Hester Shaw is a female human and one of the main protagonists of the Mortal Engines quartet, alongside Tom Natsworthy.
Her botched assassination attempt on Valentine forces her to rely on Tom to survive. This led her to being the aviator of the Jenny Haniver and having adventures across Earth. She is the mother of Wren Natsworthy.
She committed suicide after her husband died from heart failure.[1][2]
In the 2018 film, she was portrayed by Icelandic actress Hera Hilmarsdóttir, known professionally as "Hera Hilmar", as an adult and by New Zealand actress Poppy Macleod as a child.[3]
Description[]
Hester resembles Katherine,[39][40] with pale skin,[19] long, copper-colored hair[41][6][42] and grey eyes the color of a winter sea.[41][42][33] She is tall,[43][6][33] graceless,[6] and her skinny[27] frame is thin[43][44][33] like a scarecrow[6] with bony shoulders,[45][46] a long, lean,[36][33] warm, bony body,[47] long limbs,[48] and skinny arms.[6] She has been extremely disfigured by Valentine's sword attack - a deep scar cuts across her face, twisting her mouth and eyebrow, destroying her nose, and removing one of her eyes;[49][41][6] damaging[24] her long jaw,[42] giving her a half-dead look[50] and a gargoyle face.[27] (Multiple characters have mentioned that she looks ugly because of this.)[41][12][40][51][9][52][53][33] When she blushes, her face gets red here and there, and her scar turns purple.[54] She has a familiar smell that comforts Tom,[55] - smoke, ash, and sharp sweat[24] - and she reminds him of Valentine.[24] She has a gruff, gentle,[1] soft,[43] small, whisper-like voice;[24] a scream that sounds like a girl's;[24] and snaggled teeth[56] that form an ugly,[50] lopsided,[57] crooked smile.[12][58][6][19][36] She has a hissing,[5] brittle[59] laugh that has a "strange, mad, terrible sound that set Tom's teeth on edge".[13] She has a long-legged stride.[60] The red, silken scarf she wears was bought for her by Tom on Peripatetiapolis.[57] When she became a prisoner of the Green Storm, this was burned alongside the rest of her clothing; one of which was a jacket that contained a photo of Tom in one of its pockets.[26] She is noted to dress like a man.[31]
When she first appeared, she wore a black coat[43][61] and a black scarf that wrapped around her face like the turbans of desert nomads.[43] The bag she had[41] contained dried meat, a first aid kit, matches, a metal water bottle, string, a few strips of dried meat, and a stained, crumpled form from when she was in Strole; however, the form was burned by Valentine with his lighter so no one could know who she was.[62] She had a wound on her leg[5] from when she was shot escaping London;[41] it festered[44] until Anna treated it.[63] When Anchorage settled in Vineland after escaping Arkangel, she replaced her old black clothes, cleaned her hair, and pulled it back with a silvery band.[19]
Sixteen years after settling in Anchorage-in-Vineland, her face has lines in it,[45] her hair is getting coarse and grey,[45] and she wears a red-and-gold bracelet with her and Tom's initial's intertwined with each other, signifying that they were married, on one of her wrists.[31] In Brighton, which searching for Wren, she buys several pieces of clothing to replace her old clothing; including some dark-colored sunglasses, a silver headscarf made of circles (likely to represent the moon), a scarf, and a long black coat[36] that hides the gun she carries.[20][21][64] She has a pocketwatch in her coat.[36]
Six months after the events of Infernal Devices, Hester's hair has gone grey, and she wears black clothing (boots, pants, shirt, etc.); she also carries a long gun on her shoulder.[33] Even though she is mentioned to be a woman in her mid-30s, she looks a decade older than she really is.[34] Her shirt has buttons on it.[24] As an adaptation for living in the Dune Sea, she wore goggles to protect her eyes from the sand.[34]
Pennyroyal's book, Predator's Gold, depicted her as wearing an eyepatch and having a scar across her cheek.[36]
In the film, Shaw has pale skin, pale blue eyes, long brown hair, and a scar rips across the lower right part of her face from Thaddeus' knife. She wears a green greatcoat, a pale grey tanktop, a long red scarf, blue pants, and black boots. Her voice starts out as harsh in the beginning of the film, although it progresses into a warmer tone close to the ending. Anna mentions that she is the near-splitting image of Pandora.[15]
Personality[]
To the onlooker, Hester presents an intimidating persona: angry, hateful, and violent, with a fierce temper.[65][66][27] Those who take the trouble to get to know her, such as her friend, lover, and later husband Tom Natsworthy and their mutual friend Anna Fang, realize that this is a façade to disguise the more gentle and shy girl she would have been had life not treated her so badly.[54][7][24] However, Hester undeniably feels little or no remorse from killing or injuring others, usually in self-defense or to protect those she loves.[36][67][23]
In her fury (soon after Tom and Wren find out that she betrayed Anchorage on Cloud 9), she described herself as being bored with civilized life and that scavengers (or non-civilized types) were her kind of people.[45] She further describes herself as such after outrunning Grandma Gravy's sand-ships.[34]
As Hester ages, she becomes harder and does not seem to care for people outside her family. In Predator's Gold, she is willing to betray an entire city to win one person's interest.[9] In A Darkling Plain, she works as an assassin, and what makes her good at the profession is not her skill with weapons, but her ability to kill without remorse.[33] Underneath this hardness, she does care for others, but usually masks behind anger;[34] an example would be when Nimrod Pennyroyal told her that Oenone was alive after she was taken captive by her husband.[55] The same applies to her lingering maternal instincts, stemming from having Wren with Tom.[68]
In the moments before he died, Tom described Hester as "brave, strong, and beautiful".[1]
Hera Hilmar, Hester's actress, describes Shaw as a mysterious, feral woman when she first appears in the film. She also states that throughout the film, there are hints that her coldness is a facade for her real self.[69]
History[]
Early life[]
Hester was born on Oak Island, in the area formerly the English West Country. There are no Traction Cities there, so Hester grew up as an Anti-Tractionist.
