Biography:

Wooden Heart: Emanated in 3602, Lorcan is the twisted branch which grew from the trauma of Ashtara being deposed as Archon.  The other emanations immediately notice that Lorcan is strangely isolated – they can’t quite experience his emanation, remarking that it’s like being behind a glass wall.  His first task is to rescue Tara from the terrorist group which has taken over Eirelantra.  He does so by turning the commander and three subordinates into glass.  He then draws on Davy’s knowledge and power to create a chamber of horrors peopled with fleshiwood automatons of spiders and snakes, walls of flame generated by firebird oil, and numerous booby-traps, set to injure or frighten but not kill.  In this way, he terrorizes the group which has captured Clive Rivers and Captain Darvina until they begin to quarrel with each other.  The final straw is confronting the glass statues – the sergeant opens fire and shatters them, killing his own troops.  The other soldiers confront him, and two end up dying in the fray.  By this point, Clive understands what is happening – Lorcan is unable to kill, but this destruction was his intent.  Lorcan says it’s in revenge for the commander beating Tara and hands the remaining soldier a bill for professional development – an education in how to inflict terror.

Lorcan returns to Tara.  She notices that he smells of rotting leaves in springtime.  He makes love to her but afterwards confesses that he wishes she were dead so that his existence would end.  Tara challenges him to kill her.  He tries to strangle her, but he is unable to go through with it.  He breaks into tears, protesting that he hates her, but nevertheless is comforted by her presence.  As she sleeps, it becomes apparent that his resentment is a manifestation of Ash’s constant anxiety for her well-being and his poisonous jealousy.  Lorcan is a repository for Ash’s negative emotions and violent impulses.  He is tormented by his love for Tara, but even more by her love for him.  The emanation is swiftly withdrawn, replaced by Hurley.

Lorcan then begins a pattern of deliberately disruptive and offensive behavior.  He writes poetry which is violent and insulting to Tara.  But at the end of Wooden Heart, it is Lorcan who is emanated in order to reflect.  He considers the nature of his own being, and of Ashtara’s, a moth, a fallen angel.  Tara wakes, returning the book of Yeats she had originally given to Sloane, telling Lorcan to “Gaze no more in the bitter glass.”

In the footnotes, Tara reveals that Lorcan remained for several weeks.  The pair fell deeply in love, acting maliciously towards everyone until Ash finally withdraws the emanation before too much damage is done.

Eden Blues: In the early part of the novel, Lorcan is in the background, saying deliberately provocative things.  He is against Dermot in the trial, rails against him for leaving Tara alone, but Lorcan is acting simply out of jealous possessiveness.

Malachi explains to Tara that Lorcan was emanated as a test to destruction – Ashtara needed to see if the power he had gained in becoming Archon had corrupted him irrevocably.  If Lorcan had been able to kill Tara, Ashtara would’ve destroyed himself first.

After Jamey’s testimony, Lorcan falls in love with him due to Jamey’s ability to suffer in silence.  The others believe that it is another outrageous pose, but Jamey accepts Lorcan’s love at face value.

Ailann encourages Lorcan to testify to the SongLuminants, saying that they need to be completely honest, and since the SongLuminants reject ethics, Lorcan shouldn’t bother them.  In fact, the SongLuminants love Lorcan – they think his angst-ridden poetry is hilarious, and he counts positively towards the species evaluation.

When Lorcan mocks Constantine’s concern for Ross, Davy reveals that Lorcan will also have brothers, named Darius and Anthony.  Lorcan proceeds to deliberately insult and offend everyone, including the Floatfish.  When everyone refuses to feed the troll, Lorcan goes off on an extended rant about his tormented existence, concluding that since Malachi revealed why he’d been created, he had no reason to continue to live.  Dermot replies that he must live since no emanation is expendable.  Lorcan breaks into laughter, saying that Tara is insisting on his anguish and confessing that her cruelty makes him love her more.  In the end, Suibhne both comforts and breaks Lorcan with a joyful memory of his time with Tara.

Lorcan resists Tarlach’s attempt at therapy, but in the middle of one of his screeds, he labels the SongLuminants as self-righteous mass-murderers, to the agreement of the others.  When Callum emanates, it is Lorcan who understands that he needs to absorb the trauma of Constantine’s death and suggests that Tara brand him.

The Poison Garden: Lorcan authors the book Flowers from My Poison Garden, which is the source of the novel’s name.  Many of the poems denigrate Tara and exalt Jamey, to the disgust of the other emanations.  Tommy believes that Lorcan is resentful of Lugh’s adoration of Owen, which is considered to be an unforgivable aberration by the other emanations, and he is acting out.

