The Knight and the Moth is an example of a romantasy novel, a genre that Gillig frequently explores. “Romantasy” is a portmanteau combining the words “romance” and “fantasy,” demonstrating a blending of genres that has created a new and distinct genre. With the creation of the genre comes the popularization of specific genre tropes. Gillig engages with several genre tropes in The Knight and the Moth, specifically enemies-to-lovers romance, found family, and magical companions. 

Throughout the novel, Six and Rory move through the stages of the enemies-to-lovers trope. They have an adversarial relationship at the beginning of the novel, as Rory knows the truth about the Omens, while Six still feels loyalty to Aisling Cathedral and the abbess. Their ideological differences around faith and fealty put them at odds; as Six realizes the truth about the world around them, she understands Rory better, and their relationship grows in depth and intricacy. They become friends and then lovers.

Six has multiple chosen families throughout the narrative, illustrating Gillig’s use of the found-family trope, in which a character forges familial relationships with others around them. Six views her fellow Diviners as her sisters and plans to live with them when their tenure at Aisling is over. However, when the Diviners disappear, Six is left alone again. She and the gargoyle join Rory, Maude, and Benji in their quest to destroy the Omens, and the group grows closer together as their adventure continues. While Six falls in love with Rory, she begins to view Maude as a maternal figure, like Benji does, and Benji as a sort of sibling. This dynamic works until Benji’s betrayal at the end of the novel, when he fractures the family and insists on marrying Six, perverting their sibling-like friendship. The gargoyle fits into this found-family dynamic, but his presence in the narrative also demonstrates Gillig’s engagement with the magical-companions trope, as the gargoyle serves as Six’s loyal companion and possesses magical abilities that help Six in her quest to destroy the Omens and find the missing Diviners.

Gillig also works with romance and fantasy-specific tropes. Six has never found complete intimate satisfaction with any sexual partners until she is intimate with Rory, illustrating Gillig’s use of romance-genre tropes related to intimacy: One common trope is a female main character who struggles to experience climax until intimacy with the male main character. In addition, Gillig’s magic system (the Omens and their objects, the Diviners and their dreams, etc.) is a clear example of her engagement with fantasy tropes revolving around the intersections between religion, magic, and power.

Outside of genre tropes, Gillig also utilizes fairy-tale elements in The Knight and the Moth. In particular, she borrows elements from the Grimm Brothers fairytale “Rapunzel,” in which a sorceress demands a baby from her neighbors as revenge for the neighbors stealing her rapunzel plants; the sorceress names the baby Rapunzel and keeps her locked in a tower in the woods, pretending to be Rapunzel’s mother. Six and her fellow Diviners are isolated in Aisling Cathedral like Rapunzel; they are kept by the abbess, who presents herself as a loving mother while possessing ulterior motives and strange supernatural power. With these intersecting connections to multiple genres, Gillig layers conventions and tropes to develop three-dimensional characters and deepen the themes of the novel.