Iblees: The Devil in All This Twisted Glory

Overview

Iblees is the devil figure in Tahereh Mafi’s All This Twisted Glory, the third book in The Woven Kingdom series. He operates as an offstage puppet master, rarely appearing in physical form yet exerting near‑total control over the narrative’s central conflicts. He manipulates both King Cyrus and the lost queen Alizeh through planted dreams, psychic assaults, and a binding bargain that forces Cyrus to marry Alizeh. Iblees’s ultimate aims remain partly hidden, but the evidence from the story shows he intends to use them for his own designs—likely to break Cyrus’s will and claim Alizeh’s power for himself.

Plot Role

Iblees functions as the primary antagonist whose influence drives the novel’s central tension. He does not appear in most chapters; instead, his presence is felt through memories, spells, and psychological torment.

• Planting dreams in Cyrus’s mind: Eight months before the story begins, Iblees planted visions of Alizeh in Cyrus’s sleep to weaken him. Cyrus recalls this in Chapter 5 (Three), realising “Iblees had planted Alizeh in his head on purpose”.
• Summoning Cyrus to a decomposing lair: In Chapter 9 (Seven), Cyrus is dragged to Iblees’s rotting chambers, where the devil taunts him with mocking rhymes about his fear of losing Alizeh.
• Psychic attack on Alizeh: In Chapter 7 (Five), Alizeh faces a terrifying mental assault from Iblees—a single word “Eyes” repeated until she collapses.
• Bargaining over marriage: Cyrus reveals in Chapter 18 (Sixteen) that his deal with Iblees requires him to marry Alizeh to repay a debt; Iblees has designed this trap.

Iblees rarely acts directly, but his schemes shape every major event: Cyrus’s hostility toward Alizeh, his sleeplessness, and the forced wedding plot.

Motivations and Traits

Motivations:

• Breaking Cyrus: Iblees repeatedly tries to break Cyrus through physical torture (the fall in the cave, his father’s blinding) and emotional manipulation (using Alizeh as a weapon). His rhymes in Chapter 9 (Seven) exclaim, “Poor heart is broken / Weak mind is weary / He simply wants to DIE.”
• Claiming Alizeh: The devil states, “Never shall you have the girl / Her fate is twined with ours.” This suggests Iblees has a specific design for Alizeh—perhaps as a vessel or ally.
• Control and amusement: Iblees calls himself “the jester” and treats his games as sport. He taunts Cyrus for his vulnerability and delights in his distress.

Traits shown through actions:

• Manipulative: He premeditates the dream‑planting months in advance, carefully constructing Cyrus’s obsession.
• Cruel and mocking: His rhymes are deliberately childish and hurtful; he blinds Cyrus’s father Reza as punishment.
• Patient and calculating: He waits eight months for the dream seed to flower, then springs the marriage trap.
• Intangible yet invasive: He speaks through whispers, assaults minds, and controls a rotting lair. He can kill and revive Cyrus as a lesson.
• Inscrutable: His ultimate goal is never fully explained, maintaining mystery and menace.

(Interpretation: These traits are drawn from explicit actions in the evidence; the motivation of “claiming Alizeh” is stated by Iblees in his rhyme.)

Chronological Arc

The outline and evidence reveal Iblees’s sequential involvement:

1. Before the novel: Iblees plants Alizeh’s image in Cyrus’s dreams eight months prior (Chapter 5 evidence).
2. During Chapter 5 (Three): Cyrus realises the trap and that Alizeh is innocent, but he cannot stop his feelings.
3. During Chapter 7 (Five): Iblees psychically attacks Alizeh with the word “Eyes,” leaving her injured and disoriented.
4. During Chapter 9 (Seven): Cyrus is summoned to Iblees’s lair, hears mocking rhymes, and finds his father blinded. Iblees offers him a “request” which Cyrus refuses.
5. During Chapter 18 (Sixteen): Cyrus reveals to Kamran and Hazan that his bargain requires marriage to Alizeh, showing Iblees’s scheme is progressing.
6. After Chapter 19 (Seventeen/Nineteen): Alizeh’s slow healing and the rose‑covered room suggest Iblees’s influence continues, though Iblees is not directly present in later chapters.

Iblees never appears in the final chapters of the outline, but his shadow remains over the growing Jinn uprising and the impending blood oath.

