The Fisherman

In the treacherous landscapes of Langan’s novel, emotions such as fear, hate, and love itself become the sharpest of Der Fischer’s hooks, dragging his victims to destruction. Guilt, which blends self-loathing with love, exerts the strongest pull because it lies at the root of the Fisherman’s centuries-long obsession. In 16th-century Hungary, he murdered his wife and children, putting the blame on Hungarian soldiers. However, every action that he takes in his long life afterward—the centuries of scholarship, the scheming, the beguiling of others, and finally the methodical hooking of the Leviathan—is forged in the undying crucible of this original guilt. This dynamic becomes clear at Dutchman’s Creek when Abe sees the Fisherman twisting his hat in an agony of remorse, then glimpses a vision of him slaughtering his family. Because the Fisherman is obsessed with bringing his family back from the dead in order to atone for his deed, he has ironically sacrificed countless victims to this unholy ambition, luring them with the same self-loathing that fuels his own obsession.

A prime example occurs when Helen dies by suicide at the Ashokan camp, for the Fisherman manipulates the guilt of her philandering husband, George, drawing him into a Faustian pact to restore Helen to a macabre semblance of life.