When she was around seven years old, Thaddeus Valentine attacked her parents, specifically her mother Pandora Shaw, in order to obtain MEDUSA. Both her mother and David Shaw, the man Hester thought to be her father, were killed.
Hester disturbed Valentine while he was killing her mother. Flustered, Valentine swung around and struck Hester's face with his sword, causing her to fall back down the stairs and leaving her with scars that would last her entire lifetime.
Confused, she ran away, followed by Valentine's men. Valentine took MEDUSA and left, thinking she was dead. Hester got on her parents' boat and left, hoping to find a doctor. She woke up on the shores of the Great Hunting Ground, where she was found by Shrike, a Stalker. She spent the rest of her childhood living with Shrike aboard Strole, a scavenger town. Hester also accompanied Shrike on his bounty hunting trips.
Mortal Engines Quartet[]
Mortal Engines[]
After several years, Hester left to carry out revenge against Valentine, finally making it aboard London, where Valentine led the Guild of Historians. There, Hester posed as a refugee from Salthook and tried to stab Valentine, but Tom Natsworthy blocked the blow and chased her through the Gut. In order to escape London's police, she jumped down a waste-chute leading out of the city. Valentine then pushed Tom after her.
After a few days wandering through the Out-Country, a desolate area entirely inhabited by Traction Cities, Hester and Tom came across Speedwell, a tiny scavenger town. The townspeople offered them food and shelter, only to try and sell them as slaves at a trading cluster. They escaped onto a neighbouring town, Stayns, and met the aviatrix Anna Fang, who took them to Airhaven. When Shrike attacked Airhaven, Hester and Tom fled in a balloon. They spent the next few weeks fleeing from the Stalker Shrike, who had been ordered by Magnus Crome to kill them. She found her way aboard Tunbridge Wheels, a suburb run by the pirate mayor Chrysler Peavey, and then to the Black Island. On the Black Island, Tom managed to kill Shrike just as he was about to kill Hester in order to turn her into a Stalker like himself. Hester lashed out at Tom for this, as she believed that it would be better to become a Stalker and lose her memories and feelings. They were rescued from the Black Island by Anna Fang and other members of the Anti-Traction League.
Miss Fang took them the Shan Guo, the leading nation of the Anti-Traction League. While there, Tom and Hester discovered that Valentine and Magnus Crome, the Lord Mayor of London, were planning to use MEDUSA to invade the lands of the Anti-Traction League. This distressed Tom, but didn't seem to bother Hester. In an unexpected fight with Valentine in Batmunkh Gompa, a city on the edge of Shan Guo, Valentine killed Miss Fang and burned down the Anti-Traction League's Northern Air fleet, leaving them helpless to stop London. He then escaped in his airship back to London, but Hester and Tom decided to pursue him using Miss Fang's Jenny Haniver.
Hester managed to get the airship close to the city by claiming it was London Ship GE47, then parachuted down to London's Top Tier, with the intention of sabotaging MEDUSA. She was soon captured by Magnus Crome's men and taken inside St. Pauls Cathedral, where MEDUSA was installed. Valentine, terrified of this reminder from his past, tried to stab Hester, but his own daughter Katherine threw herself between the sword and Hester. When Katherine fell onto the computer that controlled MEDUSA, she entered a code that caused MEDUSA to self destruct, destroying the whole of London along with it. Hester managed to escape by reaching the Jenny Haniver, which Tom was still piloting. Hester tried to comfort Tom, who was guild-ridden and in shock from killing Valentine's henchmen. As they both realised that they had nothing left but their airship, they began their new life together as air traders.
