Throughout the novel, blood acts as a symbol of lineage, power, violence, and monstrosity, underscoring the concept of corrupted inheritance and The Cyclical Nature of Unresolved Trauma. The novel’s central conflict stems from the bloodline of Unir, whose divine children—Samkiel, Nismera, Kaden, and Isaiah—are locked in a destructive struggle for power rooted in their shared parentage and trauma. Blood ties the characters to a cycle of inherited violence, where the very substance of one’s being becomes the source of their torment and their power.

In particular, Isaiah’s identity is defined by his power to control blood, earning him the name Blood Scorn. One of the prisoners in Flagerun notes that “Blood Scorn is the one that can kill you without even touching you” (175) . Isaiah’s embrace of this title signifies his acceptance of a monstrous persona forged in the trauma of his imprisonment. Kaden reflects that Isaiah likes the name Blood Scorn “because it proved [they] were stronger now. [They] were no longer those scrawny teens with unkempt powers who so easily believed all of Unir’s lies” (24). Wielding blood as a weapon, symbolically transforms his lineage of paternal abuse into a tool for power and control.