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* CutLexLuthorACheck: The King of Glome often sentences people who particularly displease him to hard labor in his silver mines. As Orual notes, his tendency to have them worked to death is incredibly inefficient for the purpose of actually mining silver. Even as be bewails Glomes ill fortunes, he never considers any kind of labor reform. When Orual becomes queen, she takes special care to make sure the slaves in the mines are well-treated and healthy, and in a few years the silver output skyrockets, becoming a pillar of Glome's prosperity.
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* CutLexLuthorACheck: The King of Glome often sentences people who particularly displease him to hard labor in his silver mines. As Orual notes, his tendency to have them worked to death is incredibly inefficient for the purpose of actually mining silver. Even as be bewails Glome's ill fortunes, he never considers any kind of labor reform. When Orual becomes queen, she takes special care to make sure the slaves in the mines are well-treated and healthy, and in a few years the silver output skyrockets, becoming a pillar of Glome's prosperity.
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* ACreditToYourRace: This is the only kind of compliment the Fox. who is Greek ever gets from the King.
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* ACreditToYourRace: This is the only kind of compliment the Fox. who is Greek ever gets from the King.
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* CutLexLuthorACheck: The King of Glome often sentences people who particularly displease him to hard labor in his silver mines. As Orual notes, his tendency to have them worked to death is incredibly inefficient for the purpose of actually mining silver. When Orual becomes queen, she takes special care to make sure the slaves in the mines are well-treated and healthy, and in a few years the output skyrockets.
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* CutLexLuthorACheck: The King of Glome often sentences people who particularly displease him to hard labor in his silver mines. As Orual notes, his tendency to have them worked to death is incredibly inefficient for the purpose of actually mining silver. Even as be bewails Glomes ill fortunes, he never considers any kind of labor reform. When Orual becomes queen, she takes special care to make sure the slaves in the mines are well-treated and healthy, and in a few years the silver output skyrockets.skyrockets, becoming a pillar of Glome's prosperity.
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* CutLexLuthorACheck: The King of Glome often sentences people who particularly displease him to hard labor in his silver mines. As Orual notes, his tendency to have them worked to death is incredibly inefficient for the purpose of actually mining silver. When Orual becomes queen, she takes special care to make sure the slaves in the mines are well-treated and healthy, and in a few years the output skyrockets.
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* ExternalRetcon: Orual writes her book to set the record straight after hearing a priest's false story about Psyche. Eventually, [[spoiler: Orual retcons her own story when she comes to realize her true motivations were selfish.]] (Of course, TillWeHaveFaces functions as this in real life as well.)
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* ExternalRetcon: Orual writes her book to set the record straight after hearing a priest's false story about Psyche. Eventually, [[spoiler: Orual retcons her own story when she comes to realize her true motivations were selfish.]] (Of course, TillWeHaveFaces ''Till We Have Faces'' functions as this in real life as well.)
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* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Redival is the pretty but ditzy one; Orual is the clever but unattractive one. Orual's feelings for Istra are more complicated.
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* BecomingTheMask: Orual.
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* FlyingDutchman: [[spoiler: Istra, after disobeying her husband, is exiled to wander the earth until she can be reunited with the God of the Mountain.]]
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* InsaneTrollLogic: The gods, according to Orual.
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* MindScrew
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* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Orual, after [[spoiler: Istra is exiled from the Mountain.]]
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* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Orual's intent in writing the book.
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* ScaryAmoralReligion: The cult of Ungit.
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* TragicMistake: [[spoiler: Convincing Istra to disobey her husband.]]
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* VirginSacrifice: Istra.
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* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Istra.
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* ReleaseYourSlaves: Orual did quite a bit, starting with the Fox. [[ValuesDissonance Appropriately for her time]], she never regards slavery as a bad thing; rather, she thinks it's just (and prudent) for a good mistress to give freedom as a reward to faithful and hard-working slaves, and she expects (and receives) gratitude in return.
