Choice and Autonomy in Two Twisted Crowns

The Struggle for Self-Determination in a Magically Coerced World

In Two Twisted Crowns, Rachel Gillig deepens the Shepherd King duology’s exploration of choice and autonomy by placing her characters in a setting where Providence Cards and the Spirit of the Wood constantly threaten to override personal will. The novel argues that genuine autonomy is not simply the absence of coercion but the active, often painful, decision to reclaim control over one’s own fate—even when the price is high. Through Ione Hawthorn’s journey with the Maiden Card, Elm Rowan’s reluctant acceptance of the throne, and Ravyn Yew’s confrontation with the Spirit, Gillig demonstrates that reclaiming agency requires both internal resolve and external action, often in defiance of systems designed to rob individuals of both.

Ione and the Maiden: Choosing Numbness, Then Choosing Feeling

Ione’s story arc is the clearest illustration of the theme of reclaimed agency. When she first received the Maiden Card from King Rowan as a betrothal gift, she did not resist its effects. Hauth Rowand used his Scythe Card to compel her to hide the Maiden and then refused to reveal its location, leaving her trapped in emotional numbness. For months, Ione existed in a state of forced detachment, unable to feel fear, joy, or love—a condition Hauth saw as convenient for a wife who might otherwise object to his cruelty.

Ione’s decision to tap the Maiden three times after retrieving it from the hidden cache beneath the throne-room hearth is not a return to happiness; it is a conscious embrace of pain. She chooses to feel the full weight of Hauth’s abuse, the memory of falling from Spindle House, and the coldness she endured. By tapping the Maiden three times—an act that reverses its numbing effect—Ione reclaims the emotional life Hauth had stolen. This is a pivotal moment of autonomous choice because it costs her the protective numbness she had grown accustomed to. She opts for suffering over comfortable slavery.

Ione’s subsequent choice to align herself with Elm, both romantically and politically, further demonstrates her reclaimed agency. She does not passively accept rescue; she demands a partnership built on mutual power. When Elm proposes marriage, she does not simply agree—she negotiates for a role as Queen with real influence, not a ceremonial figurehead. Her autonomy is not given; it is asserted through direct action.

Elm: The Burden of Unwanted Choice

Elm’s arc mirrors Ione’s in its focus on rejecting victimhood and embracing difficult choices. Throughout his childhood and young adulthood, Elm was brutalized by his brother Hauth Rowand, who used both physical violence and the Scythe Card to control him. Elm’s early life was defined by a lack of autonomy—he could not even choose what to wear without considering how it might hide blood.

The turning point occurs when Elm discovers the hidden Maiden Card beneath the throne-room hearth. He initially considers using it to heal Hauth, which would free Elm from the burden of becoming heir and allow him to pursue his own desires. But in Chapter 25, Elm recognizes that healing Hauth would release a monster back into the world. His choice to not use the Maiden—to accept the throne and the marriage to Ione—is an exercise of autonomy precisely because it is unpleasant. Elm chooses responsibility over freedom, duty over escape. He later tells Ione, “I have a proposition for you, Miss Hawthorn. A final barter between us… marriage contracts.” This proposal is his own; he is no longer a pawn in his brother’s games.

Elm’s decision to become infected by the mist during the search in Brutus Rowan’s statue pond (Chapter 32) also highlights his reclaimed agency. He dives into the water despite the risk, and when the mist enters him, he fights its compulsion with Ione’s help. That scene is a literal struggle for control of his own body—a microcosm of the larger battle for self-determination.

Ravyn and the Spirit: Refusing the Easy Path

Ravyn Yew’s encounter with the Spirit of the Wood in Chapter 41 provides a third perspective on choice and autonomy. The Spirit offers Ravyn a bargain: surrender the Twin Alders Card, and she will save everyone he loves—Elspeth, his siblings, and even Elm—from their fates. She also offers him the throne of Blunder, free from his uncle’s tyranny.

Ravyn refuses. He says, “I have no ambition for the throne.” His refusal is an act of autonomy because it rejects a solution that would hand all power to a millennia-old entity. Ravyn chooses to save his people himself, using his own wits and allies, rather than accept a magically enforced peace. The Spirit’s offers are tempting precisely because they appear to remove the burden of choice. By declining, Ravyn insists on retaining his own agency, even at greater risk.

