Lasher, Anne Rice, 1993
Anne Rice, queen of dark whimsy. Amazing.
Full Recap: (Spoilers)
From where we left off in The Witching Hour (book 1): 13th generation witch Rowan Mayfair has just given birth to the now embodied form of Lasher, devilish spirit who has latched on to each succeeding Mayfair witch for the last 300 years. Born in the full form of man, he disappears with Rowan, who is determined to figure out how this medical mystery came about.
Of the multiple storylines, the first is Rowan and Emaleth’s. The voice of the novel begins through Emaleth’s third person perspective from Rowan’s womb. Like her father Lasher, Emaleth is a Taltos, which we learn the meaning of later. She’s afraid for her mother, who she knows she loves (being like all Taltos, born with language and reason), while Rowan is in a clear state of suffering. Every few chapters, we get a short chapter through Emaleth’s perspective. She wants to help her mother, but is promised by Lasher that together they’ll start a new beginning in Donnelaith, Scotland, where we know Lasher was originally called upon by Suzanne Mayfair 300 years earlier.
Along with this storyline is Rowan’s, held captive by Lasher in a medical building she’d rented to test how Lasher came to be incarnated—through her very womb! She called Dr. Larkin, whom she was familiar with back before inheriting the Mayfair Legacy, when she worked as a brain surgeon. Rowan sent Larkin Lasher’s DNA samples with strict, urgent orders to test them with only the help of one other doctor, Mitch Flanagan, whom she trusts. Larkin and Flanagan have found that Lasher is not of the homosapien species. He only has 40% human DNA (Chimpanzees have 97%, to put this in perspective). Rowan, somehow, is also a medical anomaly, with 92 chromosomes instead of the normal 46. The second set of chromosomes in her had lay dormant until she coupled with Michael (who also has 92 chromosomes) in the previous book.
Rowan is tied to a bed, starved, repeatedly raped, and falling in and out of consciousness. She’s noticed some things about Lasher while in her captivity—he is a complete man, though taller and perceived as more attractive than most. It seems to Rowan that when he drinks her milk (which is over and over depicted sensually and almost vampirically), he is made stronger. As time moves, he seems to be forgetting his past. We learn that since he has been returned to his human form, he is forgetting his time as a spirit and recalling his time as a man.
In the next storyline, Mona is a thirteen year old cousin of the Mayfairs, known for her rebellion and promiscuity. This shows right upon our introduction to the character who tries (and succeeds) to seduce Michael at the Mayfair house, which he still owns in Rowan’s absence as her legal husband. Mona is the daughter of new characters Alicia and Patrick, but was mostly raised by Alicia’s sister Gifford and husband Ryan. Her great grandmother Ancient Evelyn is the grandmother of both Alicia and Gifford, and was the child of a rape by Cortland to Barbara Ann, a “dim witted” girl from another Mayfair clan in feud with those in the Mayfair mansion because Julien, Cortland’s father, had murdered someone from their direct line earlier. This isn’t all so necessary to the main narrative, but it does provide additional lore for the story and the history of Mona’s direct line.
Evelyn, who sometimes goes years without speaking, has told Mona about the Mayfair witches, as well as her affairs with Julien (let it be noted that he is her grandfather) when she was 13 years old, and Stella, her cousin, whom she calls the love of her life. Mona isn’t afraid of the Mayfair powers as most of the clan is. She’s fascinated by it.
Since Rowan has left Michael, he and Aaron from the Talamasca (research group of the occult) know there is more to her disappearance. A large part of the Mayfair family is trying to find her, but there are only some leads through her bank statements in Texas and New York, as well as her hastily made phone call to Larkin about Lasher’s DNA samples. When Gifford is found dead after miscarrying Lasher’s baby, the family ascertains that Lasher has Rowan captive and is trying to procreate with Mayfair women to find someone with the full 92 chromosomes necessary to birth the Taltos. This is the fear of all—that this inhumane spirit can breed. There are Mayfair women dying left and right—Gifford, Alicia, and at least five others. The family is in a state of panic for all Mayfair women all over the country.
