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Imajica

Imajica is a fantasy novel by British author Clive Barker.

Barker names it as his favourite of all his writings.[1] The

work, 825 pages at its first printing in 1991, chronicles

the events surrounding the reconciliation of Earth, called

the Fifth Dominion, with the other four Dominions, par-

allel worlds unknown to all but a select few of Earth’s

inhabitants. Wide in scope, elaborate in its imagery, and

meticulous in its detail, the novel covers themes such as

God, sex, love, gender and death.

1 Plot introduction

1.1 Conception

The inspiration and many of the ideas for Imajica came

to Clive Barker in dreams, and so inspired, he worked at

an intense pace to complete the novel. Barker has stated

he wrote the novel in fourteen months; writing fourteen

to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week.

1.2 Backstory

The Earth is actually just one part of 5 connected worlds

or Dominions, called the Imajica. Overseeing all of

the dominions is the Unbeheld, Hapexamendios (God).

However, Earth became separated from the other four

worlds long ago. This explains both the appearance of

extraordinary phenomena on Earth as well as the lack of

understanding of magic and acceptance of the extraordi-

nary as commonplace (as it is in the other four worlds).

The void that separates Earth from her sister worlds is

called the “In Ovo.” Great magic users called Maestros

have attempted through the ages to reconcile the Earthwith the remaining Imajica, including Christ. This Rec-

onciliation can only happen once every 200 years. All

previous attempts failed; the most recent resulted in the

horrific death or madness of those involved. A secret so-

ciety known as the Tabula Rasa formed after this failure;

its directive is to prevent the use of magic on the Earth,

motivated by the fear that such a disaster may occur again.

At the present time, the four reconciled dominions are

ruled by the Autarch, who lives in the great city of Yzord-

derrex in the Second Dominion.

2 Plot summary

2.1 The Fifth Dominion

The novel opens with a man, Charlie Estabrook, hir-

ing the mysterious assassin Pie'oh'pah to murder his es-

tranged wife, Judith. Pie heads to New York and makes

an attempt on Judith’s life, but fails. Estabrook, having

come to regret hiring the assassin to kill Judith, then con-

tacts Judith’s former lover, an artist named John Furie

Zacharias also known as “Gentle”, and asks Gentle to pro-

tect her. Later, Gentle comes upon Judith just as Pie is

making a second attempt on her life. Gentle chases Pieaway, but Pie, who has the ability to change his exterior,

later disguises himself as Judith and comes to Gentle’s

apartment with the intent of having sex with him. During

their tryst, Judith calls, alerting Gentle to the fact that he

is in fact coupling with the shape-shifting assassin. Gentle

is horrified and demands that Pie leave.

Meanwhile, the Tabula Rasa meet at Roxborough Tower

to discuss the recent events regarding Pie'oh'pah. A man

from one of the other Dominions named Dowd is or-

dered by the council to bring his master, Oscar Godol-

phin, to see them. Despite being a member of the Tabula

Rasa, Godolphin frequently travels between Earth and thereconciled dominions. Godolphin meets with the Tab-

ula Rasa and murders Dowd in front of them, convinc-

ing them that Dowd was actually a doppelganger who

had taken on Godolphin’s appearance while travelling be-

tween worlds. Godolphin later revives Dowd and gives

him permission to kill Pie.

Judith returns to England and sneaks into Estabrook’s

house to steal back some of her former property. She

also discovers a strange blue stone that causes her to have

an out of body experience, during which she witnesses

a mummified woman being kept prisoner by the Tabula

Rasa in the Roxborough Tower.Gentle, meanwhile, has another encounter with Pie, and

the two of them pass through the 'In Ovo' to the Fourth

Dominion. Judith, who was coming to see Gentle, arrives

just as the two go away.

2.2 The Fourth Dominion

Pie and Gentle arrive in the Fourth Dominion and head

to the nearby village of Vanaeph, where the Autarch is

coming to investigate rumours of rebellion. They soon

get into a conflict with some locals and are helped by aman named Tick Raw. Later, Gentle is confronted by

a creature known as a 'Nullianac', and manages to kill it

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2.5 Return to the Fifth Dominion   3

caught by one of the Autarch’s generals, Gentle’s com-

panion is killed, but Gentle is surprisingly let go when

the general sees his face.

