Three Dark Crowns

“Genevieve’s lilac eyes are like stones.”

This simile emphasizes Genevieve’s beauty and coldness. While lavender eyes would be unusual and striking, their comparison to stones suggests hardness and cruelty. This reflects the pleasure Genevieve takes in inflicting pain on Katharine.

“The room is heavy, and so full of eyes, as it waits.”

This description of the ballroom where the Gave Noir takes place employs figurative language to emphasize the oppressive atmosphere of pressure and judgment. The “heavy” weight of the room reflects the mood of the people in the room rather than describing the room itself, and this substitution is an example of metonymy. Further, the people in the room are reduced to “eyes” because Katharine is only aware of their watchfulness, which is an example of synecdoche. Finally, the personification of the room as it “waits” builds suspense.

“They could call them until they filled the bare branches around the clearing. Thousands of them, until not a single starling remained anywhere else in Wolf Spring, and the trees seethed with black, speckled bodies.”

This description of starlings evokes a sense of darkness and unease about the naturalist gift. The ominous word choices link Arsinoe’s naturalism to death and darkness rather than light and life, foreshadowing her discovery that naturalism is not truly her gift and will not help her succeed in her Ascension Year. Words like “seethed” and “bodies” invoke violence and death, casting doubt on the supposed life-giving nature of her power.

“If you want your chance at me, you’ll have it! They all will, after Beltane is over.”

Arsinoe’s words indirectly characterize her by demonstrating her feelings of inadequacy and inevitability. Her tone is resigned, revealing that she is convinced of her eventual failure and accepts it as fact.

“Mirabella tries to change their pace. She quickly stops trying, feeling the fool, like a bird fluttering against a cage of robes.”

This simile compares Mirabella to a bird that is confined and fluttering against the walls of its cage. She feels similarly constrained by the circle of robed priestesses around her. This description reinforces that Mirabella feels unfairly restricted and limited.

“He was as devoted as a hound to my serious sister, just like Joseph will no doubt be to you.”

Madrigal uses a simile to compare Matthew Aldrin to a loyal hound in terms of his relationship with her sister, Caragh. She also predicts that Joseph will be similarly faithful and devoted to Jules. However, Madrigal is shown to be untrustworthy through descriptions of her unkindness toward her sister, whom everyone adores, and Madrigal’s use of low magic. When she later sleeps with Matthew, even after saying that he’s her sister’s dependable dog, it creates questions about whether she used low magic to make him desire her, just as she attempted to create a love charm for Jules and Joseph. This foreshadows future problems in both relationships.

“Queens are not supposed to love their sisters.”

This line reveals the unnatural expectations placed on the triplet queens. Mirabella’s resistance to the idea show her moral conflict and emotional depth and highlights the theme of The Moral Complexities of Fighting for Survival.

“The snake’s fangs catch him in the wrist. He holds the reptile gently until it releases, even though he ought to break its neck.”

Pietyr’s action is the first indication that he feels more for Katharine than he is meant to do. He does not allow the venomous snake to bite her because he knows how sick it will make her, and he wishes to protect her. Rather than kill it, as he “ought” to do for biting him, he gently holds it until it lets him go. This indicates his naturally gentle nature, which makes his later choice to kill Katharine all the more surprising.

“Mirabella’s blood runs cold […]. He is the boy who loves Arsinoe […]. She has slept with the boy her sister loves. Her stomach lurches.”

Idioms like “blood runs cold” and “stomach lurches” highlight Mirabella’s dread and fear when she realizes what she’s done. She fears that she’s accidentally betrayed Arsinoe, and this makes her feel physically ill. Mirabella loves her sisters, and her physical response when she believes she has had sex with the boy her sister loves characterizes her as loyal and loving.

“Low magic is not something to be played at. It is not owned, like a gift is. It is something let off its leash.”

Almost all the characters are cautious if not downright suspicious of low magic. The metaphor of low magic as an animal that has been released from confinement emphasizes that it is something wilder and much less predictable. Unlike gifted magic, it cannot be fully mastered.

“The fire will reach for her, and she will embrace it, let it have the run of her body as she spins with her arms flung out. She will wrap herself in it like chains and let it burn. Perhaps it will burn her love for her sisters right out of her heart.”

As Mirabella prepares for the Quickening, she plans to work with fire. She uses a simile, comparing the fire to “chains” to acknowledge her community’s expectations and her acceptance of this duty. Mirabella hopes that the fire will be transformative and help her change her mind about her sisters, which highlights her struggle between duty and love.

“Arsinoe will never hide from anything.”

After Arsinoe is attacked by the old bear, Jules says this to Joseph. This characterization conveys Arsinoe’s strength, moral courage, and resilience, as well as her acceptance of truth, no matter how painful it is.

“‘Let me help you put it on,’ says Jules. ‘No,’ says Arsinoe. ‘Better to save it. For the Disembarking.’”

Arsinoe’s refusal to wear the mask signifies that she doesn’t want to hide. She has spent a decade running from the truth about her supposed lack of gifts, and she doesn’t want to don the mask Ellis made for her until she must. She’d rather tell the truth about herself and her abilities and accept whatever consequences result.

“His words give Arsinoe a warm feeling in her belly. He is good, this mainlander. And though he was not lying when he said she would make for a poor wife, he will make a very good king-consort to one of her sisters. She does not dare to think he would make a good king-consort for her. Such hopes are dangerous.”

These lines reflect Arsinoe’s growing affection and vulnerability to Billy Chatworth, despite her sense that he can never be hers. She does not know that his father has made a deal with Natalia Arron to marry him to Katharine, and this dramatic irony creates tension. Arsinoe represses her feelings for Billy because she has faced a lifetime of disappointment and cannot stomach more.

“Had Katharine been raised in the temples like Mirabella, she might have better words for the hum in the air and how it makes the back of her neck prickle. The cold, dense air of it rushes into her blood and makes her so giddy that she laughs […]. She should not like it so well.”

Katharine’s visceral, involuntary, and physical response to this natural setting suggests that she may not be a poisoner. She does not possess typical poisoner qualities, and she has a strong, positive reaction to nature, even when it scares others. This moment foreshadows that she may, in fact, be a naturalist.

“Her hand darts out to grab the young queen’s as fast as the strike of a snake.”

This simile compares Natalia to a snake. Since snakes are often associated with temptation and deception, linked to the devil disguising himself as a snake to trick Eve in the Bible, this simile highlights Natalia’s capacity for duplicity and wiliness. Previously, Pietyr said that Katharine scurries like a “rat,” which are prey to snakes.

“Matthew has been with Madrigal, but that does not make any sense. He loves Aunt Caragh. Or he did.”

The disjointed, uncertain phrasing reflects confusion about Matthew Sandrin’s behavior after he sleeps with Madrigal. No one besides Arsinoe, however, knows that Madrigal crafts love spells, and it seems likely that this is how she tempted Matthew to her bed. This indirectly characterizes Madrigal as unethical, untrustworthy, and selfish.

“King-consorts are figureheads. Symbols of peace with the mainland.”

King-consorts are always from the mainland, though they have no real power on the island. Instead, their marriage to the reigning queen symbolizes the peaceful relationship that exists between the mainland and Fennbirn. They are only figurative embodiments of this amity.

“The Black Council scatters like rats.”

This simile compares the members of the powerful council to rats—animals associated with squalor and trickery—reflecting the council’s corruption. Snakes often eat rats, and Natalia—the head of the Arron family and the Council—is associated with snakes. This emphasizes the fragility of the council’s authority and Natalia’s firm hold over them.

“She looks again at Mirabella, beautiful and royal without effort, and at Katharine, who is lovely and wicked-looking as black glass.”

Arsinoe’s thoughts convey how significantly she has been indoctrinated into hating her sisters. She believes Mirabella puts no effort into her performance, though Mirabella works hard and thinks deeply about her role. Arsinoe thinks Katharine is “wicked-looking,” comparing her appearance to “black glass,” which conveys a sense of beauty, danger, and darkness. However, Katharine is no more wicked than she is immune to poisons. Each sister is just trying to survive and do the best she can, though each has been trained to distrust the others.

“The mainland boys on the dais wet their lips. What wonder they must feel, watching this girl who cannot die. It does not even matter that it is not real.”

This passage highlights the community’s hypocrisy since two of the three Quickening performances are fakes. They are supposed to rely on a shared belief in the Goddess and her distribution of gifts to the triplet queens. Yet not even the priestesses of the temple who back a gifted queen feel confident enough to simply allow the Goddess’s will to be done without interference.

“His face is the face he wore on the night they met, lit by flames on a darkened beach. How she longs to pull him up onto the stage. She would clothe them both in fire. Burn them up together rather than far apart.”

When Mirabella sees Joseph in the crowd during the Quickening, she is distracted by his presence. She longs to wrap them both in fire, which is a symbol of love and desire. This fire is metaphorically compared to a garment, just as she shared her dry cloak with him after he nearly drowned. In addition, wrapping them together within fire would protect them from others and the world that would keep them apart.

“‘Elizabeth,’ Mirabella says. ‘You are a naturalist. Could you have done what Arsinoe did with that bear?’ Elizabeth shakes her head. ‘Never. Not with fifty of me. She is…stronger than any naturalist I have ever seen.’”

Elizabeth’s assessment speaks to Jules’s power, since Jules was the one who truly controlled the bear. Not only is Jules so powerful that another naturalist cannot fathom her strength, but she is not even a queen. Since the strength of a queen’s gift is meant to empower her to rule, this foreshadows the rebellion Jules will lead in future novels in the series.