Heavenly Bodies
78 pages • 2-hour read
Imani ErriuHeavenly Bodies
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Background
Genre Context: Romantasy and the Enemies-to-Lovers Trope
Heavenly Bodies is a work of romantasy, a literary subgenre that blends high-stakes fantasy with a central romance plot. Romantasy as a subgenre has grown significantly in the 2020s, driven by reader communities like BookTok (on TikTok) and Bookstagram (on Instagram), where emotionally driven fantasy narratives—particularly those centered on romance, power, and identity—have found widespread popularity. These works often foreground character relationships alongside expansive world-building, prioritizing emotional stakes as much as external conflict. The book’s digitally driven readership trends highlight its place within a flourishing market popularized by authors like Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses) and Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing), whose works have achieved massive success through social media platforms. Like these novels, Heavenly Bodies combines world-building, magic systems, and political intrigue with the emotional and relational development of its main characters. Central to its romantasy structure is the use of the enemies-to-lovers trope to drive the relationship between protagonists Elara Bellereve and Prince Lorenz “Enzo” D’Oro. Their animosity is rooted in a deep-seated political conflict: Enzo’s kingdom of Helios has “plagued her kingdom with raids and blockades for years” (4). This hostility is immediately apparent in their personal interactions, as Elara dismisses Enzo as an “egotistical bastard” (35) while he labels her a “darkwitch” (35).
This initial antagonism creates a foundation of narrative tension, allowing the plot to explore their evolving dynamic as they are forced into an uneasy alliance. Within romantasy, the enemies-to-lovers trope often functions as a structural mechanism for interrogating power, prejudice, and ideological division. By forcing opposing characters into proximity, the trope allows narratives to destabilize inherited beliefs and reframe political conflict through intimacy and perspective shifts. Heavenly Bodies aligns with this tradition by embedding its romantic arc within larger systems of war, divine influence, and cultural opposition, demonstrating how personal relationships can both reflect and disrupt broader societal tensions.
Ideological Context: The Archetypal Conflict of Light Versus Dark
The central conflict in Heavenly Bodies between the Kingdom of Light (Helios) and the Kingdom of Night (Asteria) draws upon the classic light-versus-dark archetype, a foundational moral binary in mythology and literature. This archetype traditionally associates light with concepts of good, purity, and order, while darkness represents evil, corruption, and chaos. This dynamic is prominent in works like J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, where the free peoples unite against the dark lord Sauron of Mordor. Initially, the novel appears to follow this structure, setting Helios, ruled by “the revered Lord Light” (xi), in opposition to Asteria, the domain of the goddess of “the Dark” (xii). However, Imani Erriu subverts this traditional framework by portraying the “light” kingdom as oppressive and the “dark” kingdom as its victim. King Idris of Helios is introduced as a “conceited prick” (15) who waged a brutal “War on Darkness” (4) against Asteria. His kingdom thrives on propaganda that demonizes Elara’s people. In contrast, Asteria is depicted as an isolated and misunderstood realm suffering under Helion aggression. This inversion challenges the reader’s preconceived notions about good and evil, forcing a reevaluation of the moral landscape. By presenting the protagonist from the supposedly “dark” kingdom as a sympathetic figure, the novel critiques simplistic moral binaries and explores how concepts of light and dark can be manipulated to justify political persecution and violence, questioning who truly defines good and evil.The central conflict in Heavenly Bodies between the Kingdom of Light (Helios) and the Kingdom of Night (Asteria) draws upon the classic light-versus-dark archetype, a foundational moral binary in mythology and literature. This archetype traditionally associates light with concepts of good, purity, and order, while darkness represents evil, corruption, and chaos. This dynamic is prominent in works like J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, where the free peoples unite against the dark lord Sauron of Mordor. Initially, the novel appears to follow this structure, setting Helios, ruled by “the revered Lord Light” (xi), in opposition to Asteria, the domain of the goddess of “the Dark” (xii). However, Imani Erriu subverts this traditional framework by portraying the “light” kingdom as oppressive and the “dark” kingdom as its victim. King Idris of Helios is introduced as a “conceited prick” (15) who waged a brutal “War on Darkness” (4) against Asteria. His kingdom thrives on propaganda that demonizes Elara’s people. In contrast, Asteria is depicted as an isolated and misunderstood realm suffering under Helion aggression. This inversion challenges the reader’s preconceived notions about good and evil, forcing a reevaluation of the moral landscape. By presenting the protagonist from the supposedly “dark” kingdom as a sympathetic figure, the novel critiques simplistic moral binaries and explores how concepts of light and dark can be manipulated to justify political persecution and violence, questioning who truly defines good and evil.
Philosophical Context: Astronomical and Astrological Symbolism and Power
Heavenly Bodies draws heavily on celestial imagery, invoking the symbolic language of stars, planets, and cosmic order to structure its world-building and thematic concerns. In both historical and literary traditions, celestial bodies have been used to represent fate, hierarchy, and divine authority, with movements of the heavens often interpreted as reflections of earthly power structures. The division between Helios and Asteria—kingdoms aligned with light and darkness—mirrors astronomical dualities such as day and night, sun and shadow, positioning their conflict within a broader cosmic framework.
Astrological systems, which assign meaning to celestial patterns, often link identity and destiny to forces beyond individual control. This framework resonates with the novel’s emphasis on fate, prophecy, and inherited roles, particularly as characters grapple with expectations tied to their origins and perceived nature. The title itself, Heavenly Bodies, reinforces this connection, suggesting that the characters function within a larger, orbit-like system where relationships, power, and conflict are shaped by forces that extend beyond the personal.
At the same time, the narrative complicates this deterministic framework. Rather than presenting fate as fixed, the novel explores how individuals resist, reinterpret, or disrupt the roles assigned to them, challenging the idea that identity is governed solely by cosmic or divine design. In this way, celestial imagery operates not only as aesthetic world-building but also as a thematic lens through which questions of agency, destiny, and power are examined.
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