Short Fiction · Character

Mr. Dyson

A shabby, sharp-witted idler who trades in obscure knowledge, walking into a Holborn curiosity shop and speaking a passphrase that makes the proprietor go white.

supporting

Also known as Dyson

First appearance: the great god pan

As a supporting figure in Short Fiction, Mr. Dyson is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Reunites with Salisbury in Soho and becomes obsessed with the mystery of Dr.

In the storyThe Inmost LightOpen this moment free

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Dyson is the kind of man who notices a name above a shop and a lamppost's lettering at the same moment, and who enjoys watching perplexity dawn on a stranger's face. He wields a phrase about grass and lasses and maple-trees like a weapon, invoking a shadowy figure called Q until the terrified Travers surrenders a brown-paper parcel. His appetite for the queer and the hidden makes him a useful ally — and a man who cannot leave a locked box unopened.

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See Mr. Dyson in the great god pan

Character Web

14 connections

A slice of how Mr. Dyson sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Other

Character groups

Harlesden Strange Events
Supernatural and Terror Investigators
Diverse Supernatural and Terror Participants

+9 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

The emotional peak occurs when the soldier awakens to a profound sense of "delicious ease," "assurance of comf…

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In the story

Mr. Dyson appears across 6 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

The Inmost Light
Reunites with Salisbury in Soho and becomes obsessed with the mystery of Dr. Black.
The Harlesden Case
Reunites with Salisbury after five years; describes himself as a student of 'the science of the great city' and recounts the Harlesden case.
II
Mentioned as the teller of improbable stories during dinner; Salisbury speculates on his fate.
III
Listens gravely to Salisbury's tale and writes down the doggerel, suggesting it might have a meaning.
The Opal of Dr. Black
Deciphers the clue and retrieves the opal and Dr. Black's pocketbook.
V
Reads the narrator's record and destroys the opal in horror.

Chapter companion notes

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See Mr. Dyson in the great god pan

See Mr. Dyson in The Inmost Light