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Chapter Eighty
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Children of Blood and Bone, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Prejudice and Inequality
Duty to Family vs. Self
Faith and Tradition
Cycles of Violence
Summary
Analysis
Zélie has turned her deadly focus on Inan. He aches with her heartbreak, but he focuses on his goal of ending magic. He can’t let Orïsha burn. He seizes the scroll and tries to focus his magic on it to destroy it, but it doesn’t work. He thinks that Zélie’s magic could destroy the scroll.
Inan his internalized his father’s message about duty and adapted it to his current situation—instead of bending to his own desire to help Zélie, he believes he is putting the kingdom first by fighting against her. He believes that if anyone has the power of magic, it will lead to more violence.
Themes
Inan runs towards Zélie, yelling that this is all her fault. He says it’s her fault Baba died. Angered, Zélie sends a bolt of magic towards him. He holds the scroll in front of him and watches as the magic rips it apart. Zélie screams. Saran turns to his son with pride.
Inan continues to ignore his own instincts and morals, intentionally hurting the person he loves in service of his mission. Unsurprisingly, this tactic wins him the approval of his father, who advocates a similar code of conduct.
Themes
A mercenary approaches King Saran from behind. Without thinking, Inan kills the mercenary with his magic. His father is horrified, especially when he sees the mercenary is covered with the same blue crystals that Kaea was. Saran stabs his sword into Inan. Inan pleads with his father, thinking of all the pain he has caused in his father’s name. He can’t let it all be for nothing. But Saran says Inan is no son of his.
Seeing that his son is able to do magic, Saran does not hesitate to commit violence. For him, the classification of maji as dangerous and inferior is so powerful that it is not even swayed when the maji in question is his own son. Saran’s attack reminds Inan of what he has slowly been realizing—that his morals do not align with that of his father, and that he knows his father’s tactics have caused devastation throughout the kingdom. Meanwhile, Saran believes that duty to the kingdom and his own hungry quest for power outweighs any responsibility towards his family members.
Themes
