A Day of Fallen Night

“In every conversation with her mother, there were snares. Each time, she leapt headfirst and trapped herself. Her first mistake had been confessing the pain. Her mother did not like admissions of weakness.”

Yet again, Glorian is confronted by the disjointed relationship between her mother and herself. Glorian wants Sabran to be a warm and caring mother, but Sabran values strength and perfection, hoping to mold Glorian into a strong Inysh queen. Her motivations and high expectations of Glorian stem from her own experiences dealing with the fallout of ineffective queens.

“Wulf only meant to lie down, to remember how it felt to sleep close to his family, but he fell into a doze and dreamed his childhood dream, the one that took him deep into the woods. He was searching for someone, though he knew not who, and no matter how long and hard he looked, or how loud he shouted, no one answered. He ran and ran, weeping with fear, until the trees widened into a clearing, where the ground smelled of blood. He could hear bees humming somewhere close—always there, never seen.”

Wulf struggles throughout the novel with feelings of abandonment stemming from his childhood and the story of his origins. He does, however, possess some memories of his very early childhood, and while they most frequently manifest in nightmares and anxiety, he will later discover that he also remembers his mother’s love. His confusion and uncertainty surrounding his childhood define his self-perception throughout the novel, and his reunion with Tuva is essential to his character development as he moves into the future.

“‘That is the hardest part. Knowing that you embody a realm,’ he said. ‘That your eyes are its vigilance; your stomach, its strength; your heart, its shield; your flesh, its future. Even I find it a burden, and I never had to grow an heir withing myself. Your mother and aunt did that, and for all my victories in Hróth, I could not help them in those battles.’”

King Bardholt frequently provides the support and advice that Glorian seeks from her mother. In this instance, he sympathizes with Glorian’s fears for the future, acknowledging the pressure of duty as a royal leader. He also recognizes the battle of childbirth, asserting to Glorian that it is just as important to their realms as the battles that secured their thrones.

“This was where the Issyn had chosen to retire when the snowseers had been deprived of their formal place in society. Some had become sanctarians or healers, while others had gone into exile. Virtudom had no mercy on women who conversed with spirits.”

Virtudom is one of the world’s main religions and it does not look lightly upon heathenism, which is any practice of beliefs that do not follow the Saint. While this is a fantasy novel that creates a world in which the homophobia and misogyny recognizable in the real world is largely missing, there is still a particularly critical eye turned toward women in vulnerable positions.

“She would not drown in grief again. Instead, she swam in it, bathed in it. She drank it like bitter wine, until only a sliver of her soul left to gasp for breath. She could see him again: his soft head, his eyelids, his perfect fingers curling around hers, his first smile. With a cry, she pressed both hands to her face, lost in the agony of remembrance.”

Tuva frequently battles with her grief over the loss of Wulf, experiencing intense emotions and flashbacks. However, she works to coexist with the grief, refusing to let it control her or too strongly impact her life at the Priory. Tuva’s journey throughout the novel is one heading toward resolution and healing.

“Death by fire or death by water. Twenty seemed too young to ask. He thought of staying on the deck, to feel his death to the last throe before he never felt again. Then he stood. Only witches died by fire. Let his last day, his last choice, be the truth.”

Wulf is accused or suspected of being a witch by many throughout A Day of Fallen Night and, in what he believes to be his final moment, he chooses to assert that he is not a witch. This is one instance of him taking his identity into his own hands and not letting other’s expectations of him define him. It also demonstrates the balance discussed throughout the novel, as he chooses water over fire, leading to his survival, just as the dragons quench the fire with the power of Kwiriki’s Lantern.

“The Dukes Spiritual waited in the Cloven Chamber. It housed a large tapestry that had once depicted the Saint beside the Damsel, which had been cut in half, removing Queen Cleolind. The Saint had destroyed every depiction of his bride after her death, such was his pain at losing her—every statue and painting, even written accounts.”

The religion of the Six Virtues is based on the lie that Galian defeated the Nameless One and married Cleolind, who started the line of Berethnet queens. To solidify this lie, Galian destroyed any evidence of Cleolind in Inys, with no surviving images. He uses her to protect his and his descendants’ power, clinging to a lie.

