A Darkling Plain
Encyclopedia
A Darkling Plain is the fourth and final novel in the Mortal Engines Quartet series written by author Philip Reeve
.
The novel won the 2006 Guardian Award
and the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction.
and her father Tom Natsworthy have taken to the skies in their airship, the Jenny Haniver
. After the apparent death of the Stalker Fang at the end of Infernal Devices, General Naga has seized command of the Green Storm
and has signed a peace treaty between the Green Storm and the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft
, ushering in a new era of peace and trade. Whilst Wren is enjoying life as an aviator, Tom misses Hester
, and has been informed by a doctor that his weak heart means he only has a few years left to live. The Lost Boy, Fishcake, is secretly repairing the Stalker Fang, coming to regard her as the mother he never had. Theo Ngoni
has returned to Zagwa and rejoined his family.
's poem Dover Beach
. This excerpt of the poem appears at the beginning of the book:
This relates to the novel in several ways. The characters are indeed swept about, often against their will, by the "ignorant armies" of the Green Storm and Traktionstadtsgesellschaft, on the "darkling plain" of the Great Hunting Ground.
Reeve references his choice of title himself towards the end of the book when the character Nimrod Pennyroyal
writes a book within a book titled Ignorant Armies.
, General Naga's wife. Oenone suspects that the murder attempt was organized by factions in the Green Storm still loyal to the Stalker Fang. Theo is made commander of an airship that will secretly deliver Lady Naga back home to Batmunkh Gompa. While flying across the Sahara Desert it is revealed that one of Oenone's retinue is really Cynthia Twite, a secret agent
for the Stalker Fang first encountered in Infernal Devices. After murdering the pilot, Twite attempts to kill Lady Naga but is foiled by Theo. She escapes from the airship before a bomb she planted explodes. Theo and Oenone are assumed dead.
Meanwhile, Tom and Wren encounter a face from the past: Clytie Potts, a historian from London
who Tom had assumed perished on the night MEDUSA exploded. She goes by a different name and claims to have never met Tom, but he is unsatisfied and follows her to the cities of the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft. Manchester
has recently arrived and is encouraging the German cities to abandon the peace treaty and attack the Green Storm again. Here they also encounter Professor Pennyroyal
, who assures them that nobody could have survived the destruction of MEDUSA. A young German soldier named Wolf Kobold, however, claims to have seen Potts' airship flying east towards the ruins of London. He tells them of how he once crash-landed in London and witnessed strange activity. Wolf suspects there are survivors living in the ruins of London, who are working on something secret. Tom and Wren agree to travel with him in his burrowing predator suburb Harrowbarrow to investigate.
Meanwhile, Hester Shaw and Shrike
(called Grike in US editions), who finds himself unable to kill any humans due to memories unlocked by Dr Zero, have been travelling the Sahara for six months, where they have a chance encounter with Theo. Following the crash, he and Oenone were taken as slaves by a desert town. Hester rescues Theo and shoots several guards. They escape on board Hester and Shrike's sand-ship, killing their pursuers. Theo tells them that Oenone Zero was taken north by a merchant called Napster Varley, and convinces the two to help him rescue her. They sell the sand-ship, buy an airship and travel north.
The Stalker Fang is demanding that Fishcake take her east, back to Shan Guo, so she can activate ODIN. They steal a limpet from Brighton
(which, after the events of Infernal Devices, is now ruled by warring gangs of Lost Boys) and travel east, eventually arriving at the mountain Zhan Shan in Central Asia
. Throughout this journey, the Stalker faces an internal battle between its warlike side and the remnants of Anna Fang
, resulting in a split personality. Fishcake comes to love Anna and hate the Stalker Fang. Eventually Anna gains the upper hand, and Fishcake is delighted. After meeting with Sathya in a hermitage on Zhan Shan, they travel to Batmunkh Gompa to try and find Dr. Popjoy (the Engineer who created her) and force him to remove the Stalker Fang personality permanently.
