The Witch Doctor

infobox Book |
name = The Witch Doctor
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = The Witch Doctor cover
author = Christopher Stasheff
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = A Wizard in Rhyme
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Del Rey Books
release_date = 1994
media_type = Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
pages = 410 (paperback)
isbn = ISBN 0-345-38851-8
preceded_by = The Oathbound Wizard
followed_by = The Secular Wizard

The Witch Doctor is the third book in the "A Wizard in Rhyme" series by Christopher Stasheff.

Plot introduction

In the third installment of the A Wizard in Rhyme series, poet and martial arts expert Saul Bremener is drawn into Allustria when looking for his missing friend, Matt Mantrell.

Plot summary

The beginning of this book takes off directly from the beginning of "Her Majesty's Wizard". After parting with Matt Mantrell one evening, Saul Delacroix Bremener discovers that Matt seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Saul takes it upon himself to track him down. Finding no help from Matt's family or friends, nor the police, Saul breaks into Matt's apartment, finding the rune-filled scrap of parchment which had transported Matt into the magical alternate world.

Like Matt, Saul finds himself able to wield magic by reciting verses. He also quickly makes an enemy, the evil Queen Suettay. Intrigued by Saul's command of magic, Suettay is determined make him hers, or destroy him.

Saul is helped by Gruesome the troll, young squire Gilbert, the miserable poet Frisson, a guardian angel, a handful of the faerie folk, and the beautiful but wraithlike Angelique. He must also find a way to enlist the mysterious Spider King to help Saul to counter the machinations of the evil sorceress and deal with her in her stronghold in Todenburg, capital of Allustria.

Themes covered

In a departure from the first two novels in the series, the author explored the magical realm through the perspective of an agnostic whose primary concern was not to commit himself to others, but to stay true to himself and his conscience. The division between good and evil is less distinct compared to previous books.

Also explored largely through discussions amongst the characters was the institutions of government, bureaucracy, accountability of the public servants to those they serve, balanced against the need to keep things running.

Characters

* Saul Delacroix Bremer : A social misfit since young as he was a kid who didn't like baseball but liked poetry, Saul learned not to compromise himself just to be accepted by others. But in the process of learning, he picked up karate in an attempt to fit in. Through karate, he came in touch with Eastern philosophy. In university, he met Matt who accepted him as he was, and became the only friend Saul had. When Saul was mysteriously transported to the universe where Matt had gone to, he resisted every attempt from Good and Evil to sway him to their side.

* Sir Hohle of the Tarn : The first knight encountered by Saul in the new realms. His crest is an upside-down torch and mashed flat.

* Heinrich, Rudolf, Gustang, Hans, Klaus : Men-at-arms of Sir Hohle of the Tarn.

* Guardian Angel : an entity unwittingly invoked by Saul to appear in the flesh, whose existence and origins Saul could not fully accept, but whose powers Saul could not deny and even grudgingly called upon several times in the story.

* Sobaka : First witch encountered by Saul.

* Gilbert : A squire in the Order of Saint Moncaire, assigned by knights foraying into Allustria to assist Saul who was obviously very much clueless about the dangers of Ibile.

* Gruesome : A troll under a bridge who was geased by the elf prince to protect Saul.

* Elf prince : Leader of elvenfolk.

* Hunger ghost/Spirit of Famine : An ever hungry ghost encountered in a dark forest.

* Frisson : A poet saved by Saul from the hunger ghost. He has problem controlling his inspirations for poetries, which in the realms he lived in, is magically materialised, regardless whether it was intended. Saul came up with a simple but effective solution to check on the spontaneous magicks created and still enable Frisson to indulge in his passion for poetry.

* Angelique : daughter of an Allustrian nobleman who raised her in innocence for his own selfish gains. She was saved in the nick of time by Saul from being use in a diabolical sacrificial rite, her body scarcely remaining alive, still in the queen's custody, with the barest link to her spirit-soul which escaped and accompanied Saul on his journey.

* Klout : Bailiff of Suettay in a small village. He turned to evil as he was mocked for being a runt when he was young.

* Rat Raiser : Former chief bureaucrat of Suettay who introduced revolutionary bureaucracy to centralise government in Suettay's hands. Imprisoned because he proved too capable. Made friends with rats in the dungeon, kept alive to be paraded to current bureaucrats to remind them of their place.

* "Queen Graftus" : Historical queen of Allustria, deposed by her chancellor Reiziv, two hundred years before.