“Not her alone. No, this face was a legacy almost five centuries long, the chain, the endless vine. Nineteen queens with the same face all gazed out from the cold silver. Deep beneath, in her blood, was her father—never seen, but always present. All her life, she had defined herself by him, and by her mother. She had lived as, and in, their shadow.”

Glorian is the exact image of her mother and all the women that came before them. This strengthens her own perception as merely a chain on a great link, and that in the greatness of her parents, she will only ever be a shadow. She embraces her Hróthi blood but cannot shake the great expectations placed on her by her mother.

“She led them back to the streets. Black smoke boiled from the buildings, so much of it that dusk mantled Carmentum. Long ago, its people had agreed to cast off the gold helm of monarchy. Now there was no rule but fear.”

Carmentum is the one republic in the world of A Day of Fallen Night and is criticized by monarchs who see it as a threat to their own power. There is a debate within the novel about the power of democracy over monarchy, but the fate of Carmentum proves that the wyrms care not for governmental structures, as Carmentum is the first society to fall, and it does not rise again.

“She did not say, I forgave you everything the moment I first saw your face. Nothing that you have ever done has me love you less.”

Tuva thinks this as Siyu apologizes for her actions and shows how deeply her connection to her daughter runs. Siyu is named after Tuva, and Tuva views herself as her guiding force. Despite Siyu’s immaturity and many attempts to flee the Priory, Tuva stands by her and forgives her because her love for her runs so deep. Tuva’s motherhood to Siyu and Wulf makes her a supportive and reliable character for others.

“In her years on the mountain, she had learned the dangers of the cold. In her time at court, she had learned the dangers of whispers and manipulation. Those paled in comparison to being a human among things reared by the deep unknown beneath the earth.”

Dumai faces many dangers in the novel, both from the natural world and the political world. Her time on Mount Ipyeda led to the loss of her fingertips while her time in court led her into a world in which everyone seeks to manipulate or harm her and her loved ones. However, each pales in comparison with her battle against the wyrms. She cares not for the court if the people of Seiiki are under attack.

“Because if I die without an heir, the Nameless One will be released as well. And I need the Virtues Council to stop looking at me as a womb—a jar, created to be filled. They will not let me fight alongside the people until I yield the fruit. It must be done, else I will not be free. I will not be able to choose my own fate. Can you imagine what that’s like—to be seen only for the life you could make, not the life you already possess?”

After the death of her parents and Fyredel’s attack, Glorian wants to lead her people in the fight against the wyrms, but as an underage queen, she does not yet wield the power to do so and is made by the Virtues Council to focus on bearing an heir. As they squabble over a match, Glorian insists on expediency, wanting to gain her freedom and be there for her people as quickly as possible. Glorian’s life is dependent on the life she can bring into the world.

“‘It feels like so long since then,’ she said. ‘My mother told me we are all like roses. I always thought it means that we opened our petals, took our true form, and gradually withered. But perhaps we never stop growing. If women are flowers, we are not roses, but day’s eyes—blooming not once, but over and over, each time the light touches us.’”

This excerpt challenges the notion that women peak and diminish, citing the example of Berethnet’s peak at the birth of an heir. However, many, such as Glorian, realize that there is no peak, and that women continue to bloom and shine and grow. In her narrative, Glorian does not reach her true potential until after the birth of her daughter, and this is just the beginning of her reign.

“A lie her birthson must have been raised to believe. Tunuva had never understood why so many realms clung to monarchy, but now she saw how the Deceiver had reinforced it in his land.”

Tuva sees the restrictions of monarchy, its concentration of power in the few, and the destructive hold it has on its women. She has always disapproved but now sees how it stands. She realizes that Galian used the myth that his heirs will keep the Nameless Ones at bay to keep Inys under the yoke of royalty. She laments that her son would be raised with this restrictive kind of worldview.

“All her life she had worn it to her waist. She pulled the knife through the gathering of strands, watched her hair drift to the floor, and the world did not end. All lay quiet. Now exhilaration stole her fear. She cut and cut, wrenching the blade through all that heavy darkness, and the more she hacked away, the lighter her breathing. This small thing, she could still control. Her womb was not her own—but her hair, surely that could still be hers, surely.”

Glorian struggles throughout the novel to assert her own bodily autonomy, being forced to conceive an heir for the good of her queendom. In this excerpt, she takes power back, reclaiming her body and relishing in the power it gives her. This is merely a precursor to the power she will achieve in the finale of the novel when she not only gives birth but also turns 18 in the same night, freeing her to be a queen in her own image.

