The Clockwright of Saltmarsh

Maren Tollvik is the keeper of the Brass Orrery and, from chapter 11, mistress of the Guild of Hours. She is one of the three narrators of the saga and the only one whose chapters are told in the present tense.

"A clock does not tell you the time. It tells you what somebody decided the time should be."

[edit]Appearance and manner

Maren is described as small, quick and ink-stained, and is drawn with a loupe on a cord in every chapter after the third. Other characters call her blunt; the text marks her spoken lines with the tag plainly more often than any other.

Abilities

• Reads the Orrery without tables, a skill only two other characters share.
• Can stop a running mechanism by ear.
• Holds the guild seal, which opens every tower door in Saltmarsh.

[edit]History

Born in Saltmarsh to a family of ferrymen, Maren is bound to the guild at eleven after repairing the harbour bell on a dare. Her apprenticeship under Osric Vane fills chapters 2 to 5 and ends with the first reading of the Orrery.

After the flood of chapter 8 she rebuilds the tower mechanism from memory. The guild elects her mistress in chapter 11, over the objection of Halla Brey, who leaves the city the same night and has not been seen since.

Unanswered questions

• Who added the twelfth ring, and when?
• Why does the seal no longer open the east door?