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Stop
Press - I can't believe I didn't
include this in the original version of
the shrine: Allen's living
accoutrement, his pet owl, Natal. Natal is
a multi-purpose owl; he helps kick the
Mole Man's ass, he makes Allen look like
the exact polar opposite of a pirate by
riding on his shoulder, and I bet he keeps
the mice down in the fort. He has a perch
in Allen's room next to his desk, and
comes and goes pretty much as he pleases
throughout the series.
'Natal'
is the Portuguese for 'Christmas.' Heaven
knows how Allen came up with a name like
that, but there is obviously some vague
Portuguese influence on the series
overall, as the snippet of Fanelian we
hear through Amano and Yukari's ears when
Van first appears is a phonetic Japanese
attempt at Portuguese. We don't know how
Allen acquired Natal - indeed, on the
What
Might Have
Been
page you can see that he nearly didn't
have an owl at all. Since he doesn't
appear in the flashback sequences of
Allen's childhood or adolescence, I think
it's fair to assume that he came into
Allen's life out in the swamps at Castelo.
(Castelo? Portuguese again, I believe,
this time for castle or fort.)
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If you look carefully at scenes in which Natal
rides on Allen's shoulder, you may be amused to
notice that his weight apparently doesn't put any
dent in Allen's Sta-Puft sleeves.
Natal
doesn't display much personality, to be honest. I
have a theory that he is really Jareth the Goblin
King from Labyrinth, hiding out to recover
from the crushing embarrassment and disappointment
of being trounced by Sarah. (This theory is
slightly spoiled by the fact that Natal is a horned
owl and Jareth took the form of a barn owl, but
what the hell.) Did you know that the concave discs
of feathers surrounding an owl's eyes actually help
it to hear by reflecting sound towards its ears?
Well, they do. Owls eat their prey whole and later
regurgitate any bits they find indigestible in a
neat little pellet. And the reason they've
developed such swivelly necks is that there isn't
actually room inside their heads for eye-swivelling
muscles. (However, if you watch Natal closely, his
eyes do move, so I guess either the
animators didn't know that, or Gaean owls are
different.) Now if your parents come into the room
while you're browsing this page and ask what you're
doing, you can put on your best Lisa Simpson voice
and say 'I'm learning about owls!'
What
can we learn about a man from his bedroom? Here's a
detailed sketch of Allen's lair at the fort, used
as a guide by background artists. Sorry about the
green shadow on the left - that was the best that
the generous Webmistress
Lizzard
could do on the scanner without breaking the spine
of her book. Hmm, nice big fireplace, but no
bearskin rug - or indeed, hearthrug. An armchair or
sofa facing it might be nice, but instead it looks
like all the furniture is trying to keep away from
the fire. Nothing going on over there. Note,
however, a large and sturdy bolt on the door - for
privacy? Security? Who knows? The built-in
furnishings are fairly spartan, and the map and
weapons on the wall suggest that Allen considers
this a room for working in as much as living in.
However, a taste for beauty and comfort is revealed
in the richly-patterned carpet on the floor by the
bed and the elegant desk, both of which I'm betting
he brought from Pallas. Under the wall cabinet by
the door, you can see Natal's perch. I bet that's a
great chandelier for swinging from if baddies burst
in and action of the Errol Flynn kind is called
for.
I
suppose the cabinet contains toiletries and the
like (styling products ahoy!), but it's not clear
where Allen can keep his clothes. Possibly the seat
of the bench against the wall lifts up and there is
storage space underneath, or the 'fourth wall'
we're looking through features a wardrobe. The only
other details I can discern (I'm squinting really
hard here) are a potted plant on the little shelf
next to the window, and two large bottles or jugs
on the recessed shelf under the map, contents
unknown. Moonshine liquor? Reserve supplies of
shampoo? You be the judge.
I
thought it would also be interesting to give you a
peep at Allen's ancestral home, which doesn't tell
you about him so much as about where he came
from. It appears from that fanlike display of
weaponry, the shields and heraldic banners on the
walls, that dynastically, the Schezars have been
much given to waggling swords about. (Also some
rather nasty looking pikes and polearms.) Indeed,
the only touch of personality in the room that is
uniquely Allen's is Natal's perch, which he must
carry with him everywhere he goes. (Either that, or
he has an owl-perch waiting in all his rooms.) This
is where Allen is sitting when you-know-who wanders
in looking stoned. I guess this is some evidence
that Allen is homeless in the sense of having
nowhere that feels like home, not that of
having no actual house. And it must be the
home he lived in as a child, or else how would
you-know-who know the way there? Anyway, there you
have the grandeur of stately Schezar Manor.
Although I do wonder whether those cabinets are
still full of the family plate, or whether Allen
sold their gold and silver to pay his
stylist.
**Home
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