Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and gender discrimination.

In Anathema, magic is dark and delicate, and the narrative focuses more on the dangers of power than on the fun of supernatural abilities. Maevyth, as a mortal living in Foxglove, sees magic as purely dangerous since its practice can lead to Banishing and death. However, she comes to understand how magic can also be beneficial and protective. As her understanding of this tension shifts, it illustrates the novel’s message that it is the power behind the magic, rather than the magic itself, that determines how it is wielded, complicating the question of whether it is a gift or a curse.

Zevander is a critical figure in the novel’s exploration of the balance of magic as a gift and a curse. He is cursed, literally, with sablefyre; however, the sablefyre curse also makes Zevander immune to disease, near impossible to kill, and entirely competent in protecting his family and friends. In addition, early in the novel, Zevander explains how the sablefyre also allows him to perform illegal demutomancy, or blood magic, commenting, “Had anyone known he possessed the forbidden power, he’d have been hunted down and brutally destroyed” (55).