Piranesi: Part 4 Summary & Analysis

Piranesi goes to retrieve the scraps of paper from the gull’s nest. After many hours, he finally extracts all the scraps and begins assembling the writing. The writing reveals a very angry person who claims no one is coming to save them. They rely on someone to bring them food and water, which they leave in the minotaur room, and which underscores their status as a prisoner. The writer debates killing the other person. The writing continues on the other side of the paper. Here, the person bemoans their loss of memory. They are losing their mind, and they vow to kill the other person before they forget how much they hate them.

The next day, Piranesi considers asking the Other about these new names. If the Other is Ketterley, then he would likely know the other people in the journals. However, Piranesi does not want to reveal his encounter with the Prophet and the Other is already on edge about 16’s arrival. The following morning, Piranesi smells a strong perfume emanating from a doorway. He traces the scent but cannot find the person. He believes it belongs to 16 and is surprised that a person so devoted to “Destruction” and “Madness” would wear such a beautiful scent.

Piranesi tells the Other about the scent. The Other does not react as badly as expected. Instead, he calmly states his intention to eliminate 16. Piranesi is taken aback. The Other also demands that Piranesi tell him if he ever meets an old man, suggesting that it’s about time someone killed him too. Piranesi agrees to report any encounter with the old man but does not disclose he has already met him. 

The next day, Piranesi discovers yellow chalk marks on a wall. He has only ever used white chalk, meaning this must be someone else’s. Piranesi suspects 16 and discovers directions in chalk to the First Vestibule. He follows them, finding nothing. Returning, Piranesi writes a note in blue chalk beneath 16’s, telling him the Other has warned him of 16 and of his intention to hide. The next day, Piranesi tells the Other about the writing and the Other cautions Piranesi the writing could be dangerous. He informs Piranesi that he has found a gun, but he is not a good shot. Piranesi begs him not to kill 16, but the Other says there is no alternative.

Piranesi wakes in the night with a feeling of disquiet. Following a distant sound, he discovers the Other searching for 16, calling him “Raphael.” Piranesi hides himself and the Other drops the torch. In the darkness, Piranesi sees a dark figure and follows it. It is 16 and Piranesi sees them write a response to his note. He returns to his bed to sleep. The next day, Piranesi goes to see 16’s message. He starts to read it but then decides to erase it instead. However, not all of the message is erased. Piranesi writes to 16, warning him of the Other’s plan to kill him and that he erased his message without reading it.

The next day, Piranesi asks the Other why he did not say 16 was a woman. The Other explains that Piranesi, while a man of reason, is also a romantic: He might not take 16’s threat seriously if he knew she was a woman. Piranesi coldly asks the Other not to keep secrets going forward. The next day, Piranesi reflects that he wants to learn more about 16, analyzing the remnants of her message. One part mentions “VALENTINE KETTER(LEY)”; one part mentions “GROOM[ING] VICTIMS”; another mentions Laurence Arne-Sayles, whom Piranesi believes is the Prophet; one part mentions being somewhere “SIX YEARS”; and another mentions a “WAY OUT?” Piranesi cannot find 16 in his journal, so he looks up Laurence.

Piranesi finds many journal entries on Laurence, though many are not helpful, such as a pro-con list about writing a book on him. The last entry Piranesi finds, however, proves insightful. Notes for a lecture, it describes Arne-Sayles’s belief that ancients used to communicate directly with the natural world, granting them powers. When humans stopped speaking to the world, however, these powers vanished, along with the previous world. Arne-Sayles believes it might be possible to get those powers back by performing ritual magic and asks the Manchester Museum to borrow an ancient head for such a ritual. The museum refuses, but there is a break-in. Arne-Sayles has an alibi, but it is later revealed he was behind it.

According to the entry, Arne-Sayles never wrote about the head ritual. However, his views changed. He began to think that the powers and knowledge of the ancient world went somewhere else, like rain burrowing underground after a storm. In the book The Half-Seen Door, Arne-Sayles describes gaining access to such a world. Breaking into the last place he was before succumbing to modern rationality—his childhood home—he finds himself magically transported to a vast chamber with eight minotaur statues and the sound of the ocean.

Piranesi reflects on the increasing resemblance between Laurence Arne-Sayles and the Prophet. However, he is puzzled by the claim that “The World was constantly speaking to Ancient Man.” According to Piranesi, the World speaks to him every day. Piranesi also reflects on his growing ease reading the older journal entries; he has come to view the entries as the work of an oracle or seer and interprets the strange words accordingly. Piranesi wonders if he was in an altered state of consciousness at the time, and why, being a scientist, he would ever consider placing himself in such a state.

The next day, Piranesi performs tide calculations and discovers an upcoming conjunction of Four Tides in a week’s time. This means the flooding of up to 100 halls, a fact which makes Piranesi incredibly nervous. He meets with the Other to tell him about it, but he is unconcerned: he won’t be “here” for the convergence. Piranesi shows concern for 16, being a non-resident of the House, and says he does not want her to drown. The Other says it would be better that way, and that it doesn’t matter because Piranesi could not warn her anyway. Piranesi is silent and the Other grows suspicious, asking if Piranesi and 16 have had contact. Piranesi says they have not and the Other leaves.

Piranesi decides to warn 16 of the flood. Walking to the Sixth North-Western Hall, he hopes she has not left already; there are so few people in the world, he would miss her. He imagines a note from 16 in which she promises to “cast off” her wickedness to become Piranesi’s friend. However, there is no note for him from 16 when he arrives. He writes a warning in chalk and then travels to collect her bowls in the Twenty-Fourth Vestibule. There, he finds a message in pebbles: “ARE YOU MATTHEW ROSE SORENSEN?” This sparks a vision of cars and dazzling lights and crowds. Piranesi comes close to naming the vision, but it vanishes and Piranesi falls, dizzy and breathless.

Piranesi repeats 16’s question in his mind, saying, “I am…” Finishing the statement, he says, “I am the beloved Child of the House.” He then says he is Piranesi, but he knows this is wrong; the Other gave him that name as a joke because of its association with labyrinths. Piranesi is confused and consults his journals, finding three entries for Sorensen. The last of three entries offers a brief biography in which Sorensen is said to be writing a book about Arne-Sayles and his transgressions against science, reason, and law. Thinking of the Prophet, Piranesi disagrees, believing him to be a man of rationality. The other two entries are lists of publications related to the topics of Arne-Sayles, labyrinths, and time-traveling.

Frustrated, Piranesi looks for entries about the Other in the hopes Sorensen might be mentioned there. However, there is nothing about Sorensen. Piranesi then checks for entries on Val Ketterley, finding eight of them. The first one is a short biography describing Ketterley as a disciple-turned-critic of Arne-Sayles, accusing him of manipulating students. The entry author wonders if it is worth contacting Ketterley in Battersea Park. Piranesi checks the other entries but discovers all the pages on Ketterley have been torn out. He wonders who did this, and why. Could it have been Piranesi himself? Piranesi pulls out the scraps of papers from the gull’s nest and discovers they correspond to the missing pages of his journals.