Bad Gomes

Gomes, like humans, are not always all good or all bad but in this category I will describe gomes that don't seem to be helpful to Finnley, Hadley, and their friends. I am putting them roughly in the order that they appear in the story as it unfolds throughout the books.

STINKY THE BOG MURTLE

BLUEBEARD

BALDO-THE-BLADDERWORT

Stinky

STINKY THE BOG MURTLE

We meet this rude and smelly creature in Blackhope Scar when Finn described throwing his juggling balls at it in the tree at the bottom of Uncle Hugh’s garden in Tobermory (on the island of Mull off the west coast of Scotland) when Finn was just seven.

Finn’s description was this:

"It was bigger than a guinea pig but smaller than a cat. But it had hands and feet like a monkey, and brown scaly skin like a crocodile, and it had bits of sticks and grass and heather on its head instead of hair."

This was actually Finn’s first introduction to gomes, although Finn did not know it at the time. We will meet Stinky again in a later story in the series.

We learn that Bluebeard is Wullie’s arch-enemy. He hates all humans, although he will work with crooks if he thinks it will help him defeat Wullie.

This is how Bluebeard is described in the bowels of The Rusty Pelican Barge:

"The black lump of coal was about three times as tall as Wullie and at least twice as broad. Two fierce red eyes glared out at the terrified Dutchman like burning fires of hatred. As it spoke black gobs of oily spit sprayed out into the air, sizzling when they landed in the fire suspended below. And in the flickering light Finn could make out bright streaks of cobalt blue in the creature’s beard."

As you will see in the later Wullie books Bluebeard becomes a bigger and bigger problem for Wullie. He is a lot more evil, cunning, and determined that you might think after reading Blackhope Scar.

Bluebeard

BLUEBEARD

BALDO-THE-BLADDERWORT

Baldo is one of the scariest gomes that we meet in the Blackhope Scar story. He is a wild and cruel creature that has a vicious lobster spike on one of his hands that he uses as a weapon. It was Baldo who poked out one of Uncle Hugh’s eyes.

When Finn meets him for the first time crawling out from the dark corner of the Rusty Pelican barge, this is how Baldo is described:

"Finn’s terror was complete as he watched the creature slither towards him out of the darkness and into the light cast by the fire. It was like a writhing nest of snakes, but Finn could see that these snakes were actually long strands of seaweed that were attached to the creature’s head and trailed behind it like dreadlocks. Each strand was almost two feet long, thick brown and tangled. In amongst these were four flipper-like lower limbs that slapped the ground as it moved forward. The face that emerged from the seaweed dreadlocks was like a devil from the deep. Two large fish eyes stared forward, empty and cruel. There were gills on the sides of the creature’s scaly cheeks. Its mouth was a perfect circle made up of several rows of curved needles, like the teeth you see on blood-sucking leeches and lampreys. The creature used its two front limbs to do most of the work of crawling. It wriggled forward remarkably quickly making a rhythmic heave-clunk-heave-clunk sound. For although its right hand looked human enough the left arm ended in a huge lobster claw."

Here is how I imagined that Baldo-The-Bladderwort might look like:

Baldo, as I imagined them

Here is Baldo as my son, Roderick imagined:

Baldo, as Roderick imagined them

Baldo

BIG TEK

We meet this unpleasant gome during the climax of the Blackhope Scar story under the vaults of Edinburgh Castle. This massive round gome is made of tektite which is a type of rock that was formed under tremendous heat (perhaps when meteorites struck the earth). He is the size and shape of a metal cannonball about twenty inches in diameter.

Big Tek

Big Tek is very happy to be underground and can withstand tremendous amounts of heat. In fact he has a molten core of metal inside himself and when he gets angry he can pass this heat through his arms and hands into whatever he is holding. So he can pick up a metal bar and then heat it up to be red hot or even white hot at the tip.

He is not very smart and holds a long grudge against humans because they have used him as a cannon and have built him into castle walls where he had to listen to the horrible wails of bagpipes for centuries on end. He can withdraw his arms and legs inside his big round body so that he can roll across the ground.

