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Mr. Today was the creator of Artimé, the twin brother of the high priest Justine, and the father of Claire Morning.
Personality
Marcus is eccentric and energetic, with a great sense of humor. However, Marcus could be considered one of the more cowardly characters in the series for not wanting to directly confront his sister and for originally wiping the memories of his friends. He also has a slight manipulative side, as shown when he planned to keep Alex as his successor, despite Alex’s repeated refusal. Furthermore, he is also very secretive, and many of his unknown memories went to the grave with him. Despite being more of a morally grey character, Marcus still shows heart when deciding to create a home for the Unwanteds to save them from Justine. He says that he doesn't want to be responsible for the deaths of any more people, and encourages the Unwanteds to think about the consequences if they choose to do so themselves.
Emma refers to him as being “nasty” in his youth during the events of Dragon Slayers.
Appearance
Marcus is a tall and thin[2][3][4] old man with fluffy white hair.[3][5][6] He has dark eyes[7] (that are possibly black, due to Justine possessing black eyes). He is always wearing one of the head mage's robes, and is very bright in every way.[8]
- "A moment later a tall, thin figure emerged..."
- ― The Unwanteds, "Elimination" (18)
- "The tall, thin figure that had emerged from the gray building—now mansion—was a man dressed in a flowing multicolored robe...A fluffy shock of white hair stood up on his head as if he had just been struck by lightning."
- ― The Unwanteds, "Elimination" (20)
- "...stare at this man so brightly adorned...his smile was so animated, his delight so obvious..."
- ― The Unwanteds, "Mr. Today" (23)
- "...his dark eyes danced again."
- ― The Unwanteds, "Home in the Stone Mansion" (47)
- "...his long gown flowing over the sweet-smelling grass, and often dipping into the gentle waves of the sea..."
- ― The Unwanteds, "Parallel Lessons" (102-103)
- "He stood equally as tall but scores less rigid than the ruler of Quill."
- ― The Unwanteds, "Visitors" (302)
- "He ran his bony fingers through his shock of white hair, making it stand quite straight up, impressively defying gravity."
- ― The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "A Job Like No Other" (27)
- "...pointing at his wrinkled face and tired eyes."
- ― The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "A Job Like No Other" (28)
- "The mage adjusted the sleeves of his brightly colored robe."
- ― The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "All the Reasons Why Not" (55)
- "...revealing an old man with white hair that stood up and waved in the slightest breeze."
- ― The Unwanteds Quests: Dragon Fury, "The End of The End of The End: Behind the Last Door" (458)
History
Marcus and Justine were born on Warbler Island to the royal family. Marcus was always incredibly talented when it came to magic, and grew bored of the elemental magic that his friends used.[9] He and Justine also had a younger sister, Emma, whom they consistently turned away and made fun of.
When he and Justine were 14[10], they left Warbler Island. Before leaving, Marcus' mother gave him a small porcelain kitten.[11] The two began traveling the Seven Islands, offering people a chance to live in a perfect society, away from "the dangers of the world that would soon come to pass." They gathered the founders of Quill and started to plan this new society, before building the walls and convincing the citizens that they were surrounded by enemies.[12]
Marcus was tasked with erasing the memories of many people, and went along with whatever Justine told him to do. He thought her ideals made sense, and went along with everything she did, including when she introduced the Purge system. During this time, he got married and had his daughter, Claire. Marcus started freezing the Unwanteds with magic, but Justine had him create the Great Lake of Boiling Oil and eliminate them permanently. He suggested taking over the job completely for her, and started secretly keeping Unwanteds alive, but frozen and hidden.[13] He then became the Death Farmer, and Justine agreed, thinking that it would create more fear about breaking the rules.
Eventually, he created Simber, and brought the statue to life. He started creating Artimé in his spare time, and built a mini version of the mansion. He got excited and made many creatures, many of which weren't functional in society. When Claire was purged, he decided to open up Artimé to all of the Unwanteds. Since then, he began saving each group of Unwanteds every year.
Relationships
Alex Stowe
Justine
Marcus and Justine were twins and seemed somewhat close. The two founded Quill together and Marcus carried out all the dirty work of magic and killing Unwanteds for her. However, Marcus didn't really believe in what she was doing. He went behind her back to create Artimé, and even convinced her most trusted governor, Gunnar Haluki, to turn against her as well. By the end, the two of them despise each other; Justine because Marcus betrayed her and all that she stood for, and Marcus because of her ideals.
Emma
Claire Morning
Marcus and Claire have a very close father-daughter relationship. While he wasn't around much during her childhood, he created the magical world of Artimé as a place to save Unwanteds because he didn't want to kill her. She is one of his closest advisors, and while she repeatedly refuses to take on the head mage role from him, she is willing to help take on some of the work so he can take a break.
Gunnar Haluki
Other Notable Relationships
Marcus never hated Aaron, and believed that he was misunderstood.[14]
Quotes
- "Tell me, children. How does it feel to be eliminated?"
- ― The Unwanteds, "Elimination" (21)
- "Without knowledge that life can be different, there can be no desire to change it."
- ― The Unwanteds, "Parallel Lessons" (105)
- "Be assured, my dear citizens, that it takes more than strength and intelligence to win a battle—it takes creativity and skill and common sense, and Artimé is brimming with it!"
- ― The Unwanteds, "Lessons and Warnings" (165)
- "Once we start interfering with free thought, where do we stop? Believe me, I've been down this road."
