The Stolen Heir

“I do not know what I would do to my unfamily if they pushed me away again. I am no safe thing now. A child no more, but a fully grown monster, like the ones that came for me.”

Wren’s self-perception is negative. Her fear of rejection and belief that she cannot be loved as a fae cause her to hide from her human family, her unfamily. She lives passively, afraid to seize what she desires, because she fears how she’ll be received.

“When the Court of Teeth ventured south, to war with Elfhame, Bogdana did not come with us. I thought to never see her again and was sorry for it. If there was one of them who might have looked out for me, it was her. Somehow that makes it worse that she’s the one at my heels, the one hunting me through the streets.”

The storm hag Bogdana was a passive mother figure to Wren during her childhood, but despite her faults, Wren cares for her. She is the only person Wren misses from the Court of Teeth, making the hag’s pursuit yet another hurt that Lady Nore has inflicted on her daughter.

“[Oak gives] me a courtier’s smile, the kind that’s supposed to convince you it’s okay to relax your guard. I tense up even further. I have learned to be afraid of smiles like that.”

Wren’s cynicism rears its head when Oak attempts to charm her at the beginning of their journey. Despite being childhood friends of sorts, his efforts cause her to raise her barriers, as she knows her fellow fae are fond of cruel games.

“I thought he was looking for his father and that he was a fool. Madoc seemed the sort to roast him over a fire, consume his flesh, and call it love. By then, I had become familiar with love of that kind.”

This quote draws a similarity between Wren and Oak, in terms of their complicated parental relationships. Their parents’ shows of love are brutal and cruel. However, Oak’s ability to forgive and accept Madoc for who he is creates a difference between him and Wren because accepting Lady Nore is something she’ll never do.

“‘I don’t know what I want.’ The words come out a whisper, too true by half.

‘Destruction and ruin,’ she says with a clack of her tongue. ‘I can practically smell it on you.’ I shake my head, but I can’t help thinking of the satisfaction I felt wrecking the glaistig’s spells. Sometimes it feels as though there’s a knot inside me, and were it to come apart, whatever emerged would be all teeth.”

The seamstress Habetrot senses destruction in Wren, foreshadowing who Wren is (Mellith) and what she will do with her power. The knot Wren imagines coming apart does when she heals her tongue with Mab’s bone, uniting Mab’s bone with Mellith’s heart and unleashing the power to unmake. Her desire for destruction also highlight a flaw, as it manifests as desperate vengeance.

“Oak liking me is as silly as the sun liking a storm, but that doesn’t stop my desire for it. Me, with my sharp teeth and chilly skin. It’s absurd. It’s grotesque. […] So much of me wants to give in and pretend with him that it makes me hot with rage.”

Wren’s desire for love and approval causes her barriers to fall around Oak. Her insecurities about the way she looks stop her from acting on her feelings, though, showing how her past trauma keeps her passive.

“The song he sings is of lost places and homes so far away that they are no longer home. He sings of love so intense it is indistinguishable from hate, and chains that are like riddles of old, no longer holding him, and yet unbroken.”

A member of Queen Annet’s court sings a song applicable to Wren’s life. She yearns for her human home, yet Lady Nore has done everything possible to make this impossible. Wren’s growing love for Oak will turn to hate by the end of the novel, proving the second verse true. As for the third verse, the chains of Wren’s past are no longer physically around her, yet continue to haunt her mentally.

“I didn’t realize how much I have changed from that terrified girl, forever looking for a place to hide in the Court of Teeth. Breaking spells on mortals has made me rebellious. And for a moment, I am viciously glad. It doesn’t feel good exactly, to be in danger, but it does feel good to be the cause of events rather than being swept along into them.”

Over the course of Oak’s journey, Wren begins to realize how much she’s changed. Though her arc has far to go in terms of passivity, she’s become more rebellious on her way to regaining her autonomy.

“Queen Annet would have heard the story of Oak not defending himself against Noglan. She’d come to the same conclusion that I had, that there was no fight in him. That there was nothing sinister hidden behind Oak’s easy smile. That he was the coddled prince of Faerie he seemed, spoiled by his sisters, doted on by his mother, kept in the dark regarding his father’s schemes. I had supposed he might not even know how to use his sword. He’d acted the fool, that his enemies might believe he was one. How could I have forgotten that he’d been weaned on strategy and deception?”

Oak hides behind different masks to play into the expectations of others, and uses others’ mistakes to his advantage. He does so with Queen Annet, and again with Wren, weaponizing the Manipulation of Truth to protect himself and Wren.

“And as awful as it is to think about Oak handing me over, everything in me shies away from the story of my making. Am I no more than the sticks I carry and a little magic? Am I like a ragwort steed, something with only the appearance of life? I feel sick and scared.”

Wren experiences an identity crisis after Bogdana’s revelation. Though she’s been passive her whole life, Oak’s journey has made her question her agency in her own story. The discovery that she’s not a naturally born fae creates worries that she isn’t truly real, and if she’s not real, she can’t make tangible change.

“‘Do you know what I admire about you?’ Truly, I cannot imagine what he will say next. ‘That you never stopped being angry,’ he tells me. ‘It can be brave to hate. Sometimes it’s like hope.’ I hadn’t felt brave in the Court of Teeth. Or hopeful. I had felt only a clawing desperation, as though I was forever drowning in some vast sea, gulping seawater as I sank, and then just when I felt I was going to let myself drop beneath the waves, something would make me kick one more time. Maybe that thing was hate. Hating requires going on, even when you can no longer believe in any better future. But I am shocked that Oak, of all people, would know that.”

