Sagas & Sass began covering The Gilded Wolves trilogy by Roshani Chokshi in May 2022; this is our summary of book 1 – The Gilded Wolves – as it was written to introduce Episode 43 (covering parts 1-3 of The Gilded Wolves) and Episode 44 (covering parts 4-6 of The Gilded Wolves).
AHOY! SPOILERS AHEAD!
While we have left the Books of Babel and their physical Tower behind, the lure of Babel truly is strong in our third season as we dive into Roshani Chokshi’s Gilded Wolves trilogy.
The Gilded Wolves throws us right into its world – that being Paris in 1889, but a very different Paris than the one we know IRL, because in this world, there is a magic system called “Forging”…a system that apparently derives its power from some sort of fragments that came from the destroyed Tower of Babel. Forging is described as “a power of creation rivaled only by the work of God”…and maybe it’s just because we meet a bunch of prodigies right off the bat, but it really does seem like those with a Forging affinity can create almost anything…
But hey, that’s magic system stuff that we’ll hopefully – probably – learn more about later. For now, it’s time to meet our main cast of characters! While the book’s prologue introduces us to the head of House Kore, one of the Houses of the Order of Babel (the order that is supposedly charged with keeping the aforementioned fragments safe), and we witness her VIR – Very Important Ring – getting stolen, she’s not part of our trusty new crows – I mean, crew. (Sorry not sorry, had to throw in a Grishaverse reference there…)
First up is Severin and Enrique, who are in the midst of “acquiring” (aka stealing, let’s be real) a compass that may or may not contain a treasure map. We learn quite a few things about these two – Severin is the last member of House Vanth, though he was cheated of his position as Head of that House, which was then declared extinct. Severin wants nothing more – or rather ALMOST nothing more – than to take back his birthright.
While Enrique doesn’t have forging abilities, he is a genius in his own right and an extremely knowledgeable historian. Unfortunately, as someone who is half Filipino and half Spanish and therefore doesn’t really fit into either of those worlds, his personal history has been somewhat fraught.
As our new heroes (or perhaps anti-heroes?) attempt to steal the compass, they run into a couple of snags – including Severin nearly losing his arm to a Forged bear-guard-thing – but in the end they acquire said compass, which does in fact contain…well, if not a map, something clearly important. But before we can learn what it is, we have several more people to meet
Laila is a dancer, baker, and candlestick-make – okay okay that’s a dumb joke, I’ll stop now. AAAAANyway, she’s basically mom-friend extreme and also happens to be really good at just getting things done – including, at this point, making sure that a House Kore courier receives an invitation to a party so that the group can later utilize him as part of their plan.
Zofia, meanwhile, is the engineer of the group, a cookie-loving savant who struggles with human interaction but whose forging skills might be unmatched. She was expelled from the Ecole des Beaux-Artes, but Severin took her in and while she doesn’t like having to lie to her sister Hela, who is relegated to nanny for some of their relatives back home, she is working hard to gain autonomy for herself and her sibling.
Finally, we might not ever get a Tristan POV chapter, but he’s an important member as well, with powerful forging abilities of his own and a long history with Severin, as they grew up together in a series of terrible foster homes.
Okay! Now that we know our main cast of characters, back to the story! Severin, Enrique, Laila, Zofia, and Tristan work together to puzzle out the compass, though it is through Enrique and Zofia’s teamwork that its true secret is finally revealed – it shows that an object called the eye of Horus can be used to suss out the location of a Babel fragment!
Unfortunately, the owner of the compass – Hypnos, a childhood friend of Severin who is now the head of House Nyx – tricks Severin into admitting that he stole it and into thinking that Laila, Zofia, and Tristan have been captured. PS, they haven’t, but in that moment Severin believes he has no choice other than to enter into a binding agreement with Hypnos to help him obtain the eye of Horus…though in exchange, Hypnos promises to re-administer the inheritance test and thus reinstate Severin as Head of House Vanth.
And thus begins what seems to be the TRUE heist, which involves a party at the Palais de Reves opera house, an interrogation of House Kore’s courier, the theft of yet another artifact from the Exposition Universelle (a sort of Order-of-Babel-hosted World’s Fair, for lack of a better description), and finally, everything coming together – hopefully – at House Kore’s Spring Festival Celebration, where the goal is to acquire the eye of Horus without, ya know, tipping anyone off.
Granted, even leading up to the festival things don’t quite go as planned, considering Enrique and Zofia are attacked by some bumblebee-pin-wearing dude with a weaponized hat (aka “blade hat man) when they are gathering the aforementioned artifact from the Exposition. Not to mention Tristan constantly bugging Severin about how much he Just Doesn’t Like this whole plan…but with the promise Hypnos extracted, Severin doesn’t really have much of a choice here, so off to the Festival they all go!
However, things get pretty dicey at the party – It’s a lot of “will they or won’t they” and no I’m not talking about Severin + Laila here, we’ll get into all that later. Basically not a single part of their plan goes as, well, planned, though eventually they do in fact acquire the eye of Horus…but this acquisition comes at the expense of one of their group, as a man named Roux-Joubert – someone who Severin, Zofia, and Hypnos all met at some point that night – has captured Tristan! Roux-Joubert takes the eye of Horus and tells them they have three days to bring him Hypnos’ Babel Ring…
INTERLUDE: During our first Gilded Wolves episode, we were trying to come up with a name for the crew/gang in this series, and we decided to call them “Cookies”, as literal cookies are what uber-mom-friend Laila uses to bind their group together.
So Severin’s adopted brother Tristan had been captured by this absolute jerk Roux-Joubert, whom they soon come to realize is somehow part of the Fallen House – that being, the fourth Order of Babel House that was stripped of its power because they kinda-sorta-definitely tried to use a Babel Fragment to become, like, gods or something.