- ― The Unwanteds, "Inevitable" (234)
- "You would have done anything for him. That's the way it is with twins, isn't it?"
- ― The Unwanteds, "On a Dark Night" (246)
- "I'd rather die fighting to keep us free to do as we wish, fighting to be free to come and go as we please, fighting so we no longer need to hide. Fighting the fear that all of you were programmed since birth to have. Fighting against Quill's bigotry, which says that brains and brawn are better, or more important, than creativity."
- ― The Unwanteds, "Exposed" (310)
- "Above all, have confidence in yourself, and you will succeed. Control your emotions, and you will hit every time."
- ― The Unwanteds, "What Happens" (326-327)
- "Marcus, you careless fool! How many more deaths will you be responsible for?"
- ― The Unwanteds, "Severing Ties" (360)
- "You know how it is with twins. Best of friends, worst of enemies. All that rot."
- ― The Unwanteds, "Severing Ties" (371)
- "And with that we leave our sorrows for another day, because today is a day to celebrate."
- ― The Unwanteds, "What Remained" (387)
- "For now, let us welcome new friends to Artimé. Let us remember the ones we lost. And let us also remember this day as the day we have been redeemed. Wear your Unwanted title like a badge of honor, for we have prevailed!"
- ― The Unwanteds, "What Remained" (388)
- "Forgiveness is not a negative trait. Not if one possesses common sense. Which you do. And it’s a priceless gift, too, for common sense is not something one can just acquire at will. You either have it or you don’t."
- ― The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "All the Reasons Why Not" (59-60)
- "Much of my life was spent alone, and these things are witnesses to it. The library tells my story, the mastodon my mistakes, the ship my discoveries and my abilities to make old things new without magic, and the whale...my limitations, I suppose."
- ― The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "Door Number One" (138)
- "There will always be times we struggle, make bad decisions, even fail. What's important is not that we fail, but that we learn and grow. And that we know that there is always someone out there who believes in us."
- ― The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "Speeding Up" (250)
Abilities/Weaknesses
Marcus is able to do any magic he puts his mind to. He started with elemental magic, but quickly moved on because it wasn't really his style.[9] He's created many creatures and living statues, he's created Artimé and countless spells, he's created magical tubes that transport you places, he can send a note into someone's pocket with just his mind, he can block off every entrance to a building with the wave of his hand[15], etc. He is insanely powerful, and most of the time it's unclear whether these are things that only he can do.
However, he's not very good at healing spells.[16]
Trivia
- It's unclear if Marcus has black eyes or not. When Alex meets Fifer and Thisbe, he says that his mother was the only other person with black eyes that he'd ever met.[17] However, his twin sister, Justine, has black eyes. He and Justine are not said to be identical, though, so it's very possible that he just doesn't.
- Marcus had long hair when he lived on Warbler[12] and before the creation of Quill. We don't know when he cut it.
- Marcus and Justine's ages are very unclear. In the first book, Aaron states that Justine, and therefore Marcus, is 70 years old, though this could just be an estimate.[18] However, later in the book, Marcus tells Alex he was only a little older than him 50 years ago. As well, in Island of Silence, he tells Alex he was 14 when he and Justine discovered the island and began planning Quill. It is never mentioned what age the twins were when they created Quill, though it was likely somewhere in between the ages of 14 and 20.
- Marcus mentions that when he was younger, people spoke different languages depending on where they lived.[19] This essentially confirms that many Warblerans knew of Grimere back when he still lived there, as everybody in the Seven Islands speaks English, and Grimere would've been connected to the Seven Islands when Marcus was young.
- Marcus has visited most, if not all, of the Seven Islands. He grew up on Warbler, lived in Quill/Artimé, and was friends with the scientists on the Island of Shipwrecks. He also says that the islands to the west of Warbler were "inhabited by somewhat primitive people," implying that he had potentially been there.[20]
- Marcus used to carry Kitten in his pocket constantly in the early days, even before bringing her to life.[21][11]
Gallery
References
- ↑ The Unwanteds, "The Quillitary" (289)
- ↑ The Unwanteds, "Elimination" (18)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Unwanteds, "Elimination" (20)
- ↑ The Unwanteds, "Visitors" (302)
- ↑ The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "A Job Like No Other" (27)
- ↑ The Unwanteds Quests: Dragon Fury, "The End of The End of The End: Behind the Last Door" (458)
- ↑ The Unwanteds, "Home in the Stone Mansion" (47)
- ↑ The Unwanteds, "Mr. Today" (23)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Unwanteds: Island of Graves, "Return to the Island of Shipwrecks" (338)
- ↑ The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "A Job Like No Other" (29)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Unwanteds: Island of Legends, "The Tale of Kitten LaRue" (405)
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "Cohorts" (142)
- ↑ The Unwanteds, "Battleground" (345-346)
- ↑ The Unwanteds: Island of Dragons, "The Call of the Wild" (386)
- ↑ The Unwanteds, "Battleground" (351)
- ↑ The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "Door Number One" (136)
- ↑ The Unwanteds: Island of Graves, "Tiny Personalities" (29)
- ↑ The Unwanteds, "The Quillitary" (289)
- ↑ The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "Door Number One" (132)
- ↑ The Unwanteds: Island of Silence, "The Mysterious Guests" (219)
- ↑ The Unwanteds Quests: Dragon Fire, "Growing in Power" (422)