Meanwhile Cynthia Twite has returned to Tienjing and informed General Naga of Oenone's supposed death. The General despairs and Twite becomes his own servant so that she can infiltrate his government and then topple it from within.
Tom, Wren and Wolf travel across the Green Storm's frontline in Harrowbarrow. They are shocked by his violence when smashing through the line, but still take the Jenny Haniver westwards with him on board. In the ruins of London they make a startling discovery - survivors are indeed living amongst the ruins, including two people Tom knew from his life on London: Clytie Potts and Chudleigh Pomeroy, who is the new mayor. They are welcomed into the community suspiciously, but Wren thinks the Londoners are hiding something from them.
Fishcake and Anna arrive at Popjoy's villa, but in killing his guards she reverts to her Stalker self, and the plan backfires as she makes Popjoy try and remove the Anna parts of her instead. He tells her he cannot, so she kills him and steals his airship to travel east to activate ODIN, accompanied by a miserable Fishcake.
In the ruins of London, Wren and Wolf make a discovery - the Londoners are concealing a new city called "New London", built to float above the ground using the Ancients' magnetic levitation
technology. Wolf escapes from London with this knowledge, intending to return and devour it with Harrowbarrow.
Hester attempts to cheat Varley, but is discovered and has to fight her way out. He is killed by his wife and she escapes with Oenone when Pennyroyal and his troops challenge them. A fight ensues, and in the confusion Hester and her party manage to escape on their airship with Oenone. Pennyroyal falls from Airhaven, and is assumed killed, but instead lands in the rigging of Hester's airship and is begrudgingly taken on as a passenger. The five of them make it across no-man's land to a Green Storm airbase, where they are hailed as heroes. The airbase is soon attacked by the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft, however - at the urging of Manchester, the war has begun again. All of them manage to escape in an airship heading east except Theo, who turns back to recover a letter he had from Wren.
Meanwhile the Stalker Fang and Fishcake arrive in Erdene Tezh, her old home. She begins to assemble a powerful radio station to send a signal to ODIN.
The Stalker Fang has activated ODIN, however, and turns it on the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft. Manchester and many other cities are completely destroyed, and the surviving cities flee west.
In Tienjing, news of Oenone's survival reaches General Naga. He realises Cynthia Twite had deceived him and confronts her. She is about to kill him when ODIN fires upon the city. Twite is killed instantly but Naga survives. He takes the shattered remnants of his government and flees to Batmunkh Gompa.
News of ODIN's destruction reaches the ruins of London. They have no idea it has been turned on Green Storm cities as well, and assume it is a new weapon of Naga's. Tom decides to take the Jenny Haniver east to talk to the General and tell him about New London, and how it will not damage the earth as the other Traction Cities do. He sneaks away in the dead of night, leaving a letter for Wren, confident that Theo and Chudleigh Pomeroy will look after her.
In no-man's land, news comes to Harrowbarrow of the destruction of the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft. Wolf is determined to carry on to the ruins of London, and tells his second-in-command that after the Sixty Minute War
, the creatures that survived best were cockroaches and rats. He believes that with the old cities gone, the time for creeping places like Harrowbarrow is at hand, and they continue east.
Tom arrives in Batmunkh Gompa and is taken prisoner by the Green Storm. General Naga speaks to him, but does not believe him about New London. He does, however, believe that something is going on in London's ruins, and becomes suspicious.
Hester's party arrive in Batmunkh Gompa to discover that Tienjing has been destroyed. Shrike speculates that perhaps the Green Storm does not control ODIN; that it is instead in the hands of a third party, the Stalker Fang. Hester also learns that Tom is being held captive in the city, and goes to see him.
Oenone meets General Naga but he no longer trusts her, and hits her. He still believes ODIN to be a weapon of the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft, and since Oenone wanted the peace treaty, tells her it is her fault. He has her imprisoned and flies to the ruins of London with a fleet of airships.
Hester is awkwardly reunited with Tom. She frees him just as Pennyroyal comes back from the audience chamber with Naga; he tells them that Oenone has fallen from grace, and Naga intends to destroy London. Another blast from ODIN strikes just to the south, triggering the volcano of Zhan Shan. Shrike suggests they find ODIN's true ground station and destroy it before any more attacks occur.