“She had not understood her feelings. Not then. She had tucked that morning and that sweet kiss away, to cherish only in secret, in darkness—but from then on, her senses were sharp around women. A sharpening not like the tip of a blade, but like music soaring to the height of its power, or an unexpected chill, making her breath catch and her skin awaken. Some women left her with the thought that everything was new and bright.”

A big part of Dumai’s story is her coming into her own as a LGBTQIA+ woman and learning to love with Nikeya. As her relationship with Nikeya grows stronger, she opens up to the people around her and contends with the expectation that she will have to marry and have a child to continue her family’s dynasty. However, she is met by her grandmother with kindness and support, and is told to be her authentic self, as that is what will be best for Seiiki.

“‘Not this again.’ Thrit grasped his nape. ‘Listen. Karlsten died because he saw danger in difference. He saw it in those women; he saw it in their dragon. Some people need to call others evil, so they can seem pure and righteous in comparison, or to purge contempt they hold in secret for themselves. Karlsten gave in to that. In the end, it swallowed him.’”

Wulf struggles throughout the novel with the accusations of witchery in his life. Like his family, Thrit will not allow him to internalize these sentiments and posits that the hatred others feel towards him is not because of him but a reflection of them. He insists that Wulf see that Karlsten hated him because of his own insecurities, not because of anything Wulf did.

“Glorian could have wept in relief. It had been days since anyone had asked how she was and looked in her eyes, not at her belly.”

The circle of monarchy that necessitates an heir works to diminish Glorian throughout her pregnancy. As the day of birth grows closer, all anyone focuses on is the baby, thus limiting Glorian’s actions in order to protect the baby. Glorian ceases to be an independent person and is a vessel for the hopes of others.

“‘I grieve for you, that you should have to do this. I also grieve for Carmentum. They found a different way. Any order of succession that demands a child bear a child...I find it hard to stomach.’ Their jaw ground like a mill. ‘I know that it keeps the Nameless One fettered. I only wish the Saint had not made this the price of his protection.’”

Mastress Bourn commits heresy by expressing this opinion to Glorian. They criticize monarchy and what it forces its queens to do while simultaneously praising Carmentum for finding a way to lead without the pain that Glorian is feeling. Finally, Bourn criticizes the Saint for forcing his descendants into this situation, giving them no choice in the matter, even though he never had to do it himself.

“Damn you. A low sound, her own. Damn you, Galian Berethnet. Why did you not have to suffer, but each of your descendants did?”

Again, Galian Berethnet is criticized for the myth he created that forces his descendants to give birth in order to protect and control their queendom. While she does not know the true story, she knows that he never gave birth and resents that he passes the responsibility of extending the dynasty he began to her.

“We will return. Be certain, Shieldheart. When the fire rises anew, when our master stirs in the Abyss, when another wears your crown, we will return. Breathe in your ruin and your ashes. Live in fear.”

As a prequel, A Day of Fallen Sun depicts the events of the Grief of Ages, which are referenced extensively in The Priory of the Orange Tree. Fyredel is warning Glorian that this struggle is not over and while she will not be alive to see its conclusion, another of her line will. It also touches upon the balance of the world and that despite the star’s coming, fire will rise again in another age.

“Mama, I forgive you. I forgive you all of it. I love you as the rain loves the earth. As the mountain loves the sky. I will love you when the star returns, and when the black waters swallow the world.”

Unora altered her life completely to protect Dumai, and though she at times does not understand it, she always has love for her mother. They discover in the final chapters of the novel that Dumai possesses the ability to wield the stone and fight with the dragons because of the tear Pajati gave Unora when she woke her. It is because of Unora that Dumai is in this position, and though Dumai had no say in it and it will lead to her death, she forgives her mother because she knows she did it out of love.

“A thread of green light crossed the sky, then another. Leaning back into the water, Glorian closed her eyes and laughed—for she was awake, and her soul was alive, and her body was hers, it was fully hers now.”

With the war against the wyrms won and her heir delivered, Glorian finally has complete control of her own body. She relishes the feeling of no longer needing every action to be geared toward producing an heir. The dream she has had for years is finally realized.