DESPERANDUM

This evil and powerful character can do things that we have not seen other gomes do. His body is covered in strange black gome symbols that can be mistaken for graffiti. Because of this he is able to spend time in the human city of Barcelunda where he will blend in when he petrifies, since there are lots of graffiti-covered rocks and buildings in Barcelona.

Desperandum is able to change shape easily. He can eat metal (and Wullie is the only other gome we have met who can do that). He can sting a human if he is picked up or touched. He can spray acid to cut through metal railings and can hurl inflammable acid spitballs at his enemies.

Here is part of the opening scene in Twilight Cave:

"The graffiti rock stopped pushing, and turned slowly towards where the sounds were coming from. Two pale yellow eyes glared across the darkness, pinning Alina with an evil stare. The creature, for Alina could no longer think of it as just a rock, began to change shape again. The top third of its body grew a little taller and thinner. It seemed a little less stiff, a little more fluid, like soft clay wobbling on a potter’s wheel. It began to move directly towards Alina, its cold yellow eyes never leaving her face. The middle part of the creature’s body became thicker, and seemed to quiver with excitement and anticipation. It seemed in no great hurry; confident and complacent as it moved closer and closer. A rippling wave fluttered up and down its length in a rhythmic pulse that turned Alina’s blood cold. When it was about ten yards in front of her Alina thought she could see an evil yellow smile forming in the rocky surface below its eyes. It slowly arched its back, threw back its head, and opened its mouth.

And then it spat.

Alina had seen pictures of rabbits paralyzed by fear from the stare of a snake or a weasel. She had seen movies where a giant Cobra mesmerizes its prey and then spits poison to blind it and paralyze it. On pure instinct Alina had begun to weave to her left before the thick yellow-green wad of spit left the creature’s mouth. The spitball shot through the air with tremendous speed, whistled past Alina’s right ear and splattered onto the tree trunk behind her head. The bark exploded in flame as the acid burned a deep scar into the wood. The graffiti rock gave a shriek of disgust.”

Desperandum

NICOMEDES

This green slate gome works as Catalysmo’s main assistant. He is a pessimistic and gloomy character who bears a great grudge against Wullie-The-Mahaar-Gome because in some previous battle Nicomedes lost one of his feet and a hand. The damage was too extensive to be healed by usual petraglif potions and so he is hoping that the power of the vas animi will help him to repair. We first meet him in Twilight Cave.

Here is a picture I drew of Lapislutum and Nicomedes in the cave on Level Four where they feed Finn drugs and sludgy food to prepare him to be the vas animi:

Nicomedes

Lapislutus

LAPISLUTUM

A Mudstone gome and one of the most feared leaders of the Barcelundan guard. His head is covered in strings of signet rings that he took from the fingers of dead knights in ancient battles. He can tie these back out of the way if he wants to move quietly and quickly but he unfurls them and spins like a top when in battle so that the chains of signet rings will inflict injury on his enemies. We first meet him in Twilight Cave.

MHAIRHIDGH DUBH

AKA

VARRY DOO

AKA

THE WEIRD OF CALANAIS

This gome witch is also called the Weird of Calanais (a weird is an old word for witch or wizard). She lives out in the slimy peat bog near Cnoc Liath on the moors northwest of Stornoway.

Here is how Hadley meets her for the first time in Chapter LVII, The Weird of Calanais in Twilight Cave:

"The smooth surface in the middle of the bog began to change shape. A gnarly old tree stump emerged, as if pushed from below. It rose up, black, dripping wet, and stinking. Even from ten feet away and huddled inside her sweater the stink of rotting meat and bad breath penetrated Hadley’s nostrils. Black poisonous toadstools grew out of the tree stump’s surface in several places. Ragged animal skins and strings of bird beaks hung down the sides. When the top of the stump was four feet out of the water it stopped. Rotting roots spread out below it and disappeared below the surface. The middle of the stump was hollowed out to form a chair. Sitting in the hollow was a shapeless black lump of peat. No, that wasn’t right, Hadley realized. The lump wasn’t exactly shapeless, but its shape kept changing. It was covered in a thick layer of midges that rippled over the surface, rising up and landing in new places, crawling over each other in a never-ending dance. As Hadley watched, the midge-covered surface seemed to form itself into a miserable scowling face. An eyelid blinked open, revealing a bright red eye that fizzed with hatred, and sparkled like a ruby.

