65 pages • 2-hour read
Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales
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Symbols & Motifs
The Door to Death
Doors are a recurring motif in the novel and series, symbolizing transformation and boundaries. Wendell, Emily, and other characters often use enchanted doors to travel between realms; however, doors can move unexpectedly, be hidden or sealed shut by magic, or may even cease to work when left unused. Doors in the novel represent the idea of testing boundaries of all kinds: spatial, temporal, and social. Stepping through a door can be transformative, but the transformation is not always desirable. Within this framework, the door to death represents the riskiest of transitions, one from which return is almost always impossible. At the same time, the door to death is also a symbol of hope, since it builds a bridge or a threshold between the living and the dead. In some cultures, including ancient Nordic practices, door-like structures were erected at funerals to ease the dead’s passage over the critical threshold, as well as to signify the continuum between life and death.
In the novel, the door to death is not a three-dimensional structure but a magical liminal space found in the shadow cast by the dead. This suggests that every deceased Fae’s shadow briefly contains a holding space between dying and living. The Lady in the Crimson Cloak knows of this door because she has killed so many Fae that she is bound to have come across the portal. Emily also notes that her grandfather’s journals suggest that the Lady communed with ghosts through the door. Thus, the door is not a sealed-off space. Indeed, Emily and Deilah too can hear Shadow’s barks through the door, and Shadow can smell treats across the threshold. The porousness of the door is reassuring, indicating that life and death are as closely linked as adjacent rooms in a house.
Emily’s Footnotes
The novel is narrated in the form of diary entries, often containing detailed footnotes. The footnotes are an important motif, illustrating the theme of Stories as a Means of Creating Reality. Because of their very structure, footnotes symbolize the endlessly branching nature of stories. For instance, in Chapter 2, Emily includes a long footnote about will-o-wisps, “the most widely misidentified faerie species” (49), which is a tale in itself, while in another footnote she provides an alternate version of a story mentioned in the body of the chapter. Both cases show that a single story is never the whole truth, which is why footnotes are a necessity. Thus, Emily’s footnotes illustrate the importance of multiple takes, versions, and detours in building a more informed reality.
The footnotes also reflect Emily’s meticulous attitude toward research and fieldwork, since she often includes sources for the studies she cites. Further, the footnotes are an important narrative device for world-building, adding scholarly depth and authenticity to Heather Fawcett’s fantastical world. As an example, a footnote observes that according to medieval belief, Faeries were rebel angels who escaped hell, thus painting a vivid image of the past.
The Attentive Oaks
Emily first describes the name of the sentient trees as “a typical example of Faerie euphemism” (17), since attentive is a polite way to describe trees with eyes that constantly watch anyone traveling in Silva Lupi and spring up on them from the shadows. The attentive trees are a hallmark of the kingdom of Silva Lupi, whose Faerie name translates roughly to “Where the Trees Have Eyes.” Although Emily—who dislikes being watched—finds the trees scary, they are an important symbol of the continuum between realm and ruler in Faerie. The boundaries between tree and ruler are often blurred in the text: Taran mentions that deceased monarchs often turn into trees or other natural features. Wendell’s body in the throne room begins to resemble bits of bark in places, suggesting this blurred boundary. Further, Emily notes that though Wendell was unable to find a door to Silva Lupi in previous books, he now routinely uses trees as doors to step in and out of space and time.
When Wendell considers his options regarding Arna, the attentive oaks begin to rustle loudly, perhaps because they sense that he is considering sacrificing himself. Wendell quells the trees by communicating telepathically with them, thus showing how the trees and the ruler share not just eyes, but a mind. In Arna’s castle, it is an attentive oak that rescues Emily, representing nature’s nurturing aspect. Because the trees can be viewed as both terrible and good, they are a metaphor for the natural world itself.
The Cambridge Library
At the end of the novel, Emily returns to the library in Cambridge to return a book, marking a homecoming for her character. The library, where she has spent countless pleasant hours of study, symbolizes comfort, knowledge, and sanctuary. Returning to it reminds Emily that the library will always be there for her, waiting patiently. This description shows that the library symbolizes the world of books, and Emily, the reader. When the real world gets too chaotic for the reader, they can retreat briefly into books. Thus, the library serves as a metatextual metaphor for Fawcett’s Compendium, the very book the reader is consuming.
The Cambridge Library can also be seen as a metaphor for home, which the growing young person—in this case, Emily—simultaneously desires and outgrows. Emily knows she needs to leave the comforting environs of bookish research to learn new things, yet she also yearns for the cozy structure the library provides. Therefore, Emily feels a mix of fear and excitement as she steps out of the contained space.
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