62 pages • 2 hours read
Jennifer L. ArmentroutA Light in the Flame
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
Blood
In Chapter 37, as Sera reflects on her killing and subsequent resurrection of Thad, she is wracked by a deep grief. She begins to cry tears of blood, just as the legends say Primals do in their utmost sorrow. Weeping tears of blood symbolizes the extreme of the Primal’s despair, so profound that it extracts their life force from them. This moment in Sera’s chambers underscores the importance of blood as a symbol in the text. Representing life, empathy, and divinity, blood is an immensely powerful entity in the universe of the novel. A mortal begins to change after imbibing a single drop from the blood of a god or a Primal. The process of Ascending a godling—a mortal marked for godhood—involves a Primal draining them of all but one drop of their blood and reviving them with Primal blood. If too much blood is lost, such as in the case when Veses indiscriminately feeds on Nyktos, the Primal grows weak and cold.
Since blood is not just a physical substance but a divine essence in the book, there are extremely important rules around the process of feeding. Primals, gods, and other supernatural creatures have fangs that enable them to puncture the skin of mortals to feed from them; however, rightfully, the utmost caution must be exercised in the process. Killing a mortal while feeding from them is taboo and leads to the creation of unnatural life forms like the Craven. Therefore, blood has to be treated with respect and partaken only with balance. Further, the exchange of blood has an erotic meaning, too, signifying deep intimacy. Every time Nyktos and Sera feed from each other, they experience intense desire. Feeding often accompanies lovemaking, underscoring blood as a symbol of passion and love.
The Prophecy of the Ancients
The prophecy of the Ancients is a key motif in the book, guiding its plot and illustrating the theme of Fate Versus Free Will. As Penellaphe, Holland, and Nyktos explain to Sera, prophecies are the prescient dreams of the Ancients, the first generation of Primal gods. These old dreams were received as visions by the Gods of Divination, most of whom, save Delfai, are now dead. Penellaphe knows part of the prophecy regarding Sera because her mother, a God of Divination, told it to her. The rest of the prophecy is told to Sera by Kolis when he imprisons her.
According to the prophecy, a great Primal power of mortal origin is to be born soon and will usher in an unprecedented era. In the run-up to the rise of this power, two daughters are very important and will help strip the “false one […] of glory” (586). It also mentions one “born of blood and ash,” who will bring life to mortal, god, and draken and will wear two crowns. Although the complete meaning of the prophecy is still unclear, Sera notes that the false god may be Kolis himself. Sera is evidently the one born of blood and ash, as that is part of the title that Nyktos gave her on her coronation. Blood and ash may be a reference to her mortal origins since mortals are associated with a finite lifespan and eventually turn into ashes and dust. Further, the prophecy refers to a silver beast bathed in the light of the brightest moon, the brightest moon being another reference to Sera’s title. The beast refers to Nyktos in wolf form; thus, the prophecy suggests the union between Sera and Nyktos.
The prophecy works as a mover of the plot since Kolis hatches a plan for Sera to kill Thad, the draken, in order to fulfill its conditions. Kolis also wants to intervene in the prophecy by killing Sera and taking her immense power for himself, thus also ensuring that the part about the false king being defeated does not come to pass. However, Kolis’s actions are thwarted, foreshadowing that the prophecy will come true, though its path may be more circular than expected. It is also foreshadowed that the great mortal Primal power is not only Sera but also her descendant Poppy Balfour from the Blood and Ash series.
Sera’s Freckles
Nyktos often counts the freckles on Sera when they are intimate; Sera has 36 freckles on her face. Nyktos’s sensuous action symbolizes his love for and whole-hearted acceptance of Sera, appreciating the uniqueness of her appearance. This acceptance is especially important since Sera notes that people have judged her for her freckles, with Veses calling Sera “a freckled and fat Consort” (462). It is suggested that Sera herself may be self-conscious about the freckles, as indicated when she is dressing for her coronation. Sera observes that though a veil doesn’t cover her face, she barely notices her freckles, given the dusting of gold powder on her features. This shows a lingering tendency to hide her freckles. This self-consciousness is a consequence of social judgment and conditioning. Sera’s freckles and Nyktos’s love of them are both tied in with the theme of The Quest for Identity and Self-Acceptance since Sera needs to honor herself uninhibitedly as she grows into her full powers. They also signify the redemptive power of love, a thematic element in the book, and illustrate how Sera and Nyktos are both “marked” for greatness, as Sera’s freckles correspond to the inky marks on Nyktos’s skin.
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By Jennifer L. Armentrout
