Statement of Jurgen Leitner regarding his life and works.
Synopsis
Following the apparent banishment of Not-Sasha at the end of the previous episode Jonathan Sims is left with his apparent saviour. He has revealed himself to be Jurgen Leitner and the mysterious figure who had been previously seen living in the tunnels and stealing from the archives.
He tells Jon that he trapped Not-Sasha using 'an unexpurgated copy of Ruskin's The Seven Lamps of Architecture'. He claims to be able to use it to manipulate Robert Smirke's architecture, allowing him to trap Not-Sasha as well as reorient the tunnels to hide from Jon. He also reveals that he has been using his copy of A Disappearance to hide from Jon's 'master'.
Leitner explains that he has been in hiding since the destruction of his library in 1994, on the run from creatures and people who are hunting for him.
He then explains why he started his library. As the scion of a wealthy manufacturing family he lived a youth without struggle or need, but he 'always felt a calling to make something of himself'. His one talent was finding and purchasing rare and valuable objects. Soon enough he encountered his first of the books, The Stalwart Hunter's Almanac, following the violent death of its previous owner. Shortly afterwards he hired his first assistant, Albert Stross, although he barely lasted a fortnight.
His collection continued to expand, and he found finding the books surprisingly easy. When he began encountering problems with storing certain books in close proximity to one another he looked to the architecture of Robert Smirke for a solution, commissioning a house to be built upon his principles to allow for safe storage. At its height his library held 978 books of varying types, held in the building's complex and bizarre architecture.
A few years later his library was attacked. It began with strange people (possibly related to MAG 34) visiting and asking to see his collections. Shortly following that the library was attacked by various entities, forcing Leitner to flee and resulting in the library being burned to the ground. Ever since then he has been on the run.
Leitner goes on to explain his understanding of the entities behind the books, explaining how he believes the books (and entities such as 'Michael' and The NotThem) to be manifestations of vast, powerful entities that reside outside our normal perception. He tells Jon that he believes Elias killed Gertrude, who he had been working with in the hopes of destroying the Archives, which Leitner reveals is a place of power for the entity known as The Beholding.
Jon leaves to have a cigarette, at which point Elias enters the room. After a brief discussion Elias brutally murders Leitner with a pipe and leaves. Jon returns, but flees upon seeing Leitner's body. The body is then discovered by Tim and Martin, who have managed to escape Michael's corridors.
Notes
- Leitner's account of the attack on his library features various familiar sounding entities. These include: 'something with too many teeth and limbs like knives' (MAG 31), 'a door that shouldn't have been there' (MAG 47, MAG 78), 'a great hand' (MAG 51), and 'a great, pulsating pile of meat' (MAG 18).
- 'An angry Goth', presumed by Jon to be Gerard Keay, apparently once almost beat Leitner to death.
- This statement seems to suggest that Elias and Leitner are both seeking to fight 'The Stranger', despite their animosity towards each other.
- Jurgen Leitner is voice acted by Paul Sims, the father of Jonathan.