Predator's Gold[]
Hester is first seen in this book with Tom in Airhaven, having returned from a trip around the world, to places such as Nuevo Maya and Antarctica. At the time, Airhaven was sailing over the southern regions of the Ice Wastes. After meeting representatives from Arkangel, Hester, Tom, and their new passenger Pennyroyal were chased from Airhaven by Green Storm airships. In order to outrun them, they flew far too far north, beyond the slightly warmer regions where the Ice Cities roamed. Giving up hope of finding any other airships or cities, Tom and Hester lay down in each other's arms, expecting to die.
However, upon making one last trip outside the cabin, Hester discovered that one city had come this far north. They flew down and docked at the city, Anchorage. Aboard the city, the three new arrivals discovered that Anchorage was heading towards the Dead Continent, formerly known as America; however, Freya Rasmussen, the city's Margravine, believed that parts of America were still alive. Days later, Hester discovered that Freya had started to fall in love with Tom. As Tom began to develop a friendship with Freya, Hester, believing that Tom would want to be with Freya if she did not do something, took the Jenny Haniver and fled with a plan to get Tom back. She planned to sell Anchorage's location to Arkangel, but not for money. As a price, she demanded that Piotr Masgard allow her to rescue Tom when his men raided Anchorage. After agreeing to the terms of the deal and signing a contract, Hester was knocked out and captured by Widgery Blinkoe, an agent in the pay of the Green Storm, and taken to the Green Storm's northern base at Rogue's Roost.
She was woken by the base's commander Sathya and later taken to a room known as the Memory Chamber. Inside the Chamber, she found the newly resurrected Anna Fang, who was loved by Sathya. Hester was shocked that Fang's body had been resurrected, but Sathya was convinced that she had actually risen Fang from the dead. Hester gave up trying to convince her otherwise, and found out that Sathya wanted to use Hester and her ship to remind Fang of her previous life. This did not work, but Hester remained a prisoner of the Green Storm for about a month while Sathya continuously tried to re-awaken the new Stalker's memories.
Hester was eventually rescued by Tom, who had reached Rogue's Roost with the help of the Lost Boys. The Lost Boys accidentally set off bombs inside the base, unwittingly allowing Hester and Tom to escape. Sathya attempted to kill them on the way out, but was stopped by the Stalker Anna Fang. Tom and Hester recovered the Jenny Haniver and flew to Anchorage to try to stop Arkangel from eating it. Aboard the airship, Tom revealed to Hester that Pennyroyal had lied about America's green places, and that Anchorage was heading towards a dead continent after all. After a long moment of silence, Hester kissed Tom, deciding not to tell him that she had betrayed Anchorage. She then proceeded to make love with him, resulting in the conception of their daughter.[10][36]
When they reached Anchorage, Hester sent Tom to Freya Rasmussen's private museum, where she thought he would be safe. Hester then fought against the Masgard's Huntsmen of Arkangel with the help of Freya and Pennyroyal. She released the imprisoned townspeople, who overpowered their captors, and personally killed Piotr Masgard, stabbing him multiple times. During the fight, Pennyroyal slipped away, shot Tom, and stole the Jenny Haniver, leaving Hester and Tom stranded on Anchorage. Arkangel later ran into thin ice and became stuck, allowing Anchorage to escape. The townspeople were then unsure of what to do next, as Pennyroyal's lies had been exposed and the city was unable to turn back. However, Caul, an exiled Lost Boy, boarded the city and showed the town's Steering Committee how to find small green spaces around the western shore of the continent. Anchorage settled on the green coast of the Dead Continent. During this journey, Tom recovered from his bullet wound, and Hester discovered that she was pregnant. The two lovers agreed to stay on Anchorage for as long as necessary, as they both knew that the Stalker Fang planned to declare war on the Traction Cities.
Infernal Devices[]
Fifteen years later, Hester still lived in Anchorage with Tom, whom she had now married, and their daughter Wren. Although tolerated by her fellow citizens, she was still regarded as an outsider for her brutality in killing Masgard. She had also developed a strained relationship with her daughter.
Caul informed Hester of Wren's plan to leave Anchorage with the Tin Book in the Autolycus, a Lost Boy limpet. Hester arrived at the beach and killed Gargle and Remora, crew members of the Autolycus, but could not prevent Fishcake from kidnapping Wren.
Hester, Tom, Freya and Caul travelled to Grimsby to try and find Wren. Instead, they encountered several young children, as well as Uncle, who informed them of Brighton's ploy to capture the Lost Boys. Hester and Tom then continued on to Brighton in another limpet, while Freya and Caul returned to Anchorage with the children.
After docking at Brighton, Tom and Hester split up. After learning that Wren had been captured and enslaved by the Shkin Corporation, Hester visited The Nimrod Pennyroyal Experience, an exhibition on Pennyroyal's fictional exploits. After coming across a fictionalised image of herself, she learned that she had been featured in Pennyroyal's bestseller Predator's Gold. At the top story of the gallery, she found a flight-ready Jenny Haniver, renamed as The Arctic Roll.
