Gwendolen, Eric and Janet
Eric Emelius Chant, nicknamed Cat by his sister, is a nine lived enchanter. He and his sister, Gwendolen, became orphans when their parents died in a boating accident. The two siblings lived with a woman from their town until one day when Gwendolen wrote a letter to a man called Chrestomanci.
Cat's Lives[]
It seems a curse that follows some Chrestomancis that they lose many lives fast and early. Cat, by the end of his first book, is down to only three lives.
Cat lost his first life when he was born. In fact, that life is the reason he became a nine-lived enchanter--all his other doubles in the other worlds did die while being born. He lost his second life when Gwendolen transferred his lives into a book of matches; the loss of this life gave him cramps for some reason. The third time he died was in the same boat accident that killed his parents. He clung to his sister, who could not drown because she was a witch. The fourth life was transferred into his fiddle when his sister, tired of his inability to make any decent sound on the instrument, turned it into a cat. Again Gwendolen led to the loss of his fifth life when she used it to remove herself off to another world and displaced all her doubles on that world which brought Janet Chant to Chrestoamci Castle. This was the only time that her brother fought her stealing his life, though she was successful in the end. Cat destroyed his sixth life on his own after Janet introduced the idea that he had more than one life. He refused to believe her and burned one of the matches that Gwendolen had transfered his lives into to prove her wrong. Unfortunately, she was right and he was down to three lives.
After Cat burned himself up, Chrestomanci took the book of matches and locked it up under the heaviest protections he could manage. This prevents anyone else from using the lives; however, Cat can still lose them on his own.
Trivia[]
- His magical weakness is that his left hand is magical, while his right hand is not (as mentioned in Charmed Life).
- His great magical strength appears to be dwimmer, as mentioned in The Pinhoe Egg.
Appears In:[]
- Charmed Life (main character)
- The Pinhoe Egg (major character along with Marianne Pinhoe)
- Mixed Magics (Mixed Magics is an anthology. Eric Chant is in the Stealer of Souls as the main character, and also has a bit part in The Sage of Theare, as a messenger from the Chrestomanci to Thasper of Theare.)