The Ballad of Never After

“She’d never noticed before, but the railings had lines from stories carved into them. Things like:

Once upon a time, there was a girl with a furry tail that twitched whenever snow was coming.

And, Once there was a house where laughter constantly curled from the chimney instead of smoke.” 

Evangeline notices this as she climbs flights of stairs to LaLa’s apartment. These lines show the world of the Magnificent North and the magic of stories present throughout the novel. In the North, stories twist and reorganize themselves due to a curse placed upon the land long ago. The story beginnings carved into the very structure of the stairs show how story magic is imbued directly into the infrastructure of the north. The first opening line Evangeline notices presents foreshadowing. The girl sounds like the one from “The Ballad of the Archer and the Fox,” a story that becomes critical to Evangeline as the novel progresses.

“They live happily ever after, Evangeline usually proclaimed. Most characters, she believed, deserved it after all they’d been through.

Her mother, however, felt differently. She believed most characters would stay happy for now, but not forever.”

This passage is part of Evangeline’s memories of her mother. When Evangeline was young, her mother would read her stories, and at the end, she’d ask Evangeline what she thought would happen next. Young Evangeline proclaimed the characters lived happily ever after, citing it as a reward for hardship. Her mother’s alternative “happy for now” suggestion shows two key ways in which an ending may be interpreted. Young Evangeline viewed the culmination of a story as the end of a character’s lifespan: They would live happily ever after and never have anything else story-worthy happen to them again. By contrast, the “happy for now” ending suggests that all stories are simply scenes in a larger tale and that they could be continued in any number of directions from a point marked as the end. This presents an example of Garber’s many metafictional references to endings throughout the novel, which keeps the reader engaged with the question of what the end of this story will be.

“I think there’s a happy ending for everyone. But I don’t think these endings always follow the last page of a book, or that everyone is guaranteed to find their happily ever after. Happy endings can be caught, but they are difficult to hold on to. They are dreams that want to escape the night. They are treasure with wings. They are wild, feral, reckless things that need to be constantly chased, or they will certainly run away.”

These lines come later in Evangeline’s recollection of her mother. Her mother said these words in response to Evangeline asking if “happy for now” meant that characters would never find their “happily ever after.” Her mother’s words suggest that “happily ever after” is not a static state. Rather, a “happily ever after” is something characters (or people) find while living their lives and having other stories. Evangeline’s mother says that “[h]appy endings […] are difficult to hold on to,” suggesting that, if a character decides they haven’t found their happy ending and keeps pursuing it, the ending will elude them. This image of chasing an ending anticipates the structure of the novel’s final sequence: Jacks will attempt to change his ending, and the novel will, accordingly, redo Chapters 44-46.

“‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Jacks said, ‘but some people get things because they deserve them.’

Evangeline knew he was right. Marisol was no innocent. She’d done terrible things. But that didn’t mean that Evangeline could just let Luc kill her.”

Here, Jacks and Evangeline have just left Luc snarling and lusting for blood after a cut on Evangeline’s hand reopened. Marisol, Evangeline’s stepsister, believes that the new prince has invited her to a romantic dinner out of an interest in her, but Jacks and Evangeline know that Luc wants to bite Marisol, and Evangeline wonders if she should stop Marisol from walking into a dangerous situation. Their dialogue lays the foundation for the character dynamic of Jacks and Evangeline throughout the line: While Jacks is pragmatic, Evangeline is idealistic and caring. In the prequel, Marisol cast spells and had people blamed for what she did. Jacks alludes to the resolution of an intertextual character arc—he suggests that Marisol should be punished for action in the previous book—but Evangeline’s conflict about whether or not to warn Marisol is characteristic and flattens Marisol’s character arc.

“The Archer threw down the bow and cracked the arrow on his knee, wishing it was as easy to break this spiteful curse. He’d been told it would only lift when he killed the girl. The one way to save her would be to stay away. But he couldn’t believe they were never meant to be. There had to be an…o…ther….”

