Strike Book Eight is The Hallmarked Man; What do recent hints mean?

Welcome back to the Farting Sofa Faculty Lounge.  I had to take an extensive sabbatical from blogging, thanks to personal and professional obligations and the hassles that are involved in setting up my own business.  Happily, I'm now the proud owner of Freeman Davis Behavior Services, life has settled down a bit and I, like Strike fans worldwide, was happy to hear the news today the Strike Book 8 will be titled The Hallmarked Man. 

These images are only the latest in hints that have been dropping over the last few weeks.  Rowling has changed her twitter header three times since February 1st. The first was a picture of the coat of arms on the Freemason's United Grand Hall in London.  The second was of La Coupee, a bridge connecting two parts of Sark, a Channel Island, and the third a sterling silver model ship made by the famous Pairpoint Brothers of London and currently selling for more than $42K. 

The tweet announcing the book title was also Sark-related: the collage depicted above that includes a lovely silver bracelet JKR received from her husband as a souvenir of her recent trip there. She has confirmed that at least a few chapters of The Hallmarked Man will be set on the Channel island. 

What could this all mean?  Well, the two items of fine silver suggest the meaning is the original one for "hallmark":  a stamp put on British precious metal goods that certified the purity.  Fans who were expecting Strike, Robin and friends to turn up on greeting cards, as commemorative Christmas ornaments or perhaps in a cheesy TV holiday movie will be disappointed. 

But, the notion of fine quality silver will no doubt delight the folks at Hogwartsprofessor.com, and other literary alchemy fans. If Strike himself is to be the Hallmarked Man, it suggests the albedo-purification process that was so apparent amid all the river and baptismal imagery of The Running Grave will continue, and perhaps be completed in the next book. Of all the major ideas presented so far, this is most consistent with Kathleen's brilliant "Strike Extended Play" and sets the scene for a two part nigredo in TB and IBH, a two-part albedo in TRG and THM and then completing the alchemical cycle with bookk 9 and 10 as a paired rubedo, or perhaps a citrinitas- rubedo combination.  I particularly like the idea of  citrinitas, or yellowing phase; something there really wasn't time for in the Harry Potter series. 

This certainly fits with what we've seen so far: Strike was emotionally broken down in TB and physically broken down in IBH. He clearly is healing and purifying himself in TRG, with his smoking cessation, weight loss and baptismal purification he undergoes after Charlotte's death.  I highly recommend you listen this week's Strike and Ellacott files, with guest Kurt Schreyer for a beautiful analysis of that scene,  Plus lots of Shakespeare!

In any case, metal stamped with a hallmark has undergone refining and purification, so, even if the Hallmarked Man winds up being at the center of the major mystery, we can still hope that the title will apply to Strike as well, just as the "Superior Man" epigraphs of TRG did. Silver is a classic albedo color, along with white and water, so a sterling silver ship seems a promising herald of albedo, too. Maybe we'll even get a return of the swans. As for me, I'm still hoping the "silver minnow" memory will resurface.  

Another bit of trivia: the makers of the silver ship, the Pairpoint brothers, had offices in Soho, not far from Denmark Street, including on Rupert Street. 

According to Jung, just as albedo involves the resolution of the animus/anima conflict, with men embracing their feminine side and vice-versa, the citrinitas is the place to encounter the "wise old man" (or woman) archetype. This could mean Ted still being around to impart some potential wisdom before he succumbs to his vascular dementia, or maybe even a crucial bit of information from Strike's own Deadbeat Dad, Jonny Rokeby. If one of them plays the grey-beard advice-giver in Book 9, then dies, it would fit whith the Double Wedding Band model (see here and here) in a couple of ways. 

• First, this would have the mentor/father figure dying in Book 9 (which is Book 6 of ring #2) just as Dumbledore died in Book 6 of Harry Potter.  
• Second, would also set the stage for Book Ten to open with Ted's (or Rokeby's) funeral, which ties the 1-4-7-10 linkage to gether , with 1 opening with an engagement, 4 with a wedding, 7 with a christening and 10 with a funeral. 

But what about the Freemason building?  I suspect that will relate in some way to our heroes' major mystery. As some have pointed out, the United Grand Hall is a popular event venue, so it is possible a visit there would have nothing to do with the Freemason organization itself. But, the most interesting thing about the Freemasons to me is their association with police corruption in the 1970's, apparently as a result of some Met cops being in the same lodges with career criminals. This makes me think of gangsters like Mucky Ricci, whom the police were clearly powerless to stop and makes me wonder if the mystery will involve some dirty cops, past or present.  If so, that could certainly complicate things for Robin and Murphy.  More importantly, it could be a connection to some of themes of TB, which also involved looking back at police work in the 1970's.  That would be an interesting link between the two Book 5's of each ring.  

Any other thoughts as to what the twitter headers might mean?  We still are no closer to knowing a publication date, though JKR tweeted on February 21st that she had completed Part 6.  But, Rowling being Rowling we have no way of knowing if that is part 6 of 7, 9 or many, many more.

Stay tuned.