* "Reiziv" : Usurper of Allustria's throne, Suettay's grandmother.

* Spider King : a magical entity who dwells in a nexus of the multiverse of realms. He has different counterparts in different universes: Louis XI in the original universe of Saul, and Crown Prince Karl of Allustria in the A Wizard in Rhyme universe.

* Gremlin : summoned by Saul to guide them to the Spider King's dwelling. He remained to help the party overcome the queen's forces.

* Bull : First guardian to the Spider King's realms. A parody of John Bull.

* Bear : Second guardian to the Spider King's realms. Parody of the Russian bear of the Cold War.

* Oliver : An attendant of the Spider King, appearing as an ugly man.

* Saint Louis : Patron saint of Allustria.

* Syrak : A duke whose domain is an island.

* Maxwell's Demon : An entity summoned by Saul during the Ordeal.

* Thyme : A nymph living on the isle of Circe, holding the monk Ignatius captive and frustrated in her attempts to seduce him.

* Ignatius : A friar kept captive by the nymph Thyme. He has a natural sense of science and magic which would make him crucial to the fight against Suettay and establishing a new government.

* Matthew Mantrell : Came to Saul's aid in the appearance of the Blue Knight.

Annotations

* "The Kalevala" - Recital of Kullervo's lines led Saul to directly encounter his guardian angel in the "flesh".

* "Othello, Act 5, Scene 2" by William Shakespeare - Recital of "Put out the light ..." invoked and adapted by Saul to counter a fireball, with a little rewriting on the spot in the heat of the battle.

* "Couéism" - Invoked by Saul to help Sobaka recovery from her inner demons.

* "The Wife of Usher's Well" - "Day doth daw ..." invoked and adapted by Saul to get Sobaka out of a hole.

* "The Faeries" by William Allingham - Invoked unwittingly by Saul to summon elvenfolks to deal with Gruesome.

* "Ballad of East and West" by Rudyard Kipling - "Now is thy master ..." invoked and adapted by Saul to doubly-bind Gruesome's geas.

* "The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling - Section around "Fill full the mouth of Famine ..." invoked and adapted by Saul to deal with the hungry ghost.

* "Cymbeline, Act IV, Scene II" by William Shakespeare - "No exorciser harm thee! ..." invoked and adapted by Saul to cast a protective shield against evil when they encamp at night.

* "A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene I" by William Shakespeare - "If we shadows have offended ..." invoked and adapted by Saul to resist ghostly attacks set by Suettay.

* "Scarborough Fair" - "Tell her to make me a cambric shirt ..." invoked by Saul to during Angelique's being sacrificed by the Suettay to prevent her from giving in to despair in her last moments.

* "Rubber And Glue" by Joan Jett/K. Hanna - "I'm rubber, and you're glue ..." invoked by Saul to counter Suettay's magical attacks.

* "In Memoriam, V, Stanza 2" by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson - "For the unquiet heart ..." invoked by Saul to counter Suettay's whammy on Frisson.

* "The Derby Ram" - Saul started reciting "Didn't he ramble ..." to counter a giant ram but ceased to avoid converting the magnificent beast into a mountain of ram chops.

* "Golden Slumbers" by Thomas Dekker - Invoked and adapted by Saul to counter the giant ram.

* "Danny Boy" - A variation was adapted by Saul to resist Angelique from being magically spirited away by Suettay.

* "Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 3" by William Shakespeare - "Oh, mistress mine ..." recited by Saul to keep Angelique from being magically abducted.

* "Dreams" by Walter de la Mare - "What can a tired say, ..." bellowed by Saul to protect another round of magical abduction of Angelique.

* "The Parting" by Michael Drayton - "Now if thou wouldst ..." recited by Saul in the attempt to prevent a reeve of Suettay from holding his (the reeve's) breath.

* "Ulysses" by Tennyson - "Drink life ..." recited by Saul for the same purpose as "The Parting".

* "Richard III, Act 5, Scene 3" by Shakespeare - "My conscience hath a thousand several tongues ..." recited by Saul to restore the conscience of Suettay's reeve.

* "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, from The Jungle Book" by Kipling - "Let us have a mongoose plural ..." to counter a cobra sent by Suettay.

* "Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 2" by Shakespeare - "Plucking the entrails of an offering forth ..." adapted by Saul to magically attack Suettay.

