55 pages • 1-hour read
Heat of the Everflame
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of violence.
The Challenges of Claiming Identity and Autonomy
Diem Bellator’s ongoing work to adjust to her half-mortal identity complicates her self-discovery. Heat of the Everflame is the third title in the Kindred’s Curse Saga, but Diem is still adjusting to new truths about her origins. As she continues to have new experiences and face new conflicts, she must navigate the challenges of claiming identity and autonomy.
Since Diem grew up in Mortal City, she was convinced that she was a mortal and raised to despise the Descended. In the narrative present, Diem is now Queen of Lumnos and living amongst the Descended in relative harmony. She therefore feels caught between the girl she used to be and the woman she is still becoming. “Having not been raised as a Descended” (19), Diem still has questions about the extent of her magic and about her relationships with her new friends. She also remains attached to her childhood memories and community in Mortal City. These internal conflicts often leave Diem feeling hesitant about what she ought to do or who she really is.
Diem’s half-mortal identity makes her a member of multiple worlds, and she longs to define herself on her own terms. This division of self feels especially acute to Diem as she travels from realm to realm throughout the novel. Although she is ruler of Lumnos, she often finds herself “dressed in plain mortal garb” (49) and relying on her wilderness survival techniques to guide her friends through unfamiliar terrain. Her appearance and her activities are “unexpectedly comforting” and act as “a reminder of who [she] was and what [she] was fighting for” (49). Since becoming the Queen of Lumnos, Diem has often felt compelled to forsake the people she grew up with or to deny where she came from. However, she gradually remembers that embracing her origins is essential to fully claiming her complex, kaleidoscopic identity. The novel uses these dynamics to convey the importance of free self-exploration and self-expression. Diem must not conform to the mortals’ or the Descended’s expectations because she must claim who she is in all of her contradictions.
Diem’s discoveries about her mother’s work with the Guardians and her biological father’s identity further complicate her understanding of herself. When she and Auralie reunite, Diem is shocked to learn that her mother has been working for the rebel forces. Other discoveries about Auralie’s fraught past further challenge how Diem has seen her mother and thus herself. The same is true when Diem learns that her father is violent, greedy, and power-hungry.
Diem’s private quandaries about her parentage convey the lifelong nature of self-discovery. It is important for Diem to interrogate her parental origins, but it is also important for her to hold these biological truths in balance with all she has learned about herself as an independent woman.
The Implications of Power and Duty
Diem’s attempts to adjust to being Queen challenge her to examine and redefine what power and duty mean to her. Diem never expected to rule a realm or to lead a kingdom. However, now that she has assumed the throne and taken the Crown, Diem must confront the implications of power and duty.
While many leaders in Emarion’s past and present politics choose to “slaughter their enemies” (105), Diem prefers to rule with peace. Diem’s primary goal is to unite the mortals and the Descended of Emarion. This mission is harrowing, and requires Diem to strike a balance between gentleness and a firm hand. Since she has “many detractors who do not like [her] background or who disagree with [her] vision” (95), she has to use tact, grace, and courage to bring her enemies and allies together. This is not an easy feat and often asks Diem to compromise her innate sense of good and evil, justice and morality.
The more time Diem spends traveling to and visiting the Emarion realms, the more she learns about her people and the kind of ruler she wants to be. She and her companions spend time in Umbros, Arboros, Montios, Sophos, and elsewhere. Each geographical location reveals something new about what the Emarion people need, who they are, and what they expect from their ruler. Diem’s travels teach her that power and duty require sacrifice, care, and reciprocity. While in Umbros, for example, Diem begins to understand the exchange required between her and her people: “Right. Authority. Control. Deference. This was what I’d demanded from them. Though the Crown was hidden away inside me, I felt its weight on my head more than I ever had” (169). The Crown symbolizes Diem’s duty to her people. It represents the authority she has over them, and the responsibility she has to fight for and protect them. Diem also understands that she must give her people the same respect she requests of them.
At the same time, Diem’s conflicts with the Crowns forces her to confront the innate difficulty of ruling a diverse nation. Diem’s main goals are “to restore what was taken from the mortals,” “to help the good Descended,” and to “bring all the half-mortals home” (232). These missions are noble, but stretch Diem in multiple directions at once. Governing this eclectic kingdom means that Diem cannot strictly use violence or strictly assume a deferential stance. She must communicate with each Crown and must attune herself to each group of people. The way Diem settles into her queenly role conveys how much skill, heart, and wisdom are required to hold a position of power.
Navigating Loyalty and Betrayal During Wartime
Diem’s attempts to unite the mortals and the Descended usher Diem onto a moral, ethical, and personal dilemma. The more chaotic the Emarion realms become, the harder it is for Diem to know who to trust. As “the leader here,” Diem is desperate for “people who are loyal to [her] beyond all reason,” people who “believe in [her] so much they would take on certain death merely because [she] asked” (51). Over time, however, Diem realizes that she cannot expect the people to follow, trust, and remain loyal to her simply because she wears the Crown, and that even her apparent allies are not always what they seem. Thus, throughout the war in the novel, Diem must navigate loyalty and betrayal.
Diem’s half-mortal identity complicates her understanding of what loyalty and betrayal really mean. Diem initially feels betrayed by her mother when she discovers that Auralie—a mortal healer—has been involved with the Guardians, spied for the Descended, and tried to ruin her coronation. These secrets make Diem distrust her mother. She suddenly doesn’t recognize the woman who raised her and fears she no longer knows what to expect from her. The same is true of Diem’s relationship with Luther. At times, Diem is certain that Luther is the only one she can trust and the only person who will remain loyal to her no matter what. When Luther pulls away in bed, disappears during a battle scene, or simply retreats into himself emotionally, Diem finds herself questioning his loyalty.
Diem’s vacillating fears about her closest confidantes stem from her wartime scenario. Although Diem knows she wants to help the Guardians “wage war against the Crowns to restore what was taken from the mortals” and to unite the mortals and Descended, she hasn’t “really figured out the war part yet” (232). Diem is intimate with political unrest and social divisions, but she is unfamiliar with leading such an intense period of political upheaval. When Diem is involved in various battles, she often questions who she should defend and where she should direct her ire. She doesn’t want to kill mortals, half-mortals, or Descended, but in the fight to justice lives are still lost. Diem often struggles with punishing even outright betrayal, as witnessed in how she lets Vance go even though she knows he is dangerous and has tried to harm her multiple times.
Diem’s attempts to reconcile with her wartime reality challenge her personally and politically. She wants to be good and true, but discovers that navigating a kingdom at war means being more savvy and perceptive about others’ motives. While Diem is still learning how to distinguish true loyalty from false by the end of the novel, her growing confidence in her rule and abilities imply that she will become more adept at such politicking as the series progresses.
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