These lines come from Evangeline’s recollection of “The Ballad of the Archer and the Fox.” In the story, an archer is cursed to hunt the woman he loves who can turn into a fox. Like all stories in the Magnificent North, the ballad is twisted by the story curse, and its ending can never be told. The halting end of Evangeline’s memory mirrors the curse at play, forcing the story to stop before the resolution is revealed. Garber represents this typographically with the ellipses. The inclusion of the story itself is important because it plays a prominent role in the novel, both in terms of the curse on Evangeline and Apollo and in terms of Jacks himself as the archer from the original tale.

“‘Let me guess—you want me to unlock your helm with my blood.’

He made a sound too damaged to be called a laugh. ‘Your blood unfortunately isn’t capable of breaking this curse. But…every curse has…a back door.’ Chaos said the last set of words haltingly, as if he’d intended to say something else but the words had magically twisted.”

Here, Evangeline has drunk vampire venom to heal the wounds inflicted by Apollo, and as Chaos keeps her from biting anyone and changing into a vampire, they discuss his cursed helmet and how the key to unlock it is within the Valory Arch. This scene reinforces the hierarchy of magic symbolized by the four stones: Evangeline’s blood, while powerful, cannot unlock or break any lock or door. This passage also shows that the story curse affects more than just stories. Chaos trails off as if his words are twisted by something out of his control—this is again represented through ellipses. His cursed helmet was placed on him by the Valors, and, tellingly, the story curse twists all tales about the Valor family. Garber purposefully makes this ambiguous since it is unclear if Chaos chooses to twist his words so as to not give Evangeline sensitive information about himself or Jacks.

“Jacks’s chest was heaving, his clothes were soaked, his hair was a mess across his face—yet in that moment, Evangeline knew he would carry her through more than just freezing waters. He would pull her through fire if he had to, haul her from the clutches of war, from falling cities and breaking worlds. And for one brittle heartbeat, Evangeline understood why so many girls had died from his lips. If Jacks hadn’t betrayed her, if he hadn’t set her up for murder, she might have been a little bewitched by him.”

This passage comes after Jacks and Evangeline have jumped off a cliff and into a river to get away from Apollo. Later, Evangeline looks back at this moment as the one that made her know she loved Jacks, and the scene encapsulates Garber’s treatment of the theme of The Power of Love. The imagery of “war” and danger anticipates Evangeline’s realization that love is “about continuing to fight” (137). Jacks’s appearance is also otherworldly and shows Evangeline the true power he holds as a Fate. She is almost “bewitched” by him, reflecting Garber’s use of non-fantastical forces such as love that behave like magic. Jacks is tempting in this moment, and only Evangeline’s past with him keeps her from being drawn into a kiss.

“But sometimes reason was no match for feeling. She reasoned that it would be far better to hate him, but she could no longer muster the feeling.”

Evangeline thinks this during a sarcastic debate with Jacks and Chaos. She’s just said she’ll forever regret the decision not to stab Jacks when she had the chance but found that she didn’t mean the words as earnestly as she feels she should. Rather, her anger with Jacks has mingled with the memory of how protective he was after they jumped off the cliff to escape Apollo. The words “no longer” signal a developmental shift in Evangeline’s character: Her feelings toward Jacks have changed. This passage exemplifies the difference between logic and emotion, and the battling forces of “reason” and “feeling” reflect the forces of magic and curses in the story world.

“Evangeline felt a measure of pity for Tiberius. She told herself it was silly to feel bad for the person who’d tried to kill her, but the last time she’d seen Tiberius, he hadn’t been murderous, he’d been in despair.”

This passage comes during Evangeline’s visit to Tiberius’s prison. In the prequel, Tiberius tried to kill her because her very existence makes it more likely that the Valory Arch could be opened. At the time, Evangeline feared and loathed him, but seeing him now and knowing how much he cares for Apollo, she can’t bring herself to feel that way again. These lines epitomize the macro level on which the character development of Evangeline—and several other characters—occurs across the series; both Evangeline and the reader have been given distance from the previous events. When Tiberius was trying to kill Evangeline, she had no sympathy for him. Now, she sees him as a person with fears and sorrows, and she can’t simply think of him as the boy who tried to kill her.