Leaving the debris fields of London, Wren and Theo encounter Harrowbarrow approaching. Theo runs back to warn the Londoners, as Wren stays and convinces Wolf to lead Harrowbarrow down 'Electric Lane' a clearing where anything metal is struck by lightning from the remnants of MEDUSA. The Green Storm's air fleet then arrive and the Londoners demonstrate New London's levitation to Naga. He decrees that it is not a city, just a "very large, low-flying airship" and decides to help defend them against the approaching predator suburb.
Hester, Tom and Shrike fly towards Erdene Tezh, where ODIN's ground station is located. During the journey Hester confesses to Tom that she is Valentine's daughter, and he forgives her for betraying Anchorage
. They fall in love again, but are interrupted by Shrike announcing that he has discovered a stowaway: Pennyroyal. As they decide what to do with him, the airship is attacked by Stalker-birds. Shrike defends the ship but falls from it, disappearing down into the mountains. The Jenny Haniver then crashes on the shores of the lake at Erdene Tezh, and the three escape as it burns to ashes. Hester ties up Pennyroyal and leaves him in the bushes as she and Tom approach the house where the ground station is. The Stalker Fang (whose personalities have fused back into one) confronts them. Fishcake is with her and, bitter about their betrayal in Infernal Devices, demands that Fang kill them. Tom has a heart attack
, however, and she takes them into her house as prisoners.
Meanwhile, Theo and Wren are engaged in a sword fight with Wolf on top of Harrowbarrow, as New London flees through the debris fields. Wolf is killed and they are rescued by General Naga, who takes them back to New London. Harrowbarrow still chases the young city, however, and the General sacrifices himself by flying his airship into its mouth in a kamikaze
attack, destroying both of them. New London escapes across the plains.
Shrike recovers from his fall into the mountains, and climbs out of a frozen lake, running towards Erdene Tezh. Fishcake discovers Pennyroyal in the bushes and frees him, telling him about the airship and how the keys are kept around the Stalker's neck. Pennyroyal realises he has no other way to escape, salvages an electricity gun from the wreck of the Jenny Haniver, and creeps towards the house.
Inside Tom has recovered from his heart attack, and Fang tells the two of them about her plans. She intends to fire ODIN on volcanoes across the world, blotting out the sky with volcanic ash and wiping out the Human race. She believes it is the only way to make the world green again. Tom pleads with the Anna side of her to destroy ODIN, and after an internal struggle the Stalker sends a new set of orders up to the orbiting weapon. Pennyroyal bursts into the house and attacks Fang with the electricity gun shortly after. He manages to kill her, but also sets the house on fire. Tom has another heart attack, and lies helpless in Hester's arms. She drags him outside as Pennyroyal runs to get the airship and get Tom to a doctor.
On board the airship, however, Fishcake puts a knife to Pennyroyal's throat and forces him to fly away, abandoning Tom and Hester the same way they abandoned him on Brighton. Hester sees him fly away, and understands. Tom dies in her arms, and Hester peacefully commits suicide to be with him in death. Above them, ODIN follows Anna Fang's last order and turns its weapon upon itself, raining debris down on the planet.
With the Green Storm's armies shattered and the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft smashed, Oenone is appointed the new leader of Shan Guo. New London prospers, and Wren and Theo become air-traders. Fishcake returns to the mountains to find Sathya; he grows old and has children, and finds in his later life that he regrets leaving Tom and Hester. Pennyroyal tries to publish a new book about what happened at Erdene Tezh, telling the truth this time. He cannot find a publisher for it, however, and lives out his last days with Minty Bapsnack, an old girlfriend in the Traction City of Peripetitiapolis.
