A Little More About Ghostmerchants

I touched upon what a ghostmerchant does and the role of that profession towards the end of this post in my blog marathon about magical objects and beliefs in folklore.

In the second book of The Nighthunter series, the current ghostmerchant of Corvin is a dull and unassuming-looking man named Mr Brosban. His main job is working as an attendant at the Natural Philosophy Museum in the town, but he is designated as a part-time ghostmerchant for Corvin when the story starts.

That unassuming exterior takes on a more sinister tone. He is always, preternaturally blank even in situations where some emotion would be basically human to demonstrate, e.g. whenever he removes ghostbait children from their families or when he leaves groups of these kids in the fog-shrouded Barren Plains to either die of exposure or be consumed by Ghosts. One could surmise that Mr Brosban holds a certain distaste for children.

There is a chapter in the book where Mr Brosban gets his comeuppance. (This author had a lot of fun writing that part, drawing on his own feelings as a child about school and authority figures in general.)

However, there are other adults in Corvin who take on the role of ghostmerchant when their time comes around — almost like jury duty — or if the previous ghostmerchant falls sick or is unable to do the grisly job.