The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk

“The boy did not want glory. He did not want a crown. He wanted freedom.”

This is the core desire that has ruled all of Asar’s decisions since childhood. He has been chasing freedom, but all he’s ever gotten is a cage: his father and Gideon forging him into a weapon they could use against their enemies. The short, declarative sentences, with their repetition of “want”/“wanted,” emphasize the single-mindedness of Asar’s desire.

“He realized it many years later, when he felt the power of the gods course through his veins, and finally, finally, he received the very thing that his mentor had promised him that night—illumination into every dark corner of the world, power beyond anything he ever could have imagined. And he cared about none of it, because he was losing the love of his life. Carve out your heart for it.”

Once every desire he ever had—for knowledge, power, freedom, etc.—has been satisfied, Asar realizes that these things mean nothing without Mische. He regrets all the sacrifices he has made to gain the things he believed he wanted, establishing the theme of The Limits of Sacrifice.

“Acolytes are obsessed with death—maybe because it is both the ultimate sacrifice and the ultimate reward, the greatest thing we can offer our gods and the greatest thing they can offer us.”

Mische’s point of view acknowledges (and implicitly critiques) the sacrifices that most followers of the gods are forced to make. The idea that acolytes chase death as the ultimate sacrifice gains additional resonance in the context of Mische’s own death, which reveals just how steep the cost is.