The Songbird and the Heart of Stone

Asar Voldari, known as the Wraith Warden who guards the Morthryn prison in the House of Shadow, is the male love interest of the novel. Mische describes Asar as someone who might have once been handsome, with “A finely angled jaw. Strong brows over intense near-black eyes. A chiseled nose […] hair, thick and dark, [that] fell in waves over his forehead” (36). He is tall, broad-shouldered, and muscled, a physique befitting his abilities showcased throughout their journey in the Descent. However, thorny vines of black and luminescent scars cover the left side of his face and run down his throat and across his chest, while his left eye is a cloudy silver color with no pupil or iris.

Asar is the second-born, illegitimate son of King Raoul. He possesses Shadowborn abilities—“the magic of minds and compulsion, illusion and shadow” and a talent for the forbidden art of necromancy (17). Asar’s reputation is steeped in near-myth. He is referred to in “tales of torture and spycraft, bloody tasks accomplished by bloodier means” (34). However, beneath his seemingly ruthless exterior is a man marked by scars both physical and emotional. Like Mische, he feels strong empathy for all who suffer and is driven to save them. Mische understands not long after meeting Asar that he is like her “not because he was related to [her] maker, or because he wielded a magic that spoke so innately to [hers]. But because he, too, was a healer. He had devoted himself to fixing the broken things that no one else saw” (169). As someone who seeks to help others at any cost, even at risk to herself, Mische connects deeply with Asar on an emotional level due to their values, and this connection makes her mission from Atroxus much harder to complete. Asar makes Mische question many things about her life, from her unquestioning faith in Atroxus to her views on love.

While Asar doesn’t undergo much dynamic character development in the novel, the introduction of his point of view at the end hints that development is sure to come in the next installment.

Atroxus is a god of the White Pantheon and the antagonist of the novel. He is a personal antagonist to Mische, threatening her happiness, health, and safety. Atroxus perpetuates the theme of The Dangers of Unquestioning Loyalty through his indifferent treatment of Mische despite her desire to prove herself to him. His lack of care for her well-being highlights how dangerous it is for Mische to place uncritical faith in him. Atroxus’s characterization as a self-absorbed deity only interested in pursuing his own power at whatever cost proves him incapable of providing the support Mische craves.

When Atroxus appears to Mische, she admits: “It hurt, genuinely hurt, to look at him sometimes—he was the perfection of a sunrise over the mountains, sunset over the sea, warmth after a long winter” (147). This perception she has of Atroxus subtly reveals that Atroxus brings her pain and discontent, but Mische’s loyalty to him and desperation for redemption in his eyes prevents her from seeing the flaws of their relationship. All she can see is his perfection, a perfection she can never truly attain, though she may die trying if she continues down this path.