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* ReleaseYourSlaves: Orual did quite a bit, starting with the Fox. [[DeliberateValuesDissonance Appropriately]] for [[ValuesDissonance Appropriately for her time]], she never regards slavery as a bad thing; rather, she thinks it's just (and prudent) for a good mistress to give freedom as a reward to faithful and hard-working slaves, and she expects (and receives) gratitude in return.
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* GroinAttack: A young soldier, Tarin, flirts with Orual's sister Redival, so the King has him made into a eunuch.
** Doubles as DisproportionateRetribution, unless perhaps you're prepared to argue for ValuesDissonance.
** Doubles as DisproportionateRetribution, unless perhaps you're prepared to argue for ValuesDissonance.
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* LoveMakesYouEvil: Lewis believed that human love -- absent divine grace -- is selfishness in a pretty mask, which ultimately destroys the object of affection.
** To be fair, he believed that ''every'' human emotion -- absent divine grace -- [[HumansAreBastards inevitably becomes twisted and evil]]. It's a consequence of the Fall. Love is stronger, so its effects are greater. (He says elsewhere, "[Love] is a stronger angel, and therefore, when it falls, a fiercer devil.")
** To be fair, he believed that ''every'' human emotion -- absent divine grace -- [[HumansAreBastards inevitably becomes twisted and evil]]. It's a consequence of the Fall. Love is stronger, so its effects are greater. (He says elsewhere, "[Love] is a stronger angel, and therefore, when it falls, a fiercer devil.")
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* LoveMakesYouEvil: Lewis believed that human love -- absent divine grace -- is selfishness in a pretty mask, which ultimately destroys the object of affection.
** To be fair, he believed that ''every'' human emotion -- absent divine grace -- [[HumansAreBastards inevitably becomes twisted and evil]]. It's a consequence of the Fall. Love is stronger, so its effects are greater.affection. (He says elsewhere, "[Love] is a stronger angel, and therefore, when it falls, a fiercer devil.")
** To be fair, he believed that ''every'' human emotion -- absent divine grace -- [[HumansAreBastards inevitably becomes twisted and evil]]. It's a consequence of the Fall. Love is stronger, so its effects are greater.
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Orual frees lots of slaves, but has no objection to slavery
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* ReleaseYourSlaves: Orual did quite a bit, starting with the Fox.
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* ReleaseYourSlaves: Orual did quite a bit, starting with the Fox. [[ValuesDissonance Appropriately for her time]], she never regards slavery as a bad thing; rather, she thinks it's just (and prudent) for a good mistress to give freedom as a reward to faithful and hard-working slaves, and she expects (and receives) gratitude in return.
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** In-universe in the early part of the book, between the Fox's Greek philosophy and the beliefs of Glome, which sanction the occasional human sacrifice, castration of a man who flirts with the King's daughter, among other [[SarcasmMode pleasant things]].
** Subverted, in that the civilised Greek, the Fox, thinks it "barbarous and scandalous that women in our land [primitive Glome] go about bareface."
** Invoked by Istra's acceptance that she should be sacrificed.
** Invoked by Orual's behaviour once she becomes queen. All agree - including Orual herself - that she is the most merciful ruler in that part of the world. Yet she quite casually recalls, in among a list of her sensible and humane reforms such as freeing deserving slaves, that she [[spoiler: had her old nurse Batta hanged for being a tale-bearer and bully. OK, Batta was a nasty old drunk, but ''still'']].
** Subverted, in that the civilised Greek, the Fox, thinks it "barbarous and scandalous that women in our land [primitive Glome] go about bareface."
** Invoked by Istra's acceptance that she should be sacrificed.
** Invoked by Orual's behaviour once she becomes queen. All agree - including Orual herself - that she is the most merciful ruler in that part of the world. Yet she quite casually recalls, in among a list of her sensible and humane reforms such as freeing deserving slaves, that she [[spoiler: had her old nurse Batta hanged for being a tale-bearer and bully. OK, Batta was a nasty old drunk, but ''still'']].
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** In-universe in In the early part of the book, between the Fox's Greek philosophy and the beliefs of Glome, which sanction the occasional human sacrifice, castration of a man who flirts with the King's daughter, among other [[SarcasmMode pleasant things]].