When she returned to the designated meeting place, however, she learned that Tom had gone directly to the Shkin Corporation to ask for Wren's release. Deducing that he had been captured himself, she waited until nightfall before fighting her way to the slave pens. There, she found several cages of Lost Boys, who she released to create a distraction. She then broke Tom and Fishcake out of the building, slaughtering the rest of the Shkin guards.
Arriving again at the Nimrod Pennyroyal Experience, Hester released the rockets from the Jenny, creating a wall opening to fly out to Cloud 9. Despite Tom's begging, she left Fishcake behind in the gallery, but reluctantly promised to return to him after collecting Wren.
After finding and reuniting with Wren, Hester found Pennyroyal and knocked him to the ground. Wren intervened, telling Hester and then Tom that she knew that Hester had sold Anchorage to the Huntsmen. Unable to deny the truth, Hester told her husband and daughter to leave, then fled into a hedge maze. She came across a waiting Shrike, who held her as Cloud 9 collapsed, then carried her away into the desert.
A Darkling Plain[]
Hester had been gone for six months, presumed dead. During that time, she killed the sheikh of El Houl and bought a sand-ship before fleeing into the desert with Shrike. She found and rescued Theo Ngoni, who was captured by Napster Varley.
She killed the sheikh. She killed his guards. She killed his dogs. She moved through the smoky rooms like a plague and left nothing alive behind her.
Hester, Theo and Shrike arrived at Airhaven and tried to buy Lady Naga from Varley, who asked for an extortionate price which they were unable to pay. Hester and Theo found Nimrod Pennyroyal hiding in Airhaven in disgrace and debt after a newspaper exposed him as a fraud. Hester took what remained of his money and headed to Varley's ship to buy Zero. As Pennyroyal's funds were still insufficient, she filled bags with nuts and washers to bluff Varley.
Hester's attempt to cheat the merchant was discovered and he attacked her. Hester was injured by a falling bookcase, allowing Varley to gain the upper hand; however, his abused wife killed him before he could stab Hester. As Hester and Zero made their escape, Kriegsmarshal Von Kobold found them and aided them against some Mancunian men, who intended on capturing Zero. Shrike scared them away and escorted Hester and Zero to their airship, the Shadow Aspect. They were joined by Pennyroyal, who had accidentally fallen onto the airship after a brawl.
Hester, Shrike, Zero and Pennyroyal made their way to Batmunkh Gompa to reunite with Naga, where Zero discovered Popjoy was dead. Pennyroyal informed Hester and Shrike of Zero's predicament, and Hester was shakily reunited with Tom. With Shrike, the pair escaped on the Jenny Haniver. They deduced that the Stalker Fang went to Erdene Tezh and flew the Jenny Haniver there.
On board the Jenny Haniver, Tom forgave Hester for selling Anchorage to Arkangel. She and the others tied the hiding Pennyroyal up. Stalker-birds attacked the airship, severely damaging it and causing it to crash near Fang's old home, where Hester and Tom left Pennyroyal. Hester was confronted by Fishcake, who attempted to kill Hester, but was stopped by the Stalker Fang, who decided not to kill them as they would all die soon enough. The Stalker took Tom into the house as Hester followed.
The Stalker Fang explained to Tom and Hester that she destroyed various traction cities and Green Storm bases to make the two sides fight each other, giving her time to send a command to ODIN to target the various destructive volcanoes around the Earth, which would erupt and destroy mankind, but would "make the world green again". As Hester carefully took Tom outside following the confrontation, they saw a twinkling star in the sky: ODIN destroying itself. Hester realised that the Stalker Fang had ordered the weapon to destroy itself. Pennyroyal tried to fly the sky-yacht to Tom and Hester, but was threatened by Fishcake to leave them behind as revenge for leaving him on Brighton. Hester watched the sky-yacht fly away, and she comforted Tom as he died. Shortly afterwards, she committed suicide by driving a knife through her heart.
Shrike later found Tom and Hester's bodies. He considered taking Hester to be resurrected by Oenone, but sadly realised that this was the "right end" for her. So he picked up Hester and Tom's bodies, still holding each others' hands, and laid their bodies down to rest. Shrike then watched Tom and Hester's bodies decay over the years, with an oak tree growing out of the latter. Centuries later, Shrike would still recall the days of traction cities and Hester Shaw.
Short Stories[]
In the Bleak Midwinter[]
One target of Shrike and Hester was Lardy Ampersand, a bank robber. After carrying out the killing, Shrike and Hester went back to the town of Twyne to collect their bounty, only to find the city celebrating the festival of Midwinter.
Mayor Pilbeam, accompanied with two slavers from the Shkin Corporation, had Shrike trapped in a net. Hester cut down a festive pine tree, crushing the assailants, and she and Shrike arrived at the Town Hall. They found a warm fireplace and food, and reminisced on the day.
