The Ballad of Never After

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussions of manipulative and abusive relationships.

“Evangeline had never been afraid of the dark before. Dark was for stars and dreams and the magic that took place in between days.”

These lines come as Evangeline enters the darkened library at the palace. Prior to these lines, Evangeline feels a prickle of fear, which she concludes has little to do with the dark and more to do with her nervousness that she won’t find a cure for Apollo. Evangeline dismissing the darkness as the reason for her fear shows her undying optimistic nature; this quotation hence exemplifies Garber’s exposition of Evangeline’s character. Rather than fearing the dark as many people do, Evangeline views darkness as a time of “magic,” when stars come out and wishes come true; in this sense, Evangeline is presented as an archetypal fairy-tale character.

“She’d never noticed before, but the railings had lines from stories carved into them. Things like:

Once upon a time, there was a girl with a furry tail that twitched whenever snow was coming.

And, Once there was a house where laughter constantly curled from the chimney instead of smoke.” 

Evangeline notices this as she climbs flights of stairs to LaLa’s apartment. These lines show the world of the Magnificent North and the magic of stories present throughout the novel. In the North, stories twist and reorganize themselves due to a curse placed upon the land long ago. The story beginnings carved into the very structure of the stairs show how story magic is imbued directly into the infrastructure of the north. The first opening line Evangeline notices presents foreshadowing. The girl sounds like the one from “The