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Chapter Sixteen
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
Inan stares at his gaunt reflection in the mirror. Saran’s red robes still smell of his cologne, and the smell makes Inan feel his father’s hands on his throat, disowning him. It feels like Saran’s sword is still in Inan’s side. Joking and happy, Ojore lets himself in and compliments Inan’s appearance. Ojore looks fantastic in his admiral’s armor, but it doesn’t cover the burn scars on his neck. It feels like Ojore is a brother, even though he hates Inan’s magic—Burners killed his parents before the Raid. Inan points out that there are tîtáns in Ojore’s ranks, but Ojore says they have to fight fire with fire to eradicate the “maggots.” Inan knows there’s no way to change his mind after what happened to his parents.
Just like everyone else, Ojore is dealing with the unresolved trauma of losing his parents to Burners. Ojore thus speaks for many of Orïsha’s nobles when he says that he hates the maji and will do anything to get rid of them: many of the other nobles likely have suffered similar losses, or have potentially just bought Saran’s insistence that all the maji are evil like these Burners. Having to wear Saran’s clothing for this ceremony suggests that Inan won’t be able to escape his father’s violent legacy, no matter how hard he tries.
Themes
Quietly, Ojore says that he was afraid Inan was dead. Inan thinks back to his dreamscape and wonders if he wouldn’t have woken up had Zélie not found him. Nehanda enters and announces that the assembly is ready in the throne room. She insists that they can’t hold this audience in the cellar, as Inan needs to impress his council, specifically General Jokôye. Nehanda snaps her fingers and a servant carries in Saran’s crown. Ojore excuses himself as Nehanda places the crown on Inan’s head. She admits she’d burn the crown if she could and promises to get new robes for Inan soon. Through tears, she says that Saran was a bad man, but a good king. Inan must be the king Saran couldn’t be.
Here, it seems as though Nehanda has some compassion and insight when she suggests that Saran was a bad man—it suggests that she was aware of his cruelty and ruthlessness, as she was possibly a victim of some of that. However, allowing that Saran was a good king shows that Nehanda still prizes duty to the crown and all it stands for (including eradicating maji) above anything else. It also suggests that if Nehanda is advising, Inan will struggle to actually be a compassionate and kind ruler.
Themes
