The Fairies of The Ghosts of Nothing

Character Portraits

I’ve thought a while about what my first entry in The Shaken Tree should be. I decided a good place to start would be to go into a bit more detail about some of the characters from The Ghosts of Nothing, particularly the three main fairy characters. I won’t be going into any serious detail about their histories because I don’t want to give a bunch of spoilers (their histories are relevant to the story), but I’ll add some more meat to some of the details already revealed about them in Ghosts.

Aside: These characters feel like real people to me. Sometimes when I’m writing them, it almost feels like a possession, in that they say and do things that I didn’t expect or plan. More than that, I think each of these three fairy characters is strong and complex enough to be a main character in their own right.

***Just a warning: Below you will find some info about them that isn’t in book one. I guess it could be considered mildly spoilery since this stuff hasn’t been revealed yet, but there’s no info about future plot points here. If you don’t want to know anything until it’s revealed in the books, then stop reading now.

I’ll start with Fig, since she was the first fairy Nelly met (well, apart from her mother and the cat).

Fig basics: 
Name publicly used: Fig or Fig-o’-the-lantern
Nickname by friends and family: Figgy
Other names/ aliases: Nettle, one of “the inseparables” along with Jack
True name: Morag Fie (pronounced Moric or Morig Fie)
Greater Nation: Weird People of the Oak Trees
Fairy type/ lesser nation: Fire Sitter, Copse or Hedge Woman
House: Rowan and Hawthorn (standing: expelled)

Background: Fig is estranged from her family and has been for many years. She grew up isolated from them and instead formed a close bond with a friend her age, Jack. The pair bonded because of a similar family background and because they shared some of the same teachers and mentors growing up. They spent so much time together that people started calling them “the inseparables.”

Fig is naturally talented as a speaker and dreamed from the time she was a young girl of becoming a professional debater in the Glass Gallery, where the fairy people hash out their disputes and make various laws and agreements. She practiced and trained in this art form relentlessly and eventually qualified as an apprentice member of the official Rowan House debate team. As a representative of the Fire Sitters in the Glass Gallery, Fig soon earned a name for herself. But one incident in particular turned Fig into what humans would call a “celebrity” in the Weird Wood.

After Jack attempted and failed to break his adopted mother Birdy out of Walls prison, Fig acted as his advocate. Thanks to some clever reasoning on her part, the charges against Jack were dropped even though he had been pretty much caught in the act. This kind of success is much admired amongst the fairy people, who appreciate cunning and the artful outfoxing of opponents. Unfortunately, this success and others like it, won Fig not just admirers, but enemies as well.

A few years ago, Fig was involved in a bizarre and tragic incident that destroyed the spirits of four people. These four cannot speak or communicate and currently live in an asylum. Fig was accused of having attempted to murder these four and was arrested and remanded to the Glooms, the main gaol of the Weird People. While imprisoned, she developed a mysterious fainting problem, which she still suffers from today. She remained in the Glooms for several years as court proceedings moved forward against her. Unusually for Fig, she did not defend herself, and despite attempts by Jack and others to clear her name, she was convicted and sentenced to death. As a final penalty before her execution was carried out, she suffered the indignity of having her true name released to the public.

Fig was executed on the summer solstice, or so it is widely believed. Behind the scenes Jack was able to pull off an incredible rescue, stealing Fig away just before the end while creating the illusion that she had succumbed to her fate. Fig went immediately into hiding in the Other place (the human world), choosing a spot known to the People but abandoned by them: the Morighan family farm. There she met Nelly Morighan.

Here are some character inspiration images I found for Fig:

Images: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Now onto Jack: 
Name publicly used: Jack or Jack the Spinner (although “spinner” is a title not a name)
Other names/ aliases: One of “the inseparables” along with Fig 
True name: Unknown 
Nation: Wicked People of the Holly Boughs
Fairy type/ lesser nation: Night Stealer, Mariner
House: Yarrow (standing: good)

Background: When Jack was a child, his parents were killed by the Fury. Birdy, a friend of Jack’s parents, took him in, adopting him as her son. Jack feels an intense sense of loyalty to Birdy because of this and refers to her as his mother, however, Birdy was not an involved parent to Jack and he spent most of his early years with various teachers and mentors. It was at this time that he met and befriended Fig and they became known as “the inseparables.”

Jack has a passion for the magic arts. He studied spinning, key craft, shadow weaving, and various other techniques over many years. He is now a master at these arts and has even invented forms of spinning and weaving never done before.

After Birdy was convicted for fraternizing with humans, she convinced Jack to attempt to break her out of Walls prison, a formidable fortress. Jack, who was overconfident at the time, thought he had the skills to pull this off. He did not succeed. He was arrested by the Fury and held inside Walls until his preliminary hearing. There he met Birdy’s son, his “brother” Doed, who was born in Walls and had been living there for many years. Eventually, thanks to Fig’s efforts, the charges against Jack were dismissed. After his release, he took in Doed, who became his apprentice.

Once Fig was arrested for attempted murder, Jack dropped everything to try to clear her name. He did not for an instant doubt that she was innocent, so close were the pair, and went to work gathering evidence and attempting to figure out who the true culprit was. But time eventually ran out and Fig was convicted. Now the only option left was to rescue her in some way. Jack learned a great deal from his failed attempt to spring Birdy from Walls. The Glooms, where Fig was being held and where she was to be executed, was also a less formidable hurdle than Walls. This time he was successful.

Jack made a key for Fig so she could cross into the human world and hide there. Meanwhile, he continued to gather evidence and investigate the case against her, convinced that he would eventually find a way to prove her innocence. But then unexpectedly, he got word from Fig that she had encountered a mystery in the human world. Jack went to the Morighan farm and met Nelly.

Here are some character inspiration images I gathered for Jack. To be honest, I had a hard time finding images for him that really worked for me, so these are as close as I could get to how I pictured him.

Images: 1 2 3 4 5 6

And finally Doed:

Name publicly used: Doed (rhymes with toad) 
Other names/ aliases: Doed the Toad coined by his mother. 
True name: Unknown 
Nation: Wicked People of the Holly Boughs
Fairy type/ lesser nation: Wight
House: Birch (standing: good)

Background: Doed was born in Walls prison. His mother Birdy raised him there in a tiny prison cell, which he was confined to for most of his early years. Birdy has not told him who his father is. When Doed was around eight the Fury, who run the prison, allowed him to leave the cell and wander the labyrinthine corridors of Walls, though many parts of the prison were off-limits to him. He would speak to other prisoners and sometimes members of the Fury, although they didn’t always treat him well and he learned to keep to the shadows. He saw and heard many things during this time. As a wight, Doed has the power to see and communicate with spirits, but he never learned to properly develop or control this ability. Because of this, he found himself tormented by spirits inside the prison and influenced by them in ways he did not want. The only thing that helped him was the piper’s dew he had begun to steal from the Fury’s stores.

Doed met Jack for the first time after Jack was arrested for trying to break Birdy out of Walls. He later saw but did not meet Fig when she arrived to defend Jack. Doed watched portions of Jack’s preliminary hearing and was amazed that Fig was attempting to essentially talk Jack out of a jail sentence, something he wouldn’t have thought possible. He was even more amazed when she pulled it off.

When Jack was released, he invited Doed to come and live with him. This was the first time Doed had ever seen the world outside of the prison and he was dazzled by it. He grew to like and admire Jack for his magical skills and wanted to learn everything he could from him. He later met Fig but didn’t get to know her much before her arrest. Even so, Doed assisted Jack in his plan to rescue her from execution and hide her in the human world. Later, Jack was summoned by Fig because of a mystery in the human world. Doed, who was preparing for an exam with the spinner’s guild, decided not to accompany Jack and instead focus on his studies (this is what he told Jack, it may or may not have been true). Jack and a glamoured Fig returned soon after, and Doed met Nelly Morighan.

Some inspiration images for Doed:

Images: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Okay, that’s all for now. Please let me know in the comments if there are other aspects of The Ghosts of Nothing and the fairy world of the story you’d like me to expand on here (with minimal spoilers). I’m currently working on the sequel.

Cecily

P.S. a quick note - I’m still working on and developing this series, so anything that isn’t published in a book could be subject to change.