This moment also echoes the Shepherd King’s own fatal choices centuries earlier. The King, as shown in the epilogue of One Dark Window, gave his soul to the Spirit in exchange for the Providence Cards—a bargain that ultimately cost him everything. Ravyn learns from that history and chooses a different path, one that preserves his soul and his capacity to decide.

Symbolic Dimensions: Cards, Trees, and the Mist

The symbolic landscape of Two Twisted Crowns reinforces the theme of autonomy. The Providence Cards themselves are tools of control: the Scythe compels physical obedience; the Maiden suppresses emotion; the Nightmare exposes private thoughts. Each Card represents a surrender of some aspect of the self. To reclaim autonomy, characters must either stop using these Cards (as Elm does when he puts away the Scythe) or use them on their own terms (as Ione does when she taps the Maiden to feel again).

The mist serves as a symbol of lost agency. Characters who breathe the mist lose their sense of direction and become subject to the Spirit’s compulsion. The mist is the wood’s attempt to dissolve individual will into a collective, timeless obedience. Elm’s near-drowning in the mist represents the ever-present threat of relinquishing choice to external forces.

The yew trees and the Twin Alders stand in opposition to this loss: they are stable, ancient witnesses that do not bend to magic. The Twin Alders Card, hidden outside time, represents a choice that has not yet been forced—a possibility that still belongs to the finder. Elspeth’s internal struggle with the Shepherd King (the spirit of Taxus) also mirrors this: she must choose whether to let him use her body or to fight for control, a battle that defines her autonomy.

Complexity and Contradiction

No character exercises pure, uncomplicated autonomy. Ione initially chose to use the Maiden Card willingly under Hauth’s influence, believing that suppressing her feelings would make her marriage bearable. That choice was made under duress, but it was still a decision—one she later regrets and reverses. This shows that autonomy can be exercised poorly, and that reclaiming agency often requires revisiting past choices.

Elm likewise struggles with the contradiction of using the Scythe to control others even as he fights to be free of control. He taps the Scythe on his father and on Linden Destrier, deciding who gets to speak and who remains silent. His autonomy is partly built on the same coercive tools he despises—a paradox he acknowledges with shame.

Even Ravyn’s noble refusal comes with costs: his delay leads to more suffering for his friends. The narrative never suggests that autonomy is easy or pure; it is messy, painful, and often incomplete.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Ione’s decision to tap the Maiden three times represent a reclamation of autonomy?
Ione uses the Maiden to suppress her emotions under Hauth’s coercion. Tapping the Maiden three times reverses this effect, forcing her to feel everything—including pain. Choosing to suffer rather than remain numb is an active assertion of her right to her own emotional life, even though it hurts.

2. Why does Elm choose not to use the Maiden to heal Hauth, and what does that decision reveal about his character growth?
Elm recognizes that healing Hauth would free a cruel man to continue abusing others. He accepts the throne and marriage to Ione instead, taking on a burden he never wanted. This shows Elm moving from self-preservation to responsibility, a sign of genuine autonomy over his own destiny.

3. What does Ravyn’s refusal of the Spirit’s offer in Chapter 41 teach about authentic choice?
Ravyn refuses the easy solution of letting the Spirit fix everything. He chooses to save his people through his own actions, preserving his agency even when the cost is higher. Authentic choice, the scene suggests, often involves rejecting temptations that promise to hand you control at the price of your freedom.

4. How do the Providence Cards both enable and undermine autonomy in the novel?
Cards like the Scythe and Maiden allow users to override others’ wills, often used by the powerful to suppress autonomy. Yet characters can also use them for self-directed ends—Elm uses the Scythe to protect himself and Ione, and Ione uses the Maiden intentionally to feel again. The Cards are tools; autonomy depends on how and for what purpose they are used.

5. Describe one contradiction in the theme of choice as it applies to Elm’s character.
Elm denounces the Scythe’s power to control others, yet he frequently uses it on his father, on Linden, and on castle guards to force compliance. His autonomy is partially built on the coercion of others, revealing that reclaiming agency can sometimes involve perpetuating the same systems one fights against.

Conclusion

In Two Twisted Crowns, autonomy is not a gift but a constant reclamation. Ione, Elm, and Ravyn each face moments where they could surrender their will to magic, tradition, or despair—and each chooses otherwise. The novel suggests that agency is not about always having good options, but about making deliberate choices within constraints, and then living with the consequences. In a world where Providence Cards and ancient spirits constantly impose control, the characters’ small, stubborn acts of self-determination become the most powerful magic of all.