Where in Marduk's name is that‽

Keeks | old fart | CET | That bitch who doesn't play about Faquarl. Shipping Khaba/Ammet since 2012.

[faquarlofmycenae]

EVERY SQUAD GOT THE

Bartimaeus: rude thot

Nathaniel: war crime-committing minor

Kitty: knee-cap breaker

Ptolemy: 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Asmira: ride or die

Faquarl: enemy of the state

Makepeace: Machiavellian fuck

Verroq: T-800

Jane Farrar: girl boss

Queezle: dead

Martha Underwood: MUM?

Rupert Deveraux: imperialist hubris

Jessica Whitwell: keeps it fucking real

Solomon: king shit

Uraziel: incomprehensible interdimensional being

Khaba: homophobic homosexual

Ammet: simp

Arthur Underwood: abusive father

Simon Lovelace: instagram scammer

Jacob Hyrnek: depression hoodie

Balkis: “i’d like to speak to the manager”

Honorius: crazy ass

Julius Tallow: just plain homophobic

Jabor: zero thoughts head empty

Sholto Pinn: capitalist

Nouda: large

Simpkin: class traitor

Clem Hopkins: sorry, who?

Clive Jenkins: manlet

[oneeyedmagi]

Nathaniel opened his mouth to scream. I hijacked it for a better purpose. “Hello, Faquarl.” The hand started; its baleful energies remained unreleased. Behind Hopkins’s eyes, twin points of bright blue light flared in wonder and confusion. “Bartimaeus … ?” “Little me.”

— "Ptolemy's Gate", ch. 35

[hopscorched]

drawing bart in different czech folk outfits has always lowkey been my holy roman empire.

[tarragonthedragon]

Time to limber up your writing fingers, the Bartimaeus Fic Exchange 2026 is open to signups!

You can register or see our FAQs at the link above. Signups will close at 10am GMT on the 18th of July.

You’ll have until mid-August to write your fic or produce your fanwork! All types of fanworks are allowed, including shorter fics (min. 1000w), art, crossovers, and podfics. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here on tumblr or over in the discord server here. Hope to hear from you soon!

[silverfeatheredserpent]

I might draw something else on this topic, but for now, I'm taking a break.

I also changed the appearance of this character's flowers a bit, because I associate Kitty with thorny rose stems that are red like blood.

[dykemcqueen]

not the person who sent the ask that received these tags but... i too am a lover of egotistical asshole self sabotaging suicidal codependent protags. tell more about bartimaeus?

THE BARTIMAEUS TRILOGY by jonathan stroud is the greatest fantasy series for children ever written. it takes place in an alternate history london where magicians make up the ruling class. as was once true in real life, england is a massive colonial power with a baseless aristocracy that brutally oppresses the working class. the "commoners" believe that magicians have inherent power, but secretly all magicians are just educated in the art of summoning and controlling spirits (hatefully referred to by humans as "demons"). all western magicians of this period punish and abuse spirits into doing what they want, no exception, as has been the case in many places and in many time periods over the years. the spirits are just invisible, giving the magicians the illusion of power.

the series is about 3 people: nathaniel, a traumatized adolescent boy who rapidly starts sacrificing his morals for power and prestige in the cutthroat world of the magic elite; bartimaeus, an ancient all-powerful djinni that nathaniel relies on to do his dirty work; and kitty jones, a commoner whose friend is brutalized by a magician who is never brought to justice. it's actually also about a fourth person who died thousands of years ago, but that's a surprise tool that will help us later.

the story is about how these 3 lives intersect in a decade of political turmoil, as the commoners' oppression becomes untenable and foreign governments sick of the british empire's power seek to exploit its growing weaknesses. it's about how the power-hungry oligarchy cannibalizes itself, and how external political, cultural, and social forces shape the characters and their relationships.

it's about trauma and power and justice. it's about oppression and freedom and classism and colonialism and the many purposeful lies inherent in the system you believe you can't change (*cough* capitalism *cough*). it's about how connection to another person can change you. it's about recognizing who the real enemy is.

it's also, if you would believe it, riotously, insanely funny, mostly because bartimaeus—who narrates about 50% of it—is a sarcastic, irreverent drama queen who can never shut the hell up. he's been alive for 5000 years and he's made it this far by being avoidant and self-serving and bitchy and lucky. he thinks he's hot shit and he kind of is, but he's mostly just driven by a need to survive. he and nathaniel are friends but also not really. nathaniel is both scared of him and scared to lose him, and the series ultimately centers on their relationship, the wariness and abuse and dependence, and the way it changes as nathaniel changes. nathaniel also does go through severe depression, for that anon who was asking about lockwood.

the bartimaeus trilogy is tightly, deftly written, and one of the only kids' series that i think 100% holds up without caveats. there's a great balance of action, emotion, humor, character development, and plot, and the worldbuilding is insane—it's very smart and never overexplains anything. i can't recommend it enough. every character is written with such care and realism by a writer who Knows How to Write. it's so, so good. every fantasy fan should read it imo.

[somecleverreference]

[arctic-0-cean]

Alexandria. 126 BC

Barty in the form of a lapwing. This bird is called rechit in ancient Egyptian.

[tarragonthedragon]

We are once again approaching that time of the year: the annual Bartimaeus Sequence Prompt Week! This year, it will run from Monday 6th April to Sunday 12th April with further reminders closer to the date.