**Subverted, in that the The civilised Greek, the Fox, thinks it "barbarous and scandalous that women in our land [primitive Glome] go about bareface."
**Invoked by Istra's acceptance that she should be sacrificed.
**Invoked by Orual's behaviour once she becomes queen. All agree - including Orual herself - that she is the most merciful ruler in that part of the world. Yet she quite casually recalls, in among a list of her sensible and humane reforms such as freeing deserving slaves, that she [[spoiler: had her old nurse Batta hanged for being a tale-bearer and bully. OK, Batta was a nasty old drunk, but ''still'']].
**
**
**
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* LoveAtFirstNote: Downplayed -- but at one point, the beauty of Orual's voice persuades a man she's beautiful. (Not much annoyed at being rebuffed, though.)
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* MidBattleTeaBreak: Orual comments how occasionally, in the heat of battle, she would befriend an enemy soldier for a few brief seconds before killing him.
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* MidBattleTeaBreak: Orual comments how occasionally, in the heat of battle, she would befriend an enemy soldier for share a few brief seconds of friendship with an enemy soldier if something such as a gust of wind happened to distract them both as they fought, before killing him.
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Omnipresent
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: OmnipresentOmnipresent.
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** Then subverted in the second part of the book when she looks back on her own actions and comes to see that although she was a generally good ruler, friend and sister, that is not enough.
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** Then subverted in the second part of the book when she looks back on her own actions and comes to see (among more dramatic revelations) that although she was a generally good meant well as a ruler, and did truly love as a friend and sister, that is not enough.
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Omnipresent, especially in the beginning, between the Fox's Greek philosophy and the beliefs of Glome, which sanction the occasional human sacrifice, castration of a man who flirts with the King's daughter, among other [[SarcasmMode pleasant things]].
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Omnipresent, especially Omnipresent
** In-universe in thebeginning, early part of the book, between the Fox's Greek philosophy and the beliefs of Glome, which sanction the occasional human sacrifice, castration of a man who flirts with the King's daughter, among other [[SarcasmMode pleasant things]].
** In-universe in the
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** Invoked by Istra's acceptance that she should be sacrificed.
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Especially in the beginning, between the Fox's Greek philosophy and the beliefs of Glome, which sanction the occasional human sacrifice, castration of a man who flirts with the King's daughter, among other [[SarcasmMode pleasant things]].
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Especially Omnipresent, especially in the beginning, between the Fox's Greek philosophy and the beliefs of Glome, which sanction the occasional human sacrifice, castration of a man who flirts with the King's daughter, among other [[SarcasmMode pleasant things]].
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** Then subverted in the second part of the book when she looks back on her own actions and comes to see that although she was a generally good ruler, friend and sister, that is not enough.
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** Subverted, in that the civilised Greek, the Fox, thinks it "barbarous and scandalous that women in our land [primitive Glome] go about bareface."
** Invoked by Orual's behaviour once she becomes queen. All agree - including Orual herself - that she is the most merciful ruler in that part of the world. Yet she quite casually recalls, in among a list of her sensible and humane reforms such as freeing deserving slaves, that she [[spoiler: had her old nurse Batta hanged for being a tale-bearer and bully. OK, Batta was a nasty old drunk, but ''still'']].
** Invoked by Orual's behaviour once she becomes queen. All agree - including Orual herself - that she is the most merciful ruler in that part of the world. Yet she quite casually recalls, in among a list of her sensible and humane reforms such as freeing deserving slaves, that she [[spoiler: had her old nurse Batta hanged for being a tale-bearer and bully. OK, Batta was a nasty old drunk, but ''still'']].
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It\'s not completely clear the Fox is a Stoic, especially given when the story takes place
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* CunningLikeAFox: The Fox is so called for his knowledge.
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* CunningLikeAFox: The Fox is so called for his knowledge. (Well, and his red hair.)
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* EmotionsVsStoicism: The Fox's character arc, to an extent. He gets bonus points for being a literal Stoic philosopher.
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* EmotionsVsStoicism: The Fox's character arc, to an extent. He gets bonus points for being a literal Stoic Stoic[[note]] or possibly Cynic[[/note]] philosopher.
