Bizenghast while Lalibela, a holy town in northern Ethiopia, inspired Bali Lali's. Another minor character, Dr. Morstan, takes his name from Mary Morstan, Dr. Watson’s wife. "марионетка", the Russian word for marionette, inspired the name of the antagonist Maphohetka. LeGrow comments that the series "is about life, death and fabulous outfits (not in that order)" and notes that there are "a lot of religious themes" present. The town of Bizenghast "represents a world cut off from that sort of constant access [of technology]." The series was initially written to span about fourteen volumes and be divided into three seasons: the first
Mary Shelley of revolution, which ends in a total rejection of the progressive ideals of her own generation". Not only does she reject these Enlightenment political ideals, but she also rejects the Romantic notion that the poetic or literary imagination can offer an alternative. Critics have until recently cited "Lodore" and "Falkner" as evidence of increasing conservatism in Mary Shelley's later works. In 1984, Mary Poovey influentially identified the retreat of Mary Shelley’s reformist politics into the "separate sphere" of the domestic. Poovey suggested that Mary Shelley wrote "Falkner" to resolve her conflicted response to her father's combination of libertarian radicalism and