Till We Have Faces: Part 1: Chapter 20 Summary & Analysis

The next day, they burn the King’s body. The day after, Redival becomes engaged to Trunia. Finally, the palace goes back to normal. As the years pass, the narrator becomes more the Queen and less Orual. Orual has been trapped far within the Queen. The Queen knows that the stories about her reign greatly exaggerate most of what she’s done. In truth, she fights three wars alongside her soldiers. Bardia and another noble really lead the army, and whenever she finds herself in battle, she wishes she weren’t there. The only time she does anything great is once, when Bardia is surrounded and she kills seven men to save him.

The Queen’s strength comes from her excellent advisors, Bardia and the Fox, who are honest and loyal. It helps that they don’t think of her as a woman (essentially due to her ugliness). Her strength also comes from her veil. When people can’t see her face, they find her voice beautiful. As fewer people remember ever seeing her face, they begin to speculate about what the veil hides, guessing that she has an animal’s face or no face at all. Some say her beauty is so tremendous that it would drive men mad or make Ungit jealous. In sum, the Queen becomes an object of mystery and fear, which adds to her power.

Early on, the Queen moves to a different side of the palace to avoid the sound of the chains in the well. But no matter where she goes, she finds that she can still hear the sound at night. She’s terrified of it, but she’s also scared of not hearing it, in case one day it will be Psyche. However, she knows that if Psyche were alive and wanted to return, she already would have. When she thinks Psyche must be dead or a slave, she goes to the Pillar Room to bury herself in work. For years, she has agents all over the world searching for Psyche, to no avail.

In the first year of her reign, the Queen hangs Batta after finding out that she has always blackmailed the other slaves into giving her valuables. She sells or frees many slaves, giving the freed ones their own homes and sometimes letting them marry for love. She sets Poobi free. Many of the freed slaves become successful and loyal subjects.

The Queen also makes the silver mines more productive. The King only used them as a place to send people as punishment, and they never made much money. The Queen finds a good overseer, buys strong slaves, provides good living conditions, and lets the slaves go after they have each mined a certain amount of silver. The mines become a source of wealth for the kingdom.

The Queen gives the Fox pleasant rooms and land, as well as money to buy books. Traders come to Glome once they realize that someone in Glome is buying books, though the books are very expensive. Orual and the Fox manage to buy eighteen books, which is impressive for Glome. They have Homer, Patroclus, Euripides, Socrates, and Heraclitus, among others. Arnom and other noblemen begin to learn from the Fox.

The Queen begins getting to know her nobles, and she meets Bardia’s wife, Ansit. She expected her to be beautiful, but, in fact, she is not. The Queen tries hard to be polite and loving to Ansit, but Ansit speaks little around her. The Queen wonders if Ansit might be jealous of her. The Queen knows that Ansit has borne Bardia’s children, but she has never shared the hardships of war with him. The Queen knows a side of Bardia that Ansit doesn’t. Bardia goes back and forth between them, never thinking of any conflict the two women might have.

The Queen doesn’t like having to sacrifice in the house of Ungit. At least Ungit is weaker now, she thinks. Arnom has let more light into the temple and he keeps it cleaner. He is also learning from the Fox to see the gods philosophically. He orders a woman-shaped statue of Ungit like the Greeks have—a contrast to the old, blank stone statue.. He has to send away men who have learned from the Greeks to have the statue made. The Queen contributes money, feeling that the new statue helps to destroy the Ungit that used to terrify her. When the statue is finished, it becomes a wonder and an object of pilgrimage.

The Queen realizes she’ll never find a room where she can’t hear the chains in the well, so she builds ridiculously thick walls around the well. She can no longer hear the sound, but for a while she’s tormented by dreams that she has walled up Psyche or Orual. The dreams eventually end, and the next year she defeats the kingdom of Essur.

The Fox grows old and plays a less active role; he writes a history of Glome, once in Greek and once in Glome’s language. He doesn’t know Glome’s language as well as he thinks he does, but the Queen doesn’t tell him this. As he ages, he strays from philosophy towards beauty and poetry. Sometimes he mistakes the Queen for Psyche or other people.

The Queen doesn’t have much time for the Fox. She makes many changes for the good of Glome, but she doesn’t care much about them in the long run. Every night, she must retreat alone to her own empty being. She hates evenings and mornings, and the days and years feel irritatingly repetitive.

The Fox dies, and the Queen writes Greek verses for his gravestone. He is buried behind the pear trees, where he, Psyche, and Orual were happy. Life goes on until the Queen decides she’s sick of seeing the same places over and over. She decides she’ll travel to other kingdoms and let her advisors take care of Glome in her absence, since it’s in such good shape. She leaves three days later, taking Bardia’s son Ilerdia and Poobi’s daughter, Alit.