Those involved directly with Michael (Gifford’s husband Ryan, her son Pierce, Mona, and a few other members), as well as both Aaron and his Talamasca friend Yuri seek to find Lasher and save Rowan. When Flanagan and Larkin are mysteriously killed (as the only people with information on Lasher other than the Talamasca and the family), Aaron and Yuri begin to feel suspicious of the Talamasca group which they have sworn their life’s loyalty to. It isn’t long before the Talamasca officially expels them from the case, leaving them both disturbed with knowing they were never given the full picture as told.
Julien arrives at the Mayfair home in ghostlike fashion to tell Michael his story:
Julien (born 1828), being a man, wasn’t officially one of the 13 witches, but he was first raped by Lasher when he was as little as 3 years old. As Julien grew into his adulthood, he and Lasher had continuous affairs, though Lasher wasn’t as fascinated with him sexually as he was with the females, but as a model of man to imitate and sometimes to possess.
His sister, the witch of his generation, was Katherine (born 1830), but she had inherently Christian virtues, and was not interested in Lasher. When the love of Katherine’s life, Darcy, dies, Julien rapes Katherine and they give birth to Mary Beth, the witch in line after Katherine (you’ll never believe me if I said Julien procreates with not only also Mary Beth, but his and Mary Beth’s child Stella as well). Although he is disgusted with himself for the rape of his sister (which leaves her ill and fragile for the remainder of her life), Lasher reports that Julien has fulfilled his purpose.
When Lasher begins possessing Julien’s physical form, Julien finds that Lasher unwittingly leaves the impression of memories which aren’t intended. These memories are of Lasher as a man—as a human, in Donnelaith, looking at a beautiful church, as if a Saint. This means Lasher was once mortal, which is a breakthrough, as Lasher has only ever said that he comes from darkness.
To find out more, Julien visits Donnelaith, where he learns that there was a St. Ashlar who led the Catholics (Pagans) against the Protestants. St. Ashlar was killed as a Catholic martyr. Interestingly, when Michael reports this to Aaron, Aaron is familiar with Ashlar’s name through the Talamasca. He says Ashlar was a Saint who reappeared every few hundred years—very Pagan, he says, since Saints are meant to stay in Heaven. The Talamasca has never shared with Aaron that there was any relation to Lasher. This is suspicious. The Talamasca must know that when Lasher responded to Suzanne calling his name, it was Ashlar she was calling.
When Michael wakes up after hearing Julien’s story, he is told Rowan is alive but not well. This is after Rowan has escaped Lasher and birthed Emaleth in the woods. Emaleth suckles on Rowan’s breasts and is made strong by her milk. Emaleth leaves a dying Rowan in the woods and is on the way to New Orleans to find Michael. On her journey, she finds a bar (as it’s known the Taltos are attracted to rhythm and music) where she has sex with some creep but lets him know they can’t make the Taltos together (since he isn’t a witch). Procreation seems to be her only purpose, and she is consistently craving milk.
Rowan, who is stable but will never recover, is brought back to the Mayfair house. Her prognosis is that she may die within the week, or survive in a vegetative state for years; regardless, she is unable to procreate and birth the next Designee of the Mayfair Legacy. It is then decided that Mona, the beautiful, seducing, precocious 13 year old, will be the next Designee.
Michael is determined to stay at Rowan’s bedside; Mona and Pierce are determined to keep all Mayfair women accounted for; and Yuri is determined to access Talamasca files which he and Aaron have officially been excommunicated from. Meanwhile, the new Talamasca members in charge, Stolov and Norgan, are spying at the house. All Mayfair members are told not to engage with them.
The climax of the story is as follows. Michael wakes up from a nap to no guards and no nurses, and to Stolov saying there is a priest who came in and sent everyone away. Up in Rowan’s room is Lasher. He’s in a cassock posing as a priest that has come to bless Rowan. Michael jumps at Lasher but Aaron, Stolov, and Norgan stop him for a chance to hear Lasher’s story. Lasher is begging to tell it.
Lasher was “born” in London to Anne Boleyn (witch) who coupled with Lasher’s pagan father from Donnelaith. The sin was punished by the coming of Ashlar, who, as the Talamasca had known, is a figure reborn again and again through the centuries.
