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Alther Mella was the 775th ExtraOrdinary Wizard of The Castle for many years. He is currently a ghost and a very good friend of the Heaps and Marcia Overstrand.

Biography[]

Apprenticeship to DomDaniel[]

For the Apprentice Supper, all Alther was given was a cheese sandwich. He ate it, and regretted it more than anything else in his life.On tThe day of DomDaniel's supposed death, Alther found an Incantation on DomDaniel's desk. He held it up to a mirror and found out that it was a Reverse Incantation. A Spectre appeared behind him, wanting to collect him, but Alther convinced it to wait another day before Taking him. DomDaniel sees that he had been figured out, and flees to the top of the Wizard Tower Pyramid. They fight, and DomDaniel jumps off the Tower, which leasd to people believing that Alther pushed him off. After taking DomDaniel's Akhu Amulet, he became the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. With some help, he was able to create an Anti-Hex Formula to render the Spectre powerless.

Being the ExtraOrdinary Wizard[]

Alther was the ExtraOrdinary Wizard of The Castle for many years, during which he took on Silas Heap and then Marcia Overstrand as his Apprentice. Silas begged Alther to annul his Apprenticeship so that he could spend time with his family. Alther did so, then took on Marcia as his new Apprentice.

Death[]

Karte alther

When Marcia had just passed her final exams, and she had gone to thank Alther, a messenger arrived and told them that a baby girl had been born to the Queen. Alther was summoned to the Palace to perform the Welcome Ceremony, and Marcia went along to help. However, they had just arrived when an Assassin burst in and shot the Queen. Alther began to do a SafeShield Spell, but the Assassin shot him in the chest. Holding the baby Princess, Marcia finished the spell for him. Alther insisted on giving Marcia his Akhu Amulet before he died, making her the ExtraOrdinary Wizard.

In the Books[]

Magyk[]

Sarah Heap and Sally Mullin discuss the events of the Castle in Sally's Tea and Ale House. The Queen and Alther Mella had been shot, which is why Marcia became the ExtraOrdinary Wizard in Alther's place.[1]

Over one year later, the ghost of Alther Mella stands up from a bench and walks out of the Throne Room. He enjoys being a ghost and does acrobatic twirls in the open air. He had been supplying Marcia with essential information of the going-ons in the Castle, so the wizards could stay one step ahead of the Supreme Custodian, who had taken over the Castle. He attempts to listen to their plans, but this time he could not, as the meeting was in the former Ladies' Washroom. Being a ghost, he could only go to places he had been before, and the Ladie's Washroom was not one of them. Because of this, Alther did not hear about how Linda Lane, the Heap's neighbor in the Ramblings, is a spy.

He pays a visit to Marcia Overstand in her room in the Wizard Tower. The next morning, Marcia tells the Heaps about Jenna's true identity as the Princess. She explains that Linda is a spy, and that Marcsa needs to take Jenna to the Tower, where she will be safe with her. Alther then comes and convinces the Heaps to give up Jenna.

In the Wizard Tower, Silas and Nicko come to give Jenna her birthday present while the rest of the family live in the Forest with Galen in a tree house. Alther then comes and warns them that the Assassin is already in the Tower, as Silas had left the doors open. They escape to Aunt Zelda at the Keeper's Cottage with the Hunter on their trail. Alther compliments Marcia's Dive spell, which made the Hunter dive into the icy cold waters of the Marsh.

While Alther fishes, he tells the gang that DomDaniel had come back to the Castle and is lounging in Marcia's rooms. All the Magyk had been expelled, replaced by Darkenesse. Alther then tells them that Jenna was an obstacle, and also of what really happened at the top of the Wizard Tower with DomDaniel many years ago. Marcia wants to return to the Castle and get rid of DomDaniel, but Alther convinces her not to. Nicko, Boy 412, Jenna, Silas, Marcia, and Maximus sail in the Muriel and Muriel Two to Aunt Zelda's. Alther watches them go.

Then he flies along the route his old boat, Molly, used to take back to the Castle. He passed the Hunter on his bullet boat, with ten tired oarsmen pulling on the oars, and DomDaniel's Apprentice at the prow. He paused to look at Sally Mullin's Tea and Ale House, which had been reduced to ashes. He Discomposed and Rearranged himself into Marcia's room. He Caused many things to annoy DomDaniel, including slamming a hatch closed, putting out the fire, wafting the smoke to him, and messing with his blankets. Alther witnesses the Apprentice's return to DomDaniel. The Apprentice tells him that the mission faile, and that the Queenling had esacped. While the Darke Wizard strode out to meet the Hunter, the Apprentice went to sleep on the sofa. Alther Caused the heavy canopy of the bed to hang by a thread, took the wicks out of the candles, added a murky green color to the water tanks, put cockroaches in the kitchen, put a rat under the floorboards, loosened all the joints in the most comfortable chairs, and shrunk DomDaniel's stiff black cylindrical hat.

Silas Heap snuck back into the Ramblings in a worker's uniform. A removal man sees him and tells him to clear out the Heaps' room. When the man leaves with the furniture, Alther comes while Silas piles up the Magyk books for removal. Alther tells him to use a Remove to put the books in the bedroom in the roof. Silas then Disguised the trapdoor so it couldn't be seen.

Then Alther takes Silas to the Hole in the Wall Tavern to meet the round-faced nun, Sister Bernadette. She tells him that his son, Simon, had tried to get married to his girlfriend, Lucy Gringe at the chapel, but Gringe and the Custodian Guards stopped the wedding and took Simon away to the Courthouse to the Supreme Custodian. Alther sent out ghosts to the Courthouse to search for Simon. None had any luck.

