Murmur is a duke of the goetic hierarchy who appears as a crowned soldier riding a griffin. He knows the ways of life and death, constrains the dead, and buys souls by pact.
| Type | Character |
| Spanish entry | Murmur |
Description
He appears as a warrior, violent in bearing even at rest; once he “perhaps aged, perhaps put on a red tunic”. He carries a sword and a scepter “of skulls” with buttons like “jewelry, emerald, ebony”. Masked as a skull, he may embrace people from behind “in a somewhat introspective way”.
He also manifests as the griffin itself, running or flying over the forest; hence a link with air and, tentatively, with Sagittarius: “a warrior, but with something to do with air”.
He dwells near the Pyrenees, on a mountain, in a pass with a tower of minerals. Visitors may go there for talk and visions, or summon him.
The pact
He is summoned by grimoire, with rules read aloud and a pact formula; the price is a soul. The formula recorded for Jean, who also bargained to protect her unborn child:
«La mortal Jean, en pleno uso de sus facultades, otorga de plena voluntad su alma mortal, pura y libre de toda mancha o seña, al Duque Murmur, a cambio de llegar al final de su máxima expectativa de vida humana sana, salva y cuerda.» (“The mortal Jean, in full use of her faculties, freely grants her mortal soul, pure and free of any stain, to Duke Murmur, in exchange for living to the end of her maximum human life expectancy safe, sound and sane.“)
Another pact buys victory: “win in the name of Vencebur; in exchange you are handing your soul to Murmur”. By one account, Marsilio summoned him. The pact binds him permanently to the company: “Murmur stayed with us… he’s part of the band now.”
Gargoyles serve him as messengers and agents: “Why don’t you ask the gargoyles? Bring me a soul.”
Open questions
- The reading “con tintos botones” for the scepter is doubtful.
- Who built the mineral tower, and whether it is his dwelling or a marker.
- How and when the soul is collected, and whether the pact can be rescinded.
- What the gargoyles are and how many.
- What being “part of the band” means in practice.
- Who or what Vencebur is.