Nathaniel Crozier is a key character in A Warlock in Whitby, the second volume of Robin Jarvis’s wonderful Whitby Witches trilogy.
He is the husband of the witch who called herself Rowena Cooper, but was really Roselyn Crozier (called Roslyn Crosier in The Whitby Witches). He is not a witch exactly, but he is a black magician and he does control a group of witches.
He is a person of interest because some of the things he and his followers say and do are very familiar.
An introduction to Nathaniel Crozier
Nathaniel Crozier casts a dark shadow ahead of him: he is briefly mentioned in The Whitby Witches, where he is introduced as Roselyn’s God-awful husband. They performed foul ceremonies together in Africa. They are described as a hellish pair who deserve to hang. I couldn’t have put it better myself.
The prose gets purple in A Warlock in Whitby:
“Nathaniel Crozier: historian, philanderer, warlock, high priest of the Black Sceptre and the unseen hand behind countless unsolved burglaries of religious relics from around the world…the most evil man on earth.”
There is nothing on this earth that he cannot make yield and bow before him.
How strange that such a man should wear worn and shabby clothes and be unable to enter a dwelling without an invitation!
He seems to have very little to show for all his studies, efforts, powers and stolen magical artefacts.
More about Nathaniel Crozier
Nathaniel Crozier is forty-two years old. He is dark, grim and sinister. He is bearded and has black eyes like pieces of midnight, jewels of darkness. His clothes are grubby, frayed, patched and threadbare.
He has a hypnotic effect on women of all ages: he fascinates them the way a snake fascinates its prey, and they will obey his orders and do anything, kill on demand even, to get his attention and approval. First he charms them, then, once they are under his spell, he treats them with contempt. He can hold them prisoner in the chains of his will.
He is infamous and has enemies everywhere; some of them have even dedicated their lives to tracking down and putting an end to him.
He believes that might is right.
He delights in inflicting unbearable torture; he likes to hurt people before killing them, as otherwise there is no entertainment.
He has always worked through others and rarely risked himself.
Unpleasant and unscrupulous, sarcastic, scornful and sneering, cruel and brutal, vicious and sadistic, arrogant, full of greed and malice...he has no redeeming characteristics whatsoever.
Nathaniel Crozier arrives in Whitby
Nathaniel does not appear in person in The Whitby Witches, where there are only a few references to him. In A Warlock in Whitby, he comes to Whitby to uncover the full story of what happened to his late wife. Roselyn was loath to involve him in her affairs; she had slipped the tight leash he kept her on and was plotting behind his back.
Roselyn was described as a nasty piece of work with a mouth like a sewer. She was contemptuous and sneering: she looked at people as if they were a collection of insects.
Roselyn and Nathaniel were well-matched: he shares his wife’s outlook on many people and places. She saw Whitby as a squalid and dingy little town; he cannot understand how she could have been vanquished by an inhabitant of what he considers to be an insignificant, seedy backwater, full of what he sees as ignorant and unimportant people. They are both very wrong: I have seen for myself that Whitby is actually a very pleasant and interesting place.
He starts using his powers immediately, tricking a couple called the Gregsons into offering him lodging.
It is very interesting that Nathaniel should home in on two of the worst people in the town, although he does need to keep a low profile so that his enemies do not learn that he has returned to England, and, as neighbours of Alice Boston the white witch or wise woman, the Gregsons share the same yard and have a spare room that overlooks her garden.
Mrs Gregson appears briefly in The Whitby Witches, where she is referred to as ‘that Gregson woman’ and described as being a dreadful, surly-looking creature, disdainful and disagreeable.
Mrs Gregson had succumbed to the charms of Roselyn; now she falls for Nathaniel’s. He beguiles her and she invites him in. Triumphant, he instantly turns on her. He criticises her way of speaking and calls her a stupid hag. The Gregsons are horrible people and deserve each other, just as Nathaniel and Roselyn did, but it is painful to read about the treatment they get at the hands of someone who deliberately selects, beguiles and enslaves very inferior tools then treats them with contempt and punishes them for their deficiencies.
