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Shrike
Magnus Crome is the evil Lord Mayor of the Traction City of London. Unlike previous mayors, he is thin, suggesting that times have gotten tougher for London and that its predatory practice of eating other cities for resources can’t sustain it forever. As the head of the Guild of Engineers, Crome represents the future, and he is obsessed with keeping London moving forward at all costs (literally moving on its wheels, but also metaphorically seeking out the next big conquest). Crome shows no regard for human life, willing to kill people outside London indiscriminately with his MEDUSA superweapon and even allowing many Londoners themselves to die in the awful work conditions in the city’s Gut. But Crome’s grand ambitions aren’t sustainable, and in his rush to conquer new lands with MEDUSA, he accidentally destroys all of London when MEDUSA malfunctions. Crome embodies the dangers of ruthlessly pursuing forward momentum, showing how violence and technology can be a double-edged sword that hurts the one who wields it.
Magnus Crome Quotes in Mortal Engines
The Mortal Engines quotes below are all either spoken by Magnus Crome or refer to Magnus Crome. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4 Quotes
“The law!” she scoffed. “Valentine is the law in London. Isn’t he the Lord Mayor’s favourite? Isn’t he the Head Historian? No, he’ll kill me unless I kill him first.”
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Chapter 5 Quotes
Magnus Crome had been ruler of London for nearly twenty years, but he still didn’t look like a Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayors in Katherine’s history books were chubby, merry, red-faced men, but Crome was as thin as an old crow, and twice as gloomy.
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Chapter 7 Quotes
“Mr Shrike!” says Crome, sounding almost cheery. “How are we today? I hope you were not asleep?”
“I DO NOT SLEEP,” replies a voice from the darkness. It is a horrible voice, sharp as the squeal of rusty cogs.
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Chapter 8 Quotes
“Yes, I know, and I’m terribly sorry about it, but what can I do?” said Wreyland sadly. “Times are hard, you know.”
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Chapter 12 Quotes
“I WORK FOR THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON NOW,” said Shrike. “HE HAS SENT ME TO KILL YOU.”
Tom whimpered again. Hester gave a brittle little laugh. “But ... you won’t do it, will you, Shrike? You wouldn’t kill me?”
“YES,” said Shrike flatly, still staring down at her.
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Chapter 17 Quotes
“I want Tunbridge Wheels to turn into a city, a proper big city wiv me as Lord Mayor, sumfink I can ‘and down to me sprogs. And you Tommy, I want you to tell me how a city ought to be, and teach me manners. Ettyket, like. So I can hob nob wiv’ other Lord Mayors and not ‘ave them laugh at me behind my back.”
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Chapter 21 Quotes
“Nor will we have to go chasing after scraps like Salthook,” Crome continued. “In another week London will be within range of Batmunkh Gompa, the Shield-Wall. For a thousand years the Anti-Traction League has cowered behind it, holding out against the tide of history. MEDUSA will destroy it at a single stroke.”
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Chapter 23 Quotes
“No!” Katherine heard herself say. “Oh, no, no, no!” She started to run across the garden, staring towards the lightning-flecked cloud which wreathed the wreckage of the conurbation. From Circle Park and all the observation platforms came the sound of wordless voices, and she thought at first that they were crying out in horror, the way she wanted to—but no; they were cheering, cheering, cheering.
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Chapter 30 Quotes
He said, “You must understand, Kate, I did it for you...”
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Chapter 31 Quotes
“So, Apprentice Melliphant, I gather you have something to tell us?”
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Magnus Crome Character Timeline in Mortal Engines
The timeline below shows where the character Magnus Crome appears in Mortal Engines. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
Valentine tells Katherine that the city’s Lord Mayor (Magnus Crome) isn’t happy about the assassin (Hester), so he’s coming to visit Valentine personally. On the...
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Magnus Crome, the Lord Mayor of London for the past 20 years, comes into the house, looking...
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Katherine leaves the room but listens in by the door. In his cold voice, Crome tells Valentine that he thought Hester and her whole family had already been “dealt with.”...
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Crome scolds Valentine that unless he saw Hester dead there could be serious problems, especially if...
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Chapter 7
...when he converted London into a Traction City but which currently needs scaffolds to stand. Crome heads into the Engineerium and asks to see Doctor Evadne Twix.
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A monorail inside the Engineerium takes Crome to the heart of the building. He is satisfied to see his Engineers at work...
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Crome arrives at the lab of Dr Twix. She and her team of Engineers have spent...
