Gormenghast (series) between pride in his lineage and the desire to escape from the castle and its traditions. Titus is born at the beginning of the first book of the series, the son of Sepulchrave and Gertrude, and is an infant throughout the whole of "Titus Groan". He grows up and reaches young adulthood in the second book Gormenghast, which ends with him leaving Gormenghast after defeating Steerpike in battle. In the third book Titus Alone Titus discovers a world outside of Gormenghast where the castle and its inhabitants are unknown. Titus also features in another book called Boy in Darkness which
Gormenghast (castle) to school. Occupied by the same family for five hundred years, Knole's sprawling layout and varied architecture, added to and modified by successive generations, bear comparison with Gormenghast. (Some of the descriptions of Knole by Vita Sackville-West are also remarkably similar to passages by Peake.) Its massive walls evoke the great Norman castles and keeps of medieval Europe, such as the walled city of Carcassonne (pictured), Rochester Castle in England or Caernarfon Castle in Wales; while the ancient walled Chinese cities of Beijing and Tientsin where Mervyn Peake spent his childhood are a major influence. Another Chinese source may be