The Last Spear Symbol Analysis

With her special powers, Kahu fulfills the prophecy of Kahutia Te Rangi’s last spear, which represents Maori  people’s unique connection to the past and the beings that surround them, both human and otherwise. According to the legend, after riding the ancient whale to New Zealand’s shores, Kahutia Te Rangi threw a series of spears, which transformed into plants and animals when they struck the ground and turned a barren region into a lush, fertile coastline. But the last spear never landed—instead, it has kept flying for centuries, saving its rejuvenating power for a time when the Maori  people truly need it. It’s a blessing from the ancestors, an enduring connection between the past and present. This story of the last spear helps unite the region’s people around a shared identity and orientation toward the future by promising that some messianic figure will come to save them from their ills—including the violence of colonization and the erosion of Maori  culture.

At the end of the novel, the old mother whale realizes that Kahu is not the original Kahutia Te Rangi and suggests that she is the last spear instead. The ancient whale agrees, and so they return Kahu to land, saving her life. Kahu has fulfilled the prophecy of the last spear by saving the whales—which also meant saving her community. (After all, Koro Apirana characterized the whales’ beaching as a test of whether his people are fulfilling their obligation to the world, Gods, and ancestors.) In return, the story of the last spear saves Kahu, so if Kahu is the ancestors’ gift to the Maori , then the prophecy of the last spear is their gift to Kahu herself.