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Chapter 34
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Girl Who Drank the Moon, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family and Love
Storytelling, Censorship, and Control
Memory, Forgetting, and the Future
Sorrow vs. Hope
Summary
Analysis
Fyrian, perched on Glerk’s head, whines that he’s the itchiest in the world and scratches himself. Glerk rolls his eyes. Fyrian asks if dragons shed their skins, and Glerk considers. He doesn’t know, but he quotes the Poet that each beast will find its ground. Fyrian asks what his ground is, and Glerk says that since dragons formed in stars, Fyrian’s ground is fire—if he walks through fire, he’ll know who he is. Fyrian declares that this is a horrible idea and asks Glerk what his ground is. It’s the Bog. Glerk says that he’s the Bog and the Bog is him. Fyrian insists that this is wrong—he’s Glerk—but Glerk points out that people can be more than one thing. He sniffs for Xan’s spells.
From this conversation, it looks as though Glerk and Xan haven’t fully prepared Fyrian for life as an adult dragon—Fyrian doesn’t know where dragons came from, and he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to be as an adult. It’s telling that Glerk doesn’t censor himself as he explains this to Fyrian. Now that they’ve embarked upon this journey, Glerk knows that he must be truthful if he wants to maintain a relationship with Fyrian and make him feel safe and loved.
Themes
Fyrian warns Glerk that the rock ahead is thin and that there’s fire underneath. Glerk confirms this and notes that the ground isn’t supposed to be burning here. The volcano has been restless since the last eruption, but this feels different and Glerk is afraid for the first time in centuries. He picks up the pace and inhales deeply. He says that he recognizes the smell, and with a growl, says that it’s not Xan’s.
The simple fact that Glerk is afraid makes it clear that he’s not above being at the mercy of the natural world just because he’s the world’s creator. By remembering this, Glerk is able to understand how he needs to act in the context of who they’re dealing with.
Themes
Sister Ignatia races through the forest, thinking of her boots and how much she loved them in the years before she took up residence in the Protectorate. They used to help her eat starlight and moonlight, but now she’s hungry. She stops to look through her scrying glass and sees hands reaching into a box. Sister Ignatia shouts for the thief to not steal the boots. The thief pauses, but pulls the boots out and puts them on. Sister Ignatia scowls—the wearer can take the boots on and off as desired, but nobody else can remove them until the wearer is dead.
The Seven League Boots represent a different kind of power than that represented by stories. The wearer of the boots is in charge of their own path, and specifically their own speed. In effect, the boots allow a person to control themselves, while stories and censorship allow them to control others.
Themes
Sister Ignatia watches the thief walk and perform farm chores as though the boots are normal. She zooms in and sees that the boots are in the place where the old castle used to be. Sister Ignatia wonders if the old castle is still home, and laments that the magicians there had to die—they never considered that the person who was supposed to save them would leave them. Sister Ignatia feels clever but unfortunately, she has no one to impress.
Sister Ignatia’s recognition that she doesn’t have anyone to appreciate what she’s done suggests that on some level, even Sister Ignatia craves a sense of family or community. The fact that the boots are in a place that used to be home suggests that as Sister Ignatia returns to the castle, she’ll also have to remember things she likely forgot.
Themes
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