“‘Where were you?’ she asked.

‘I was killing innocent maidens and kicking puppies.’

‘Jacks, that’s not funny.’

‘Neither is what’s carved into your arm.’”

This exchange between Evangeline and Jacks comes after Evangeline returns from visiting Tiberius. During the visit, she carved words into her arm and received a reply from Apollo to prove that the mirror curse was real. Here, Jacks has just discovered Apollo’s message. These lines are typical of the repartee that defines their relationship. Jacks avoids Evangeline’s query by quipping that he was doing stereotypically evil things; Garber uses the archaic language of “maidens” to humorously allude to the tropes of evil characters in fairy tales. Jacks then brings the conversation back to the message in her arm, showing that he is unwilling to discuss his actions but willing to force Evangeline to discuss hers. This subtly informs the theme of Manipulation since Jacks withholds information while demanding it.

“‘I thought Aurora was beautiful and sweet and kind and everything a princess should be.’ The last words came out a little bitter, and Evangeline realized she felt an inexplicable dislike of the princess, though as far as she knew, Aurora Valor had done nothing wrong aside from sounding perfect in every tale.”

These lines are part of a larger discussion about the past and the Valors specifically. Aurora Valor was one of the Valor daughters, and she is always described as beautiful, kind, and other qualities associated with stereotypical fairy-tale princesses. Given that the North’s story curse influences how tales of the Valors are told, Garber implicitly suggests that these things don’t actually describe Aurora but that the curse forces the stories to make Aurora sound perfect. Evangeline’s reaction represents the theme of The Effects of Jealousy. Evangeline is jealous of someone whom she’s never met and whose only “wrong” is apparent perfection. Aurora, like Petra, represents everything Evangeline herself wants to be. Evangeline’s “inexplicable dislike” highlights the gendered aspects of this theme since Garber suggests that Evangeline’s characteristic princess-like qualities are threatened by the presence of another “princess.”

“It seemed terribly unfair that Vengeance could destroy a whole House and then have a family of his own. Evangeline might have remarked upon it, but she didn’t want to bring any grief to LaLa by mentioning ugliness from the past.”

Here, Evangeline has arrived at LaLa’s party and found that Slaughterwood Manor is a thriving place of happiness and family. After learning what Vengeance Slaughterwood did to the Merrywood Manor and family years ago, Evangeline finds it unfair that the Slaughterwoods are happy; it disturbs her fairy-tale sense of who “deserved” a happy ending (27). The current Slaughterwoods are not responsible for what Vengeance did, yet Evangeline holds Vengeance’s action against his descendants even though they’ve shown no sign that they are like Vengeance at all.

“She was friendlier than Evangeline would have imagined. As they chatted, it became easier to shove aside any lingering feelings of jealousy. In fact, after a few minutes, Evangeline was suddenly struck with a peculiarly familiar feeling that she and Petra had met before, or at the very least crossed paths prior to tonight.”

Here, Evangeline and Petra have been seated beside one another at the Slaughterwood dinner party. After initially being jealous of Petra because of her looks and self-assured manner, Evangeline finds that she likes Petra. This passage exemplifies the theme of The Effects of Jealousy and allows Garber to portray to the reader an explicit moment of character development for Evangeline in the presence of a foil. Evangeline’s feeling of familiarity is never fully explained, but it subtly foreshadows the moment when it is revealed that Petra also has key blood.

“Vampires didn’t age. They remained unchanged throughout time. Perhaps this wasn’t just physical; maybe their hearts were like that as well, making it harder for them to move on from things in their past.”

