61 pages • 2 hours read
The Traitor Queen
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of violence, torture, suicide, and suicidal ideation.
The Burden of Legacy and the Will to Change
Silas’s continued manipulation of Lara, her sisters, and Keris demonstrates the lasting influence of parental control, learned ideology, and political inheritance. Even after Silas’s daughters recognize and reject the nihilistic violence of his regime, they struggle to overcome the false beliefs he has planted in their minds since childhood. As Lara and her sisters struggle to overcome the burden of legacy and forge a new path forward, Aren grapples with losing his much more positive legacy when his kingdom is conquered.
Everywhere she goes, Lara is scorned for her dual identity as both the daughter of the hated Silas and the “traitor queen” who brought about Ithicana’s downfall. Valcottans and Harendellians bow to Aren and Ahnna but either regard Lara with outright disdain or wish her dead. Throughout the novel, Lara must work to overcome the negative perceptions that come with this legacy. When she returns with Aren to fight for the liberation of Ithicana, the Ithicanians reject her until they see her repeatedly risk her life for them. Even after she kills her father and saves Ithicana, her legacy as the traitor queen is not forgotten, and Aren tells her that she will have more work to do to atone for the destruction her accidental message unleashed.
