Bloodmarked

Selwyn, known as Sel, is an important secondary character and one of Bree’s two potential romantic interests. Sel is 18, six foot one, and white with pale skin, black hair, and black tattoos over his arms and back. He has yellow eyes like all Merlins; as his demon nature—his “demonia”—takes over, they grow red. He is a Merlin—a magic-wielding person descended from the original Merlin, thus part-demon “cambion”—who was Oathed to Nick as a child, when everyone believed Nick was the Scion of Arthur. Sel tells Bree their Oath is “intrusive,” but it nonetheless results in them having a real connection. When she brings both Sel and Nick into a bloodwalk, they hold each other by the nape of the neck, “forehead to forehead, eyes squeezed shut, breathing each other’s air for the first time in months” (459). Bree understands the affection “between both of them, and between us all” (459). The romantic relationship developing between Bree, Nick, and Sel seems to mirror that of Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere, but without the jealousy that destroyed the original Round Table.

Sel’s character growth centers on his consideration of What Makes a Monster. When the Mageguard arrest Sel for treason and negligence, Bree knows Sel “believes them” (117). The Mageguard make Sel seem like a danger to Bree and the Order; he has so fully internalized the idea that Merlins are at the brink of monstrosity that he believes them fully. Meeting Valec and spending time at Volition show Sel there might be a way to break the hold the Merlin order have on him. When Lucille asks for a show of his magic, Sel makes a small silver-blue firework display. Lucille says, “I thought Merlins were only good for making weapons” (467). In response, Sel shows a rare smile and says, “So did I” (467). What the Order tell the Merlins about their nature and capabilities is meant to limit and oppress them, when in fact they’re capable of much more. He uses his power in a new way when he gives Bree “life support” after a demon rips apart her abdomen. William says, “what Sel did was unprecedented. He cast thousands of flexible microscopic aether constructions, and manipulated them to keep you alive” (408). Merlins are told their aether is for making weapons to protect the people they’re Oathed to, but Sel begins to think outside the box Merlins are kept in by the Order.

While Bree assumes Sel’s biggest fear is succumbing to his blood, his actual fear is losing her. He is willing to put off looking for Nick when their reunion would help Sel fulfill his Oaths, because he wants to “stay by [Bree’s] side to protect [her]” (292). He is willing to have his demonia overtake him if it means he can protect her for longer, but he’s still afraid of her noticing his descent. Sel mesmers Bree out of “fear of judgement” but subsequently accounts for his mistake. He tells Bree, “I mixed lies with truth when you needed me most. And when others did the same to hurt you” (480). He not only recognizes how own mistake, but sees how that mistake played off Bree’s other traumas.

Sel willingly sacrifices the last of his humanity to save Bree from Arthur’s dream realm, becoming a “dangerous predator” who only wants to consume her grief and heartbreak (550). Bree makes a deal with Erebus to get Sel to his mother, Natasia, the only person capable of saving him.

William is an important secondary character. He is white, 19, with light hair and a kind face. As the Scion of Gawain, William is the Order’s healer. His eyes are usually grey, but they turn green at noon and midnight when he receives Gawain’s power. This is an allusion to the popular medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

William is outwardly compassionate, friendly, and hides his pain, grief, and insecurity. In Legendborn, his Oathed squire, Whitty, was killed. When Bree learns about the pain experienced by a Legendborn when their Oathed partner dies, her “eyes go to William, but he’s already turned away from us. A stab of guilt in my heart. He felt Whitty die, too, and he’d never said anything. I hadn’t even noticed, hadn’t asked” (194). Though Bree is a caring friend, she is often too lost in her own grief to recognize that of others. William is quietly distressed about how his legacy robs him of choice. He broke up with his boyfriend, Dylan, a regular human, the day after Arthur was called because he realized he couldn’t escape his fate as Gawain and would only hurt Dylan more if they stayed together.

William bears none of the prejudice of others in the Order. Unlike Sel, who distrusts everyone in the Crossroads Lounge, William embraces and respects the knowledge of other types of magic-users. When Miss Hazel, a doctor of biology, proposes a hypothesis about how Bree’s epigenetics influence her power, she and William bond over how they work with “biology and magic both” (442).

Alice is an important secondary character and Bree’s childhood best friend. Alice is short, with straight dark hair, brown eyes, and round glasses. She has Taiwanese heritage and pale skin. She and Bree have a strong, well-developed relationship. She learned how to style Black hair from Bree’s mother, Faye. She often helps Bree with her hair and brings Black hair products when they run from the Mageguard. Alice is clever and outspoken; she doesn’t hesitate to call people out on their racism or unfairness.

Even when she and Bree disagree about a certain action, Alice is always in her corner. Alice gives Bree tough love when she needs it. When Bree tries to command her, Alice reminds her, “You’re not my king” (286). Though Bree is Scion of Arthur, she checks Bree so she doesn’t repeat the mistakes of her ancestors, who used their power to unfairly influence people.