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Shrike speaks in a harsh, metallic voice, asking if Crome has encountered Hester. Crome explains everything, then says Shrike must go out and either kill...
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Chapter 10
...leave. Katherine and Dog wish Valentine goodbye, along with a crowd of other people, including Crome. His ship takes off, and Katherine starts crying. While Valentine is gone, she plans to...
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Chapter 11
...Tom that despite Valentine’s reputation as a great Historian, he’s really just a henchman for Crome. Tom defends Valentine, but he is also ashamed of how much he used to admire...
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Chapter 12
...talk to him. She tries to convince Shrike not to hurt anyone, but he says Crome has commanded him to kill her. While Hester distracts Shrike, Miss Fang throws a razor-sharp...
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Chapter 13
...Valentine down, but Shrike forbade her. He refused to come with her because he feared Crome would capture him and dissect him as a research subject. So, one day Hester snuck...
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...Shrike look as violent as he did when they saw him recently. She thinks that Crome wiped Shrike’s memories and emotions when he turned him into a Stalker. She also thinks,...
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Chapter 14
Katherine arranges a meeting with Crome to find out more about what her father, Valentine, is doing. She goes to meet...
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Crome frowns and says if Valentine didn’t tell Katherine who Hester was, he probably had a...
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Chapter 15
...in order to charter an airship and make it to London before Hester. In London, Crome took Shrike to the Engineerium for experiments, which Shrike expected. He endured being taken apart...
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Chapter 16
London moves across the region once known as Europe. Crome stops for nothing, not even the scavenger towns along the way. Meanwhile, down in the...
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Chapter 21
Back in London, the city continues to flee from Panzerstadt-Bayreuth. Crome sends Beefeater guards to put down riots in the Gut. Meanwhile, disguised in goggles and...
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...upcoming test of MEDUSA. They mention that Valentine himself found MEDUSA and brought it to Crome. Eventually, Katherine and Pod make it to an auditorium where Crome is standing at a...
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A slide projector shows a diagram behind Crome of a big, complicated-looking machine. Crome proclaims that it’s MEDUSA. He explains how MEDUSA will...
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Katherine is angry, believing that Crome lied and that Valentine never wanted anything to do with old weapons, but Pod isn’t...
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Chapter 22
...he’s going to kill her. He says yes, but only temporarily. He plans to have Crome turn her into a Resurrected Man, since Crome’s Engineers learned how to create new stalkers...
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Chapter 25
It’s raining in London, but Panzerstadt-Bayreuth continues to burn. Crome listens to a report from a security chief who flew an airship near Panzerstadt-Bayreuth and...
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Katherine says they have to do something to stop Crome from killing more people in Shan Guo. She wants to tell everyone in the city,...
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Chapter 30
...to see Valentine, but now she dreads it. She watches him talking and laughing with Crome. Finally, Valentine comes inside, eager to tell Katherine about his travels.
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...doesn’t. Instead, he tries to claim that he did it all for Katherine, so that Crome would allow her to grow up as a lady.
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Chapter 31
...materials from the Museum. Meanwhile, the Historian bully Herbert Melliphant, who is still loyal to Crome, listens in on their conversation.
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...leave her there where she’ll be safe for the moment. He regrets giving MEDUSA to Crome. Meanwhile, at his dinner, Crome greets Melliphant, who has just come into his office.
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Chapter 32
...Pod prisoner, planning to send Pod back to the Gut and to take Katherine to Crome’s dinner party.
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Valentine pulls up at Guild-hall for Crome’s party. He orders two of his henchmen to take his airship up and go patrolling...
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Chapter 33
Meanwhile, at Crome’s party, Crome greets Valentine. He informs Valentine of the fighting at the museum. Valentine worries...
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At his party, Crome gets word from an Engineer that an Anti-Tractionist ship may have landed in Top Tier....
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Chapter 34
Crome and his party guests have headed out to a square where they’ll have a better...
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Chapter 35
...makes her way near the central square and hides, watching as Valentine reluctantly stays with Crome instead of investigating the fires from the crash. Crome says they have to fire MEDUSA...
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While Crome’s Engineers put in MEDUSA’s input codes, some Stalkers bring back Hester to him. Katherine watches...
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...all the flames around. Valentine orders everyone not to fire on the Jenny Haniver. Meanwhile, Crome shouts at Valentine to get MEDUSA under control again.
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Chapter 37
...by firing the rockets, but Hester says the blame lies with many more people, including Crome, the Engineers, and Valentine. She kisses Tom and tells him it’ll be okay.
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