Hemingway Onstald

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## Biographical Information

### Title(s)

* Professor
* Dr. (possibly)

### Died

Hallowmas, Autumn of Two, Third Age of the Aristocrats

### Residence

* The Wundrous Society
* Nevermoor, Free State

## Physical Information

### Other Defining Feature(s)

* Carapace on back
* Round, scaly, padded tortoise feet
* Pink-rimmed, squinty eyes
* No teeth

## Social Information

### Achievement(s)

* Professor
* Author of The Book of Ghostly Hours
* Founder of the Sub-Nine Academic Group

### Affiliation(s)

* The Wundrous Society
	+ Sub-Nine Academic Group (formerly)

### Knack

* Mundane Art (unmentioned)
* Tempus (Learned)

"*We all owe a great debt of gratitude to Professor Onstald*"
―Elder Quinn to Wundrous Society scholars and staff[src]
**Professor Hemingway Q. Onstald** (b. unknown – d. Hallowmas, Autumn of Two, Third Age of the Aristrocrats) was a member of the Wundrous Society, professor of history with the society, a timekeeper, and a tortoisewun (Wunimal Minor).

## Biography

Onstald joined the Wundrous Society as a child, with an unknown knack. He was in the School of Mundane Arts. After his graduation, he continued his education and became a professor.

Onstald was fascinated by Wundersmiths and their abilities, and co-founded the Sub-Nine Academic Group to study the lost arts of the Wundersmiths in the their old school and discussion area - Sub-Nine. He was particularly fascinated by Tempus, the Wundrous art of manipulating time, and was able to learn it for himself even though he was not a Wundersmith. While he could never have the same power as a born-and-bred Wundersmith, he was skilled enough to be able to slow down or temporarily freeze time, and create Ghostly Hours.

However, something happened. Not even his fellow basement nerds know what, but something happened that made Onstald's view of Wundersmiths completely change. He left the Sub-Nine Academic Group and severed all ties with its members, and harbored a fear and absolute hatred of Wundersmiths.

At the beginning of Morrigan Crow's first year at Wunsoc, Onstald was her only teacher. He believed she would become evil and she resented his useless teachings and prejudice. He taught her an embellished history about the evil of Wundersmiths from a book which he wrote. He further wasting her time by setting meaningless busywork such as making dioramas. Most of the Wundersmith deeds is his history were exaggerated, taken out of context, or had crucial bits of information missing. Onstald knew this.

"*All Wundersmiths … are … ev—*"
―Onstald's last words to Morrigan at WunSoc[src]
When Morrigan learned about Wundersmith history from primary sources such as artifacts and government records, she confronted Onstald and couldn't contain her anger: yelling and tearing out pages from his book. Henry Mildmay interrupted and failed to promptly leave. Without having explained himself, Onstald used his skill with Tempus to freeze time and flee the room.

Henry Mildmay then sold Onstald and his valuable knack to Bonesmen and the Ghastly Market.

At the Ghastly Market, Onstald was chained to a oversized clock. From there he saw snow globes breaking like dominoes and heard Hawthorne Swift yell "*Morrigan*". As Morrigan and Hawthorne were about to be hit by an exhibit that had burst out, he stopped time for everything expect the three of them. Morrigan and Hawthorne were able to free Israfel, Cadence, and Lambeth. Unfortunately, Onstald was further away and bound with chains rather than ropes and was then blocked by a giant tree. Onstald saw his situation was hopeless and ordered Morrigan to "*RUN... Go! Run!*" which persuaded her to give up her futile attempt to save him.

## Physical Appearance

"*Hemingway Q. Onstald was more human than tortoise, but he was still a lot tortoise.*"
―Narration[src]
He had a lot of tortoise features including a huge shell on his back, greenish-grey skin, no teeth, and turtle feet. He was very old and moved and talked very slowly. Tiny bits of spittle would gather in the corners of his mouth.

## Personality and Traits

Onstald is an intelligent and studious man, who once had a great passion for learning, especially about Wundersmiths and Tempus. However, by the time we meet him, he's become incredibly prejudiced towards Wundersmiths after some unknown incident, and is horrible to Morrigan. Despite her being a child who barely understands her own abilities, Onstald views her as a threat, and believes that she is inherently evil. He routinely lies to her during their lessons, and shows no remorse when he's confronted. He also displays a hypocritical streak, using a Wundrous Art, Tempus, to escape the conversation.

However, Onstald dies bravely, and sacrifices his life to save Morrigan and her friends, showing that he did still have some good qualities alongside his bad ones.

## Abilities and Skills

### Knack

Onstald is said to have a mundane knack, though it is not mentioned what this knack is.

### Learned Knack

Professor Onstald is a Timekeeper, a stretcher of time. This ability is one that makes up the of the Wundrous Art of Tempus, which Onstald learnt as part of his life's work as the founder of the Sub-Nine Academic Group. He can make time slow down with this rare knack. He uses it to slow down Morrigan Crow and Henry Mildmay to escape his classroom at Wunsoc. He uses it a second time in the Ghastly Market to help Morrigan, Hawthorne, Cadence, Lambeth and Israfel escape the Museum of Stolen Moments.

Onstald used his Timekeeper knack to help compile the The Book of Ghostly Hours. He could create Ghostly Hours and possibly annotate them.

## Possessions

* his personal copy of *Missteps, Blunders, Fiascoes, Monstrosities, and Devastations: An Abridged History of the Wundrous Acts Spectrum*

## Accomplishments

* Graduated from the Wundrous Society
* Became a Professor, presumably outside of WunSoc
* Founded the Sub-Nine Academic Group
* Wrote *The Book of Ghostly Hours*
* Wrote *Missteps, Blunders, Fiascoes, Monstrosities, and Devastations: An Abridged History of the Wundrous Acts Spectrum*
* Learnt a Wundrous Art - Tempus

## Relationships

### Morrigan

Though his relationship with Morrigan was bad at the start of Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow, with himself having prejudice against Wundersmith's, he later sacrifices his life for her, which allows her to save Israfel, Cadence and Lambeth.

### Staff of WunSoc

Onstald is likely to have a good relationship with many at WunSoc as some teaching staff volunteered themselves to search for him when he went missing, potentially risking their own lives to find the Ghastly Market.

## Etymology

**Hemingway** likely comes from a rare English place name from a lost or unidentified minor place in West Yorkshire, possibly in the parish of Halifax. Typically it is found as a surname. The writer Ernest Hemingway is a famous bearer of this name.

There are no definite meanings behind the name **Onstald**, however it is possible this name is a play on the words "on stall" as tortoises are known for their slow movements on land.

## Behind-the-Scenes

* He is the second character we meet in the series who is a Wunimal and the first who is a Wunimal Minor.
* His death marks the first of that of a major character the reader knows.
* He is the first character known by the reader to have picked up a second knack. He is also the first non-Wundersmith character to have mastered a Wundrous Art.

## Appearances

* *Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow* (First appearance)
* *Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow* (Mentioned only)

## Notes and References

1. ↑ https://www.ancestry.ca/name-origin?surname=hemingway