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Chapter Sixty-Three
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
In Ibadan, Inan stares at the plans detailing their trap. He knows he should feel satisfied, but he feels numb. Nehanda asks the military officers if they’re clear and then sends them away. Ojore asks to go to Lagos and fight, but Inan snarls that he needs Ojore here. Nehanda sends Ojore away. Alone with Inan, Nehanda reassures Ojore that he’s doing the right thing. She says that this battle didn’t start when magic returned; it’s been years in the making. Inan insists that they’re fighting the Iyika, not all maji, but Nehanda says that this war started before the Raid and before Inan’s birth. Nehanda asks if Inan heard Saran talk about almost unifying the monarchy with the maji. Inan nods. Nehanda hisses that she knew that the maji would usurp the throne, so she took matters into her own hands.
Like Mama Agba, Nehanda understands that this battle didn’t start brewing a decade ago with the Raid; it’s the result of years and years of prejudice, oppression, and violence. However, while Mama Agba looks much farther back in history, Nehanda implies that the start of this conflict is much more recent: the years before the Raid, when the monarchy and the maji nearly reached a peace agreement. The similarities between then and now, simply in terms of almost reaching peace agreements, means that Inan and the reader should pay close attention to what Nehanda says here.
Themes
Delicately, Inan points out that Burners assassinated the king and killed the peace talks, but Nehanda says that she had to protect the throne. Inan realizes that Nehanda incited the Burners’ attack. Nehanda says she didn’t command the Burners, but she did show the nobles what would happen if they joined with maji. Inan’s world spins; Saran was the only monarch to survive the attack and if it hadn’t happened, Saran wouldn’t have led the Raid. Orïsha might have peace now. Inan leaps up and asks Nehanda how she can live with herself given how many have died, including Ojore’s parents. Nehanda says without remorse that she sacrificed those people to get rid of the maji, and that no cost is too high if it gets rid of the maji.
Again, Inan can see the human toll of Nehanda’s actions and of the Raid, while Nehanda believes that it’s worth it to kill people she hates—as well as some she might love or need to respect, like Ojore’s parents—in order to get her way and keep the people most useful to her in power. This makes it very clear that Nehanda is interested only in gaining and maintaining power, and is willing to do anything to do so. Because of this, Inan should also evaluate his relationship with her—she could turn on him.
Themes
