Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, child abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, bullying, sexual violence, rape, and sexual content.
How Abuse Manifests as Trauma
In the novel, surviving torture and sexual assault shapes the trajectory of several characters, showing how different ways of processing the resulting trauma create lasting ramifications for future relationships and connections. Maevyth, who spent her childhood as a bullied outcast, finds it challenging to see herself as a powerful and capable woman. Theron, subjected to Loyce’s assaults in the Gildona, adopted a compliant response to limit the extent of the physical suffering imposed on him in exchange for being complicit in the abuse of others.
Zevander is the most prominent example of this dynamic. Introduced as a cold, unpitying, and detached man, Zevander has been deeply scarred by his imprisonment in the Solassion mines, where he was starved, forced to labor, and beaten, and by enslavement in the Gildona, where Loyce physically and sexually abused him. In response, Zevander vacillates between resistance, self-delusion, and self-blame—all of which are shown to be maladaptive coping strategies. He prides himself on never giving in to Loyce’s offers of decreased sadism in exchange for pliancy, unlike Theron. At the same time, he wants to reframe being raped as consensual based on societal scripts about heteronormative sexuality: “Be a man […] What man wouldn’t enjoy a woman’s hands on him?” (206). Finally, Zevander has convinced himself that “[he] deserve[d] this” (208), internalizing being tortured as a divine punishment.
These formative experiences warp Zevander’s perception of intimacy with a loving partner. His feelings of worthlessness undermine his developing relationship with Maevyth, as he feels that he is defiling her when they have sex, and he often tells her that he’s a “slave,” “chattel,” and a “monster,” internalizing blame as a way to rationalize what happened to him. The piercings in his penis, which prevent him from experiencing pleasure without pain, are a physical manifestation of his trauma. Zevander learns to want pain, asking Maevyth to hurt him during sex, which feeds into his belief that he “deserves” to be hurt. The long-lasting ramifications of Zevander’s past trauma are complex, but the novel does offer hope for their eventual resolution. As Maevyth professes her love for Zevander, offers him understanding and a lack of judgment, and treats him with care, he is shown to be slowly unlearning the dysfunctional behavioral patterns he adopted to survive being victimized.
The Importance of Vulnerability in Relationships
Eldritch makes a distinction between physical and psychological closeness. Maevyth and Zevander are honest about and act on their sexual desires for one another, yet they put up emotional barriers to prevent developing strong feelings for one another. Zevander is unwilling to discuss his past trauma, and Maevyth distances herself from a man who may leave at any moment. Both want to appear strong and impervious in each other’s eyes. This inability to connect prevents them from forming a true partnership or growing their understanding of one another. In a series that has already posited that these characters are fated mates, this strategy helps build tension before resolving the love story with a happy ending.
The relationship changes when Zevander and Maevyth confess their fears to one another, expressing vulnerability that allows them to grow and heal together. Caligorya shows Zevander how Maevyth grew up so that he can more fully understand the effects of her childhood ostracism and vow to defend her from any threats. In turn, Zevander shares with Maevyth the reasons he feels so worthless. She reassures him that his past cannot affect their shared present: “What you’ve done, what you’ve suffered. It doesn’t change how I feel” (470). Maevyth’s unconditional love becomes a place of emotional safety, directly contrasting Loyce’s sadistic system of rewards and punishments. Maevyth links what Zevander has “done” with what he has “suffered,” acknowledging that his trauma stems both from being victimized and from inflicting horrible things on others.
Maevyth’s words of affirmation become a form of salvation for Zevander, empowering him to sever his connection to Cadavros. Cadavros’s single-minded pursuit of power does not allow him to understand the value of vulnerability as a tool for mutual support. When Zevander evokes Deimos’s love of Morsana to explain his love for Maevyth, Cadavros taunts that love is a failing: “[T]hat is precisely why [Deimos] perished […] He was weak for a woman!” (733). However, what Cadavros sees as weakness is actually Zevander’s greatest strength. Through his vulnerability with Maevyth, he finds a purpose greater than Cadavros’s desire to dominate. Zevander triumphs over Cadavros because he has let Maevyth into his life, pushing him to strive for a life together.
The Brutality of Unquestioned Authority
Eldritch considers several different systems of oppressive control, from political tyranny, to religious domination, to individual abuse of power. The feudal kingdoms of Keri Lake’s world demonstrate how the whims of those at the despotic top trample on the well-being of those at the bottom. Both King Jeret of Solassios and King Sagaerin of Nyxteros make decisions without considering downstream effects on their subjects; their absolute rule allows for little pushback in response to their actions. Jeret repeatedly raped the wife of a noble with impunity; when she hid the children of these rapes, he leveled a trade embargo at a neighboring country. Sagaerin was so eager to power his war machine with Solassion ore that he imprisoned a completely innocent Zevander to make Jeret happy. Both reigns are marked by cruelty.
Organized religion is likewise terrorizing and harsh in the novel. Worship of the Red God, Caedes, endows clergy with divine authority that parishioners feel powerless to question. The Prologue shows the ease with which an unscrupulous faith leader can take advantage of this. Sacton Crain orders an acolyte to sacrifice a newborn so “[they] may be blessed with a mild winter” (2). Critically, the acolyte takes the child “without question,” though she “watche[s] in horror as Sacton Crain slice[s] a blade across the Lyverian mother’s throat” (2). This scene establishes that Crain’s followers accept his will completely. Crain often claims a special relationship with the divine to back his orders. When he captures Maevyth, he declares her to be anathema: “We are all cursed by The Red God because of […] her eyes! Silver, like the devil’s eyes. And, I say, it is time to banish the evil in our god’s flock” (440). Crain evokes a nonexistent existential threat to the community as a way to justify his obsession with murdering Maevyth.
Maevyth’s father shows how Foxglove Parish residents have internalized Crain’s hateful version of the Red God. In prison, her father parroted Crain’s teachings: that Caedes protects him, that the Lyverians are savage, and that magic is blasphemous. Only in Lyveria does Maevyth’s father overcome the prejudice instilled by the dictatorial nature of the organized religion he grew up with: “Caedes, The Red God, incited bloodshed and war […] we were all worshipping death” (630).
The final example of the vicious nature of overwhelming power comes in examples of personal fiefdoms or behavioral strategies that brutalize anyone weaker. Loyce dominates the people she enslaves for her sadistic entertainment in ways that illustrate how unchecked control leads to atrocity. Not satisfied with the authority she possesses as a general, she tortures, manipulates, and otherwise harms those in her Gildona. However, while Loyce is clearly a villainous figure in the series, the novel asks whether the protagonists also can also be tempted to flex their enormous power over the innocent. Zevander, a potent warrior and mage, dedicates himself to eliminating anyone who threatens Maevyth. On its face, this seems to be about protecting her from dangerous enemies like Cadavros; however, in practice, it results in him murdering a harmless soldier and wiping out the entire village of Foxglove that Maevyth wanted to spare. The novel concludes that unlimited authority and power can lead to brutality in anyone’s hands.
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