Previous
Chapter Seventy-Four
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
In the captain’s quarters of the stolen warship, Zélie tries to sleep, but memories of her torture are too terrifying and painful. She runs on deck to find Roën, who has beaten the crew of the ship. Sickened, Zélie turns toward the sea, not wanting to think about more violence. Roën shows her a series of scars on his arm, from when his men were killed in front of him and captors carved a new line in his skin for each one that died. The scars were inflicted on him in his homeland, a place called Sutōrī.
Once again, Zélie experiences the lasting trauma that accompanies violence. As a result, she is sickened even by the thought of violence committed against her enemies, by an ally. Roën, who has experienced great pain himself, also seems readily capable of committing harm to others.
Themes
Roën says that he can tell Zélie’s own scars, and the terror of her torture, are still fresh. He wants to know if she can really do the ceremony. Everything in Zélie screams that she can’t. But out loud, she says that those responsible for her scars are in the other warships. However, she is no longer driven by revenge. She must stop Saran so that he doesn’t destroy the rest of her people.
From experience, Roën knows that acts of violence can be physically and emotionally debilitating. Zélie feels this too, as well as an echo of the desire for revenge that once motivated her. But her desire now is to combat injustice more broadly by restoring power to the oppressed, rather than specifically targeting those who have directly hurt her.
Themes
Roën jokes again about being chosen by the gods, but he is clearly at least a little serious, believing in the gods even as he jokes about them. He says it seems like too much of a coincidence that he and Zélie met twice and are now working together. He also tells her that talking to someone else is the best way to start healing her wounds. Zélie realizes he’s right: she doesn’t want to be alone. She enters Amari’s room, and Amari greets her with a smile.
Like Zélie, Roën finds that faith in the gods also brings him closer to others, giving him a sense of connection with other believers and prompting him to look for more meaning in chance encounters. Meanwhile, despite the rift between their backgrounds, Amari and Zélie have become chosen family to one another—a bond that has more power and meaning than blood.
Themes
