SPOILER WARNING. THIS BLOG SERIES IS INTENDED FOR READERS WHO HAVE FINISHED OATHBOUND AND WANT TO EXPLORE ITS DETAILS IN DEPTH.

Because of the amnesia trope, Bree and Nick get to meet for the first time again at Penumbra.

Bree lost knowledge of her friends and family in Oathbound. She doesn’t even remember Nick. So, running into him at Penumbra becomes a whole thing. For her, it is like meeting Nick again for the first time.¹

It’s mind-blowing to compare the meet-cute scene Tracy Deonn writes in Legendborn with the meet-cute scene in Oathbound. If you do, you will get a giddy sense of déjà vu. It’s subtle but everything Nick and Bree do when they meet in Oathbound, they’ve done once before in Legendborn!

Let me break it down for you.

1. True for Legendborn and Oathbound: When meeting for the first time, Nick knows a lot about Bree, but Bree doesn’t know he exists.

• Legendborn: Nick is Bree’s assigned mentor for the Early College program. The dean gives him her full name and a copy of her student ID. Bree has never heard of Nick Davis before when he approaches her on campus.
• Oathbound: Bree, who has lost knowledge of people in her past, doesn’t know anything about Nick when they meet in the basement of Penumbra. Just like in Legendborn, he definitely has the upper hand. He knows all the details about her!

Ref: Legendborn, Chapter 6, page 49 & Oathbound Chapter 31 and Chapter 32

2. True for Legendborn and Oathbound: When meeting for the first time, Nick says Bree’s name, and it startles her.

• Legendborn: Nick yells “Briana Irene Matthews” across campus. She’s pissed!
• Oathbound. Nick whispers “Bree” in the basement of Penumbra. She’s shocked.

Ref: Legendborn, Chapter 6, page 48 & Oathbound Chapter 31, p 344

3. True for Legendborn and Oathbound: When they first meet, it’s antagonistic, and they battle.

• Legendborn: Bree is not happy about having a random dude be her mentor/babysitter (Nick). Then, one of the first things they do together is battle a fully corporeal hellhound on campus.
• Oathbound: Bree is not happy about a random thief (Nick) encroaching on her own mission, and she and Nick spar in the basement storeroom at Penumbra.

Ref: Legendborn, Chapter 6, page 54 & Oathbound Chapter 31, page 341-344

4. True for Legendborn and Oathbound: Bree and Nick get caught during their first kiss. One of the people that catches them is a demon in disguise.

• Legendborn. Nick and Bree don’t mean to get caught, but Russ and Evan spy them kissing on the way to campus. Evan is not actually Evan though. He’s the goruchel Rhaz, wearing Evan’s identity.
• Oathbound. This time, Nick means to get caught kissing Bree. Bianca and her two warlocks henchmen, Santiago and Lawson, catch them kissing in the Penumbra elevator. Lawson is not actually Lawson though. He’s Erebus, aka the Shadow King, wearing Lawson’s identity.

Ref: Kiss Legendborn, Chapter 24, page 215, Evan’s Identity Legendborn, Chapter 52, page 456, Kiss Oathbound Chapter 33, p 358, & Erebus = Lawson Oathbound, Chapter 50, page 526.

MY FAVORITE ONE!👇🏻

5. True for Legendborn and Oathbound: On a big night, Bree pretends to be someone important to Nick.

• Legendborn. On the night of the Page Oath Ceremony, Bree tells everyone at the lodge that Nick is sponsoring her as a Page. Nick is totally blindsided!
• Oathbound. Nick gives Bree a taste of her own medicine! On the auction night at Penumbra, he tells everyone Bree is his fiancée. Bree is totally blindsided this time!

Ref: Legendborn, Chapter 9, page 77 & Oathbound Chapter 34, p 360

6. True for Legendborn and Oathbound: Nick prioritizes consent.

• Legendborn. Nick makes his intentions clear in Legendborn when he want’s to kiss Bree, and he makes sure he hears a clear and resounding yes from her.
• Oathbound. Nick tries to make his intentions clear in Oathbound, but there’s not much time for full and clear consent. They have to kiss to play the part of young lovers caught in the moment in order to avoid getting caught as thieves. Later, Nick discusses and apologizes for the lack of consent.

Ref: Legendborn, Chapter 24, page 215 & Oathbound Chapter 34, p 369

7. True for Legendborn and Oathbound: Ahoy, matey! Nick and Bree stay in nautical-themed bedrooms.

• Legendborn. Nick’s assigned room in the Legendborn Lodge is sailor themed.

“The room is large enough to comfortably fit a full bed, a dresser, a chest of drawers, and a trestle desk without sacrificing open floor space, which is more than I can say for my dorm. I wonder if all of the rooms in the Lodge have a similar layout, with similar furniture. The ones occupied by other members probably aren’t decorated in sailor-themed blue-and-white stripes, with an anchor-shaped rug at the foot of the bed.”

– Legendborn, Chapter 20, page 174

• Oathbound. The suite Nick and Bree are assigned at Penumbra is very nautical too.

“I end up standing at the back windows that stretch nearly from one end of the suite to the other, bordered by twenty-foot-long floor-to-ceiling navy curtains that match the color of the seascape painting overhead. A seat stretches the full length of the window, topped by a tufted cushion.”

– Oathbound, Chapter 37, page 400

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Final Thoughts

Although Oathbound’s amnesia trope deserves its own dedicated post, I need to briefly and simply state the joy it brought me. Taking on the much-hated amnesia trope was ambitious. I think Tracy Deonn must have embraced it with calculated risk, and I’m so glad she decided to tackle it. Deonn delivers the amnesia trope with surgical precision in Oathbound. The way it is designed, implemented, and explored is done with such care.

Without a doubt, Tracy Deonn’s rendition of the amnesia trope is going change the minds of many amnesia trope haters. Under Tracy Deonn’s pen, this trope becomes “something new, something powerful.”²

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Thank you for reading the fifth installment of my new series, Deonn’s Pencraft, where I plan to explore details I annotated in Oathbound by Tracy Deonn. I’m on my second read of the book and look forward to sharing dozens of deep dives on its themes, humor, and imagery. I’ll also be sharing several annotation projects that you can do yourself!

Check out the whole series here.

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1. Bree ends up with selective amnesia or, as it’s more aptly called in the book, “lost knowledge.” When a piece of her soul is taken by the Shadow King, Bree can no longer recognize, remember, or recall the people in her life. She does have full knowledge of what’s happened event wise in her life up to the present day, and also she is still acquainted with death. Anyone who has passed away (like her mother) she still remembers vividly. ↩︎
2. Legendborn, Chapter 57, page 481. ↩︎