81 pages • 2 hours read
From Blood and Ash
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Themes
Self-Exploration and Character Growth
As From Blood and Ash begins, Penellaphe seeks small ways to temporarily escape her restrictive role as the Maiden. Armentrout first introduces the reader to Penellaphe while she is seeking adventure at the Red Pearl. Penellaphe, curious by nature, desires to learn about the world she has been shielded from, or rather, veiled from. She rids herself of the typical Maiden garments and instead wears a “white domino mask” she’d found “discarded in the Queen’s Garden” and a plain cloak. Further, she uses an alias, “Poppy” which only her closest friends and confidants call her. These tiny movements away from being the Maiden, such as changing her clothes and going by a nickname, act as early indicators of Penellaphe’s potential to grow as an individual. The mask she currently wears is even more revealing than her usual veil, which only allows her “lips and jaw” to be seen (17), representing a slow and minor revelation of Penellaphe’s true self.
Her desire to live her own life before she is given to the gods prompts Penellaphe to engage with Hawke more than the Maiden should. While Penellaphe does not actively facilitate flirting with Hawke, she does wonder why she hasn’t left the private room. Hawke aids Penellaphe in realizing her true intentions in visiting the Red Pearl, and she concedes that she did not just come here to talk, she came here, “to live. To experience. To choose” (42). Penellaphe’s self-exploration is not without consequence and if the gods deem her unworthy to Ascend, she will be exiled from the kingdom. Yet, a traitorous spark of hope fills her, and the reader sees a glimmer of the future Penellaphe desires.
Back in her life as the Maiden, Vikter provides Penellaphe an outlet to express herself. He secretly gives her combat training and allows for her to accompany him to rid the town of cursed. These experiences are pivotal in Penellaphe’s character development, as they allow for a certain level of independence. The ability to protect herself not only makes Penellaphe an ally in battle but it makes her less dependent on her Royal Guards to feel safe and secure. Vikter gifts Penellaphe with a Bloodstone dagger, a weapon she always wears strapped to her thigh. With the bloodstone dagger, Penellaphe is free to explore the kingdom, and thus herself, while maintaining a certain level of safety. Vikter also allows Penellaphe to take part in death with dignity—or providing the cursed with private deaths. This inclusion helps Penellaphe’s sense of morals grow and evolve and develops her already empathetic disposition.
Penellaphe comes to know her own nature through gaining an understanding of her gift. Able to sense the pain of others, Penellaphe has been restricted from birth to use her gift until she has been deemed worthy of it by the gods. Reflecting on her gift, Penellaphe tells Hawke, “Sure, curiosity often drove me to use it, but it felt like going against nature to deny it and keep it locked down” (378). Penellaphe’s gift is not only the physical manifestation of her great empathy, but her own inner nature fighting to be set free.
By the end of the novel, Penellaphe makes the decision to be with Hawke and to not Ascend. She realizes that she has slowly been reclaiming her life, and it “had started long before him” (384). In choosing to lose her virginity, Penellaphe renounces the very attribute that defines the Maiden: her purity. She proclaims that the opinion of the Queen and the gods are inconsequential, she was no longer the Maiden in her eyes. Her decisions signify the casting away of her childhood values and establishing a sense of self that Penellaphe builds rather than the societal structures that influenced her upbringing. Her growth closely parallels a coming-of-age character arc wherein the character questions her beliefs, struggles with alternative beliefs (as we see in her attempt to kill Hawke), and finally identifies herself as changed.
Religion as a Means for Control
Religion, as a policing and fear inducing mechanism, underlies almost the entirety of the novel. During The War of Two Kings, Penellaphe is taught that the King and Queen of Kingdom Solis received the gods Blessing. This Blessing allowed for them to drink the blood of the gods so that they may share in their strength and defeat the Atlantians. As such, the Ascended are believed to be handpicked by the divine, sharing in the blood of the gods in remembrance of the first Blessing.
The idea of the Ascended as chosen causes inequality within the kingdom. Despite their ruthless abuse and lack of morals, their status as chosen absolves them of all consequences or adherence to any set of values. Penellaphe wonders, “how horrible the Atlantians must’ve been for men like the Duke of Masadonia and Lord Mazeen to receive the Blessing of Ascension from the gods” (173). Yet, Penellaphe does not reap the same benefits from her Chosen One status. Instead, it subjectifies her to more pain and suffering. Armentrout shows that being chosen by the gods is an empty and arbitrary concept, as it offers Penellaphe no safety from abuse but provides the Ascended with self-proclaimed superiority.