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[[caption-width-right:269:''"I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? [[TitleDrop How can they meet us face to face till we have faces]]?"'']]
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* ReleasingTheSlaves: Orual did quite a bit, starting with the Fox.
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* ReleasingTheSlaves: ReleaseYourSlaves: Orual did quite a bit, starting with the Fox.
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* ReleasingTheSlaves: Orual did quite a bit, starting with the Fox.
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* ItsAllAboutMe: The king their father.
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* CunningLikeAFox: The Fox is so called for his knowledge.
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* HonoraryUncle: Orual calls the Fox "Grandfather."
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* TheStoic: The Fox, being a philosophic Stoic, aspires to this.
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* LowFantasy / DarkFantasy: Arguably.
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* LowFantasy / DarkFantasy: Arguably.This book is definitely much darker than Lewis's [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia more famous fantasy novels.]]
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* {{Demythtification}}: [[spoiler:initially.]]
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* {{Demythtification}}: {{Demythification}}: [[spoiler:initially.]]
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Added the book cover, from Wikipedia—fair use, I think
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[[quoteright:269:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TillWeHaveFaces_2272.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:269:''"I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? [[TitleDrop How can they meet us face to face till we have faces]]?"'']]
[[caption-width-right:269:''"I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? [[TitleDrop How can they meet us face to face till we have faces]]?"'']]
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->''"Are the gods not just?"''\\
''"Oh no, child. What would become of us if they were?"''
''Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold'' is Creator/CSLewis's last novel, the one he considered his best and most mature. It relates the myth of Cupid and Psyche (found in Apuleius' Latin novel ''The Golden Ass'') from a very different perspective than the original.
It is presented as the record -- and the formal complaint against the gods -- of Orual, daughter of the King of Glome, a pagan kingdom to the north of ancient Greece. Her father, hot-tempered and prone to violence, has little love for his three daughters, least of all for ugly Orual. Her only friends in the palace are her beautiful half-sister Istra and her tutor, a Greek slave who she only knows as "the Fox".
Her happiness, such as it is, ends abruptly: after the people of Glome begin worshiping Istra's beauty, Glome is stricken by famine and plague. The high priest of the goddess Ungit declares that these calamities are divine punishment for blasphemy, and that they will end when Istra is sacrificed to Ungit's son, the god of the mountain, the Shadowbrute. The King agrees, over Orual and the Fox's objections (Istra herself is at peace with this decision). Orual falls sick from despair on the night of the sacrifice, so she is unconscious while Istra is chained to a tree at the edge of the god's country and left for the Shadowbrute.
As soon as she is back on her feet, Orual steals away with the soldier Bardia to give her sister a proper burial. Instead, they find Istra herself, alive and well in the valley of the gods. Orual's joy turns to consternation, however, when she realizes Istra has gone mad, believing that she is the bride of a god and that her forest home is actually a divine palace. Orual takes steps to disabuse her sister of her illusions; these end in a disaster that permanently separates the two sisters.
Distraught, Orual returns to Glome, where she begins wearing a mask-like veil. She then takes the throne when her father falls ill, and with help from the Fox and Bardia, she rules Glome shrewdly for many years.
One day, by chance, Orual hears a myth from a priest in a foreign land; to her surprise, it is her and Istra's story. But the priest's version gets many details wrong; in fact, it makes Orual out to be the villain of the story. Angered, Orual decides to set the record straight: to tell her story, and to make it her accusation against the gods. However, in the process of writing her story down, she is confronted with divine visions and hidden truths about herself, and ultimately she is forced to reinterpret everything she knew.
----
'''This novel provides examples of:'''
* AbusiveParent: The King, particularly to Orual. He has no problem calling her ugly to her face and beats her several times.
* AllTakeAndNoGive: Orual is the Giver. [[spoiler:Or so she claims herself to be.]]
* ApocalypticLog: At the beginning Orual comments that she knows the gods may strike her down at any moment for her accusations against them. At the beginning of the second part, she notes that she must hurry in her writing, because she knows she will die soon. The narrative ends [[spoiler:mid-sentence, with a comment by Arnom that he found the queen dead, her head resting on the book]].
