The Songbird and the Heart of Stone

Content Warning: The section contains mentions of self-harm.

Asar and Mische both seek redemption for past failures or perceived wrongs they’ve committed in the past. This desperate need for redemption has led to self-destructive actions and long-lasting habits that put themselves and others at risk.

Asar’s desperation to right the wrong he committed when he failed to resurrect Ophelia has led him to serve as the Warden of Morthryn. In this role, he has traversed the Underworld so often that he’s lost pieces of himself to it. It has also motivated him to undertake this dangerous quest from Nyaxia and to bring several other individuals—Elias, Chandra, Luce, and Mische—into the fray as well. Elias explicitly criticizes Asar’s desperate search for redemption, saying, “We don’t have to die because you’re still chasing after her. You’re looking for power, bastard prince? You’re looking to redeem yourself after your exile?” (211). As Asar tells Mische, the chance to right a wrong is a powerful gift. However, throughout the novel, both characters come to realize that sometimes redemption is not worth the cost.

Mische’s desperation for redemption in Atroxus’s eyes is the primary reason for her hatred and her self-harm.