Contains spoilers for the Doctrine of Labyrinths

Contents 1 Basics 2 Appearance 3 Personality/Background 4 Doctrine of Labyrinths magic 4.1 Schools of Magic 4.2 What he can do 4.3 Hypothetical abilities 4.4 What he can't do 5 Canon relationships 6 Paradisa relationships

Basics Edit

Name: Felix Harrowgate

Fandom: Doctrine of Labyrinths series by Sarah Monette

Journal: lord_wizard

Played by: Rebecca

Gender: Male

Age: 31* ((His age is an approximation. Felix doesn't know his birth date))

Orientation: Homosexual ((In his world the term is ganumedes, or "molly" in the vulgar))

Occupation: Wizard Noble

Speech Pattern: Has a "light, breathless voice". Speaks very precisely, in a manner similar to that of 1940's era Hollywood. Under stress he sometimes slips and reverts to his childhood speech pattern, which is more of a deep southern drawl, cursing included.

Handwriting: Like this

Canon point: Shortly after his exile following the events of The Mirador

Loss: The Sibylline

AppearanceEdit

Height: about 6'2"

Weight: Dunno. But he's described as "reedy", so on the thin side.

Skin: Pale

Hair Color: Red ((with white streaks at his left temple and to the right of his forehead. These are mentioned a total of three times in canon and so are easy to forget))

Eyes: Left eye is yellow, Right eye is blue

Other distinguishing features: Felix is in possession of a very distinctive set of tattoos which mark him as a wizard of the Cabaline school (see DoL magic below). The tattoos resemble trailing vines in garish crimson, azure, green, and gold that start at the knuckles and go all the way up the forearms. On his palm is large blue eye. Since they are made with magic, they never fade and remain as bright as if they were newly inked.

Felix's back is also an ugly mess of scars that are a result of being repeatedly beaten with a nun's scourge by his Keeper. The only reason he has any mobility is because Malkar had the wounds treated (painfully). Almost no one has seen these scars, and the only person he has ever told the truth about them is his brother. He has told previous lovers they were the result of a plague.

"He loved to wear this red-violet color that clashed with his hair something awful. He said, enough people stared at him, they should suffer for it."

-- Mildmay (The Mirador pg.4)

While Felix's appearance, given the outlandish appearance of many Paradisa residents, is not all that unusual, it should be noted that this is not the case where he comes from. In the city he grew up in, everything about him makes him stand out. He is easily several inches taller than most everyone, in addition to being the only natural red-head in the city (that he's aware of, before meeting his half-brother, that is). And should we mention that red hair is viewed with superstition as a sign of bad luck by most people? Not to mention his mismatched eyes. The tattoos, which give him status within the Mirador, also mark him as a person to fear in Lower City. These traits in combination with his outlandish personality means one thing. Felix is used to being stared at, and he enjoys it.

Personality/BackgroundEdit

"It's like you got to have everybody's heart, and if they don't give it, you rip it out and watch it bleed."

-- Mildmay, (The Virtu, pg. 108)

...coming soon

See also: Antihero, Attention Whore, Bishonen, Camp Gay (somewhat averted), Dark Is Not Evil, Deadpan Snarker, Fiery Redhead, Gentleman Snarker, Jerkass Woobie, Son Of A Whore, Squishy Wizard, Stepford Smiler

Doctrine of Labyrinths magic Edit

"The most important thing about magic is the metaphors we use to understand it, and a metaphor that is wrong is a metaphor that doesn't work. No wizard who successfully performs any piece of magic can possibly be using a wrong metaphor. There are bad metaphors, dangerous metaphors, destructive metaphors -- but no wrong metaphors. Thaumaturgical theory, in the broadest sense, is about manipulating our metaphors and, ideally, making sure that the metaphors we use are good ones."

--Felix (Corambis pg.302)

To understand Felix’s capabilities it’s important to understand the magic in his world and how his experience with and views on it alter them. This is a difficult task, because most magic in the Doctrine of Labyrinths universe is, frankly, incredibly vague. Felix rarely explains himself, and a good portion of moments where he works significant magic are either done “off-screen” or viewed secondhand by his non-magical brother.

Schools of MagicEdit

In general, magic is a highly personal art, which is guided by the school of magic to which wizards apprentice. While there are surely more, there are a few schools of note of which Felix is aware or influenced by.