I am always very wary of people who make it obvious that they hate and despise the inferior people around them.
More victims of Nathaniel’s hypnotic powers
Nathaniel tricks two people and an ancient stone head into giving him some vital information:
The first victim is Alice Boston herself. She didn’t fall under Roselyn’s spell, but she feels compelled to answer Nathaniel’s questions. She tells him exactly what she should not.
Nathaniel then gets Jennet, the young girl who lives with Miss Boston, to invite him in. Miss Boston is away at the time, and Jennet is on her own. He first charms then hypnotises her, and she tells him everything. In doing so, she endangers the people closest to her. He learns the whole story of what his wife was doing and who was responsible for her death.
Jennet returns to normality with a bad headache; she is unable to remember what they have been talking about. He keeps her in a delighted and dreamy state. She gets angry with her little brother Ben, who has some resistance to the man’s evil spells, when he tells her some home truths about Nathaniel.
Nathaniel even tricks an ancient stone head, a guardian against evil that believes he is on the same side, into revealing some vital information, after which he smashes it to pieces.
It is understandable that Jennet should have no defences against Nathaniel, but Miss Boston’s lack of resistance shows how strong his powers are.
These powers were obtained by studying black magic - I have mentioned more examples of such incidents in the article about the evil witch Madame Delubovska and the one about the dreadful old woman Aunt Maria - but some people in real life are naturals.
For example, a colleague whom I avoided because she gave me very bad feelings, obtained my address in a devious way. ‘By chance’, a phonecall came through for me on the wrong extension, a long way from my desk but close to hers. Instead of asking for a transfer, I stupidly walked over to take the call, and needed to give my address. I could sense her drinking it in avidly. Just like Miss Boston, I knew deep down inside that I was doing something wrong but I felt paralysed and spoke mechanically, like someone in a trance.
It is important to be wary of people around whom we find ourselves speaking and behaving out of character, revealing secrets, acting against our interests, making mistakes and wrong decisions, having accidents…
Nathaniel Crozier at his worst
Ben, who has seen Nathaniel smash the stone head to powder, knows that the man is evil. Ben is only eight years old; he has no one to turn to. His big sister won’t hear a word against Nathaniel and Miss Boston has gone away. He considers going to the police, but remembers how no one would listen to Miss Boston when she claimed that three members of her circle had been murdered by Rowena Cooper. The doctor had been very rude when Miss Boston questioned him, and the police had treated her as a silly old woman who should mind her own business and not go stirring up trouble.
Ben thinks of someone who would listen: a friend of his called Mr Roper, who is introduced briefly in The Whitby Witches as a sad, gentle, soft-spoken, lonely old man. Ben tells him the story of what Nathaniel Crozier did to the stone head; Mr Roper pretends to believe that it is all just a made-up story, but he knows that his time has come. He secretly passes on to Ben another guardian against evil, a holy artefact that his family has kept safe and secure for centuries.
He then prepares himself for the confrontation he knows is coming. As he expects, Nathaniel Crozier comes calling, late at night and unseen by anyone. Nathaniel knows that the Roper family has been holding the guardian that he intends to destroy.
What comes next is very painful to read:
Nathaniel bullies Mr Roper and says that sooner or later pain will force him to reveal the location of the artefact.
He then hits Mr Roper where it hurts most: he starts smashing his prized collection of ornaments. This reminds me of the scene in Philip Pullman’s Shadow in the North, where two sadistic thugs who want to know someone’s whereabouts destroy Isabel Meredith’s beautiful embroidery – and her livelihood.
Nathaniel uses his powers to psychically torture Mr Roper, who eventually confesses that the guardian is with Ben. Mr Roper begs Nathaniel to stop the pain; he grants the old man’s wish by killing him.
The next article about Nathaniel Crozier
This is just the start of Nathaniel’s reign of terror in Whitby.
