In Tracy Deonn’s 2020 novel, Legendborn, teenagers Bree, Nick, and Sel endure intense experiences not only in battle against their enemies, but also in their relationships with each other. When Nick and Sel meet Bree at UNC-Chapel Hill, the two boys already have a lifetime of love and rivalry between them. Bree develops a special bond with both Nick and Sel, and unintentionally tests the existing relationship between the boys. Together, the three teenagers battle demons that threaten to destroy humanity. In their war against the demons, Bree, Nick, and Sel rely on battle strategies and weapons. Although the teenagers are strong, the demons often manage to inflict wounds and cause damage. In their personal lives, Bree and the two boys must face another, equally formidable challenge: each other. Exchanges amongst three teenagers often leave at least one full of emotion. Author Tracy Deonn uses the same language when she describes Bree, Nick, and Sel’s war against the demons as when she describes the personal relationships among the teenagers. Tracy Deonn’s war related language to describe interpersonal tension amplifies the significance of the emotions that Bree, Nick and Sel feel towards each other.

Bree

Bree’s interactions with Nick and Sel affect her as profoundly as her confrontations with demons do. When they first meet, Nick tells Bree that he does not care to connect with his father, and Bree feels “Contempt and jealousy intertwine and slice through [her] stomach like jagged claws” (p. 52). The personification of contempt and jealousy morphs the emotions into dangerous creatures, like the demons the teenagers fight on campus. Suddenly the emotions can work together and have “jagged claws” to “slice” Bree’s body. The comparison of the two feelings to dangerous beasts intensifies Bree’s negative reaction to Nick’s disparagement of his father. Bree and Sel have an even worse beginning to their relationship. At first, Sel suspects that Bree is a type of demon, or “uchel,” that appears human. When Bree learns of Sel’s suspicion, “A cold dagger of fear cuts through [her]. Sel had called [her] an uchel a few hours ago” (p. 127). The metaphor of fear as a “cold dagger” portrays Sel’s accusation of Bree as more than name-calling but as a painful, physical experience. Sel’s words do not simply offend or anger Bree, they “cut” her. When Nick disappears, Bree claims: “…[she] can feel Nick’s absence like an open wound in [her] chest” (p. 489). The simile describes Bree’s emotional reaction to Nick’s disappearance as a physical injury. The term “open wound” suggests serious damage, especially because she feels the pain in such a critical part of the body. Bree’s interactions with Nick and Sel cause her to feel emotions like they are claw slices, dagger cuts, and chest wounds; the comparison of Bree’s emotions to physical injuries increases the intensity of those emotions.

Nick

As with Bree, battle imagery often illustrates Nick’s strong emotional reactions to his friends’ words and actions. Following a fight with a demon, Sel questions Nick’s effectiveness in front of Bree. When Nick responds to Sel’s questioning, “Nick’s voice is a taut wire ready to snap” (p. 63). The image of a “wire ready to snap” alludes to an engaged tripwire. Nick’s voice is tense, and the slightest provocation may enrage him, as the smallest step may engage a tripwire. Later, when Nick finds Sel and a tearful Bree together, Nick immediately assumes the worst of Sel. Nick “…directs the blade of his anger at [Sel]” (p. 370). Nick’s anger becomes a knife or sword and the “blade” threatens to cut Sel. The tension of the situation rises because Nick’s emotion becomes as dangerous as a weapon. At one point, Bree tells Nick that she doesn’t belong in Nick and Sel’s world, and “Nick’s head jerks back like [she’d] slapped him…” (p. 295). Bree’s words cause Nick to have a visible, physical reaction. Her words function as a slap, or an act of physical aggression against Nick. While Nick’s negative reactions towards Sel can manifest as tripwires and knives against Sel, Bree’s words can feel like slaps in the face to him.

Sel

Sel’s uncertainties and desire to hide his emotions from his friends cause him the most devastating realities. Before Sel really knows and trusts Bree, the two of them experience a demon attack. Three demons confront Bree and Sel, and Sel thinks Bree is to blame. Bree begs Sel to believe that she has nothing to do with the demons, and she watches “…fresh doubt at [her] plea warring the fury in his eyes” (p. 269). In the metaphor that describes Sel’s emotions, doubt and fury take on active roles as combatants. Sel’s initial distrust of Bree manifests in the moment as fury, but part of him also begins to believe that she may be innocent, which causes him to doubt himself as well. The personified opponents of doubt and fury “war” against each other to illustrate the significant conflict Sel feels. After Sel and Bree fight the three demons that attack them, Sel’s understanding of Bree as the enemy changes. When they defeat the demons, Bree observes: “At the sound of Nick’s voice, Sel takes a step back, retreating…[she watches Sel’s] face shutter in real time from wonder and something [she] can only interpret as concern, to the grim neutrality of a soldier at war. And just like that, the Selwyn Kane from a few moments ago is buried under stone like a secret gone to the grave” (p. 284). Finished with the battle against his true enemies, Sel maintains a guarded, soldierlike facade with his friends. Bree watches Sel physically and emotionally “retreat” not from an enemy, but from Nick, a friend he loves. Sel wants to hide from Nick his newfound curiosity and concern regarding Bree, and Bree witnesses Sel’s emotions disappear, “buried under stone.” The image of Sel crushed by his surroundings returns when he and Bree make a devastating discovery. Bree watches as “…grief like [hers] come crashing down on Sel, all at once. The sudden, sharp, all-consuming pain of loss is tearing into him right in front of me” (p. 362). The truth about Sel’s family causes him a grief which crashes down on Sel as a damaged building might collapse on a person in a war zone. Tracy Deonn’s language to describe Sel’s emotional states suggests that he can go to war with himself because of uncertainty, and at times he emotionally “buries” and “crushes” himself.

Throughout Legendborn, Bree, Nick, and Sel fight demons that cross into their world. The demons remain a constant threat, and Bree and her friends use their power and weapons to engage in battles against the demons. While Bree, Nick, and Sel fight demons together, they also learn about each other’s personal histories, discover secrets, develop attractions, and question each other. Their interpersonal experiences become as significant as their battles against the demons. Tracy Deonn uses violent language to describe the battles against the demons as well as the teenagers’ personal interactions to equate the two experiences. The author uses personification, metaphor, and simile to turn the emotions that the teenagers have towards each other into beasts, weapons, and physical wounds. Tracy Deonn’s writing style highlights how an emotional experience with a loved one can be equally as powerful as a physical altercation with an enemy.

References

Deonn, T. (2020). Legendborn. Margaret K. McElderry Books.