Cabaline – This is Felix’s school. They are described as “materialists”, in that they believe only in magic working through or in material objects. The school is more notable in canon for what it does not acknowledge or condone than what it does. The grossest heresy for a Cabaline is to touch another person with their magic, and offenders are almost unapologetically burned at the stake. While this limits the practice of more “dangerous” arts like necromancy and blood-magic, this policy also includes beneficial forms such as healing magic. Cabalines also do not acknowledge anything which works with might be called “the world of the spirit”, and thus do not acknowledge the existence of spirits or any other form of undead – going hand in hand with their treatise against necromancy. This is actually terribly ironic as the original Cabal for which the school is named for were in fact necromancers. It isn’t entirely clear what Cabaline wizards actually do with their magic, although a commonly discussed subject is architectural thaumaturgy, which in short is working magic upon material structures. This could entail any number of things, but primarily their specialty appears to be warding spells. They are mentioned as having a fondness for towers.

Eusebian – There is little of this school known to Felix, but is notable here for being the school of the Mirador’s rival, the Bastion. Their magic is only briefly described as being eclectic, and possibly included a small amount of blood magic. A technique associated with them is sending, which is a rather literal term for sending someone a message through their dreams.

Fressandran – A school of magic native to the Norvenas. They are primarily diviners. Strictly speaking they are not heretics by Cabaline reckoning, but divination works upon the aforementioned “world of the spirit” and is thus regarded with much skepticism. Most of this takes the form of simple “fortune-telling”, or casting about for clues to how events will lead, or to answer a particular question. This is done mostly with cards, but there may be other methods. A stronger working appears in canon as a “calling” spell of sorts, to draw the subject of a divination to the caster’s location. Theoretically this works by drawing upon the strands of fate surrounding the subject, making it more likely for the subject in question to go there. This…would probably be heresy.

Coeurterrene - This school of magic is important for introducing Felix to the notion of ‘noirance’ and ‘clairance’ which have become a major influence on Felix’s view of magic. They imagine magic as a force like water, flowing on ley lines, leading to currents of noirant and clairant – dark and light – magic. Despite the associations, they aren’t values of morality, though noirance is naturally dark and twisted and associated with death, it is not in and of itself evil. Courterre wizards strive to achieve balance in both forces.

Troian – To group Troian magic-users together is somewhat misleading. Troia is a whole region and their “practitioners” (as this is their preferred term rather than wizard) are divided into Covenants rather than schools. While there isn’t to say there aren’t conflicts, the Covenants appear to have a level of cooperation with each other and serve only as specialties rather than being opposing doctrines. Only two are mentioned in canon, Nephelian and Eurygenaic, and are healers and diviners respectively. Felix did not appear to take much from them philosophically, but it was here he learned of the art of oneiromancy, or the magic of dreams, of which the Khloidanikos is a construct.

Blood-magic – Not an official school but a general line of discipline, followed usually only by unschooled users and so named for their use of blood in most or all of their workings. Practitioners appear to be capable of almost anything, though they are probably more noted for enchantments, compulsions, and curses. Blood magic is extremely powerful, and can be used to extend the life of the caster, probably in unspeakable ways, but also is said to take a toll on their humanity over time.

What he can doEdit

While the specific techniques of each school vary, the wizards of his world in general have one thing common – they rarely seem to require much to use their magic. Verbal and somatic components are usually subtle if even present at all. Compared to other wizards of his world, Felix is described as being extremely powerful, perhaps the most powerful in the world, at least for his time period. His raw magical power was used against the Virtu, a centuries old artifact that took a dozen wizards to create, shattering it. Also, while Cabaline wizards use rings to focus their power, Felix does not appear to need them at all. In short, how he compares to the abilities of others is Paradisa is difficult to say. In the very least his magic is very diverse and subtle, though not necessarily capable of the same scale as others in the castle. Given the direct and indirect examples in canon, this is a list of some of what Felix can do with this magic:

Witchlights- You can call it luxomancy to be fancy, but this simple technique is Felix’s toolbox spell. While these balls of light appear for him as green chrysanthemums (probably not literally as flowers, but perhaps multi-faceted spiked balls?...idk), their appearance can be altered with minimal mental effort. They can be controlled and manipulated at will, even to follow people other than himself. Generally they have no form or substance, though there is precedence in canon to indicate that manipulations on this premise can achieve even more varied results (see offensive magic).

