Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales

Wendell returns to Silva Lupi at an especially fraught moment in the realm’s politics. A king more adept at sewing than swordplay, he brings with him a rare mortal queen, deposing an incumbent monarch who prefers to poison the land than abandon it. With so much in flux, the true meaning of leadership may involve questioning the very definition of rule in Silva Lupi. Through Wendell and Emily’s transformation into powerful, capable leaders, the text shows how leadership involves embracing the new, letting go of old vendettas, and most importantly, rallying the courage and capacity for sacrifice.

Emily’s status as an outsider—a gifted mortal, adept at recognizing the patterns of Faerie—suggests that her and Wendell’s reign will be different from those of their predecessors. Because Emily is not immersed in court politics, she can view it dispassionately, prioritizing what is best for the realm and its people, rather than just the courtly Fae. Through Emily’s benevolent intervention in the world of Silva Lupi, the text suggests that an outsider may often make the best monarch or leader, bringing a measure of objectivity to her decision-making.

Emily’s recognition of the political and social patterns of Faerie enables her to diagnose the biggest problem in the realm, which is its history of vendetta. The succession politics of Silva Lupi, as various characters stress, is soaked in blood. While Wendell’s father murdered his own mother for the throne, his second wife—Queen Arna—killed Wendell’s five siblings and his father to become sole ruler. Emily calls the court a viper’s nest, while Taran dubs it a den of wolves. Given this state of affairs, merely murdering Arna to instate Wendell on the throne will be, at best, a stop-gap solution. More importantly, the land will suffer in the process, despite the curse having been lifted. After all, according to the second Macan tale, the curse returns in the form of the leader’s bloodthirstiness. Since in Faerie, the land and the leader are fused in myriad ways, the corruption of the king will always sicken the land. Emily knows that Wendell will have to forgive Arna in order to do the right thing for himself and his people.

While Wendell opts for forgiveness extremely begrudgingly—he is not as ready as Emily to forgive Arna, or even Taran or Deilah—he proves a true leader in other aspects. He respects all his people, not just the nobility, and he is willing to sacrifice his life for the good of the realm. Faerie nobility are typically dismissive if not overtly cruel toward the oiche sidhe. For instance, when it comes to questioning the butter faerie, the Lady in the Crimson Cloak doesn’t hesitate before suggesting the creature be tortured. Similarly, early in the novel, the brownies tell Wendell that the fights of the nobility have disrupted their world, but the courtly Fae simply don’t care. The novel shows that Wendell is different from this mold, perhaps because his mother was one of the oiche sidhe. Not only does Wendell treat the oiche sidhe respectfully, but Emily notes by the end of the novel that the common Fae are so happy with this treatment that a retinue never leaves Wendell’s side.

As Emily and Wendell grow into their roles as leaders, they realize that the truest responsibility of leadership is sacrifice. While for Wendell that sacrifice takes the form of his death and rebirth, for Emily it involves putting aside her fears and making a perilous, heroic journey into the Veil. Although Emily believes she is undertaking the journey to save Wendell in the long run, the text suggests that the journey’s purpose is also to restore the skewed balance in Silva Lupi and truly, lastingly healing the land. Once Emily makes this sacrifice and returns to Silva Lupi with Arna, she notes that the Fae treat her differently, recognizing the power into which she has grown.