Evangeline thinks this as Luc accompanies her to search the Slaughterwood tomb for the mirth stone. Evangeline notes that Luc seems not to have changed from the boy she once loved, and she attributes this to the unchanging nature of vampires. The fact that Evangeline speculates about vampires (“[p]erhaps”) reinforces the way Garber leaves readers to speculate about the magic in this story world to keep them engaged with the plot. While the cause of Luc’s lack of development here may be supernatural, Evangeline’s observations about him remaining mentally or emotionally stuck in the past are not. Again, Garber presents non-fantastical elements as significant forces alongside magic. Luc represents what might happen when people live in the past.

“Of course, people would tell stories about her—they were already telling stories—it had just never occurred to Evangeline that these stories were bigger things, pieces of history currently being formed.”

Evangeline thinks this shortly after entering the costume party at Slaughterwood Manor. All around her, couples are dressed as famous pairs from stories, and it occurs to Evangeline that many of these stories actually happened and that stories can be history in addition to fiction. This makes Evangeline think about her own story as the nobody from the south who married the prince of the North and was then framed for his murder, only to then be locked in curses with him. Garber’s focus on stories presents another metafictional element of The Ballad of Never After; this time, it has the effect of enhancing the verisimilitude of Evangeline as a character. Her revelation suggests that stories begin as facts to the characters in them, metafictionally suggesting that the reader is hearing the story of someone who was once real. Someday, Evangeline may be told of or have her tale twisted by the curse of the North; now, in the novel’s present, the events of her story are shaping her world.

“There are heroes, and there are villains. She made her choice between the two, and she got the ending that came with it.”

Jacks says this to Evangeline shortly after Evangeline kills Petra in self-defense. Evangeline struggles to deal with the fact that she took a life, to which Jacks reminds her she that killed to save her own life. Jacks labels Petra as a villain and says that she got the appropriate ending; this statement actually reinforces Evangeline’s own sense as a child of those who “deserved” their endings (27). It also questions what defines a villain. Petra was an antagonist to Evangeline’s story because she attacked Evangeline with the intent to kill her, yet in Petra’s story, Evangeline represented a threat that Petra felt the need to eliminate. The roles of hero and villain change depending on who is telling the story. Garber makes this point in a novel in which the archetypes of hero and villain are not always clear. Jacks is a prime example, making it ironic that he speaks these words.

“‘If you want me to sleep, tell me a bedtime story.’

‘This isn’t a bedtime story, Little Fox.’

‘Most fairytales aren’t.’”

This exchange between Evangeline and Jacks comes when they first arrive at the Hollow. Jacks has just bandaged the wounds Evangeline sustained as a result of the mirror curse with Apollo. Since Jacks feels human to Evangeline in this moment, she wants to learn more about his past via a story. Jacks claims that his story isn’t a bedtime story, suggesting that bedtime stories should be happy. Evangeline’s response alludes to the darkness inherent in original fairy tales. Fairy tales are often touted as stories in which people get their wishes granted and live happily ever after, but, in reality, original fairy tales are steeped in darkness and hardship, even for the “heroes.”

“She hated that he could be both so gentle and so maddening. She knew that he needed her alive to find the last stone, but he didn’t need to carry her; he could have left her in a guest room bed or simply let her crumble to the ground. He’d let her turn to stone before. Why couldn’t he be more unfeeling now?”

Here, Evangeline has just had another argument with Jacks. As she’s still exhausted from the wounds obtained from the mirror curse, she collapses. Jacks catches her and holds her gently, which is one in a long line of events that confuse Evangeline regarding Jacks’s feelings. She doesn’t understand why he seems to care deeply in one moment and hate her the next, and those conflicting questions form part of the novel’s exploration of the theme of Manipulation. She references how he let her turn to stone, and Garber echoes this adjective with the adjective “unfeeling,” creating paired, insentient images of both Jacks and Evangeline. The reference to “before” alludes to a moment at the beginning of the prequel, which highlights the development of this romantic arc. Evangeline turned to stone when her relationship with Jacks was very different to how it is now.

