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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mortal Engines, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Social Class
Sacrifice
Dangers of Technology
The Importance of History
Prejudice and First Impressions
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Stalkers are a relic from before the Traction Era. During previous wars, scientists from the old empires took dead soldiers and turned them into Resurrected Men by fusing their flesh with technology. For Tom, Stalkers were just another monster he heard about as a child.
The Stalkers represent how even before the Traction Era, governments treated soldiers as expendable, not even allowing them to rest in death.
Themes
As Tom and Hester’s balloon rises above Airhaven and heads eastward, Hester reveals that Shrike was actually an old friend of hers. She first met Shrike the day after her parents died, right after she escaped on a boat, fell asleep, and woke up on the shores of the hunting ground. When she woke up, scavengers from a very small town were already taking apart her boat. Shrike seemed to be leading the scavengers. He told Hester she couldn’t stay, but took her aboard their town, which was called Strole.
The previous chapter hinted at a prior relationship between Hester and Shrike, and now Hester expands on it. The fact that Hester met Shrike right after her parents died suggests that in a way, he served as a surrogate parent figure to her, as strange as that may seem.
Themes
Hester continues her story. She wasn’t sure why Shrike saved her, since he never seemed to show pity or softness in anything else he did. He did, however, keep a collection of relics from the old times, and Hester wondered if she was also part of his collection. She lived with him for five years. One day, Hester heard stories about Valentine and realized he was the same man who killed her parents. She told Shrike she wanted to track Valentine down, but Shrike forbade her. He refused to come with her because he feared Crome would capture him and dissect him as a research subject. So, one day Hester snuck out on her own.
Shrike’s collection of old objects resembles the museum that Tom used to work at. Shrike’s obsession with preserving things will ultimately be his undoing. Many characters in the story grow and change, but Shrike’s inability to do that is what ultimately leads him to become the obsessive bounty hunter that he currently is.
Themes
Back in the present, Hester says she’s never seen Shrike look as violent as he did when they saw him recently. She thinks that Crome wiped Shrike’s memories and emotions when he turned him into a Stalker. She also thinks, however, that Shrike is probably too focused on his mission to bother killing Miss Fang and the other aviators. While they try to escape Shrike, Hester and Tom guide their balloon toward London.
Hester also confirms that the Shrike they saw recently may not be quite the same Shrike as the one she knew, even if he is still in the same physical body. The Resurrected Men raise questions about identity and what makes a person truly themselves.
Themes
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Just then, Tom and Hester notice an airship chasing them. Based on how fast it’s going, they figure it must be Shrike. Hester abruptly starts lowering the balloon’s altitude, hoping they’ll have a better chance against Shrike on the ground. When they’re close to the ground, they jump into the mud. The balloon rises up and Shrike’s ship goes after it. Meanwhile Tom and Hester start walking toward London.
When in trouble, Hester seeks out what’s most familiar to her: the mud. Although Hester sometimes shows surprising strength, her even greater talent is for deception and cleverness, and she has learned to emphasize her advantages to compensate for her disadvantages.
Themes
