This Is How You Lose the Time War

Romeo and Juliet is a major motif of This is How You Lose the Time War, as Red and Blue are acting out their own version of Shakespeare’s famous play throughout the book. Romeo and Juliet are members of feuding families, and their love is shocking and troublesome because neither family wants anything to do with the other. Red and Blue are also members of warring factions who fall in love. In Chapter 20, Blue talks about studying the differences in the worlds where Romeo and Juliet becomes a tragedy and those where it becomes a comedy. In this same chapter, she attends a performance of the play, but she leaves before the end. Her leaving before knowing the ending is symbolic of the fact that she does not know how her own story will end. Like Juliet, Blue dies tragically. Blue dies willingly because of her love for Red and her desire to keep Red safe. She understands that Red will be in danger of being exposed if Blue isn’t killed, so she dies to protect Red. Juliet dies willingly as well because she doesn’t want to live in a world without Romeo and because she feels responsible for his death.