Surma Carver (née Stibnite; deceased) is the mother of Antimony Carver and the wife of Anthony Carver. She fell sick shortly after Antimony's birth and grew progressively weaker until she passed away at Good Hope Hospital two weeks prior to the start of the story. In accordance with her wishes, her daughter was sent to Gunnerkrigg Court, her alma mater, after her death.
Personality[]
As a teenager, Surma was hot-headed and passionate, but as she got older, her personality subdued somewhat, possibly due to the effects of her illness.[2] She's also been described as someone who was able to break rules without getting caught. She was known to be a proud person among her friends. [3]
Not much else is known about her personality, but she did have an interest in mythology and alchemy. She specifically chose to make Annie a white wolf plush, because that was the animal the element of antimony was sometimes represented by in alchemy. She also told Antimony stories about mythical figures, such as Coyote.
Though a loving mother to Antimony, references to her in the past paint a somewhat unfavorable picture of her. Aside from her reputation as a rule-breaker, she willingly manipulated Renard's feelings for her, leading to his imprisonment by the Court, was said to dislike Jones, whom even Antimony trusts despite her disdain with most of the other adults in the Court, and she started a relationship with Anthony while she was still dating Eglamore.
History[]
Both her mother and grandmother, the latter of whom she named her daughter after, died very young.[4]
At Gunnerkrigg Court[]
Surma was a student at Gunnerkrigg Court. Initially, she was placed in Chester house, but the court claimed they made a mistake and later put her in Queslett along with her friend Anja.[5] She was also good friends with Donald, James (whom she dated for most of her teens), Brinnie, and Anthony (whom she later married). At some point during her schooling, he was appointed the Court's Medium.
Later Life[]
Soon after she became pregnant, Surma and Anthony left the Court, as she did not want her child to grow up there. Since she knew having a child would eventually kill her, she chose not to keep in contact with her old friends because she did not want them - especially Anja - to see her wasting away at the hospital, although it broke her heart to do so.[6][7]
She was around her mid-thirties when she died.[8]
Cause of Death[]
As of Chapter 31, Page 16, it has been established that Surma's death is in some way linked with the birth of her daughter Antimony. Because she was descended from fire elementals, having a child essentially passed her life force - or 'internal fire' - onto Antimony, meaning the older Antimony grew, the weaker Surma became. Surma and her friends knew this was inevitable long before she chose to have a child, although Anthony never gave up on attempting to find a cure. If Antimony were to have a child, the same thing would happen to her, as confirmed by Coyote in Chapter 31, Page 31.
It has also been confirmed that this passing of Surma's 'fire' to Antimony is linked to why the psychopomps did not come to collect her spirit on her death, although exactly why the loss of this 'fire' meant that they would not guide her spirit has yet to be elaborated on.
Trivia[]
- Surma's maiden name was Stibnite - the main ore from which Antimony is extracted. In addition, the Russian word for Antimony is сурьма́ (surʹmá).
- In Finnish, Surma means "unnatural death"
- In Punjabi, Surma is another name for kohl, an eye-shadow containing antimony.
- She was better at levitation and could barely control her fire and etheric-related abilities, unlike her daughter.[9]
Appearances[]
- We see her silhouette on Chapter 2, Page 10.
- We see her in a photo on Chapter 7, Page 6.
- We see her hair, arm, and hands on a hospital bed on Chapter 8, Page 3.
- Her actual first appearance is on Chapter 16, Page 8.
- She is one of the main characters of Chapter 22: Ties.
- She appears in a flashback for 2 pages in Chapter 31: Fire Spike Chapter 31, Page 2
- She makes a very minor appearance in a flashback starting on Chapter 37, Page 11
References[]
- ↑ Chapter 31, Page 2
- ↑ Tom Siddell (gunnerkrigg) at Formspring. Dead Link.
- ↑ Chapter 53, Page 15
- ↑ http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1881
- ↑ Chapter 22, Page 9
- ↑ Questions to Tom #2 at GC Forum
- ↑ Chapter 53, Page 15
- ↑ Tom Siddell (gunnerkrigg) at Formspring. Dead Link.
- ↑ http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1881