* BlasphemousPraise: It's not made a large plot point in-story, but those familiar with the original myth will know it might not have been the smartest move for the Fox to say Istra is "prettier than Aphrodite herself."
* BodyMotifs: Faces and masks are a recurring theme.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness, [[SubvertedTrope subverted]]
* CelibateHero: Orual, appropriately enough, given her antagonism to the local love deities.
* CloserToEarth: Bardia, as opposed to the Fox.
* CombatByChampion: Argan, prince of Phars, versus Orual, over the freedom of Argan's brother and rival, Trunia.
* CrossoverCosmology: Implied in the final chapters. (Not to the characters themselves, it should be noted. Modern readers, however, may be able to discern the connections.)
* DeathByChildbirth: Istra/Psyche's mother.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Especially in the beginning, between the Fox's Greek philosophy and the beliefs of Glome, which sanction the occasional human sacrifice, castration of a man who flirts with the King's daughter, among other [[SarcasmMode pleasant things]].
* {{Demythtification}}: [[spoiler:initially.]]
* TheDitz: Orual's other sister, Redival.
* DueToTheDead: Orual goes to the mountain with Bardia to find Istra's body and give it a proper burial. [[spoiler:Turns out she's not really dead.]]
* EmotionsVsStoicism: The Fox's character arc, to an extent. He gets bonus points for being a literal Stoic philosopher.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The king of Glome is, perhaps understandably, simply the King to everyone, save for at the very beginning when he is introduced by his given name, Trom. Similarly, the elder priest of Ungit is simply the Priest.
* ExternalRetcon: Orual writes her book to set the record straight after hearing a priest's false story about Psyche. Eventually, [[spoiler: Orual retcons her own story when she comes to realize her true motivations were selfish.]] (Of course, TillWeHaveFaces functions as this in real life as well.)
* TheFaceless: Orual in her mask.
* FairestOfThemAll: Aphrodite's jealousy of Psyche.
* GreenEyedMonster: Ungit demands Istra be sacrificed for being more beautiful than her. [[spoiler:Also, Orual herself, as she realizes at the end]].
* GroinAttack: A young soldier, Tarin, flirts with Orual's sister Redival, so the King has him made into a eunuch.
** Doubles as DisproportionateRetribution, unless perhaps you're prepared to argue for ValuesDissonance.
* HealingHands: The people of Glome believe that Istra's touch can cure a plague; it's not made clear how true this belief is.
* HeirClubForMen: The King's anger at having no male heirs is a source of much tension.
* HumanSacrifice: Istra, for drawing worship away from Ungit/Aphrodite. [[spoiler:Turns out she's not really dead, and married to the god of the Gray Mountain, Eros/Cupid]].
* ItGetsEasier: Bardia has Orual slaughter a pig in order to prepare her for killing Argan.
* JerkassGods: Most of the people of Glome see their gods as petty, self-serving forces of nature and try to avoid attracting their attention as much as possible. Orual ''wishes'' the gods were just mindless brutes. The truth is...complicated.
* JustSoStory: Orual mentions there is a story that explains why pigs are not suitable as sacrifices to Ungit, but does not tell it. Later, she discovers that [[spoiler:Istra's rejection by, and eventual reunion with, the God of the Grey Mountain]] has become one for the seasons changing, which inspires her to write the novel.
* LadyOfWar: Orual.
* LegendFadesToMyth: Orual lives long enough to see her sister's life become the Eros and Psyche myth.
* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: The book is supposed to have been written by Orual and preserved in the temple of Glome to be taken by a traveler to Greece.
* LoveGoddess: Glome's two main gods, Ungit and the god of the Grey Mountain, are identified with Aphrodite (Venus) and Eros (Cupid), respectively. At the end of the novel the priest of Ungit even calls himself the priest of Aphrodite.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Lewis believed that human love -- absent divine grace -- is selfishness in a pretty mask, which ultimately destroys the object of affection.
** To be fair, he believed that ''every'' human emotion -- absent divine grace -- [[HumansAreBastards inevitably becomes twisted and evil]]. It's a consequence of the Fall. Love is stronger, so its effects are greater. (He says elsewhere, "[Love] is a stronger angel, and therefore, when it falls, a fiercer devil.")
