dig up the sun

erm ok so the plant is meant to be a indeterminate type of Laurel and my thought process behind it was two fold.

first, most obviously, is in reference to the slaughter at Darrow's Triumph at the end of the second book. laurels' most prominent symbolism is victory originating with the Romans, but we all know how the triumph went. this is the death of Darrow as a Gold. hence the red blood.

second reference is Poet's Laurel. so the second most common symbolism is of the poet's art, more broadly it's for artistic expression and creativity but we're focusing specifically on poets right now. the triumph is death of Roque's identity as Darrow's "gentle friend", the poet who has always been loyal to him. no matter how Roque acts afterwards he can never reconcile being the center point of such a horrific action with the identity of being a good person who is compassionate and loyal to the people around him.

(laurels are also intended to symbolize loyalty and true love as shown in the myth of apollo and daphne but we CANNOT get into that right now. for multiple reasons.)