Quaisoir meanwhile flees from the palace in search of

Athanasius but instead is encountered by a group of rebels

who attack her, blinding her by stabbing her in the eyes.Dowd and Judith, who had been having more visions of

her, soon arrive and all the rebels are either killed or flee.

Quaisoir at first thinks Dowd is her lord but when Judith

spoils the illusion by talking, Dowd tries to kill her. Ju-

dith flees as Dowd attacks Quaisoir instead and ends up

near a large well. Dowd catches up to her and is about

to kill her by throwing her in there. About to die, Judith

has visions of her origin, she was created as a replica of

Quaisoir hundreds of years before. Quaisoir, amazingly

still alive arrives and using her power saves Judith and

lets Dowd fall in the well after he reveals that hundreds

of years before he found a woman for Hapexamendios,

Celestine, who bore him a child.

Gentle makes it to the top of the palace where he encoun-

ters the Autarch, who reveals that Gentle is the Maestro

Sartori, who led the failed effort to reconcile the domin-

ions 200 years before. Going to see the Pivot, Gentle is

told that he has to make another attempt at reconcilia-

tion. Through explanation by the Autarch and a vision he

witnesses, the true events of what happened 200 years be-

fore are finally revealed. As Sartori, he was in love with

Judith, the lover of Joshua Godolphin, and was able to

convince Joshua to let him create a replica of her through

magic. During the long process of replicating her how-

ever, he got drunk and went into the circle that she wasbeing replicated in, and made love to her. This resulted

in a replica of himself being created as well. Once the

reconciliation failed, the replica of Sartori left to the do-

minions and eventually became the ruler of them as the

Autarch. The original Judith became his queen, Quaisoir,

while the replica, the Judith we've come to know through-

out the book, remained on Earth, bound to the Godol-

phin family. Sartori convinced Pie to cast a feit on him

that caused him to continuously lose his memory of the

event. The Autarch wants Gentle to join him as he goes

to conquer the Fifth Dominion but Gentle refuses. While

fleeing, Pie comes across the Autarch, and attacks Gentlewhen he arrives. Although Gentle is able to convince Pie

that it’s the real him, the Autarch (referred to from this

point on through the rest of the book as 'Sartori') attacks

Pie, mortally wounding him, then escapes.

Gentle decides to bring Pie to a Dearther camp at the Era-

sure, the border between the Second and First Dominions

where Estabrook was healed earlier. Pie headsoff into the

Erasure after Gentle reluctantly lets him go. Gentle meets

up with Father Athanasius again who attempts to kill him,

but the entire camp is destroyed by the power of Hapexa-

mendios, who pulls Pie back into the first dominion when

he tries to leave. Among those killed is Estabrook, whowas still living at the camp after being healed there. Gen-

tle is determined to reconcile the dominions and enlists

the help of a man at the Erasure, Chicka Jackeen.

2.5 Return to the Fifth Dominion

Gentle returns to the palace in Yzordderrex where he’s

reunited with Judith. The entire palace including the

Pivot starts to collapse and while they are able to escape,

Quaisoir is killed. Gentle and Judith go to Peccable’s

house and then return to Earth. Gentle decides to return

to the house on Gamut Street where he attempted rec-

onciliation 200 years before and some of the memories

from that time return to his head. His returned memo-

ries include those of conversations with Joshua Godol-

phin and the ancestors of those in the Tabula Rasa, as

well as a young man, Lucius Cobbitt. Also remembered is

the moments after the reconciliation failed and the horrorbrought upon everyone when Sartori tampered with the

ceremony and creatures from the in Ovo were released.

Gentle has a vision of those killed attacking him, a sort

of 'final rite of passage' as his memories return. A crea-

ture known as Little Ease sent by Sartori invades Gen-

tle’s mind and tells him that Sartori will use him to pre-

vent the reconciliation from occurring by any way possi-

ble. When Gentle leaves the house, Little Ease releases

all of Gentle’s memories from the past 200 years into his

mind, harming him tremendously. Gentle, scarred from

the event later appears where some homeless people are

living and is almost killed by one of them until he uses a

pneuma to defend himself. He befriends Monday, a fel-

low artist. Judith meanwhile sleeps with Sartori, thinking

that he is Gentle.

