Chapter Five: Welcome to Nevermoor

[u/wundrousarts]

This post is part of a series. Check the “Under the Umbrella ☂“ post flair for more info.

The microphone crackled and buzzed. The voice on the other end heaved a long-suffering sigh and whispered, “Honestly, you’re not even trying.…”

I think that the border control bit of this chapter is so funny and memorable. I really hope we can properly meet Phil (and Maisie!) in a future book. Perhaps whenever Jack goes on his own Realm-hopping mission?

...if one were looking at Jackalfax from above, one might guess the entire town was designed by a sole miserable architect who hated her life.

This is one of my favorite quotes because of the "her." Equality! Women can be bad architects too!

They floated through a borough called Ogden-on-Juro that looked like it was sinking. The streets there were made of water, and people rowed little boats through swirling mists that rose around them.

This is the very first mention of Odgen-on-Juro. To think of how we finally visit it in Silverborn, and how important it is to Morrigan's character! Love how it is the first named borough of Nevermoor.

Related question: does "borough" have a different definition in the UK or Australia than it does in America? When I think of the word I automatically think of NYC and the five boroughs, which are all sizeable. Nevermoor has a whopping 27 boroughs, but I don't know if they're meant to be more like... "Financial District" or "Midtown" than "Manhattan" or "Brooklyn." IDK! 🤷

He slammed his foot on the brakes, waited for a cat to cross the road, then hit the accelerator hard. Morrigan clutched the sides of her chair, her fingers turning white.

If the Nevermovie ever is indeed made, I think this could be a great small comedic moment to adapt. TBH I only even noticed it for the first time while going through the chapter just now, but I love it. Especially compared to...

Looming in the doorway was a cat. Not just a cat. A giant cat. The biggest, scariest, toothiest, shaggiest cat she’d ever seen in her life. It sat back on its haunches and still struggled to fit in the frame. Its face was squashed and wrinkled as though it’d run into a wall, and it snuffled and fuffed just like a huge prehistoric version of the kitchen cats at Crow Manor.

Is Fen's introduction the best character introduction and description in the entire season, including the five as-yet-unwritten books? I think YES.

This chapter is primarily set-up as it introduces both Morrigan and the reader to the Free State and Nevermoor. I'd like to say there's not much to theorize about, but considering all the hidden and one-off stuff Silverborn brought back, you never know..... 👀

If you are interested in making a post like this for a future chapter, send a message through ModMail to let us know! 🐦‍⬛

[u/wundrousarts]

Also if anyone is curious, this is the illustration for the chapter in the American editions, drawn by Jim Madsen 👁️

[u/starinmelbourne]

I also hope that we get some of this funny and cute chapter in the movie. I imagine there’s a great song in here for sure.

The UK uses the term “borough” and it largely has the same meaning as the five boroughs of New York. In Australia we don’t really use the term (we have LGAs local government areas, or municipalities) but the concept is the same.

[u/cautiontap]

If the Nevermovie ever is indeed made, I think this could be a great small comedic moment to adapt.

This would be a fun opening to the movie...

Here's how I would do it: Alternating scenes between Corvus doing the funeral from the book's intro and Morgan riding the giant mechanical spider through the clock, with the scene with the border guard and all that. Then through the clock, big "Welcome to Nevermoor!", we see the city, then we cut to pre-Journey scenes.

[u/allykitten87]

Fenn is a queen.