Ashlar’s birth is a fright. His mother (the Queen) is screaming. He is a full grown man suckling at her breasts. He is confused—with only the knowledge that this is a return. His Catholic (pagan) father is overjoyed at the return of Ashlar, who is known in myth as a priestly, godly figure. Together, they go to Donnelaith where his father is quick to take him to church. The church members grow frenzied when they see him. When the priest identifies him as “Taltos,” he recognizes that within himself.
This Ashlar—Lasher—is both the Saint Ashlar, as well as Taltos, one from the devil. He can choose goodness or evil, and he has the potential for both. He chooses to be good, and goes to the Assisi in Italy at the Basilica of St. Francis to become a priest, but is vehemently warned never to touch the flesh of a woman.
The Fransican life is natural to him, and he stays for over 20 years with no real change in his appearance or age. The year is 1536. He’s incredibly unsettled by the nightmare of his origins, which would make him not human. As per his vow to Jesus, he keeps away from women, but is painstakingly tempted by breasts and milk. He contemplates that his origins are impossible—he did have a childhood and an infancy like everyone else, only he doesn’t remember. This theory is disproven when he is finally seduced by a woman. She brings him into a garden with her friends. He loses all control, penetrating each one, and then falls asleep surrounded by them. When he wakes, they are all dead in puddles of their own blood.
He runs into a Dutchman who he’s seen following him—a man from the Talamasca who knows what he is. He tells Ashlar that he can not procreate with women except witches. And he is soulless, closed off to heaven and bound to be in the invisible darkness between earth and heaven, waiting to return to a likely form.
Lasher goes to confession and the priest reveals his brother who has been searching for him. His brother says that their father, the new laird, would have him return to save them from Boleyn (Elizabeth) killing the Catholics. Ashlar, in myth, is known to be the savior.
Emaleth, his sister, is not so believing in his goodness. She tells him the original St. Ashlar was a Taltos (as Lasher is) on an island of Taltos. The Taltos are wild beings “born knowing” all they will ever know. They are heretical beings of mimicry. St. Ashlar massacred his kind to lead the Catholics, which is why the Taltos are no longer known. The Talamasca Dutchman tells him to follow, and they will find him a witch to procreate. If he stays at the Catholic mass, the Protestants will kill him. The Dutchman says the Talamasca desires to save the Taltos and revive their kind.
Despite the warnings from the Talamasca and his sister, he ordains the beautiful Christmas mass anyway. Suddenly the “little people,” evil pagan creatures, show. They seduce him. He rapes these witch women again and again, and the Taltos are made. And then, as foreseen, he is murdered by the Protestant soldiers. There is only darkness until Suzanne Mayfair calls him as Lasher and he, only hearing the sounds of Ashlar, answers.
Lasher expects full pity from all when his story is complete. He believes he is good. Aaron, Stolov, and Norgan want to take him to the Talamasca motherhouse in Amsterdam to study him further. It would be rash to kill a mystery such as he. But Michael has vowed to do right by Rowan, who has killed countless times. His killings include Rowan and Michael’s unborn child, and nearly Rowan herself. Michael kills Lasher for justice, while Lasher screams “father, please!.” Stolov and Norgan, who had tried to get between them, are killed by Michael as well.
Michael is left in a trance and falls asleep in the garden after burying Lasher’s body. He takes the Designee emerald to give to Mona. Mona and Yuri handle the other bodies.
In the end, Lasher is destroyed so all Mayfair women are safe. But suddenly, Emaleth arrives. Michael finds her in Rowan’s room. She has Rowan propped up on her, suckling at her breasts. Rowan becomes alert (an impossible prognosis) and screams for Michael to kill Emaleth. Confused by who she is, he says he can’t, so Rowan grabs a gun from the bedside table and shoots her daughter Emaleth 3 times. She then cries for her baby and tells Michael not to worry. She will bury her baby herself.
Review
Okay, so now that I’ve got that quick recap out of the way!
I am again amazed by Anne Rice’s genius. This novel series is a whole Religion of lore (which truly, I believe in). It is so complete—so realized.
The novel’s strongest point is how it posits mystery and science as completely interbred. Starting with The Witching Hour, I’ve been absolutely convinced of this somewhat heretical faith, which is that science and magic are the same. That is, magic—or what we perceive as magic—is just as based in science as chemistry or biology. Or, perhaps in another way to put it, magic can be measured through chemistry and biology in the same way as man.