Oak admires Wren for being angry at her poor treatment, believing it’s a source of bravery and hope. Yet, her anger causes her to make impulsive decisions. In the end, it is her anger that leads her to punish Oak for his betrayals, as she prepares to rule the Court of Teeth herself.

“I could almost believe he’s telling me this because he wishes to be my friend, rather than knowing that the appearance of vulnerability is likely to make me drop my guard.”

As much as Wren wishes for friendship, and perhaps more, with Oak, she can’t bring herself to fully trust him. The cynicism Lady Nore instilled in her through years of torture causes her to look for deception in every interaction.

“I grin at the phone. Most of the people I broke curses for were as afraid of me as they were of the glaistig. It was strange to think that Gwen liked me. Fine, I had done something nice for her, but she still texted me as though we could be friends.”

The fact that Wren is touched by Gwen’s grateful text shows how love-starved she is. Having convinced herself that everyone she meets either despises or fears her, Wren is affected by the smallest of connections.

“My eyes burn, but I can’t imagine being there, in their living room, wearing my true face. I would horrify them. Maybe they wouldn’t scream and shove me away at first, the way they did when they were enchanted, but it would quickly turn awful. I couldn’t be the child that they had loved. Not after everything that happened to me.”

Wren’s insecurities surface whenever she misses her unfamily and life with them. The enchantment Lady Nore and Lord Jarel placed on her unfamily created her self-hatred, and though she’s since realized their reactions were fabricated, she’s convinced they would react with the same horror.

“Oak blinks in surprise and is quiet for a long moment. ‘He doesn’t understand why you freed Hyacinthe and the others,’ he says finally. ‘He can’t believe you did it because you wanted to help them. Folk do not do such things where we come from.’”

Through strategic dialogue and exposition, Holly Black builds the world of Faerie. As humans and the Folk view morality differently, Tiernan is unable to understand or accept Wren’s compassion for others, leading him to treat her with distrust throughout their journey.

“The thought comes to me, unbidden, that I am looking at what I was made from. Snow and sticks. Sticks and snow. Not a real girl. A paper doll of a child, to play with, then rip up and throw away. I was meant for the purpose of betraying the High Court. Never to survive past that. If I am the cause of Lady Nore’s fall, it will give me all the more pleasure for her never having anticipated it.”

Wren has always struggled with feeling unreal, which is why her past boyfriends have treated her carelessly, convinced they’d conjured her from their imaginations. When she discovers she is made of snow and sticks, she feels more like a pawn than ever before. In the end, Oak’s deceit makes her feel the same way, prompting her to react with force.

“And yet, as we approach the Citadel, I cannot help but recall being lost in this snow, weeping while tears froze on my cheeks. Just being here makes me feel like that monster child again, unloved and unlovable.”

Returning to the Ice Needle Citadel brings all of Wren’s insecurities to the surface. She must face hard truths and come into her own while in the Citadel, if she wishes to free those she cares about from the ruthless control of Lady Nore.

“I think about the way he took an arrow while grinning reassuringly, how he gulped down poison. How, back in Elfhame, he apparently draws out assassins by being an excellent target. Madoc’s not wrong that Oak throws himself at things. In fact, I am not sure if Madoc realizes the extent of his rightness.”

Madoc’s words to Oak and Wren are accurate, even if he doesn’t realize it entirely. Oak does as Madoc claims when he throws himself at Wren’s mercy, believing the consequences of his deception won’t be severe—yet, the decision lands him in the golden bridle.

“What I recall is the depth of my fear, the tide of it sweeping me away from myself. I hope I can mimic that expression and not show her what I actually feel—a rage that is as thick and sticky and sweet as honey. I’m tired of being scared.”

Wren has decided to drop her habit of passivity and take control of her life. Just as Oak wears his masks and lets others underestimate him, Wren does the same with Lady Nore, allowing her to underestimate her as she has her whole life.

“I was afraid of magic from the first moment that Lady Nore and Lord Jarel stepped into my bedroom in the mortal realm. And I couldn’t stop being afraid of myself. Afraid of the monster I saw when I glimpsed my reflection in still pools, in windows. But all I am is magic. Unmagic. I am not nothing. I am what is beyond nothing. Annihilation. I am the unraveler. I can pull apart magic with a thought.”

Wren realizes she carries Mellith’s heart, the power of destruction. With this realization, her questions about her identity dissipate as safety and vengeance are now within reach.

“Go, I could tell him, and send him back to the safety of the isles of Elfhame, where he can return to being charming and beloved. A hero, even, bringing with him his father and the news of Lady Nore’s demise. He could say he had an adventure. Or I can keep him here, a hostage to force Elfhame to keep away. And mine. Mine the only way I can ever trust, the only way I can be sure of.”

This quote mirrors Wren telling Tiernan that Hyacinthe will never truly love him if he keeps him in chains. Her decision to place the golden bridle on Oak in order to keep him with her, to make him hers, begins a different arc for the pair—born of love-turned-hate.

“Prince Oak goes down smoothly, his long legs in the snow. Even bows his horned head, although I think he believes I am playing. He’s not afraid. He thinks this is my revenge, to humiliate him a little. He thinks that, in a moment, all will be as it was.”

Just as he does in any dangerous situation, Oak believes Wren’s wrath to be another game. He’s yet to fear her, because he doesn’t believe she will enact the consequences he might deserve. His nonchalant nature aggravates Wren, making her feel as though he does not take her or his betrayal seriously.

“A small smile turns up a corner of my mouth. I feel the sharpness of my teeth and roll my tongue over them. For the first time, I like the feeling.”

Throughout the novel, Wren is ashamed of her sharp teeth, which she views as monstrous. The fact that she likes them now shows the change in her character following her discovery of Oak’s betrayal and rise to power.