49 pages • 1-hour read
Accomplice to the Villain
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes cursing and child abuse.
Stained Glass Window
The stained-glass window at Massacre Manor symbolizes truth and answers. The characters are initially furious when they realize that Nura Sage’s starlight magic has broken the window. Trystan Maverine is especially eager for repairmen to “recreate the bloody stained glass” after the accident (50). However, the characters soon learn that the image is a key to the Rennedawn storybook prophecy mystery. Leonard explains that “there are words inscribed on the glass” which are “[e]asier to see when the sun hits it head-on” (51). This imagery of the colored glass lighting up from the correct angle of the sun also conjures notions of revelation. When the sun catches the glass, the truth of the prophecy becomes visible.
Massacre Manor
Massacre Manor, the novel’s primary setting, where the main characters and their friends live and work, is a symbol of community. The manor is located on the edge of the Hickory Forest and has a view of the surrounding landscape. Although some of the characters feel restless and trapped when they spend too much time at the manor, the place offers its inhabitants safety and security. They all came to Massacre Manor to escape their own difficult home lives or families; in the manor, they find refuge and acceptance. For example, after a childhood of abuse and subjugation, Keeley “escaped to Massacre Manor as a girl” and “The Villain took pity on [her] and gave [her] a job” (225). The other characters have a similar relationship with the setting.
Repeated scenes of characters warmly spending time together at the manor reinforce the setting’s symbolic significance. They are often portrayed hanging out in the kitchen, slipping into each other’s rooms to talk, taking walks, or picnicking on the grounds—scenes that underscore the communal dynamic they have fostered.
Death Magic
Trystan’s death magic symbolizes evil. Trystan is constantly frustrated by his inability to control his dark magic. He is especially wary of his powers because he fears that he will hurt others accidentally. When his magic “become[s] foreign to him” (50), he questions who he is and why he has these capabilities, wondering if he is, in fact, evil. He often struggles to reconcile his powers with his heartfelt impulses: Trystan has innately loving, empathetic tendencies, but his magic manifests as “a [hostile] storm cloud” (50). Trystan also, at times, fears that because he has death magic, he is unworthy of love. This belief creates tension between him and Evie. He sees her as the personification of goodness, and himself as the epitome of wickedness. He fears getting involved with her because he fears his evil tendencies will destroy her or taint her innocent, pure spirit.
Evie’s Dagger
Evie’s dagger is a symbol of empowerment. Evie carries the small blade with her at all times so she can defend herself as need be. As a young woman, Evie subverts gender stereotypes of frailty and dependence. She is self-possessed, courageous, and fierce. The dagger represents these powerful traits. Further, when Evie uses the dagger, she can overcome her fears, taking charge in moments of conflict or danger. The dagger is Evie’s way of proving herself to be the person she yearns to become: She wants to be heroic, to fight for what she believes in, to defend her friends, and to create pathways for herself.
The Rennedawn Prophecy
The Rennedawn storybook prophecy symbolizes fate. Throughout the novel, the characters are desperate to discover and solve the fourth piece of the prophecy as “the only way to regain control” of the doomed kingdom and to keep “Rennedawn’s magic [from] falling into a state of imbalance” (50). They believe that the prophecy is their destiny. The characters long for direction and understanding to such a degree that they often deny their impulses to instead fulfill their perceived fates. When their desires conflict with the prophecy—or with other elements of prediction, like the divination that Evie and Trystan will harm each other if they pursue their relationship—they try quashing what they want to ensure they are following their prescribed roles or futures. In these ways, the prophecy is both illuminating and restrictive, a set of rigid societal rules the characters feel bound to follow no matter how much this destroys their psyches or injures their emotional well-being.
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