Summary of Bartimaeus Trilogy

Hello Readers! Over time I have come back to make some edits to my chapters. This edit in particular I am making prior to the release of chapter 12. While reading my story a few times over, I have realized that I need to put a real prologue. The one I have right now just sets up the story. Overall, what I am trying to say is that I am going to post a short summary about the Bartimaeus trilogy for those of you who have not read it. As this story will be very complicated if you do not know what is going on. Anyway! Let's get to it..

That Bartimaeus Trilogy is set in London, the time it takes place is un-known. London is fairly modern, but it is still a large empire covering all of Europe. In the story, London is ruled by magicians. The rich power hugging ministers who derive their powers from spirits. They summon multitudes of servants, from the weak imp, to the obnoxious foliot, to the average Djinni, the strong Afrits, and the all powerful marids. Some Magicians have even tried to summon spirits stronger than normal Spirits. Who leave paths of destruction wherever they walk, not always the best things to summon...

The story is about a magician's apprentice named Nathaniel. Who after being humiliated by a magician named Simon Lovelace, sets out for revenge. Secretly he excels his training. To the point when he summons the funny, witty, powerful Djinni Bartimaeus. Most chapters are told from the view of Bartimaeus, hence the name "The Bartimaeus Trilogy." However there are lots of rules to summoning spirits, it has to be done in a pentacle, you must say the incantations perfectly, draw the markings perfectly, and lay out the necessary runes and herbs. If not, the spirits can break free and kill you. Another way for you to break the the bindings on the spirit is if you step out of the pentacle. Many spirits try to scare you into running away and breaking the spell, if a spirit steps out of their pentacle they are pretty much screwed. Another thing which needs to be done is to keep your birth name a secret from your servant. Nathaniel's birth name is Nathaniel, so he usually goes by John Mandrake. Spirits can turn spells against you using your birth name, and rivals of yours can use it against you.

In the first book, when Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus he sends the Djinni to steal Lovelace's greatest treasure: the amulet of Samarkand. However, doing so gets Nathaniel tied up in Lovelace's plot to massacre the government and take over the roll as prime minister himself. On top of that, Bartimaeus learns Nathaniel's birth name. To force Bartimaeus to help Nathaniel and to not reveal his birth name to anyone. Nathaniel casts a spell which will in a few months bind Bartimaeus into a tin full of rosemary (which is bad for spirit's essence) at the bottom of the Thames. This way, Bartimaeus has to obey Nathaniel and keep him alive so he can release the enchantment.

In the end Nathaniel and Bartimaeus save the day, saving the government and stopping Lovelace. Nathaniel becomes a rising star in the government, and Bartimaeus gets dismissed.

During the story however, there is a small sub plot of the growing "resistance" made up of "commoners" who want to over throw the government. They steal magical weapons such as inferno sticks and elemental spheres to use against magicians.

In the second book, Nathaniel is assigned the duty of finding the resistance whom are causing tons of damage all over London. However, a new more powerful crime spree breaks out across London. However no one knows what it is. They all think it's the resistance, which causes lots of blame to shift towards Nathaniel. However, he does not think it is the same group. The attacks are much more brutal. So once again, he must summon Bartimaeus to assist him.

Meanwhile, a new main Character is unearthed. And many chapters are told from her view, her name is Kathleen, but she goes by "Kitty." She is one of the members of the resistance, in her part of the story, the resistance tries to break into the tomb of "Gladstone." The most powerful magician of all time, and founder of the British Empire. However, their break in goes wrong and releases a crazy, powerful Afrit named Honorius who bears Gladstone's staff. A very powerful magical item. Before Gladstone died, he warned people to never cross into his tomb. What people do not know is that he merged one of his Afrits into his corpse. So the Afrit has been there for centuries guarding Gladstone's possessions.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel still under pressure is sent to the Czech Republic where they discover the attacks are being made by a "Golem." A powerful magical being used in the old wars between the Czech and the British. What's more interesting is that the people who are behind the Golem attacks are the same people who were in on the Lovelace incident. In the end Nathaniel and Bartimaeus save the day with some help from Kitty. The Golem is destroyed, Gladstone's staff is taken into custody, and Nathaniel becomes one of the most powerful ministers in the government.

However during all of this, the government starts growing very unsteady. Unable to hold back protests, the resistance keeps getting worse, blowing up buildings and causing trouble using stolen weapons such as: inferno sticks, detonations, and elemental spheres. Foreign wars in America are not going well, and the government is starting to lose control. On top of that, there may even be some rebelling from the mistreated spirits. The government has many sections and people, all striving for power, trying to destroying rivals, and get on the prime minister's good side.

I do not have to summarize the third book, as my fanfiction takes place after the second book. It is about the foreign wars.

Info about Spirits

There are different types of spirits; all with different qualities. In order of weakest to strongest they are Imps, Foliots, Djinni, Afrits, and finally Marids. There are even some spirits who are rarely summoned, who are stronger then even marids. A couple notable entities are Nouda and Ramuthra who appear throughout the trilogy.

Spirits come from another world known as "the other place." Where a whirlwind of all spirits, memories, and colors whip around with no physical containment; free to whirl and dance among the other specks of color. However, when summoned to earth. Spirits are forced to take on some sort of shape. Which they do not like, they claim that being on earth also pains them. And after a while, they will start getting weaker and will have to be sent back to the other place so they can recover.

When spirits are on earth, they gain the ability to cast spells. Such as shields, attacks (detonations and infernos), concealments, and more. They can also shape shift into different forms.

There are seven different planes on which the world is viewed. Imps can view the first few, so can Foliots. Higher spirits can view them all. Humans can view the first, and cats can view the second. Humans however have designed glasses which help them see the first few planes.

Essentially, viewing the plane is viewing what an object truly is. Let's say you saw a cat, it may look like a cat. But if you look on the higher planes it could be a spirit in disguise. A Djinni for example can appear as anything on all planes. But on the seventh, a spirit cannot hide its true form.

There are many more boundaries in magic, but they can be described later.

Notable Spirits Include –

Queezle – A friend of Bartimaeus' from Prauge, she was killed by the golem. Bartimaeus was very sad about this.

Faquarl – Bartimaeus' old rival, was a servant for Lovelace. Slightly more powerful then Bartimaeus, preferred form is a chef.

Jabor – Was also a servant of Lovelace, and long time enemy of Bartimaeus. Jabor is fairly stupid, however he is a war hungry spirit.

Ascobal – Annoying spirit who Bartimaeus worked with in the third book of the trilogy.

Notable Ministers of the Government –

Mr. Underwood – Nathaniel's first master, very weak and not the best magician, killed by Lovelace.

Mrs. Whitwell – Nathaniel's Second master, old stick thin women, powerful magician however, one of the strongest in the government. Head of security.

Mr. Devereaux – the beloved prime minister of great Britain! Great at speeches, described as handsome...

Mr. Mortensen – The Head of war.

Ptolemy – There is a lot to say about Ptolemy, he played a large role in the whole trilogy. Although he was thousands years dead, having lived in ancient Egypt. Bartimaeus loved Ptolemy, he treated Bartimaeus like an equal, not a slave. He did so with all his spirits. He dreamed of a world where spirits and humans lived in peace. He was a scholar, and a teenager when he died. Assassinated by his jealous cousin, who was heir to the throne. Ptolemy devised a way for humans to cross into the other place.

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