Hieronymus Spector

**Hieronymus Spector** is a shadow criminal of considerable knowledge and power who has had dealings with both Lemuel Gloom and his grandson Gustav.

## Biography

Hieronymus was the first shadow Lemuel Gloom and his shadow met when they arrived in the Dark Country aboard the Cryptic Carousel Lemuel had invented. The pair befriended him, and despite Hieronymus' occasional displays of mischievousness they shared a number of adventures At some point, he arranged for the transformation of the Gloom house into a shadow house. He was aware of Howard Philip October's desire to obtain the Nightmare Vault and thought it would be amusing to let him into the Gloom house so he could try and find it. He fully expected October to be killed by one of the house's many hazards, but Lemuel did not share his sadistic sense of humor.

Shortly before Lemuel's death, he and his shadow learned the truth: that Hieronymus was an evil individual. He committed at least one terrible crime against both humans and his fellow shadows, and Lemuel feared what else he might do. As such, he asked Lemuel's shadow to disassemble the Cryptic Carousel. Unfortunately, Hieronymus anticipated this and, wanting to keep the vehicle intact for his own purposes, he ambushed Lemuel's shadow and trapped him in the carousel's toolbox. Then, miraculously, Hieronymus was somehow apprehended and placed within the Hall of Shadow Criminals on an isolated island. There he was contained inside not one, but two shadow cages, a standard sized one contained within a much larger version.

Even in this state, Hieronymus didn't inform anyone of the whereabouts of Lemuel's shadow. He began breaking down the cages holding him, though it would be years before he was able to cause enough damage to enable his escape. In the meantime, he was visited on at least one occasion by Penelope Gloom's shadow in the hopes that he could tell her how Gustav, born a halfsie, could experience a normal life. Hieronymus claimed that this was impossible, further adding that the Dark Country would react to Gustav's "unnatural" existence by creating greater and greater dangers for him to face.

Despite his confinement, Hieronymus remained dangerous, pulling individuals who drew too near to his prison in, likely to a gruesome fate. Gustav himself would later report that he had conversed with Hieronymus four times throughout the course of his life when he was in need of information only the shadow criminal could provide. Purely for his own amusement, Hieronymus would force Gustav to complete onerous tasks or meet some aggravating requirement before he would consent to answer the boy's questions. One such incident involved forcing Gustav to bring him one thousand spoons from around the Gloom house, and then refusing to continue their conversation until Gustav put each spoon back where it had originally been found.

When Gustav was ten years old, he and his new friend Fernie What-whom he warned not to share her name with Hieronymus-visited the criminal in the midst of their search for the Nightmare Vault. Hieronymus questioned Fernie, having apparently divined by some means her recent altercation with fellow inmate Nebuchadnezzar. In response to their inquiries, he brought up the myth of Pandora's box, and explained that it had been inspired by the account of the Nightmare Vault. Hieronymus also noted how the item had been entrusted to Lemuel Gloom after several attempts were made to steal it from the Dark Country. He was greatly amused when told of the shadow-eater October's search for it.

After Gustav threatened never to visit him again unless he helped them, Hieronymus offered a vague clue as to the whereabouts of the vault. He explained that, when they had discussed the subject, Lemuel Gloom had told him that he would do something that might be interpreted as still needing to think about the matter. Hieronymus, who didn't particularly care whether October found the Nightmare Vault and unleashed its occupants, went on that he would share more helpful information with the shadow-eater for the sake of his own amusement. True to his word, he called out to October as the creature passed his cell and informed him with perfect clarity of the Nightmre Vault's whereabouts. Fortunately, in spite of this, Gustav and Fernie were able to best the monster and prevent him from accomplishing his mission for Lord Obsidian.

In spite of Hieronymus' duplicity, Gustav felt compelled to approach him again when it came time to plan an expedition to the Dark Country to rescue his father, Hans Gloom. Hieronymus agreed to speak only on the condition that Fernie return and be the one to question him. As it later turned out, he did this after Lord Obsidian sent messengers to the Hall of Shadow Criminals offering freedom to anyone willing to join Lord Obsidian's army and assist in the capture of Gustav, Fernie, and her family. Hieronymus, interested in serving no one's ambitions but his own, mockingly rejected the offer, further expressing the intent to escape on his own and destroy Lord Obsidian for daring to presume he could be recruited in this fashion.

