Millicent: The Conflicted Revenant Sister in A Soul of Ash and Blood
Character Overview
Millicent stands as one of the most emotionally complex figures introduced in A Soul of Ash and Blood, the fifth Blood and Ash novel. She is Penellaphe "Poppy" Balfour's half-sister, born of the same mother—Isbeth, the Blood Queen—but shaped by a vastly different upbringing. Where Poppy was raised in ignorance behind the Maiden's veil, Millicent was forged into a weapon: a Revenant neither fully mortal nor god, loyal to a mother she ultimately fled.
Her physical appearance mirrors Poppy's in striking ways once she is seen without her painted mask. Casteel notes her "blond so pale it was nearly white" hair, freckled nose and cheeks, strong brow, and stubborn chin—features that cause him a "jolt of shock" and force him to see her as more than an enemy. She shares Poppy's anxious mannerisms too, twisting her fingers together when uncomfortable, a detail that humanizes her despite her supernatural nature.
Plot Role and Significance
Millicent's role in this installment is deliberately limited—she appears principally in Chapter 67 ("Present X")—yet her presence carries enormous narrative weight. She is the invisible chain that bound Malik to Isbeth's service for decades, the heartmate he could not abandon. When she forces her way into Poppy's chambers alongside Malik, she catalyzes Casteel's confrontation with his brother and forces difficult truths into the open.
Her visit to Poppy's unconscious form serves multiple narrative purposes. It demonstrates that Poppy's emerging primal power inspires genuine terror in those who understand it—Millicent fled the Temple fearing the awakened Primal of Life would destroy her on sight. It also establishes the emotional foundation for a potential sisterly relationship, one Poppy has not yet been conscious to choose. Millicent holding Poppy's hand in silence, then departing wordlessly, leaves the question of their future deliberately unresolved.
Motivations and Internal Conflict
Millicent's actions reveal a character torn between self-preservation and a deeply buried capacity for care. She explicitly states she has "no desire to harm" Poppy, despite Poppy having killed their mother. Her reasoning is pragmatic but also revealing: "I'm not a stranger to her. I spent time with her when she was a child." This admission recontextualizes her earlier role as Isbeth's agent—she was not merely a tool of the Blood Queen but a silent guardian who watched over her younger sister in the underground chambers.
Her decision to flee the Temple after Poppy's awakening exposes a profound fear that contradicts her otherwise fearless demeanor. Casteel perceives this correctly: "Millicent wasn't afraid to die, be it final or not. It wasn't her death she'd been afraid of." What she fears is left ambiguous, but the context suggests it is the loss of connection—the possibility that Poppy, as the Primal of Life, would reject or destroy her before any bond could form.
Traits Shown Through Actions
Millicent's defining trait is restraint. She does not attack when facing Casteel's hostility, does not defend herself against his accusations, and does not demand anything from the unconscious Poppy. Her actions are minimal and deliberate: she asks if Poppy rambles like her, sits beside her sister, holds her hand, and leaves. This economy of movement suggests someone who has learned that survival depends on not drawing attention to her true feelings.
Her laughter at the suggestion she might seek revenge for Isbeth's death is described as "high-pitched and maybe a little crazed," a moment that reveals the psychological damage of her upbringing. She calls Revenants "abominations" without self-pity, stating it as simple fact. This acceptance of her own supposed monstrosity—coupled with her visible relief upon hearing her father asked about her and is free—paints a portrait of someone who has internalized her mother's dehumanizing worldview while still yearning for familial connection.
Chronological Arc
Millicent's arc in this book unfolds across a compressed timeline but references years of history. The retrieved evidence establishes that she spent time with a young Poppy in Isbeth's underground chambers, acting as a watcher during Poppy's childhood. This role placed her in a position of power over her unaware sister, yet she frames it as protection: "I watched over her."
During the events following Poppy's stasis, Millicent initially flees, fearing destruction at her sister's hands. Her return with Malik marks a turning point—she chooses to face the possibility of rejection rather than remain in hiding. The chapter concludes with her wordless departure, leaving her ultimate fate and allegiance an open question that hangs over the narrative.
Relationships
Poppy (Penellaphe)
The half-sister relationship is the emotional center of Millicent's character. They share a mother, physical resemblance, and nervous habits, but were separated by Isbeth's machinations. Millicent's knowledge of Poppy far exceeds Poppy's knowledge of her, creating an asymmetry that is poignant rather than threatening. She held Poppy's hand while Poppy slept, an act of intimacy that required no reciprocation.
Malik Da'Neer
Malik is Millicent's heartmate, a bond she remains unaware of. His admission to Casteel—"She hates me and has every damn reason to"—reveals a relationship marked by guilt and unresolved tension. Millicent's apparent hatred for Malik, which Casteel doubts is genuine, stems from unknown actions Malik took during his decades of captivity. The heartmate bond complicates everything: Malik has not acted on it or even revealed it, suggesting a dynamic where emotional truth remains buried beneath layers of trauma and survival instinct.
Casteel Da'Neer
Casteel's initial hostility toward Millicent softens when he recognizes her resemblance to Poppy and her anxious mannerisms. He makes the difficult choice to allow her access to Poppy's chamber, overriding his protective instincts because he understands what Poppy has lost: "Poppy had lost so much. Vikter. Her brother. The two people who were her parents. Time spent with her biological father." This decision reflects Casteel's growth and his recognition that Millicent represents a potential future relationship Poppy deserves to choose for herself.
