Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow

Simon grew up in the Normal world. When he was 11, the Mage, headmaster of Watford and leader of the magical world, told him that he was “the most powerful magician the World of Mages has ever known” (17). The Mage views Simon as a weapon and gives him private training to prepare him for his destiny. The mages are at war with a mysterious entity known as the Insidious Humdrum that abducted Simon and Penelope last semester.

On the train to Watford, Simon lists the things and people he’s missed there, including magic, Penny, Ebb Petty the kindly goatherd, and the turret he shares with the “[s]trong,” “[g]raceful,” and “ruthless” Baz (14). However, Simon isn’t sure whether he misses Agatha because he saw her with Baz in the Wavering Wood last semester.

Simon’s taxi driver turns out to be a goblin in disguise who tries to kidnap the teenager. Simon summons the Sword of Mages and decapitates his would-be abductor. Mages can cast spells by reciting words, including song lyrics and Shakespearean quotations. Simon accidentally misspeaks and makes part of the road vanish when he tries to dispose of the goblin’s body; he walks the rest of the way to Watford. The Mage’s Men are taking extra precautions to secure the school grounds because of the Humdrum, which looks like an 11-year-old Simon.

Penny is used to seeing Simon looking too thin after his summers away from Watford, but his starved frame, red-rimmed eyes, and too-big smile deeply worry her. She considers whisking him away to a far-off city where her friend can rest, letting “the Mage and the Pitches and the Humdrum and everyone else fight the wars they seem to have their hearts set on” (33). The only thing that stops her is the fear that, if she did, there might not be “a World of Mages to come back to” (33).

As glad as Simon is to be reunited with Penny, the specter of war looms over them. There are three ongoing conflicts: a civil war between the Mage’s allies and the Old Families, hostilities between mages and “the dark creatures,” and “the whatever it is with the Humdrum” (41). The enigmatic Humdrum steals magic and leaves behind “a trail of dead spots in the magickal atmosphere” (38).

During his first night back at Watford, Simon sees a woman standing by his bedroom window, but he can’t tell who it is.

A mysterious individual named Lucy has much she wishes to say, but she doesn’t have much time.

The Mage comes to Simon’s room and instructs him to pack his things, saying that Simon will be safer away from Watford. Simon has never defied the headmaster before, but he refuses to leave the school. His emotions cause a red haze of magic to appear around him and nearly set the room on fire, but Simon manages to calm himself before any damage is done. The Mage promises to speak with the Coven about other ways to keep Simon safe.

Lucy observes a thick fog.

Because his roommate and nemesis is a vampire, Simon always wears a medieval gold cross, a talisman against vampires that’s been passed down in Agatha’s family for generations. Simon still isn’t sure how he feels about Agatha after he spotted her and Baz holding hands like “they were about to break into song” (56).

While Simon and Penny eat lunch in the dining hall, he tells her about his conversation with the Mage. Simon wonders if the Mage is right to want to send him away since his presence might endanger everyone at the school, but Penny insists that he should stay.

Another student is visited by her grandmother’s ghost. This reminds the teenagers that every 20 years, the autumnal equinox allows spirits to cross the Veil if they have important truths to tell the living.

The Mage ponders his promise to protect Simon: “[W]hat does it mean to take care of power? Do you use it? Conserve it? Keep it out of the wrong hands?” (66). He’s frustrated that he hasn’t been able to help Simon control his magic but remains hopeful that there’s a spell or ritual that will allow the Chosen One to come into his own. The Mage questions whether he should force Simon to leave Watford, but he worries that attempting to do so may mean losing Simon’s obedience.

Lucy describes a Welsh boy named Davy who was the first member of his family powerful enough to study at Watford. Davy was deeply dissatisfied with the status quo of the magical world and claimed that Watford’s goal wasn’t “sharing knowledge” but rather “keeping knowledge in the hands of the rich” (69). Lucy has more to say, but the Veil makes it difficult to speak.

Agatha and Simon engage in awkward small talk about their summers. Agatha competed in equestrian shows. Simon, who’s never even been on a horse, feels wrong-footed talking about her posh hobby. Agatha brings up Baz, but Simon quickly assures her that he knows nothing happened between them and that he’d rather move on. When Simon smiles at her, she “almost smiles back” (73).

Despite the awkwardness between them, Agatha is relieved to see Simon. She believes that his death is inevitable given all the forces conspiring against him. Although she cares for him, she feels as though she doesn’t “love him the right way” (75). Still, she thinks that she should stay at his side since the Chosen One chose her and that’s what everyone expects her to do.

Simon keeps an eye out for his nemesis, but Baz is absent from the school’s welcome-back picnic. Simon basks in Penny and Agatha’s company and the feeling of being home. That night, he again senses a presence in his room and hears “a rustling sound and a sort of moaning” (79). Unlike other mages, Simon sometimes works magic without saying anything. The lights turn on without him speaking a spell, but he can’t see anyone there.

Baz is still absent when lessons begin the next day, which Simon finds suspicious because Baz has the best grades in their class. Baz’s family, the Pitches, are at the top of magical society, “the nearest thing [mages] have to a royal family” (81). After Baz’s mother, Watford’s previous headmistress, was killed by vampires, the Mage became headmaster. He removed the barriers of school fees and entrance trials so that “[l]iterally anyone who can speak with magic can attend Watford now, no matter their strength or skill” (83).

