The Terror is the name of a 2007 novel by American author Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle....

. The novel is a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition

Franklin's lost expedition

Franklin's lost expedition was a doomed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer...

 of HMS Erebus

HMS Erebus (1826)

HMS Erebus was a Hecla-class bomb vessel designed by Sir Henry Peake and constructed by the Royal Navy in Pembroke dockyard, Wales in 1826. The vessel was named after the dark region in Hades of Greek mythology called Erebus...

 and HMS Terror

HMS Terror (1813)

HMS Terror was a bomb vessel designed by Sir Henry Peake and constructed by the Royal Navy in the Davy shipyard in Topsham, Devon. The ship, variously listed as being of either 326 or 340 tons, carried two mortars, one and one .-War service:...

 to the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 to force the Northwest Passage

Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...

 in 1845 - 1848. In the novel, while Franklin and his crew are plagued by starvation and scurvy and forced to contend with mutiny and cannibalism, they are stalked across the bleak Arctic landscape by a monster.

The characters featured in The Terror are almost all actual members of Franklin's crew, whose unexplained disappearance has warranted a great deal of speculation. The main characters in the novel include Sir John Franklin, commander of the expedition and captain of Erebus, Captain Francis Crozier

Francis Crozier

Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier was born in Ireland at Banbridge, County Down and was a British naval officer who participated in six exploratory expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic...

, captain of Terror, Dr Harry D.S Goodsir, and Captain James Fitzjames

James Fitzjames

James Fitzjames was a British naval officer who participated in two exploratory expeditions, the Euphrates Expedition and the Franklin Expedition to the Arctic. He was illegitimate, and during his life and after his friends and relatives took great pains to conceal his origins...

.

In the final chapters of the book, Simmons explores and uses various aspects of Eskimo

Eskimo

Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....

 mythology

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

 to explain the existence of the monster (called the Tuunbaq) as a mythological creature made flesh, as well as its reasons for stalking and preying on the men of the Franklin Expedition.

The Terror was nominated for the British Fantasy Award in 2008.

Plot summary

The novel begins in the present tense at a point approximately midway into the novel's subsequent narrative. From the point of view of Captain Francis Crozier, the opening chapter deals with the Captain's attempts to force a seaman, who is too scared to venture into the lower decks, to follow orders. Crozier muses on the fate of the expedition and how HMS Terror and HMS Erebus have been trapped in sea ice, about 28 miles North-northwest of King William Island

King William Island

King William Island is an island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut and forms part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. In area it is between and making it the 61st largest island in the world and Canada's 15th largest island...

, for over a year. The weather has been much colder than normal, the tinned provisions are dwindling and often putrid and the sea ice and landmasses are mysteriously devoid of any wildlife that can be hunted. In addition to the natural dangers of the intense cold, disease and impending starvation, the crews face the horror of being randomly attacked by a monster on the ice. Resembling a huge Polar Bear

Polar Bear

The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...

, the creature is later revealed as a mythological Eskimo demon called the ‘Tuunbaq’. The writer, perhaps on purpose, only hints at the supernatural

Supernatural

The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...

 qualities of the beast.

Simmons’ narrative frequently switches between past and present tense, to points in the story ranging from several years before the expedition to several years after, and the alternating point of view of different characters in each chapter. The fictional diary of Dr Harry Goodsir is a literary device that is also used by the writer. For instance, a diary entry describes how Sir John Franklin orders a number of exploration parties to set out in various directions across the ice. These are all doomed to failure. However, Goodsir’s party finds a mysterious Eskimo girl (they accidentally shoot and kill her aged companion). On their return to the ships, Crozier names the girl ‘Lady Silence’ as her tongue has been ripped out in the past.

Following the death of Sir John Franklin at the hands of the monster on the ice, Captain Francis Crozier becomes the expedition commander with Captain James Fitzjames as his 2nd in command. The two men attempt to deal with the threats of the monster, disease and starvation. The friendship of the two officers, from very different social backgrounds, is touchingly described by the writer.

Simmons goes into great detail describing an ill-fated ‘morale boosting’ New Years Eve carnivale masque

Masque

The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...

, during which a large number of the expedition, including three of the four Surgeons, are killed by the Tuunbaq and Royal Marine friendly fire

Friendly fire

Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...

. Crozier lays the blame for this disaster on Caulker’s Mate Cornelius Hickey and two other men. They are punished with 50 lashes of the cat

Cat o' nine tails

The cat o' nine tails, commonly shortened to the cat, is a type of multi-tailed whipping device that originated as an implement for severe physical punishment, notably in the Royal Navy and Army of the United Kingdom, and also as a judicial punishment in Britain and some other...

 each. The narrative makes it clear that their existing mutinous feelings are exacerbated by this treatment, setting the scene for the later troubles that the expedition leadership have with Hickey and his compatriots.

