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Chapter 30
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Skellig, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Weakness, Strength, and Hardship
Curiosity, Nature, and Transformation
Love, Empathy, and Caregiving
Imagination, Magic, and Faith
Summary
Analysis
Not having a flashlight, Michael and Mina grope their way up the dark stairs and into the room where they left Skellig. In the corner is an empty pile of blankets; Skellig is gone. Stumbling up the stairs, Michael and Mina call Skellig’s name and look in every room. Mina suggests they listen like they listened for the blackbird chicks. Holding hands, Michael and Mina listen. First, Michael hears the baby’s heartbeat, and then he hears the faint squeaking of Skellig’s voice.
In listening for Skellig as they listen for the chicks, Michael and Mina suggest that they are starting to think of Skellig as a bird. However, just before Michael hears Skellig, he hears the baby’s heartbeat, suggesting that the place within him where the baby’s beating heart is “stored” is the same place in which Skellig’s lifeforce lives. Whether or not Skellig is a bird, his connection to humans—to the baby, specifically—is strong.
Themes
Following Skellig’s voice, Michael and Mina climb the last flight of stairs and enter the attic. Skellig stands at the window, silhouetted by the moonlight streaming in. Michael and Mina crouch by the door, not wanting to disturb Skellig. As they watch, an owl swoops from the sky and lays something on the sill; Skellig gobbles it up. Several owls leave offerings that Skellig swiftly eats. Seeing Michael and Mina, Skellig tells them to come to him. Michael and Mina meet Skellig in the center of the room. Skellig’s breath smells like dead animals.
This scene is reminiscent of the dream Michael had in which the blackbird was taking care of the baby. Skellig, as a non-owl creature whom owls are taking care of, provides a real example of how birds can be restorative. Moreover, as a pert-human-part-bird creature, Skellig establishes a bridge between what is possible for the baby and what is possible in the world of birds. This scene substantiates Michael’s dream about the baby returning to health through the care of birds.
Themes
Skellig takes Michael’s and Mina’s hands and spins them in a circle. They spin faster, their faces moving from shadow into moonlight. Michael wants to break the circle, but Skellig tells him not to. Smiling, Michael feels his, Skellig’s, and Mina’s heartbeats become one. He sees “ghostly” wings on Mina’s back and feels wings sprout from his own shoulders. They all rise off the floor, dancing in a circle.
This scene describes a unity in a spiritual plane between seemingly ununified things. Michael and Mina’s wings are “ghostly,” suggesting that they are only symbolically real. What is actually in unison in this scene is the heartbeats across the lines of creatures, suggesting that the image of wings represents the intangible unity of love between beings. Moreover, this scene is characterized by dancing, suggesting that beings all have in common a kind of joy.
Themes
Suddenly, Michael and Mina are lying on the floor. Skellig leans over them. When Michael and Mina ask, Skellig attributes his health to owls and angels; he tells them not to forget this night. Michael and Mina leave the house, looking at each other in awe. Remembering the feeling of his wings, Michael confirms that Mina felt them too. They are sure that it will happen again. When they get back, Dad runs out and grabs Michael in his arms. Michael and Mina insist that they were sleepwalking.
By angels, Skellig clearly means Michael and Mina, since they had a significant role in Skellig’s transformation. Skellig’s perspective suggests that they are not like birds in a literal sense. Rather, through their spiritual similarity to angels, humans are similar to birds—which, like angels, have wings. In this way, relating to Skellig has opened up a spiritual dimension that Michael and Mina did not previously recognize as part of their identity as humans.
Themes
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