she is genuinely one of the saddest characters in magnus chase (which is a high bar). it’s implied she grew up with hearth and was probably friends with andiron as well. i imagine she and hearth formed a friendship that was the only bright spot in the literal hell they both called home, and that she was probably able to break down hearth’s walls a little bit. (i don’t think as much as blitz though.) of course she developed feelings for him, he was the only person (we know of) in her life that treated her not only like an equal but kindly as well. and yet, hearth still left. he had to. im sure he promised to return and release her from her imprisonment, and he did, but he was gone for years at least. we know that hearth went back to alfheim with blitz at least once, but her excitement at his first return with magnus is so evident that he had been gone a long while and returns were few and far between. hearth definitely had every intention of going back to save her but,,, he was so scared to return. she was there waiting for him to come back. my heart breaks for her.
i don’t know if her love was always unrequited. i can’t imagine young hearth letting anyone fully in even inge. he cared for her at least platonically but he was so young and so broken and definitely thought he was undeserving of love and viewed it as transactional and nothing was going to change that until he got out of that god damn house.
and then hearth returns, with blitz, a person he has let completely in. i can’t imagine hearth bring blitz to alfheim without him knowing almost everything, or that was where he let blitz full behind his walls. (this isn’t a blitz hate post i adore him nor is it a hearth hate post,,, those are my literal boys but inge also rots my brain)
all this to say, wherever inge is, i certainly hope she has found someone to love that loves her just as much. i hope she’s found a family as hearth has. and maybe a beautiful girlfriend.