The Cookies are able to figure out that the Fallen House’s secret meeting place is in the Parisian catacombs, which they can enter using a Tezcat – a sort of smoke-and-mirror type object – and thankfully, Severin stole a special piece of silver cloth that Zofia can now manipulate in order to block others from entering, because of course she can make said tiny piece of cloth work as an entire-ass shield! (No sarcasm. We stan Zofia in this House.)
Severin and Laila enter the catacombs first and find Tristan VERY conveniently placed. Laila realizes pretty quickly that it must be a trap, but Severin insists on saving their friend from the mind-controlling Phobus Helmet, and – #shockingnotshocking – Severin and Laila are captured. Roux-Joubert begins torturing Severin, and in the process reveals that his blood is not red but GOLD…and that it allows him to control people’s souls. No good very bad ew ew ew.
Not surprisingly, Roux-Joubert is something of an exhibitionist and explains that the Fallen House will use the Babel Rings to awaken the Fragment. He believes that someone who he calls “the doctor” will help him ascend to godhood if he succeeds, but while he is busy activating the Fragment, Zofia, Hypnos, and Enrique manage to enter the catacombs.
While Zofia’s invention keeps the other members of the Fallen House from entering the catacombs for a while, and a combination of her matches and the trail of powder Severin left proves a sufficient distraction as well, eventually Roux-Joubert kills his companion – the blade hat man from earlier – and uses the power he gains from the man’s blood to open the doorway.
At this point, a new player enters the fray – someone in a bug mask who is apparently the aforementioned “doctor”. But in the meantime the Cookies have figured out that the Eye of Horus needs to be placed in the center of a spiral pattern in the floor in order to essentially put the Babel Fragment to sleep…which is super important because for real there are SKELETONS clambering out of their tombs to do WHO THE FUCK KNOWS WHAT.
Thankfully, Hypnos had already tossed off his Order-tagged belongings, knowing that this would draw the Sphinxes – aka the Order Police – to the scene. He also distracts the doctor long enough for Laila to get the Eye in place, so the skeletons retreat back to their tombs as the Sphinxes arrive and record this whole-ass mess.
Unfortunately, while Roux-Joubert is seriously injured and therefore captured, the doctor and other Fallen House members flee. So of course the travails of our heroes (anti-heroes?) don’t end here.
While Hypnos has promised that he will put in a good word for Severin and the Cookies celebrate their victory, tragedy strikes just one week later. They are all supposed to attend a full moon party – wearing the titular Gilded Wolf masks – but Zofia loses her nerve after witnessing Enrique, who she likes, making out with Hypnos, and Severin ignores a VIL (Very Important Letter) that was sent to him by the head of House Kore.
Laila is scheduled to dance at the party, and in an attempt to distract himself as she takes the stage because he’s totes in love with her, Severin finally opens that important letter…which reveals that Roux-Joubert has escaped and warns them to not leave his hotel.
In a very convenient twist, Roux-Joubert charges into the party RIGHT THEN and throws that absolutely stupid (seriously why and how does this exist) bladed hat in the general direction of the Cookies…and Severin, assuming it is meant for Laila, tackles and saves her only to realize a moment too late that TRISTAN was the real target.
Moment of silence for our plant- and tarantula-loving quiet boi, Tristan.
Now, you’d think that would be the end of this first book, but wait! There’s more! Hypnos does in fact follow through with his promise to force the matriarch of House Kore to re-administer the inheritance test…but Severin, mad with guilt and grief over the loss of his adopted brother and believing everything is his fault, refuses to participate.
Months go by, and the Cookies continue to drift apart…until Laila has finally had enough and shows up at Severin’s door in hopes of rekindling their, um, romance, or whatever the hell it is…Buuuut Severin is still feeling guilty AF about moving to save her over Tristan and pushes her away.
More time passes, and even though Severin has not officially been reinstated as the head of House Vanth, he is apparently – somehow – still tapped to attend the Order of Babel Winter Conclave in Russia. Laila insists that he take her with him as his mistress so that she can have full access to the castle and hopefully continue her search for the book that might extend the expiration date on her manufactured life (because oh yeah by the way Laila herself is a Forged being – human – whatever), and although this means that they will have to pretend at being in a relationship, she says she doesn’t care and he reluctantly (or not, let’s be real) agrees.
We’ve already said this once, but wait, there’s MORE more! Because The Gilded Wolves concludes with a single short chapter in Hypnos’s perspective, as the head of House Kore confronts him and tells him that Severin can’t take the inheritance test because – wait for it – HE’S NOT ACTUALLY THE HEIR TO HOUSE VANTH.
WAIT WUT???
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Quotes we loved:
“Through the Tezcat, Enrique could see glittering corridors, a handsomely dressed crowd, and the glint of far-off chandeliers. It always unnerved him that though he could see the people on the other side, all they would see was a slim, polished mirror. He felt strangely like a god in exile, filled with a kind of hollow omniscience. As much as he could see the world, it would not see him.”
“Being loud in one life allowed her to be quiet in others.”
“Don’t capture their hearts. Steal their imagination. It’s far more useful.”
“‘It’s nothing but a symbol -’
‘Nothing but a symbol? People die for symbols, People have hope because of symbols. They’re not just lines. They’re histories, cultures, traditions, given shape.’”
“Never underestimate the human capacity for betrayal.”
“Scars sculpted people into who they were. They were scuffs left by sorrow’s fists, and…proof of being thoroughly human.”
“…she thought that having a deadline on her life should make her pull back…but…she didn’t want to glide through life unfeeling. She wanted to know everything while she could. She didn’t want the ghosts of thresholds not crossed hanging over her. She didn’t want one night. She wanted a chance.”