The final chapter deals with Shrike (called Grike in US editions), and how he arrives at Erdene Tezh too late. He finds Tom and Hester's bodies, and takes them up into the mountains where he lays them down together. Because of his everlasting being, He is able to watch as they decompose over a fairly long period of time, and new plants and trees grow from their remains. He then shuts down into hibernation
, and sees hundreds of years go past like minutes, he sees a girl putting a ring of flowers around his neck, and starts to slow his hibernation. He sees another girl, who thought he was just an old statue, and put flowers around him for luck, she says that her family have been hanging the flowers since her mother's mother's time, showing that he took two generations to slow his hibernation. He follows her down into a valley where her village rests (built around the ruins of an old city), where he starts to decipher their language, and discovers that traction cities
are considered a fairytale. Cities no longer move except in stories, showing that some knowledge of Municipal Darwinism
has lived on, and airships still exist, powered by magnetic levitation.
They ask if he is one of the machine men out of stories they have heard, again showing some memory of Stalkers
. They ask Shrike what he is for, and he tells them he is a Remembering Machine. He says that he remembers the age of the Traction Cities, London
and Arkangel
, Thaddeus Valentine
and Anna Fang, and Hester and Tom. The villagers gather round and ask him to tell them. He begins to tell them his story, beginning with the first line of Mortal Engines
.
Philip Reeve
Philip Reeve is a British author and illustrator. He presently lives on Dartmoor with his wife Sarah and their son Samuel.-Biography:...
.
The novel won the 2006 Guardian Award
Guardian Award
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award is a prominent award for works of children's literature by British or Commonwealth authors, published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The award has been given annually since 1967, and is decided by a panel of authors and the...
and the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction.
Setting
The book is set six months after Infernal Devices. Wren NatsworthyWren Natsworthy
Wren Natsworthy is a character from Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet, appearing in the last two books.-Family and friends:Her father is Tom Natsworthy and her mother is Hester Shaw and by the end of A Darkling Plain, she has become engaged to Theo Ngoni. Her best friend is Tildy Smew, a girl...
and her father Tom Natsworthy have taken to the skies in their airship, the Jenny Haniver
Jenny Haniver (airship)
The Jenny Haniver is the name of an airship featured heavily in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet. She is a small cargo airship with a crimson envelope....
. After the apparent death of the Stalker Fang at the end of Infernal Devices, General Naga has seized command of the Green Storm
Green Storm
In Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet, the Green Storm is a fanatical splinter group of the Anti-Traction League, which ends up in control of the League...
and has signed a peace treaty between the Green Storm and the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft
Traktionstadtsgesellschaft
The Traktionstadtsgesellschaft is an organization of German cities in the novel A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve....
, ushering in a new era of peace and trade. Whilst Wren is enjoying life as an aviator, Tom misses Hester
Hester Shaw
Hester Shaw is a fictional character from Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet who has terrible facial scarring, due to an attack from Thaddeus Valentine when Hester was a child.-Personality:...
, and has been informed by a doctor that his weak heart means he only has a few years left to live. The Lost Boy, Fishcake, is secretly repairing the Stalker Fang, coming to regard her as the mother he never had. Theo Ngoni
Theo Ngoni
Theo Ngoni is a fictional character in Phillip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet.He is first introduced in Infernal Devices as a fellow slave of Wren Natsworthy on Cloud Nine. Originally he was a Green Storm suicide bomber, but was captured when his "Tumbler" failed to detonate when it was dropped on...
has returned to Zagwa and rejoined his family.
Explanation of the novel's title
The title is derived from Matthew ArnoldMatthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator...
's poem Dover Beach
Dover Beach
"Dover Beach" is a short lyric poem by the English poet Matthew Arnold. It was first published in 1867 in the collection New Poems, but surviving notes indicate its composition may have begun as early as 1849...
. This excerpt of the poem appears at the beginning of the book:
This relates to the novel in several ways. The characters are indeed swept about, often against their will, by the "ignorant armies" of the Green Storm and Traktionstadtsgesellschaft, on the "darkling plain" of the Great Hunting Ground.
Reeve references his choice of title himself towards the end of the book when the character Nimrod Pennyroyal
Nimrod Pennyroyal
Nimrod Pennyroyal is a recurring character in the Mortal Engines Quartet, written by Philip Reeve. He is first introduced in Predator's Gold and remains a major character for the rest of the series....
writes a book within a book titled Ignorant Armies.