“The bite was sharp and a little painful, as if he wanted to hold her and punish her, too. But he didn’t have to punish her. This was already torture because she wanted it so much. She wanted him to want her, even if he was half-delirious in his wanting.”

These lines come after Jacks returns to the Hollow injured and Evangeline drags him upstairs to a bedroom, only to have him pull her into the bed with him. This scene is the most tender and caring Jacks has been in the series so far, and yet it is laced with pain and punishment. This implicitly reflects the dynamics of an abusive relationship. However, the message of the text is problematic since Garber presents Evangeline wanting Jacks to be this way. Evangeline wants Jacks to want her so badly that it makes her hurt. No reason given for Jacks’s desire to “punish her,” and this lack of clarity for both Evangeline and reader underscores the theme of Manipulation.

“And it struck her how intimate words could be, how they could be spoken only once, for only one person, and they would never be heard again, they would disappear like a moment, gone almost as soon as you realized they were there.”

Evangeline thinks this as she lies together with Jacks. He says something in a voice that’s so quiet she wouldn’t have heard it if they weren’t so close, and in that moment, she realizes how fragile and fleeting words are. As she describes, once words are heard, they can’t be heard for the first time again. The ephemerality of words foreshadows Evangeline losing her memories at the end of the novel, “gone almost as soon as you realized they were there.”

“I wanted to believe that I had finally fallen in love with someone else. I didn’t want to admit that my shiny new engagement was another lie I was telling myself because I couldn’t get over my childhood love.”

These lines of LaLa’s dialogue come during Evangeline’s dream in the Hollow. They are part of LaLa’s greater explanation of why she cursed Evangeline and Apollo, focusing on LaLa’s true Unwed Bride Fate nature. Rather than the magic that turned her into a Fate cursing LaLa to always be left at the altar, LaLa chooses never to wed another because she can’t leave her first love behind. Her personal choice in this is reflected in Garber’s anaphoric use of “I” at the beginning of each sentence. LaLa’s sorrow is based on choice, not on magic, exemplifying the theme of The Power of Love that exhibits as much force as that of magic. LaLa’s explanation turns “another lie” into truth, thus creating a climax in LaLa’s character development.

“She shouldn’t want any of this, because it wasn’t real. But what actually made something real? If it was a lack of magic, then nothing in the North was entirely real.”

Here, Evangeline has just realized that the mirth stone is powering the Hollow and her comfortable feelings since arriving there. She believes that this includes Jacks’s tenderness. With this realization, she believes that she shouldn’t want to want him because the feelings aren’t real. The magic of the North twists stories and history until the people aren’t sure what is truth and what is a fabrication caused by the curse. The reader is hence drawn into the text: While they are immersed in the fantasy genre in which they make sense of the story world, the characters must also attempt to make sense of the reality of their world between the magic. Like the reader, Evangeline doesn’t know how much of her or Jacks’s feelings would exist without the effects of the mirth stone. Though what she’s experienced at the Hollow happened, she is unsure whether the emotions are real or not; “reason” and “feeling” are once again in battle.

“She would know he existed, but he would no longer be Jacks, he would just be a mythical figure: the Prince of Hearts. She would forget that he’d been Jacks of the Hollow, and the Archer, and, for the span of one night, hers.

How could he take all of that away from her?”

Evangeline thinks this shortly after learning that Jacks intends to reverse time with the four Valory stones. As a result, Evangeline wouldn’t remember Jacks as anything special to her, and he would be nothing more than the mythical prince of hearts that she knew him to be at the beginning of Once Upon a Broken Heart. Her mental transition from Jacks as person to Jacks as character exemplifies her previous metafictional reflections on the fact that “stories [are] bigger things, pieces of history currently being formed” (228). If Jacks reset time to before he and Evangeline met, Evangeline wouldn’t be the person she is now with all those memories. In the final line of this quotation, she accuses Jacks of taking this life away from her, which foreshadows the fact that her memories are wiped, though by Apollo.