Sage's Scar

Sage has a visible scar at the corner of her eye that extends downward to her cheek. It is the result of an auto accident that eventually caused her mother's death, and is a symbol of the extreme guilt Sage feels about her mother's death, representing how unhappy she feels about herself (i.e. that she's ugly and guilty). The scar forms the basis of her excuse for hiding from the world.

Josef's Chess Set

Josef has a beautifully carved chess set in which the pieces are various mythical creatures. Playing chess together is the activity that brings Sage and Josef together as friends, but the set itself is much more symbolic, in that the mythical creatures of the chess set can be seen as paralleling the mythical creatures that serve as the characters in Minka's story, characters that fascinate and torment Franz/Josef for...