Caliban

**Caliban**, also known as **Howard Philip October's shadow** or simply **October's shadow**, was the shadow of Howard Philip October for many years. After separating from him, he would eventually take the name Caliban and join the forces of October's enemies.

## Biography

Differing greatly in personality from the human whose shape he shared, October's shadow greatly sorrowed over Howard Philip October's self-destructive and self-serving path through life. He was present in Penelope Gloom's car when several shadow allies of October's took control of it in an effort to kill her and her unborn son Gustav Gloom. Penny, as her own shadow later testified, pleaded with October's shadow for the sake of her son. Sadly, October's shadow seems to have been unable or, at the time, unwilling to do anything to prevent Penny's death. Penny's shadow, meanwhile, succeeded in rescuing Gustav, though the event would result in his being born a halfsie.

When October and Hans Gloom fell into the Pit leading to the Dark Country, October's shadow accompanied his human just as Hans Gloom's shadow accompanied his. Hans' shadow seemed to regard October's shadow as an accomplice, if not outright responsible, in Penny's murder, and the pair fought as savagely as did their human companions. Upon landing in the Dark Country, their battle ceased, and October and his shadow began fleeing Hans and his shadow. As Hans chased October through the Dark Country, their shadows occasionally left them in order to eat and rest and thus provide the two men with sustenance and rejuvenation they could not otherwise have obtained.

During this pursuit, October's humanity-such as it was-was slowly consumed by his ongoing ordeal and the forces of shadow magic he had tampered with and sought to harness. Eventually, he became a shadow himself, and the culmination of this transformation caused October's shadow to flee in horror and disappear for many years afterwards. At some point, he joined the resistance fighting against October, now going by the name Lord Obsidian. October's shadow also seems to have taken on a new identity, as he donned a shadowy cloak to conceal his appearance and, if asked, introduced himself by the name Caliban.

Years later, when Hans and Penny's son Gustav was ten years old, the resistance hit upon a plan to defeat Lord Obsidian once and for all. This required that Caliban get into Lord Obsidian's castle, which he set out to accomplish with a disguised Mellifluous and several nameless shadows. However, their plan was sidetracked by Gustav arriving on the borders of the Dark Country with his friend Fernie What and the two of them, along with Fernie's sister Pearlie What, venturing into the Dark Country in a bid to rescue Hans Gloom and the girls' father Sidney What. Having joined a flood of refugees fleeing the war in the Dark Country, Caliban and his companions would find themselves forced to follow the three children.

Responding to Gustav's appeal for allies to join their quest, Caliban and his companions, along with Cousin Cyrus and a shadow calling himself Olaf, traveled along the mountains bordering the Dark Country. When they introduced themselves to the children, Caliban used his alias and expressed the beliefs that, not only would the children not survive, but that they were probably a waste of his time. He and his companions refrained from committing themselves openly to supporting the children, hanging back when they approached Shadow's Inn. This was mainly done to avoid rousing the gnarfle sleeping in the barn neighboring the barn.

When the gnarfle was awakened, Caliban and Mellifluous quickly approached to offer the children what help they could. Gustav, in the meantime, had deduced that despite their noncommittal attitudes, they were in fact trustworthy precisely because they made no effort to convince the children that they were. The pair quickly demonstrated this with their concern for the children and their assistance in the ensuing conflict with arriving minions of Lord Obsidian's at the inn. Caliban himself briefly appeared to have been seized by the gnarfle during the struggle, distressing Mellifluous enough that she briefly lost control of her shape.

Fortunately, Caliban escaped this fate and clung to the side of the inn, and later grabed another minion and threw him to the gnarfle before rejoining his friends. Not long afterwards, he was taken captive by Obsidian's forces, and transported-along with the others-to Obsidians' castle. Upon arriving at the castle, Caliban and the others were subjected to processing, and Caliban joined those consigned to the Dungeon of Those Who Await. While there, Mellifluous explained the nature of their mission to the rest of the group: to bring Caliban and Hans Gloom together. Mr. What, also among the prisoners, was skeptical that Hans Gloom was even in any shape to rejoin the fight after years spent as Obsidian's prisoner, but Caliban was convinced that he would be.

Caliban, Mellifluous, and the other shadows in the group were forced into jars when they were all collected by Obsidian's guards and brought to the tyrant and then to the top of his massive statue of himself. In the battle that ensued, Caliban was the last of the shadows to be freed, and quickly joined forces with Hans to battle Obsidian. His identity was made known in the process, to the satisfaction of Pearlie and the bafflement of Not-Roger, who couldn't understand why Caliban and Hans made such formidable opponents to Lord Obsidian. Mellifluous explained that together the pair embodied Obsidian's former best friend, worst enemy, and his own wasted potential to be a good man.

This alliance allowed the furious Caliban to begin draining Obsidian of the shadow stuff he had long stolen from other shadows, weakening him to the point where he could be harmed. However, Obsidian managed to gain the upper hand by feeding upon one of his guards, and left Caliban himself so badly drained that he barely existed. Enough of him remained, however, that Gustav was able to pick him up and reattach him to Obsidian so that Caliban could finish what he started. Obsidian was thus left a shriveled, though still dangerous, remnant of his former self, while Caliban became a shadow of massive size. With his enemy defeated, Caliban urged his victorious allies to dispose of Obsidian in a place where he could cause no further harm, before preparing to make his own departure.

When Gustav questioned this decision, Caliban noted that he had considered, and rejected, the possibilities of altering his appearance, taking Obsidian's throne for himself, or returning to the Gloom house to live among shadows who would remember the vile deeds of October and be reminded every time they saw Caliban wearing the same face. Pearlie then questioned what Caliban would do instead, and he announced his intent to travel to the Dim Land beyond the Dark Country and walk until either he found its end or had left the evils of his former companion far behind. Asked what he would do afterwards, Caliban smiled and noted that he would try writing some "happy books" as opposed to the kind October had written. He then bid farewell to his allies, particularly Mellifluous, before leaving them to begin his journey.

## Trivia

* Caliban is named for a character from William Shakespeare's *The Tempest*, a being who is forced into slavery by the magician Prospero. This is, perhaps, indicative of Caliban's own relationship with Howard Philip October.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 As revealed in *Gustav Gloom and the Castle of Fear*.
2. ↑ As revealed in *Gustav Gloom and the Nightmare Vault*.
3. ↑ As revealed in *Gustav Gloom and the Inn of Shadows*