Vittoria Di Carlo - Tumblr Posts

When you realize the lone howling wolf is Domenico mourning Vittoria

“On this date—for nearly a decade now—the storm followed the same pattern….The devil demanded retribution. A blood sacrifice for power stolen.” —Kingdom of the Wicked, prologue, page 1

Again, I was right, and the devil’s wife and her sister being dead must have happened very recently in terms of the story—either shortly after the twins were conceive, or right before they were born. For a bit more context, this is the night of Emilia and Vittoria’s 8th birthday, so they are nearly a decade old now.

(Don’t mind the whole devil demanding retribution bit, I’m also using this picture for my Nonna theory)

“Several human years ago, something fractured the gates of Hell. We’d been told it was part of a prophecy….Then [Pride’s] beloved wife was murdered.” —Kingdom of the Wicked, chapter 30, page 242.

Okay, so I was doing a reread of Kingdom of the Wicked when I noticed this little section. Now I’m wondering: what is the timeline for this story (in regards to the curse)? My first thought when reading that something happened to the gates was when Emilia held both Vittoria’s amulet and her own when they were eight. But considering the fact that Kerri seems to be leaning very heavily into the reincarnation route, and given Nonna’s POV in the prologue, it seems more likely that Pride’s wife and her sister had already been dead for some time. So were the twins being conceived/born what weakened the gates? Especially since as an immortal, Wrath’s line of ”several human years ago” could actually mean “almost two decades ago,” and his mention of the prophecy is in relation to twin witches being born. But something about that just doesn’t really click together for me.

Why Nonna is actually La Prima

Just a heads up, this post is going to be a bit lengthy, so I’m putting the rest under a “keep reading.”

Okay, let’s start with some surface level stuff before we dig deeper.

During the prologue of KotW, Emilia asks Nonna, ”’Where is the First Witch now?…Why hasn’t she been seen?’” This is the response: “Nonna thought carefully. ‘She has her reasons. We must respect them.’” —KotW, prologue, page 6

That is the most non-answer that I have ever read. And the perfect evasion so you don’t have to tell your twin 8-year-old granddaughters that you are the First Witch. Also notice how Nonna hesitates before answering. Likely trying to decide if she should give some sort of an answer, or just deflect the question.

What really sparked this theory in my mind is that Nonna and La Prima not only survive having their throats slit, but both also perform impressive feats of magic afterwards (La Prima taking away the devil’s wings and cursing him, Nonna sending Envy back to Hell)

Yet something struck me as odd, especially when I read this line Emilia has when she thinks back on the encounter as she goes to dine with Envy in his House: “I still couldn’t believe Nonna had banished him back to the underworld using magic I was unaware she possessed.” —KotC, chapter 15, pages 201-202. At first I thought it was the spell that was strange to her, yet going through KotW again, the spell is not only in the family grimoire, but Emilia helps Nonna recite the spell.

“Notes from the di Carlos grimoire.” —KotW, chapter 19, page 138

“A key and a full moon formed at the end of two branches. I suddenly knew exactly what Nonna was doing….feeding Nonna’s spell with my own power. ‘A dagger to kill, a snake to die.’” —KotW, chapter 41, page 317

So it’s not the spell that was strange to Emilia, it was just Nonna’s magic. And when you look back at the book, this is the only time we ever see Nonna use magic. The closest we’ve gotten is seeing Nonna make different colored candles for various purposes. So why was Nonna’s magic strange to her? Because Nonna is the First Witch, the daughter of the sun goddess and a demon. Of course her magic feels different.

As for how Nonna has managed to survive for so long: “We were told [La Prima] was immortal…” —KotW, chapter 30, page 241.

That immortality would also explain why the stories about the Wicked are so wrong. She doesn’t want people to feel sympathy for them. Yes, they are demons and have been known to torture and kill people. But they are also much more complex than that; they are more human than that. And who was the one who told Emilia and Vittoria stories about the scary demon princes? You guessed it: Nonna.

“Nonna feared [Emilia and Vittoria] romanticized demons too much. It was best, she decided, to remind them why they should be wary of beautiful creatures without souls.” —KotW, prologue, page 4.

Of course Nonna would believe that the Wicked were without souls. In her eyes, two of them stole and corrupted her daughters, leading to their deaths. In reality, both her daughters saw the humanity in Pride and Wrath, and fell in love with them, even going so far as to marry one and be banished from her coven for it. And if Vittoria and Emilia really are reincarnations of Pride’s wife and Wrath’s lover respectfully, then these stories are more than your average cautionary tale a grandmother would tell her grandchildren. She is actively trying to scare the twins away from the loves of their former lives. Make the twins hateful towards them, which does work on Emilia (to an extent). Either because she doesn’t want to take any risks in regards to the curse fully breaking, or she simply does not want to lose them again. Perhaps both. Either way, it’s not up to her what the twins do in regards to their sealed memories.

Now, I believe we all know this rather infamous quote: “‘There are seven demon princes, but only four di Carlos should fear: Wrath, Greed, Envy, and Pride. One will crave your blood. One will capture your heart. One will steal your soul. And one will take your life.” —KotW, prologue, page 5.

I know that there are quite a few theories about which prince means what, yet I don’t believe that anyone has really stated why di Carlos should only fear those specific four princes. Well, because it’s not that everyone in the di Carlos family should fear them. Only the twins have to fear them because they are reincarnations.

In Wrath’s first bonus chapter, as he remembers the murder of his sister-in-law and her sister, he specifically mentions two Houses that he believes were involved with their death: the House of Envy, and the House of Greed.

“When word had reached him, the devil almost razed both houses, searching for signs of their treachery….A message to the princes of House Greed and House Envy…” —Wrath bonus chapter

So Envy and Greed are the most likely candidates for “crave your blood and take your life.” I know most people would likely assume Envy is the one who took the twins lives, but I don’t think so. He seems to actually somewhat like Emilia, and I think he might want to be friends with her (I mean, he does joke around with her a little in KotC, when he tells her she could sleep in his bed and look at his nude portrait on the ceiling. That was pretty funny). Meanwhile, Greed is a prince that we’ve met in the first book, yet there’s only one interaction with him throughout both books. Even Gluttony and Pride got more page time, and we only just met Gluttony in KotC, and got one scene with Pride in KotW. I wouldn’t disqualify Greed from having been the one to kill Emilia and Vittoria in their previous life. We simply don’t know enough about him. (Which sort of ties in to my theory that La Prima had a hand in killing her daughters because how else would she know which demon houses killed them? I highly doubt she was on speaking terms with her son in-law).

Next we have “steal your soul and capture your heart.” Quite honestly, I think Pride and Wrath fit both. When Emilia is asking Wrath about the curse on Pride, she assumes that Pride must have stolen La Prima’s daughter’s soul. Wrath immediately corrects her, saying, “‘Pride didn’t steal anything. He didn’t have to. Her daughter willingly chose to wed him. They fell in love, despite who they were.’” —KotW, chapter 30, page 242.

But if we’re going off of La Prima’s POV—someone who clearly hates demons, especially the Wicked—then it would seem to her like Pride had tricked her daughter into marrying him, stealing her soul in the process. Yet “capture your heart” sort of sounds like falling in love to me. And both of La Prima’s daughters fell in love with Pride and Wrath, which is why I’m leaning towards Pride being the one to steal the twins souls, yet could honestly see him as the one to capture their hearts.

There you have it! My complete theory on why Nonna is the First Witch. If you have any thoughts or theories of your own, I would love to read them!