Though new to the Legendborn world, Alice learns about the world with gusto. Besides Bree, she has a particularly close relationship with William and often helps him with his work and learns from him. As a Onceborn, Alice can’t see aether like the Legendborn and Rootcrafters can. In frustration, she says “I’m getting somebody to Oath me” (427). William “murmurs in agreement” with her (427). Since William lost his Squire in the previous book, this foreshadows the fact that he might Oath Alice to him.

Alice is fatally wounded by Bree when she is out of control with Arthur’s powers. William pumps her with aether to save her life, suspending Alice in a magical coma. He doesn’t know how magic will interact with her Onceborn body. This, combined with the earlier foreshadowing about William Oathing Alice and their general closeness, hints at how the next book might integrate Alice further into the Legendborn ranks.

Valec is an important secondary character; he is a cambion, a broker of human-demon deals, and the proprietor of the Crossroads Lounge. His skin is “warm brown” and he’s “unnaturally beautiful” (321). Though he looks like he’s in his late teens, he is over 200 years old. His mother, Pearl, was an enslaved woman who was seduced by an incubus. In Legendborn, Bree saw Valec’s birth in a memory walk. Pearl casted Valec out when she saw he was a “crossroads child.” Valec says his half-human, half-demon natures are balanced and “easier to control” in contrast to Sel, whose tiny percentage of demon blood threatens to overtake him (334). Valec presents a hopeful alternative for cambions: If Valec can balance his natures, it’s possible Sel can too.

Bree and her friends initially think Valec is the broker who contracted Kizia to kill Bree. Valec is clear that he never arranges murder, as he doesn’t believe he is qualified to judge the value of a human life. This is significant because Valec was previously enslaved; his life was considered worthless by enslavers. Mariah says what while Valec is welcome at Volition, he doesn’t often go there. Mariah and Bree “don’t carry the memories of what these places were really like. He does. He lived it” (433). Though Valec seems suave and cunning, his painful history makes him empathetic to all life. Bree eventually finds out that Valec became a broker to “see to it that humans aren’t taken advantage of” (416). He primarily cares about being fair.

While Nick has a small physical role in this book, his absence is at the heart of the narrative. His kidnapping and the Regents’ plot to murder him drives the plot. Nick is six foot four, white, blond-haired teenager who is unusually strong for his age. As the Awakened Scion of Lancelot, he inherited super-speed, magnified vision, and the ability to use aether to conjure Lancelot’s dual swords. In Legendborn, a small group of people in the Order’s Southern Chapter found out that though Nick’s family were raised as Scions of Arthur, Bree’s maternal line were the actual inheritors of Arthur. His ancestor had an affair with the Scion of Lancelot, leading to Nick’s inheritance of Lancelot’s power.

When Bree asks if Nick wishes he’d inherited Arthur’s power, Nick says, “It was always you, Bree” (211). This contrasts Lord Davis and the Regents, who position Bree as an interloper. Nick is the only person to apologize to Bree for what happened to Vera and how it ricocheted through the centuries to her, “tak[ing] your choices away” (210). While many authorities in the Order want to shore up white, patriarchal power, Nick is the opposite. He supports Bree unwaveringly and never resents that she inherited the legacy he was trained to fulfil.

Erebus is the Mage Seneschal at Arms for the Mageguard. He is white with olive skin and dark, slicked-back hair. At the beginning of the novel, he seems interested in preserving Bree’s safety, if only out of duty. However, he is soon revealed to be a complicated antagonist; while he commits inexcusable acts, like wanting to experiment on Bree, he treats her with more compassion than any other Regent or Seneschal. The plot twist revealing that he is the Shadow King further complicate his narrative role.

In the final chapters, Bree finds out that he is the being the Order calls the “Shadow King,” Valec calls the “Great Devourer,” and her ancestors called “the Hunter.” He tells Bree that he’d been waiting to enter a pact with a Scion of Arthur and took the opportunity with Vera’s Bloodcraft pact. Since then, he’d been waiting for one of her descendants to Awaken so he could devour their magic and regain his Shadow Court. This long-term plan demands patience and foresight. He disguised himself as a Merlin and worked his way up through the Mageguard. He knew Natasia when they were young and trained Sel personally. He did all of this while waiting for one of Vera’s descendants to be Called.

The Shadow King is Arthur’s historic enemy: In Bree’s memory walks, she sees how Arthur and his original knights defeated the Shadow King and took his crown. The nature of the Shadow Court is unclear. Arthur believes he’s the enemy of mankind, but Arthur turns out to be a secret antagonist. Arthur and Erebus potentially represent an outdated model of good versus evil that Bree must overturn. Arthur is not good and Erebus isn’t entirely evil. He protects Bree’s ancestors (though he does so for his own gain), sends Sel to Natasia, and takes Bree on as a pupil.