Lowell Skellansen

*This article is about the glassmaker. For the boy Lowe in Captain Frost's tale, see Liao Bluecrowne.*

## Biographical information

### Abilities

Art
Stained glass windows

## Book information

### Mentioned

*Greenglass House*
*Ghosts of Greenglass House*

****L******owell Skellansen**is a mysterious but famous artist. He worked in stained glass and secrets.

## Biography

### *Greenglass House*

Dr. Gowervine told a story about Lowell Skellansen. He told of how Skellansen dealt not only in glass but also in secrets, and was "tremendously good" at both jobs. Skellansen had a shop in the Printer's Quarter, and often combined secrets and art in his windows. Dr. Gowervine noted that the mayor of the city had come to Skellansen once, to create a window for the city archives. Greenglass House was too old to have its windows be Skellansen ones, but according to Dr. Gowervine, some of them were much younger. However, he still did not believe Greenglass House's windows to be Skellansen's work, as they were not beautiful enough.

Dr. Gowervine went on to tell of how, immediately after Doc Holystone's death, a smuggler came into Skellansen's office, panicked and afraid for his life. He wanted Skellansen to help him find someone who would be willing to write about what had happened to Doc Holystone at the hands of Deacon and Morvengarde's agents, as he knew the whole story. However, Skellansen decided to tell the story himself, and having just accepted the mayor's commission for the window for the city archives, he decided to put it there. Even if Deacon and Morvengarde had the window smashed the next day, many would have seen it after the unveiling.

However, at this time, someone whose secrets had been passed through Skellansen's hands, decided to kill Skellansen. But Skellansen had some way to protect himself, or be warned when it was time to hide away for a while. By the time the killer found Skellansen's office, Lowell Skellansen and his work were all gone. According to Dr. Gowervine, Lowell Skellansen is still missing. People who study Skellansen theorize that he escaped with the cartoons, scale drawings used for measuring, cutting, and laying out the glass, or a vidimus, a model made to show the customer. This way, he would not have to escape with four stained-glass windows, but would instead be able to replicate them.

After Dr. Gowervine finished his story, Milo and Meddy presumed that he was at Greenglass House in order to study Skellansen. Milo wondered if, though Skellansen's windows would stick out, his tools and models might be easier to hide in plain sight. When Dr. Gowervine's satchel was stolen, he admitted that it contained all of his research on Lowell Skellansen. Meddy wondered if Skellansen, or someone he sent, had arrived at Greenglass House after Doc Holystone's death.

While hiding in the Emporium from Mr. Vinge and his thugs, Meddy brought Milo a catalog of Skellansen's work that she had swiped from Dr. Gowervine's bag. He saw many types of windows depicting many people, and also tables with mosaic tops, fireplace screens with glass set into them, glass chandeliers, glass candelabras, and glass lamps. Milo eventually gave up, as he felt that he did not know what he was looking for, and couldn't figure it out if someone who spent his whole life on it couldn't. Milo later noted that Meddy had mentioned a ship chandelier, and Meddy told him that she didn't know if it was supposed to be a ship, but she thought it looked like one, and sort of remembered when it was hung. Milo flipped through the catalog until he reached the chandeliers, wondering if it was not a story window as Dr. Gowervine had suspected, but a chandelier. Meddy produced a picture that looked like a drawing in the condensation on a window, and they wondered if it was a map showing how to get to something hidden inside the chandelier.

Milo proceeded to the chandelier in the dining room, and after making a deal with Mr. Vinge, looked inside and found the Sirin figurine. After Mr. Vinge had been chased out, Dr. Gowervine agreed that the chandelier was Skellansen's work, musing that if he had not been so focused on a story window he might have figured it out himself, and that all his sources did say that Doc Holystone was going to be the subject for the archives window. He was excited about the chandelier, as Skellansen glasswork was rare, although he understood it did not belong to him.

Milo had other ideas, and stood on the stool once more. He looked inside the chandelier, twisting the hull that he remembered had turned when he was looking for Doc Holystone's final cargo. He pulled out a roll of paper, and handed it to Dr. Gowervine. When he unrolled it, he found a painting of a ship, being followed by another, but Doc Holystone, for that was who it was, did not seem worried. He seemed confident, and many were cheering for him on the riverbank, so you knew he had to be good. Milo commented on how the colors varied, and the shapes seemed to move on their own, and was stunningly beautiful. Meddy commented on how that was just the way Doc Holystone had looked to her. Meddy offered to let Dr. Gowervine borrow it, and he planned to take it to a university and have a glassmaker he trusts, an apprentice of Skellansen's, make a copy, and if they wanted create the window it was meant to be. A university would display it, and the cartoon would be mounted at Greenglass House.

### *Ghosts of Greenglass House*

Mrs. Pine and Milo speculated about whether or not Emmett Syebuck was who he said he was. One of Milo's theories was that Emmett was Skellansen in disguise, checking on his chandelier. Dr. Gowervine had presented the cartoon for the Doc Holystone window, along with a lecture, at City University the previous summer. Emmett had figured out where the cartoon had come from and showed up at Greenglass House to check out the creation. Emmett was thrilled about the chandelier. Emmett noted that he was actually an art student, and had written his dissertation on Skellansen.

## Trivia

* The name "Skellandotter" may mean "Skellan's daughter" and thus be related to "Skellan's son", suggesting that Edita Skellandotter (a reliquary-maker) and Lowell Skellansen (a stained glass artist) are related to each other.