The whole lumpy mess began to shake. Cackling laughter emerged from a dark slit in the middle of the midge-infested face. Mhairhidgh Dubh, the Weird of Calanais, and queen of the bogs was enjoying this moment.”

She is very powerful and although she is not a friend of Wullie’s she is prepared to help him in return for favors that will help her. She prepares a very powerful Redirecting Wash, a potion that can change the effect of the dousing wash that is used in the final stage of the preparation of the vas animi. She has a special smoky quartz gemstone that confers protection on whoever has it. This was stolen by the great trout, Breac Mor, and she asks Wullie to get it back for her.

Mhairhidgh

Catalysmo

CATALYSMO

Catalysmo-The-Great-Translator (as he calls himself) is a cunning and evil creature who hides his lowly background and aspires to become one of the most powerful gomes in all of Europe. We first meet him in Chapter XXVII of Twilight Cave when Finn bumps into him on Level Four of Barcelunda:

"Finn had never seen a gome like this before. It was tall and craggy, a bright red color but with black stripes going round its body every few inches, as though it was wearing a rugby shirt. It had cold white eyes near the top of its pointed head, but unlike other gomes in Barcelunda this gome wore elaborate clothes. It had a flowing cloak in rainbow colors attached together at the front of its body with a gold buckle. And on its head it wore a crown of sharp, white chunks of marble, linked together by a silver chain. As the angry gome pulled a foot back to kick him again, Finn wriggled away and tried to stand upright."

We learn more about Catalysmo a few chapters later when Wullie, Hadley, and Alina visit Jade-Tsi-Dong in the Chinese Medicine store in Chapter XXXV of Twilight Cave. When Alina asks the great Chinese Translator if she could be his assistant someday he recoils angrily:

"No assistants. Last assistant stole my secrets. Betrayed me. Now he uses magic against my people. He favors that… that… slug… Desperandum. No more assistants! Jade-Tsi-Dong works alone… Chai-Tinh-Bo was his name when he was a foolish fisher-gome near the Yangtze River. Now calls himself by very grand title; calls himself Catalysmo-The-Great-Translator."

Catalysmo appears in several of the Wullie stories…

THE VENATORES

This pair of silent gomes appear like clones of each other. They do not speak. They appear to have no personality. They can change shape so that they blend in and can look like white marble vases or columns. Here is a picture I drew of Bluebeard standing in the Justice Chamber arguing his case in front of the Supreme Pronouncers:

Bluebeard believes that he is standing between two lifeless marble columns… but read about what happens next in Chapter XL of Twilight Cave:

"The audience gasped. Bluebeard had stepped forward a pace so that the two marble columns were behind him. A thin arm emerged from each of the columns and clamped a bony white hand on Bluebeard’s shoulders. The Pit-Bing-Gome froze in place, his face wracked with fear and pain. His knees buckled and he began to topple forward. His jet-black color began to fade to a pale gray. The hands of the Venatores began to darken, with grayness spreading up their arms. Some gomes in the audience covered their eyes, others whispered in horror. It was as though the Venatores were draining the life energy out of Bluebeard’s body."

The job of the Venatores is to search out and find gomes who have broken the rules of the European gome world. They are the dreaded Gome Hunters of Barcelunda and when they have been released to a new task by SPIT they never stop looking until they have captured their prey and brought it back to receive justice in Barcelunda. We are introduced to them in the Twilight Cave story but they have an even bigger role to play in Chondrite Vault when they are given an assignment to search out and capture Wullie-The-Mahaar-Gome. When Jade-Tsi-Dong hears about this, his reaction is one of fear and apprehension.

This is from Chapter XIII of Chondrite Vault:

"Jade-Tsi-Dong felt numb. He did not know what to do next or how to tell his friend, Mahaar. The great Gome Hunters from Sicily were feared for one simple reason. Once they were unleashed they never gave up. They never tired and they could not be distracted from their assignment for any reason. And in countless millennia they had never been known to fail. Never. Ever."

Venatores