Skyshade

Serpents symbolize treachery. Eta establishes this connection when she advises Isla to “[f]ollow the snakes” to find the Wildling traitor (83). This warning foreshadows Lark Crown’s return, as does the augur’s carving of “a woman with snakes wrapped around and around her arms, her neck, her chest” (112). Lark emerges as “the true snake-queen” because she manipulates her descendant and attempts to destroy the world she created (292). In addition, Aster uses serpent symbolism to highlight how many characters, including Isla herself, view the protagonist as a traitor. For example, when a council member warns Grim that Isla is “a serpent waiting for the right moment to strike” (100), she thinks there is some truth to his words because she fought against Nightshade and remains in love with Oro. Her inability to choose between Grim and Oro makes her feel as though her heart has betrayed both men and herself. Isla utilizes this symbol’s potency when she decides to embrace her dark side: “Snake queen? She would be the villain they already believed her to be” (122). After Tynan’s assassination attempt, she adorns herself in snakes like the woman in the carving and feeds his head to the reptiles to strike fear in her enemies. As symbols of treachery, serpents contribute to the novel’s foreshadowing and characterization.

The necklaces that Grim and Oro give Isla symbolize her relationships with them. At the start of the novel, the golden rose necklace is “the only thing she had left of Oro” (11), and she must conceal the object as well as her feelings for the Sunling during her time in the Nightshade court: “So many nights, she had clutched the golden rose necklace to her chest and thought of him before burying the emotions down” (150). In Chapter 15, Isla returns the gold necklace to Oro, not because she doesn’t love him, but because she is convinced that their love will continue to endanger him unless she breaks his heart. After she lets go of the golden rose necklace, Isla becomes more committed to Grim and falls in love with him again. Although Oro “wanted to destroy” the necklace (343), he keeps it with him, symbolically demonstrating his unending love for Isla.

The black diamond necklace represents Isla’s relationship with Grim and serves as “a symbol of their marriage” to the world (12). This necklace cannot be removed as long as she’s alive, which parallels how part of Isla will always love Grim even though she sometimes wishes she could sever their bond: “Nothing would break [the necklace], she had tried” (30). Isla gradually grows attached to the necklace as she falls back in love with Grim, and the jewelry connects the lovers literally as well as symbolically by allowing Isla to summon her husband. Near the end of the novel, she calls on Grim when Oro is in need of help. By coming to his rival’s aid on her behalf, Grim shows the strength of his bond with Isla. Isla’s two necklaces are as different as the rulers who gifted them to her, but each symbolizes a powerful relationship.