Key Decisions and Consequences
Millicent makes three pivotal decisions in the text. First, she fled the Temple after Poppy's awakening, choosing self-preservation over confrontation. The consequence was temporary isolation but also survival—she bought time to assess whether Poppy would destroy her. Second, she returned with Malik and forced entry into Poppy's chambers, choosing vulnerability over continued hiding. This decision opened the door for potential reconciliation and forced Casteel and Malik to have their long-overdue confrontation. Third, she left Poppy's side without demanding anything, choosing to let her sister wake on her own terms. The consequence of this restraint is an open future: nothing is resolved, but nothing is foreclosed either.
Thematic and Symbolic Connections
Millicent embodies the theme of freedom and choice in its most painful form. She was denied choice from birth—raised to be Isbeth's weapon, transformed into a Revenant against her will, bound to serve a mother who viewed her as an instrument. Her flight from the Temple represents a first, terrified assertion of autonomy.
She is also deeply connected to identity and deception. Like Casteel, who wore the Hawke persona, Millicent has worn masks both literal and figurative. The painted mask she shed between the Temple and her appearance in this book symbolizes the stripping away of her assigned identity. What remains underneath is uncertain even to her.
The nature of power theme manifests in her relationship to Poppy's primal awakening. Millicent is neither Revenant nor god, existing in a category that defies classification. Her fear of the Primal of Life—"No one hates Revenants more than the Primal of Life, and it's not because we're abominations... With the Primal of Life, it's personal"—positions her as a potential casualty of divine conflicts she did not choose.
Finally, her connection to trauma and memory runs deep. She carries the scars of Isbeth's motherhood, a trauma that manifests in her flat affect, her self-description as an abomination, and her uncertainty about whether Poppy could ever accept her. Her memories of watching over a young Poppy are presented as a point of light in an otherwise dark history.
Questions and Answers
1. Why did Millicent flee the Temple after Poppy awakened as the Primal of Life?
Millicent fled because she believed the Primal of Life—her grandmother—would destroy her on sight. She explains that Revenants are seen as abominations to the Primal of Life specifically, and her fear was personal rather than abstract. Even after she realized the silver light and draken signaled Poppy's awakening rather than the original Primal's return, she understood Poppy now carries that power and might share that enmity. Casteel recognizes her deeper fear is not death itself but something more relational.
2. What is Millicent's relationship to Malik, and why does she apparently hate him?
Malik is Millicent's heartmate, a fact she does not know. Malik has not revealed the bond to her, stating "she hates me and has every damn reason to." The specific reasons remain undisclosed in this book, but Malik's decades of service to Isbeth—a service undertaken partly to remain near Millicent—likely involved actions that hurt or betrayed her. Casteel doubts the hatred is genuine, noting how Millicent reacted protectively when Malik was injured, suggesting her feelings are far more complicated than simple enmity.
3. How did Millicent watch over Poppy during childhood?
Millicent reveals she spent time with Poppy when Poppy was a child kept in Isbeth's underground chambers. She states Poppy "probably doesn't remember that. Probably blocked it out." The watching appears to have been protective rather than threatening—Millicent frames it as a form of care, though it occurred within the context of Isbeth's imprisonment of Poppy. This history adds complexity to Millicent's claim that she has no desire to harm her sister.
4. Why does Casteel allow Millicent to sit with the unconscious Poppy?
Casteel's decision is driven by his recognition of what Poppy has lost. He internally catalogs her losses—Vikter, her brother Ian, her adoptive parents, time with her biological father, time with Tawny—and concludes he cannot stand in the way of a potential sisterly relationship. He acknowledges he does not know what kind of relationship Poppy would want with Millicent, but chooses to let that be Poppy's decision rather than his. This represents significant character growth for the protective Casteel.
5. What makes Millicent's nature ambiguous—neither Revenant nor god?
The text explicitly states through Casteel and Kieran's discussion that Millicent's nature defies clear classification. She was created as a Revenant through Isbeth's dark processes, but her origins and capabilities remain unclear. She is not mortal, not fully Revenant in the typical sense, and not a god, despite her connection to the primal bloodline through Isbeth and her grandmother. This ambiguity positions her as a unique entity whose full powers and limitations are yet to be revealed.
Distinguishing Interpretation from Explicit Fact
The text explicitly states: Millicent is Poppy's half-sister, she watched over Poppy as a child, she fled the Temple after Poppy's awakening, she fears the Primal of Life, she holds no desire for revenge over Isbeth's death, and she sat with Poppy holding her hand before leaving wordlessly. Malik confirms she is his heartmate and believes she hates him. Her physical resemblance to Poppy is explicitly noted by Casteel.
Interpretive elements include: the nature of her fear (relational versus existential), whether she genuinely hates Malik or is masking deeper feelings, what she hopes to gain from connecting with Poppy, and whether her self-description as an "abomination" reflects her true belief or Isbeth's conditioning. The text provides evidence for multiple readings of these questions, particularly regarding her emotional state, which is described through external observation rather than internal narration.