As for the prompts, we've partnered with St. James's Park, which is putting on two botanical exhibitions for the occasion!

Each exhibition offers a choice of 5 different daily prompts for you to play around with (counting the flower itself as well). You are free to interpret them as you wish, combine different prompts or stick to just one per day, and switch between lists depending on what gets your creative juices flowing. The medium of choice is up to you: fanart, fanfic, cosplay, aesthetic boards, music, paper crafts, everything is welcome - let your creativity bloom, remember to tag your lovely creations with #bartprompts26!

Prompts list:

6th of April: Dandelion - rebellion | survival | scattered, Bartimaeus

7th of April: Lily - death | mourning | innocence, Nathaniel

8th of April: Orchid - relationships | complexity | persistence, Jabor

9th of April: Papyrus - history | antiquity | knowledge, Ptolemy

10th of April: Blue Lotus - love | water | revival, Kitty

11th of April: Sunflower - sunlight | hope | happiness, Queezle

12th of April: Cherry Blossom - firsts | spring | impermanence, Asmira.

Or, alternatively:

6th of April: Mandrake - madness | fortune | magic, Underwood

7th of April: Pinguicula - 7th plane form | consumption | to and fro, Faquarl

8th of April: Rafflesia - danger | deception | parasite, Whitwell

9th of April: Jimsonweed - aggression | visions | music, Makepeace

10th of April: Sundew - traps & snares | temptation | colourfulness, Farrar

11th of April: Poppy - dreams | nightmares | hurt & comfort, Nouda

12th of April: Foxglove - duality | medicine | poison, Uraziel]

[bart-mush]

ちょっとビビってるバーティ Bart and Faquarl (the Ring of Solomon)

[oneeyedmagi]

A small djinni, but a big fire of the heart 🔥

[idioticpopcorn]

Rest in peace to my horrible son Nathaniel aka John Mandrake 11/26/1988-11/30/2005.

[graceofafilingcabinet]

Quentin Makepeace Sketch

Devious lil man who holds a suspicious amount of sway over the PM

I need more inspiration before drawing Deveraux, going to reread the books again soon I will dig deep

*sneaky edit, drew a slightly to devious version

[mahagloomy]

Aaah I’m super nervous about posting fanart but and when I saw that the fandom is still rather active on here I wanted to share some of my stuff.

Right now most of it will be RoS stuff since I’m listening to the audiobook right now (it’s probably my favorite book in the sequence, tied with PG), but after that I’ll go through the trilogy and I have lots of stuff for that as well.

If you want to read my ramblings and thoughts on the designs, go ahead hehe

Asmira:

Initially gave her black eyes but changed it to dark brown to differentiate her from my Ptolemy design

I kind of have a hard time giving each character in the Bartimaeus sequence a unique hair color since they all have dark hair but for Asmira I picture an almost-black brown

She probably has too many dangly-jangly bits for an assassin but well lol

As a starting point for her outfit, I drew (very loose) inspiration from traditional Yemeni clothes (Yemen is where Sheba used to be)

I gave her a headdress/scarf because I think those were very common during that time period, and I just thought she looks cute with it

Jewellery is all silver, clothes are the color of the sun. At first I thought the colors clashed with the silver but now I’ve come to like it. The silver jewellery also contrasts with Bart’s gold one.

Gave her some scars and a bit more of a muscular build than she is described to have; she has been training since she was a toddler, of course she will have muscles

Most of her hair is hidden under her scarf but she keeps two long strands out; her long hair and that of her mother is mentioned often so I headcanon that long hair is a status symbol in Sheba, so you’re supposed to show at least some of it off

Don’t ask me about the layers of her clothes, they kind of don’t make sense lol

Bartimaeus:

I haven’t quite figured out how to draw bird wings “like butterfly wings” so for now I’m drawing him with four wings like they’re depicted on Mesopotamian gods

I like to give him slightly pointed ears for a more “demonic” vibe

Even though most of the time his eyes are dark (normal human eyes) and sometimes described as turning gold, I like giving him purple eyes. I don’t know why, I just like how it repeats the theme of his amethyst necklaces (speaking of which, anyone got headcanons for why specifically amethyst??)

Jewellery is Babylonian (duh) as is the skirt, I love the tassels lol

Most of the time I give him more jewellery (bracelets and anklets) because it looks more interesting visually, but I also like the simpler look of almost no jewellery since it gives more the vibe of “simple servant”

I draw the Sumerian with brown hair instead of black simply because I like it more and for more visual distinction from Asmira

Never forget his dimples….

Anyways, I'll slowly be uploading more of my art I've been hoarding for years, as well as lurk on some blogs, maybe be brave to even comment now and then

[lady-charlemagne-the-third]

As it's stated in PG, Nathaniel doesn't sleep all that much (well. Not DIRECTLY stated, but we can infer that much) and all I'm saying is that he's supposed to have eye bags. Monstrous eye bags.

And I bet he uses make up to cover them because he needs it for his 'John Mandrake the politician' look.

[green-grinning-glitter-ghosts]

[tarragonthedragon]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Time to limber up your writing fingers, the Bartimaeus Fic Exchange 2025 is open to signups!

You can register or see our FAQs at the link above. Signups will close at 10am on the 15th of July.

You’ll have until mid-August to write your fic or produce your fanwork! All types of fanworks are allowed, including shorter fics (min. 1000w), art, crossovers, and podfics. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here on tumblr or over in the discord server here. Hope to hear from you soon!