Gwen Underfoot: The Pragmatic Heart of King Sorrow

Overview

Gwen Underfoot is the pragmatic, determined woman who becomes Arthur Oakes's love interest and the group's moral center. Introduced in Chapter 6 at Colin Wren's estate, she demonstrates a psychic bond with Arthur during Zener card tests. She later becomes an EMT, cares for Llewellyn Wren, and takes on the burden of planning to destroy King Sorrow. Her arc moves from a working-class outsider to the architect of the dragon's defeat, while grappling with guilt over the many killed in her name. The novel's three interludes titled "Gwen, Underfoot," "Gwen, Under Arrest," and "Gwen, Under the Shadow" track her evolving resolve.

Plot Role

Gwen enters the story during the first visit to The Briars, where her accurate card-guessing reveals a supernatural connection to Arthur. She becomes the primary emotional and logistical support for Arthur as he steals rare books under coercion from the Nighswander family. After Arthur's disappearance underground, Gwen inherits his notebooks and the burden of the Easter sacrifice. She administers dragon tears to dying individuals—first Llewellyn Wren, then others in later years—and ultimately plans to behead King Sorrow. In the final confrontation, she wields a blade drawn from Arthur's spirit and strikes the dragon, though she herself is fatally wounded.

Motivations and Traits

Gwen's motivation is rooted in class consciousness and a desire to do measurable good. She explicitly states she wants to save lives, not ruin them, choosing EMT work over college despite Arthur's tuition loophole. Her practical nature shows when she turns down Rackham College to attend paramedic school. Guilt drives her later actions: she confesses to Arthur's imaginary presence that King Sorrow has killed hundreds in her name and that she should have asked to be taken years ago. She values direct action over hand-wringing, as seen when she drags herself out of the hospital on Good Friday, determined to sacrifice herself. Her bravery is matched by a dark, resilient humor—after the King Sorrow claws her leg, she spits, "That all you got, bitch?".

Chronological Arc

1. 1990 (First Interlude, "Gwen, Underfoot") – Gwen learns the Easter sacrifice is perpetual and that Arthur chose her as this year's victim. She discovers that the Enoch Crane journal may hold a banishment ritual, confronts Arthur about his past with Tana, and ends their romance. She gives dragon tears to Llewellyn, who dies in blue fire, then plans to burgle Bridget Fleming's apartment.

2. Mid-1990s (Second Interlude, "Gwen, Under Arrest") – At a wedding weekend in Gogan, Gwen witnesses Donna's drunken vandalism and the resulting brawl that lands the group in jail. She shares a tender moment with Arthur before his departure for Oxford.

3. Post-9/11 (Third Interlude, "Gwen, Under the Shadow") – Gwen attends a brain-damaged skateboarder on September 11, 2001. Months later, she volunteers at the Black Cricket prison collapse and works alongside Arthur's mother Erin. She angrily accuses Donna of causing the collapse, which killed hundreds of women.

4. 2015 (Fourth Interlude, "Gwen, Under Attack") – Gwen receives a FaceTime from Robin, who confesses to possibly killing the troll Stuart Finger and reveals that Colin murdered Arthur. Gwen plows snow while debating how to prove Colin's betrayal. She researches past victims and begins planning to expose him.

5. 2015–Easter 1991 frame (main narrative) – Gwen confronts Colin at the computer center ribbon-cutting, insisting she meant to attack King Sorrow, not him. She later reads Arthur's notebooks and develops a plan to banish the dragon. After being shot, she heals using saint's blood but retains a fatal infection. She checks out of the hospital on Good Friday, intending to die, but her friends ambush her and force her to fight. In the climactic battle, she draws Arthur's blade from the glass wall and severs King Sorrow's claw before being crushed by the dragon's tail.

Relationships

• Arthur Oakes: Her true love and intellectual equal. They share a psychic bond, romantic evenings, and a vision of a life together that never materializes. Gwen reads his Toolkit for the Well-Prepared Dragonslayer and continues writing in the margins. She speaks to his ghost while snowblowing. Their relationship ends when she learns he had sex with Tana, though she still grieves him for decades.

• Colin Wren: Gwen grows to distrust Colin, eventually concluding he fabricated evidence to frame Arthur and murdered him. She confronts him at the computer center, and he retaliates by publicly accusing her of racial rejection. She later acknowledges Colin and Donna may have been complicit in Arthur's death.

• Donna McBride: A fraught alliance. Donna saves Gwen's life with saint's blood but has enabled the King Sorrow killings for years. Gwen tasks Donna with beheading the dragon after she herself dies; Donna initially refuses, calling Gwen's plan a suicide wish.

