Skyshade

Grimshaw Malvere is Isla’s husband. He is 500 years old and has black hair, dark eyes, and a muscular physique. His handsome appearance and dark past make him an archetypal Byronic hero. The Grim that the reader encounters in Skyshade is remorseful for the events of the first two books in the series, striving to rekindle his love with Isla and beseeching her, “Can you ever forgive me?” (85). In particular, he expresses great regret for betraying Isla’s trust by hiding her memories of their first marriage. Even when Isla professes to hate him, Grim remains staunchly protective of his wife, repeatedly risking life, limb, and the displeasure of the Nightshade court to keep her safe. At the same time, Grim remains a fearsome warrior and ruler dreaded throughout Lightlark. His reputation for villainy is the direct result of his tragic backstory and the trauma he survived: “When I was young, we were trained to be ruthless, to have heart trained out of us” (227). For centuries, Grim’s life was devoid of any form of intimacy, making his love with Isla all the more precious to him. He nicknames Isla “Heart” to show that she is “the center of his life” (28). Grim is defined by the contrast between two opposing aspects of his personality: He is both a loving, protective husband and a ruthless warrior.

As the protagonist’s primary love interest, Grim makes important contributions to the novel’s romance and themes. Isla and Grim’s marital situation exemplifies The Tension Between Love and Duty: They were married for a year, but he made her forget this in the hope that he could find a way to make her immortal. They remarry, and Isla falls back in love with Grim in this book, but her heart also belongs to Oro, Grim’s enemy. Grim also contributes to Isla’s journey toward self-acceptance. Her hatred toward him at the start of the novel is connected to her belief that he shouldn’t have brought her back to life, a belief he vehemently rejects: “Don’t ever say that. Don’t ever think that. You have saved far more people than you have killed” (66). Over the course of the novel, Grim’s unwavering support helps Isla forgive herself and embrace her dark side. He understands her better than Oro because they are “more alike than they were different” due to their painful backstories and capacity for ruthlessness (231). Chapter 22 introduces the reader to a new, unguarded side of Grim when Isla persuades him to shed his armor both literally and figuratively: “He was wearing a soft, long-sleeved black shirt and casual pants. No cape. No boots. No spiked armor. Just him” (243). The intimacy and trust that Grim and Isla build change both characters.

Oro Rey is Isla’s other lover. The Sunling king has “amber eyes” (149), blonde hair, and a muscular build. His golden appearance contrasts with Grim’s dark hair and pale skin, emphasizing that the rivals are opposites in many respects. In another difference, Grim is flirtatious while Oro is stern, a trait that suits his status as the king of all Lightlark. Oro demonstrates an abundance of patience and forgiveness toward Isla. When she accidentally gives him a near-fatal wound, he professes, “I’ll never hate you, Isla. I’ll love you until my final breath—even if you’re the reason I’m taking it” (367). This utter devotion explains why he accepts her decision to marry Grim and resolves to pine after her forever if he cannot be with her. One of the qualities that Isla values most in Oro is his trustworthiness: because she’s been betrayed and manipulated by her friends, guardians, and even Grim, but she knows Oro will never betray her. The Sunling king is one of the very few people she tells about the prophecy. Oro is upright and trustworthy, but his primary trait is his total devotion to Isla.

As the protagonist’s secondary love interest, Oro develops the theme of The Complexities of Love and Loyalty. He and Isla are lovers in Nightbane, but they are separated when Isla chooses to remain with Grim. Complicating matters further, Isla remarries Grim largely because she hopes that doing so will protect Oro: “Now you know why you need to stay away from me. I’m dangerous. I’ll be the death of you, if you let me” (355). Due to this separation, Oro appears only as a comforting memory for much of the story, and Isla thinks of him as her one true love before she accepts that she’ll always love Grim, too. Oro is a dynamic character, but the protagonist sees the changes she inspires in him as decline rather than growth: “Even without the prophecy, she was bad for him. She made him forget his duty. Made him do reckless things like risk his and all his peoples’ lives by traveling across the world to the land of his enemies” (165). After Isla breaks his heart, he reverts back to “the coldhearted king she had met on the first day of the Centennial” (341). However, this shift is only temporary, and his unbreakable love for Isla leads him to fight alongside her in the battles leading up to the novel’s climax. Despite Isla and Grim’s marriage, Oro’s ongoing connection with Isla maintains the series’s love triangle.