|
|||||||||
Abraham "Abe" Ezra Portman was a male librarian, the father of Franklin Portman and Susan Portman , the father-in-law of Maryann Portman and the grandfather of Jacob Portman. Abraham was killed by the hollowgast Malthus, and his final words to his grandson begin Jacob's journey into the peculiar world.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
"A Hunting Trip" from the collection of Ransom Riggs
Abraham was born sometime in the mid to late 1920s[1] in Poland. Since the Portman family was Jewish, they became targets of Hitler's attacks. Abraham's parents managed to get him a one-way ticket out of Poland when he was twelve years old. He never saw his parents, his older brothers, his cousins, and his aunts and uncles again. All of them would be dead before his sixteenth birthday.[2]
Abraham would eventually find his way into a refugee camp in Wales where he was found by Miss Peregrine, who took him back to her loop.[3] His English was not very good when he first arrived, and it was still at a broken level in the letters he sent to Emma Bloom in the early 1940s.[4]
At the home, Abe was in a relationship with Emma.[3] Abe wouldn't stay in the loop for long, since he felt he couldn't stay in a protected area while many others were suffering. Because of his hollow seeing and controlling abilities, Abe was a major part of the Hollow Wars in Europe.[5]
On Abe's travels, he met Miss Peregrine's brother Myron Bentham, who he became close friends with.[6] Myron saw the importance of Abraham's soul and stole part of it,[7] under the guise of using it to replicate his ability and give it to other peculiars.[8] Abraham felt shame from the loss of his soul and would leave the hollow hunters permanently because of it. After the war, he went to America intending to live as normal of a life as he could,[5] feeling that his diminished abilities were more of a danger than a help to his old loopmates. At the time, America was relatively peaceful and unbothered by wights and hollows.[9]
Life in America[]
In the 50s, Abe would come out of retirement when the already damaged ymbryne population would be further decimated by The Society. He would form an American hollow hunter organization, consisting mostly of Librarians, though there were a few who didn't have those powers, like Velyana Greenshank. One of his team mates was a man named Harold Fraker King, a librarian who had found and tamed a hollowgast named Horatio.[9]
Sometime after he started his organization, he met Velyana, a ymbryne girl, presumably at the circus she had been working at. Since the United States lacked an Ymbryne Academy because the last few ymbrynes were in hiding, Abe took Velyana to Esmerelda Avocet, the Head of the European Ymbryne Academy, so Velyana could be trained. After Velyana was trained, she would rejoin the hunter organization.
Aside from hunting wights and hollows, the hollow hunters would also start tracking down uncontacted peculiars, saving them and bringing them to loops, due to the lack of American ymbrynes.[9] They also wrongly believed the Society was a reemergence of the the Organization.
By April 1963, Abe was married to a normal woman and had a daughter, Susan, who was then around four years old.[4] He would also have a son, Franklin. Both of Abe's children were normal, and his relationship with them suffered because of his frequent trips away and emotional distance from them.
When his grandson, Jacob, was born, Abe realized Jacob was a peculiar, having the same peculiarity as his grandfather. With Jacob's birth, Abe retired. He would take great pleasure in teaching his grandson all about the peculiar world through photos, though he never took Jacob to see any of it. When Jacob was a kid, H would come and visit Abe and Jacob, much to the displeasure of Abe.
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children[]
Abe would come to realize that a hollow and wight pair, Malthus and Golan, had tracked him down in Florida, and he became extremely paranoid as a result. One night when he realized that Malthus was near his house, he called Jacob and told him to stay away. Unfortunately the call would make Jacob believe that his grandfather was having another paranoia attack, and Jacob asks his friend Ricky to give him a ride to Abe's house.
After his call with Jacob, Abe realized that his grandson wouldn't stay away. Abe ran into the woods to detour Malthus, instead of hiding in the bunker underneath his house. Malthus severely injured Abraham, but didn't have time to feast on his body, because Jacob and Ricky arrived. Because the police, being normals, lacked knowledge about hollows, they determined Abe's death to be caused by animals.
Hollow City[]
Abraham appears to Jacob in a dream, in the boxing ring with a hollow. The hollow lunges forward, and he knocks it away with the hilt of his knife. He begins to speak to Jacob, who is sitting in the sidelines. Abraham explains the hollow can be tamed, and begins to talk to the hollow, sending it into a weak daze. Abraham lunges forward to deliver the killing blow when the hollow slashes through the air with its tongue, knocking Abraham away, and the hollow stands over him, preparing to deliver the killing blow. Jacob then wakes up.
