53 pages • 1 hour read
Travis BaldreeLegends & Lattes
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A 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
The Scalvert’s Stone
The Scalvert’s Stone is both a symbol and a motif related to Viv’s dreams—and the way they change. She fears the loss of the Stone, a symbol of her fortune, would mean the loss of everything she’s worked for in Thune. However, when the true nature of the Stone is revealed, it becomes a motif for The Value of Keeping the Right Company. Throughout Legends & Lattes, whenever Viv attracts a new friend to the coffee shop, she thinks about the power of the Stone. Before Tandri answers her advertisement, Viv considers, “The idea that an applicant would arrive on the first day was, of course, ludicrous. But the Scalvert’s Stone…well. She either trusted its power, or she didn’t” (48). However, Tandri, the perfect applicant and Viv’s future love interest, shows up, validating the idea that the Stone has power. Viv thinks about the Stone again when Amity the dire-cat arrives, and when Pendry puts on his first successful performance. Though she isn’t aware of the exact nature of the Stone, she recognizes the fortunes it bestows on her.
On a personal level, the Scalvert’s Stone represents Viv’s dreams. She plants the Stone in the foundation of the shop before she begins building it, and pleads with it whenever she fears something is wrong. When former party member Fennus threatens to take the Stone, she fears her personal and professional success being taken away as well. The Stone is the only reason Viv feels confident pursuing her dreams in the first place, having left her adventuring life with a vague understanding of it. In Chapter 27, Durias, the chess-playing gnome, reveals the Stone is misunderstood—that it attracts kindred spirits rather than fortune. This reframes the Stone, a symbol of Viv’s dreams, as a collective symbol and motif for one’s company and personal change. After the shop burns down and the Stone is stolen, Viv realizes her success ultimately stemmed from like-minded allies and friends. By being a kind person, she attracted and continues to attract people willing to help her rebuild. Overall, the Stone represents the idea that good company will attract good company. The Stone’s powers also imply that Fennus will meet misfortune while in possession of it, stressing that one’s company defines one’s character—and vice versa.
Blackblood
Blackblood is Viv’s great sword, which she’s spent 22 years wielding in combat. To her, Blackblood symbolizes an adventurer’s life—one of violence. She stores the sword in her loft shortly after arriving in Thune, wanting to leave this life behind. However, when the Madrigal’s people—Lack in particular—begin to harass Viv about her “donation,” she feels an “impulse to sleep next to the blade, as she had in a hundred campsites and bivouacs” (35). With this new threat, the temptation to meet it with violence arises—symbolized by Blackblood. After witnessing Viv’s obstinance in the face of the Madrigal’s people, Cal suggests she hang Blackblood on a wall because “If you’re gonna show ‘em you got teeth, at least fix it so you can bite when you need to” (43). He believes she may need to use the sword if she continues to push the Madrigal.
This symbolism is reinforced when Viv consults her former party regarding the Madrigal. She admits, “I even hung Blackblood on the wall as, I don’t know, a sort of warning. I don’t want to deal with this the way that the old Viv would have” (141). Tandri clarifies that if she chooses to use violence, “She loses what she won by building this place without it” (141). Both sentiments show how difficult it can be to stay true to a new path, especially in the face of temptation. In the end, Blackblood is ruined in the shop fire, cracked, warped, and no longer of use as a weapon. Viv feels this ruin means the permanent loss of her old life, but Cal and Tandri mount what remains of the sword to a new sign, completing its transformation from a weapon to “an icon of her former self” (241). The transformation of Blackblood symbolizes Viv’s transition to her new life, honoring her old life without leaning on her sword.
The Coffee Shop
Viv’s coffee shop, the titular Legends & Lattes, is a motif that supports the theme of Choosing to Change One’s Path. In Chapter 1, when she purchases the local livery from Ansom, he wonders why she’d need a livery to serve coffee. She replies, “Things don’t have to stay as what they started out as” (12). In other words, both people and things have the potential to change. The livery-turned-coffee-shop parallels Viv’s journey, from her old life as a brutish warrior to her new life as a coffee shop owner.
These parallels persist throughout the novel. As the shop rises in popularity, Viv’s circle of allies and friends also grows. When the shop burns down, she believes this means she’s failed—that her decision to change her path didn’t work out. However, like the shop, she rises from the ashes and pulls herself together. The shop’s reopening mirrors Viv’s successful transition from a warrior to a barista.
