Titus Groan disturbed and uneasy about all that has happened, and disturbed about Steerpike's sudden rise. Yet neither is able to connect Steerpike as the cause of the tragic events, as he was their apparent saviour from the fire in the library. Soon afterwards, the “Earling” takes place, and young Titus is officially made Earl of Gormenghast. In a ridiculously elaborate ceremony on a nearby lake, little Titus holds aloft the sacred symbols of his status – the stone and ivy branch, and to the horror of observers, promptly drops them both into the lake. The scene is silent except for the
Titus Awakes of "Titus Awakes" in the family's attic. It follows Titus's journeyings in the wider world and his arrival at an island that Peake identifies as Sark, where the Peake family lived from 1946 to 1949. Finally, Titus becomes Mervyn Peake. The book was published by Overlook Press as "Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast" in June 2011 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Mervyn Peake's birth. Titus Awakes Titus Awakes is the editorial title applied to a novel being planned by Mervyn Peake at the time he became too ill to write, about 1960. It was to have