Warding spells- Probably the most abstract area of magic to explain. Presumably this is a specialty of Cabalines, yet it is seldom seen used. Contextually these are simply used to contain the effects of spells or keep them out of an area. They may also be used to protect areas or people from other things. The warding spells on The Mirador and the wizards within it not only prevented structural damage to the building itself, but also prevented any violent action against anyone who is a member of their school (supposedly by killing anyone who even tries it). This is the only magic that seemed to require components, usually in the form of written runes and symbols

Oneiromancy – Also known as dream magic. Felix has a dream-construct that resembles the city of Mélusine. Technically this is not entirely magic, as it is based merely upon the mental storehouses used by clerks. However, Felix’s innate magic gives this more power than normal. Within the construct he can access and control his various other modes of dreaming. Normally he can also access the Khloïdanikos, a mysterious dream construct that seems to exist independent of any dreamer, but it is blocked from him in Paradisa. In his own construct he does have a godlike amount of control, though subconscious thoughts and other experiences can affect its appearance. He can draw other people into this world, though canonically there is only evidence that this would work with other wizards. He can use the construct to isolate or subvert any magic that might be affecting him. Also, I believe his ability to ward off the nightmares of others is related to his training in this area.

Offensive magic - This is what most people picture when they think of a wizard; throwing around raw energy as a weapon. There is only a brief notation of him calling lighting and/or fire to his hands with the intention of throwing it at his enemy. Since this is never actually used, however, how powerful this might have been is up for speculation. It is mentioned in canon that dueling is petty heresy. I take this to mean this use of magic, since the caster is not directly affecting someone with a spell. He also heated up a knife a man was holding and used an altered version of his standard light spell to burn out the engine of a large magic-powered robot.

Enchantment – Though strongly heretical, magic that alters or controls the human mind is frequently mentioned. They are usually referred to as compulsions. Malkar is said to use these frequently (mostly on Felix) and can include anything from holding a person immobile and controlling their actions to possibly, altering senses (it is mentioned he made Felix deaf and mute as punishment on occasion). It might be arguable that what Felix did to Isaac Garamond was of this variety of magic, since it’s hinted that he broke so much of his mind as to render him irreparably insane (and eventually, suicidal). Despite this one act, it is highly unlikely that he would ever use magic like this again, since he deeply regrets the action.

Necromancy – The primary type of magic prohibited by Cabalines. Though this usually refers to things like raising the dead, it also includes anything like speaking to spirits or anything that involves a corpse in any form. Felix is actually referred to by a Courterrene wizard as a natural necromancer. Though he would never tamper with the dead, it is true that he can now train himself to see into the spirit world and act as a psychopomp for lingering spirits.

Dispersal – Magic in Felix’s world seems to be highly permeable to the environment, especially structures. Some effects tend to linger in an area unless adequately dispersed, thus this is simply the clearing of magic from an area. This is apparently the most ritual-intensive type of magic, and always seems to require multiple casters or extensive symbology.

Defensive capabilities – All wizards can counter magic. Offensive magic can be deflected and magic can on things or people can be broken. Felix himself broke free of the obligation de sang, a compulsion that should have been permanent in binding him to Malkar’s will. Granted, it took him a few years, but he did it. This, I believe, makes him especially good at hedging out mental control.

Other stuff – Felix and Gideon were able to speak to each mind to mind – or perhaps, more accurately, magic to magic. It isn’t certain that this would work with Felix and non-Medusan casters, since this didn’t even work for a wizard of an opposing school.

Additionally, Malkar is mentioned to have known many types of lock spells. It is feasible that Felix knows them also (and how to counter them).

Hypothetical abilitiesEdit

These are things that I believe he can do, could do with proper motivation, or discover to how to do given the metaphorical nature of his magic

Healing - Felix has no training in this type of magic, and it is both heretical for Cabalines and a source of several bad experiences for him in canon. However, I see no reason given the need and some medical training that Felix could not heal with his magic, though nothing much beyond the range of normal medicine (i.e. healing cuts, broken bones, burns, etc., but not say, curing cancer or reattaching limbs).

Teleportation - This is kind of a major leap. However, given enough exposure to concepts of space-time and physics, I think Felix may be able to do this eventually.

More offensive magic – Though already covered, most of what is mentioned or used in canon is high state energy, like light, fire, and electricity. However, though it isn’t mentioned, I believe cold is a simple enough form of energy for him to wield both ranged and casted directly on objects.

Elemental control – Though I don’t see him as being able to create water or air out of nothing (see conjuring), I think limited manipulation of these might be possible. In canon, a caster called a weather-witch is encountered. Though more of a glorified meteorologist (able to read weather patterns, and thus more of a diviner), there did seem to be a limited ability to call wind. Being far more powerful, I believe Felix could call or control a small amount of wind, maybe even manipulate localized weather, though probably nothing drastic like a violent storm.

