The Trials of Morrigan Crow

A chandelier hangs above the lobby of Hotel Deucalion. When Jessica Townsend introduces the chandelier, she describes it as “an enormous rose-colored chandelier in the shape of a sailing ship, dripping with crystals and bursting with warm light” (90). Symbolically, it represents Morrigan Crow and her growth. When she first arrives at Hotel Deucalion, the chandelier is shaped like a ship, representing her disconnected state. Like a ship at sea, she’s lost in the waves of events and doing what she can to keep her course. Later, Morrigan hears the chandelier crash and finds it in pieces. She clings to her Republic identity as a cursed child who brings misfortune to everyone around her. Like the chandelier, she must shatter her old identity to renew herself as a citizen of the Free State and a member of the Wundrous Society.

After the chandelier crashes, it regrows, “replacing itself with something brand-new” (131). When Morrigan sees it, she describes it as a “tiny speck of light, blooming out of the shadows” (131). Her family have long called her cursed, the shadow cast over them. She spends much of Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow afraid that she will bring harm to her new family at Hotel Deucalion. However, the chandelier symbolizes Morrigan’s growing light, her innate goodness: She’s slowly becoming the person she is meant to be.

After the end of the Wundrous Trials, after Morrigan confronts Ezra Squall and decides to remain with her new family, the chandelier finishes growing into its new form—a “large black bird, shining iridescent from certain angles, its wingspan spread over the lobby as if protecting the Hotel Deucalion and its inhabitants. Or perhaps poised to swoop down on their heads” (459). Though Morrigan has the Wundersmith potential to destroy Hotel Deucalion and her new family, she initially frames the chandelier as a symbol of protection. In her new form, she chooses to protect rather than destroy, with the chandelier reflecting this choice.