Field Guides[]
The Illustrated World of Mortal Engines[]
Artwork of Hester was featured in the book.
Film[]
Hester is first seen scanning the horizon for London, which is searching for small cities to devour. As soon as she spots London, she ties a knife to her ankle and runs to the nearest trading cluster. As the trading cluster scatters into their individual traction cities, the one Hester is on (Salzhaken) is slow to get out of London's path. As a result, Hester gets on London through Salzhaken's capture.
After hearing about no weapons being brought into London, Hester hides her knife in her jacket sleeve. When Hester finds Thaddeus, she stabs him, claiming that the attack is for Pandora Shaw, her mother. As Hester is about to stab Thaddeus again, she is stopped by Tom. Hester beats Tom as the police of London appear to arrest Hester. She escapes and Tom starts chasing her. Hester runs through the chainsaws that cut the small cities into chunks for the main engine and nearly gets out of London. Before she falls into the waste chute, Hester is "saved" by Tom. She tells him to ask Valentine about herself and why Thaddeus murdered Pandora before intentionally falling into the chute out of London.
In the outland, after Tom is pushed out of London by Thaddeus, Hester robs Tom of his ID, money, and pocket knife. After he wakes from a concussion, she threatens him with his pocket knife, saying she had one shot to avenge Pandora. She refuses to kill Tom and instead walks in the City-made trenches scarring the outside world. Tom begins rambling about his past as he follows her, and Hester puts Tom's supposed "skills" to the test by determining the direction to go into. After observation Tom says, "We should head that way", pointing south. Hester growls "You never head south" before walking in the opposite direction.
At night, after Tom brings wood he found, Hester warns "No fires, unless you want to get us killed" as she prys the ground with her bare hands for water, forcing Tom to discard the wood. She drinks the groundwater, with Tom watching in disgust, and she replies "Thirst will kill you before hunger" before pulling out a Twinkie packet from her back pocket she had. She shares the Twinkie with Tom (he mentions "it's over a thousand years old", likely hinting that the film takes place in 3,118 A.D.), and he mentions that "It's so quiet out", regarding night in the outside world. She mentions that she likes "the quiet", while Tom grew up with "the sound of engines". As Tom begins to tell Hester his backstory, she cuts him off, saying that the two "aren't going to share our sad stories." She then says "I can't help you, and you can't help me" before going to sleep.
Hester has a flashback to when she was a child while she sleeps, and it is her running in the woods terrified, and she suddenly wakes in the dead of a moonlit night. She sits up and finds that Tom is gone and she begins searching for him. Hester finds Tom waving his arms and yelling for help on top of a "traction canyon". "Tom!" she growls as he shows her that the "help" he found, and Hester realizes that he instead found night scavengers.
Hester tries hiding Tom from the scavenger and they try to evade them, but Hester gets shot by one of the scavenger's cities bullets in her leg as she helps Tom cross a "traction canyon". The pair keep running across the canyons and hiding from the scavenger until they are suddenly taken in Scuttlebug, which is camouflaged in the ground.
Orme, the leader of Scuttlebug decides to take Hester and Tom in, despite Hester's leg wound. The pair are taken by Orme's to a room (actually a cell) made out of wood, and Hester takes the room's bed, forcing Tom to be on the floor.
Tom blames himself for causing what has happened in the film, and Hester tells him her backstory, about Pandora and Thaddeus' relation to her and how she was scarred for life.
The next morning, Tom notices Scuttlebug headed south (due to the city's direction), and tells Hester. She tells him to open the door to their cell, and Tom finds that it is locked. However, Tom finds a hatch in the floor and he opens it before Scuttlebug arrives at the trading cluster. Hester throws Tom his wallet and tells him to go north, where an airship will take him back to London. Scuttlebug stops, and Hester urges Tom to leave, but he cannot. As a result, Tom and Hester are pawned off as slaves by Orme.
Hester is on the bidding stand after an old woman, and the auctioneer tries to cater her to his wealthier customers, but Anna Fang (who arrived in the background) decides to vouch for her. The auctioneer tries to threaten Anna, and Anna shoots the auctioneer, resulting in a fight between Anna and the rest of the bidders. Anna shoots Hester's chains with her gun and throws her a gun from one of the bidder's corpses, and Hester shoots Tom's chains off. "I knew you would come for me", he smiles. "Shut up and run", she gripes at him.
Hester and Tom run through the moving traction cities, trying to find a method of escape when Shrike finds them. The pair jump onto the wheel of a nearby traction city, and Tom helps Hester get over the wheels to evade Shrike. On the platform of the traction city, both find that Shrike has cornered them.
