John Segundus is a kind-hearted gentleman of straitened means, and very deeply in love with magic. When we first meet him, he has moved to York, to join that city's venerable Society of Magicians, in the hope that they will answer a question that has been troubling him for many years, namely; "Why Is Magic No Longer Done In England?" He does not get the answer he requires, so he seeks out a mysterious gentleman by the name of Mr Norrell, and thus begins our story.
As time goes by, it becomes clear that Mr Segundus is a man of magical destiny: he can see and understand things that others cannot, and as a Yorkshireman, there is something of the Raven King about him. He was born to play a part in this story, and as the story unfolds, it becomes more and more clear what that part is.
