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Disability has been used to signal characters’ internal evil and corruption in genres such as gothic literature and horror films (Liyana E and Aravind 36). Such themes are illustrated vividly in Jenny Nimmo’s children’s fantasy series The Children of the Red King. The myths and narrative devices such as isolation, kill-or-cure, disability as punishment, and narrative

prosthesis. The myths are most visible in the two main villains, Ezekiel and Manfred Bloor.

Part I: The Bloor’s Crippled Legacy

Ezekiel Bloor is the main villain in the Children of the Red King book series by Jenny Nimmo. He is a 100 year old mad, failed sorcerer and the patriarch of the Bloor family. He owns Bloor's Academy, a private boarding school for students gifted in the arts or who are endowed (Nimmo Midnight). Ezekiel uses Bloor's Academy to control magically gifted youth called the endowed and exploits their abilities to cling to his fortune and power. In the Children of the Red King universe, endowments are magical abilities that appear in descendants of the Red King, a medieval African king (Nimmo Midnight). Ezekiel’s great-grandson and the heir to the Bloor regime Manfred Bloor inherited the power of hypnotism which he uses to squash threats to his family's power (Nimmo Midnight). Endowments might also be interpreted as a metaphor for disability, but Ezekiel's paraplegia and Manfred's facial disfigurement and limp are the only explicit representations of disability in the series.

The first 5 books in the Children of the Red King series work up to the protagonist Charlie Bone finding and waking his father from a decade long hypnosis orchestrated by the Bloors. Just when Manfred thinks he’s successfully foiled Charlie’s rescue plan, three ancient, magical leopards called the Flames materialize from a swirling cloud of leaves to chase him away and maul him (Nimmo Hidden 440). Manfred becoming disabled and scarred from this attack perpetuates the trope of disability as punishment or karma for evil acts (Liyana E and Aravind 36). This trope is also seen in his great-grandfather becoming paralyzed from the waist down before the series, which also occurred as cosmic punishment for evildoing.

Nimmo’s characterization of disability in this family pulls heavily from the concept of degeneration, a theory from the 19th century that proposed a bloodline could devolve and die out rapidly due to a parents’ actions or immorality (Hurley 66). Madness is passed down from their oldest ancestor Borlath who was a sadistic tyrant (Nimmo Shadow vi).. Ezekiel is a mad scientist who ruins and ends lives in order to cling to the deed his own grandfather stole and avenge his ancestor, Borlath(Nimmo Beast 30). Manfred is as evil and mad as Ezekiel, which results in him becoming physically crippled and scarred (Nimmo Shadow 439). The way the Bloor family has become more disabled and more mad through generations is a poignant representation of degeneration used as a plot device.

Ezekiel and Manfred perish in the final book when a dog nudges Ezekiel’s wheelchair down a flight of stairs where he and the chair land on Manfred (Nimmo Red). The end of their storyline reinforces kill-or-cure myth, which appears in narratives when a disabled character either dies or their disability is cured before the story concludes (Dolmage 31). Using a character’s mobility aid to kill the only two disabled characters in the series is an example of narrative prosthesis. Every aspect of their disabilities have been tools to move the protagonist’s story forward from beginning to end without including realistic and humanizing representations of disabled people’s lived experience (Mitchell & Snyder).

In the article “Disabilities and Extraordinary Abilities in Science Fiction”, Callus & Grech name Sand Dan Glokta from the fantasy novel The Blade Itself as an example of a disabled villain whose disabilities are realistically woven into his everyday life, from dressing himself to using staircases. In contrast, Nimmo describes Ezekiel and Manfred Bloor’s disabilities voyeuristically. Readers aren’t granted access to their interior lives and experiences. The closest readers get to an inside look at his recovery experience is through his father’s voice when Dr. Bloor says, “They lacerated his throat. Every word he utters causes him pain” (Nimmo Beast 26).

Manfred’s bedroom is located at the top of a tower and Ezekiel’s laboratory is in the attic. How they manage going up and down the stairs is not explained. Bloor’s Academy is a very old building devoid of elevators and full of long, winding staircases. There has never been a wheelchair lift mentioned when characters climb the stairs to his room in the attic (Nimmo Midnight 264).

Facial differences have been used as narrative prostheses in literature and horror films across the globe for generations. The reveal of a villain’s scarred, disfigured faces is a common tool in horror cinema to frighten and disgust viewers as well as signal a character’s criminality (E and Aravind 37). Visible disability and bodily deterioration are also frequently used in Gothic literature to represent inner corruption and evil (Hurley). In Charlie Bone and the Beast, the reveal of Manfred’s facial mutilation is deployed as a narrative prosthesis to shock and disgust readers. It also plays into the bitter cripple trope, since Ezekiel promises to get even with the Bones for ‘ruining’ his great-grandson (Nimmo Beast 27)

“For the first time since the visitors arrived, the figure in the shadows turned his face to the light….. Four great scars ran from the youth's hairline to his chin. His eyelids were puckered with stitches, and his top lip dragged upward in two places, giving the face a permanent grimace (Nimmo Beast 26).”

The ‘magical cure’ trope emerges when Manfred’s face is restored by enchanted bugs (Dolmage). He also has a superhuman recovery, going from being unable to speak due to a lacerated throat to magically speaking clearly and without pain once the scars on his face are repaired (Raanam). Manfred is forced to hide his scarred face during recovery, even sneaking around Bloor’s Academy with a mask and cloak on before his face was restored (Nimmo Beast 76). Manfred’s exclusion until his face was restored reinforces the belief that people with facial differences must be ‘fixed’ before being accepted by society and even viewed as human.

