Mr. Currie

Creation

Thomas Currie was created by writer/artist Peter Gross in The Books of Magic issue 50 in July 1998. This was a preview story which was then printed again in issue 51.

Major Story Arcs

Thomas Currie existed in a universe created by Tim Hunter as a child. As an Opener, Tim was capable of creating entire universes that are alternates of the real universe. In his case, his impulse to create universes was based on any time he felt an emotion he didn’t want to feel, and the world somehow mimicked that feeling.

However, Tim does not realize he has made these worlds.

The universe where Thomas Currie was created is a “perfect” world that is very magical and happy. It’s version of Tim is wise and powerful, and he is surrounded by love. Thomas is his teacher of magic.

However, Tim’s Other–a version of Tim who wants to be the only Tim–has been going around killing all the other Tims, destroying their universes, and absorbing their magic.

The Other kills Currie’s Tim and only Currie escapes.

He visits several other universes looking for the real Tim, but can’t find him.

He goes to the Inn Between Worlds, run by Accasbel, and writes a book titled, The Books of Magic: The True Story of Timothy Hunter, covering his time with the Tim Hunter of his own dimension, and discussing the real Tim Hunter.

He dreamed of writing the book for a long time, which led to its inclusion in the library of dreams, where Titania almost read it before it was destroyed, when he actually started writing it.

When he is done, he leaves the Inn. Joh pesters him for what his book was about, but he doesn’t answer. However, she has seen his pictures of Tim, so when she meets Tim later, she is in love with him.

Currie’s plan is to warn the real Tim about the Other, and if he thinks Tim can’t defeat him, then Currie will kill Tim, which will in turn kill the Other. Currie does not know that Tim has recently given up his magic.

He finds the real world and prepares to meet Tim. First he finds a troll and tricks him into giving him a glamour stone, which will let him look like a troll when he wishes.

Currie finds Tim and spies on him. He sees Tim destroy some toy soldiers that he had magically brought to life as a child. To Currie, this is the same as if he destroyed Currie himself–they are both creations of Tim, which makes Tim their God. Currie believes this action shows Tim’s dismissiveness and lack of respect for his creations, and his arrogance in general.

Currie takes a job at Bardsey, a prep school that Tim’s stepmom, Holly, has just arranged for Tim to enroll in. Currie replaces Mr. Gavin, who has disappeared.

Mr. Gavin is dead from accidentally falling down the stairs, and Tim’s stepbrother Cyril is keeping the body in caves under the school. He thinks of himself as a king of the dead and gets other boys to do him favors in return for getting to see the body.

Currie and Tim enjoy talking to each other in class, but Currie isn’t sure how Tim is hiding his magic (which in actuality he gave up). He intentionally bumps into Tim outside of school and turns the conversation to magic. Currie teaches Tim to use The Sight, where he can see magic in the world. However, it also allows him to see Currie’s glamour stone-self as a troll.

Thinking Currie is a troll, Tim gets mad and thinks Currie is trying to use him. He says he got rid of his magic and storms off. (It should be noted, however, that despite giving up his magic, Tim continually does magic during this time.) He stops going to school.

Meanwhile, Cyril is mad that Currie paid more attention to Tim than Cyril, so he starts a bunch of rumors that Tim and Currie are sleeping together, and possibly that Currie murdered Gavin.

Tim and Currie realize what Cyril is doing and find Gavin’s body together. They dispose of it in the river so it looks like a suicide, so Currie isn’t blamed for it. However, he has to leave Bardsey on charges he had sex with Cyril. However, he intimidates Cyril into staying away from Tim.

Currie tells Tim about the other worlds he has created, how Currie’s world was destroyed, and how the Other is coming for him. Tim believes him, and they plan to get his magic back so they can fight the Other.

The Other shows up in Tim’s reality. He has now destroyed all of Tim’s other worlds, but he doesn’t realize this is the true reality. When Tim’s dad Bill and stepmom Holly are driving by him, they’re surprised, and crash their car. Holly is killed and Bill is badly wounded. Tim is able to magically tell when she dies.

Currie magically masks Tim’s old, abandoned house so it is hard to see with magic or the eyes. Currie also makes the house a magnet for Tim’s magic. He explains that Tim didn’t really give it away, he just hid it from himself, and he can relearn how to use it.

They learn that the Other is here, years before they expected. Currie believes Tim cannot beat the Other, so he drugs Tim and knocks him out.

Thomas visits Tim’s dad in the hospital and magically convinces him to jump out the window as a sacrifice for a spell Thomas needs to cast. Meanwhile Tim wakes up and tries to reabsorb his magic from the magic-magnet in the house.

Currie finds Tim unconscious and stuck in the webs of the machine. He thinks it would be best to let him die there and thus also kill the Other. However, he saves Tim. They will make a fake Tim and allow the Other to kill it, while the real Tim goes into hiding.

Currie tells Tim that his dad is dead, and Tim creates another Tim to avoid the pain.

Tim once again gives up his Opener-based magic (but not the kind of magic that anyone can learn), this time putting it into a soda bottle that Currie takes.

The Tim that they made looks like Thomas’s original Tim. They prepare for battle with the Other. The Other kills the new Tim, and Currie stabs the Other, but doesn’t kill him. The Other fatally wounds Currie. As he dies, Currie visits the Thomas Currie of the real world, a man stuck in a wheelchair and barely able to talk. The magical Currie offers to switch places, but he seemingly (although not certainly) dies without making the transfer.

The Other believes he killed the real Tim, and begins to act as a conquerer of the world. The real Tim goes on the run, using a glamour stone to look like his mom, visiting the realms of faerie and the Inn Between where Currie wrote his book. Eventually he comes back and defeats the Other.

Powers and Abilities

Thomas is a fairly adept sorcerer. He is capable of traveling interdimensionally, can see magic, can make things invisible to magic, and can build machines that scan other dimensions, funnel magic, and contain magic.

He taught the Tim Hunter of his world how to do magic, although that Tim was also naturally talented at magic.