Hell Bent

“A single word. Darlington’s voice. Desperate, demanding. Wait. They’d almost done it, almost reached him. They’d been so close. He would have gotten it right. He always did.”

This quote, which comes right after the attempted ritual in Scroll and Key, highlights two major points in Alex’s mentality. The first is her frustration and guilt regarding his entrapment in hell. The second is her belief that Darlington is better than her at the ritual style of magic used by Lethe, where she tends toward less structure in her abilities.

“Had she not quite believed it? Despite her talk of the gentleman demon? Despite the arguments she’d made to Anselm and the board? Had some of her thought everyone else was right and that this ridiculous quest was just another opportunity to throw herself into harm’s way and appease her own guilt over his death?”

This passage suggests that Alex may have had doubts about the success of their mission to rescue Darlington, despite her outward determination. She also implies that her desire to rescue him was motivated by a need for personal redemption rather than a genuine belief in his survival.

“Magic was transgression, the blurring of the line between the impossible and the possible. There was something about crossing that boundary that seemed to shake loose all the morals and taboos people took for granted. When anything was within your grasp, it got harder and harder to remember why you shouldn’t take it.”

Here, Bardugo summarizes the danger of magic in the world of Hell Bent. Magic is not a force for good. Instead, it is the ultimate temptation. Even when you have good intentions, if you cannot be stopped by anything you always run the risk of going too far.

“Motive and means, Alex considered as she unlocked the gate to JE. As for opportunity, she knew better than anyone: You had to make it for yourself.”

This is the end of Alex’s considerations that the new Praetor Walsh-Whiteley, might be responsible for the murders. However, it also provides insight into her mentality. Alex believes that opportunities are not simply handed out; you must actively create them. This aligns with her background, as she needed to overcome adversity to survive.

“That tick tick tick isn’t a clock. It’s a bomb. There’s no countdown. It just goes off and everything changes.”

Regarding death, Alex argues it is not just an inevitability, but an unpredictable one. It can occur suddenly and without warning. When someone dies, it also affects the lives of those left behind, reshaping relationships, priorities, and perspectives.

“That was the problem with love. It was hard to unlearn, no matter how harsh the lesson.”

This quote encapsulates the feelings Alex and Darlington have regarding their respective parents. Both sets of relationships are complicated. However, as the quote implies, love is not rational, particularly not when it is for family.

“‘Have you ever wondered why the death words work?’ He leaned forward. ‘Because we all amount to nothing in the end and there is nothing more terrifying than nothing.’”

This intimidating line from Anselm, really from Golgarot in disguise, is the conclusion to his larger story to Alex about the history of New Haven. It serves as light foreshadowing for his true nature as Darlington’s demon. It hints at the shared interest in the workings of magic, and his phrasing shows his intent to create discomfort in Alex.

“Anselm was nothing like Darlington now. He was a tan in a suit. He was a wealthy grifter looking for an edge and willing to use her to get it. He was one more thief rummaging through artifacts in a country not his own. He was the Lethe Alex understood, not the Lethe Darlington had loved.”

While Alex previously made the important and accurate note of Anselm’s similarity to Darlington, here she walks it back. He is too much of the self-centered type of person Alex expects from the world of magic to belong to the one that Darlington idealized.

“That was the truth of magic—blood and guts and semen and spit, organs kept in jars, maps for hunting humans, the skulls of unborn infants. The problem wasn’t books and fairy tales, just that they told half the story, offering up the illusion of a world where only the villains paid in blood, the ogre stepmothers, the wicked stepsisters, where magic was just and without sacrifice.”

Here, Bardugo uses vivid and unsettling imagery to describe magic, rooted in the physical and the grotesque, which challenges the romanticized notion of magic prevalent in fantasy. It highlights the idea that true magic involves sacrifice and often blurs the lines between what is good and bad.

“Maybe they were just two killers, cursed to endure each other’s company, two doomed spirits trying to find their way home. Maybe they were monsters who liked the feeling of another monster looking back at them. But enough people had abandoned them both. She wasn’t going to be the next.”

This quote presents Alex and Darlington’s strange bond. They both have blood on their hands, figuratively and literally, and this shared experience links them. This shared darkness creates a sense of understanding and acceptance that they cannot find elsewhere. Both characters experienced betrayal, making them wary of forming attachments. However, Alex underlines her determination to break this cycle.

“Something on the other side was waiting to claim her. It had been waiting a long time, and now that it had hold of her, it wasn’t going to let go.”