* MarriageToAGod: Istra is offered to the god of the Grey Mountain/the Shadowbrute as a bride. [[spoiler:Turns out he really ''does'' marry her]].
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's kept ambiguous whether the mysterious events attributed to the Gods actually ''are'' divine in nature. [[spoiler: Up until the moment that Orual sees the God of the Mountain with her own eyes.]]
* MidBattleTeaBreak: Orual comments how occasionally, in the heat of battle, she would befriend an enemy soldier for a few brief seconds before killing him.
* MyBelovedSmother: Orual, to Istra.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The Fox is simply the Fox for nearly the entire novel, and is only once referred to by his real name, Lysias.
* PaintingTheMedium: The last paragraph of the book is in italics, signifying that it's in a different handwriting from the rest of the book, namely that of [[spoiler:Arnom, who found Orual dead, her head resting on the scroll she was writing the story on]].
* PerspectiveFlip: The book is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, but with Psyche's older sister as the "hero." [[spoiler:However, the book ends up inverting this trope.]]
* ThePhilosopher: The Fox, literally.
* PluckyGirl: Istra.
* PromotionToParent: Istra's mother died in childbirth, and their father does not care for any of his daughters, so Orual comes to see herself as Istra's mother.
* SelfServingMemory: Pretty much the entire first part of the book.
* SmiteMeOhMightySmiter: Ditto.
* StarCrossedLovers: Orual and the married Bardia.
* TitleDrop: "How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?"
* TheUnFavourite: Redival. Both the Fox and Orual are content to ignore her in favor of Istra. Even the King, who has no love for any of his daughters, seems to like her the least after she is caught with a young soldier. Orual's realization of this serves as the first chink in her SelfServingMemory.
* UnreliableNarrator: Orual realizes she is one after finishing the first half of the book.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Orual comes to realize that the Fox and Bardia are actually this.
* WhatTheHellHero: Orual is called out by the Fox for [[spoiler:persuading Istra to look at her husband. The Fox had theorized that the husband was actually a thieving mountain man and Istra could have been killed for disobeying, which Orual had never really thought about. To make matters worse, Orual left out the part where she forced Istra into an unbreakable oath to disobey her husband because ''she knew the Fox would disapprove''.]]
* WhiteMaskOfDoom: Orual's veil is described as white, and the illustrations portray it as a white mask, featureless save for two eye holes. Both her enemies and her subjects find it creepy.
* WickedStepmother: Discussed and subverted with Istra's mother. Batta, the nurse, claims she will be this to Orual and Redival, but the stepmother is quite pleasant for the short time they know her.
* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Orual.
----
''"Oh no, child. What would become of us if they were?"''
''Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold'' is Creator/CSLewis's last novel, the one he considered his best and most mature. It relates the myth of Cupid and Psyche (found in Apuleius' Latin novel ''The Golden Ass'') from a very different perspective than the original.
It is presented as the record -- and the formal complaint against the gods -- of Orual, daughter of the King of Glome, a pagan kingdom to the north of ancient Greece. Her father, hot-tempered and prone to violence, has little love for his three daughters, least of all for ugly Orual. Her only friends in the palace are her beautiful half-sister Istra and her tutor, a Greek slave who she only knows as "the Fox".
Her happiness, such as it is, ends abruptly: after the people of Glome begin worshiping Istra's beauty, Glome is stricken by famine and plague. The high priest of the goddess Ungit declares that these calamities are divine punishment for blasphemy, and that they will end when Istra is sacrificed to Ungit's son, the god of the mountain, the Shadowbrute. The King agrees, over Orual and the Fox's objections (Istra herself is at peace with this decision). Orual falls sick from despair on the night of the sacrifice, so she is unconscious while Istra is chained to a tree at the edge of the god's country and left for the Shadowbrute.
