To Kill a Kingdom

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018

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Symbols & Motifs

The Ocean

The ocean is an important place for both Lira and Elian. Lira is a sea creature and has lived her entire life in the ocean. For Elian, the ocean represents freedom, and he sails on the Saad to escape his royal life. In fiction, the ocean commonly symbolizes many contradictory ideas. It is comprised of water, which gives life as easily as it takes life away. The ocean is also incredibly vast, covering most of the surface of the Earth. It’s as beautiful as it is daunting, and it is full of mystery; the idea that the ocean is full of horrors and unknowns is as old as folklore itself. Christo presents a dangerous version of the ocean, full of sirens who hunt for human hearts. At the same time, she presents the ocean as a place of beauty and wonders. The Diávolos Sea, the home of the sirens, is impossibly blue and clear, both beautiful and magical.

Hearts

Hearts appear as a symbol throughout the book, both literally and metaphorically. While the sirens actually steal physical hearts, the act also becomes a metaphor for falling in love. Lira tells Elian that stealing a siren’s heart gives a human immunity to siren songs. When Elian finally does gain immunity, it isn’t because he physically took the heart of a siren, but because Lira has fallen in love with him. Hearts are important because they contain a being’s power. When the sirens steal human hearts, they gain power from each one. Similarly, when Elian and Lira fall in love, their love acts like a power that protects them from the wrath of the Sea Queen.

The Five-Man Band

Elian, Lira, and the main three crew members of the Saad form a five-man band in To Kill a Kingdom. A five-man band is a group of characters, usually in an epic or adventure story, who each have unique strengths that benefit the group in some way. The character archetypes in a five-man band are usually the leader, the lancer, the brain, the brawn, and the heart. In To Kill a Kingdom, though Lira is the protagonist, Elian occupies the role of the leader. As the captain of the Saad and a prince, the crew loyally follows him and trusts his leadership completely. Kye, Elian’s best friend and bodyguard, is the lancer: a character who is similar to the leader but often challenges that character, sometimes even to the point of being a rival. The heart is often the love interest of the leader and may be the only woman in the group. In this case, the heart is Lira. Her role directly parallels Elian’s, and their romantic interest in each other is foreshadowed before either of them are aware of it. Though the biggest character is often the brawn, in this book, Madrid fits the role. She is from Kléftes, a country in which many people are ruthless. She is also the best with a gun and is the most indispensable in a fight. Torik, then, is the brain—the character who is the voice of reason. They often produce the plans or fix problems when a plan doesn’t work. Torik, as the oldest member of the crew and the first mate, keeps the peace and quietly guides the others.

Sirens, Mermaids, and Other Sea Monsters

Sea monsters such as sirens and mermaids appear in different folklores and mythologies from around the world, often as cautionary tales for sailors. In the novel, the sirens are born of the sea goddess Keto, who is based on the Greek goddess of sea monsters and sharks. In the book, as in mythology, sirens, mermaids, and mermen are a blend of the horrors of the sea and the horrors of humanity. In Greek mythology, sirens are bird/woman hybrids who use their song to lure sailors to their deaths. Mermaids appear in folklore around the world, often resembling the sirens in To Kill a Kingdom: beautiful women with fish tails instead of legs who may hunt humans or try to drown them. In folklore, as in this book, sirens and mermaids are a reminder that beautiful people and things aren’t inherently safe.