59 pages • 1 hour read
Harley LarouxHer Soul to Take
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A 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
Grimoire With Leon’s True Name
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence and substance use.
The grimoire with Leon’s true name is a symbol of Leon’s selfhood and freedom that develops the themes of Consensual Power Dynamics; Survival, Autonomy, and Trust in a Dangerous World; and The Transformative Power of Love. Kent has used Leon’s true name to hold him against his will and use him as a weapon, torturing him when he refuses. When Leon realizes that Kent no longer has the grimoire, he hunts it tirelessly because finding it means that he can destroy his name and finally be free.
However, by the time he has the sheet with his true name, his motivations have changed: “Taking that sigil into my hands felt surreal. I almost expected it to crumble into ash the moment my fingers touched it. The last record of my name on earth, my last tie to this place. My freedom” (309). Momentarily stunned to have the “freedom” he’s sought for so long, Leon quickly realizes that freedom is no longer what he thought it was. Trusting instead in his connection to Rae, Leon puts himself at her mercy by giving her the page with his true name as he tells her to run from the Reaper. Leon thus parts with his freedom in the hope that they will be reunited, revealing how love has changed his motivations—in particular, his perception of a worthwhile life.
Rae’s Soul
Rae’s soul is a symbol of her selfhood and agency. Both the Libiri/the Deep One and Leon want Rae’s soul, but where Leon wants it consensually given, the Libiri and the Deep One try to take it against her wishes. Kent attempts to have Rae kidnapped, Jeremiah tries to drug Rae before kidnapping her and carving runes into her chest, and the Deep One becomes furious when it realizes that Rae no longer has a soul to take: “‘What have you done?’ God’s voice slithered inside my ears like cold, sharp wire prodding my eardrums. ‘What have you done? You offered your soul to another! You betrayed your God!’” (463). In retaliation, the Deep One attempts to kill Rae.
In contrast, Leon wants Rae’s soul to be given willingly to him. He cannot take it from her, no matter how much he wants her. He attempts to incentivize her to give it to him by promising protection, but in the end, he protects her even when he believes that she will never give him her soul. When she does give her soul to him, she views the mark she carves into herself much differently than she does the ones Jeremiah gave her: “It was his mark of ownership, one only I could give him. A willing promise. My soul was his to take, to love, to own—forever” (480). The distinction develops the themes of consensual power dynamics and autonomy, showing the difference between willing surrender of “freedom” and violent disregard for it.
The Dagger
Rae and Leon find a magical dagger in Kent’s basement. Leon is repelled by it but tells Rae to carry it to protect herself. In fact, Rae came to the Hadleighs’ house hoping to find just such an artifact, making it a symbol of survival and autonomy in a dangerous world. While in the mines, Rae uses the dagger to carve Leon’s name on her thigh and give her soul to him. This saves her soul from the Deep One, who can no longer steal it, and illustrates the relationship between trust and survival. In retaliation, however, the Deep One intends to kill Rae. It grabs her with its tentacles, but once again, the knife serves Rae well: “I swung back the dagger and plunged it down, as hard as I could, right into one of the pale eyeballs in the tentacle gripping me” (464). Stabbing the Deep One forces it to loosen its grip long enough that she can use her connection to Leon to save her body.
