The Knight and the Moth

“When you looked up at the rose window, the light kissed stained glass. Your craft was obedience. You said the names of gods and how to read their signs. You learned how to dream—And how to drown.”

The opening Prologue has an unnamed narrator, who is later revealed to be the abbess, telling the story of the beginning of Traum and the Omens to Bartholomew. From the very opening chapter of the novel, Gillig creates an ominous tone by referencing the darker aspects of divination. The emphasis on obedience also foreshadows the depths of the abbess’s control and manipulations of the Diviners.

“It was impossible to tell, with the shroud that covered their faces from their brows to the bridge of their noses, where any of the women were truly looking. I did not know their names, and I did not know the color of their eyes. I did not know the color of my eyes.”

Gillig introduces the symbol of the shrouds in the first chapter, illustrating how the shrouds keep the Diviners from fully knowing themselves or each other. This divide between the Diviners keeps them from joining together to overthrow the abbess and find their freedom. This is just one way in which the abbess keeps the Diviners under her control, developing the theme of The Powers of Fate and Free Will by highlighting the depth of her manipulations.

“When it came to this particular gargoyle, who called everyone and everything Bartholomew for no discernable reason, it was better to be contrite. When he took to sulking, it lasted for days.”

Gillig foreshadows the reveal of Bartholomew’s identity by describing him as often sulking, a behavior often associated with children. Bartholomew was a child when he was starved of spring water and turned into stone, leaving him in a state of adolescence, unable to grow up.