Wildwood

“Prue couldn’t put her finger on what seemed to exude from him, something that made him seem like no one she’d ever met before. It was a kind of aura or shine, like the way a familiar landscape is transformed in the light of a full moon.” 

Prue describes her first encounter with Richard. He is also the first human she has met in the Wood. The magic of the place itself is exuded by its inhabitants. 

“There is a thing called Woods Magic that protects this wood from the curiosity of the outside world. It is the thing that separates our kind from yours. Every being in this forest has the Woods Magic running through their veins.”

Alexandra’s comment to Curtis is an echo of Prue’s earlier perception of Richard. Magic flows through the veins of all the creatures in the Wood. Prue and Curtis carry this same magic though they do not know it yet. 

“‘I tend to think you’re here for a reason, Port-Land Prue.’ He spit a wad of tobacco out the window. ‘I just don’t think we know what that reason is yet.’” 

Richard is quick to realize that Prue’s appearance in the Wood is fraught with meaning. As he himself admits, neither one is aware of the larger purpose to her visit. Prue simply wants to get her brother back. 

“The romance he’d associated with these sorts of battles, chiefly from historical novels he’d recently taken a liking to, was beginning to tarnish. The reality was proving much uglier.” 

Curtis declares himself to be a pacifist as soon as he joins the coyote army. His sketches of superheroes capture the romance but not the ugliness of battle. Now that he is engaged in a life or death skirmish with the bandits, he is beginning to understand the downside of conflict. 

“Gone are the days when the Mansion could be seen as a place of wise counsel and just governance. It is now a den of political opportunists and would-be despots, each grabbing desperately for every possible shard of power.” 

Owl Rex makes this mournful comment to Prue when he warns that her life is in danger. His observation is equally relevant to politics in any corner of the world, not just the Wood. The message of the novel is that just government is still possible in an imperfect world. 

“As for the Governor and his aides, they are not to be trusted. If it is in their interest, Prue, and you are a problem to them, they will make that problem go away.” 

Owl Rex pragmatically assesses Prue’s limited chances of survival in South Wood. Again, his observation applies equally well to any despotic government in any corner of the real world. Fortunately, the fantasy world of Wildwood allows for the real possibility of improvement. 

“He wondered if this was a place where he could stay. The aching anxiety with which he faced every school day, the quiet loneliness of the playground and the overwhelming authority of his teachers, disappointed coaches, and fretful parents—all seemed to recede like the singing of the coyote soldiers behind him.” 

Curtis describes his alienated existence in Portland. This comment explains his ultimate decision to stay in the Wood at the end of the story. Although he is mistaken about his place in the coyote army, he does forge an authentic connection later with the bandits.

“‘You Outsiders,’ said another bandit, one who had remained silent during all the invective. ‘You’re always looking for a way to conquer and despoil things that ain’t by rights yours, huh? I heard about what you do.’” 

A bandit makes this comment to Curtis during their imprisonment. The inhabitants of the Wood are well aware of the ecological disasters being perpetrated outside their borders. Most probably, they cast the Periphery Bind to prevent the same thing from happening to their realm. 

“I said before you were likely here for a reason; maybe you were sent here to make rightful change in this place—get folks back up on their feet. That’s a kind of cause I can stand for.”

When Prue asks Richard to smuggle her to North Wood, he finally sees the big picture. Prue herself is not yet aware of her role as a catalyst for political change, but the Postmaster sees it. He is willing to risk imprisonment to help make that positive change happen. 

“She’d flown in planes, but that had been a sterile sensation, a mediated experience that gave the illusion of flying […] It was nothing compared to this, this true feeling of soaring: the dome of sky above her, the verdant sprawl of the forest below.” 

Prue is riding on an eagle’s back when she makes this comment. Her experience draws another distinction between the sham flight that the real world offers and the real flight that the Wood offers. In the Wood, such peak experiences are possible because all forms of life are linked. 

“Your courage is uncommon. I would hate very much to be the party responsible for your brother’s kidnapping! You would prove an indefatigable foe, no doubt.” 

Alexandra’s flattering comment is meant to put Prue at ease. However, the statement holds a grain of truth. The Dowager fears the girl’s implacable nature because Prue will stop at nothing to save her brother. 