The Humdrum has allied with “dark creatures” who resent mages: “vampires, the werewolves, the demons and banshees, the Manticorps, the goblins” (93), who can’t control magic like mages can. They also dislike mages for protecting the Normals from them. Magicians watch over those without magic because their “spells depend on them being able to speak freely” (93).

When Baz fails to materialize after several more days, Simon seeks out the comforting presence of the melancholy Ebb. The goatherd assures Simon that Baz will return. She also suggests that Baz’s relationship with Simon must have improved over the years, since the vampire hasn’t tried to kill him recently.

Simon suspects Baz of plotting against the Mage. He spends his nights searching the Wavering Wood until an exasperated dryad tells him that she’ll give any news of the vampire to Agatha. Simon continues his search in the secret parts and passages of Watford. His explorations remind Simon of his fifth year at the school. When he was 15, he was convinced his roommate was plotting something and trailed him for six months before cornering him in the catacombs under the chapel. Simon found rats down there, “all pinched and used, like squeezed-up lemons” (102), and accused Baz of being a vampire. When Simon didn’t know what to do with Baz after catching him, Baz reacted with weary amusement, calling Simon “the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen” (106).

In order to cast spells, magicians need to tap into the meaning of words that are frequently used over and over in set combinations. Simon used to see a speech therapist and a counselor in the Normal world, and his teachers at Watford tutored him in private lessons. His struggles with speaking aloud still make magic extremely difficult for him.

As a spirit, Lucy returns to Watford, feeling proud that Davy accomplished his revolution and “opened these doors to every child blessed with magic” (112).

The Humdrum sends a swarm of flibbertigibbets, birdlike creatures that cause madness, to attack Simon in his Magic Words class. Simon kills them with the spell “Dead in the air” (114). After the attack, the headmaster once again urges Simon to go into hiding. The Mage says that Simon’s current sense of security is an illusion, but Simon retorts that he may as well stay with his friends if nowhere is safe. Simon wants to join in the fight against the Humdrum, but he knows why the Mage isn’t ready to call on him yet: “You don’t send bombs on reconnaissance missions or invite them to strategy meetings. You wait until you’ve run out of options, then you drop them” (116).

Simon and Penny work on a project all eighth-year students at Watford are tasked with: the invention of a new spell. Their efforts are unsuccessful, much like their attempts to unravel what the Mage is planning or whether Baz has gone back home to await civil war like other boys from Old Families.

The Mage has his Men raid his enemies’ treasure rooms and libraries in the hope of finding a magical artifact that will mend Simon, whom he considers “fundamentally flawed. Cracked. Broken” (123). Still, the Mage remains convinced that there is something that will allow the Chosen One to harness his full power.

Simon takes off his anti-vampire talisman, but he still can’t sleep. At night, he watches the stars and the Mage’s Men from the ramparts. Penny notes that both Simon and Agatha look exhausted the next morning and calls for a meeting that night to strategize about Baz, the Mage, and the Humdrum.

At the strategy meeting, Agatha grows jealous when she learns that Penny often sneaks into Simon’s room. While Agatha sees the power struggle between the Mage and the Old Families as politics, Simon views it as a battle between right and wrong because the Old Families’ elitism would have kept him from attending Watford. Penny tries to compile their knowledge of the Mage, the Humdrum, the Old Families, and Baz, but they have little information. For example, they’re unsure why the Humdrum is draining magic or what he does with the power he’s taken. Agatha and Simon grow frustrated and leave the meeting separately.

Unbeknownst to Simon, Agatha also goes to the ramparts at night. She hopes that Simon will see her and that it will revitalize their relationship. Baz used to tease her and try to get her away from Simon because the vampire “hated what Simon and [she] have. And wanted it” (134). She imagines what it would be like to be with Baz instead of Simon, no longer certain who or what she wants.

Lucy calls out to someone, but there is no answer.

Simon sees Agatha up on the ramparts. She’s carrying one of Baz’s handkerchiefs, and he demands that she explain herself. He is so angry and confused that his words come out “drenched in magic” (140) even though he wasn’t trying to cast a spell. Agatha is about to be magically compelled to answer his question, but Simon intervenes before she starts to speak. Overwhelmed, Agatha breaks up with Simon because she wants to be “someone’s right now [...] not their happily ever after” (141). Simon hurries away crying, determined to fix things between them.

Simon lies awake thinking about how smart, wealthy, and handsome Baz is, concluding that, if “he weren’t a vampire, Baz’d be bloody perfect” (145). The ghost of Baz’s mother, Natasha Pitch, appears to Simon. She asks him to tell her son that her killer walks freely and that he must find someone named Nicodemus to bring her peace. She kisses Simon’s temple and asks her to give the kiss and the message to Baz. After Natasha disappears, Simon hears Lucy calling for her “rosebud boy” (147), but he mistakes this ghost for Natasha’s spirit.

The next morning, Agatha avoids Penny and Simon. Simon tells Penny that they broke up, and Penny postulates that Agatha doesn’t really love Baz, who Penny believes may be dead. Simon hadn’t considered this possibility despite Baz’s long absence, and the idea alarms him. Suddenly, Baz strides into the dining hall.