• Tana Nighswander: Gwen raises Tana's son Jett as a single mother. She supports Tana through the birth and later works alongside her to steal the martyr's robe. Tana becomes one of Gwen's closest co-conspirators.

• Daphne Nighswander: An implacable enemy. Daphne memorizes Gwen's name while in prison and vows revenge, eventually targeting her and the rest of the group.

Key Decisions and Consequences

• Choosing EMT work over college: Gwen turns down Arthur's tuition loophole to become a paramedic, a decision grounded in her desire to save lives rather than take them. This leads her to a career that puts her on the front lines of tragedy (9/11, Black Cricket collapse) and gives her the skills to later administer dragon tears.

• Ending the romance with Arthur: After learning Arthur manipulated Tana (though Arthur himself was coerced), Gwen breaks up with him. This decision frees her to act without romantic bias but also isolates her as the group's conscience.

• Administering dragon tears to the dying: Gwen uses the tears she won from King Sorrow to ease the passing of Llewellyn, Rose Ellroy, and Eddie Knockwood. These euthanasias blur the line between mercy and murder, a line she explicitly confronts when she tells Colin, "We're serial murderers too."

• Leaving the hospital against medical advice: On Good Friday, Gwen removes her IV and signs herself out, planning to let King Sorrow kill her. Her friends intercept her and drag her to the final battle, forcing her to choose survival and action over passivity.

• Drawing Arthur's blade: In the tower, Gwen reaches into a glass wall and pulls out a "yard of mirrored steel," which she uses to cut off King Sorrow's talon. The blade feels weightless, as if Arthur himself is wielding it through her. This moment transforms her from a terminal patient into the group's defender.

Themes and Symbol Connections

• Revenge and Consequences: The central moral question of the novel—"Who deserves to die?"—hangs over Gwen. Her internal monologue in chapter 128 reveals she has stopped caring about whom Colin picks, a moral atrophy that disgusts her once she confronts it.

• Sacrifice and Redemption: Gwen embodies the tension between wanting to die and being needed to live. Her hospital speech to Arthur's ghost articulates her exhaustion and guilt, yet she ultimately agrees to fight because her friends refuse to let her quit.

• Dark Academia and Knowledge: Arthur's handwritten Toolkit is both a love letter and a research document. Gwen reads it to "carry on the conversation," and his notes in the margins become a source of comfort and strategy.

• Moral Compromise and Guilt: Gwen's complicity in the Easter killings is the novel's hardest truth. She admits King Sorrow has killed hundreds in her name and that she could have stopped it by offering herself earlier. This guilt is what nearly drives her to desert the final fight.

• Friendship and Betrayal: Gwen's trust in Colin and Donna erodes over the years. She ultimately distrusts Colin enough to plan a disinformation campaign. Yet she relies on Allie, Robin, and Tana, proving that a chosen family can brace even the heaviest burden.

Book-Specific Questions and Answers

1. Why does Gwen check out of the hospital on Good Friday?
   Explicit fact: She tells nurse Rachel she is "checking out" and signs release forms. Interpretation: She believes she has done enough to give the others a way to defeat King Sorrow and no longer wants to live without Arthur. She states to his ghost, "I've been lonely ever since you left."

2. What is the "Toolkit for the Well-Prepared Dragonslayer"?
   Explicit fact: It is Arthur's unfinished book, found in three file boxes of notebooks. Interpretation: It blends Arthurian legend with everyday philosophy—Gwen notes it argues that gallantry never goes out of fashion and that one should eat a good breakfast before fighting evil.

3. How does Gwen use dragon tears?
   Explicit fact: She administers them to Llewellyn Wren, Rose Ellroy, and Eddie Knockwood, who die in blue fire. Interpretation: The tears serve as a euthanasia agent, allowing Gwen to ease the suffering of the terminally ill. She views this as a mercy but also as a form of killing that connects to King Sorrow's bargains.

4. What is Gwen's plan to defeat King Sorrow?
   Explicit fact: She plans a séance under a nearly full moon in Brooks Library, then hides in the server room. Interpretation: She intends to use the martyr's robe and the blade from Arthur to behead the dragon on Easter, but she is reluctant to involve her friends because she does not want them to die.

5. Why does Gwen confront Colin at the computer center ribbon-cutting?
   Explicit fact: She accuses him of murdering Arthur. Interpretation: She had planned to use her "mark" against King Sorrow, not Colin, but Colin preemptively struck her down—both figuratively (by injuring her leg with scissors) and literally (by having Arthur killed). Colin dismisses her and later mocks her.