So going in to the final installment of the Green Ember series proper, there were a few different expectations that I-and we fans in general-had for the series. Among these was that Jone Wissel's tonic, introduced in Ember Falls and featured again in Ember Rising, would have a role to play in the action of the final book. Our assumptions proved correct, but there was a side to it that I know I found surprising. Specifically, the fact that the tonic's properties-hinted at being somewhat miraculous in Ember Rising-were due to an ingredient that was named in what, at the time, seemed almost to be a throwaway line. I am referring, of course, to True Blue.

Now, among the many world-building bits S.D. Smith included in Ember's End was the fact that this seemingly unimportant reference from the second book is actually very important indeed. Not only is it the reason for the name of Blue Moss Hills, legendary birthplace of rabbit society under Flint and Faye, but this plant is evidently responsible-at least in part-for the success of that legendary epoch. True Blue, even in an apparently dried out and aged state, has remarkable properties on rabbit physiology, ranging from accelerated healing to immunity boosting to granting an extended lifespan to rabbits who ingest it. Legend implies that it benefits the minds of rabbits, and evidence certainly exists as to its physical benefits in both the recovery from apparently fatal injuries and the subsequent vigor of both Smalls and Heather.

Now, in a world of talking rabbits, wolves, birds, and lizards who also wear clothes and make weapons and armor, such an element is hardly out of place. I had no difficulty in accepting True Blue as a sort of wonder medicine. Indeed, the fact that it does come with a number of limitations-being unable to revive the dead or regenerate lost body parts-makes it pretty easy to swallow (pun not intended). However, there is one implied property of True Blue that I honestly can't really hold with: the idea that, so long as rabbits continue to ingest it, they might never die.

Honestly, I think I'm less bothered by the idea of a plant granting perpetual life-it's been done in other series before now-than the implications of such a lifespan. First off, it adds to the tragedies in the Green Ember series when you consider that a number of characters might have survived if they'd only had access to this miraculous plant. Granted, we don't know that True Blue necessary makes its partakers immune to dying of battle injuries, but it certainly seems to give them an advantage in that regard. However, even sadder is the sense of separation created by the loss of these characters coupled with the idea that those who weren't killed in the War for All Natalia might go on living indefinitely:

*Picket will never see Helmer again, and Whittle and Wilfred will never see their father again.

*Smalls and Emma will never know their father, and Emma will never see Lord Rake again.

*Lady Glen will never see her husband again.

*Jo Shanks will never see his parents again.

*Airen and Louise will never see Helmer, Snoden, or Layra again.

*Lord Victor, Cole, and Heyna will never see Lady Blackstar again.

*Harmony will never see her father, Melody, or her brothers again.

*Lord Hewson's family-if any survived Ember's End-will never see him again.

*Emerson will never see his parents again.

*Lord Morgan will never see his father or deceased sibling(s) again.

*Dote will never see his buddy Stretch again, and Stretch Doteson will never meet his namesake.

*Various members of the Cause will be eternally separated from comrades like Tommy Decker, the Lord Captains, the fallen citadel lords, Frye, Redthaw, and Vulm.

Personally, I think I'm going to let my head canon be that True Blue grants a lengthy lifespan, akin to Biblical partriarchs or the Numenoreans of Tolkien's mythos. Otherwise, the concept just seems too sad. Unless there's a future event for Natalia to look forward to which will involve not only the healing of all wounds True Blue can't, but also the glorious rising of the fallen...