Ione Hawthorn: Rediscovering Will and Love in Two Twisted Crowns

Overview

Ione Hawthorn is the cousin of Elspeth Spindle and a key figure in Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig. For years she has been bound to the Maiden Card, a pink Providence Card that erases emotions and creates an unnaturally serene facade. Forced on her by High Prince Hauth Rowan, the Maiden turned Ione into a cold, unreadable presence. Her journey in the novel moves from emotional numbness toward the painful but liberating reclamation of her own will, culminating in a fierce loyalty to Prince Elm and a decisive role in Hauth’s defeat.

Plot Role

Ione functions as both a bartered pawn in King Rowan’s political schemes and a catalyst for Elm Rowan’s transformation. She is introduced when Elm finds her alone at Hawthorn House, still using the Maiden Card after her family fled. Arrested and brought to Stone, she is questioned in the King’s inquest, where her calm defiance unnerves everyone. Later she becomes Elm’s partner—first in a bargain, then in love. Her actions directly shape the climax: she retrieves critical Providence Cards, kills highwaymen, and ultimately helps destroy Hauth and the mist.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Motivation: Escape from emotional pain Ione clung to the Maiden Card because it freed her from the trauma of Hauth’s abuse. The Card’s healing power also kept her physically whole. However, she secretly yearned to feel again—as shown when she asks Elm, “Do you at least have your charm?” and when she later agrees to let him remove the Maiden.

Traits: Resourcefulness and hidden strength When three highwaymen attack Elm, Ione immediately steals his Scythe Card and uses it to force one attacker to kill another. She then freezes Elm with the Scythe to bargain for her freedom within the castle. This reveals a strategic, fearless core that the Maiden had masked.

Traits: Loyalty and vulnerability Despite her numbness, Ione loves Elspeth. In the dungeon she senses that Elspeth is truly gone inside the Shepherd King’s body, and she later weeps when the Maiden is removed, releasing years of suppressed grief and rage. Her loyalty extends to Elm: she refuses to let him be captured alone, and in the final battle she brings the three Cards needed to break the mist.

Chronological Arc

Relationships

Elm Rowan – Ione’s primary relationship. Initially wary of the “rotten Prince,” Ione finds in Elm someone who sees her real self. He retrieves her marriage contract, offers her the chance to be Queen, and ultimately helps her remove the Maiden. Their love is built on mutual trust and the decision to be vulnerable together.

Elspeth Spindle – Ione’s cousin, whom she loves deeply. She notices Elspeth’s strange behavior before anyone else. After the Shepherd King takes Elspeth’s body, Ione feels her cousin is lost but never stops hoping to save her.

Hauth Rowan – The abuser who used his Scythe to force Ione into hiding her Maiden Card and suppressing her feelings. Ione’s revenge against Hauth drives much of her arc. In the climax, she helps Elm stab Hauth with the Shepherd King’s sword.

Her family (Tyrn, Erik, Opal) – Ione is protective of her mother and brothers, but remains distant due to the Maiden. After the Card is removed, she works to free her father and uncle from prison.

Key Decisions and Consequences

1. Stealing Elm’s Scythe on the highway – This decision saves Elm’s life but forces Ione into a bargain with him, setting the stage for their partnership.
2. Agreeing to let Elm remove the Maiden – Ione chooses pain over numbness, which leads to a cathartic emotional release and allows her to fully love Elm.
3. Bringing the three Cards (Maiden, Scythe, Twin Alders) to the final battle – This act supplies the necessary tools to destroy the mist and defeat Hauth. She forfeits her own safety to help Elm confront his brother.
4. Stabbing Hauth alongside Elm – Ione reclaims her agency by directly participating in the execution of the man who imprisoned her emotions.

Theme and Symbol Connections

• Sacrifice and Redemption – Ione sacrifices the safety of emotional detachment for the messy freedom of feeling. Her redemption comes through choosing love and justice over vengeance alone.
• Identity and Transformation – The Maiden Card symbolises a false identity imposed by abuse. Ione’s transformation from a passive, beautiful object into an active, scarred, feeling person mirrors the novel’s concern with reclaiming one’s true self.
• Power and Corruption – The Maiden Card is a tool of control, used by Hauth to dominate Ione. Her claim to the Scythe Card later represents her seizure of power on her own terms.
• Love and Trust – Elm’s gentle patience and his refusal to take advantage of Ione (even when she offers herself) builds the trust that allows her to feel safe enough to break the Maiden’s hold.
• Choice and Autonomy – Ione’s entire journey is about regaining the ability to choose. Her final act—choosing to love Elm and to fight—underscores the theme that true agency requires feeling.

Five Questions and Answers

1. Why did Ione use the Maiden Card for so long? Hauth used his Scythe Card to compel Ione to hide her Maiden Card and suppress all her emotions. The Card’s pink magic kept her numb, which protected her from the trauma of Hauth’s abuse. She continued using it because it also had hidden healing powers, as shown when her hands healed after the inquest.

2. How did Ione kill the three highwaymen? She stole Elm’s Scythe Card from his pocket. Using the Scythe’s compulsion, she forced one highwayman’s archer to kill the man who had touched her. Elm then killed the second with his fists, and the third, also under Scythe compulsion, committed suicide.

3. What did Ione see in her Prophet Card vision? In the catacombs, Ione used the Prophet Card and saw a snowy meadow, a stone chamber, Emory Yew being carried in arms, Elm, her father Tyrn, her uncle Erik, and a tall man with yellow eyes. The man showed her three Cards in her palm: the Maiden, the Scythe, and the Twin Alders.

4. How did Elm remove the Maiden Card’s hold on Ione? Elm tapped the pink Card three times with his own Scythe Card. With each tap, the Maiden’s grip loosened. After the third tap, Ione’s freckles, smudge lines, and gap-toothed smile returned, and she collapsed into a flood of suppressed tears and rage.

5. What role did Ione play in Hauth’s defeat at the end? Ione delivered the Maiden, Scythe, and Twin Alders Cards to the stone chamber where Elm confronted Hauth. Together they stabbed Hauth with the Shepherd King’s sword over the Deck of Providence Cards. The Cards vanished, the mist dragged Hauth out the window, and the sky cleared for the first time in five centuries.