As Hester decides to fulfill her promise to Shrike, Anna shoot Shrike with a missile from her ship, the Jenny Hanniver. Anna tells Tom and Hester to get on the ship, but she leaves Tom with Shrike after he gets Hester on the ship. "Wait!" Hester yells; "Leave him!", Anna retorts.
Knowing that the Jenny is still in Tom's vicinity, Hester drops Tom a rope to hold onto as the Jenny flies. However, as soon as Tom grabs the rope, Shrike pulls down on it, hard. Shrike's force weighs the Jenny down, and Anna throws Hester a knife to cut the rope, effectively sending Tom to his death. Hester throws Tom the knife and he cuts the rope to free himself and the Jenny.
In the sky, Hester pulls Tom into the Jenny, and there is an implied moment of connection between the two. Anna shuts the door, and Tom decides to handle Anna, and she puts a gun to his head while mockingly saying "How? How will you handle it?" to his face. "Easy", Tom nervously says before Anna says, "I'm just messing with you." She tells Tom and Hester to sit in the ship, and Anna uses a medical device to heal Hester's infected leg wound. After Hester asks why Anna saved them, Anna simply replies that she was a good friend of Pandora Shaw and, after Pandora's murder, that she was supposed to be Hester's guardian if she died (it's implied in the dialogue). She also states how she wondered how Hester survived in the wild, and now she knew.
Tom, horrified, says "You were raised by that corpse?" to which Hester retorts "You don't know what your talking about". Tom and Hester get into a fight about Shrike, and Hester storms out of the room, but not before saying "He [Shrike] saved my life".
Later in the day in the Jenny's back, Hester tells Tom of how Shrike found her and raised her like his daughter. As a result, Tom sympathizes with Hester, but she refuses his sympathy, and leaves him on the back of the airship.
She is later seen with Anna and Tom entering Airhaven and the meeting with the Shan Guo rebellion about MEDUSA. After finding out that MEDUSA is in the hands of Thaddeus, Shrike attacks Airhaven. Tom leads Hester to the Jenny where they are confronted by Shrike as the city falls.
Tom tries to attack Shrike with a crowbar, but he chokes him and throws him to the floor, knocking him out. Hester pleads with Shrike for Tom's life and she lets him live because he realizes that Hester loves Tom. Shrike soon dies from electric short-circuiting.
Tom wakes up in the Jenny the next day with Hester watching over him, making sure he's okay as the Jenny approaches the Shield Wall.
In the city of Shan Guo, Anna and her allies meet up with Governor Kwan, who strongly advocate for the destruction of London. Tom desperately pleads for London to be spared, and storms out in anger and grief when Kwan refuses to listen to him.
Hester attempts to follow him, but stops as following him would be futile. Subsequently, where she stops is an ancient shrine that hold a clue to the destruction of MEDUSA, which is later found out to be the kill codes contained in the locket that Pandora gave her daughter on the night she was murdered.
Realizing that she found MEDUSA's "weak spot", Hester finds Tom and shows him the kill codes. "Where did you get this?" he asks before the alarm is sounded as MEDUSA fires on the Shield Wall.
Tom and Hester find shelter alongside Sathya and they survive the initial nuking of the Shield-Wall. They fly in with Jenny and destroy London's engines, stopping the traction city right outside its target. The pair then leave for somewhere else.
Relationships[]
Anna Fang[]
Anna Fang became Tom and Hester's ally during the events of Mortal Engines. After her death near the end of the book, she and Tom "inherited" the Jenny Haniver from her.
When Hester was taken captive at Rogue's Roost and found that Anna was resurrected as a Stalker, she was horrified that she was not allowed to rest in peace.[26]
David Shaw[]
David Shaw was Hester's presumed father until the main events of the series.
Fishcake[]
Hester hated Fishcake and was wary of his, as he stole her daughter from her.[20][23]
Even as Tom begged her to take him back with the family to Vineland (to give him a second chance at life), she disregarded him as a mere Lost Boy.[23]
At the end of her life, before she committed suicide to join Tom, she finally felt sympathetic to the boy's plight.[1]
Freya Rasmussen[]
Hester's relationship with Freya started out as strained, as the Margravine was attracted to Tom.
At the end of Predator's Gold, Freya blackmails Hester into protecting Anchorage's inhabitants, saying her that she will tell her citizens about Hester selling Anchorage to Arkangel if she doesn't obey the Margravine. Despite this, they are on good terms.[19]
Nimrod Pennyroyal[]
Nimrod Pennyroyal succeeded Anna as Tom and Hester's ally.
Oenone Zero[]
Hester befriends Oenone during the events of A Darkling Plain.
She reminds her of Tom.[46]
Pandora Shaw[]
Pandora Shaw was Hester's mother before Valentine killed her for MEDUSA.
Shrike[]
Shrike is an old friend of Hester, which is somewhat unusual, as Stalkers are mainly emotionless. He regards her as a daughter.
Thaddeus Valentine[]
Hester held a grudge against Valentine for murdering her parents.