Lorcan mocks the vampire cult and Seth’s gothic posing, saying if they want real evil they should review the history of genocide starting with the SongLuminants.  This causes Lucius to remark that Lorcan has a very clear sense of ethics.

Lucius is tricked into participating in a poetry contest by the Combine of Sentients.  Entering a poem by Lorcan, he wins – and is saddled with an exploitation galaxy that nobody wants.  The SongLuminants and Floatfish think that Lorcan is hilarious, but the Ateher-Masock think his poetry is full of poignant meaning.  Matek Lopen advises Lorcan of a proverb of her people: “‘You can’t have your mate and eat it too.”

Lorcan is one of only four emanations who vote for uprooting Lilith.  When the emanations realize that Lugh’s love for Owen serves a function within Ashtara, Tarlach hypothesizes that Suibhne’s madness and Lorcan’s alienation are also essential.

When Seth investigates the nature of evil, he interviews Lorcan.  Lorcan identifies evil with transgression, saying that it can serve a positive function or a negative one, citing De Lautréamont and Jack the Ripper as his examples.  Seth notes that both Lorcan and decadent poetry have a particular beauty.

In “The Prophecy of Dogs,” it is Lorcan who suggests that Manasseh get a dobergator, leading to the ensuing fiasco.

During “The Prophecy of Towers,” Tara, who has taken amrita in order to enter the pleroma with Hurley, insists on seeing Lorcan.  She finds him in his flat, which looks like a decaying bordello – with Jamey hanging from a cross on the wall.  She tells Lorcan that he’s the hero; Jamey replies that it’s the best idea yet.  When she leaves, Driscoll remains with Lorcan and Jamey.

It isn’t until Ailann looks in Jamey’s branch in The Perpetual Rose that the rest of the incident is revealed – Jamey climbs off the cross and Lorcan ascends it.  All this is foreshadowing of what will happen in the novel – Lorcan becomes the hero through enormous sacrifice.

The Perpetual Rose: Warning – contains major spoilers!

The story opens with Rand’s lack of memory.  He can only remember in pieces, and not in chronological order.  One thing he does remember is that there was some kind of horrible incident concerning Lorcan.  He suspects this is the reason he is blacked out.

Lorcan emanates after Beat perishes in the first skirmish with the Denolin.  He reveals the truth about their adversary – the Denolin aren’t trying to eat other beings for nourishment, but evolve by consuming consciousness and incorporating it into themselves.  The Denolin see themselves as loving the beings they destroy.  Lorcan is the emanation chosen to deal with the problem because he also wanted to destroy the thing he loved, but overcame it.  Because of this, Lorcan feels there can be no mercy for the Denolin.  At the same time, he is distraught over this decision, and says it’s ironic since he always wanted to be able to kill.  This causes Neliit to remark that Lorcan is morally developed.

Tara appears at Nightside with Clive and Johannon, provoking Lorcan’s jealousy.  He reveals that he has named the prominent Hreck after various seafood dishes – Newberg, Bisque etc.  He believes the Hreck don’t understand they’ve been insulted since they lack a sense of humor, but the truth revealed later is that Hreck eat their most celebrated dead, and feel like Lorcan is predicting an honorable future.

Lorcan retires to their room, impressing the Hreck by alchemically creating a bed.  When Tara joins him, she insists that she loves him and also loves Ashtara, and that Lorcan is Ashtara.  This provokes a crisis in Lorcan – he realizes that she’s right, which means that the violence and resentment within him are also a part of Ash.  As this realization soaks in, he begins to feel the presence of the mothman, and of the other emanations – the wall of ice which has seemed to separate him from their emotions is melting.  As they become able to share in his emanation, their rejection of him decreases.  Understanding the true nature of his quarantine, he is supported by Beat, Jamey, Tarlach and Seth, who promise that he will no longer be alone.  Lorcan comes to terms with both his isolation and Ashtara’s reclamation of him – he accepts that he is to be the hero.

Lorcan realizes also that he wants to be pollinated – something which shocks everyone but Tarlach and Patrick – who has been considered an outlier for similar desires.

Lorcan believes that he will need to fight every Denolin individually, but then Davy suggests that Lorcan allow the Denolin to kill him.  Davy wants information about the Denolin which eventually allows him to create the Bhavashti.  Lorcan complies, but there is a cost – he is almost absorbed and only maintains his sanity when Ross and Callum help him to focus on Tara.  However, he is an emotional wreck afterwards, breaking into tears at the slightest provocation.  When Driscoll asks him about the night they shared with Hurley, he breaks, blurting out that his n’aashet n’aaverti is compromised, and he wants to be absorbed by the Denolin.

