The Queen of Nothing

Stories are very important in the world of Faerie. The Folk love being entertained with storytelling, and they love living a storybook life of adventure. Further, because Folk cannot lie outright, it can be inferred that they cannot create pure fiction. Their stories contain truth and are hence close to history. The fable of the serpent-son, researched by Heather, provides two kernels of truth. One is that true love must be earned; a quest is a symbol of this earned love. The other is that a man can live inside the skin of a serpent. Heather uses the first truth to explain to Vivienne that Vivienne is not entitled to her affection—she must gain it through fair means. The second truth plants the method of Cardan’s recovery in Jude’s psyche. When she beheads the serpent, she gambles that her interpretation of the story is correct.

The coming together of Jude and her spy-friends and the Roach’s healing foreshadow the novel’s optimistic ending. The healing also reinforces the power of Jude’s magic. Jude’s newfound magical abilities are unique in Faerie. While mortals do visit the Folk, sometimes occupying important positions in their society, a mortal gaining magical powers is rare. The changes in Jude connect to Van Moren’s comment about Jude being “a seed planted in goblin soil.” This comparison suggests that environment and experience, as much as birth, shape people. Jude’s love for Faerie has shaped her and bound her to the land. This section also resolves various love stories in the text, creating an ending like that of a Shakespearean comedy. Not just Jude and Cardan, but also the Bomb and the Roach and the Ghost and Taryn pair up; Heather and Vivienne head toward a new and healthier relationship. While the union of various paired lovers is a traditional denouement, what is new is the nature of these pairings. All the relationships now formed are based on mutual respect and love instead of coercion and manipulation.

The novel and the entire trilogy can be considered a romance, in terms of both plot and treatment. The pair at the heart of the series is Jude and Cardan, and the author keeps readers guessing how and when they will finally come together. Creating this tension is a characteristic of works of romance. Jude and Cardan hate each other in the beginning of the series, their opinions colored by appearances and prejudices. As the series proceeds, they begin to see each other’s true nature but are constrained by plot devices such as miscommunication, pride, and defensiveness. Thus, when they finally come together, it feels satisfying and earned. Moments such as Cardan’s confession of love to Jude, their lovemaking, and Jude’s rescue of Cardan provide a significant dramatic payoff and reinforce the theme of The Redemptive Power of Love. As in a traditional work of romance, other love stories in the narrative reflect the central pair. For example, the Bomb and the Roach have been in love with each other for some time and ultimately confess their feelings only near the end of the final book.

Words, adages, and proverbs are important plot devices in the novel. Jude often recalls statements made by others to gain a new perspective on things, as with Madoc’s statement about the starving man and the banquet. In this section, Jude reflects not just on the story researched by Heather, but also on Mother Marrow’s exhortation that “you already know how to end the curse. Only death, Grimsen said” (258). When Jude leaves the palace to confront Cardan in the Crooked Forest, her thought process itself is expressed in a proverb-like fashion: “Two paths are before me, but only one leads to victory” (273). Jude knows that her choice with Cardan will decide the course of Elfhame’s history, and perhaps the most difficult choice is her only one.

The fact that Jude must kill the serpent to achieve victory suggests that the hero of a story is the one willing to make the biggest sacrifice. Jude must pass through fire and kill the prince she loves, while Cardan must be ready to undergo death. Both must be ready to pay the ultimate price. In myth, a king’s blood often regenerates the land. This has already happened with Jude’s blood causing the land to flower. Thus, it makes sense that Cardan’s blood will have healing and regenerating properties. The spilling of his blood is a necessary ritual. When Jude realizes this, she takes sudden and decisive action and lops off the serpent’s head. The ritualistic death over, Cardan appears reborn. He is naked and streaked with blood, like a newborn baby, in keeping with the symbolism of a new birth. Cardan’s renewed and redoubled power finally seals his and Jude’s rule and paves the way for a new age in Elfhame.

At the banquet after Cardan’s return, the faerie courtiers feast on the serpent’s body. Jude finds the custom horrifying, but for the fey, partaking of the body of their ruler is a ritual linking them to him and the land. This once again stresses the differences between mortals and the fey. As the novel draws to an end, most loose threads are tied and room is made for future happy stories, such as a romantic relationship between Taryn and the Ghost. Cardan creates two thrones for himself and Jude, symbolizing the decentralization and sharing of power, a rare thing in Elfhame. He leaves the tougher decisions to Jude to make a show of her authority, and Jude dispenses punishments fairly. Jude’s mercy to Madoc highlights that she is very different from him and the upbringing he gave her.

The Epilogue signifies the falling action and the comedic (in the sense of optimistic) ending. Heather and Vivienne reunite, Oak gets his mother and father together in a relatively peaceful home in the mortal world, and Vivienne gets the opportunity to torment Madoc with real-world devices like cellphones. Cardan gets the large, loving family he always wanted, and Jude gets Cardan, as well as a renewed confidence in her mortal self. Jude realizes it is possible to be both mortal and fey and to accept both her realities.