It was later revealed that he is her biological father, being Pandora's lover before she married David Shaw.
Theo Ngoni[]
Hester initially meets Theo when she goes with Tom to rescue Wren at Cloud 9.[45]
After escaping into the desert, Hester comes across Theo at Cutler's Gulp, and unwittingly rescues him from his overseers in the engine district.[33] She is ultimately roped into his orders to protect Lady Naga.[34]
Tom Natsworthy[]
Hester initially meets Tom in a chase throughout London in Mortal Engines when she tries to kill Thaddeus. After Tom is forced out of London by Thaddeus, Tom is forced to become allies with Hester in order to survive.[14] Throughout Predator's Gold, Hester falls in love with Tom.[70] As of Infernal Devices, Hester is married to Tom and they have a daughter named Wren.[29] At the end of A Darkling Plain, when Tom dies from heart failure, Hester commits suicide out of grief.[1][2] Wren mentions that he genuinely loved her (despite who she was).[71]
She sees him as the best thing that ever happened to her,[72] and is patient with him.[58] She was also initially confused by their deepening relationship before accepting it.[6] Her love for him is so deep and strong, that she considers him getting shot by Pennyroyal her punishment for selling Anchorage to Arkangel.[73] She is deeply in love with him, yet sometimes thinks that he must want someone else than her.[48]
Caul mentions that Tom's love for Hester is the kindest thing a man could have.[16]
In the later stages of their relationship, Hester becomes highly protective of him.[74]
When Tom found out that she betrayed Anchorage to the Huntsmen on Cloud 9, she furiously described his as "stupid". She ran away from him, as she loves him and wanted him to have a stable life.[45] She also mentions that she could never ascribe to his world - civilized life.[45]
Shrike describes her relationship with him as "constant weakness for the other Onceborn".[24] The Stalker Fang knows that she loves him very much.[1]
Hester does not like fighting (arguing) with him.[23]
Wren Natsworthy[]
Wren is Hester's daughter with Tom. They have an estranged relationship.[31]
Despite comparing her to Valentine,[24] she internally does love her.[31][45]
Trivia[]
- "Hester" is the Latinization of the name "Esther", which means "star" in Persian.[75] "Shaw" is an English surname originally given to someone who lived near a thicket, and is a Scottish surname meaning "wolf".[76]
- Hester was originally named "Hester Shaugh", after Shaugh Prior, a Dartmoor village. However, Philip Reeve decided to have names that people can pronounce in the books, so she became "Hester Shaw".[77]
- Philip Reeve has mentioned he chose the name "Hester" for his female protagonist because it sounded "hissy" and "unattractive". However, after writing Shaw for a long time, he's come to like the name.[77]
- In the original version of Mortal Engines, Hester was known as "Hester Shaugh" and took up lodging in London before attempting to assassinate Valentine.[4]
- Another version of the story had Hester as a construction site rebel.[4]
- Philip Reeve mentioned that he intentionally made Hester ugly with her disfiguring scar because he asked himself "Who cares if people who live by their wits are pretty?". He also said that having the main protagonist fall in love with a scarred person was more interesting than two attractive people falling in love with each other. He also wanted her to be grotesque from all angles, not just one, comparing it to Captain Ahab and his missing leg in Moby Dick.[78]
- Philip Reeve has mentioned that Hester's character was the primary reason for the Mortal Engines quartet's existence - it revolves around her character development and arc.[79]
- Hester occasionally swears.[41][57][34]
- Hester will hide behind a raised hand[5][34][24] or anything[80] to avoid people noticing her scar and/or missing eye.
- As a child, Hester would eat cheese on toast in the winter when her mother would talk about her summer archeology trips.[44]
- Hester knows how to use stars as a direction marker, which her mother taught her.[81]
- Hester is a slow reader.[36]
- Hester is not good at shooting people.[34]
- Hester can speak Airsperanto, albeit it is "creaky".[55]
- Hester slurs her words when she is angry.[24]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 A Darkling Plain, Chapter 52: "Last Words"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 A Darkling Plain, Chapter 54: "Shrike in the World to Come"
- ↑ Newcomer Hera Hilmar Lands Female Lead in Peter Jackson’s ‘Mortal Engines’
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Mortal Engines: Twenty Years On - Philip Reeve's website
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Mortal Engines, Chapter 4: "The Out-Country"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 Predator's Gold, Chapter 2: "Hester and Tom"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Predator's Gold, Chapter 3: "The Passenger"
- ↑ Predator's Gold, Chapter 11: "Restless Spirits"
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Predator's Gold, Chapter 18: "Predator's Gold"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Predator's Gold, Chapter 31: "The Knife Drawer"
- ↑ A Darkling Plain, Chapter 26: "Ruined!"
