Overall I like Gramma, but her disowning Sarafine after Sarafine was Claimed for Darkness was so cruel, it’s shocking every time I read the scene in Beautiful Chaos. I know it’s part of the Duchannes family’s culture and traditions, but to immediately kick her out and tell her “you’re not my daughter” is so horrible, I feel so sorry for Sarafine.
It also says a lot about the Duchannes as a family and how the curse has affected them. It is very fucked up how the Light Casters ostracise the Dark Casters in the family and treat them all as if they are evil incarnate just because they are Dark Casters, even though none of them voluntarily chose to turn Dark. I always wonder if the Dark Casters in the family could’ve not become fully evil if they’d had proper support from their family, instead of being exiled and left to fend for themselves.
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While she may be of the more physical violence than many of her sisters she will not hesitate to bring you down. Having control over her hair like a whip she can bring you down. Her arrows are tipped with a poison of her own concoction. It’s antidote is unknown. She like all her sisters serves the darkness completely there is no getting through to her.
Maulia has a unique ability to control animals twisting them under her will. She can turn them into dark versions of themselves. Making them stronger formidable forces. She lost her kindness like all the others so long ago and was banished all the same Her hatred for the world is great though she keeps a few animals the same as she found them.
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Carnia was one of the oldest she has become disheveled in her usage of the darker arts. She guides many into learning the twisted ways. Often preying on innocent people and making bargains that always end poorly for the “Beneficiary”. Her Cruelty has earned her a reputation not too unlike Baba Yaga. She has been known to eat children at least rumor has it.
First of all, in any story where you have a villain, no matter how tragic that villain's backstory may be, they are undeniably still responsible for their actions. To some extent, this would be true for Casters - particularly Dark Casters - as most of them get to choose their allegiance at sixteen years old. The Duchannes family, because of their curse, works differently, however. They don't get to choose - they are Claimed, and if they're Claimed for the Dark, their personalities and morals are warped and twisted, their instincts become violent, and their emotions become distant - all entirely against their will. Yes, they still have control over their actions and free will, but they have, in a sense, been turned into monsters - something they're not even remotely responsible for.
So is there really no hope for them?
Dark Casters do retain their pre-Claiming memories, and - as Sarafine showed in her behavior in the early years after her Claiming, and Ridley showed in her decision to flee to keep Lena safe - their attachments to people and some of their personality traits, at least initially. The rate at which they descend into total darkness seems to depend on the Caster, but one thing is clear: the moment a Caster is Claimed for the Dark, the Duchannes family immediately loses all hope disowns them.
The problem with this is that, prior to the Curse, all knowledge of Dark Casters and their behavior likely came from Casters who chose to be Dark - and thus were likely cruel, ambitious, rather sadistic people in the first place, who had no reason to fight the choice they were willingly making. It seems no one ever thought to consider that a Caster who was Claimed as Dark against his or her will might differ somewhat. The Duchannes family certainly never considered it, and I think a part of what made the curse so devastating was their own resignation to it.
The series doesn't really give us a look at too many Dark Casters, but let's take a look at the two we do get in depth information on: Sarafine and Ridley. The former, as one of the main antagonists of the series, is a character we see for the majority of the time as entirely Dark. However, Beautiful Chaos gives us a look at her backstory, along with the first real insight we have as to exactly what it's like for a Caster who's been Claimed as Dark. Initially, there's no real difference in Sarafine's behavior. She's devastated when her mother immediately, without a second thought, abandons her (how many other Duchannes Dark Casters do you think received this treatment?). Essentially all the people she formerly loved and trusted are suddenly telling her that she's a dangerous monster who has no place in their family. A lost cause. The only one she can turn to, the only one who still has faith in her, is her boyfriend. Keep in mind that she and John were sixteen at the time. In love as they might have been, they were certainly not ready to start a life together - are any children at that age? And yet, within a year they were married, and Sarafine was able to use her love for John to fight off going Dark until Abraham began to corrupt her. Even when her love for John started to fade, her unconditional love for Lena still kept her going. Ultimately, Abraham was able to manipulate her into feeling she'd lost both of them, prompting her to go completely Dark - but what if she would have had her family's support? She would have had a lot more love in her life to keep her stable, she would have been able to keep Lena, and Abraham likely wouldn't have been able to get anywhere near her. Could things have turned out differently?
To answer that question, we have to look at the series' second featured Dark Caster: Ridley. We're introduced to Ridley pretty soon after her Claiming. And while at first glance, she appears to be a total bad girl with no regard for anyone else, it doesn't take long for us to realize that she has retained some of her morals. She could have killed Ethan's dad, easily, but instead she panicked and backed out - only one of the first of many instances that suggest she is not completely 'evil'. As the series goes on, we see Ridley tentatively begin to redeem herself. Though her immediate family seems to have abandoned her (Del tells her 'there's nothing we can do for you', Reese regards her with nothing but disdain, Ryan isn't allowed anywhere near her), it's her love for Lena and eventually Link that she clings to - and that allows her to eventually become a fairly decent person, despite being a Dark Caster. At the end of the series, her family even accepts her again.
Ridley's story suggests that Dark Casters can fight their natures, and that they should be fought for. Perhaps if the Duchannes family had acknowledged this instead of giving in to their circumstances without question, a lot more of them could have been saved. Instead, we have families torn apart, and newly Claimed Dark Casters fleeing desperately to whoever will accept them - Sarafine to Abraham and Ridley to Sarafine, for instance - which ultimately makes things worse.
