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Hester Shaw
Thaddeus Valentine is the head of London’s Guild of Historians as well as the father of Katherine Valentine and possibly also Hester Shaw. Young Historian Tom Natsworthy idolizes Valentine, but in reality, Valentine holds several dark secrets. He murdered his former assistant and lover Pandora Shaw and seriously injured Hester, all to get his hands on a powerful weapon known as MEDUSA to take back to the Lord Mayor of London, Magnus Crome. Throughout the story, Valentine continues to resort to violence, killing Miss Fang and attempting to kill Tom. Valentine justifies his actions to himself by claiming that everything he does is for the benefit of his daughter, Katherine, but he’s forced to realize that this isn’t true when he ends up accidentally killing Katherine with his own sword. Unlike Crome, Valentine does have a conscience, but he follows it too late and ends up dying with the rest of London when MEDUSA malfunctions. Like Hester, Valentine shows how external appearances can be deceiving—in his case, showing how a person who appears to be kind and successful on the outside can actually be violent and ruthless on the inside.
Thaddeus Valentine Quotes in Mortal Engines
The Mortal Engines quotes below are all either spoken by Thaddeus Valentine or refer to Thaddeus Valentine. 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 2 Quotes
Thaddeus Valentine was Tom’s hero: a former scavenger who had risen to become London’s most famous archaeologist—and also its Head Historian, much to the envy and disgust of people like Pomeroy. Tom kept a picture of him tacked to the dormitory wall above his bunk, and he had read his books, Adventures of a Practical Historian and America Deserta—Across the Dead Continent with Gun, Camera and Airship, until he knew them by heart.
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Chapter 3 Quotes
“Ask him!” she screamed. “Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!”
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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 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 16 Quotes
“What does she mean, K Division?” asked Katherine.
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Chapter 24 Quotes
“I may be no better than Valentine,” she went on, “but there is a difference between us. Valentine tried to kill you, and I want to keep you alive. So, will you come with me?”
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Chapter 28 Quotes
And light burst down from above; the harsh beam of an airship’s searchlight raking across the snow. The aviatrix reeled blindly backwards, and Valentine leaped up, snatching his sword, pulling her hard against him as he drove it home. For a moment the two of them stumbled together like drunken dancers at the end of a party, close enough to Tom’s hiding place for him to see the bright blade push out through the back of Miss Fang’s neck and hear her desperate, choking whisper: “Hester Shaw will find you. She will find you and—”
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Chapter 30 Quotes
He said, “You must understand, Kate, I did it for you...”
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Chapter 33 Quotes
“I’ll be dead in twenty minutes, Tom,” she said. “Just get yourself safe away. Forget about me.”
“I’ll circle back...”
“I’ll be dead.”
“I’ll circle back anyway...”
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Chapter 35 Quotes
Hester was stumbling backwards, lifting her bound hands to ward off Father’s blow, and Katherine flung herself between them so that suddenly it was she who was in his path, and his sword slid easily through her and she felt the hilt jar hard against her ribs.
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Chapter 36 Quotes
He gently moves a stray strand which has blown into her mouth, and holds her close, and waits—and the storm-light breaks over them and they are a knot of fire, a rush of blazing gas, and gone: the shadows of their bones scattering into the brilliant sky.
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Chapter 37 Quotes
“But we’re alive, and together, and we’re going to be all right.”
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Thaddeus Valentine Character Timeline in Mortal Engines
The timeline below shows where the character Thaddeus Valentine appears in Mortal Engines. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...to the supervisor’s office, he’s surprised to see that the person on duty is Thaddeus Valentine, a famous archaeologist and the Head Historian. He is also Tom’s personal hero.
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Tom met Valentine a couple years ago when Tom won an essay contest. To Tom’s surprise, Valentine still...
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...Tom. A girl tells the wolf to behave, and it becomes meek. She is Katherine, Valentine’s daughter, and the wolf is Dog, a creature that Valentine brought back from an expedition....
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Valentine, Tom, Dog, and Katherine all go down several sets of stairs to the Digestion Yards....
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...scavengers is a girl in a black head-scarf. She says she has something interesting for Valentine, then all of a sudden, she pulls out a knife.
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Chapter 3
Just in time, Tom stops the scavenger girl from stabbing Valentine in the heart. She squirms away from Tom and flees, while Valentine orders someone to...
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When Valentine catches up, he asks what happened to the girl, and Tom tells him that she’s...
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Chapter 4
...of his shirt without asking, but Hester just says he should have let her kill Valentine and limps off.
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...starts to cry, and Hester gets angry at him, saying she didn’t even cry when Valentine murdered her parents. Tom isn’t sure if he believes her, but he offers to travel...
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Chapter 5
...sad it is that Tom died while chasing Hester. She has never seen her father (Valentine) look as shaken as he did that day. She gets out of bed and goes...
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Valentine tells Katherine that the city’s Lord Mayor (Magnus Crome) isn’t happy about the assassin (Hester),...
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...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.” Katherine can’t...
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Crome scolds Valentine that unless he saw Hester dead there could be serious problems, especially if Hester tells...
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Chapter 6
...until seven years ago, when Hester woke in the middle of the night and saw Valentine demanding that her mother give him MEDUSA. Valentine used to be her mother’s friend, but...
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...feels conflicted: He wants to help Hester, but he doesn’t want to let her kill Valentine. They rest for the night, and Tom expects to reach London by the next evening.
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Chapter 7
...Grounds, despite the lack of nearby towns to devour. At her home, Katherine complains to Valentine about how he has to leave on an airship reconnaissance mission, but Valentine promises he...
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Katherine and Valentine head toward the airship hangar. It’s been millennia since a catastrophe known as the Sixty...