After being reunited with old colleagues like Klein, Clem

and Oscar, Judith becomes obsessed with freeing Celes-

tine from her prison below Roxborough Tower. She and

Oscar eventually head to Roxborough Tower after all of

the Tabula Rasa end up being killed. When they split

up, Oscar ends up getting attacked by Dowd (still alive,

with pieces from the Pivot shoved into his body), who

slices him up much in the same way that Oscar did to

him near the start of the book. Judith arrives just as Os-

car dies. After speaking with Dowd, Judith returns to

the basement of the tower and frees Celestine, who then

fights and defeats Dowd. Celestine tells Judith that she

wants to see Maestro Sartori. Clem one night while help-

ing the homeless finds Gentle and helps him get his senses

back. Gentle heads off with him, and Monday tags along.

Sartori meanwhile reveals to Judith (who still thinks he’s

Gentle) that he has impregnated her when she tries to get

him to see Celestine. Judith tells him to go see Celes-

tine. The real Gentle arrives shortly afterwards with Clem

and Monday, and they head to Roxborough Tower, where

Sartori has already met Celestine, who reveals that he was

the child she bore when she was raped by Hapexamendioshundreds of years before. Gentle and Sartori do battle

while the others help Celestine out of the tower.

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4   5 REFERENCES 

2.6 The Reconciliation

Once their battle is over, Gentle and the others head back

to the house on Gamut Street where Judith captures Little

Ease. In exchange for not being killed, Little Ease swears

allegiance to Gentle. Gentle has Judith and Monday re-

turn to Godolphin’s retreat to retrieve stones to be used

in the ceremony, while there Judith encounters Dowd one

last time. Before dying, Dowd leaves some doubt in Ju-

dith’s mind about what Hapexamendios’s intentions really

are and whether the reconciliation will be a good thing

or not. Judith decides to head to Yzordderrex to see the

Goddesses and find out from them whether or not the rec-

onciliation should go forward. She tells Monday to return

to Gentle with that message and heads to Yzordderrex.

Gentle sends his spirit across the Imajica to meet with the

other Maestros joining him in the reconciliation: Tick

Raw in the fourth, Scopique in the third, Athanasius in

the second (who Scopique was able to convince to help

them), and Chicka Jackeen near the first (who is revealed

to be Lucius). Judith meanwhile makes it to Yzordder-

rex and heads to the Autarch’s palace, now in ruins and

flooded. There she is able to meet with the Goddesses,

Tishallulé, Jokalaylau, and Uma Umagammagi, who had

been trapped in the Pivot until its destruction. Initially

distrusting of her, the Goddesses convene among them-

selves and tell Judith that it is all right to go ahead with the

reconciliation. They also reveal to her that when recon-

ciled, the Imajica is a circle and that Judith may one day

be among the Goddesses. It’s also revealed that, because

the Imajica is a circle, the souls of the dead ones won't beable to escape the Imajica itself as they hoped with the

Reconciliation.

Judith returns to the fifth dominion, to the house on

Gamut Street. Gentle begins the reconciliation as ev-

eryone else in the house keeps watch for Sartori and his

minions to make sure they don't interfere. When they

do arrive, they kill Little Ease and Sartori confronts Ju-

dith. He now seems a changed man, saying that once the

dominions are reconciled Hapexamendios will turn them

to a wasteland. Sartori tries to convince Judith that they

should kill themselves, but she instead rushes back in the

house to try and stop Gentle from completing the recon-ciliation. She enters the circle where he is performing

it and Sartori soon follows. Gentle tampers with one of

the stones used in the ceremony to attack Sartori. The

two do battle and Sartori severely wounds Gentle by stab-

bing him, then takes his place and returns the stone to its

rightful place. Sartori’s minions carry Gentle’s body out

of the room to Celestine and Judith accompanies them as

the clock strikes midnight and the reconciliation is com-

pleted. Celestine tells Gentle to send his spirit to see

Hapexamendios and convince him to send his fire their

way, as the god is unaware that the Imajica is a circle,

and his attack would simply come back to him.Gentle’s spirit makes its way through the dominions, pass-

ing through the Erasure into the first dominion. There

Gentle sees a magnificent, seemingly infinitely large city

that initially appears to be deserted. After some help

from a Nullianac Gentle realises the truth, that Hapex-

amendios himself  is   the city. Gentle starts speaking to

Hapexamendios and convinces him to show his human

form, which is gigantic, but also distorted and misshapen.

