Overview
Aatos Ilmari occupies a tower at Thornwood Academy where he writes constantly -- multiple pens producing multiple books simultaneously. He is ageless in the sense that no one can date him to any era or origin. He is not a villain. He is not a mentor. He is not a professor, though he has been at Thornwood longer than any of them.
He was told he should have a biography. He's not entirely sure what that is, but someone wrote one and it has his name on it, which he finds concerning.
His comedy comes from colossal, endearing obliviousness to everything that isn't his work: "Would you? Thank you. That's very -- yes. Doors. I always forget about doors."
Appearance Across Series
Aatos appears in every series within the Thornwood Universe. His role grows -- brief cameo in early books, increasingly central in later ones. He speaks in narrative observations about the person he's addressing, as if writing their scene in real time: "You're standing in the doorway. You want to ask me something. The question is behind your teeth."
His memory degrades between encounters. He re-introduces himself. This reads as absent-mindedness. It may be something else. He has considered this problem for -- a while. Like the tea, it remains unresolved.
The Twelve Books
Twelve desks in his tower. Twelve books in progress. Someone asked him how many books he's written. He said twelve. They asked when they'd be finished. He said he would let them know.
One is per tradition. An eleventh for the Loom itself. A twelfth that writes itself -- the one he cannot read, filling faster now with words that aren't his. That one might be about fish. He'll know more when it's finished.
The Mystery
Is Aatos writing the stories, or recording them? Is he the same person across every series, or copies? Does he control events, or document them?
These questions are the connective thread of the Thornwood Universe. Every series adds a piece. No series answers them fully. People ask what he writes about. He tells them "various things." They want more detail. He does too, frankly.
Notable
- Ageless. Undatable. Origin unknown. Historical references span thousands of years.
- Always writing. Multiple pens, multiple books, simultaneously. I tried short once. It didn't take.
- Appears in every series. His role grows across the universe.
- He himself does not seem entirely certain what he is.
- "I'm not a creature." "That's exactly what a creature would say."
- The ivy told the whole west wing about his last visitor. It was very excited. The ivy is not usually excited.