So far, we have seen Nathaniel doing his own dirty work – for once. Still to come are some horrible stories about the actions of some witch-like women who are in thrall to him.
He is the husband of the witch who called herself Rowena Cooper, but was really Roselyn Crozier (called Roslyn Crosier in The Whitby Witches). He is not a witch exactly, but he is a black magician and he does control a group of witches.
He is a person of interest because some of the things he and his followers say and do are very familiar.
An introduction to Nathaniel Crozier
Nathaniel Crozier casts a dark shadow ahead of him: he is briefly mentioned in The Whitby Witches, where he is introduced as Roselyn’s God-awful husband. They performed foul ceremonies together in Africa. They are described as a hellish pair who deserve to hang. I couldn’t have put it better myself.
The prose gets purple in A Warlock in Whitby:
“Nathaniel Crozier: historian, philanderer, warlock, high priest of the Black Sceptre and the unseen hand behind countless unsolved burglaries of religious relics from around the world…the most evil man on earth.”
There is nothing on this earth that he cannot make yield and bow before him.
How strange that such a man should wear worn and shabby clothes and be unable to enter a dwelling without an invitation!
He seems to have very little to show for all his studies, efforts, powers and stolen magical artefacts.
More about Nathaniel Crozier
Nathaniel Crozier is forty-two years old. He is dark, grim and sinister. He is bearded and has black eyes like pieces of midnight, jewels of darkness. His clothes are grubby, frayed, patched and threadbare.
He has a hypnotic effect on women of all ages: he fascinates them the way a snake fascinates its prey, and they will obey his orders and do anything, kill on demand even, to get his attention and approval. First he charms them, then, once they are under his spell, he treats them with contempt. He can hold them prisoner in the chains of his will.
He is infamous and has enemies everywhere; some of them have even dedicated their lives to tracking down and putting an end to him.
He believes that might is right.
He delights in inflicting unbearable torture; he likes to hurt people before killing them, as otherwise there is no entertainment.
He has always worked through others and rarely risked himself.
Unpleasant and unscrupulous, sarcastic, scornful and sneering, cruel and brutal, vicious and sadistic, arrogant, full of greed and malice...he has no redeeming characteristics whatsoever.
Nathaniel Crozier arrives in Whitby
Nathaniel does not appear in person in The Whitby Witches, where there are only a few references to him. In A Warlock in Whitby, he comes to Whitby to uncover the full story of what happened to his late wife. Roselyn was loath to involve him in her affairs; she had slipped the tight leash he kept her on and was plotting behind his back.
Roselyn was described as a nasty piece of work with a mouth like a sewer. She was contemptuous and sneering: she looked at people as if they were a collection of insects.
Roselyn and Nathaniel were well-matched: he shares his wife’s outlook on many people and places. She saw Whitby as a squalid and dingy little town; he cannot understand how she could have been vanquished by an inhabitant of what he considers to be an insignificant, seedy backwater, full of what he sees as ignorant and unimportant people. They are both very wrong: I have seen for myself that Whitby is actually a very pleasant and interesting place.
He starts using his powers immediately, tricking a couple called the Gregsons into offering him lodging.
It is very interesting that Nathaniel should home in on two of the worst people in the town, although he does need to keep a low profile so that his enemies do not learn that he has returned to England, and, as neighbours of Alice Boston the white witch or wise woman, the Gregsons share the same yard and have a spare room that overlooks her garden.
Mrs Gregson appears briefly in The Whitby Witches, where she is referred to as ‘that Gregson woman’ and described as being a dreadful, surly-looking creature, disdainful and disagreeable.
Mrs Gregson had succumbed to the charms of Roselyn; now she falls for Nathaniel’s. He beguiles her and she invites him in. Triumphant, he instantly turns on her. He criticises her way of speaking and calls her a stupid hag. The Gregsons are horrible people and deserve each other, just as Nathaniel and Roselyn did, but it is painful to read about the treatment they get at the hands of someone who deliberately selects, beguiles and enslaves very inferior tools then treats them with contempt and punishes them for their deficiencies.