“I ask you to see the flip side of that coin: a group of bloodthirsty amoral murderers and a society bent on expanding their borders in a savage, greed-driven landgrab. Which is it?”

Alexandra asks Prue to shift her perspective regarding the motives of the bandits and the avians. In discrediting them, the Dowager briefly sways Prue to her way of thinking. 

“At that moment, she felt a surge of sympathy for her parents, for all that they’d risked for their two children. Would she have done the same in their shoes?” 

Prue is initially critical of her parents’ deal with Alexandra. She also judges them harshly for their passive refusal to do anything to reverse the situation. This quote indicates that a brief glimmer of empathy has intruded into her thoughts. 

“Calming your mind in total silence. Understanding your connection to the natural world, and all that. You do that, and you can hear it. All the talking.” 

Early in the book, Prue mentions her interest in meditation. This comment from the rabbit tells her that the mystics’ power might be something she, too, can achieve. If talking to plants requires nothing more than meditation, maybe Prue can do the same. 

“We break our own hearts imposing our moral order on what is, by nature, a wide web of chaos. It is a hopeless task.” 

Iphigenia offers these words of counsel to Prue when the girl obsesses about needing to save her brother. The mystic believes that the events Prue’s parents set in motion may be impossible to forestall. Their wish was granted, and the universe may have its own planned outcome. 

“Prue stared at the young girl as she ran away, thunderstruck by the display of power she’d just seen. You do that, she thought, through meditation?” 

A young mystic has just demonstrated her ability to twine grass blades simply by communicating with the plants. Prue is struck for the second time by the simplicity of the process. She already knows how to calm her mind and perhaps already knows how to communicate with plants. 

“A long morning march, at the end of which, undoubtedly, would be his own personal end. The gravity of the situation was slowly unfurling, creeping over him like a chill.” 

This is another of Curtis’s comments related to the horrors of war. He is taking a more mature view of his situation. No longer a child eager for adventure, he realizes the mortal cost related to freeing Mac. 

“It was all waiting for him. I could just go, he thought. Right now. I could just go.” 

As a follow-up to his previous comment, Curtis weighs the possibility of simply walking away from danger. Mac is not his relative, and he is risking his life for someone he barely knows. His conundrum resolves itself when he sees Prue and realizes she has not abandoned him after all as everyone else has always done.

“Nobody is safe from the machinations of those who, at any cost, wish to destroy the advances of brotherhood and civility.” 

This comment represents a transformation in the attitude of the Bandit King. Brendan usually concerns himself only with the welfare of his fellow bandits. He has come to realize that the bandits share a common cause with all the other inhabitants of the Wood. 

“You had as much control over your own involvement in these events as a leaf does in the time of its falling. We must only follow, we must only follow.” 

Prue has assumed a burden of guilt for all the disasters that have happened since she entered the Wood. Those who have tried to help her are injured or dead. Iphigenia’s comment is meant to point out that Prue is only part of a much bigger picture related to the liberation of all the inhabitants in the Wood. 

“It’s better to live presently. By living thus, perhaps we can learn to understand the nature of this fragile coexistence we share with the world around us.” 

Iphigenia, once more, counsels Prue not to try to control every aspect of her quest. She needs to learn to allow events to flow as they were intended to do. Iphigenia seems willing to accept a negative outcome of the war. This attitude of acceptance is something Prue has yet to master.

“The lattice of Portland’s freeways, clogged with cars and trucks, all the concrete and metal—these things seemed more alien to her now.” 

Prue is contemplating the Portland landscape in her mind while she is still physically present in the Wood. She does not consciously articulate how much she might prefer to stay right where she is. Like Curtis, she might rather want to build a future in the Wood instead of returning Outside. 

“There is, however, a striking feeling in the air, regardless of the petty disputes, that we will arrive at a solution in time, a solution that will see to the rights and needs of all citizens of the Wood.” 

Owl Rex makes this comment as all the regions of the Wood attempt to hammer out a workable system of government to suit them all. Unlike the Outside, this goal might be possible because the factions intent on a petty power grab have all been eliminated from the equation. The inhabitants have learned an important lesson about setting their differences aside in the interests of general harmony.