spoilers for a curse for true love…
rant….solely about APPLES.
With the lil teaser via Stephanie:
“Apollo hated apples”
i’d like to state that this is sooooooo important to the breaking of the curse.
from the first book it’s established that Evangeline has a connection to Jacks… which I believe is stronger than true love to start his heart, but to break the archer/fox curse that has kill almost everyone he’s loved (Donatella being the exception).
Within the first 20 pages we are told that Jacks is her greatest heartbreak…
And then the motif continues once Evangeline gets to the North and well well well… the evidence is overwhelming. Not only is Jacks her biggest heartbreak (the past of his curse killing those he loved and the loss of her memory in the last book) but he is also her true love.
—-this we already know, but Evangeline will not… she will smell and taste the apples with a hinting sensations of love and affection but will not know what it means…
Further proof of her subconscious reminding her of Jacks
BUT
WHAT DO THE APPLES MEAN!??!?? To jacks.
truly I believe that since the apples taste like true love, they curb his instincts of kissing people to kill them- because all the fates can’t fight their feelings. So Jacks obsession with apples is just another form of his love for love but also his restriction to love anyone. Maybe he knows the apples taste like Evangeline…and that’s why “she’s better off not knowing” - to save her from kissing him and dying…
HIS IMPULSES BEING EVANGELINE??? I’ll die.
And lastly… Evangeline’s association with apples also causes… impulses too…
So, Apollo’s hatred of apples will send little alarm bells going off in her head/gut on her true feelings and memories. Maybe after coming into contact with Jacks again she’ll realize something is drawing her to him…
…
And a bonus moment that is overlooked…
Apollo’s hatred of apples definitely wasn’t the only thing that set off those alarm bells, but I think the apples were a little unresolved at the end of ACFTL.
What I took away is that apples for Jacks were sort of like sewing for LaLa. Whenever he got the urge to kiss someone, he always had an apple on hand to fidget with or bite to distract himself.
I did wonder about the color of the apples though.
I can’t recall the apple being described as green or yellow or pink, just white, red, and black. It’s interesting that these correspond to the colors usually used to print playing cards, which are associated with Jacks in Caraval.
Here’s my guess about these colors, because they do seem significant:
RED: Jacks is only described as carrying a red apple in the quote below, when Evangeline finds a photo of him before he was a fate. Since there is an orchard at the Hollow, it makes sense that he may have often had apples on hand growing up. Especially as a hunter, who would have needed to live off the land while tracking animals like the first fox. Red apples are common, so this color signals his humanity.
WHITE: Jacks only carries white apples when he’s feeling hatred or ambivalence toward his companions. He is described as having a white apple in the end of ACFTL after he has ripped out his heart. He also carries a white apple when we first meet him in Legendary:
White is the color of a blank canvas, and it is often used to describe rage. More commonly it represents purity. In Jacks’s hands, I think that it is the color of a blank canvas.
BLACK: Jacks only has black apples on hand when he’s feeling emotional. Most of Evangeline’s series shows him with a black apple. He also carries one in Finale when he is feeling hurt by Tella:
In both series, his apple is black whenever he is feeling conflicted or depressed. As Jacks is warring with himself about his attraction to Evangeline, the apple reflects his mood.
When he says that he does not need the apples any more, I think it’s not just because he can kiss Evangeline whenever he likes. It’s also because he is no longer conflicted (black), nor is their relationship a blank canvas (white), and he is still not a plain human (red). If he ever has another cameo, I would be interested to see whether or not Jacks has an apple on hand, especially if he is out of reach from Evangeline.
I listened to most of these books. Did I miss some color symbolism?