When Celestine is brought up, Hapexamendios grows an-gry and sends a flame across the dominions to kill her.

Celestine is vaporised, but with the circle of the Imajica

now restored, it returns to the first dominion and destroys

Hapexamendios himself. Severely burned by Hapexam-

endios’s fire, Sartori dies in Judith’s arms.

The weeks and months go by and the dominions slowly

become used to becoming reconciled. Many like Tick

Raw come from the various dominions to see Gentle,

but he can only think about Pie. Judith leaves to Yzord-

derrex to give birth to her child, a daughter whom she

names Huzzah, and Gentle and Monday follow and are

eventually reunited with her. They then head to the firstdominion to see Chicka Jackeen and Gentle parts with

them, never to return. Monday and Chicka Jackeen head

back to the fifth to see Clem with a map of the Imajica

Gentle has been working on and his last message. On

the promontory, Gentle looks down and sees beyond the

waves what looks like another sky but is, in reality, a gate

outside Imajica that his father tried to seal and was re-

opened by the Goddesses. Jumping into this gate, Gentle

becomes reunited with Pie'oh'pah outside of the Imajica;

meanwhile in the Fifth Dominion, Jackeen, Monday and

Clem start drawing Gentle’s map of the Imajica on every

wall.

3 Game

Inspired by the books, the Imajica collectible card game

was released by Harper Prism in August 1997. The game

was designed by Sean Curren and Hans Rueffert as a two

player customisable card game.[2]

4 Further reading

Christian Daumann:  Wonderlands in Flesh and Blood .

Gender, the body, its boundaries and their transgression

in Clive Barker’s “Imajica” .  ISBN 978-3-89975-918-1.

5 References

[1] See the foreword to the 1997 paperback edition of IMA-

JICA: volume II: The Reconciliation.

[2]  Imajica | BoardGameGeek

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6   7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text

•   Imajica  Source:    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imajica?oldid=641530082  Contributors:    Edward, Gabbe, Bshort, Auric, Benc, Djryan,

PeerBr, MikeCapone, David Gerard, Mike R, SURIV, MakeRocketGoNow, Pyrop, CamLewis, Aranel, Echuck215, Ndteegarden, Alai,

Firsfron, DavidK93, Myleslong, Rjwilmsi, Neitherday, Quiddity99, Irishguy, Friendship hurricane, Garion96, Exit2DOS2000, Choi9999,

SmackBot, SamSock, McGeddon, Grey Shadow, Kevinalewis, SSJ 5, Sadads, Radagast83, Cybercobra, Mightyfastpig, Ohconfucius, John,

Mathman1550, Cardinal Wurzel, CmdrObot, Mdriver1981, Spellmaster, GimliDotNet, Kint, Djp4, Burkhard.Plache, GrahamHardy,

Auntof6, Miso-chan, Mirboj, DumZiBoT, MystBot, Addbot, Lightbot, Webwizard, Contributor777, Yobot, SchnitzelMannGreek, Helpful

Pixie Bot, Shallowgravy and Anonymous: 43

7.2 Images

•   File:Cbarker_ibeads.jpg Source:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/Cbarker_ibeads.jpg License:  GFDL Contributors: 

Own work

Original artist: 

Miso-chan (talk) (Uploads)

•   File:Imajica-250.jpg Source:   http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Imajica-250.jpg License:  Fair use Contributors: 

https://reader010.{domain}/reader010/html5/0603/5b133eeeb9f41/5b133ef120d68.jpg Original artist:  ?

7.3 Content license

•   Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0