Horace Somnusson is a male peculiar with the peculiarity of having prophetic dreams. He is one of Miss Peregrine's peculiar children.
Biography
Early Life
Horace's dreams started at age 6, but he didn't realize they were prophetic until 1915, two years later, when he dreamed about the sinking of the Lusitania and heard about it on the radio the next day.[1] This would place his birth year around 1907, and his real age at over 100,[2] an age around the one he says to be in Hollow City.[3] However, in the first book, he tells Jacob he is 83.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Horace's drawing
Horace first appeared while Jacob was having dinner with the peculiar children, and was the first one to tell Jacob how old he is. Later, Horace is one of the children who goes to the beach, along with Emma, Millard, Bronwyn, and Hugh. He often mentions clothes. When Miss Avocet got attacked, he joined Enoch in teasing Olive and Claire. Near the end of the book, he says he has dreamed about the place where the wights are keeping the ymbrynes and is able to draw it.
Hollow City
Horace catching a pigeon in Hollow City
When their boats were tossed by waves at sea, Horace managed to keep hold of his hat.
Horace, along with Fiona, was sent by Emma to gather wood for a fire. However, they returned with no wood, because they couldn't find any wood, and they didn't go in the actual woods because it was too scary ("we heard an owl"). He and Fiona were the ones who alerted the others to the zeppelins. He was also the one who packed food when they left Miss Peregrine's loop, and the one who took money from Miss Peregrine's loop before they left, which allowed them to buy train tickets. Horace was singled out by Mr. White as the weakest of them, but Horace still refused to tell Mr. White where Miss Peregrine was, telling Mr. White that Miss Peregrine was in his "mother's knickers' drawer." Horace was the only one who managed to catch a pigeon when they were looking for the peculiar flock of pigeons, and he later stopped Melina from killing him, Emma, and Jacob, by proving that he was peculiar. He said he dreamed about her and her past life, which suggests that he dreams about more than just the future.
Because of everyone's teasing, Horace wished to join Miss Wren's army to prove that he is not a coward. He is shown to have studied peculiars even more than Millard, mainly because his dreams urge him to.
At the end of the book, Horace was captured along with most of the other children.
Library of Souls
Horace was captured by the wights with most of the other peculiar children. When he saw Jacob, he gave him a scarf, telling him that Miss Peregrine had given him some knitting needles, and that Horace thought being able to knit the scarf had kept him from going mad. He asked Jacob to wear it for luck. Later, it saved Jacob's life, and it was revealed to have been made from peculiar sheep wool.
When Emma didn't receive any more letters from Jacob, she remembered the email Jacob set up for her, and Horace was able to guess the password of the email. He was with the other children at the end of the book at Jacob's house.
A Map of Days
Horace is first mentioned being in Jacob's house with the rest of Miss Peregrine's wards. Later, he decided not to go on the mission to deliver the packages with Jacob, Emma, Millard, Bronwyn and Enoch. He calls Jacob using Miss Peregrine's phone during the middle of their mission to tell them Miss Peregrine has gone searching for them.
The Conference of the Birds
TBA
The Desolations of Devil's Acre
TBA
Graphic Novels
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (film)
Horace is first seen in the film playing referee for Hugh and Millard's soccer game, though not very well. While doing so, he is also reading a book, suggesting he is not very devoted to being the referee. Later, he projects his dreams onto a wall for Movie Time for the peculiar children. According to Emma, he usually just dreams about clothes, but this time he also had a dream about Miss Avocet being taken by wights and Emma and Jacob kissing. He also dreamed about the moment when he and Jacob met. During dinner, Horace teases Enoch for being jealous of Olive paying so much attention to Jacob. And when Enoch asks Miss Peregrine why she was risking her and their lives to save Jacob, Horace tells Enoch that Jacob can see the hollows, even though Jacob never told him that. Later, he tries to stop Mr. Barron by projecting his dreams into Mr. Barron's blank eyes, which proves to be ineffective. Thankfully he survives this encounter and is seen at the end of the film escaping with Miss Peregrine and her wards.
Description
Physical
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Horace is described to be a pubescent boy. He always wears fancy tail coats and jackets with a black top hat atop his head.
Personality
Horace is very into fashion and clothes, clearly noticeable from the way he dresses and calling himself the only one of Miss Peregrine's wards with any sense of style in Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders. He believes that one should dress well for every occasion.[4]
He is more cowardly than the other children after they leave Cairnholm, but by the end of Hollow City he has shown that he is a capable individual. He does not always give in to his fear, seen during the peculiars' capture by the wights when he did not betray "Miss Peregrine" (it was really Caul)'s whereabouts, telling the wight "in your mother's knickers drawer" and spitting in the wight's face. Horace is also practical, as he seemed to be the only one of the children who packed food and money when they left Miss Peregrine's loop. He has a formal sort of character at times.
Peculiarity
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Horace's peculiarity is that he has prophetic dreams, meaning that while asleep, his dreams are of the future. He can tell the futures of others more easily if he doesn't know them well, because according to Emma, emotion clouds his vision. In Hollow City, he had a dream about Melina's childhood, which suggests that he dreams about more than just the future. In the movie, he also has the ability to project his dreams with a monocle.
His power is classified as a mentalist communicator, as he communicates with the future: along with his prophecies being like films in his head, he also describes them as "a bodiless dream-voice speaking to him from he knows not where."[5]
Relationships
Enoch O'Connor
Enoch and Horace are considered to be friends. Horace and Enoch slept with their backs to each other in Hollow City, and Horace once teased Enoch.
Jacob Portman
In Library of Souls, Horace knits Jacob a bulletproof scarf that winds up saving his life. Jacob is shown to have a brotherly affection for Horace, while Horace feels Jacob can be a bit of a risk-taker.
Julius Purcell
In The Desolations of Devil's Acre, Horace develops a relationship with Julius, a light-eater. They are acknowledged to be holding hands at least once, and when Julius is injured, Horace stays by his bedside.
Trivia
- He has a secret pocket in his coat.
- In Hollow City, it is revealed that Horace has a lucky pillow that is the only thing that keeps him from having his paralyzing nightmares.
- His last name is probably derived from Somnus, the Roman god of sleep (Greek equivalent = Hypnos).
- On the official peculiar calendar, his birthday is March 5.
- In a deleted scene of A Map of Days, Horace attends Jacob’s school under the alias Harry Sanders. The identity was given to him by the Office of Fakery and Fraudulism in Devil’s Acre.
- In an Instagram livestream, Ransom Riggs revealed that Horace has written two cookbooks, one titled “Teaching Your Soup to Talk (: A Cookbook)” and the other “Carrots and Other Popular (Orange) Vegetables." Both of these are under "Modern Works of Questionable Merit" in Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders, with Carrots and Other Popular Vegetables being self-published.[6]
- In the deleted scenes of A Map of Days, Horace mentions he was born in Oddfordshire, which we can only assume is a county located somewhere in Europe. However, this may be pure product of the author's imagination.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Hollow City (Chapter 7)
- ↑ The books take place in 2011-2012, as stated in one of Ransom Riggs's Instagram livestreams
- ↑ Hollow City (Chapter 4): "But I should also like to see my 105th birthday, if at all possible."
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (Peculiar Games and Entertainments)
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (A Necessarily Incomplete Taxonomy of Peculiar Abilities)
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (Important Books by Peculiar Writers)