Claiming to communicate with the gods, the Duke and Duchess use their chosen positions to ensure the populaces participation in the Rite. The Duchess proclaims that the gods, “are not pleased with recent events” and they “fear that the good people of Solis have begun to lose faith” (219-220). The Ascended have managed to create “an entire religion” in which “an entire kingdom” willingly hands over “their children under the pretense of honoring the gods” (430). Prince Casteel illuminates the policing effects of fear and religion, explicitly stating that “brothers will turn on brother if any of them refuse to give away their child” (430). The fear of losing favor with the gods is a consequence of knowing that one’s chosen status can be taken away in an instant. We see this effect in Penellaphe, who fears she will be found unworthy, and the people, who fear Craven attacks if the gods abandon them. Inexplicitly, Armentrout shows that the Ascended are afraid of losing their status and power as well. Desperate to secure a continuous supply of mortals to feast on, the Ascended depend upon the people’s subordination to facilitate their lifestyle.
Armentrout suggests that being a part of an elite and prosperous society chosen by the gods does not shelter you from abuse, oppression, or hardship. Even the Duchess, who benefits greatly from society, is subjected to her husband’s wrath. For the people and Penellaphe, being chosen only serves as a means for the Ascended to restrict certain desires and to withhold certain truths. In exposing the illusion of being chosen by the gods, Armentrout reveals a society full of inequalities and evil intentions.
The Equalizing Nature of Death
Death with dignity is the unspoken organization of people who believe cursed deserve to die privately and in peace. It’s a retaliation against the Ascended’s disgust and public humiliation of Huntsman and Royal Guards who become infected by Cravens while protecting the kingdom. This coalition of mortals, Royal Guards, and even Descenters and Atlantians raises many ethical and moral dilemmas. The unlikely grouping of species and beliefs sheds light on the desire for equality that Armentrout’s alludes to, furthering the idea that differences can be overcome. Death with dignity represents the budding rebellion within Kingdom Solis against the Ascended. It’s a direct response to their treatment of mortals as mere pawns to fulfill their blood lust tendencies.
Death with dignity becomes an ongoing theme, referring to far more than just the organization. Death, for Penellaphe, “always found a way in” (18). From her parents’ death to the deaths of her Royal Guards and the cursed, death underlies Penellaphe entire life. Death is “constant” and reveals itself when one least expects it, a theme Armentrout utilizes to portray the equalizing nature of death (42). The passing of characters such as Rylan, the Duke, and Lord Mazeen are sudden, abrupt, and shocking.
Rylan’s death destroys a beautiful moment between him and Penellaphe. The two are in the Queen’s Garden, admiring the “night-blooming roses” (99) when Rylan dies instantly; “dead before he even hit the ground” (100). Suddenly ripped from the beautiful scene, Armentrout shows that death corrupts all things, even beauty. Rylan’s death continues to corrupt the beautiful night-blooming roses even long after he has passed. Memory of his death has ruined Penellaphe’s favorite area of the Queen’s Garden. Now it is a “place of nightmares” (281). Hawke urges Penellaphe to fill the place where Rylan died with new memories, but she still cannot bring herself to visit the night-blooming roses.
The Duke and Lord Mazeen’s deaths refute the idea of death with dignity. Through their deaths, Armentrout argues that sometimes morals need to be adjusted so that justice and freedom can prevail. In denying these antagonists a dignified death, Armentrout is able to make them rich with symbolic meaning. Penellaphe likens the Duke’s body to the body of a Craven in his death. Equating the two, Hawke alludes to the fact that the Ascended are responsible for the creation of Craven. Lord Mazeen’s body becomes symbolic of Penellaphe’s abuse. The hand she cuts off become the hand which ripped, “away the least shred of modesty I had […]” (321). Both Penellaphe and Hawke feel no regret for their murders and even express joy about them. Penellaphe must suppress a “very inappropriate giggle” when first seeing the Duke’s dead body (306). After murdering Lord Mazeen she thinks, “I would do it again. Gods, I wish I could” exposing the very real and very intense relief one may feel when liberated from their abuser (324). In this instance, death no longer destroys something beautiful, it acts as a catalyst for a new beginning.
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By Jennifer L. Armentrout