The quote underscores Alex’s profound sense of guilt and self-doubt, which is only heightened when she believes she is alone in hell. She believes that hell wants to “claim her,” suggesting she sees herself as deserving of punishment. It is also foreshadowing for Anselm’s later attempts to keep her there due to her being a Wheelwalker.

“Magic never did the kind thing. There was no reward but survival. And dead was dead.”

This quote speaks to the harsh and unforgiving nature of the supernatural world depicted in the story. In this universe, magic is portrayed as a powerful and unpredictable force that does not adhere to conventional notions of morality or kindness. Instead, it operates based on its own rules, often indifferent to the well-being of those who wield or are affected by it.

“Life is cruel. Magic is real. And I’m not ready to die.”

This quote, spoken to the demon who took on Hellie’s form, summarizes Alex’s situation and personality. Despite the magic she has access to, her situation has never been easy. She has needed to fight to survive her whole life, and she continues to do so, no matter what it takes.

“That was all there was in this world. No heroes or villains, just the people you’d brave the waves for, and the ones you’d let drown.”

The quote reflects Alex’s pragmatism about the world. She does not romanticize the idea of unselfish heroism, but rather believes interpersonal relationships are shaped by personal considerations. Additionally, this comes from a conversation she has with Tripp. The water and drowning imagery stems from his experience letting his cousin, Spenser, die at sea.

“Demons loved games. And he’d been playing with them from the start.”

This quote comes from Alex’s realization of Darlington’s involvement in the murders. It references the demons’ tendency toward relying on trickery and puzzles. While the connection to Darlington is accurate, and the manipulation involved in the whole mystery, her idea of the mastermind is not.

“In the dream, there had been two of him: demon and man. There have to be, he’d said. The boy and the monster.”

This comes from Alex realizing Anselm’s true nature. It calls back to the dream she had following the encounter with Reiter about Darlington, which foreshadowed the truth to the mystery. The duality was not just a representation of his new nature as part demon, part human; there were two of him.

“She was more beautiful than he remembered. No, that wasn’t true. It wasn’t that she had changed or that his vision had sharpened. He was just less afraid of her beauty now.”

The quote reflects Darlington’s acceptance of Alex as a person. After his transformation into a demon, he views the world as less black-and-white than before. While her morally gray nature concerned him before, now he understands her perspective better.

“They had seen the very worst of each other, felt every ugly, shameful, frightening thing. Four pilgrims. Four children trembling in the dark. Four fools who had attempted what should never be dared. Four shoddy heroes on a quest who were meant to survive this reckless endeavor together. But Tripp wasn’t here.”

This quote summarizes the group of Alex, Dawes, Turner, and Tripp in the story’s final act. Their journey to hell has transformed them into a united group. However, their inability to contact Tripp is a discordant note that highlights their vulnerability. Despite surviving the initial descent and becoming vulnerable with one another, they are still in danger.

“I think you well know that one can be both a murderer and a good man. Or at least a man who tries to be good. If only the evil did terrible things, what a simple world it would be.”

In this quote from Darlington to Turner, he challenges the oversimplified binary of labeling people as either “heroes” or “villains.” He implies that individuals are not easily categorized as either and, instead, they navigate a spectrum of moral choices and actions. It is an example of the theme of duality within the narrative.

“Because it wasn’t the people she’d killed who haunted her. It was the people she’d let die, the ones she couldn’t save.”

While Alex has taken lives, her primary source of torment comes from those she could not protect, such as Darlington, Hellie, and Babbit Rabbit. The quote aligns with the overarching theme of redemption that runs through the narrative. It also alludes to her profound survivor’s guilt.

“Sitting there, watching them hatch their schemes with Turner and Mercy, he’d felt like a stranger in a place he’d once known. His understanding of his own lack of consequence had been both slow and sudden in its cruelty.”

Darlington feels disconnected as he witnesses the camaraderie between the formerly opposed Alex and Dawes. While he was gone, the world and the people he cared about moved on without him. It is a harsh shift in perspective on his own importance to them.

“I think I’ve been waiting my whole life for the moment someone would see something in me that wasn’t ordinary.”

This quote from Mercy highlights her approach to magic and Lethe for most of the novel. Where Alex desires “normality” and a lack of magic, Mercy longs for adventure and something grander than her circumstances.

“She’d lied and cheated and broken a lot of laws. But she knew that bringing Babbit Rabbit home was the worst, most selfish thing she’d ever done. Nothing good belonged with her.”

The quote shows not only Alex’s feelings of guilt, but also her tendency to isolate herself emotionally. She sees herself as unworthy of positive connections or happiness. This self-imposed exile is a defense mechanism to shield herself from potential hurt and to atone for her perceived sins.