Stolov, while giving Yuri a rundown of the spirit, says that Lasher’s birth was “a meeting, if you will, of mystery and science” (438). The spirit, he says, entered the soul of Michael and Rowan’s embryo before the embryo did. This is how the embodiment of this spirit became. With soul (magic) and embryo (science) as one coalesced thing! I can’t be the only one amazed by this thought.
The same concept in another light is Lasher’s attraction to music. The characters use music as a means to occupy and distract Lasher since spirits—stuck in darkness and chaos—desire order. There is a biological attraction within the spirit to rhythm, which is man-made order.
Other pieces of genius from Lasher are the considerations of lust and vanity. It is necessary to add a trigger warning, for this is one of the most sexually deviant novels I’ve read, but although one would consider Lasher’s overall sin as lust (which is still the case for his human form Ashlar), his sin as a spirit is vanity. He is seeking incarnation, which lust is a vessel for, as it brings him physically closer to incarnated man. Incredible!
Another bewilderment Rice naturally employs is how she leaves the reader completely unsure whether or not they sympathize with Lasher. He is an objectively evil spirit, but has spent his life seeking goodness. He is explained by Julien’s grandmother as “a creature damned to suffer intelligence and loneliness in a vaporish form” (280), which, you’ve got to admit, is the most diabolical possibility for punishment (how does Anne Rice come up with this!). Also interesting is that Lasher was cursed this way not by the devil, but by God.
A little bit about the author. Rice was raised as an extremely devout Christian. In her memoir “Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession,” she writes of her complete loss of faith in her early adulthood after losing her son. During this loss of faith is when her best novel series, such as The Mayfair Witches and The Vampire Chronicles came about. The push and pull between faith and science which is so poignant and terrifying is (paraphrased by my memory) her own conscience fighting herself to believe again. Later in life, she does. Although she loves her novels, they reflect the abject belief system of that which she died with.
One other little note is that this novel has an awesome intertwining of history (the Boleyn sisters and such). The fight between Protestants and Catholics was written in a whole new light. And the addition of the little people made this novel feel like complete fantasy—even fairy tale—more so than the first, which is a matter of taste but I enjoyed it a lot.
Also, she ends the novel with a note of the time—10 pm. August 5, 1992. Which I take to be when she completed the novel. So personal and incredible. Gave me chills.
6/5.
Trigger Warnings: extreme sexual deviance (incest, rape, pedophilia); murder; and heavily leaden with Anti-Christian themes
Quotes:
The color of everything brightened, and she saw Mother’s hand high above her, dark and thin and immense, covering the whole world.
“I am in love with you but you don’t have to do anything about it, Uncle Michael. Just be worthy of it.”
Stranded in childhood, she suddenly felt freakish and confused. She might have cried.
His arms locked around her, and he gave some soft complaining sound that was very like him, like it’s just too late now, or something, or God forgive me.
Family trees of the Mayfair clan were like the thorny vines that choked off the windows and doors of Sleeping Beauty’s castle.
“Help me somebody.” “There isn’t anybody, darling. That’s the secret of the universe,” he said.
No, didn’t mind the cold water. Never had. She just minded the pain, the awful sharpening and grinding pain. You think life is worth it? I don’t know. What do you think? This pain, it’s not particularly unusual, you know, to feel pain like this, to feel this suffering, it’s nothing special, you know, it’s just. I don’t know if it’s worth it. I really, really don’t.
For Yuri, it was the powerful irrational love that forms its roots in childhood, in loneliness, in eradicable memories of tenderness and rescue, a love that no one but the recipient can destroy.
They made of love a soft and luxurious thing. And when the violence came you were ready. You wanted it.
Paralyzed with pleasure, she lay with her fingers curling up, her feet to the side, like one who is dead.
Maybe the simple fact is I am more capable of love than you are.
Pray when I am finished this tale, I will go on to something greater. Punishment even would have its shape, its purpose, some conviction of meaning. I cannot imagine eternal flames. But I can imagine eternal meaning.
In the deep soft silence and shadows of the Garden District, death had been done again and no one had noticed; no one would come. No one would call.
