– Sympathy for Cromwell? –
by Lady Trader | Fan Fun With Damian Lewis | May 2, 2025
Welcome back to Court and to the final episode of “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light”
We have come to episode six, Light, and this may be my favorite of the entire two seasons. This episode did something I did not think was possible – make me feel sympathy for Thomas Cromwell. This series did what I feel the books did not do – show that Cromwell did feel remorse or at least questioned the actions he took to stay at the top of Henry’s good graces. As someone who is an “Anne Stan” I will always have a negative opinion of the real Cromwell. The absolute horrible lies he created to take Anne Boleyn down are unforgiveable. Yes, Henry tasked him to help him put Anne aside, but to manufacture the tales of her sleeping with basically every man at Court (and an incestuous relationship with her brother George) was overkill. He had to know that this was going to lead to the death of six innocent people. One can only imagine that is exactly what he wanted.
All that being said, “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light” is historical fiction. Hilary Mantel’s trilogy is written to tell the story of the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, and to try and see things from his perspective. I appreciate this point of view, even if I do not necessarily agree with it. What I think the series has done that the books did not is humanize Cromwell in a way I did not expect. That may be down to the amazing acting by Mark Rylance and the remarkable adaptation of the books into a literal Masterpiece of a series. I felt in The Mirror and the Light book Cromwell never had any regret about the role he played in the downfall of Anne Boleyn. In the book he never realized the rumors and innuendo he used to take her and 5 others to their death were now being used to do the same to him. The episode Light I think rectifies that. I think we see (literally) Cromwell is haunted by some of the choices he has made while climbing the ladder to become one of the most powerful men in England, and right-hand man of the King. The real Thomas Cromwell was (in my opinion) a brut – the Thomas Cromwell on our screens is a man who did what he need to do to stay alive and to keep the Reformation moving forward. I have empathy for the character of Cromwell that I do not have for the actual man.
This series was remarkable in so many ways – the acting, the writing, the costumes, the music; but it was the little details that really made it special.
The parallel scene of Anne Boleyn being brought by barge and looking up at the Tower in Episode 1 Wreckage by Cromwell, then 4 years later it’s Cromwell being brought and looking at that same Tower was perfect. Also, like Anne, Cromwell was imprisoned in the Royal Apartments of the Tower, perhaps giving him hope that Henry would reconsider. Fun Fact: The Tower of London was not always a grim, forbidding prison. It was used as a royal residence and was the place where a King or Queen would stay the night before their coronation.
There is not much I can add about the scenes of the sham interrogation of Cromwell by Norfolk, Gardiner, Riche and Wriothesley. This is acting at its finest. The way Cromwell volleys every accusation and indictment is beautiful to watch – even Roger Federer would be impressed. He calls out Wriothesley and Riche like the weasels they are, and they can’t even look at him.
I believe Cromwell knew that no matter what he said, his fate was cast. False claims and words taken out of context were how he doomed Mark Smeaton, Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston; Sir William Brereton, George and Anne Boleyn; now the tide had turned.
Even Cromwell’s letter to Henry begging for “mercy, mercy, mercy” is to no avail. He gets the news that he will be executed by the axe, instead of the more gruesome traitor’s death of being hanged, drawn and quartered.
We see Cromwell escorted to the scaffold at…
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