As soon as she is back on her feet, Orual steals away with the soldier Bardia to give her sister a proper burial. Instead, they find Istra herself, alive and well in the valley of the gods. Orual's joy turns to consternation, however, when she realizes Istra has gone mad, believing that she is the bride of a god and that her forest home is actually a divine palace. Orual takes steps to disabuse her sister of her illusions; these end in a disaster that permanently separates the two sisters.
Distraught, Orual returns to Glome, where she begins wearing a mask-like veil. She then takes the throne when her father falls ill, and with help from the Fox and Bardia, she rules Glome shrewdly for many years.
One day, by chance, Orual hears a myth from a priest in a foreign land; to her surprise, it is her and Istra's story. But the priest's version gets many details wrong; in fact, it makes Orual out to be the villain of the story. Angered, Orual decides to set the record straight: to tell her story, and to make it her accusation against the gods. However, in the process of writing her story down, she is confronted with divine visions and hidden truths about herself, and ultimately she is forced to reinterpret everything she knew.
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'''This novel provides examples of:'''
* AbusiveParent: The King, particularly to Orual. He has no problem calling her ugly to her face and beats her several times.
* AllTakeAndNoGive: Orual is the Giver. [[spoiler:Or so she claims herself to be.]]
* ApocalypticLog: At the beginning Orual comments that she knows the gods may strike her down at any moment for her accusations against them. At the beginning of the second part, she notes that she must hurry in her writing, because she knows she will die soon. The narrative ends [[spoiler:mid-sentence, with a comment by Arnom that he found the queen dead, her head resting on the book]].
* BlasphemousPraise: It's not made a large plot point in-story, but those familiar with the original myth will know it might not have been the smartest move for the Fox to say Istra is "prettier than Aphrodite herself."
* BodyMotifs: Faces and masks are a recurring theme.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness, [[SubvertedTrope subverted]]
* CelibateHero: Orual, appropriately enough, given her antagonism to the local love deities.
* CloserToEarth: Bardia, as opposed to the Fox.
* CombatByChampion: Argan, prince of Phars, versus Orual, over the freedom of Argan's brother and rival, Trunia.
* CrossoverCosmology: Implied in the final chapters. (Not to the characters themselves, it should be noted. Modern readers, however, may be able to discern the connections.)
* DeathByChildbirth: Istra/Psyche's mother.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Especially in the beginning, between the Fox's Greek philosophy and the beliefs of Glome, which sanction the occasional human sacrifice, castration of a man who flirts with the King's daughter, among other [[SarcasmMode pleasant things]].
* {{Demythtification}}: [[spoiler:initially.]]
* TheDitz: Orual's other sister, Redival.
* DueToTheDead: Orual goes to the mountain with Bardia to find Istra's body and give it a proper burial. [[spoiler:Turns out she's not really dead.]]
* EmotionsVsStoicism: The Fox's character arc, to an extent. He gets bonus points for being a literal Stoic philosopher.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The king of Glome is, perhaps understandably, simply the King to everyone, save for at the very beginning when he is introduced by his given name, Trom. Similarly, the elder priest of Ungit is simply the Priest.
* ExternalRetcon: Orual writes her book to set the record straight after hearing a priest's false story about Psyche. Eventually, [[spoiler: Orual retcons her own story when she comes to realize her true motivations were selfish.]] (Of course, TillWeHaveFaces functions as this in real life as well.)
* TheFaceless: Orual in her mask.
* FairestOfThemAll: Aphrodite's jealousy of Psyche.
* GreenEyedMonster: Ungit demands Istra be sacrificed for being more beautiful than her. [[spoiler:Also, Orual herself, as she realizes at the end]].
* GroinAttack: A young soldier, Tarin, flirts with Orual's sister Redival, so the King has him made into a eunuch.
** Doubles as DisproportionateRetribution, unless perhaps you're prepared to argue for ValuesDissonance.
* HealingHands: The people of Glome believe that Istra's touch can cure a plague; it's not made clear how true this belief is.
* HeirClubForMen: The King's anger at having no male heirs is a source of much tension.
* HumanSacrifice: Istra, for drawing worship away from Ungit/Aphrodite. [[spoiler:Turns out she's not really dead, and married to the god of the Gray Mountain, Eros/Cupid]].