* "Salk vaccine radio jingle" - used by Saul to counter paralysis spell.

* "A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scene 2" by William Shakespeare - "The starry welkin cover thou anon ..." invoked and adapted by Saul to cause Suettay's soldiers to fumble over each other in a fog.

* "The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord Byron - "Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green ..." invoked by Saul to deal with Suettay's soldiers after his fog was lifted.

* "Beowulf" - "Then the fierce spirit painfully endured hardship for a time ..." invoked by Saul to summon Grendel to deal with Suettay's soldiers, and then use "Grendel must flee from there, mortally sick ..." to dismiss Grendel after the task was completed.

* "Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1" by William Shakespeare - "By the pricking of my thumbs ..." invoked by Saul to release his bonds in Suettay's prison.

* "Cold Iron" by Rudyard Kipling - "Tears are for the craven ..." invoked and adapted by Saul to counter the torturer's heated iron brand.

* "Love, unrequited … When you're lying awake" from Iolanthe, Act 2, No. 20" by Gilbert and Sullivan - "You get a good spadesman ..." recited by Saul to deal with the torturer.

* "My name is John Wellington Wells" from The Sorcerer, Act 1, No. 12" by Gilbert and Sullivan - "If you want a proud foe ..." invoked by Saul to summon a Djinn.

* "The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord Byron - "And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword ..." invoked by Saul to deal with Suettay's guards in the prison.

* "Cold Iron" by Rudyard Kipling - "He took the Wine and blessed it ..." attempted by Saul to make peace with Suettay, but stopped by her before he could finish.

* "Prelude to Part First, from The Vision of Sir Launfal" by James Russell Lowell - "Over his keys the musing organist ..." adapted by Saul to provide writing materials for Frisson to write down poetry when they were in prison.

* "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge - "Where Alph, the sacred river ran ..." invoked and adapted by Saul to locate the Spider King.

* "Song of the Men's Side, from The Knife and the Naked Chalk (Rewards and Fairies)" by Rudyard Kipling - "Room for his shadow on the grass ..." adapted by Saul to deal with a monster in the underground.

* "The Truce of the Bear, from The Five Nations" by Kipling - "Horrible, hairy, human ..." invoked by Saul to expose the ruse of the Bear's pleading for a truce.

* "The Riflemen's Song at Bennington" - "Oh, hear ye not the singing of the bugle wild and free ..." invoked by Saul to conjure a Kentucky flintlock.

* "The Pioneers" by James Fenimore Cooper - "Up and away, Chingachgook!" adapted by Saul to climb up higher to escape the Bear.

* "The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1," by Shakespeare - "Ye elves of hills, brooks …" invoked and adapted by Saul during the Ordeal set by Syrak to get help.

* "A Capital Ship", traditional Irish folk song - "So, blow ye winds, heigh-ho! …" invoked and adapted by Saul to send his boat to Thyme's island.

* "The Vampire" by Rudyard Kipling - "A fool, there was …" invoked by Saul to resist the charms of the nymph Thyme.

* "The Bargain" by Philip Sidney - "My true love hath my heart …" adapted by Saul to stop Thyme from trying to bewitch other males.

* "The Law of the Jungle" by Rudyard Kipling - "Now these are the Laws of the jungle" adapted by Saul to compel Thyme into obedience.

* "La Belle Dame sans Merci" by John Keats - "I saw pale kings and princes too" adapted by Saul to force Thyme to release Ignatius.

* "In My Garden Grew Plenty of Thyme", traditional folk song - Adapted by Saul to lessen Thyme's pain for losing Ignatius.

* "The Vampire" by Rudyard Kipling - "The fool we stripped to his foolish hide …" invoked by Saul to help Frisson get over Thyme.

* "Patience" by Gilbert and Sullivan - "If you want a receipt for that popular mystery" invoked by Saul to magically summon a Heavy Dragoon.

* "A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 4, Scene 1" by William Shakespeare - "Be as thou wast wont to be; See as thou wast wont to see" invoked by dispell appearance-altering magic.

* "Sonnet 94" by William Shakespeare - "They that have power to hurt and will do none" adapted by Matt to temporarily immobile Suettay.

* "Rejected Addresses" by James and Horace Smith - "What stately vision mocks my waking sense?" adapted by Matt to dispell iron missiles created by Suettay.

Sources

[1] The Witch Doctor, Christopher Stasheff, 1994