The Ballad of Never After

Jacks is a Fate and Evangeline’s main love interest. Jacks’s motives have been murky since the beginning of Once Upon a Broken Heart, and they only become clearer toward the end of The Ballad of Never After. Jacks gave up his humanity to become a Fate shortly after his first love died. He is the archer from “The Ballad of the Archer and the Fox,” which means that he was cursed to hunt the girl he loves—this story within a story suggests that he is a romantic hero condemned to pursue the actions of an antagonist. While Jacks’s development arc takes place on a macro level across the series, he transforms through The Ballad of Never After from someone “all broken without any heart” to someone who tells Evangeline that his single goal is to find his chance at true love again (5). It is notable that, in this novel, Jacks does not specify whether the curse is still on him, and there is an unresolved question regarding whether he doesn’t feel compelled to hunt Evangeline or whether he pushes her away because he feels compelled to hunt her. This is one of many examples of plot points left in suspense for sequels in the series.

Apollo is an antagonist of The Ballad of Never After. He begins the book in his enchanted sleep, and Evangeline thinks that he looks “like the ending of a tragic Northern ballad” (32). Garber’s construction of Apollo as an ending at the beginning signals his function to antagonize the development of the plot. Evangeline’s thought turns out to be irony when Apollo and Evangeline are cursed to play out “The Ballad of the Archer and the Fox,” something that is only just beginning with Evangeline sees him in his enchanted sleep. Apollo spent most of Once Upon a Broken Heart under a spell cast by Jacks, and he spends the bulk of The Ballad of Never After cursed by LaLa. As a result, the Apollo who’s appeared in the series thus far may or may not be the true Apollo. Apollo hence has not undergone genuine character development in the series—his only motivations have come from external forces—leaving readers in suspense for this potential in sequels. This is reinforced when, at the end of The Ballad of Never After, Apollo appears to be cured of all curses; he neither tries to kill Evangeline as part of the archer curse nor suffers the results of the memory-wiping spell he uses on Evangeline, suggesting the mirror curse is no longer at play.

Chaos appeared in Once Upon a Broken Heart as the aloof and charming leader of the vampires, and his role was limited to helping Jacks and Evangeline on their quest. In The Ballad of Never After, Chaos is no longer a flat character; he plays a larger role as the mystery around his identity starts to unravel. Before the Valors locked themselves in the arch, Chaos was Castor Valor, and he was nearly killed when Vengeance Slaughterwood attacked the Merrywood Manor. To keep him alive, the Valors cast a spell that changed him, and they secured a helmet over his face when it became clear that he couldn’t control his lustful hunger for blood. Garber uses Chaos’s personal motivations to help drive the plot, emphasizing his more significant role in this book: Chaos wants the Valory Arch opened so that the helmet may be removed. When he appears to Evangeline in a dream without the helmet, Evangeline is attracted to him but is also wary because his “movements [are] graceful and slightly predatory” (238). Chaos hence alludes to traditional fairy-tale villains such as the wolf in “Little Red Riding Hood” who use disguises or charm to lure in their victims.

LaLa is another Fate and a friend of Evangeline’s. LaLa is the Unwed Bride Fate whose characterization, like Jacks’s, is enriched by a story within a story: The stories say that her one true love left her, cursing her to be alone forever. Though her story is similar to Jacks’s in that she lost a love, Evangeline finds Jacks and LaLa to be very different. Where Jacks’s lack of humanity makes him seem cold, LaLa’s makes her feel “more authentic and forthright” (21). LaLa’s narrative function is twofold: She drives the plot with the curses that she casts but also makes apparent the limitations of the narrative that privileges Evangeline’s perspective. When Evangeline learns that LaLa cursed Apollo, she realizes that Fates, even ones who seem human like LaLa, operate using very different morals from those of humans. Though LaLa cares for Evangeline, she cares about her own happiness more. The surprises of LaLa’s actions keep the reader engaged with the rising action in the novel.