We learn more about Lord John’s feelings for Namtzen in Lord John and the Succubus Chapter 5. At the same time, we learn about a connection between one of the succubus’s victims and the maid that has gone missing.
This chapter is a relatively long one, especially for a short story. It’s packed with clues for the murder mystery, and it gives us some great development for Lord John Grey, especially when it comes to his feelings for Stephan von Namtzen.
We also see the way others look at John. It’s clear that Namtzen is holding back, and it’s also clear that the princess is interested in John. However, John needs to also solve this murder.
Breaking down Lord John and the Succubus Chapter 5
John returns from the bridge and catches people up on things that happened there. There is talk about how there is some sort of protection around the bridge, but Namtzen doesn’t put any weight into the supernatural. So, I guess he thinks that the murders are natural as well.
While at the house, Lord John learns a little about Namtzen’s life. He had a wife and has two children. His wife died in childbirth and now his own mother raises the children while he is away. Is this just a coverup knowing he needed to take a wife and keep his family line going? Lord John Grey is disappointed and confused by Namtzen’s reveal of his family.
It gets all the more confusing when Namtzen sees Princess Louisa flirt with Lord John and hand him a gift. He is clearly jealous, so that does mean that he is gay? Maybe he likes both. This is something that John will need to think on.
Before he can do that, the focus returns to the murders. Previously in the chapter, Namtzen had brought up a dead soldier called Koenig. This man’s throat was sliced open by the succubus. Well, Tom Byrd tells John that Koenig was the husband of the missing nurse. The two have to be connected in some way. John needs to figure out how Private Bodger fits into it all as well.
During the night, John is woken up by something that feels like a spirit has come into the room. As he struggles to sleep, he realizes why he is so attracted to Namtzen. The man is very much like Jamie Fraser, and we know just how John feels about that man. His thoughts can’t escape him in the short stories.
Could this chapter be used in a TV series adaptation?
There are certainly elements of this chapter that would need to be used if it was developed into a TV series. We would need to see Tom tell John about Koenig’s connection to the missing nurse. After all, it’s clear that they are both somehow connected to this succubus story.
I could also see the conversation between John and Namtzen happen. After all, the series would need to develop John’s character more, and we would need to see him interested in men, even if they don’t return that interest. Namtzen clearly does, and the conversation leads to some questions for John. We would need to see Namtzen’s story and then the confusion on John’s face.
Of course, then we’d need to see how Louisa finds John attractive and starts to flirt with him. This is a great way to show that women are interested and he keeps brushing them off. That is except for Isobel, who he marries, and I’m sure it’s really for Jamie’s sake than anything else.
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