The Night Land · Chapter
II: The Last Redoubt explained
The Narrator describes the Last Redoubt, a great pyramid housing the last millions of humanity in a future world of eternal night, besieged by monstrous creatures and dark forces.
What happens
The Narrator describes the Last Redoubt, a great pyramid housing the last millions of humanity in a future world of eternal night, besieged by monstrous creatures and dark forces. He recounts his visions of this future, where he awakens as a youth within the Redoubt, and details the surrounding terrors: the House of Silence, the Road Where the Silent Ones Walk, the South-East Watcher, the Giants' Pit, and the Country Whence Comes the Great Laughter. The chapter also touches on his personal grief for Mirdath and his hope of reunion through transcendence.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Loss
The Narrator's profound grief for Mirdath and his longing for reunion drives the emotional core of the chapter.
Transcendence and Reincarnation
The Narrator's visions of waking into a future existence and his belief in reuniting with Mirdath across ages highlight themes of transcendence and reincarnation.
The Eternal Struggle Against Evil
The Last Redoubt stands as a bastion against the monstrous Forces of Darkness, with constant threats from creatures like the Silent Ones, Hounds, and Giants.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Describes his grief for Mirdath and his visions of the future Night Land, where he awakens as a youth in the Last Redoubt.
- Lady Mirdath the Beautiful
Mentioned as the Narrator's lost love whose death left him in anguish, and with whom he hopes to reunite in future lives.
- Master Monstruwacan
Referenced as the Watchmen (Monstruwacans) who look out from the tower atop the Last Redoubt.
- The Silent Ones
Mentioned in relation to the House of Silence and the Road Where the Silent Ones Walk, considered the greatest danger.
- The Hounds
Referenced as the monstrous Night Hounds living in the Valley of the Hounds.
- The Giants
Described as tending the Giants' Kilns and crawling out of the Giants' Pit.
Key passages
“Since Mirdath, My Beautiful One, died and left me lonely in this world, I have suffered an anguish, and an utter and dreadful pain of longing, such as truly no words shall ever tell”
After Mirdath's death, the Narrator experiences an indescribable and overwhelming grief and loneliness.
Establishes the Narrator's emotional state and motivation for his visions.
“To me, in this last time of my visions, of which I would tell, it was not as if I dreamed ; but, as it were, that I waked there into the dark, in the future of this world .”
The Narrator's visions feel like waking into a real future world rather than dreaming.
Describes the nature of his transcendental experiences.
“And when the humans had built the great Pyramid, it had one thousand three hundred and twenty floors; and the thickness of each floor was according to the strength of its need. And the whole height of this pyramid exceeded seven miles, by near a mile”
The Last Redoubt is a massive pyramid with 1,320 floors, standing nearly eight miles tall.
Provides key details about the structure of the Last Redoubt.