Part One
Theo Ngoni foils an attempt to murder the now Oenone NagaOenone Zero
Oenone Zero is a character in the Mortal Engines Quartet, introduced in Infernal Devices.Doctor Zero was born on the Aleutian Islands about two years before Mortal Engines started, making her approximately nineteen or twenty when she is introduced, four years older than Wren Natsworthy, who wasn't...
, General Naga's wife. Oenone suspects that the murder attempt was organized by factions in the Green Storm still loyal to the Stalker Fang. Theo is made commander of an airship that will secretly deliver Lady Naga back home to Batmunkh Gompa. While flying across the Sahara Desert it is revealed that one of Oenone's retinue is really Cynthia Twite, a secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...
for the Stalker Fang first encountered in Infernal Devices. After murdering the pilot, Twite attempts to kill Lady Naga but is foiled by Theo. She escapes from the airship before a bomb she planted explodes. Theo and Oenone are assumed dead.
Meanwhile, Tom and Wren encounter a face from the past: Clytie Potts, a historian from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
who Tom had assumed perished on the night MEDUSA exploded. She goes by a different name and claims to have never met Tom, but he is unsatisfied and follows her to the cities of the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft. Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
has recently arrived and is encouraging the German cities to abandon the peace treaty and attack the Green Storm again. Here they also encounter Professor Pennyroyal
Nimrod Pennyroyal
Nimrod Pennyroyal is a recurring character in the Mortal Engines Quartet, written by Philip Reeve. He is first introduced in Predator's Gold and remains a major character for the rest of the series....
, who assures them that nobody could have survived the destruction of MEDUSA. A young German soldier named Wolf Kobold, however, claims to have seen Potts' airship flying east towards the ruins of London. He tells them of how he once crash-landed in London and witnessed strange activity. Wolf suspects there are survivors living in the ruins of London, who are working on something secret. Tom and Wren agree to travel with him in his burrowing predator suburb Harrowbarrow to investigate.
Meanwhile, Hester Shaw and Shrike
Shrike (Philip Reeve)
Shrike is a recurring character in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet and Fever Crumb Series. He appears in all the books except Predator's Gold and A Web of Air....
(called Grike in US editions), who finds himself unable to kill any humans due to memories unlocked by Dr Zero, have been travelling the Sahara for six months, where they have a chance encounter with Theo. Following the crash, he and Oenone were taken as slaves by a desert town. Hester rescues Theo and shoots several guards. They escape on board Hester and Shrike's sand-ship, killing their pursuers. Theo tells them that Oenone Zero was taken north by a merchant called Napster Varley, and convinces the two to help him rescue her. They sell the sand-ship, buy an airship and travel north.
The Stalker Fang is demanding that Fishcake take her east, back to Shan Guo, so she can activate ODIN. They steal a limpet from Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
(which, after the events of Infernal Devices, is now ruled by warring gangs of Lost Boys) and travel east, eventually arriving at the mountain Zhan Shan in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
. Throughout this journey, the Stalker faces an internal battle between its warlike side and the remnants of Anna Fang
Anna Fang
Anna Fang is a character in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet. Her name may be derived from the German "anfang" meaning beginning.-Mortal Engines:Anna is introduced as a friendly Asian aviator who helps Tom Natsworthy and Hester Shaw escape slavery...
, resulting in a split personality. Fishcake comes to love Anna and hate the Stalker Fang. Eventually Anna gains the upper hand, and Fishcake is delighted. After meeting with Sathya in a hermitage on Zhan Shan, they travel to Batmunkh Gompa to try and find Dr. Popjoy (the Engineer who created her) and force him to remove the Stalker Fang personality permanently.
Meanwhile Cynthia Twite has returned to Tienjing and informed General Naga of Oenone's supposed death. The General despairs and Twite becomes his own servant so that she can infiltrate his government and then topple it from within.
Tom, Wren and Wolf travel across the Green Storm's frontline in Harrowbarrow. They are shocked by his violence when smashing through the line, but still take the Jenny Haniver westwards with him on board. In the ruins of London they make a startling discovery - survivors are indeed living amongst the ruins, including two people Tom knew from his life on London: Clytie Potts and Chudleigh Pomeroy, who is the new mayor. They are welcomed into the community suspiciously, but Wren thinks the Londoners are hiding something from them.
Fishcake and Anna arrive at Popjoy's villa, but in killing his guards she reverts to her Stalker self, and the plan backfires as she makes Popjoy try and remove the Anna parts of her instead. He tells her he cannot, so she kills him and steals his airship to travel east to activate ODIN, accompanied by a miserable Fishcake.
In the ruins of London, Wren and Wolf make a discovery - the Londoners are concealing a new city called "New London", built to float above the ground using the Ancients' magnetic levitation
Magnetic levitation
Magnetic levitation, maglev, or magnetic suspension is a method by which an object is suspended with no support other than magnetic fields...
technology. Wolf escapes from London with this knowledge, intending to return and devour it with Harrowbarrow.
Part Two
Napster Varley arrives in Airhaven, which is floating above the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft, and makes cautious attempts to sell Oenone. Hester, Theo and Shrike arrive shortly afterwards and attempt to buy her back, but they do not have enough money. Hester then finds Pennyroyal hiding in Airhaven, in disgrace and debt after a newspaper exposed him as a fraud. She takes what remains of his money and heads to Varley's ship to buy Oenone back. Pennyroyal realises what she is doing and rounds up a group of troops from Manchester to try to get there first.Hester attempts to cheat Varley, but is discovered and has to fight her way out. He is killed by his wife and she escapes with Oenone when Pennyroyal and his troops challenge them. A fight ensues, and in the confusion Hester and her party manage to escape on their airship with Oenone. Pennyroyal falls from Airhaven, and is assumed killed, but instead lands in the rigging of Hester's airship and is begrudgingly taken on as a passenger. The five of them make it across no-man's land to a Green Storm airbase, where they are hailed as heroes. The airbase is soon attacked by the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft, however - at the urging of Manchester, the war has begun again. All of them manage to escape in an airship heading east except Theo, who turns back to recover a letter he had from Wren.
Meanwhile the Stalker Fang and Fishcake arrive in Erdene Tezh, her old home. She begins to assemble a powerful radio station to send a signal to ODIN.
Part Three
Theo survives the attack on the airfield and, as the letter from Wren says she intended to explore the ruins of London, he treks east across the plains to find her. He is welcomed into the ruins by the community there and reunited with Wren, but brings bad news that the war has started again. The development of New London is pushed faster, the Londoners eager to escape before the cities of the west arrive.The Stalker Fang has activated ODIN, however, and turns it on the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft. Manchester and many other cities are completely destroyed, and the surviving cities flee west.
In Tienjing, news of Oenone's survival reaches General Naga. He realises Cynthia Twite had deceived him and confronts her. She is about to kill him when ODIN fires upon the city. Twite is killed instantly but Naga survives. He takes the shattered remnants of his government and flees to Batmunkh Gompa.
News of ODIN's destruction reaches the ruins of London. They have no idea it has been turned on Green Storm cities as well, and assume it is a new weapon of Naga's. Tom decides to take the Jenny Haniver east to talk to the General and tell him about New London, and how it will not damage the earth as the other Traction Cities do. He sneaks away in the dead of night, leaving a letter for Wren, confident that Theo and Chudleigh Pomeroy will look after her.
In no-man's land, news comes to Harrowbarrow of the destruction of the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft. Wolf is determined to carry on to the ruins of London, and tells his second-in-command that after the Sixty Minute War
Sixty Minute War
The Sixty Minute War is a fictional event in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet. It is a cataclysmic conflict which is deliberately left vague, but was evidently fought between the American Empire and Greater China. It is likely that the Middle East was involved, as this region has been reduced...
, the creatures that survived best were cockroaches and rats. He believes that with the old cities gone, the time for creeping places like Harrowbarrow is at hand, and they continue east.
Part Four
On the same night that Tom slipped away, Chudleigh Pomeroy died in his sleep. The new mayor appointed is Mr. Garamond, the paranoid head of security who is convinced that Tom has gone to tell the cities about New London, and that Wren and Theo are traitors. He orders them locked up, but an Engineer (the mother of Bevis Pod) believes he is wrong and frees them in the night. They sneak away west through the debris fields.Tom arrives in Batmunkh Gompa and is taken prisoner by the Green Storm. General Naga speaks to him, but does not believe him about New London. He does, however, believe that something is going on in London's ruins, and becomes suspicious.
Hester's party arrive in Batmunkh Gompa to discover that Tienjing has been destroyed. Shrike speculates that perhaps the Green Storm does not control ODIN; that it is instead in the hands of a third party, the Stalker Fang. Hester also learns that Tom is being held captive in the city, and goes to see him.
Oenone meets General Naga but he no longer trusts her, and hits her. He still believes ODIN to be a weapon of the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft, and since Oenone wanted the peace treaty, tells her it is her fault. He has her imprisoned and flies to the ruins of London with a fleet of airships.
Hester is awkwardly reunited with Tom. She frees him just as Pennyroyal comes back from the audience chamber with Naga; he tells them that Oenone has fallen from grace, and Naga intends to destroy London. Another blast from ODIN strikes just to the south, triggering the volcano of Zhan Shan. Shrike suggests they find ODIN's true ground station and destroy it before any more attacks occur.
Leaving the debris fields of London, Wren and Theo encounter Harrowbarrow approaching. Theo runs back to warn the Londoners, as Wren stays and convinces Wolf to lead Harrowbarrow down 'Electric Lane' a clearing where anything metal is struck by lightning from the remnants of MEDUSA. The Green Storm's air fleet then arrive and the Londoners demonstrate New London's levitation to Naga. He decrees that it is not a city, just a "very large, low-flying airship" and decides to help defend them against the approaching predator suburb.
Hester, Tom and Shrike fly towards Erdene Tezh, where ODIN's ground station is located. During the journey Hester confesses to Tom that she is Valentine's daughter, and he forgives her for betraying Anchorage
Anchorage-in-Vineland
Anchorage-in-Vineland is a fictional city based on the city of Anchorage, Alaska in the Mortal Engines Quartet by Philip Reeve.It is the static and stable version of the Traction City of Anchorage that had decided to stop wandering the Arctic wastes and settle in the green and unspoilt land of...
. They fall in love again, but are interrupted by Shrike announcing that he has discovered a stowaway: Pennyroyal. As they decide what to do with him, the airship is attacked by Stalker-birds. Shrike defends the ship but falls from it, disappearing down into the mountains. The Jenny Haniver then crashes on the shores of the lake at Erdene Tezh, and the three escape as it burns to ashes. Hester ties up Pennyroyal and leaves him in the bushes as she and Tom approach the house where the ground station is. The Stalker Fang (whose personalities have fused back into one) confronts them. Fishcake is with her and, bitter about their betrayal in Infernal Devices, demands that Fang kill them. Tom has a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, however, and she takes them into her house as prisoners.
Meanwhile, Theo and Wren are engaged in a sword fight with Wolf on top of Harrowbarrow, as New London flees through the debris fields. Wolf is killed and they are rescued by General Naga, who takes them back to New London. Harrowbarrow still chases the young city, however, and the General sacrifices himself by flying his airship into its mouth in a kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
attack, destroying both of them. New London escapes across the plains.
Shrike recovers from his fall into the mountains, and climbs out of a frozen lake, running towards Erdene Tezh. Fishcake discovers Pennyroyal in the bushes and frees him, telling him about the airship and how the keys are kept around the Stalker's neck. Pennyroyal realises he has no other way to escape, salvages an electricity gun from the wreck of the Jenny Haniver, and creeps towards the house.
Inside Tom has recovered from his heart attack, and Fang tells the two of them about her plans. She intends to fire ODIN on volcanoes across the world, blotting out the sky with volcanic ash and wiping out the Human race. She believes it is the only way to make the world green again. Tom pleads with the Anna side of her to destroy ODIN, and after an internal struggle the Stalker sends a new set of orders up to the orbiting weapon. Pennyroyal bursts into the house and attacks Fang with the electricity gun shortly after. He manages to kill her, but also sets the house on fire. Tom has another heart attack, and lies helpless in Hester's arms. She drags him outside as Pennyroyal runs to get the airship and get Tom to a doctor.
On board the airship, however, Fishcake puts a knife to Pennyroyal's throat and forces him to fly away, abandoning Tom and Hester the same way they abandoned him on Brighton. Hester sees him fly away, and understands. Tom dies in her arms, and Hester peacefully commits suicide to be with him in death. Above them, ODIN follows Anna Fang's last order and turns its weapon upon itself, raining debris down on the planet.
With the Green Storm's armies shattered and the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft smashed, Oenone is appointed the new leader of Shan Guo. New London prospers, and Wren and Theo become air-traders. Fishcake returns to the mountains to find Sathya; he grows old and has children, and finds in his later life that he regrets leaving Tom and Hester. Pennyroyal tries to publish a new book about what happened at Erdene Tezh, telling the truth this time. He cannot find a publisher for it, however, and lives out his last days with Minty Bapsnack, an old girlfriend in the Traction City of Peripetitiapolis.
The final chapter deals with Shrike (called Grike in US editions), and how he arrives at Erdene Tezh too late. He finds Tom and Hester's bodies, and takes them up into the mountains where he lays them down together. Because of his everlasting being, He is able to watch as they decompose over a fairly long period of time, and new plants and trees grow from their remains. He then shuts down into hibernation
Hibernation
Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate. Hibernating animals conserve food, especially during winter when food supplies are limited, tapping energy reserves, body fat, at a slow rate...
, and sees hundreds of years go past like minutes, he sees a girl putting a ring of flowers around his neck, and starts to slow his hibernation. He sees another girl, who thought he was just an old statue, and put flowers around him for luck, she says that her family have been hanging the flowers since her mother's mother's time, showing that he took two generations to slow his hibernation. He follows her down into a valley where her village rests (built around the ruins of an old city), where he starts to decipher their language, and discovers that traction cities
Traction City
In Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet, Traction Cities are vast metropolises built on tiers that are capable of moving on gigantic wheels and caterpillar tracks. These cities hunt smaller cities which in turn hunt towns which in turn hunt villages and static settlements...
are considered a fairytale. Cities no longer move except in stories, showing that some knowledge of Municipal Darwinism
Municipal Darwinism
Municipal Darwinism is a fictional concept featured in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet. It refers to the practice in the post apocalyptic world described in the series, in which large mobile metropolitan areas, known as Traction Cities, consume one another by gathering other, smaller cities...
has lived on, and airships still exist, powered by magnetic levitation.
They ask if he is one of the machine men out of stories they have heard, again showing some memory of Stalkers
Stalker (Philip Reeve)
The Stalkers are a type of combatants mentioned in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines, Predator's Gold, Infernal Devices and A Darkling Plain. They are also known as the Resurrected Men. The Stalkers were built by the Nomadic Empires that battled each other across the volcano maze of what was once...
. They ask Shrike what he is for, and he tells them he is a Remembering Machine. He says that he remembers the age of the Traction Cities, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Arkangel
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
, Thaddeus Valentine
Thaddeus Valentine
Thaddeus Valentine is a fictitious historian of London in the book Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve. Mortal Engines is the first of a four-part series detailing life in an post nuclear war world...
and Anna Fang, and Hester and Tom. The villagers gather round and ask him to tell them. He begins to tell them his story, beginning with the first line of Mortal Engines
Mortal Engines
Mortal Engines is the first of four novels in Philip Reeve's quartet of the same name, which is also known as the Hungry City Chronicles in the United States...
.