The Buried Giant: Chapter 16 Summary & Analysis

The goat chews on grass near Edwin’s head, which annoys him, but he’s too tired to chase it away. Edwin is surprised by “the sudden conviction that his mother [is] gone” and he no longer hears her voice. He feels someone untying him and he opens his eyes to find Beatrice with him. When he stands up, he remembers what the warrior had said about it being “early enough for revenge” and decides to make whoever killed his mother pay. Edwin doesn’t see Wistan, just the old Britons. Beatrice tells him to go to Wistan, so Edwin runs forward. Suddenly he stops and looks back at the couple. Beatrice calls out to him and tells him to remember them and their friendship in the coming days. This reminds Edwin of the promise he made to Wistan to hate Britons, but he decides Wistan didn’t mean for him to hate these Britons, and runs off to find him.