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Maji who have control over death. They can do things like save people from death, but they can also kill. Reapers can also connect with the spirits of the deceased and weaponize them. Zélie is a Reaper, as was Mama.
Reaper Quotes in Children of Virtue and Vengeance
The Children of Virtue and Vengeance quotes below are all either spoken by Reaper or refer to Reaper. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter Twenty-Five
Quotes
Do you accept these people as your own?
Will you use your strength to protect them at all cost?
The burden of her questions expands in my chest as I look to the Reapers gathered around Mâzeli. Bimpe watches with fingers pressed to her lips. Màri frantically waves her hand, almost immune to the gravity of the moment. Though I’ve only known them for a few hours, they already feel like blood. Like home. Being around them feels more right than anything has felt in years.
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Chapter Twenty-Eight
Quotes
Even before Mother interrupted my rally, the support of the Orïshans didn’t touch the boundless joy of these maji. I wonder what it would be like to be embraced like that. To actually have a place where you belong.
[...]
I nod, beginning to understand what it means to be an elder. All this time I assumed it was like occupying the throne, but now I realize that it’s so much more. It isn’t simply a position of power. An elder forms the foundation of their clan’s home.
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Chapter Eighty-One
Quotes
I feel the most sacred gift of Oya beneath my hands, the holy magic of life and death. When the last body breathes again, I stare at the glowing tattoos on my hands.
No Reaper or Healer in history has ever been able to do that.
In our magic, I see the answer. What Oya wanted me to understand all along. If we use the moonstone to bind our lifeforces, we can save the maji from the monarchy’s grasp.
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Reaper Term Timeline in Children of Virtue and Vengeance
The timeline below shows where the term Reaper appears in Children of Virtue and Vengeance. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter Nineteen
...down, Mama Agba greets Amari and Tzain. Zélie turns to the other maji. The young Reaper steps up and explains that everyone in his family can make animations that weave together....
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Chapter Twenty-Five
...a full night of training, Zélie struggles to keep her eyes open as two young Reapers, Bimpe and Màri, prepare Zélie for her ascension as elder. Both are young teenagers and...
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Chapter Twenty-Six
...voice, he says he doesn’t know why the Iyika attacked with Burners when they have Reapers and Cancers too. Inan looks at Ojore’s burns and sees how much pain he’s in,...
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Chapter Forty-Four
...to training before dawn. Zélie stays in bed. She doesn’t feel fit to lead the Reapers after putting Mâzeli in danger at Chândomblé. Mama Agba knocks and enters. She wears the...
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Zélie walks to her Reapers, passing the other clans training on the way. The other elders are skilled and Zélie...
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Chapter Forty-Five
...watches Mâzeli attempt and Màri succeed at breaking their falls with shadows. When the young Reapers run off, Amari gives Zélie the scroll. Zélie’s smile fades and she says that Inan...
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Chapter Forty-Seven
...Zélie. Amari says she’s intent on killing Inan, but she’s happy caring for the other Reapers. She says that the Iyika are training to kill Inan and put Zélie on the...
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Chapter Forty-Eight
Zélie and her Reapers watch the sunset and then, Zélie says that her charges are going to race to...
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Chapter Forty-Nine
...Amari anymore. Zélie begins to conjure shadows, but Amari asks Zélie to think of the Reapers that will die. When Amari begins to conjure her own ashê, Zélie backs down. Inan...
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Chapter Sixty-Three
...not be sad. Mama Agba appears and begs Zélie to join the party for the Reapers. She invites Zélie to join her in the garden and apologizes for breaking the connection...
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Chapter Seventy
...probably more traps aboveground and in Lagos. Zélie but fixates on Màri, Bimpe, and other Reapers to come. She realizes that her pain means she’s still alive and whispers an incantation....
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