The Fragile Threads of Power

“There was no easy way to translate Veskan. It was the kind of language where every word could mean a dozen things, depending on their order and their context. It’s why he’d never managed more than a frail grasp on a handful of phrases. But this one he’d held on to. This one Alucard understood. A head gets lost, but a heart knows home.”

This passage connects to the novel’s theme of The Importance of Chosen Family. Like several of the novel’s characters, Alucard is estranged from his family of origin. However, he is embraced by his chosen family and feels at home with them. Standing outside his ancestral manor, he contemplates the feeling of safety and love he receives from Rhy and contrasts it with the unease he felt as a child in the Emery estate.

“Lila tipped her head back, brown eyes squinting at the sky. A stranger would never know that one of those eyes was real and one was fake. Would never know that the one she’d lost hadn’t been brown at all, but black as pitch, carved out by a two-bit doctor back in London, England—the only London she’d known of, then—when she was just a child. As if it had been a poisoned thing, a spreading rot, and not a sign of strength, a marker of extraordinary power, once-in-a-generation magic.”

As an adult at home in Red London, Lila is still marked emotionally and physically by her past trauma in Grey London. There, her gifts (represented by the black eye of the Antari) were seen as “a spreading rot” rather than something to be embraced. Though she is an adult who has come into her own power, she still contends with the lingering effects of her upbringing.

“Kell wasn’t listening. He was too busy fumbling with his coat, turning it inside out, trading the black he’d worn when he’d attacked her for red, then red for blue, and finally blue for grey. Each side of the peculiar coat was a different one entirely, from the color to the cut to the buttons and clasps, to the contents of the pockets, and each had a story.”

Kell’s coat represents his colorful past and the many faces and disguises he wears. The coat is magical and offers him an appropriate disguise for any role he needs to play. However, Lila loves Kell and sees him for who he is as a person underneath the coat—as a man instead of a prince or Antari.

“And Kell wanted what he always did these days. To prove that even now, without the power that had once defined his life, marked him as Antari and made him the strongest magician in the world, he was still worth something to the Grey Barron, and Lila Bard, to the palace and the empire, and himself.”

In this novel, Kell must come to terms with who he is without magic. He has spent his life being Antari, but now, he must decide if he is still useful or worthy without his special abilities. Lila, who loves him, pushes Kell to not mourn what he has lost but to forge a new way forward. His journey illustrates the difficulty faced by those who lose their power, a nuanced aspect of The Risks and Responsibilities of Power.

“He had stood in the king’s map room when he was young, and studied the empire modeled on the table, the drawings on the wall, wondered how a map could have edges when the world went on beyond it. Where is the rest? he’d asked, and the king had told him, This is the part that matters.”

Kell recalls an incident from his childhood where the previous king assured him that the world beyond the empire did not matter. However, as an adult, Kell has come to realize that there is more to the world than just Arnes and its concerns. His experiences with Lila in the ice show that there are many places in the world with their own people, language, and ideas. The imagery of a map that ends too early illustrates the incomplete worldview of those who remain overly focused on the seat of their power.

“Delilah Bard wasn’t a soft bed on a summer morning. She was a blade in the dark, dazzling, and dangerous, and sharp.”

Lila is far from a stereotypical damsel in distress, and her romantic arc with Kell does not diminish her strength or independence. Here, Kell thinks about his love for Lila and contrasts her with a life of ease. Lila keeps him on his toes and demands the best of him, refusing to let him sulk in despair after his magic is severed.

“To Lila, Kell had always been a pane of glass tilted toward her just so, so that where others saw only colors and streaks, she saw the truth of it. Of him.”

Kell is viewed by many as inscrutable. He has spent many years as the powerful, seemingly untouchable Antari. Lila loves Kell and understands him. To her, he is easy to read and a man before a prince or powerful magician. By contrasting Lila’s ability to understand Kell with the inability of “others” to see his truth, the narrative underscores the singular nature of their relationship.

“We all don clothes that do not fit, and hope we will grow into them. Or at least, grow used to them.”

Tieren, the high priest, advises Rhy when the latter fears he is not worthy of the kingship. He compares the title to clothes that one must either fill or at least become accustomed to. In doing so, he reassures Rhy that he will be a good king and has the potential to be a great one. Tieren’s use of clothes as a metaphor is repeated by Kosika, who later wishes that the queenship was as easy to shed as a “cloak or crown” (438).

“The youngest royal had her father’s eyes—a molten gold, ringed with dark lashes—and her mother’s mouth, though it smiled far more often. ‘And she has nothing of me,’ Alucard had said one night, after too much wine. But Rhy had placed his hands around his lover’s face and said, ‘She has your heart.’”

Ren is the biological child of Rhy and Nadiya but considers Alucard to be her third parent. Alucard’s worry about her features reflects his deeper fears that he has no place in her life or in Rhy’s. Rhy reminds him that he is forming her as a person because he loves and cares for her, so he is her father in every meaningful sense. This connects to the novel’s theme of The Importance of Chosen Family.

“‘Power,’ she said, without hesitation, and Alucard must have failed to hide his reaction, because she went on. ‘Oh, not as you think it. I do not mean the power to command citizens or start wars. I simply mean the power to do as I please. To think and work and live as I like, with no one in my way.’”

Nadiya explains to Alucard that she married Rhy for practical reasons. Her status as queen offers her a chance to live her life and focus on her work without bowing to the whims of her family. She sees marriage as an escape and is willing to have an unconventional, if loving, relationship with Rhy and Alucard to facilitate this. Nadiya’s interest in power foreshadows conflicts she will have with other characters over the dangers of her experiments.

“‘Brother,’ said Rhy, holding him tight. And unlike the coat, and all the other trappings of Kell’s old life, this one, at least, still fit.”

