A Little Oathbound Top 10 Selwyn Kane Moments *Spoilers Everywhere!*
Happy Gemini Season! I could not let the month pass without showing love to my favorite grumpy sorcerer. While he may have haunted the narrative this go round, there is no doubt that when Sel appeared on the page, he made it count. Nick did not come to play in Oathbound, but Selwyn reminded us that he never does. I managed to squeeze out yet another top 10 Selwyn Kane moments (just for you @ashalightwood). Happy Gemini Season and happy reading!
“I was five years old when they told me my mother died,” Selwyn states, his voice a crackle of electric anger. “I grew up thinking you were killed on a mission. I thought you were dead.”
The moment in which Sel decides to speak to his mother was heart-wrenching. When I think about this character and all that he has endured in his short life, this was another dagger aimed in his direction. You can virtually feel the pain in everything he does not say. The baring of his fangs, the studying of the physical changes his body has gone through, and the look he gives Natasia upon first seeing her after 13 years.
“When Selwyn truly saw me for the first time, his snarl faded. His eyes widened. I knew the exact moment he recognized me as his mother because when he did, confusion and hurt mingled on his features until they settled into disgust…and then fury.”
The two of them have an extremely long road to travel towards reconciliation. This scene shows how much Selwyn’s reality has been altered, leaving him as collateral damage.
“I smell her on you.” His voice has shifted into a guttural rasp that I’ve never heard from him before…
“He ignores me, pressing his face into the glowing bars and letting them burn his skin. “I feel her on you.”
As a horror girlie, I loved how Tracy leaned into Sel’s darkness. It was unnerving, how feral he had become, how he was willing to burn to get to his source, to get to Bree. He embodies all of the chaos, passion, sensuality, rage, pain, and desire that live within unbalanced cambions. He wants. Reading this scene was like witnessing a lion lock in on prey. It was something not even Natasia was ready for.
“Selwyn chuckles darkly. "She is my Scion of Arthur."
"Your-" I stumble backward, shaking my head. "No, that’s…Bree can’t be.”
“Oh, but she is.” Sel prowls toward me. “Briana is mine. My Scion, My sovereign. My king,” Selwyn utters, lip curling. “Just like her mother was yours.”
First of all, Sel letting his mother know the place that Bree holds within his being was delicious. Over this series, he and Bree toyed with the idea of “mine” and “not yours.” In Legendborn, Selwyn makes a play to be hers, with “Cariad.” In Bloodmarked, he reminded her that he would protect her like no one else, with “No other Merlin.” In Oathbound, he essentially tells his mother that there are no others after him. She is his, and he is hers. It is a proclamation. One of the many hints that Selly is feeling himself and settling into his new form.
“Do not speak about Faye Matthews,” I call and forge my own aether staff to match his and make a silent promise that I will never forge a weapon against him that he does not forge first.”
The implications that Selwyn is down so bad for Bree, that even in demonia, he would whoop his mother’s ass was not something I had on my bingo card.
“When Sel leaned close, bringing his mouth to Nick’s ear, I saw the way Nick’s shoulders rose to his ears, then dipped, relaxing at Sel’s touch. I saw the way he shuddered, the anguish still there, working through him…”
“Thank you for your assistance, William,” Sel said as he turned to face me, voice firm and formal. “But I have it from here.”
“I have them both,” Sel said, his golden eyes hardening, “and you’ve done enough. Please leave.”
If this series does nothing else, it will make your heart tighten. William’s realization that even though he is the healer, he could not give the trio what they needed in that moment. It showed that despite the tumultuous history the boys have, they love each other and can relate to one another like no one else. Nick is full of fear and rage, but Selwyn is the one to touch him, to say the words that can unwind him a bit. It shows the reverence and respect they have for one another. The love between Bree, Sel, and Nick is something that anyone outside of it cannot intervene in, cannot break. It has been hard earned, and I adore the softness and grace Sel afforded Nick. It is something that I, as well as others who love this character, understood he had the capacity for, and there is nothing more human than that.
6. Selly Knows How To Make An Entrance (Cat and Mouse)
“The clouds shift overhead to reveal the bright crescent moon hanging low in the sky. And still we wait…”
“Then a cheery whistle splits the silence. In the distance, a dark figure appears around the curve. Selwyn ambles toward us, whistling, in a long dark coat. Glowing green aether writhes around his hands and arms where they sway loose at his sides.”
Again, Tracy with the horror beats! This scene is reminiscent of Hitchcock-level horror. The symbolism of the crescent moon, meaning transformation, new beginnings, is chef’s kiss. Plus, this is SOOO Sel. Of course, he can’t just walk up and talk to two people that he knows like a regular person. Of course not, he’s got to whistle in the dark and be a certified creep! I love it! It was a call back to his first meeting with Bree, speaking of which…
Selly is nothing if not a bit nostalgic!