That night, Marcia was tricked by the Supreme Custodian and was thrown into Dungeon Number One. An Ancient happened to pass by her and brought Alther to her. He encouraged her to stay alive.

For days, Alther waited at the beach near Keeper's Cottage, hoping someone would turn up. Eventually, Jenna, Nicko, and Boy 412 found him. He told them about Simon, who had slipped away from Sarah in the Forest and gone to marry Lucy. Then he told them about Marcia being captured, and DomDaniel taking her Amulet and becoming the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. Marcia had recently disappeared and might be on the Vengeance, DomDaniel's ship. Alther tells them to go to Port, then to the Far Countries. They reluctantly agree. Alther leaves, and the three immediately take the Muriel Two to the Vengeance.

When they return, and Boy 412 accepted Apprenticeship to Marcia Overstrand, Alther talks to Aunt Zelda outside. He explains what happened at The Castle. Once the Big Thaw happened, DomDaniel brought his ship, ready to bring the Hunter. Alther arranged for Alice to have a ship ready to take Nicko, Jenna, and Boy 412 to a safe place. Silas sailed Alther's Molly to pick up Sarah, then Silas put his foot through the hole. While they were repairing it, they were overtaken by the Vengeance. They weren't spotted, but they got caught up in DomDaniel's Storm and got swept to the marshes. Then he explains that there is an Apprentice Supper going on at Zelda's Cottage. They a picnic outside. When Marcia says that she is not one for long speeches, Alther says that that was not how he remembered it. Aunt Zelda elbowed him, but her arm went through and she hit Molly's mast. Then they look at who Boy 412 really is in the duck pond.

Alther helped Septimus while he is learning to use the Flyte Charm.[2]

Physik[]

Outside the marketplace, Snorri bumps into Jenna and Alther Mella. Alther realizes that Snorri is a Spirit-Seer and can see ghosts whether they Appear to her or not, and tells Jenna so. At night, Septimus wakes from a nightmare of missing his Prediction Practical Exams. Septimus use his Flyte Charm to Flye after Alther to the Hole in the Wall Tavern to talk to the ghost of Queen Etheldredda the Awful. The Queen told Septimus to meet Marcellus Pye at Snake Slipway at midnight. Alther is against this and tells Septimus to not go. Along the way back, they meet Sarah Heap, who is on her way to the Infirmary with her healing potions. Alther and Septimus accompany her to the boatyard, where she will be rowed to the Infirmary by her second youngest son, Nicko. Alther flies to the other side of the moat to see that they get there safely. Septimus proceeds to go to Snake Slipway but doesn't get there in time and is pushed into the moat by the ghostly Queen.

The next morning, Alther explains to Marcia that her Apprentice had spent the night at the Palace. Later, the two search for Jenna and Septimus, who have disappeared. Alther leaves the ExtraOrdinary Wizard to her searching, nd goes into the Queen's Room to visit Queen Cerys. He asks about Jenna, nd finds out that she came in with Septimus. Alther returns and tells Marcia that the Princess and Septimus were visiting Aunt Zelda in the Marshes, which is not true. She tells him that she had Unsealed the shelf and opened the I, Marcelllu, a book written by Marcellus Pye, and that inside she had found a note that her Apprentice had written to her five hundred years ago. She shows him the note.

Later that night, Alther visits his old girlfriend Alice Nettles in Warehouse Number Nine, where Snorri and Ullr the panther in NightUllr mode are staying. Many years ago, Aunt Zelda had told him to look for something in the warehouse, and though he had never found what she was looking for, the search allowed him to be in the warehouse with Alice without being Returned. Alther decides that he must find the object, and in order to do so he has to Pass Through everything in the warehouse. At that moment, Jenna and Nicko arrive on Spit Fyre. After a while, Alther, looking ill, rests on an ebony chest after Passing Through many things. Alther says that he is sure that the Glass of Time is in the Warehouse. Spit Fyre, with his Seek, finds it after ripping open the chest Alther had been sitting on. Jenna, Nicko, Snorri, and Ullr jump into the Glass. Alice was about to as well, but Spit Fyre smashes the mirror in his attempt to follow his Seek to his Imprinter, Septimus.

When they return with Septimus but without Nicko and Snorri, Alther and Alice find Jenna asleep by the moat with her duckling and Ullr. They had been journeying back to the Palace to break the bad news of Nicko's and Jenna's disappearances to Sarah and Silas Heap. Alther sleeps, and Alice hears Ullr's screech when he tried to attack the ghost of Queen Etheldredda, who was becoming more Substantial and wielding a silver pistol with Jenna's named bullet. Alther flings himself at the Queen, but she Passed Through him. He collapsed from the Substantial Spirit's malice. Alice threw herself at Jenna, and the silver bullet kills her but saves the Princess. Alther realized that he and Alice would finally be together. While Marcia creates a BoneFyre, Queen Etheldredda prepares to push Jenna into Spit Fyre's Fyre, unbeknownst to even Alther, who is the only one who can see her, because he is too busy with Alice.

At the end of the book, Alther sits with the ghost of Alice Nettles, who must stay at the place where she entered ghosthood for a year and a day, while her body is drifting away on the Leaving Boat.

Queste[]

In Queste, Alther Mella is there to give Septimus as much information as possiable about the Queste, like the colors the stone turns and what they mean.

Syren[]

Darke[]

Ather is banished (accidentally) by Marcia Overstand in Dungeon Number One.

Fyre[]

Alther gets Merrin and nurse (Merrins mum) to use them as bait to get the to dark wizards that escaped from the ring.

Trivia[]

  • Before he became a ghost, Alther was afraid of heights, similar to Septimus Heap.

References[]

  1. Magyk, chapter needed specified
  2. Flyte, chapter needed specified
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