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Chapter Seventeen
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Children of Virtue and Vengeance, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power and Systems of Oppression
Cycles of Violence
Tradition and History
Love vs. Duty
Summary
Analysis
Roën calls the group to a halt in order to check what’s up ahead. He discovers two young maji, clearly killed by majacite. Zélie recites the Yoruba incantation to lay their souls to rest. She pushes down painful memories of Baba’s death. When Zélie stands, Roën points out that this is the first time he’s seen her do magic since the ritual. They argue over the fact that Zélie called after him and he still left a week ago, and then Zélie says she decided to stay in Orïsha to take care of something. Roën knows she’s talking about Inan, which annoys Zélie—he seems to be able to read her mind. She asks why he didn’t sell them out, and he jokes that he couldn’t take the thought of Zélie throwing herself into a tree after he left.
Pointing out that Zélie was able to swallow the memories of Baba’s death shows that Roën sees that Zélie is beginning to heal—though the effectiveness and health of Zélie’s healing seems questionable, given that she’s only able to push down these flashbacks because she’s so focused on killing Inan. As a mercenary, Roën understands that he has to put duty to his jobs over romance, but while he’s working on this particular job, there’s nothing stopping him from flirting with Zélie for the fun of it.
Themes
Tzain yells for Zélie. Up ahead, guards in golden armor look down at them. Titan Grounders slide down the mountain at them with impressive skill. Amari steps up to defend her group, but her magic flares back into her face. Zélie recites the Yoruba incantation and spirits rise from the earth. However, a gangly soldier repeats the incantation, but his spirits weave into a giant monster. Everyone is confused. The soldier pulls off his helmet to reveal white hair and recognizes Zélie. Another soldier removes her helmet and tells Zélie that her form needs work. It’s Mama Agba.
Though these “tîtáns” have gold armor, they aren’t actually tîtáns—they’re the Iyika and are Zélie’s allies. Zélie’s willingness to jump to conclusions here and launch an attack against them is understandable, given how dangerous her world is, but it also suggests that Zélie is potentially unable to take stock of more than one aspect of a given situation—and could make mistakes because of this.
Themes
