Get Nerdy With Me No. 6

My hope for Alice in Oathbound.

Will Alice have powers in Oathbound?

(I think so)

At the end of Bloodmarked, Alice is in a deep coma. William has healed her mortal wounds, but for some reason, his magic won’t leave her body.¹ She’s retaining all of his swyns,² instead of releasing them. No one knows what this retention will do to her body or if she’ll survive it. She’s Onceborn. She’s not oathed. Her situation is unprecedented.

Alice has overcome magic before, and this gives me hope.

In Legendborn, Isaac Sorrenson mesmered Alice, wiping out two weeks of memories. With Jessie’s help, Bree reversed the effects of Sorrenson’s mesmer with her Root.³

A curious thing happened afterwards. Once Alice’s memories were restored, she retained the unique ability of mesmer resistance.⁴ Thus far, only Bree was known to have this power. It was as if a little of Bree’s abilities rubbed off on Alice during the healing process.

What if Alice retains some of William’s Legendborn abilities, like Sight or swyns, just like she retained Bree’s Rootcraft ability to resist mesmers?

There is foreshadowing of Alice obtaining powers!

Look at what Bree says here in Chapter 34, page 340:

“Alice’s fists are balled on her lap, and at the moment, I’m grateful that she doesn’t have any powers.”

Then look what Alice says in Chapter 45, page 426.

"That's it," Alice declares. "I'm getting somebody to Oath me."

I glare at her.

"I can't take this—you all can see things I can't see, and it's getting old." She feels me staring, and doesn't even look back at me when she argues. It's decided in her mind, I can tell.

"May as well," William murmurs in agreement, eyes back. “This is…”

There’s also this (alarming, but cool?) passing thought from Bree in Chapter 24, page 228.

“Not that it will happen, but Alice would make a terrifying Regent.”

But what if it did happen!?

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I want powers for Alice so badly in Oathbound, but mostly I just want her to be ok. Bree will need her, and she’ll need Bree.

Oathbound is out in 17 days. Soon, we’ll find out.

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Thanks for reading the sixth installment of my series Get Nerdy With Me where every day until Oathbound hits the shelves on March 4 I’m deep diving a topic from Legendborn and Bloodmarked here on Substack.

1. Bloodmarked, Chapter 59, page 540

2. The Welsh name for his healing magic.

3. Legendborn, Chapter 48, page 429

4. Bloodmarked, Chapter 24, page 231