Glorious Stories

Hello Readers–It’s another glorious day for stories! Join me as we take our third and final deep-dive into the themes and motifs found in Thief, Witch, & Liar. Spoilers will be marked for those of you who haven’t finished the book but still want to come along on this revealing journey, and if you missed the last two posts, you can find here:

Part I

Part II

And now, without further ado, in we go!

WEEK THREE THEME

True Family

“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.” — Psalm 82:3

Family is the third and final central theme of the book, its quality measured by the genuineness of loyalty and affection between its members.

Daniela is shown to have a close relationship with her family, with two living parents, three sisters, and a deceased older brother who all figure into her thoughts on the regular. Her care and regard for them have shaped her into the woman that she is.

Iacoma holds her son Bensiabel close, idolizing him and devoting a level of tenderness to him that surprises Daniela, who perceives it at first as the same kind of love shown by her own parents, as an apparent contrast to the wickedness she expected from the witch. Yet Iacoma’s love for and loyalty to her son is starkly different from the kind which Daniela holds for her family, turning to viciousness and jealousy at the slightest provocation. Fearing to lose him, Iacoma instead controls him, or seeks to at every opportunity.

SPOILER TALK: ((When it is eventually revealed that Iacoma is not Bensiabel’s biological mother, Daniela is shocked. But he never denies Iacoma her place as his mother, bearing her cruelty with patience, even as he longs for freedom. He acknowledges the existence of his biological mother, though he never knew her, but does not regard her with particular tenderness–insisting, rather, that Iacoma is his mother despite the ways in which she has hurt him.

After Daniela exerts herself to secure his freedom, she does so by restoring to him true name, given to him at his first birth, by his biological mother. This frees him from the Witch’s control. Daniela later welcomes him into her own family. The contrast between her parent’s gentleness and Iacoma’s volatile, paranoid nature is shocking to him, but infinitely attractive. And so, freed from the suffocating control of one adopted family, he makes his home wtih a new adoptive family, who treat him as a truer son than either his biological mother or Iacoma ever did.))

WEEK THREE MOTIFS

Captive Bird

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” — Isaiah 40:31

This motif will be no news to anyone; the bird in flight has represented freedom for long ages, and still more the captive bird has represented a maiden’s plight in countless works of literature.

While in captivity, Daniela wistfully muses that she would need wings to escape the ring of flesh-eating trees that hedges the Witch’s dwelling place.

SPOILER TALK: ((Her idle wish is later fulfilled when Bensiabel’s spell, designed to help her in her moment of need, causes her to sprout literal wings that carry her from danger, and disappear when they have served their purpose))

Truth in the Title: Thief/Witch/Liar

“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” — Proverbs 28:13

Sometimes choosing the title for a book is hard work. Most of the time, I just hedge my bets and come up with a cool-sounding title first and then build the story around it!

Not so with this book.

I started out just calling it Prunella, like the fairy tale that inspired it. It does have a nice, whimsical ring to it, and it makes sense as that is the name by which Daniela is called for most of the book by her captor the Witch.

But within the first few chapters I knew it wouldn’t work. It needed something a little more snappy, and a little truer to the tone and of the book.

I thought to name it after each of the three central characters, Daniela, Iacoma, and Bensiabel: one thief, one witch, and one liar. And no sooner had this thought occurred to me than it hit me–

SPOILER TALK AHEAD!

((Each of the three central characters fully embodies all three names.

Daniela–accused of stealing plums and guilty of it, though unintentionally so. She resorts to lying in order to save her life and protect Bensiabel’s secrets during her captivity, and makes the startling discovery that she herself is a witch, capable of the very magic that made her fear Iacoma.

Bensiabel–trained as a witch from birth, Bensiabel’s difficult youth led him to develop skills in deceit first as a means of survival and later as a tool for manipulation, rendering him a habitual liar. Though accused of stealing the freedom of those he helps in the village, his only true theft is the theft of Daniela’s heart–thought that might be as easily described as fair winning.

Iacoma–known to all as the Witch of the Wood, Iacoma is abjectly guilty of stealing not only the infant she would later call Bensiabel, but also the prosperity, health, and freedom of the entire village of Casenga. Her entire life is a continuous lie, crafted to justify her bitterness, ambition, and her need to control and consume the ones she claims to love.))

–END SPOILER TALK–

This is the realization that really helped the novel develop. I do not believe it would have turned out the way it did if this hadn’t crystalized for me early on in the writing process.

And there you have it! This concludes our deep-dive into the themes and motifs in Thief, Witch, & Liar.

In my next post I plan to recap my experiences at this week’s Realm Makers Expo in Grand Rapids MI, so check back in to hear all about it!

Until then,

–Emmarayn