63 pages • 2 hours read
Kristen CiccarelliHeartless Hunter
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Crimson Moth
Content Warning: This section mentions graphic violence, execution, intimate partner violence, and abuse.
The Crimson Moth is Rune’s unique magic signature that appears when she uses her magic to free witches from scheduled execution. This “delicate, blood-red moth” serves as a motif for Challenging Limiting Perceptions (44). Often considered ugly alternatives to beautiful butterflies, moths symbolize death and darkness in many cultures and ill omens in religion. These negative connotations reflect the fear and hatred the Republic feels about witches in Rune’s society.
While the narrative makes it clear that Rune is just and compassionate toward others, she fears the limited perceptions others have about witches. She cannot trust people besides Alex and Verity due to her identity and the fear that others would turn her into the Blood Guards. Her signature reminds readers that even widely held perceptions are not always factual. The moth’s delicate nature hints at Rune’s kind disposition, even though many witch-haters, including Gideon, believe the Moth is the cruel witch behind the recent string of grotesque murders.
Moths also symbolize transformation and rebirth. Rune changed since Nan’s execution and the New Republic’s birth, providing many other witches with the opportunity to escape and start over. While the moth is seen as a harbinger of evil to those in Rune’s society, other witches or witch supporters see the symbol as a sign of hope and liberation.
The Opera House
The opera house symbolizes the New Republic’s divided society, draws attention to the difference between presentation and reality, and is a place where society intersects with the Reign of Witches. After the Red Peace rebellion, the Good Commander allowed the opera house to remain open. Patriots ransacked it, “stripping it of much of its previous splendor” (13). However, its original interior remains, “a stark reminder of the decadence of the witch queens” (13).
Much like how the patriots altered the outside to fit their standards, the Good Commander created the New Republic to match his. While on the outside, the New Republic appears as everything the Good Commander promised—a world free of witches where everyone of any societal rank can prosper—many still suffer in the slums, pinching pennies to survive. The fact that the interior of the opera house remains intact hints that there is value and longevity in the Reign of Witches. Many witch supporters remain hidden in society, gathering in preparation to take back their kingdom. For this reason, its past and potential influence on society must not be overlooked.
The opera is something Rune now tolerates, but it used to be her favorite day of the week. She’d attend every Saturday with her Nan. In her memories, Rune views the opera house as a place of community and connection. The plays were full of hope, love, and perseverance. In the present day, however, the plays approved by the Ministry of Public Safety only portray lessons about “how to behave under the new regime. Reminders of who the enemy was and why you should despise them” (38). In the years after the Red Peace, the opera house comes to symbolize the society’s deep-seated division between witches and non-magical citizens.
Roses
Roses serve as a motif for Love as a Dangerous and Redeeming Force. Gideon associates roses with Cressida, the witch with whom he fell in love. Her casting signature is a “thorny rose encircled by a crescent moon” (214), which she brands on Gideon’s chest. Cressida’s casting scars are artfully arranged to depict a “wild garden growing up her body […] roses and lilies, buttercups and irises, all tangled with leaves and thorns and stems” (208). Falling in love with Cressida placed Gideon and his loved ones in a dangerously vulnerable position. She drove his mother crazy for entertainment and killed his younger sister, Tessa, when Gideon couldn’t sew her 36 silk roses in one night. In the end, Cressida killed three members of his family, subjected Gideon to her sadistic whims, and distanced him from his brother, Alex. Flowers come to represent Gideon’s greatest mistake and the most tragic memories of his past.
By giving Rune a hand-sewn fabric rose at her after-party, Gideon is partially opening himself up through romance’s vulnerability. Gideon only begins to court Rune due to Harrow’s insistence; doing so will allow him to determine whether Rune is the Crimson Moth. Yet, to hand-sew flowers, particularly a rose, when Cressida leveraged his sister’s life on that exact task is an interesting decision Gideon makes. On one hand, it likens his relationship with Cressida to his relationship with Rune. While it is clear to readers that Rune is a better woman than Cressida, she is still a witch. This suggests Gideon’s past might repeat if he pursues the romance further. On the other hand, Gideon’s ability to gift Rune something he used to treasure but Cressida tainted suggests that their love could be a redeeming, healing force. The rose’s lack of thorns differentiates their relationship from his with Cressida. The rose’s softness suggests a chance that their romance will not be as dangerous or harmful.
