The Crowns Symbol in Our Vicious Oaths: Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and Shifting Power
What the Crowns Are in Our Vicious Oaths
In N.E. Davenport's Our Vicious Oaths, crowns are the most visible markers of royal authority across the courts of Nimani. The physical objects themselves appear sparingly—the narrative focuses more on the power they represent than on their material details—but each appearance carries weight. Malachi's crown, for instance, is described with three points, and when he displays the full force of his void magic, shadows literally weave themselves around those points, snaking down his arms and across his shoulders. The crown is not merely an ornament; it becomes a conduit for the display of his power.
The Aether throne room offers a different kind of crown symbolism. When Rishaud arrives to negotiate Kadeesha's marriage contract, the room contains three thrones: Kadeesha's, identical to her father's but slimmer, and a third, matching Sylas's in size, reserved for the Hyperion king. The empty throne waiting for Rishaud signals the power imbalance before he even enters—the Aether Court has already prepared a seat for its conqueror.
Crowns and Legitimacy
The question of who legitimately wears a crown drives much of the political conflict. Rishaud's authority rests on the prophecy that Kadeesha will become high queen and bear a son, a prophecy that Sylas insists she must fulfill. The crown Rishaud offers is conditional: it comes with marriage, with the Hyperion alliance, with trade concessions and a quadrupled dowry. Kadeesha's own claim to rule is subordinated to this arrangement; she sits between the two kings while they negotiate her future, her only role to be displayed as the Hyperion king's prized bride.
Malachi's legitimacy is contested differently. His cousin Cassius challenges him for the throne, arguing that Malachi's temperament makes him unfit to rule and that his actions endanger the Apollyon people. The challenge itself is framed in terms of who should wear the mantle of Apollyon king. Malachi's response—accepting the challenge and then purging disloyal lord primes—demonstrates how the crown must be actively defended, not merely inherited.
The Shadow-Crowned King
Malachi's relationship to his crown is distinctive. When he unleashes his void magic in the throne room, shadows wrap around the three points of his crown, and his court kneels before him. The image is of a king literally crowned in darkness, his power made visible through the crown itself. This is not the golden authority of Rishaud's Hyperion court but something wilder, tied to the Apollyon Court's identity as the northern kingdom that refused to be subjugated.
The crown also marks Malachi's ambition. In his speech to the court, he declares that there will be only one kingdom, one court: the Apollyon Court, with himself as high king. The crown he wears is the physical promise of that ambition, and the shadows that cling to it suggest the violence he is willing to wield in pursuit of it.
Kadeesha's Crowning
The most significant crown moment comes at the wedding ceremony. Malachi crowns Kadeesha in the cavern atop the Yunna Mountains, the traditional site for Apollyon royal weddings and coronations. The act is layered: it is simultaneously a marriage rite and a coronation, binding Kadeesha to Malachi while also elevating her to a new status. The storm of aether and void magic that erupts around them suggests that the crowning is not merely ceremonial but transformative, a moment when two powers merge.
Kadeesha's own feelings about this crowning are complicated. She has privately resolved to kill Malachi after Rishaud is dealt with, and she has told Yashira that the marriage is a sham. The crown she accepts is therefore a strategic tool as much as an honor. She uses her new position—and her pregnancy—to persuade the vassal monarchs to defect from Rishaud, claiming that her child of Aether and Apollyon blood is a sign that the prophecy was misinterpreted.
Crowns and the Prophecy
The prophecy that Kadeesha will become high queen and bear a son is central to the crown's symbolism. Rishaud uses the prophecy to justify his claim on her; Sylas uses it to justify forcing the marriage. But Kadeesha and Malachi eventually turn the prophecy against Rishaud, using Kadeesha's pregnancy to argue that the Celestials have chosen a different path. The crown, in this reading, is not a fixed symbol of divine will but a contested object whose meaning shifts with whoever holds it.
By the epilogue, Kadeesha and Malachi wear crowns with their flying leathers rather than formal attire. The choice is telling: they are rulers who have earned their crowns through battle, not ceremony. Kadeesha announces Rishaud's death by her hand, the end of the Six Kingdoms, and the beginning of the Seven Kingdoms era. The crown she wears is no longer the conditional promise of a prophecy but the hard-won symbol of a new order.
Study Questions
1. How does Malachi's crown differ from Rishaud's in terms of what it represents?
Malachi's crown is tied to void magic and the Apollyon Court's identity as a northern kingdom that resisted subjugation. Shadows literally weave around its three points when he displays his power, making the crown a conduit for his magic. Rishaud's authority, by contrast, is tied to the prophecy and the Hyperion Court's dominance over the southern dominions. His crown represents conquest and the enforcement of a divine mandate, while Malachi's represents defiance and the assertion of Apollyon sovereignty.
2. Why does Kadeesha accept Malachi's crowning if she plans to kill him?
Kadeesha's acceptance of the crown is strategic. She needs the marriage and the pregnancy to persuade the vassal monarchs to defect from Rishaud, and the crowning is part of the performance that makes her claim credible. She tells Yashira that the marriage is a sham and that she intends to kill Malachi after using the union to achieve her goals. The crown is a tool in her larger plan, not an expression of genuine allegiance.
3. What does the empty throne in the Aether throne room signify?
The third throne, identical in size to Sylas's and reserved for Rishaud, signals the power imbalance between the Aether and Hyperion courts before Rishaud even enters. The Aether Court has already prepared a seat for its liege lord, acknowledging his superiority. Kadeesha's own throne is slimmer than her father's, visually marking her subordinate status. The arrangement of thrones is a physical map of the political hierarchy.
4. How does the meaning of the crown change from the beginning to the end of the novel?
At the beginning, the crown represents the prophecy and Rishaud's claim on Kadeesha—a future crown she is expected to accept passively. By the end, Kadeesha has taken an active role in shaping what the crown means. She kills Rishaud herself, and Malachi declares her the new high queen. The crowns they wear in the epilogue, paired with flying leathers rather than formal attire, signal a new kind of rule earned through action rather than inherited through prophecy.