Two Twisted Crowns

Blunder and the events that lead to its liberation from the mist are best understood within an internal balancing system. Rather than undoing the injustices of history, the novel’s heroes seek to produce a counterweight to give that history meaning—whether through violent retribution (as in the grim demise of Hauth) or redemptive restitution (as in the Nightmare’s rescuing of Jespyr from the alders). Ione’s relationship with Hauth is a key expression of this theme. Hauth tries to murder Ione twice, but even more cruelly he dehumanizes her through the forced use of her Maiden Card. As she explains to the Nightmare, “I may not feel despair, […] but I am still lost. I have disappeared into the Maiden, just as Elspeth has into you. And I want to be freed” (100). Though Ione is able to act of her own volition and still retains her agency, Rachel Gillig notes that Hauth’s hiding of Ione’s Maiden Card has taken away her personhood—both internally and externally. As persistent use of the Maiden Card costs the user an absence of feelings, Ione has been alienated from her own emotions and personality. Likewise, though the Maiden Card has imparted invincibility and external beauty to Ione, her body no longer feels like her own.