Relationships

Cyrus: Iblees is Cyrus’s dark master and tormentor. He holds Cyrus’s father hostage, forces him to endure trials (the fall, the spiders, the stairs), and mocks his love for Alizeh. Cyrus both fears and hates Iblees, yet remains bound by the bargain. In Chapter 9 (Seven), Cyrus shouts, “You’re a vile bastard,” but cannot break free.

Alizeh: Iblees sees Alizeh as an instrument. He attacks her mind and claims her fate is “twined with ours.” Alizeh feels his presence as a “terror” and “slithering terror” in Chapter 7. She does not knowingly ally with him, but the marriage plot forces her closer.

Reza (Cyrus’s father): Reza is a captive of Iblees, blinded and starved. He begs Cyrus to abandon him, revealing Iblees’s cruelty toward anyone Cyrus loves.

Hazan and Kamran: They are not directly connected to Iblees, but Hazan knows about the nosta (a magical object) and Kamran’s mother asks whether “the devil” has visited Kamran (Chapter 4 outline). Iblees’s reach extends beyond the main pair.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Iblees’s decisions are almost all successful in moving his plan forward, but Cyrus’s decision to refuse the request preserves a sliver of autonomy—though it remains unclear if that will matter.

Themes and Symbols

Vengeance: Iblees embodies vengeance against Cyrus for crimes unknown, extracting punishment through his father’s suffering and the forced marriage. The epigraph from Shahnameh (Chapter 2) echoes this bloody cycle.

Sacrifice: Cyrus sacrifices sleep, his own comfort, and eventually his future to protect Alizeh from Iblees’s designs. Alizeh sacrifices her body to save Cyrus.

Duty vs. Love: Cyrus is torn between his duty to Iblees (the bargain) and his love for Alizeh. Iblees’s entire scheme relies on this conflict.

Identity: Iblees’s attack on Alizeh (“Eyes”) hints at his desire to claim her identity or sight. Cyrus struggles with his identity as a villain forced by the devil.

Power and Corruption: Iblees’s power is absolute but corrupting—every contact with him leaves characters broken or twisted.

Symbolism: Iblees’s lair of rotting flesh symbolises decay and false immortality. The locusts that appear later may represent his insidious reach. The “clod tied to a feather” in his rhyme likely refers to a false king or puppet.

(Note: These connections are interpretive but grounded in the text’s symbols and themes outlined in the chapter summaries.)

5 Book‑Specific Questions and Answers

1. Who is Iblees and how does he operate in the story?
Iblees is the devil who opposes the protagonists. He operates largely offstage, using planted dreams, psychic attacks, and a binding bargain with Cyrus. He speaks through rhymes from a decaying lair and rarely shows a face.

2. Why did Iblees plant dreams of Alizeh in Cyrus’s mind?
Explicitly, Iblees did so to weaken Cyrus and make him vulnerable. Cyrus suspects the devil hoped “to use her to break him” (Chapter 5). The dreams created an obsession that made Cyrus nearly powerless.

3. Does Alizeh make a deal with Iblees?
No. The evidence shows Alizeh has never bargained with the devil. In Chapter 5, Cyrus realises “she was just as haunted by Iblees as he was.” Later, Huda tells Alizeh that everyone knows about “her deal with Iblees to marry Cyrus,” but this is a misunderstanding. Alizeh is forced into the plot by Cyrus’s bargain, not her own.

4. What is the “blood oath” and how does Iblees relate to it?
The blood oath is a painful, permanent magical tether that binds two people until death (Chapter 29). Iblees’s bargain forces Cyrus to marry Alizeh, and the oath is the ceremony that seals that union. Hazan protests it, but Alizeh insists, making the oath a key mechanism of Iblees’s plan.

5. Does Iblees ever appear as a physical being?
In the supplied evidence, Iblees never appears in a humanoid form. He presents himself as a “whisper,” a force, or a voice from a “curtain of charred flesh.” His only tangible presence is through the rotting lair and the psychic pain he inflicts. This lack of physicality makes him harder to defeat.

For deeper thematic analysis, see our guides on vengeance, sacrifice, duty vs. love, identity, and power and corruption. For the resolution of Iblees’s schemes, visit the ending explained and questions and answers pages.