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Disclaimer: The cover I am referring to can be found at this link, about a quarter the way down. The following is strictly my own interpretation and not intended to be binding.
http://www.tikit.net/2014%20Large/RBM/StephenBradbury.html
I have to say that I love the original UK covers of the Exiles saga by Stephen Bradbury, he has a beautiful way of painting mountains. Stephen, of course, also did the Galactic Milieu covers as well as the Perseus Spur ones (the colours are delightfully bright).
Anyway, the first time I read ‘The Adversary’ it had what I later recognised as a dodgy, cut-and-pasted clip of the original cover by Stephen. Grr, argh. I suppose this was a mixed blessing because if I had picked up the book with the original cover I would have thought, ‘hello, this is a Marc and Elizabeth book, maybe with romance, ouch!’. I mean, look at Bryan and Amerie, dead at the hand of loved ones. Marc, the infamous Angel of the Abyss, would have had his own List of Enemies and Elizabeth would have been on it (underneath Aiken and Felice). By the start of ‘The Adversary’, most of Group Green were dead or off the stage – there was no guarantee that the last two would survive. That was the thing about the Exiles books – there was that sense no one was safe and danger was always around the corner. Multiple sources of danger, sometimes.
So, on the right hand side of the cover we have Elizabeth as the seated Snow Queen. I know that Elizabeth jokingly referred to herself as the Ice Queen to Aiken, but in this universe she passes into myth as the Snow Queen, so I’ll refer to her as that. Marc also passes into myth as a dangerous winter deity, King Winter (referred to in ‘Jack the Bodiless’), among other things. See an earlier post in this blog, showing where you too can buy King Winter perfume from BPAL!
There is more than one meaning for her being the Snow Queen – Elizabeth is a middle aged redactor (healer), early education teacher and counsellor from the snowy planet of Denali, and her grief for her lost husband / powers / career has frozen her heart and arguably left her with PTSD too. She is in a seated position of authority – as a teacher she didn’t want it originally, but now she’s trying to make the best of it. Other women who have held the reins of power are dead – Brede, Queen Nontusvel and Queen Mercy. By now, Elizabeth might as well be the unofficial Queen of the Many Coloured Land.
There is a mountain above her that seems climbable, though I’m the first to say I’m no mountain climbing expert. Notice the hand on it (the helping hand of a healer or of someone who feels trapped? Both?)
At the bottom of the cover is a tall crystal pillar, and on the right and ‘Elizabeth’s’ side it is coloured red – which is associated with redaction, her primary gift. When Elizabeth travelled through the time portal she wore a red jumpsuit. On the right hand side of the pillar are flames, which could represent her tragic accident as well as symbolising failure that she feels is waiting for her. In ‘The Pliocene Companion’ there is a missing scene between Marc and Elizabeth before they head off into the sunset depart for the Duat galaxy, where he kindly says she is ‘freed now from fire’.
On the left hand side we find the imagery associated with Marc. I’m not talking politics, but in life the left has been associated with dodgy things. In the past, for example, left-handed children were punished for their ‘deviancy’ and forced to use their right hand against their natural instinct.
At the top of the cover there is a mountain of equal height and general shape with Elizabeth’s on the right. However, to my eyes it looks unclimbable and dangerous, very jagged looking. Marc, for all his charisma and magnetism, is an introvert. Various childhood traumas have left him keeping most people at a distance; being attacked in the womb (!) by his more powerful twin brother, being attacked by Fury while in the house where the last prayer vigil for Victor was going on. Uncle Rogi rushed to comfort the two year old Marc who was screaming (from being mentally attacked?). Was it really surprising that Marc ended up building his own private metal shell to retreat to, so he could be finally safe from everyone (although Felice put paid to that in the ‘Non Born King’, whoops!).
His side of the crystal pillar is blue, to represent his primary power of coercion. The amount and height of the flames underneath are bigger than Elizabeth’s side – no surprise. With Elizabeth, as well as with Marc, it is interesting that there is this dual fire / ice imagery.
On the right we have the seated Snow Queen. On the left, you can see a white mountain and further down, you can see a face. Yes, a face – you can see eyes and a nose. He is fallen and looking up at the queen, but if he stood up, he would be very tall. Marc is 6’ 5 tall and powerfully built, another thing he had a hangup about. He gripes about this in ‘Magnificat’ and wonders if he had a lumberjack in his ancestry – sorry, son, you’re descended from Tanu (Prince Nodonn, notably) and inbreeding has brought out a few Tanu recessives in your DNA.
There is a little staircase nearby that leads up and out - a suggestion of redemption and companionship with Elizabeth for him if he takes it.
Lastly, there is a ginormous snake sticking out of the pillar. In the story of the Garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by a snake, which led to her and Adam being cast out of the Garden. Notice how Adam and Eve sound a bit like Aiken and Elizabeth? With Marc being the serpent tempting Elizabeth. It sounds like in this universe the Garden of Eden is a garbled retelling of people who were actually 22nd century time travellers (gosh, you gotta love these books.) Also notice how Elizabeth sounds a bit like Earth as well, which means that Elizabeth and Marc are also Mother Earth and Father Sky as well as being winter deities.
Elizabeth and Marc are an odd couple that I really never saw coming (I shipped Elizabeth / Creyn) but at the end of the saga I found myself hoping that things would work out for them both - I do have a soft spot for heroine / redeemed villain couples, after all.
In the post-Milieu books when Rogi publishes his memoirs and lets all hell loose, I imagine that scholars go over myth and legends with a fine tooth comb, noting all the things that relate to Marc and Elizabeth. Minds are blown… interesting times, indeed.