66 pages • 2 hours read
Sydney J. ShieldsThe Honey Witch
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Curse
Marigold’s curse dictates that Honey Witches in her family line must choose between their magical powers or finding romantic fulfillment, making the curse a motif for The Struggle Between Power and Love. Marigold originally sees no downside to the curse, as the idea of becoming a powerful witch appeals to her more than becoming a wife and mother. However, as Marigold begins to consider what she’s really given up as she gets to know Lottie, the curse causes Lottie pain every time they try to get closer to one another.
Throughout Parts 2 and 3, Lottie experiences mysterious and intense bouts of nausea, headaches, and general illness, which she realizes in Part 3 are caused by her growing feelings for Marigold and her impulses to act on those feelings. Marigold must acknowledge that every time she wants to be with Lottie physically, she hurts Lottie, admitting, “Her selfish heart is putting Lottie in danger” (262). The effects of the curse on Lottie develop the idea that love and power will come at the cost of one another, as Lottie temporarily dies in Chapter 33 as a result of their intimacy.
The curse is, however, eventually broken when Lottie chooses power only for the sake of finally being able to love Marigold freely. Once Versa lifts the curse in response to Lottie’s choice, the two women are able to come together and defeat Versa once and for all. Lottie’s breaking of the curse suggests that, in true love, love and power are united instead of opposed.
The Landvættir
The landvættir are animal-like creatures who act as “spirit guardians of nature” (37). When Althea teaches Marigold about the landvættir of Innisfree, Marigold learns that “The health of the landvættir is what Marigold may use as an indicator for the overall health of Innisfree” (74). The landvættir function as an important symbol of Innisfree’s state, thriving when Innisfree thrives and becoming sickly when Innisfree is in danger. When Innisfree is safe from Versa with all the protection runes intact, the landvættir are healthy and dutifully watching over the isle.
In Chapter 15, after Lottie arrives in Innisfree, Chesha the cat landvættir leads Marigold to Lottie’s door in the middle of the night and “hisses violently” (137). Chesha’s reaction to Lottie foreshadows the reveal that Lottie is related to the wicked Ash Witch, Versa. Later, in Chapter 19, Lottie and Marigold share a nightmare about Versa, and Lottie sleepwalks into the apiary and disturbs Marigold’s protection rune. The following day, Marigold finds the koi landvættir of the moon pool, Yliza, “has gone through some sort of monstrous transformation” (178). Several other landvættir are in an unnatural state. The change undergone by the landvættir indicates Innisfree’s fresh state of vulnerability—an indicator that Marigold does not understand at the time.
In the final battle with Versa, “the enchanted animals [become] giant horned monsters of rage and ruin” (325). The landvættir are transformed by the devastation on Innisfree, indicating the poor state of the ravaged isle. The landvættir thus reflect magic’s power, with their form and health reflecting whether good or evil magic has the upper hand on the isle.
The Will-o’-the-Wisp
The will-o’-the-wisp is a flickering light that Marigold first spots in Part 1 of the novel, which becomes a symbol of the danger Versa presents to the isle. The light emanates from across the lake in Hazelwood Forest, and when Marigold first spots it, “Dread fills her belly” (79). The will-o’-the-wisp’s increasingly frequent appearances, growing in strength throughout Parts 2 and 3, serve as a warning to Marigold that something sinister is closing in on her.
When Marigold first spies the flickering light in the woods, Althea cannot see it and does not worry about it. However, once Marigold is on her own, the light appears more frequently. Marigold spots this light in Chapter 10, and “Intuition tells her that something is wrong” (103). She spots it again in Chapter 11, and “A sense of unease floods her body” (111). The light is “beating like a heart” (160) when Marigold and her friends go for a swim in the moon pool in Chapter 18, and Marigold believes that it is wicked. This final sighting in Part 2 comes just before Marigold’s fire nightmare and the first wicked transformation of the landvættir.
The opening of Part 3 confirms that this flickering light belongs to a will-o’-the-wisp, which “keeps Versa’s black heart beating while she waits to return to Innisfree” (201). As Marigold returns to Innisfree at the end of Chapter 3, she, Lottie, and Mr. Benny can all see the light. Mr. Benny recognizes the will-o’-the-wisp as “an omen of something sinister or strange” (297), and Marigold acknowledges that it is “far beyond an omen—it is a threat” (297). Marigold’s concerns are validated when she arrives to a ravaged isle, her apiary destroyed and landvættir poisoned. The light thus symbolizes both Versa’s threat and her evil use of magic.