“You can try to consume my root a second time,” I warn, raising my chin, “but you should know that I won’t make it easy…”
“He leans closer infinitesimally-throat pressing against Nick’s blade–and I suck in a breath. Black blood beads along the silver sword where it cuts into his pale skin, but he doesn’t seem to notice or care."
"Please never make it easy.”
When the Incubus comes out to play, he comes out to play! This line in juxtaposition to Nick’s “My blade is yours,” is the delectable duality that a girl can appreciate. Selly is not demure. He essentially says, “Make me fight for every bit of it, baby!” It is the reckless tongue that we have come to know and love. Throughout this series, he has dropped some cipher-level bars, and this was no exception.
4. These Are My Confessions
“Nicholas Davis and Selwyn Kane.” Sel ignores Nick’s attempts to redirect him. “The sun and the moon. You are the warmth and the light and I am the bitter deep cold, or so it has always appeared. But we know the truth, don’t we, Nicholas?”
During Selwyn’s monologue, we see the underpinnings of his pain in relation to Nick. It parallels Nick’s confession at Penumbra. It is made clear that he has never seen himself as the light, that he has always stood in the shadow of the veneer the order has placed on Nick. I liken it to a child who has been sheltered, only to get a taste of the world outside of their bubble and realize how ill-equipped they are. Sel’s emotions are all over the place. He wants the rage and hate and loathing leveled in his direction. Despite Bree and Nick reassuring him that he is good and does not need fixing, he persists in his pursuit of pain. He continues to punish himself because, even despite the power he feels, he does not feel that his existence is valid. He can hardly forgive himself for the things he has done to Bree. It is child-like in that he tries desperately to gain a reaction from Bree and Nick to validate his feelings of inadequacy.
“Did Brianna tell you that she kissed me?...”
“Well, she did. Pulled my face right down to hers, and I let her…oh, how I let her.”
This scene was equal parts hunger and Incubus realness. Selwyn was not unlike Mikaelaz in his hunt for emotion. On some level, he wants Nick to feel as insignificant as he has in comparison. He is quick-witted and smarmy, and Nick is not having it. He lays traps for both Bree and Nick to get them to react, but they refute him at every turn. In fact, he is acting a lot like Valec when they first met at the Crossroads Lounge in that he tells Nick exactly how he sees Bree.
“She tastes like heat and danger and honey and,” Sel shudders, “power. Addictive, even without her root.”
Where Valec admired Bree’s looks and scent to taunt Sel, here he taunts Nick with how she tastes. Nasty work!
“You don’t seem to be healing very quickly,” Selwyn drawls. “All those bodies to draw from, twenty centuries and all that, and a little hole in the chest is slowing you down?” He scoffs. “Pathetic. Maybe you should go back to being a Seneschal.”
I cackled at the disgust expressed here. For all of Bloodmarked, Erebus worked overtime to make Sel look incompetent. He went out of his way to be a ancient dick. In fact, despite all of his power and prowess, he holds the title of deadbeat dad of the ages, who was thwarted by the very magical teenagers he tried to use. It was high time Selwyn talked his shit to the main person who prayed for his downfall. He choked him in front of everyone, tried to replace him, and put his loyalty and duty into question. Chopping his hand off (Star Wars style) was long overdue. Sel got his lick back! The payback was delicious as Erebus was forced to scurry back into the otherworld and lick his wounds.
“When the writhing, grasping streams of ink reach his cheekbones, Sel’s head snaps back–violently. In a crack. In a snarl. His spine arches. Death slithers beneath his eyelids, slips between his teeth, then flows from his ears in raging black rivers.”
I don’t typically read the end of a book first, but a friend of mine always reads the last few pages first. She urged me to do the same, and in this case, I’m glad I did. My truck probably would have jumped the curb had I been listening to this while on my way to work. The line, Selwyn Kane is dead has a dual meaning. The Sel WE know is dead. That version had to go through, in order to get to the point of self-actualization we will see in book four. When you look back, everything about him is steeped in a person who walks the line between this world and the next. The obsidian feathers tattooed on his back symbolize protection, balance, and transition, a death if you will. His middle name, Emrys, means immortal. His now green aether can symbolize peace, harmony, and tranquility (think William).
Rules can change. Selwyn is finding himself, who he is outside of the order, outside of duty, outside of everyone and everything that has held power over him. He wears his crown like it has always belonged on his head, and I couldn't agree more.
“But here we stand and here we are. A king, a knight…and a prince.”
I love this for him and cannot wait to see what he does with his newfound power and agency.
Even though Sel was not heavily featured in Oathbound, his moments were top tier. I hope you enjoyed my second entry (the first is linked below). What were some of your favorite Selwyn Oathbound moments? Let me know in the comments. Happy Gemini Season
P.S. I feel another ode to Bree Matthews coming on.
A Little Legendborn/Bloodmarked Top 10 Selwyn Kane Moments
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