Overview

The Great Joaquin is the phoenix at the center of The Whatsit’s Rebirth. He is not a human showman with a fiery stage act; he is the enormous, luminous firebird himself. His cavern contains the regeneration chamber Grimblewaith needs to become faekind and enter Mafaea territory.

Joaquin is majestic, volatile, theatrical, perceptive, and governed by appetites strong enough to alter the course of a quest. His flames shift through multiple colors with his mood. His voice can fill the chamber. His warnings include charred bones. His negotiations often improve after food.

Tribute Before Conversation

Visitors are expected to bring tribute. Grimblewaith first offers brimwort because its heat seems appropriate for a creature made of flame. Joaquin accepts it but admits that ordinary spice barely registers. What he truly wants is something sweet.

This preference turns access to the chamber into a contest. Joaquin permits several petitioners to search for an offering capable of impressing him, with the chamber awarded to whoever returns first with the confection he loves most. The arrangement places Grimblewaith in competition with Sir Roderick and other seekers whose reasons for transformation are no less personal.

The Regeneration Chamber

Phoenix regeneration reaches beyond disguise. Within the chamber, flame may alter physical form, magical classification, and the relationship between body and soul. Access is limited to one outsider per year, making Joaquin the guardian of a resource that can reshape individual lives and political boundaries.

Grimblewaith expects to emerge looking conventionally fae. Instead, he retains his large green Whatsit form while gaining the magical nature and senses of faekind. The chamber removes the curse-marking tattoo on his back, restores memories that had been sealed away, and gives him the access he needs without erasing the identity he feared others would reject.

Fannie’s Revival

Captain Rightbeard entrusts Grimblewaith with the locket containing the last spark of Fannie. Before beginning Grimblewaith’s ceremony, Joaquin touches the locket with a feather and restores the phantasm. Fannie emerges energetic, bright, and fully able to use her memory-shaped transformations again.

The act links Book Five directly to Book Four. The phoenix does more than provide Grimblewaith with a new magical status; he repairs a life damaged during the Leftbeard treasure hunt and returns one of ELM’s closest companions to the larger story.

Truth, Fire, and the Lord of Death

Phoenixes perceive dishonesty and force petitioners to confront their real motives. Joaquin’s chamber also draws the attention of Grimma, now a handmaiden of death. During the transformation, she attempts to persuade Grimblewaith to abandon the phoenix and join the coming army of the dead.

Grimblewaith rejects her bargain and survives the flames by holding to his purpose. The moment establishes phoenix rebirth as the opposite of Grimma’s death magic: both offer transformation, but one preserves choice while the other demands surrender.

The Winning Offering

Sweet snow beans are not enough. Ordinary baked goods fail. The decisive tribute is a Humble Pie obtained with Captain Rightbeard and the crew of The Cinder. Joaquin is delighted by the confection and even more interested in its source. Grimblewaith uses that curiosity to bargain for both the regeneration chamber and Fannie’s restoration.

Joaquin can detect lies, transcend death, and still be bribed by the correct pie. Power in the Beandom is rarely simple.

—The Chronicler

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