There’s also a selfish part of me that doesn’t believe Vasya’s and Morozko’s relationship would have developed the way that it did had Vasya gotten it as a child, so I’m all for Dunya keeping it. I’m kind of glad she didn’t get it at the age of seven when that was the intention. I’m using my knowledge from book 2 here where Morozko admits that he intended for Vasya to love him because it would make him stronger. In all seriousness though, I think she was right to keep the talisman from Vasya to a certain point.

But then I also found some respect for Dunya because she literally had Death giving her an order and she’s like “lol, no”, which is pretty brave if you ask me. In my reread, I really wanted Dunya to just give Vasya the freaking talisman so I could get some more Vasya/Morozko interactions. Was Dunya right to keep the talisman from Vasya for so long? She fears for Vasya’s safety if she were to possess the talisman, but the winter-king insists that Vasya must have it in order to protect them all. I’m not sure if Arden took inspiration from Russian folklore on that or if she just decided that the Bear could make vampires but it’s an interesting twist to a well-known mythological creature.ĭunya is tasked by both Pyotr and the winter-king to give the talisman to Vasya, yet Dunya is conflicted. They are very similar to the vampires we know from other stories, although the big difference lies in how they are “created”. The question also asked about fairy tale creatures and I feel like it wants me to mention the vampires/upyr. Also, both stories have summer represented by evil characters so there’s also that overlap. It was a different way of thinking about winter that I hadn’t even considered. In Morozko, you have a figure that represents more of a co-existence with winter, and this difference is one that caught my interest the first time I read these books. Winter is a necessity but also something we just need to survive and get through.

In both cases, it’s something to be revered (titles of king and queen), but in a Danish context, there is more fear involved because of how the Snow Queen is the villain of the story. I mean, in The Snow Queen there’s a sorceress who has a cottage by a river set in eternal summer, which I know is not relevant to this book, but come on! Also just comparing the Snow Queen to Morozko would give you an insight into what role winter (and even summer) has played in the two cultures in historic times.

This is just my kind of question! I could probably write a very long essay comparing The Winternight Trilogy to The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen because there are so many parallels to draw between the two and yet also many cultural differences. What are some commonalities? How are they different? Compare some of the fairy tales and creatures referenced here to your favorite Western fairy tales.

The bear and the nightingale goodreads