I'm not sure how much sense it makes when viewed through a chronological lens, but when reading the series in published order there's this one thread that really stuck out to me. Partially because I'm so frustrated I kinda was doubting Mothy's ability to get me emotionally invested again, but here I am.
But one thing that is making me feel shrimp emotions is like. Elluka Clockworker multiple times wrote off Eve Moonlit as a woman who was "broken a long time ago," calling her crazy on several occasions and just generally blaming her for the Original Sin and writing her off as someone well past the point of saving.
And then, in the Wrath novel we see her with her memories as Levia restored, and when confronted with Nemesis, who Allen describes in the same way she-as-Elluka described Eve, she pushes back. She rejects his very premise, saying “…I don’t care much for putting it that way. You shouldn’t be using a word like ‘broken’ to refer to a human being” before choosing to sit and attempt to understand Nemesis' actions, reasoning, and psychological state.
And then she sits down and comes to understand the life story of Nemesis, who was abandoned by her mother, grew up in the forest under Michaela's watch, taken advantage of by a man in the government, Gallerian, and lost the person dearest to her. All of which literally happened to Eve, down to her mother arguably being the same person as Eve's mother apt (I think), and Gallerian directly contracting with Adam, who used his position in the government to use Eve for his own ends as well.
And I know the reveal is going to be that Nemesis and Levia are also the same person in different lives again. So when read in chronological order it feels like the series is slowly disputing the premise many readers accepted very easily, that Eve is crazy and broken and nothing can save her. The narrative, very late in the game, rejects the concept that some people are beyond help. Then Levia learns more about a broken woman it slowly becomes clear she experienced the same things, and she doesn't give up on her. And these things Levia comes to understand herself as having gone through, are THE EXACT THINGS that "broke" Eve. And, from what I understand of the rest of the series, Levia has to work to stop the events she's put in motion and learns to understand herself better. To me it suggests that Eve is not beyond help, but rather continually abandoned and abused by everyone around her, most notably the people she is stuck with in the end (Irina and Adam).
Which is such a beautiful way to slowly unpack the concept of a religiously derided woman is simply evil and beyond help, especially after slowly unpacking the ways she has been abused and the trauma she's been through for the whole series.
But idk from what I know of the OSS novels it doesn't look like Mothy is going in that direction, so maybe the way I'm interpreting the themes is just wrong.
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