The novel changes from a ship bound tale when HMS Erebus is eventually crushed by the ice and its crew decant to HMS Terror for a short time until all of the expedition survivors are forced to move to what is named ‘Terror Camp’ - a tented refuge that they create on King William Island. It is here that Crozier and Fitzjames decide that they will attempt to escape by hauling the small boats of both ships south to the Canadian mainland and then down Back's River

Back River

The Back River , is a river in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada...

 to an outpost on Great Slave Lake

Great Slave Lake

Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada , the deepest lake in North America at , and the ninth-largest lake in the world. It is long and wide. It covers an area of in the southern part of the territory. Its given volume ranges from to and up to ...

. An arduous journey of many hundreds of miles.

Sealing the doom of the crew by removing any possibility of help from the native population, Simmons describes the brutal murder of Lt Irving by Cornelius Hickey. The murder is blamed on a band of Eskimo hunters that Irving had, in fact, befriended. The Eskimo are massacred in a later revenge attack by men of the expedition. From this point on in the novel the native population is feared and avoided by the crew rather than sought.

The narrative now goes into highly descriptive detail of the men’s painful efforts to haul the boats across the sea ice and frozen gravel of King William Island. Many men die from disease, including Captain Fitzjames whose demise is described by Simmons in horrifying detail. There are rumblings of mutiny from Cornelius Hickey and his growing entourage and the Tuunbaq appears with deadly frequency.

The survivors eventually reach a position on the southern shore of King William Island that they name ‘Rescue Camp’. The novel concludes with mutiny, double cross, cannibalism and the splitting of the survivors into several groups – all of which meet grisly ends. Captain Francis Crozier is the only survivor of the expedition and the last chapters of the novel describe how he becomes the lover of Lady Silence and joins her in her mystical role connected to the Tuunbaq.

Characters

Captain Francis Crozier

The 2nd in command of the expedition (he becomes commander of the expedition following the death of Sir John Franklin) and primary hero of the novel. He is a hard drinking Ulsterman with great leadership qualities and a latent psychic ability. Towards the end of the novel he is shot several times during the betrayal and ambush by Cornelius Hickey near Rescue Camp. He is saved (in unexplained circumstances) by Lady Silence who uses native medicine to heal his many gunshot wounds. She gradually teaches him how to survive in the adverse Arctic conditions and the ways of the sixam ieua spirit-governors. After his initiation as a spirit governor and losing his tongue to the Tuunbaq, he ‘marries’ Lady Silence (Silna), they have two children and he joins her in her Tuunbaq duties. He adopts the Inuit name Taliriktug, meaning 'Strong Arm'.

Commander James Fitzjames

3rd in Command. He is an upper class officer, possessing a slight lisp. At the start of the novel Crozier is wary of Fitzjames and slightly jealous of the apparent favouritism that is shown towards him within the Royal Navy. They become firm friends as the novel progresses. Fitzjames dies of an illness that resembles Botulism

Botulism

Botulism also known as botulinus intoxication is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by botulinum toxin which is metabolic waste produced under anaerobic conditions by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, and affecting a wide range of mammals, birds and fish...

.

Dr Harry D.S. Goodsir

Trained as an anatomist and signed on by Franklin as an Assistant Surgeon, he is considered the lowest of the four Naval Doctors who set out on the expedition. Following the violent death of the other medical officers at the Venetian Carnivale, Goodsir becomes the only Doctor aboard either ship. His heroic and compassionate traits are explored at length in the novel, mainly via his diary entries. He eventually commits suicide by taking a cocktail of drugs after being kidnapped by Cornelius Hickey.

Lieutenant John Irving

A young officer who, as a personal favourite of Captain Crozier, is assigned the duty of protecting/investigating the mysterious Eskimo girl, “Lady Silence”. Whilst on a solo exploration of King William island, Irving befriends an Eskimo hunting party. However, before he can return to camp and report his finding of the expedition's potential saviours he is waylaid and brutally murdered by Cornelius Hickey.