I am always very wary of people who make it obvious that they hate and despise the inferior people around them.
More victims of Nathaniel’s hypnotic powers
Nathaniel tricks two people and an ancient stone head into giving him some vital information:
The first victim is Alice Boston herself. She didn’t fall under Roselyn’s spell, but she feels compelled to answer Nathaniel’s questions. She tells him exactly what she should not.
Nathaniel then gets Jennet, the young girl who lives with Miss Boston, to invite him in. Miss Boston is away at the time, and Jennet is on her own. He first charms then hypnotises her, and she tells him everything. In doing so, she endangers the people closest to her. He learns the whole story of what his wife was doing and who was responsible for her death.
Jennet returns to normality with a bad headache; she is unable to remember what they have been talking about. He keeps her in a delighted and dreamy state. She gets angry with her little brother Ben, who has some resistance to the man’s evil spells, when he tells her some home truths about Nathaniel.
Nathaniel even tricks an ancient stone head, a guardian against evil that believes he is on the same side, into revealing some vital information, after which he smashes it to pieces.
It is understandable that Jennet should have no defences against Nathaniel, but Miss Boston’s lack of resistance shows how strong his powers are.
These powers were obtained by studying black magic - I have mentioned more examples of such incidents in the article about the evil witch Madame Delubovska and the one about the dreadful old woman Aunt Maria - but some people in real life are naturals.
For example, a colleague whom I avoided because she gave me very bad feelings, obtained my address in a devious way. ‘By chance’, a phonecall came through for me on the wrong extension, a long way from my desk but close to hers. Instead of asking for a transfer, I stupidly walked over to take the call, and needed to give my address. I could sense her drinking it in avidly. Just like Miss Boston, I knew deep down inside that I was doing something wrong but I felt paralysed and spoke mechanically, like someone in a trance.
It is important to be wary of people around whom we find ourselves speaking and behaving out of character, revealing secrets, acting against our interests, making mistakes and wrong decisions, having accidents…
Nathaniel Crozier at his worst
Ben, who has seen Nathaniel smash the stone head to powder, knows that the man is evil. Ben is only eight years old; he has no one to turn to. His big sister won’t hear a word against Nathaniel and Miss Boston has gone away. He considers going to the police, but remembers how no one would listen to Miss Boston when she claimed that three members of her circle had been murdered by Rowena Cooper. The doctor had been very rude when Miss Boston questioned him, and the police had treated her as a silly old woman who should mind her own business and not go stirring up trouble.
Ben thinks of someone who would listen: a friend of his called Mr Roper, who is introduced briefly in The Whitby Witches as a sad, gentle, soft-spoken, lonely old man. Ben tells him the story of what Nathaniel Crozier did to the stone head; Mr Roper pretends to believe that it is all just a made-up story, but he knows that his time has come. He secretly passes on to Ben another guardian against evil, a holy artefact that his family has kept safe and secure for centuries.
He then prepares himself for the confrontation he knows is coming. As he expects, Nathaniel Crozier comes calling, late at night and unseen by anyone. Nathaniel knows that the Roper family has been holding the guardian that he intends to destroy.
What comes next is very painful to read:
Nathaniel bullies Mr Roper and says that sooner or later pain will force him to reveal the location of the artefact.
He then hits Mr Roper where it hurts most: he starts smashing his prized collection of ornaments. This reminds me of the scene in Philip Pullman’s Shadow in the North, where two sadistic thugs who want to know someone’s whereabouts destroy Isabel Meredith’s beautiful embroidery – and her livelihood.
Nathaniel uses his powers to psychically torture Mr Roper, who eventually confesses that the guardian is with Ben. Mr Roper begs Nathaniel to stop the pain; he grants the old man’s wish by killing him.
The next article about Nathaniel Crozier
This is just the start of Nathaniel’s reign of terror in Whitby.
So far, we have seen Nathaniel doing his own dirty work – for once. Still to come are some horrible stories about the actions of some witch-like women who are in thrall to him.
