Chapter 71: All Bad Things – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Sunny finds Alex in a quiet grove and they share a tender, painful farewell. Alex admits she tried but failed to persuade Zizka to let Sunny stay; Sunny tells her she must save herself now. Alex worries she is not the real Empress and confesses her past wrongs. Sunny insists that goodness is defined by what one does next, not what one has done. They part without a kiss, Sunny hoping that the good deeds they do will ripple outward.

Meanwhile, Vigga lies in her cage, consumed by guilt and self-loathing after killing her friend Baptiste while transformed. She rejects Father Diaz’s attempts at comfort, believing she is beyond redemption and will never be clean. Balthazar is brought aboard a ship and optimistically shares his newfound faith in Pope Benedicta as the Second Coming. Zizka has him clapped in rune-forged manacles and thrown into a cage with Baron Rikard, Sunny, and Vigga. Balthazar vows to escape and use the secret of Lady Severa to break his binding.

Jakob and Zizka argue on deck: Zizka berates Jakob for his romantic idealism and warns him not to become her enemy. Later, Alex visits Father Diaz in the chapel. She questions whether divine intervention truly saved them, pointing out that a werewolf, a necromancer, a cursed knight, and an enemy of God were the ones who risked everything. Father Diaz suggests perhaps those devils were the tools Saint Beatrix chose.

Key Events

• Sunny and Alex share a final, bittersweet conversation; Sunny refuses a kiss, saying they are starting a story that will never be told.
• Vigga lies in her cage, guilty over Baptiste’s death, and refuses Father Diaz’s comfort.
• Zizka arrests Balthazar despite his professed conversion, has him manacled and caged.
• Balthazar discovers Baron Rikard, Sunny, and Vigga in the same dark hold; he vows to escape and contact Lady Severa.
• Jakob and Zizka clash over the outcome of the Troy mission; Zizka calls Jakob an incurable romantic.
• Alex and Father Diaz discuss whether saints or devils truly saved them; Diaz suggests the devils may have been tools of Saint Beatrix.

Character Development

Sunny shows growth by choosing not to accept a kiss that would be a false promise. She reaffirms her belief that actions define a person, not past misdeeds, and hopes for a circle of goodness.

Vigga sinks deeper into despair. She sees herself as irredeemable, knowing the wolf is always inside her. Her guilt and self-disgust make her reject any offer of salvation.

Balthazar undergoes a short-lived, self-serving conversion. His imprisonment shatters his optimism, but he quickly pivots to scheming escape, showing his resilience and duplicity remain intact.

Jakob is forced to confront his cursed immortality and romantic nature. Zizka’s criticism stings because it contains truth; his refusal to kill her shows his maturity but also his vulnerability.

Alex begins to question the divine narrative she was given. She credits the “enemies of God” with her survival, and openly wrestles with what kind of Empress she will be.

Father Diaz adapts to his new role as chaplain. He acknowledges the theological strain of their experiences but offers a flexible, pragmatic faith that can accommodate the werewolf, necromancer, and cursed knight as instruments of providence.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

• Goodness and Redemption – Sunny tells Alex “it’s not what you’ve done that makes you good or bad. It’s what you do next.” This theme recurs in Vigga’s despair; she cannot accept that redemption is possible.
• Imprisonment and Freedom – Physical cages (Vigga, Balthazar, the whole group) mirror emotional and spiritual captivity. Balthazar’s magical binding is broken only by his own scheming.
• Faith vs. Pragmatism – Zizka and Jakob argue about idealism vs. pragmatism. Father Diaz and Alex debate whether saints or devils are responsible for their salvation.
• The Circle of Goodness – Sunny wishes that a good deed will ripple outward and eventually return. This motif offers a hopeful counterpoint to the chapter’s grim outcomes.

Why This Chapter Matters

“All Bad Things” serves as a heart-wrenching coda to the Troy arc. It deepens Vigga’s tragedy, sets up Balthazar as a future antagonist, and solidifies the thematic conflict between cynical pragmatism (Zizka) and hopeful idealism (Jakob, Sunny, Father Diaz). Alex’s crisis of faith prepares her to rule on her own terms, while Sunny’s departure leaves a vacuum that will shape the Empress’s character. The chapter’s final dialogue—“perhaps the werewolf, and the necromancer, and the cursed knight… are the tools Saint Beatrix chose”—echoes the book’s central question: can broken people be instruments of good?

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Sunny refuse Alex’s offer of a kiss?
   Sunny understands that a kiss would be the start of a story with no future. She knows their separation is final, and a kiss would only remind them of what they cannot have. She chooses to leave without adding that pain.

2. What does Vigga’s cage symbolize in this chapter?
   Vigga’s cage is both literal and metaphorical. It represents the Church’s desire to control her as a weapon, but also the prison of her own guilt. She has internalised Zizka’s judgment that she is a monster and can never be clean.

3. How does Father Diaz reconcile his faith with the fact that “enemies of God” saved Alex?
   He suggests that Saint Beatrix may have chosen those very devils—the werewolf, the necromancer, the cursed knight, and the enemy of God—as her tools. This allows him to maintain a belief in divine purpose without denying the flawed human beings who actually performed the saving.

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