Caulker’s Mate Cornelius Hickey

Described as diminutive, devious and a sea lawyer, Hickey is, after the Tuunbaq, the main antagonist in the novel. Hickey takes a strong dislike to Lt Irving when Irving discovers Hickey and Seaman Manson having sex in the bowels of HMS Terror. His animosity towards Irving culminates with his horrific murder of the Lieutenant on King William Island. Hickey's various attempts at fermenting mutiny are finally successful at Rescue Camp. After Crozier grudgingly allows Hickey and his followers to depart from the main expedition rescue plan, he leads a group of disparate survivors towards Terror Camp (after ambushing Crozier and Dr Goodsir). Hickey is eventually killed by the Tuunbaq (the Tuunbaq rejects Hickey's soul).

Seaman Magnus Manson

A mildly retarded giant, Manson is the lover of Cornelius Hickey. Hickey uses Manson as a sort of living weapon, setting him on people who get in his way. Manson is shot in the stomach by Captain Crozier during his involvement in the mutineer's attempt to kill the expedition's commander. He survives for several weeks with his injuries. Dr Goodsir (who has been kidnapped by Hickey and Manson) ignores his Hippocratic Oath

Hippocratic Oath

The Hippocratic Oath is an oath historically taken by physicians and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice medicine ethically. It is widely believed to have been written by Hippocrates, often regarded as the father of western medicine, or by one of his students. The oath is written in...

 and allows Manson to die without providing effective treatment.

Ice Master Thomas Blanky

A forthright, jovial and likeable man, Blanky is the only character who evades the Tuunbaq not once, but twice. Losing sections of one leg in the process. He is finally killed by the Tuunbaq when he develops Gangrene

Gangrene

Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...

in the stump of his severed leg and opts to remain on the ice whilst the rest of the survivors struggle on.

Captain of the Foretop Harry Peglar

A respected member of the crew, Peglar is an ex-lover of Subordinate Officers' Steward John Bridgens. Peglar has a heart complaint that becomes evident later in the novel. He is killed by the Tuunbaq, along with several other members of the crew, in an attempt to explore a possible lead to open water.

Subordinate Officers' Steward John Bridgens

An elderly member of the expedition, Bridgens is the ex-lover of Harry Peglar. A learned man, he becomes assistant to Dr Goodsir for a while at 'Rescue Camp'. With starvation and disaease the only prospect, Bridgens decides to simply leave the camp and walk into the low hills of King William Island. He is last mentioned in the novel falling peacefully asleep after watching a beautiful Arctic sunset.

Ship's Boy Robert Golding

23 years old at the close of the novel, Golding is no longer a boy but he is described as possessing a boy's gullibility. Despite appearing to be loyal to Captain Crozier he has secretly fallen in with Hickey's band. He conducts an elaborate, and rather funny, subterfuge to lure Crozier and Dr Goodsir to the Hickey ambush site (his attempts to pronounce the word polynya: polyp and polyanna, exasperate Captain Crozier). Golding dies along with the rest of Hickey's compatriots.

Lady Silence (Silna)

A young Eskimo woman who has a mysterious link to the Tuunbaq. She eventually becomes the lover of Crozier. The Eskimo girl's aptitude for survival is frequently compared to the expedition members failure to keep warm and find sustenance in the harsh Arctic conditions.

Sir John Franklin

Commander of the expedition and Captain of HMS Erebus. He is portrayed in the novel as a pompous snob and buffoon. Franklin is killed by the Tuunbaq fairly early in the novel whilst inspecting the site of an attempt to ambush and kill the monster.

The Tuunbaq

A soul devouring (fictional) God-monster from Inuit mythology, the Tuunbaq is an indestructable 'killing machine' that has taken the form of a massive Polar Bear with an elongated neck. The product of a war between the Inuit Gods that has been banished to the frozen northern wastes, the Tuunbaq preys on all creatures within it's icy domain but particularly likes to eat the souls of humans. Only the sixam ieua - spirit governors of the sky - a select group of Inuit Shaman, specially bred for their psychic abilities, hold any sway over the beast. The sixam ieua forfeit their tongues as a sign of dedication to the monster but can summon the creature and pay homage to it with their throat singing and gifts of animal flesh. They communicate with it (and other sixam ieua) using a form of telepathy.

Reception

The novel received a mixed criticial response. Some reviewers found the length of the novel off-putting. Terrence Rafferty, writing in the New York Times, was unimpressed with the Inuit Mythology chapters towards the end of the novel and, referring to the size of the book, quipped: "{reading} 'The Terror' won’t kill you unless it falls on your head.". The Daily Telegraph review stated "…you need an ice pick to get through parts of the book..", but went on to say that the novel has "… a chilly power.".

Dan Simmons' ambition with creating such a highly detailed novel, and the overall quality of his prose, was praised by other reviewers. David Masiel, writing in The Washington Post, said "Despite its Leviathan length, The Terror proves a compelling read.".