Foxglove

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of gender discrimination, pregnancy termination, and sexual content.

Threads, tapestries, and the act of weaving are all recurring motifs that symbolize Fate’s control—or lack thereof. The Prologue introduces Fate’s system for determining individuals’ lives, showing how he organizes destinies by weaving different colored threads into large tapestries. This physical act establishes him as both the literal and figurative weaver of fate and demonstrates the reasons for his belief that he has total control over others, complicated by Blythe and Signa’s shifting tapestries. Fate’s threads also symbolize his control outside of the tapestries. At balls and gatherings, Signa can see countless tiny gold threads attached to the people around her. These threads first appear to Signa and Blythe as a beautiful shimmering that draws people to Fate, but on closer inspection, the threads that come from his body have a different purpose. Fate pulls these threads when he wants to slow time or influence someone’s behavior, which draws similarities to a puppet master as well as a weaver. Fate’s tapestries also suggest a finality to the course of life, as he never alters a tapestry once he finishes it and hangs it on the wall.