One of Kell’s fears in the novel is that he is no longer useful or worthy as a person because he has lost the power that made him Antari. However, Rhy loves and values him as a brother regardless of what power he has. Kell is unsure if he is Antari or prince, but the title of “brother” still holds true. The ease with which Kell and Rhy resume their relationship reflects The Importance of Chosen Family.

“He could draw up a wall of earth, or bring it down, but the gestures had all the nuance of a butcher’s cleaver, while his younger brother had been handed a surgeon’s blade. It did not matter how much Berras tried, how much he trained, he still ended up with a pile of dirt.”

Berras sees himself in competition with his brother due to their father’s abusive upbringing. Instead of seeing both their talents as valuable or worthy, he thinks of Alucard’s talent as more important and his own as worthless—“a pile of dirt.” This envy fuels his own mistreatment of his brother and his resentment.

“Nadiya Loreni was a brilliant inventor, but she had a kind of tunnel vision when it came to her work. She never seemed to see the danger in it, only the potential. In her mind, power was a neutral force.”

Alucard cares for Nadiya and can appreciate her brilliance, but he fears her analytical mind. He thinks that she is overly focused on exploring magic and potential rather than understanding how it might be misused. He is proven correct when the golden chains are stolen and used against them by Berras.

“Now and then, Tesali’s father would give her an appraising look, the same one he leveled at a piece brought in to be sold. She knew he was waiting to see what she was worth. To find her value, and make use of it, as he had done for his other daughters.”

Tes knows that her father only values his daughters for what they can bring him. Their worth is entirely measured in their use, rather than in any inherent value they might have by being his daughters. He sees them as means to an end and possessions equivalent to the treasures he collects in his shop.

“Forten Ranek’s four daughters were all home, and sat arranged around his birthday table, as fine as prizes in their best clothes, done up like dolls. One day at the dock market Tesali had seen a set of nesting wooden figures. The sailor showed her how they fit, one inside the other, each painted with a different face. Ever since, that was how she thought of her sisters.”

Tes envisions her sisters as a set of nesting dolls. The doll imagery emphasizes Forten’s perspective—he sees his daughters as possessions that can be used and manipulated by him. They are objects rather than people with agency.

“When you had a power, not using it was like trying to hold your breath underwater. Sooner or later, something made you come up for air.”

This quote highlights The Risks and Responsibilities of Power. Tes is forced to flee home because her sister and father will discover and exploit her power. One of the risks of power like hers is that it must be used. Just as a diver will eventually come up for air, Tes will eventually use her power because it is as natural to her as breathing.

“‘I wish she were a cloak or crown,’ she mused. ‘Something I could shed.’”

Kosika sometimes longs for the freedom of her previous days, wishing that the queen was something she “could shed.” Queenship is a heavy responsibility and unlike clothing, cannot be easily cast aside. She recognizes the responsibilities she has but feels weighed down by them as well.

“Family. The word scratched at Lila’s skin like rough wool. As far as she was concerned, family had nothing to do with proximity or blood. Family was a chosen thing. A label earned.”

Lila, like Kell and Alucard, envisions family as something one chooses. “Proximity or blood” are the hallmarks of biological family but have nothing to do with trust, love, and affection. Lila’s own family is Kell and her crew, people who have earned that place in her life, highlighting The Importance of Chosen Family.

“When he was young, a set table was a dangerous thing. His father looming at the head. His brother across. His sister beside. No chair for their mother—no space for sentiment. Those scenes, a reminder that looking like a family was more important than being one.”

This passage connects to the novel’s theme of The Importance of Chosen Family. Alucard thinks about his family of origin, which was more concerned with appearances than the reality of being a family. He contrasts this abusive, painful past with his current chosen family—Rhy, Nadiya, and Ren.

“She walked along the riverbank. In daylight, it turned out, the water wasn’t black, or blue, but grey. The pale grey of puddles in the street, of soot and storm clouds. It made her shiver, to see the Isle stripped of color, a source reduced to a simple stream.”

Schwab uses color symbolism throughout the novel to distinguish between the four Londons and the people who live in them. Grey London is devoid of magic, and one of its most striking features to Tes is the river Isle. Unlike the glowing red of the Isle in Red London, here it is “stripped of color.” Instead of being a powerful source of magic, it is “a simple stream.”

“No, at the end of the day, what the Hand wanted was change. And change was an easy thing to want. It was a malleable idea, like molten metal, fluid enough to take on whatever shape the people controlling the Hand deemed most useful. A key. A knife. A crown.”

Throughout the novel, different members of the Hand have different ideas about what it stands for and what it will accomplish. However, all these people are being manipulated by those who control the Hand and who decide what is “most useful.” The Hand’s leadership will accomplish their task and discard the lower-level members who helped them achieve this goal.

“But Lila went to Kell’s side. She knelt beside his sleeping body, and whispered something in his ear, and if Tes had been standing farther back, she’d never have heard it. But she did. ‘There is nowhere you go,’ said the Antari to her prince, ‘that I cannot follow.’”

Though Lila loves Kell deeply, she is not a person given to romantic words or affectionate gestures. However, when Kell is near death, she whispers these words to him, reminding them both that she loves him. Elsewhere, her love is expressed in actions: her loyalty, self-sacrifice, and courage.

“‘Alucard!’ His brother’s voice clawed at the air, but came no closer as he climbed the stairs, out of the dungeon and the darkness, and up, up, up, to the light.”

When Alucard leaves Berras in the dungeon, he is finally laying the Emery line and the burden of his biological family to rest. Berras and the rest of the past belong to “darkness,” but Alucard chooses to go towards the “light.” The light represents his future and his chosen family.