Tara and Lens return to Nightside in order to plant Davy’s newly-designed trees.  The plan seems to be working until Lorcan emanates suddenly and flings himself at the Denolin.  He is killed and eaten, prompting Malachi to emanate.

Tara and Malachi continue with the project until Tara’s shuttle explodes and Till emanates.  He reveals that Lorcan’s sacrifice was necessary because Ash needed to understand the nature of the Denolin fully.  Till, like Lucius, is able to emulate an alien consciousness.  Once Lorcan realizes that his desire to be consumed by the Denolin had a function, he is able to process his distress.

Tara visits the pleroma and confronts Lorcan.  He tells her that his ordeal was a test of faith – ironic, since he never had any faith – and that he is now the devoted servant of his god and his lady – a black knight.  Tara gives him the title of Sir Lorcan officially.  A few days before they leave for the colonies, Jamey joins Tara at Sir Kaman’s garden party.  He tells her that he’s Tara’s white knight, and Lorcan is the black.  Lorcan joins Cillian’s literary circle along with Patrick and Dermot.

After Rand and Cillian resolve the issue with the colonists, Driscoll visits Lorcan.  The pair admit their attraction, and Driscoll solicits Lorcan’s help in a new project, the redesign of the mothman.

The Portable Grove: Lorcan participates in the intelligent design experiment, making suggestions to reformulate the mothman’s body.  His suggestions include a prehensile tongue, two phalluses, and a tentacle.  Lorcan also gives certain suggestions during the eighth experiment – he says that in order for Tara to fall in love with Rand, he should try dying.  More moderately, he suggests writing poetry, and reads some of his own much to the dismay of his companions.  He admits that he doesn’t understand why Tara fell in love with him and feels that he doesn’t deserve it.

Tarlach is concerned about the fact that Lorcan has never fruited, even during a pollen poof.  He recruits Sloane to participate in the Big Budders Program and assigns him to Lorcan.  Lorcan reveals that he doesn’t want to fruit unless it’s for somebody special, and then immediately tries to seduce Sloane.  Tarlach determines that Lorcan is emotionally healthy and recruits him to become a Big Budder as well.  Tarlach assigns him to work with Driscoll.  Lorcan has already guessed that Driscoll is the emanation who anonymously confessed to being in love with Patrick and gets him to admit it.  When Driscoll becomes hysterical, Lorcan slaps him, then initiates what becomes a rather tumultuous ongoing romantic relationship with him.  Lorcan also invites all his friends to have a party at Sloane’s, which is the start of a reoccurring social scene.

Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove

Denotation	Lorcan Fearghus (Gaelic: little fierce one; Gaelic: strong man, virile).
Numeration	23rd Emanation of Ashtara; 23rd branch of Atlas; 75 in the correspondence chart.
Age	25
Hotness	9/10
Vital Statistics	1.651 meters tall, cock size 15.77 cm when erect.
Description	Devilishly handsome, his expression is usually wry or sardonic. Dark brown hair, medium length, carelessly overgrown cut. Small and wiry. He aims to intimidate, but not in an obvious or exaggerated way. Black jeans and t-shirt with white sneakers. Used to wear a black overcoat, but later began to wear a plaid sport coat which was obviously too large for him.
Skills	Poet, psychotic, hero. Surprisingly loyal despite his cynicism.
Sexual Prowess and Kinks	Snuff and sadism, with a surprising hidden desire for intimacy.
Average Duration of Play	13 minutes, 41 seconds.
Totem Tree	Tsuga heterophylla, the Western hemlock.
Fixed Star	Algol, the ghoul (β Per), also called Rosh ha Satan, the head of Satan or the Gorgon (as Medusa’s head in Perseus’ hand).
Color
Esoteric Symbol	The Minchiate trump Il Diavolo, the devil.
Function	Creative resistance.
Official Title	Sir Lorcan Fearghus, Chevalier Noir of the Arbor.
His Prophecy	The still-beating heart is offered to the sun.
Dessert	Nau’gsh spice cake with kasmilcrème fraiche.

Persistence of Weeds Addendum

Branch Growth Characteristics	Natural branch growth resulting from the trauma of suddenly being cut off from the power grid when Ashtara was deposed by the coup. Used as a template for his half-brothers on Goliath, Darius and Anthony.
Nul-history	The last to join the Ashtara entity before its contact with the Atlas Tree. He synched perfectly while spinning in the opposite direction.
Proto-conscious Root Concept	Perversity, designated Inversion.
Prime Number of Energy Resonance	379
From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett