Trial of the Sun Queen

As the protagonist and first-person narrator, Lor is a dynamic and round character. Her journey is one of self-discovery as she grapples with her identity, moving from a nameless prisoner defined by her suffering to the secret successor to the most powerful throne in the kingdom. Her transformation is marked by a constant internal conflict between her hardened, cynical worldview and a burgeoning hope for a future she never thought possible, revealed to the reader through her first-person perspective.

Lor’s core motivation is the liberation of her older siblings, Tristan and Willow. She views freedom as a collective goal, stating, “There is no freedom without them” (5). This sense of justice and loyalty to others is a sign of her moral strength, indicating that she is fit to be a queen, key to the dispossessed heroine trope. Her loyalty to her siblings initially compels her to enter the deadly Sun Queen Trials, and this motivation increasingly expands into a desire to break down the wider corrupt system of power that has oppressed them.