The Conference of the Birds[]
While crossing into Velyana Greenshank loop, Jacob dreams about Abe: he saw Abe in his bathrobe holding a flashlight. Jacob tries to yell at him to stop and go back, but it comes out in hollowspeak, and Abe looks frightened and angry at the sight of him. Abe says to stop, and plunges a letter opener into Jacob's shoulder. Pain takes Jacob out of the dream.
Graphic Novels[]
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (film)[]
Description[]
Appearance[]
Abe had black hair (now white) and sea blue eyes.
Peculiarity[]
Abraham is a Librarian, a peculiar who can read and manipulate the soul jars in the Library of Souls. But because of the closure of the Library, and the rise of the hollowgasts, his abilities manifested in the current era as being able to see, sense, and control hollows. His ability to control the hollows comes from his descending from ancient, tri-tongued peculiars similar to modern hollows (although they were not soulless). However, according to Bentham, Abe's ancestors' remnant is stronger in Jacob.
After his second soul was taken by Bentham, Abe's power was weakened.[8]
Relationships[]
Jacob Portman[]
|
|||||||||
Jacob is Abraham's grandson, to whom he told his story of his time spent in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and about the peculiar children who resided there.
He was very insistent that Jacob believes him, as he was aware of Jacob's peculiarity, he himself sharing the talent. His stories led to Jacob's eventual discovery of the home. By the time of The Desolations of Devil's Acre, Jacob states that he used to really miss his grandfather, wanting to talk to him and show him who Jacob was becoming to make him proud. However, soon Jacob found that what he thought of himself is more important than what Abe would have thought, and started to move on. He still misses his grandfather as a "low, background kind of ache," but now thinks it better that Abe "stays gone."
Franklin and Susan Portman[]
"Boy in Bunny Costume" from the collection of Robert Jackson
|
|||||||||
Abraham's son and daughter, though they were not close. Jacob describes the story of how when his father was five and had never been trick-or-treating, Abraham promised to take him as soon as he got off of work. Alas, Abe failed to keep his promise which resulted in the photograph shown on the left, taken by Abraham's wife.
Franklin also reveals that he never tried to get close to his father or learn about his secrets because he was afraid of what he'd uncover, and believed that Abe had been so distant because he hadn't yet gotten over his fear of having a family.
"This is Why" from the collection of Robert Jackson
Emma Bloom[]
"Abe and Emma" from the collection of Robert Jackson
|
|||||||||
Abraham Portman was once in love with Emma. They met at Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Despite his feelings towards Emma, Abe insisted he had to go to war to fight and afterwards, to fight hollowgasts and wights. They wrote many letters during the war. At first they were cute, such as "Remind you of something? To my bombshell! Love, Abe." And "Peeling spuds & dreaming of you. Come home soon. Love, your potato". But afterwards becoming more and more depressing such as "Feeling caged without you. Won't you write? I worry so. Kisses, Emma". The fateful last letter contained three words "This is why" along with a snapshot of Abraham holding his daughter, Jacob's Aunt Susie. That ended the love story of Emma and Abe. Afterwards when Franklin and Susie were young they found a letter that they believed was from a mistress, calling it "seedy, lipstick in the collar type stuff" but in reality it was from Emma. Horrified by what they had found, they tore it up and flushed it down the toilet.
More than half a century later, Emma was still not over her love for him, and it was the actual reason why she fell for Jacob. But when she tries to call Abe on the road during A Map of Days, he angrily tells her she is interrupting dinner and that she shouldn't have called before hanging up, hurting her feelings. However, she tells Jacob in The Conference of the Birds that she needed to hear it, so she could finally let him go.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- According to the official peculiar calendar, Abe's birthday is on June 22.
- He spoke at least 4 languages, including English.[2]
References[]
- ↑ A Map of Days (Chapter 1) - He was 75 years old at some point in Jacob's childhood.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Prologue)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Chapter 6)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Chapter 8)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Chapter 9)
- ↑ Library of Souls (Chapter 4)
- ↑ Library of Souls (Chapter 8)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Library of Souls (Chapter 6)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 A Map of Days (Chapter 6)