The Stolen Heir

The use of games in The Stolen Heir symbolizes Oak’s penchant for treating situations and relationships as amusing or inconsequential. Raised by Madoc, who loves strategy and once used Oak as a pawn in his game for power and eternal war, he inherits many of Madoc’s qualities. When a young Oak visited Wren eight years ago, during Madoc’s alliance with Lady Nore against Elfhame, he found her tied to a post and asked if she’d like to play a game. Despite Wren’s desperation to escape, Oak remains jovial and plays recreational games for stakes. His stakes are low (Wren singing a song), while her stakes are high (Oak freeing Wren). Oak will continue to saunter through life, feeling as though nothing can truly hurt him. He rushes into trouble, not allowing Tiernan to fight for him or take on the debt of the Thistlewitch. This tendency is also reflected in Wren’s cherished fox figurine, a game piece from the fox-like Oak himself.

When Wren joins Oak’s journey to face Lady Nore, he treats her with his effervescent charm and she feels “as though this is a different kind of game, one where [she] [does] not understand the rules” (106). Her learned cynicism makes her distrustful of his intentions. Later, when she learns Oak has been hiding something vital from her, something Madoc believes will cause her to hate him, she thinks: “Oak and I have been playing games for a long time. This game, I have to win” (317). What Wren doesn’t anticipate is being the storm hag Bogdana’s biological daughter, the carrier of Mellith’s heart. In this moment, she finally realizes “the game [Oak] was playing, and who was the pawn” (329). The novel ends with her breaking Oak’s winning streak of treating situations and relationships like games, as he underestimated her capacity for vengeance.