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Mortal Engines, Chapter 17: "The Pirate Suburb"
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Mortal Engines, Chapter 22: "Shrike"
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Mortal Engines
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 Mortal Engines (2018)
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Predator's Gold, Chapter 15: "Hester Alone"
- ↑ Predator's Gold, Chapter 17: "After Hester"
- ↑ Predator's Gold, Chapter 28: "Untie the Wind"
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 Predator's Gold, Chapter 35: "An Ark of Ice"
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Infernal Devices, Chapter 7: "She's Leaving Home"
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Infernal Devices, Chapter 8: "Kidnapped"
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Infernal Devices, Chapter 15: "Children of the Deep"
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 Infernal Devices, Chapter 32: "The Flight of the Arctic Roll"
- ↑ 24.00 24.01 24.02 24.03 24.04 24.05 24.06 24.07 24.08 24.09 24.10 24.11 24.12 A Darkling Plain, Chapter 48: "A Voyage to Erdene Tezh"
- ↑ Predator's Gold, Chapter 7: "Ghost Town"
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Predator's Gold, Chapter 19: "The Memory Chamber"
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 Predator's Gold, Chapter 32: "Valentine's Daughter"
- ↑ Predator's Gold, Chapter 24: "Uncle"
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Infernal Devices
- ↑ A Darkling Plain
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 Infernal Devices, Chapter 4: "The Legend of the Tin Book"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 11: "Four Against Grimsby"
- ↑ 33.00 33.01 33.02 33.03 33.04 33.05 33.06 33.07 33.08 33.09 33.10 33.11 A Darkling Plain, Chapter 10: "The Black Angel"
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 34.5 34.6 34.7 34.8 A Darkling Plain, Chapter 12: "The Sand-Ships"
- ↑ A Darkling Plain, Chapter 43: "Homecoming"
- ↑ 36.00 36.01 36.02 36.03 36.04 36.05 36.06 36.07 36.08 36.09 36.10 Infernal Devices, Chapter 23: "Bright, Brighter, Brighton!"
- ↑ A Darkling Plain, Chapter 9: "Breakfast at Moon's"
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 A Darkling Plain, Chapter 33: "The Test"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 30: "A Hero's Welcome"
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 Mortal Engines, Chapter 35: "The Cathedral"
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 41.4 41.5 41.6 Mortal Engines, Chapter 3: "The Waste Chute"
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 Infernal Devices, Chapter 31: "The Moment of the Rose"
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 43.2 43.3 43.4 Mortal Engines, Chapter 2: "Valentine"
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 Mortal Engines, Chapter 6: "Speedwell"
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 45.4 45.5 45.6 45.7 Infernal Devices, Chapter 36: "Strange Meetings"
- ↑ 46.0 46.1 A Darkling Plain, Chapter 34: "Displaced Persons"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 34: "Idea for a Fireworks Display"
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 Infernal Devices, Chapter 18: "The Nagalfar"
- ↑ In the Bleak Midwinter
- ↑ 50.0 50.1 Mortal Engines, Chapter 8: "The Trading Cluster"
- ↑ Predator's Gold, Chapter 10: "The Wunderkammer"
- ↑ Predator's Gold, Chapter 27: "The Stairs"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 2: "At Anchorage-in-Vineland"
- ↑ 54.0 54.1 Mortal Engines, Chapter 20: "The Black Island"
- ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2 A Darkling Plain, Chapter 44: "Pillar of Fire"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 9: "The Jenny Haniver"
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 Mortal Engines, Chapter 26: "Batmunkh Gompa"
- ↑ 58.0 58.1 Mortal Engines, Chapter 37: "The Bird Roads"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 12: "The Gasbag and Gondola"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 36: "The Shadow of Bones"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 29: "Going Home"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 5: "The Lord Mayor"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 11: "Airhaven"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 25: "The Pepperpot"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 15: "The Rustwater Marshes"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 19: "The Sea of Khazakh"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 28: "The Air Attack"
- ↑ A Darkling Plain, Chapter 25: "Theo in Airhaven"
- ↑ Hera Hilmar's interview for Mortal Engines
- ↑ Predator's Gold
- ↑ A Darkling Plain, Chapter 2: "Matters of the Heart"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 33: "Wine and Nibbles and the Dawn of a New Era"
- ↑ Predator's Gold, Chapter 33: "Thin Ice"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 16: "Those Are Pearls That Were His Eyes"
- ↑ Hester - Behind the Name
- ↑ Shaw - Behind the Name
- ↑ 77.0 77.1 Philip Reeve Answers Questions About Mortal Engines - Mortal Engines Movie
- ↑ Why Philip Reeve Scarred Hester - Mortal Engines Movie
- ↑ Hester Shaw character dive on Mortal Engines special features
- ↑ Predator's Gold, Chapter 8: "The Winter Palace"
- ↑ Mortal Engines, Chapter 13: "The Resurrected Men"
- ↑ Mortal Engines characters - Coats and Revolvers