* ItGetsEasier: Bardia has Orual slaughter a pig in order to prepare her for killing Argan.
* JerkassGods: Most of the people of Glome see their gods as petty, self-serving forces of nature and try to avoid attracting their attention as much as possible. Orual ''wishes'' the gods were just mindless brutes. The truth is...complicated.
* JustSoStory: Orual mentions there is a story that explains why pigs are not suitable as sacrifices to Ungit, but does not tell it. Later, she discovers that [[spoiler:Istra's rejection by, and eventual reunion with, the God of the Grey Mountain]] has become one for the seasons changing, which inspires her to write the novel.
* LadyOfWar: Orual.
* LegendFadesToMyth: Orual lives long enough to see her sister's life become the Eros and Psyche myth.
* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: The book is supposed to have been written by Orual and preserved in the temple of Glome to be taken by a traveler to Greece.
* LoveGoddess: Glome's two main gods, Ungit and the god of the Grey Mountain, are identified with Aphrodite (Venus) and Eros (Cupid), respectively. At the end of the novel the priest of Ungit even calls himself the priest of Aphrodite.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Lewis believed that human love -- absent divine grace -- is selfishness in a pretty mask, which ultimately destroys the object of affection.
** To be fair, he believed that ''every'' human emotion -- absent divine grace -- [[HumansAreBastards inevitably becomes twisted and evil]]. It's a consequence of the Fall. Love is stronger, so its effects are greater. (He says elsewhere, "[Love] is a stronger angel, and therefore, when it falls, a fiercer devil.")
* MarriageToAGod: Istra is offered to the god of the Grey Mountain/the Shadowbrute as a bride. [[spoiler:Turns out he really ''does'' marry her]].
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's kept ambiguous whether the mysterious events attributed to the Gods actually ''are'' divine in nature. [[spoiler: Up until the moment that Orual sees the God of the Mountain with her own eyes.]]
* MidBattleTeaBreak: Orual comments how occasionally, in the heat of battle, she would befriend an enemy soldier for a few brief seconds before killing him.
* MyBelovedSmother: Orual, to Istra.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The Fox is simply the Fox for nearly the entire novel, and is only once referred to by his real name, Lysias.
* PaintingTheMedium: The last paragraph of the book is in italics, signifying that it's in a different handwriting from the rest of the book, namely that of [[spoiler:Arnom, who found Orual dead, her head resting on the scroll she was writing the story on]].
* PerspectiveFlip: The book is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, but with Psyche's older sister as the "hero." [[spoiler:However, the book ends up inverting this trope.]]
* ThePhilosopher: The Fox, literally.
* PluckyGirl: Istra.
* PromotionToParent: Istra's mother died in childbirth, and their father does not care for any of his daughters, so Orual comes to see herself as Istra's mother.
* SelfServingMemory: Pretty much the entire first part of the book.
* SmiteMeOhMightySmiter: Ditto.
* StarCrossedLovers: Orual and the married Bardia.
* TitleDrop: "How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?"
* TheUnFavourite: Redival. Both the Fox and Orual are content to ignore her in favor of Istra. Even the King, who has no love for any of his daughters, seems to like her the least after she is caught with a young soldier. Orual's realization of this serves as the first chink in her SelfServingMemory.
* UnreliableNarrator: Orual realizes she is one after finishing the first half of the book.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Orual comes to realize that the Fox and Bardia are actually this.
* WhatTheHellHero: Orual is called out by the Fox for [[spoiler:persuading Istra to look at her husband. The Fox had theorized that the husband was actually a thieving mountain man and Istra could have been killed for disobeying, which Orual had never really thought about. To make matters worse, Orual left out the part where she forced Istra into an unbreakable oath to disobey her husband because ''she knew the Fox would disapprove''.]]
* WhiteMaskOfDoom: Orual's veil is described as white, and the illustrations portray it as a white mask, featureless save for two eye holes. Both her enemies and her subjects find it creepy.
* WickedStepmother: Discussed and subverted with Istra's mother. Batta, the nurse, claims she will be this to Orual and Redival, but the stepmother is quite pleasant for the short time they know her.
* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Orual.
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