Despite this, Hieronymus decided to derive some amusement from the situation by making his demand that Fernie return to visit him. This was done so that she would be present in the house when the jailbreak occurred and was ultimately successful. As such, Fernie's father Sidney What and older sister Pearlie ended up falling into the Pit leading to the Dark Country. Gustav and Fernie were thus forced to visit Hieronymus not only for Hans' sake, but for that of Fernie's lost loved ones as well. Gustav, having worked out at least part of what had happened, confronted Hieronymus, who quickly disputed Gustav's accusation that Hieronymus had accepted Obsidian's offer with a true account of events.

Having thus explained himself, Hieronymus offered to answer six of "the dozen" questions Gustav wished to ask of him. In typical fashion, he treated every question Gustav began asking, even those that had nothing to do with their prearranged topic, as one of those six, and responded with answers that provided no helpful information. Realizing this, Gustav used his final question to make a demand: that Hieronymus answer the way he would if he actually cared about them and wanted to help them. Hieronymus literally applauded this stroke by Gustav, and then began explaining that, in all honest, he had little to offer them in the way of help. He explained that his information about the Dark Country was likely outdated due to his imprisonment, but that they would be best served by making their way not directly there, but to the "Dim Land" surrounding it.

Hieronymus further explained that the means of reaching the Dark Country and returning was something Gustav was already familiar with, though not with its full capabilities: the Cryptic Carousel. Then, as a piece of advice that he had intended to offer anyway, if only because it might prove amusing, he posed a riddle that would later lead the pair to open the toolbox containing Lemuel Gloom's trapped shadow. Hieronymus warned Gustav, however, that he fully expected the two of them to perish, and further added that he intended to escape in the near future. He also informed Gustav that, were they to meet again, Hieronymus intended to kill the halfsie boy, though Gustav boldly challenged this assumption of how any future encounter might play out.

During their conversation, Hieronymus noted that he had actually recognized Fernie from somewhere within the Gloom house that indicated a possibility, if slight, that the pair might actually succeed in their quest. Seeing the hope this apparently brought Fernie, he was quick to wave aside any notions of prophecy or fate or heroism, but simply noted that their success was possible. He refused, of course, to explain where this proof could be found. And, as he no doubt intended, when the pair opened the toolbox on the Cryptic Carousel they were met with a furious Lemuel's shadow. Though initially nearly insane after his ordeal, he eventually regained control of himself and assisted Gustav and Fernie on their journey, telling them of his own history with Hieronymus in the process.

Lemuel's shadow also expressed the hope that, when all was over, he would be able to visit Hieronymus in the Hall of Shadow Criminals and ask him the name of the shadow responsible for his captivity Nora What, Fernie's mother, was discouraged by Fernie's shadow from making such a visit to Hieronymus herself after she arrived and learned what had become of her family. Around this same time, another prison break took place in the Hall of Shadow Criminals, with all of the inmates once again being offered freedom in exchange for joining Obsidian's forces. Hieronymus would be the only prisoners to refuse the offer, a decision that Ursula would regard as foolish.

However, these shadows ultimately failed in their assigned mission to capture Nora What and were either reimprisoned or fled down to the Dark Country, where they would soon learn of Lord Obsidian's ultimate defeat. Hieronymus, meanwhile, made good on his own promise of escape and disappeared. Nothing had been heard from him some weeks following his disappearance, and though Great-Aunt Mellifluous expressed the hope that this might mean he had departed forever, she knew enough about Hieronymus-if not personally-to expect that he would eventually return.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 As revealed in *Gustav Gloom and the Cryptic Carousel*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 As revealed in *Gustav Gloom and the Nightmare Vault*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 As revealed in *Gustav Gloom and the Four Terrors*
4. ↑ As revealed in *Gustav Gloom and the Inn of Shadows*
5. ↑ As revealed in *Gustav Gloom and the Castle of Fear*