Steerpike

Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.

Steerpike might be called the antagonist of the books, but in truth he is more of an anti-hero; the first book especially is focused on him, as it covers only the first two years of the titular hero Titus's life.

Steerpike first appears as a youth of seventeen years and an unclear past, working in Castle Gormenghast's Great Kitchen under the chef Abiatha Swelter, whom he hates. On the day of the birth of Titus, 77th (and presumably last) Earl of Gormenghast, Steerpike met the chief retainer of the castle, Flay, and persuaded the man to help him flee from Swelter. Flay leads Steerpike through the labyrynthine castle to a small room where the servant can spy on the ruling Groan family. Despit leading Steerpike there, Flay is angered by the boy's eavesdropping, and locks him in a small room. Steerpike soon escapes through the window and climbs over the roofscape of Gormenghast, arriving in the bedroom of Fuchsia, daughter to the lord of Gormenghast. From there, he rises through the ranks of the castle's life by often illegal and immoral means, driven by his thirst for power.

After a brief time as Dr. Prunesquallor's apprentice, he begins to work for the handicapped sisters of the Earl, the twins Cora and Clarice Groan, whose belief that they have been cheated out of the power that should be theirs he is able to use to his advantage. He persuades them to set fire to the library of Sepulchrave, 76th Earl, and uses the circumstances to appear as a hero by rescuing those inside, including all the remaining members of the House of Groan. Sourdust, the Master of Rituals, dies—Steerpike hopes to takes his place, but like many offices in the castle, this is a hereditary position, and the ancient Sourdust his succeeded by his son Barquentine, a crippled and fiercely traditional man.

(In the BBC television adaptation of the books Sourdust and his death scene do not appear, and Barquentine takes his place throughout.)

The library was Sepulchrave's only joy in life—he soon after falls into madness and commits suicide. During this time, Steerpike causes the banishment of Flay by enraging the manservant by an insult to Sepulchrave. This causes a vendetta that ultimately leads to Steerpike's downfall.

Steerpike convinces the Twins to move to a distant, abandoned region of the castle by confabulating an epidemic, then dupes the rest of the castle with a suicide note (including a confession of arson) and wax models of the Twins (he is helped in this by the fact that they are in reality hardly more animated than these).

He then insinuates himself into Barquentine's work, doing his best to make himself indispensable. When he finally considers the time ripe, he tries to kill Barquentine (by fire), but botches the assassination by underestimating him. Dying or not, Barquentine wants to take the traitor with him. With the Master of Rituals clinging to him, Steerpike jumps out of the window into the moat and manages to drown him, nearly losing his own life in the process. He is, however, able to use this failure to his benefit: the appearance to the others is, naturally, that he took tremendous risks in the attempt to save his master. The failure of the affair, however, causes subtle changes in his personality and he develops a fear of fire. These factors contribute to his later downfall.

At approximately the same time, the Twins die; they had completely depended on Steerpike for supplies, and he had long ceased to visit them. Steerpike, of course, realizes this; but it is only after several years as Master of Rituals (during which time he, among other things, attempts to woo Fuchsia) that he finds time to convince himself of their deaths. Unfortunately for him, he is followed by Flay, and discovered with the corpses of the Twins. His behaviour at this point shows signs of madness, and how much he has changed from the cool, rational youth he once was.

He flees and for a short while afterwards terrorizes the castle—until a huge rainstorm causes a flood, submerging all but the highest parts of the castle. He is discovered and killed by Titus, 17 years after the beginning of his career.