The Terror (novel)


The Terror is a 2007 novel by American author Dan Simmons. It is a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror to the Arctic, in 1845–1848, to locate the Northwest Passage. In the novel, while Franklin and his crew are plagued by starvation and illness, and forced to contend with mutiny and cannibalism, they are stalked across the bleak Arctic landscape by a monster.
Most of the characters featured in The Terror are actual members of Franklin's crew, whose unexplained disappearance has warranted a great deal of speculation. The main characters in the novel include Sir John Franklin, commander of the expedition and captain of Erebus; Francis Crozier, captain of Terror; Dr. Harry D. S. Goodsir; and Commander James Fitzjames.
The Terror was nominated for the British Fantasy Award in 2008 and adapted for the first season of an eponymous television series that aired on AMC TV in 2018.

Plot summary

The story begins in medias res in the winter of 1847, when HMS Terror and HMS Erebus have been trapped in ice, 28 miles north-northwest of King William Island, for more than a year. The weather has been much colder than normal, the ships' tinned provisions are dwindling and often putrid, and the sea ice and landmasses are mysteriously devoid of any wildlife that can be hunted. In addition to the natural dangers, the crews are being stalked and attacked by a monster resembling an immense polar bear.
In a flashback to 1845, Sir John Franklin is assigned by the Admiralty to lead an expedition into the Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage. Franklin's second in command, Captain Francis Crozier, joins the expedition as a means of distracting himself after being rejected as a suitor by Franklin's niece. Although the expedition begins auspiciously enough, three men die of disease during their first winter in the ice, and soon afterward, Franklin makes the fateful decision to travel around the northwest coast of King William Island, which results in Terror and Erebus becoming trapped.
In the spring of 1847, Franklin sends out parties to search for open water. One of the parties encounters a pair of "Esquimaux" on the ice, a young woman and an old man. They accidentally shoot the man, whereupon they are set upon by the monster, which kills the expedition's fourth in command. When the party returns to the ships, the girl follows them. Crozier names her "Lady Silence", as her tongue appears to have been bitten off, rendering her mute. After the man dies aboard Erebus, the monster begins stalking the crews. Although the monster shows signs of intelligence, the men initially assume it is merely an unusually aggressive polar bear. Franklin is killed in a botched attempt to bait the creature, and a number of other crewmembers are killed as the months progress.
Crozier assumes command of the expedition, with Commander James Fitzjames assuming the role of executive officer. Despite some initial tension between them, they gradually become friends as they attempt to deal with the conditions facing their men. An ill-fated New Year's Eve carnivale masque ends with a large number of the expedition, including three of the four surgeons, being killed by the monster and friendly fire from the expedition's Royal Marines detachment. Crozier subsequently orders Caulker’s Mate Cornelius Hickey and two other men to be given fifty lashes. Hickey begins to plot against the officers.
As the spring of 1848 approaches, Erebus is eventually crushed and sunk by the relentless ice. Its remaining crew decamps to Terror until Crozier finally orders the ship abandoned. The survivors relocate to ‘Terror Camp’, a tented refuge on King William Island. After ruling out an attempt to reach the far side of the Boothia Peninsula, Crozier and Fitzjames conclude that their best hope is to man-haul the lifeboats of both ships south to Back's River and then take the current to an outpost on Great Slave Lake, an arduous journey of several hundred miles. Before they can set out, Hickey murders Lieutenant John Irving and lays the blameon a band of Esquimaux whom Irving had in fact befriended; the Esquimaux are attacked and massacred in revenge. From this point on, the crews fear and avoid the native population.
The trek across the island is brutal, and many men die from exhaustion, exposure, and disease including Fitzjames. The monster appears with deadly frequency, at one point slaughtering an entire boat crew as they explore an open lead in the ice. With no other options, the men continue to press south and eventually reach a position on the southern shore that they name ‘Rescue Camp’. From there, the survivors splinter into several groups. Hickey and his faction declare their intent to return to Terror Camp, while another group opts to return to Terror herself. Crozier agrees to let them go, but later he and Surgeon Harry Goodsir are lured away from the camp and ambushed by Hickey's men. Crozier is shot and apparently killed by Hickey, while Goodsir is taken hostage. The remaining crew, led by First Mate Charles Frederick Des Voeux, reluctantly decides to keep marching south.
All three groups eventually meet with disaster. Hickey's group, despite resorting to cannibalism, begin to either starve or freeze to death in a blizzard; the remainder are murdered by Hickey, who has begun to suffer delusions of godhood. Goodsir poisons himself, ensuring that any of Hickey's crew who eats his body will die. The monster delivers a death blow to Hickey, but pulls away and does not consume his soul. A later vision relayed to Crozier suggests that the monster will eventually become sick and die from consuming the souls of the explorers. The other groups' fates are not revealed, but it is implied that they all die as well, rendering Crozier the expedition's sole survivor. Crozier is rescued by Lady Silence, who treats his wounds with native medicine and brings him with her on her travels.
As he recovers from his injuries, Crozier experiences a series of visions which finally reveal the true nature of the creature. It is called the Tuunbaq, a demon created millennia ago by the Esquimaux goddess Sedna to kill her fellow spirits, with whom she had become angry. After a war lasting 10,000 years, the other spirits defeated the Tuunbaq, and it turned back on Sedna, who banished it to the Arctic wastes. There, the Tuunbaq began preying on the Esquimaux until their most powerful shamans discovered a way to communicate with the demon. By sacrificing their tongues to the beast and promising to stay out of its domain, these shamans were able to stop the Tuunbaq's rampage. Lady Silence is revealed to be one of these shamans, and she and Crozier eventually become lovers. He chooses to abandon his old life and join her as a shaman.

Characters

;Captain Francis Crozier
;Commander James Fitzjames
;Doctor Henry D.S. Goodsir
;Lieutenant John Irving
;Caulker’s Mate Cornelius Hickey
;Seaman Magnus Manson
;Ice Master Thomas Blanky
;Captain of the Foretop Harry Peglar
;Subordinate Officers' Steward John Bridgens
;Ship's Boy Robert Golding
;Lady Silence
;Sir John Franklin
;The Tuunbaq

Television series adaptation

After the success of the show The Walking Dead, the US network AMC produced a horror TV series based on this novel. In March 2016, it was confirmed that AMC had ordered 10 episodes of the show, which premiered on March 26, 2018. David Kagjanich and Soo Hugh served as co-showrunners, with Kagjanich also penning the adaptation. Ridley Scott, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert, David Zucker, and Guymon Casady served as executive producers.

Publication information