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Valentine isn’t supposed to tell anyone where he’s headed, but Katherine convinces him to reveal he’s...
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Chapter 10
After a rainy night in London, the air clears, and that morning, it’s time for Valentine to leave. Katherine and Dog wish Valentine goodbye, along with a crowd of other people,...
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Chapter 11
...on the mountains below. Hester is resting in the ship’s medical bay. Miss Fang curses Valentine for hurting Hester. She tells Tom that despite Valentine’s reputation as a great Historian, he’s...
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Chapter 13
...his collection. She lived with him for five years. One day, Hester heard stories about Valentine and realized he was the same man who killed her parents. She told Shrike she...
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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 him at his office at the Guildhall. When Katherine...
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Crome frowns and says if Valentine didn’t tell Katherine who Hester was, he probably had a good reason. Katherine wonders if...
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Chapter 16
...into the trash chute. She pretends to be interviewing Pod on behalf of her father (Valentine).
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...gets to talk with Pod alone, he refuses to acknowledge that he saw Hester and Valentine, apologizing that he can’t help. All of a sudden, the sick worker near Pod sighs...
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Chapter 18
...that she jumped down a waste chute but didn’t drag Tom with her (despite what Valentine said). Just then, smoke clouded the area, and Pod didn’t see any more until the...
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Still at the restaurant, Pod asks Katherine if Valentine can do anything to help prisoners in the Gut. Katherine assures him that if Valentine...
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Chapter 21
...members. Katherine overhears some Engineers talking about an upcoming test of MEDUSA. They mention that Valentine himself found MEDUSA and brought it to Crome. Eventually, Katherine and Pod make it to...
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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 sure why Crome would...
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Chapter 22
...killing Shrike and for stopping her from becoming Resurrected so that she could take down Valentine. Tom tries to justify his decision, but he gets interrupted when, suddenly, the sky fills...
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Chapter 24
Miss Fang says she may kill people like Valentine does, but one big difference between them is that Valentine wants to kill Tom and...
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Chapter 25
...of Anti-Tractionists will know London is coming now. Crome isn’t worried, since he’s already given Valentine orders about how to deal with the League.
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Chapter 26
...that scouts have reported an unfamiliar black airship in the mountains, which likely belongs to Valentine. Miss Fang suggests bombing London before it gets in range for MEDUSA but Tom protests...
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...he catches a glimpse of a London Guild-mark on the man’s forehead. The man is Valentine.
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Chapter 27
...is Hester Shaw’s mother and that before, when her name was Pandora Rae, she was Valentine’s assistant. Katherine hears from the other Historians that Pandora was murdered with her husband about...
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Chapter 28
In Batmunkh Gompa, Tom is frightened to see Valentine—who tried to murder him—but he also admires how daring Valentine must be to conduct a...
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The more Tom watches Valentine, the more he realizes he needs to protect Batmunkh Gompa. He shouts out Valentine’s true...
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Miss Fang, who is having tea with Khora and another aviator, guesses that Valentine wants to sabotage Batmunkh Gompa’s fleet of airships. Khora doubts one man can do that...
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Tom tells Hester everything. They run to find Valentine, but when they see fire rising from one face of the Wall, they realize it’s...
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Tom gets lost in the hangar tunnels. Suddenly, he comes across Miss Fang and Valentine in a sword fight. The two fight fiercely while Tom watches from the shadows. Eventually,...
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Chapter 29
Valentine escapes in his ship, not noticing Tom because of all the smoke and noise. Tom...
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Chapter 30
The next afternoon, Valentine lands back in London. Katherine watches from her bedroom window. She feels grief because she...
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Katherine isn’t happy to see Valentine again. She tells him she knows what he did to Hester. Furthermore, she says she...
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Valentine admits that after he and Pandora parted ways, she married a farmer, then at some...
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Valentine reveals that MEDUSA will blast a path through the Shield-Wall that evening. Katherine says they...
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Chapter 31
...Shield-Wall. Meanwhile, in the Museum, Katherine tells Pod about the impending MEDUSA attack. She disowns Valentine and says he won’t help them. Pod suggests that if they really want to destroy...
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Valentine can’t find Katherine, so he asks around and finds out that she’s been spending a...
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Chapter 32
...it can destroy MEDUSA’s computer-brain if it’s close. Katherine plans to use her status as Valentine’s daughter to get close to MEDUSA.
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Valentine pulls up at Guild-hall for Crome’s party. He orders two of his henchmen to take...
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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 about Katherine, but Crome...
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Chapter 34
...sudden, something hits the side of the Jenny Haniver and punches a hole in it. Valentine’s ship is flying near him.
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...a square where they’ll have a better view of MEDUSA. As they’re getting ready, however, Valentine stands in Crome’s way. He worries that breaching the Shield-Wall will result in massive loss...
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...Tom searches for the Jenny Haniver’s guns. He finds them and fires, managing to hit Valentine’s ship, but the shots mostly bounce off its armor. Then Tom remembers the rockets he...
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Valentine’s ship comes crashing down toward London. Pod pushes Katherine away in time, but the burning...
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Chapter 35
...watching Pod die. She 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...
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...him. Katherine watches from her secret place, shocked to witness for the first time what Valentine’s sword did to Hester’s face. Katherine sees a horrible expression on Valentine’s face and realizes...
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Valentine cradles Katherine and shouts for help, but the Engineers around him are more worried about...
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Chapter 36
...distance. On the ground, Katherine wakes up feeling cold and sees the Jenny Haniver landing. Valentine starts carrying Katherine toward the airship, but she dies in his arms. Valentine tells Hester...
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...Pomeroy marvels that perhaps he and the other Historians won after all. On Top Tier, Valentine watches Tom and Hester fly away while fire builds around him. He holds Katherine’s body...
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Chapter 37
...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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