Simon Lovelace

Simon Lovelace
Biographical Information
Died	2000 London, England
Occupation	Magician Junior Minister for Trade
Physical Description
Gender	Male
Hair colour	Brown
Magical ability
Master	Maurice Schyler (formerly)
Beings summoned	Ramuthra Jabor Faquarl
Behind the scenes
Appearances	The Amulet of Samarkand

Simon Lovelace was a magician working in the British Government as the junior Minister for Trade. He was noted to be ambitious, and was thought to be a fairly high, though unspecified, level magician, capable of bending two higher Djinn and a menagerie of lesser spirits to his will.

Appearance Description

Simon Lovelace was described as being thin, wearing square, thin rimmed glasses, and looked handsome in a "bookish" way, in the words of Bartimaeus. Simon Lovelace had a tendency to preen, a trait which Bartimaeus later drew a parallel to Nathaniel, to Nathaniel's considerable displeasure.

Bartimaeus also described many magicians as looking like accountants, and Simon was no exception. Being a fairly high level magician, he wore a plain suit, as overly showy clothes tended to be the mark of ineptitude, though he probably looked "fashionably" plain.

History

Summary

Simon Lovelace was a fairly powerful magician whose frustrated ambition led him to attempt a coup against the cabinet of Rupert Devereaux. Under advisement from his master, an elder magician named Maurice Schyler, Lovelace concocted a plan, with Schyler and Rufus Lime, to lure the upper echelons of the British government to a conference where he would entrap and assassinate them.

He hired the mercenary Verroq to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from government protection. He would need the amulet to protect himself once he summoned the greater spirit, Ramuthra, to slaughter the imprisoned government leaders. His plot was foiled by Bartimaeus and Nathaniel, who managed to regain possession of the Amulet and the Summoning Horn.

Later in the trilogy, Quentin Makepeace was revealed to have aided his friend, Lovelace, in the minister's planned massacre. Makepeace suggested the "large pentacle" idea.

Comprehensive (Chronological)

Simon Lovelace first appeared in The Amulet of Samarkand when he was first seen by the trilogy's namesake character, Bartimaeus, in his home in London, entertaining a woman by the name of Amanda with tales of the insecurities of the British Government.

Chronologically, he appears before this at a party hosted by the magician, Arthur Underwood, where he questions the story's second protagonist, Nathaniel. After dismissing Nathaniel's impressive knowledge, he threatened the boy after Nathaniel remarks "you're just a sore loser". Nathaniel cast several demonic mites at Lovelace with the intent of stinging the older magician. Lovelace punished Nathaniel by having the boy beaten to unconsciousness. Nathaniel felt humiliated and planed revenge against Lovelace; thus, setting the events of the first book in motion.

Later on, when Lovelace left his home to attend to his work, Bartimaeus broke into his house and stole the Amulet of Samarkand, which Lovelace himself had had stolen some unspecified time before by Verroq (typically known as "The Mercenary"). Lovelace and his demons had been frantically looking for the Amulet, as Nathaniel sees him speaking with two of his colleagues about it's disappearance, and his apparent worry over its loss.

Lovelace ordered his djinn, Faquarl and Jabor, to break out Bartimaeus from the Tower of London so that he can claim the Amulet back from the djinni, or at least follow Bart to the thief's master.

Bartimaeus, however, escaped but was secretly followed by Lovelace's demons to the house of the Underwoods, where Nathaniel is. Lovelace personally appeared there, under the impression that Arthur Underwood stole the Amulet. After threatening Underwood and forcing him to take Lovelace to the old man's study room, Nathaniel unexpectedly confesses that it was he who stole the Amulet. Lovelace is intrigued by this, and questions Nathaniel as to how, why, and why he confessed. After hearing the answers, and ignoring Underwood's constant pleas for mercy, and assurances that he may punish the boy however he likes, he summons Jabor and orders him to demolish the house, killing all within so that no one can possibly know about his crimes.

Lovelace had Nathaniel framed for causing the destruction of the house and the death of the Underwoods, and he proceeded to the Amanda's house to finish preparations for his coup.

Lovelace had invited the top echelons of the government for an event in a manor house owned by Amanda. There Lovelace planned to massacre the members of the government. Before Nathaniel could warn the Ministers, he was sealed within a spell by Jessica Whitwell. Lovelace used a Summoning Horn and a giant pentacle, previously concealed beneath an ornate carpet, to bring a great entity named Ramuthra into the physical plain. The Amulet of Samarkand was worn by Lovelace as protection from the great entity's power; since, Ramuthra was so strong that the summoner himself could be killed if Ramuthra was near.

Lovelace ordered Ramuthra to destroy the Ministers. Retaliating, the Ministers summoned a number of Djinni, but their attacks came to nothing as the Amulet negated everything, and Ramuthra's very presence was causing everything physical and magical to distort violently.

Lovelace summoned Jabor to deal with Nathaniel and Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus's sly tricks defeated Jabor. And in a streak, he also tricked Lovelace by acting as Amanda Cathcart. Nathaniel managed to take the Summoning Horn and the Amulet from Lovelace. Ramuthra promptly devoured the conspirator.

Personality

Simon was described as being "arrogant" and rather full of himself by his peers in the government. Very ambitious and confident, he was never afraid to get his hands dirty, or to be precise, make spirits do the dirty work in his stead. He did not seem too concerned with taking risks, and was almost always able to keep a cool demeanor. He may however, hansecurities, as he consistently made little quirky movements, such as messing with his hair or glasses.  In spite of his evil nature, he is not completely devoid of humanity. When Bartimaeus disguised himself as Amanda Cathcart, he was genuinely affected by Bartimaeus's pleading. He was also somewhat shocked at how quickly Arthur Underwood was willing to sell out Nathaniel.