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Nathaniel is a character in Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy. Nathaniel is one of the main characters of this series. After coming of age as a magician when he was 12 years old, he was granted the new name of John Mandrake, and is known by this name to everyone but the title character, Bartimaeus and in the later part of Ptolemy's Gate to Kitty.

Contents 1 Attributes 1.1 Appearance 1.2 Personality 2 Role in books 2.1 The Amulet of Samarkand 2.2 The Golem's Eye 2.3 Ptolemy's Gate 3 Trivia 4 External links 5 References

In The Amulet of Samarkand he is described as being small and scrawny with dark hair. His hair, as he increases in rank, becomes increasingly long and outrageous. Other than the fact that he is small and he has dark hair, not much is known about his appearance, as all the descriptions are by Bartimaeus, who has a remarkable ability to bring out the bad traits of any human.

Nathaniel is, at first, a small, shy boy uncomfortable with anyone who is not Mrs. Underwood or Ms. Lutyens. He is very nervous and scared by Bartimaeus when he first summons him. As the books progress, and he becomes more and more proficient, he also becomes more confident, and possibly overconfident. He works fervently when motivated, as is shown when he furthers his education with incredible speed in The Amulet of Samarkand.

In The Amulet of Samarkand, Nathaniel starts off as a young boy who, at the age of five, had been given up by his parents to apprenticeship under a mediocre Whitehall magician named Arthur Underwood, the assistant minister of Internal Affairs. Underwood begins teaching the boy in magic, but Nathaniel, being curious and inquisitive, decides to advance his education to higher levels without the knowledge of his tutor.

However, at the age of eleven, in his master's house, Nathaniel is publicly humiliated by a greedy and ambitious young magician named Simon Lovelace. In a fit of juvenile fury, Nathaniel hatches a plan for vengeance. He sets several mites (a weak kind of imp) on Lovelace, but he is too powerful. Lovelace stops the mites and beats Nathaniel for setting them on him.

Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus, a 5,000-year-old djinni, to exact his revenge on Lovelace. Mrs. Underwood - Nathaniel's master's wife - inadvertently reveals his real name to Bartimaeus. This vastly limits Nathaniel's control over the djinni, who can launch counterspells incorporating Nathaniel's name (hence the practice of assigning names).

In the end, he earns the respect of the majority of the other magicians including Rupert Devereaux, the Prime Minister. He is accepted as a magician in the government.

Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus again, facing off against the Resistance and sinister magicians.

The second book picks up almost three years later and features Nathaniel as a junior magician working his way up the government ranks. He is described as one of the governments' rising young stars. In this book Kitty Jones is introduced as an important character. She is a part of the Resistance movement, which seeks to end the oppressive rule of the magicians. Nathaniel is tasked by his superiors to crush the Resistance movement and capture the members. His task is complicated when a seemingly invulnerable clay golem starts to make random attacks on London. Much to the displeasure of Bartimaeus, Nathaniel recalls the djinni to aid him in uncovering the origins of the golem, and to save his own skin.

During the course of the book Nathaniel is almost fired from his post and executed for treason. By the end of the book however he has come back to favor when Duvall's conspiracy comes to light.

In the Ptolemy's Gate, Nathaniel, risen to the ruling Council, and is arguably the most powerful magician in the government. He is faced by a massive revolt of magicians and spirits together, led by Nouda, a spirit of awesome power who can not even be defeated by the legendary William Gladstone's Staff. The best efforts of Nathaniel, Bartimaeus and Kitty working together reluctantly will not be enough to stop Nouda without a supreme sacrifice (i.e. death). During the course of the book, Nathaniel rejects his magician name of John Mandrake and the shallow lifestyle he adopted to rise in the government, and goes back to the more selfless persona of Nathaniel. Mutual romantic feelings are hinted at in the book at various points between Kitty and himself. At one point, Bartimaeus voices Nathaniel's thoughts and says "...if Kitty only knew!" At the end of the novel, Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus into his body. Together, they battle Nouda's army with Gladstone's staff. When they confront Nouda, Nathaniel summons up the remainders of his strength to dismiss Bartimaeus. Therefore, Bartimaeus would not die with him. Nathaniel then, breaks Gladstone's staff to release the Marids inside, bringing down the Glass Palace on himself and Nouda. Nathaniel sacrificed his life for his city and for his servant. Bartimaeus now realizes the true factors of Nathaniels strength. Kitty, in the end goes with her old friend Jacob to start a new life, and possibly, still can be in contact with Bartimaeus if she summons him.

• Nathanial's chosen magician name, John Mandrake, may be a reference to the popular comic strip and real life magician, Mandrake the Magician
• Nathanial birthday is on November 26, as confirmed by the author.

• Official website

• The Amulet of Samarkand ISBN 0552552577
• The Golem's Eye ISBN 038560615X
• Ptolemy's Gate ISBN 0385608683

v • d • e Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy
Books	The Amulet of Samarkand | The Golem's Eye | Ptolemy's Gate
Characters	Nathaniel | Bartimaeus | Kitty Jones
Other topics	Magic | Film | Characters