Luzia tells Santángel, “Let it be my ambition and not my fear that seals my fate.” Why do you think she's not more afraid to take the test?

Luzia knows that she might not survive the test, but she looks forward to having her mind challenged and her wits sharpened. “Let it be my ambition and not my fear that seals my fate,” she tells Santángel. Why do you think she’s not afraid?

Because she's a strong willed character. She doesn't have anything to lose at this point. I think she's accepted and acknowledged the risk of the test, and realizes that the potential for achieving what's next is better than the alternative, which is doing nothing.

Because underneath her meek exterior, she was well aware of her gift and the immense power it held.

I think Luzia knows she will succeed. She is very strong in herself; more than she actually realizes.

Luzia wants a life different from the one she’s been living, poor, dirty and relegated to sleeping on the pantry floor. I think her desire for change drives her ambition to compete in the three tests. She is very intelligent and strong willed and would rather bravely fail than be too afraid to try.

I think that Luzia discovered the powers within her and had confidence in those powers. Having experienced a way of life different from that which she had been living, I think that she was focused more on the quality, and not the quantity, of her remaining lifetime.

Luzia knew the power she held and saw it as a way to change her life. She only did it though after seeing others’ reactions to what she was able to do, having had to keep it a secret for so long. Even though there was great risk to her and to the others who supported her, I think part of her also longed to be acknowledged as something other than a low scullion, which was how she was perceived by others. She was never recognized as being a person of worth, and was never truly “seen”. She knew how to be invisible. Santangel was truly the only person who wanted to get to know her as a person. But even he had ulterior motives.

Luzia is strong willed but spent most of her life making herself smaller and as invisible as possible to draw as little attention to herself (similar to Santangel). She has lost most of her family, and her one remaining relative has done little to help her. She feels she has not much to lose and is willing to risk her life to learn more about the extent of the power she suspects resides within her and how to use it. She is also craving friendship & love which is probably worth the risk also.

When she was backed into a corner, she wanted to be in control of her fate, whatever that might mean.

Luzia was growing into her powers. In a sense, she probably thought what do I have to lose. She wanted to be the one making the decisions finally instead of always having them made for her. She knew this was her chance to change her circumstances.

Choice is a very powerful motivator! I think she wanted that freedom to choose her on fate.

I think Luzia is more afraid of returning to her old life than of trying to win the competition. She lived a very poor, lonely, unfulfilling existence. She felt that she had a possibility to gain a future by competing.

She had hidden herself too long in a role that did not suit her and that she did not deserve. It was far better for her to fail through action than give up in fear. She would rather face the fires than hide herself and cower as someone she was not.