII: The Dark Nebula explained — The House on the Borderland

> Chapter companion for The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson.

## What happens

The narrator drifts through aeons as the universe decays, encountering a dark nebula filled with ruddy spheres containing sorrowful, blind faces. He is drawn into the Plain of Silence and the arena where the monstrous House stands, realizing its connection to his own home. He is pulled inside the colossal structure, hearing swine-laughter and experiencing a disorienting vision before clarity returns.

## Themes in this chapter

### Cosmic Entropy and the End of All Things

The narrator experiences the decay of stars and the passage of aeons, culminating in a dark nebula and the desolate Plain of Silence.

### The Supernatural and the Unknown

The dark nebula, the ruddy spheres with blind sorrowful faces, and the colossal House represent unknowable cosmic horrors.

### The House as a Threshold or Borderland

The narrator realizes his own house is en rapport with the monstrous structure in the arena, suggesting a threshold between realities.

## Character check-ins

### The Recluse

Drifts through space and time, observing the dark nebula and the sorrowful faces, then drawn into the Plain of Silence and the colossal House.

### The Swine-Things

Heard murmuring with swine-laughter from beneath the narrator as he is trapped in the dark House.

## Key lines

> Years melted into the past, centuries, aeons. The light of the incandescent star sank to a furious red.

Countless years passed, and the star's light dimmed to a deep red.

_Highlights the immense passage of time and cosmic decay._

> It was as though a curtain had been drawn before my vision.

The dark nebula blocked his view like a drawn curtain.

_Describes the obscuring effect of the nebula._

> A face, human in its outline; but so tortured with woe, that I stared, aghast.

A human-like face appeared, twisted with unbearable sorrow.

_Illustrates the haunting visages within the red spheres._

> I began to understand, with a more than human clearness, that the attack I had repelled, was, in some extraordinary manner, connected with an attack upon that strange edifice.

He realized that the assault on his house was linked to an attack on the colossal House.

_Reveals the connection between the two houses._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/xxii-the-dark-nebula
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters