Gloamglozer


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"Warn them? Warn them of what? There is nothing to fear... yet. "
—The Gloamglozer[1]

The Gloamglozer was the most evil creature in the Edgeworld.[2] Often dismissed as an old Deepwoods legend,[3] the Gloamglozer was a trickster and a seducer that was created before the dawn of time, terrorising the Deepwoods. The Gloamglozer could not be killed by physical weapons (including stormphrax-based firearms), because, as it said itself: "I am glister born, from Open Sky!"[4] The Immortals later killed it by removing the glister that had given it life, just as Quint had sought to do from the First Age of Flight.

Physical Description

The true form of the Gloamglozer

As a shapeshifter, the Gloamglozer could resemble any living creature, but its true form was a hideous creature with a warty, sneering face, framed by two sinister curving horns, cloaked in a featureless robe that floated above the ground, with long arms and calloused hands ending in sharp claws which hold a plain wooden staff with a skull mounted on it. The Gloamglozer was said to feed on others' emotions, and, like glisters, it craved fear above all other emotions. It could not cause harm directly, since it possessed no physical strength, but it used a combination of lies, trickery and traps to lead victims to death.

The other forms it took are as follows:

Role Throughout History

The original Gloamglozer was one of many ancient demons which roamed the Deepwoods. The other demons perished when the Mother Storm first seeded the edge with life, but the Gloamglozer survived because it could disguise itself and deceive the unwary. Later, during the Time of Enlightenment, the Gloamglozer faded away to nothing, banished by the wisdom of Kobold the Wise.

However, many centuries later, the Gloamglozer was accidentally resurrected by the Most High Academe of the day, Linius Pallitax, born from channelling the energy of a Great Storm into a glister in the Ancient Laboratory. The contagion responsible for stone-sickness was spawned within the Gloamglozer. The demon burned down the Palace of Shadows, but Quint managed to banish it from Sanctaphrax by using Chine. When the Gloamglozer escaped into the outside world, stone-sickness spread to the Stone Gardens, where it incubated for many decades before beginning to attack the Flight-Rocks.

After its banishment, the Gloamglozer moved to the Deepwoods and the Edgelands. It led Twig astray and tried to kill him, but the Caterbird rescued him.

While it did not appear during the Rook Trilogy, it had such a fearsome reputation that the zealous Guardians of Night used its face as their symbol.

Distant Future

Centuries later, the Gloamglozer rediscovered the lost floating city of Sanctaphrax, and settled there, creating the illusion that Sanctaphrax was beautifully preserved, like it was before the Anchor Chain was cut, and using the Ancient Laboratory to create an army of new Gloamglozers.

The original Gloamglozer assumed the form of his creator, Linius Pallitax, and served as a guide to the group that boarded Sanctaphrax, led by Nate Quarter. This Gloamglozer lured Nate away from the others, then turned into its true form, from where it referred to Nate as 'Spawn of Quintinius Verginix'.

Soon after, Nate was chased to the top of a tower, surrounded by Gloamglozers. However, a storm rolled forth and the Immortals - Quint, Twig, and Rook - appeared, resembling themselves as they were in their youth. The leader of the Gloamglozers was frightened of Quint, and Quint reached into the folds of the Gloamglozer's cloak and pulled out a tiny glister, destroying the Gloamglozer.

Behind the Scenes

"Once you’ve worked with a character with a specific name, it’s difficult to imagine them with a different one. Keeping the same idea of trickery and deception, the verb ‘to gloze’ worked. Maybe it could be a glozer. But then, walking in the Peaks at twilight, the word ‘gloaming’ popped into my head. And the gloamglozer was born."
—Paul Stewart[5]

Up until shortly before the publication of Beyond the Deepwoods, the Gloamglozer had not yet gotten this name. In early drafts, it had been called "hornswoggle", a name inspired by an American word that means to deceive[6]. This name also inspired Chris Riddell to give the gloamglozer horns. As his children were listening to "The Minpins", Paul Stewart found out that the name had already been used by Roald Dahl, a famous British children's author. He came up with a new name and thus the "gloamglozer" was born.[5]

In translation

  • In the Czech Edge Chronicles, the gloamglozer's name is translated as 'Šerolichotník', 'šero' meaning dimness or the dawn, and 'lichotit' 'to flatter'.[7]
  • In Danish, the gloamglozer is called "Glamhuggeren" which translates to 'the bay-stealer' or 'roar-thief'.
  • In Dutch, the gloamglozer is called the 'schermergluiperd' which can be translated as 'twilight-creeper'.
  • In Finnish, the gloamglozer is called 'Kieränlempo' which translates to 'crooked's/twisted's devil', where lempo doesn't refer to the biblical devil but a Finnish pagan evil spirit.[8]
  • In French, it's "le luminard", which, according to Paul Stewart has "a connotation of falseness". [5].
  • In German, the gloamglozer is called 'Schleimschmeichler'. Not only does this sound rather unpleasant but it literally translates to 'Slimy Flatterer'[5]. Moreover, the German verb 'schleimen' not only means 'to crawl' but figuratively, 'schleimen' also means 'to brown-nose one's way to the top'.
  • In Italian, the gloamglozer is called 'Mordicuore', which could be translated by Google Translate as 'heart-biter'.
  • In Polish, it's 'Mąciwodziciel', which is a portmanteau of two terms: "Mąciwoda", a troublemaker. 'Wodziciel', the One who Leads, comes from 'wodzić,' to lead. Taken together, 'Mąciwodziciel" translates to 'troublemaker who leads you astray'.[7].
  • The Russian translation is Хрумхрымс, 'Hrumhryms' or 'Khroomkhryms' which means 'much-crunch' and sounds 'like a fluffy teddy bear'.
  • In the Ukranian translation of the Edge Chronicles, the gloamglozer is called 'Темнолесник', which means "the being from the Darkwoods', 'Darkwoods' referring to the Deepwoods.[9]

References

  1. ↑ The Immortals, Chapter 94
  2. ↑ Beyond the Deepwoods, Chapter 3: The Slaughterers
  3. ↑ The Curse of the Gloamglozer, Chapter 10: Plotting and Planning
  4. ↑ The Immortals, Chapter 98
  5. 1 2 3 4 Post by Paul Stewart on the official Edge Chronicles Facebook, 17.09.2020: https://www.facebook.com/EdgeChronicles/posts/1818416184967991?__tn__=-R
  6. ↑ hornswoggle (2019, October 6): Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 17:43, October 7, 2020 from https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=hornswoggle&oldid=54753307
  7. 1 2 Comment on a facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/EdgeChronicles/posts/1818416184967991?__tn__=-R
  8. ↑ Edge Chronicles Discord server: https://discord.com/channels/419945372505473024/419945372505473026/764473091807117332 (10.10.2020)
  9. ↑ Edge Chronicles Discord https://discord.com/channels/419945372505473024/433966931125731328/764510918330810378 (10.10.2020)
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