Compared to the disaster of the previous year, Knecht and Tegularius’s Chinese House Game was a celebrated event, but rather than revel in the success, Knecht concluded the Games by expressing his fear that the Game might eventually fade from the world, as all things do. 

The narrator concedes that they must deal with the troubled internal life of Knecht, which was not always evident in his storied public achievements. Knecht was intensely conscious of Castalia’s place in time and history, particularly it being well past its prime, and this caused him serious conflict. Knecht always had an awareness of the precarity of human creations, and successive events in his student days made him aware of these same faults in Castalia. The narrator recalls Knecht’s grief over student dismissals, which he thought showed the cracks in the Board’s judgment of pupils. The narrator further highlights Knecht’s relationships with Plinio and Father Jacobus, with whom he had to play the role of Castalia’s representative. Though Knecht successfully warmed each man to the Castalian way of life, he simultaneously learned more about the outside world, far beyond what any of his colleagues understood.

The narrator elaborates on Knecht’s friendship with the unusual Tegularius, who at once represented Castalia’s greatest virtues and potential faults. He was so Castalian that he couldn’t exist calmly in the outside world, yet his peers also shunned him as an oddity. His most glaring weaknesses were his individualism and his disregard for serving the Order. He hardly meditated, which estranged him from the Order’s ideals. He was strikingly intelligent, but he preferred independent study and no responsibilities. For Knecht, Tegularius was an omen of the danger that awaited Castalia if it isolated itself any further from the world. Knecht could keep Tegularius’s disruptive behavior in check by giving him tasks that were suited to his skills, but not every future Castalian would have his intellectual talents.

These relationships and experiences polarized Knecht’s personality. Though he was deeply devoted to Castalia and the sanctity of the Glass Bead Game, he didn’t think that the institution was above criticism, and he saw it wandering down a dangerous path of self-reinforced stagnation. Despite its own assertions, Castalia was losing its outside influence, with many countries viewing the Order as something simply to tolerate. Knecht kept up to date on worldly affairs through Father Jacobus’s writings and conversations with Dubois. Tegularius, conversely, loudly proclaimed his distaste for history.

Knecht continued to visit the Music Master and sat with him in radiant silence. When the Master died, Knecht spoke at his funeral. Knecht wanted to write the Master’s biography but didn’t have the time. He often urged his students to take advantage of their freedom before they entered the hierarchy. The narrator extols Knecht’s gift for understanding the hierarchy and for matching pupils and peers with roles that enhanced their skills. As an example, the narrator describes how deftly Knecht brought Petrus out of his deep mourning by giving him small, innocuous tasks that reignited his scholarly habits. The narrator claims that Knecht’s acknowledgement of personality quirks was a courageous act on its own, as Castalia either ignored or pathologized such things.

The narrator declares that the remainder of the biography deals with the internal change that led Knecht to leave the Order. Knecht took no personal joy in his rapid ascension, and he was quickly burdened by the magistracy’s responsibilities. Decades after their last meeting, Knecht had another chance encounter with Plinio, who visited Castalia as an official on the budget commission. Knecht was surprised by his friend’s withdrawn demeanor but understood that the suffering came from a worldly source. After several months, Plinio accepted an invitation to Waldzell, and he and Knecht had a conversation that the narrator reproduces.

Plinio thanks his friend for showing him around, and he hopes that someday he can show Knecht his home. He then unburdens himself regarding a pain he’s had since his schooldays. He feels like he can’t properly communicate with Castalians because they fundamentally don’t understand worldly life. He thanks Knecht for being the most sympathetic to his different viewpoint; Knecht says that no two people from different places will ever achieve total understanding but that they should still try. 

For his friend’s benefit, Plinio describes the importance of family and his mostly happy relationship with his own parents, whom he saw during his school vacations. Following his graduation from Castalia, Plinio became disillusioned with the world he came back to. The people outside were just as haughty, stubborn, and ignorant as the Castalians he used to criticize. Plinio wanted to mediate between the two worlds but failed in this task. He tried to continue his Castalian practice of meditating, but this only alienated him further from his peers. Ultimately, Plinio succumbed to the pressures of the world and stopped meditating altogether. He reminds Knecht of their previous meeting at Waldzell. He was taking guest Glass Bead Game courses when he saw Knecht. Plinio was already disappointed by his experience in the course, and the other friends he met wouldn’t speak with him for long. Plinio was overjoyed when he saw Knecht and was invited to spend an evening with him. However, the strained conversation between the pair proved to Plinio that he wasn’t a Castalian and that all his efforts to seem Castalian were pointless.

Plinio chastises Knecht for looking amused by the story. Knecht explains that he’s pleased, as Plinio’s words reminded him of that embarrassing evening. However, enough time has passed that they can laugh at their mutual discomfort. He admits that he had an extremely negative impression of Plinio then but is glad that they can come together as adults with tempered spirits. He apologizes for laughing at something Plinio is still hurt by, but he rejects Plinio’s accusation that he is the cause of the hurt—rather, Plinio’s own relationship with Castalia is the cause. Knecht believes that this chance meeting has the potential to change his life, as their earlier meeting changed Plinio’s. Plinio’s reappearance is a timely call to bridge the gap in earnest.

Plinio concedes that he used to look up to Castalians and their serenity, but often he thinks of them as ignorant children. Knecht sees the conflict within his friend, and he hopes that Plinio will overcome his internal divisions, possibly through meditation. This time, Plinio laughs since he gave up meditation in favor of drinking long ago. Knecht looks at his friend with loving concern, as it’s obvious that despite his anger, Plinio still loves Castalia. As the conversation winds down, Knecht invites his friend to look at the night sky and try meditating on its depths before bed. He tells Plinio of the Music Master’s serene transformation, and he recalls stories that exemplify a universal desire for cheer, even amid suffering. Knecht plays the piano and invites his friend to return to Waldzell so that they can speak about his plan.