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Kitay
Nezha is the wealthiest, most powerful, and most attractive boy in Rin’s class at Sinegard Academy. The two become enemies after Rin punches him in retaliation for insulting Tutor Feyrik on their first day on campus, and they continue to take any chance they can to fight each other during their time at school. Nezha is stuck-up and believes fully in his superiority, so Rin finds him insufferable. It’s not until Rin and Nezha end up fighting with each other against the Federation that their relationship begins to improve: they’ve spent so much time fighting against each other, they’re intimately acquainted with each other and make exceptional fighting partners. They reconnect later in Khurdalain and become friends; Nezha even apologizes outright for mistreating Rin at school. However, their relationship remains somewhat fraught, as Enki believes Nezha is a shaman and is spying for Jun (Nezha’s military commander), and Nezha believes Altan is mistreating Rin. Rin attempts to rescue Nezha from toxic gas, but Altan forces her to leave him behind, insisting that Nezha isn’t one of their men.
Nezha Quotes in The Poppy War
The The Poppy War quotes below are all either spoken by Nezha or refer to Nezha. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5
Quotes
“The Keju doesn’t mean anything,” Rin said scathingly. “The Keju is a ruse to keep uneducated peasants right where they’ve always been. You slip past the Keju, they’ll find a way to expel you anyway. The Keju keeps the lower classes sedated. It keeps us dreaming. It’s not a ladder for mobility; it’s a way to keep people like me exactly where they were born. The Keju is a drug.”
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Chapter 11
Quotes
That felt stupid now. So, so stupid. War was not a game, where one fought for honor and admiration, where masters would keep her from sustaining any real harm.
War was a nightmare.
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Chapter 17
Quotes
She had just killed Altan.
What was that supposed to mean? What did it say that the chimei had thought she wouldn’t be able to kill Altan, and that she had killed him anyway?
If she could do this, what couldn’t she do?
Who couldn’t she kill?
Maybe that was the kind of anger it took to call the Phoenix easily and regularly the way Altan did. Not just rage, not just fear, but a deep, burning resentment, fanned by a particularly cruel kind of abuse.
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Chapter 20
Quotes
“He’s not human,” she said, recalling the horrible anger behind Altan’s power. She’d thought she understood Altan. She’d thought she had reached the man behind the command title. But she realized now that she didn’t know him at all. The Altan she’d known—at least, the Altan in her mind—would have done anything for his troops. He wouldn’t have left someone in the gas to die. “He—I don’t know what he is.”
“But Altan was never allowed to be human,” Chaghan said, and his voice was uncharacteristically gentle. “Since childhood, he’s been regarded as a militia asset. Your masters at the Academy fed him opium for attacking his classmates and trained him like a dog for this war.”
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Get the entire The Poppy War LitChart as a printable PDF.
Nezha Character Timeline in The Poppy War
The timeline below shows where the character Nezha appears in The Poppy War. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...rushes to separate Rin and the boy, asking for their names. The boy’s name is Nezha. The apprentice accepts Rin’s explanation that Nezha insulted her tutor and tells Nezha to calm...
(full context)
Chapter 3
Rin and Nezha enter the main hall and kneel with their other first-year classmates. The older apprentices sit...
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Raban, the apprentice who stopped Nezha and Rin’s fight, leads the first-year students to the dormitories and explains their schedule. Rin...
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...gave correct answers in Yim’s class. He has a photographic memory and grew up with Nezha and Venka, but he explains that Nezha has stopped talking to him since they started...
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Chapter 4
...little if any instruction. First-year students also begin staying after class to practice, though some—namely Nezha—take the opportunity to show off. When Rin scoffs at one of Nezha’s beautiful but pointless...
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...Altan, and they can’t stop talking about him. Some of their discussion centers around Altan’s silence—Nezha suggests that the Speerlies were “primitive” and unintelligent, so maybe Altan can’t speak. Rin finds...
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...into the empire’s most frightening fighting force—until the Second Poppy War, when Speer was bombed. Nezha insists that the queen at the time of Speer’s annexation, Mai’rinnen Tearza, was in love...
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...Speerlies had “weird abilities,” which is why Mugen targeted Speer during the Second Poppy War. Nezha argues that the Speerlies were just terrifying because they were “Primitive, drug-loving freaks.” Rin finds...
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...all improve, so one day, Jun asks them to spar “responsibly.” Rin is paired with Nezha, who begins mercilessly attacking Rin before Jun even gives the word. Nezha hits Rin in...
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Chapter 5
...at the end of the year. She’s as good as expelled, and worst of all, Nezha was the one who tried to kill her. The class files out, and Kitay hangs...
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Chapter 7
...hope to pledge. The apprentices, meanwhile, start taking bets on who will win the Tournament. Nezha is the favorite, but Rin and Kitay have plenty of support. Students become secretive about...
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...that all her classmates—all trained by Jun—fight the exact same way. She, along with Kitay, Nezha, and Venka, advance to elimination rounds the next day. Rin fights Venka first, and she...
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On the other side of the bracket, Kitay is the only one of Nezha’s opponents who surrenders before being knocked out. The final fight will be between Rin and...
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Rin allows Nezha to kick her to the ground, and then she kicks him in the chest. They...
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Chapter 8
...time for the festival’s parade. Rin stands with Kitay’s family beforehand, and Kitay observes that Nezha’s father, the Dragon Warlord, isn’t present.
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Chapter 9
...are afraid of her. Second-years can fight in the ring, and with Altan graduated now, Nezha becomes the reigning champion. Jiang forbids Rin from fighting, but Rin attends as a spectator...
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Chapter 11
...many Nikara are dead, including Raban. Rin engages two Federation soldiers in a fight, and Nezha saves her from being killed. They begin to fight back to back, and together, they’re...
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...not be in this world.” Air shimmers, Jiang chants, and then he tells Rin and Nezha to run. Rin realizes that Jiang can’t control whatever he’s bringing through just as Jiang...
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Chapter 12
...survived. Over the next few days, Kitay shares that only about half their class survived; Nezha is undergoing a third surgery today. Soon, Nikan will evacuate Sinegard. Venka will go to...
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Chapter 16
...to the city’s wall, and Rin catches the eye of one of the approaching soldiers, Nezha. It’s the Dragon Warlord and the Seventh Division.
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Chapter 17
Rin and Nezha sit together, savoring the extra bread the Seventh Division brought and discussing Nezha’s miraculous recovery...
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Later, Nezha sits down across from Rin in the mess hall and immediately notices her red eyes...
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...the little reading she did about the beast, she offers to go deal with it. Nezha volunteers to go with her, and Jun agrees. As they hurry over rooftops, they discuss...
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...always said there’s a price for everything—now, Rin understands. A few minutes later, Rin and Nezha discover a tiny, frightened girl hiding in a wagon. As Rin meets the girl’s eyes,...
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The chimei has Nezha, and Rin can’t cut through its fur with her sword. The beast looks into Rin’s...
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...burns it until it stops struggling, and she reveals a tiny skull. Then, she vomits. Nezha comes to soon after, and they discuss what happened. Nezha reveals that his little brother...
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Chapter 19
From their posts staking out a barricade, Rin tells Nezha about Chaghan. The Cike is working with the Seventh Division to try to cut off...
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Chapter 21
...a few soldiers hid under bodies and then moved to a cellar. Rin shares that Nezha died and sobs in Kitay’s arms.
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