48 pages • 1 hour read
Rachel GilligOne Dark Window
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Family and (Dis)Loyalty
One Dark Window is largely shaped by family and hierarchy, as Blunder’s royal and noble families seek to control one another as they do non-nobles lacking power. As a Spindle (paternal family) entrusted to the Hawthorns (maternal family), the infected Elspeth is a noble in her own right, but has to perform as a “shy” girl to avoid drawing attention to her infection. Due to her liminal position, she finds herself despised by stepmother Nerium and scrutinized by other nobles. While loyal to both families (paternal and maternal), she still risks their lives by joining Ravyn’s team—albeit to better Blunder as a whole. This pressure is also felt by Ravyn and Elm. For Ravyn, love for the Yew Family—related to the Rowan Family through his mother—traps him in his role as Captain of the Destriers. As he explains to Elspeth, “I realized at Equinox that the closer I let myself get to you, the less I’d want to be the King’s Captain—the less I’d want to pretend. And it’s dangerous for me, for my family, to stop pretending” (243). He fears risking both the Yews’ mission to form a Deck and his infection. Ravyn is at the mercy of the Rowan King, as being Captain positions him under royal supervision, and if he should stop being useful, his and his family’s lives could be forfeit.
Likewise, Second Prince Elm finds himself chained to the Rowans, both due to and despite the Rowan King and High Prince Hauth’s mistreatment. He claims “I hate it there [Stone]. […] I’d tear it down if I could, set the whole thing to flame. Watch it burn to nothingness” (310), but is unable to untether himself from his father and brother. Like Ravyn, he maintains his position under royal supervision to further the Yews‘ mission—to allow him information and navigation of noble homes. Unlike Ravyn, Elm doesn’t necessarily risk his chosen family with proximity, and in turn, they provide him with acceptance and freedom. Despite their ties to royalty, Ravyn and Elm are still subjected to familial and hierarchal pressure, but it is this combined pressure that pushes the men to protect the Yews no matter the cost.
Falsifying History and “Otherness”
The Rowans’ reign relies on othering infected, especially among non-nobles. The Rowans have historically used spiritual belief and access to history to corrupt Blunder’s citizens. In terms of spiritual belief, “King Rowan, like his predecessors, used the ancient wisdom of The Old Book of Alders to instill fear—not wonder—of magic. He corrupted our ancient text. Defiled it so that it became a weapon to control Blunder” (76). In other words, the Rowans actively weaponize The Old Book of Alders—left behind by the Shepherd King—to frame infected as embodying the Spirit of the Wood’s mist. By cultivating fear of the once deified Spirit and only legalizing the Shepherd King’s Providence Cards, the Rowans legitimize their violence against infected. Blunder relies on balance, the equivalent exchange of magic: By demonizing those touched by the mist, the Rowan King upsets the natural balance.
The revelations about the Nightmare and the Shepherd King’s true identity further underscore the Rowans’ manipulation of history. This manipulation is an erasure of the Shepherd King as a historical figure as well as a strategic move to control the narrative around the Providence Cards and the mist. Elspeth’s unique connection to the Shepherd King, through the Nightmare, serves as a counter-narrative to the Rowans’ sanitized version of history. This connection reveals the complexities and truths about the Shepherd King and the origin of the Providence Cards, challenging the mythologized version propagated by the Rowans. Elspeth’s journey thus becomes a conduit for exposing the truth and demystifying history.
Additionally, Elspeth’s transformation and her eventual merging with the Nightmare embody a direct challenge to the Rowans’ strategy of othering those affected by the mist. Through Elspeth, the narrative reclaims the humanity and complexity of those labeled as “other,” thereby dismantling the fear-based narrative constructed by the Rowans. This aspect of the story both critiques the Rowans’ use of misinformation and highlights the resilience and agency of those who have been marginalized. Elspeth’s arc, from being a victim of the mist to embracing her identity intertwined with the Shepherd King’s legacy, represents a powerful narrative shift that counters the Rowans’ oppressive tactics with the strength and validity of “othered” voices.
The Rowans also other by inhibiting access to Blunder history, instead promoting a sanitized version of it: The Shepherd King is key to Blunder’s magic system, but his personal history is erased due to a lack of surviving heirs. The first Rowan King, Brutus Rowan, took the throne and secured his and his own heirs’ version of history. Elevating the Shepherd King as more of a mythical figure than a historical one denies Blunder’s citizens truth, of understanding the mist and infection as natural—perhaps destructive, but natural. By creating a scapegoat in infected, the Rowans discourage and distract citizens from attempting treason.
Dominance Through Fear
Like othering, the Rowans use fearmongering to legitimize their rule. Though how the first Rowan King, Brutus Rowan, replaced the Shepherd King is unclear, the Nightmare’s use of the moniker “usurper” suggests a bloody betrayal—the seizing of power from legitimate royalty. However, the Rowan King and Hauth do not feel at ease with their newfound power. Their reign is driven by violence so as to establish dominance, their tools for doing so being blaming infected—typically children—and punishing those who show compassion for these individuals. They cultivate fear of the Spirit’s mist through the Physicians and 13 Destriers (elite soldiers). While the Destriers have always been armed men, the Physicians existed before the Rowan King’s campaign against infected, and as expected of their title, once served a peaceful function in society. Filick Willow, Ravyn and Elspeth’s ally who hails from a long line of Physicians, claims “[…] we knew the mist was full of salt—full of magic. But we did not fear it. We venerated the Spirit of the Wood and the gifts she gave. Those who suffered the fever and the degeneration that followed were treated—not hunted” (230). In other words, the Physicians have been actively redefined and weaponized by the Rowans. This shift makes Filick’s cousin and infected head of the Physicians, Orithe Willow, ironic: Though descended from a noble family of healers, Orithe is responsible for the “slaughter of dozens of magical children” (346) because he uses his magic to further the Rowans’ violence.
The Rowans also instill fear through their monopolization of Scythe Cards, with Hauth using his Card to compound his authority as a royal. Elspeth describes “the Scythe [as] a Card of power—control. To show pain was to forfeit that control” (311). The Card enables its wielder to force their will on others’ emotions. While dangerous, the Card fails to secure the Rowans’ authority, as the Rowan King and Hauth have made their authority contingent on it. In order to deter treason, father and son garner a reputation for cruelty, and Hauth especially goes out of his way to punish those who bend Blunder’s laws: “The High Prince would often call a great crowd at the edge of town. Then, with three taps of his Scythe Card, he sent the accused, without a charm, to die in the mist” (90). This desire to punish also extends to his cousin Ravyn, Elspeth, and Elspeth’s cousin—his fiancée Ione Hawthorn. In order to appear in control, especially as his father’s heir and rival to the more competent Ravyn, Hauth makes a spectacle of his power.