What he can't doEdit

These are things that, given how magic is used and seems to function in his world, I do not think Felix could ever do with his magic

Conjuring - Canonically there is no evidence that wizards from his universe are able to summon up creatures or manmade objects or substances.

Transformation - There is no evidence that wizards can turn either themselves or other people into other creatures or objects.

Telekinesis - Nothing is ever made to float, fly, or move independently of another power source in his universe.

((NOTE: THIS SECTION MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE))

Canon relationships Edit

Mildmay -

Malkar Gennadion -

Gideon Thraxios -

Shannon Teverius -

Paradisa relationships Edit

Friends -

• Ashura-ou - Felix's closest friend in the castle. They first met in the library and had a long talk about magical theory and nobility. Ashura has also been the partner in Felix's effort to unify the magic-users and research magic within the castle. So far the two have shared some of their deepest secrets with each other. They officially began dating on Valentine's Day and currently share a room.
• Hard Harry - What started out as a bet turned rather quickly into a friendship. Felix is hesitant to use the label, but he is one of the few people he has confided in, besides Ashura.
• Nora Diniro - Mark's girlfriend. She's helped pull him out of a depressive funk on several occasions. Quirky & opinionated, which means he likes her.

Acquaintances -

• Anthony J. Crowley - Cultivated an interest in the demon when he heard him talk about Castiel leaving through the journal. Is...a fantastic kisser, but now that he's with Ashura...maybe less with the flirting.

• Zivilyn - Felix is amused that this guy is amused by everything.
• Lakare - A bit more stable that his counterpart, but no less interesting. Introduced him to the TARDIS. The two also agreed to a joint effort in researching the crytals that Flora gave the residents.

• Yuan Ka-Fai - Has cooperated with this guy both with Chimera and the Peace Patrol. Outside of their rather professional relationship, they seem to share a similar sense of humor.
• Phoebe Halliwell - Paige's sister. They're friends, but it's not quite to the same level.
• Dextera - Curious boy who seems to lack many of his memories. Hired him as a housboy. After seeing some of what his life is like, thanks to the castle, he's grown very protective of the boy.

• Hermione Granger - Left and came back again, but is considering more secretive and stand-offish. Felix is not sure he likes this Hermione as much.

• Zelman Clock - Their relationship started out as a vague acquaintance, and though Felix was always vaguely unsettled by Zelman, he didn't know he was a vampire until Zelman bit him after a castle-induced kiss. He's since "donated" blood once. Time will tell how long his arrangement will continue.
• Brock Samson - Worse spy ever? Actually...oddly genial and rather smart for looking so large and scary.

Enemies/Doesn't like -

• Cross Marian - Threw an apple at Felix, made fun of his reflexes, and generally out-trolls him at every turn, but also has fascinating magic. So, in short - HATES WITH A FIERY BURNING PASSION but also OH GOD WHY MUST YOU BE INTERESTING?

• Temperance Brennan - Felix respects rationality and logic just fine, but this woman takes these traits to frustrating levels. Open your eyes, woman, magic is real!!!

• Nikola Tesla - Had a little disagreement with this one while Tesla was on a secondary loss. Probably still a jerk without it.

Gone

• Lady Liadrin - Really likes this elf-y woman. She has a real enthusiasm for learning about magic, which he can relate to, and she has been very supportive of his research efforts. He sympathizes with her due to her struggle with the dark side of herself.
• Claire Stanfield - Talkative guy from Brooklyn. Felix helped fill him in on things when he arrived. Reminds him of Mildmay a little.
• Far Reach - Greeted him on his entry to Paradisa and shared a sundae. Felix enjoys his sense of humor - enough to agree not to call him "darling" like he does most people.
• Cessily Kincaid (Mercury) - Pretty silver-skinned girl. Met her the first time when she was de-powered. She blushed a lot, which he likes, and seems very nice.
• Harley Quinn - Met her through Sister, but despite being a little odd, Felix likes her.
• Clu - Huge ego. Interesting to talk to.
• Paige Matthews - Felix met her during the Slenderman plot, causing him to strike up a bond with her much faster than most. He's not sure what it is about her, but he regards her as very much like a long-lost sister.
• Yuki Nagato - Strange. Quiet. Oddly intelligent. But she helped him feel better about his disagreement with Dr. Brennan, so...she's good in his book.