In the article “Naming the Trope: A Deep Dive into the Harmful Uses of Disability Stereotypes in the American Theatre”, Ben Raanan describes the ‘magical freak’ trope as a using disabled characters as entities to propel the abled protagonist’s plot, but are stripped of humanity themselves. This is reflected in the language Nimmo uses for Manfred and Ezekiel. In one scene Ezekiel is described as an “ancient creature in a wheelchair (Nimmo Beast 23). Manfred’s crippled form limping down the hallway is described as an “it” even after he’s been identified (Nimmo Beast 353) . Manfred was not called an “it” before he was maimed. Visibly disabled characters are repeatedly dehumanized through the language Nimmo chooses for describing them and their bodies.

Part II: Ancestral Magic as a Metaphor for Disability

Endowments are hereditary, determined by which of Red King’s children they are descended from. There are often multiple generations between an endowed child’s birth (Nimmo Midnight ix) It is not clear if Jenny Nimmo intended for endowments to represent disabilities but when the series is read with that lens, themes such as isolation, ableism in education, and disability visibility impacting how different disabled people are treated emerge.

Paton Yewbeam is a power booster, which means he causes surges of electricity that brighten and burst lightbulbs (Nimmo Midnight 41). Paton has always had shaky control over his power, making him introverted and nocturnal as an adult. He only takes walks at night , when people can’t see him and more importantly can’t see his endowment in action, which could be interpreted as the myth of disability as isolating (Dolmage). When Charlie Bone follows his Uncle Paton on the man’s nightly walk and discovers his uncle’s endowment, Paton says, “Pathetic, isn’t it? I ask you, what use is it? I wish you hadn’t seen (Nimmo Midnight 41).” Paton’s lifelong ostracization due to uncontrollably bursting lights is reminiscent of the ostracization of people who have literal outbursts due to conditions like tourettes or autism. Paton also talks about people running when he showed them his power as a kid (Nimmo Midnight 43)

Bloor’s Academy is a prestigious boarding school where the majority of students are “normal” unendowed students who are gifted in the arts, but it also serves endowed students. There are approximately 10-12 endowed students at a time and they do their homework in a separate room from the unendowed students. Their homework room is so far away from where the other students do their homework that Billy, who helps Charlie find the Red King’s Room on Charlie’s first day of school, remarks that not many people know where the room is (Nimmo Midnight 178). It is as if the endowed students are hidden away where their powers won’t disrupt the regular students’ studies, like they frequently disrupt homework in the King’s Room when they lose control over their powers or start fighting with each other (Nimmo Midnight 49). Through a disability lens, their separation from unendowed students could be interpreted as the myth of disability as isolation (Dolmage). Like Paton hiding from most of society during the daytime, and Ezekiel Bloor spending most of his time hidden away in the attic. The disabled are hidden out of sight.

Endowments exist within a social hierarchy at Bloor’s Academy based on how powerful, or able the student appears.Some endowments are seen as useless or pitiable, like Paton’s power boosting and Gabriel’s psychometry (Nimmo Midnight 41). Gabriel Silk displays debilitating anxiety related to his endowment. When he puts on an item of clothing previously owned by someone else, he experiences their memories (Nimmo Midnight 186). Perhaps Gabriel’s endowment would be less debilitating if his family was wealthy, but his family is too poor to buy him new clothes. This causes him distress throughout the day and other characters see him as gloomy and a bit pathetic (Nimmo Midnight).

Bloor’s Academy is a prestigious school that recruits endowed students, but when a student’s endowment interferes with their learning they do not accommodate the students unique needs. Gabriel has to rely on Charlie to trade clothes with him instead of receiving assistance from a school that certainly has the money to spare a new uniform (Nimmo Midnight). The closest thing to accommodation they are granted is a separate room to study but as stated earlier, this others and isolates them, similarly to how schools sometimes separate disabled students even when their disability doesn’t interfere with their learning.

Meanwhile, Dagbert is praised because his endowment is deadly, but the praise is contingent on his abilities being used the right way (Nimmo Beast 26). Despite their value as tools, the endowed are never granted the same respect non-endowed do. One day when magical shenanigans were out of control in the academy, Dr. Bloor summons every endowed student including his son to his office and berates them, going so far as to call the endowed freaks (Nimmo Invisible). This reveals the headmaster’s true feelings about the endowed, that they are disruptive freaks who should only be tolerated if they suppress the chaotic nature of their magic or if they are being weaponized against the Bloors’ enemies. This is similar to how Margaret Price describes universities tolerating eccentric tenured professors but not students who display the same behaviors (“Listening to the Subject of Mental Disability”). Differences are tolerated in fiction and reality based on the individual's social standing and utility to the institution they are part of.

Charlie Bone likely has a learning disability, as evidenced by his consistent inability to focus in class or during homework hour. The villains’ disabilities are highly visible. This reinforces the gothic theme of visible disabilities as a reflection of the inner self and one’s character (Hurley) as it positions someone who is able to pass as non-disabled as morally superior to a person described as having a “bent and twisted” damaged body (Nimmo Beast 42). The way endowments are treated in Bloor's Academy reflects ableism seen in real academic settings, through the unequal treatment based on ability, isolation of students deemed unruly, and inaccessibility.

Children of the Red King frames disability as isolating, disruptive, as external evidence of internal evil through explicit disability and magical powers that parallel disabled people’s experiences. The Bloor family’s storyline utilizes tropes and literary devices such as characters becoming disabled as punishment for evil, kill-or-cure, and narrative prosthesis. Reading the series through a critical disability lens reveals how deeply centuries old and modern stigma of disability is embedded in fiction.