Qui Character Analysis in Bloodchild

Qui is Gan’s older brother, a Terran. As a young child Qui witnessed a botched birthing in which a Tlic allowed her offspring to eat a Terran alive. This made Qui hate the Tlic and view them as monsters. For several years he tried running away until he realized there was nowhere else to go. Now, Qui tries to make himself as small as possible, shielding himself from the Tlic with Gan, and jealously seeking escape from reality through the narcotic of the sterile eggs.

Qui Quotes in Bloodchild

The Bloodchild quotes below are all either spoken by Qui or refer to Qui. 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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“I saw them eat a man.” He paused. “It was when I was little. I had been to the Hartmund house and I was on my way home. Halfway here, I saw a man and a Tlic, and the man was N’Tlic. The ground was hilly. I was able to hide from them and watch. The Tlic wouldn’t open the man because she had nothing to feed the grubs. The man couldn’t go any further and there were no houses around. He was in so much pain, he told her to kill him. He begged her to kill him. Finally, she did. She cut his throat. One swipe of one claw. I saw the grubs eat their way out, then burrow in again, still eating.”

Related Characters: Qui (speaker), Gan

Page Number and Citation: 20

Explanation and Analysis:

I shook my head. “Don’t do it to her, Gatoi.” I was not Qui. It seemed I could become him, though, with no effort at all. I could make Xuan Hoa my shield. Would it be easier to know that red worms were growing in her flesh instead of mine?

Related Characters: Gan (speaker), T’Gatoi, Qui, Xuan Hoa

Page Number and Citation: 26

Explanation and Analysis:

Qui Character Timeline in Bloodchild

The timeline below shows where the character Qui appears in Bloodchild. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Gan surmises that had Qui been raised in such a way, perhaps he would not hate and fear the Tlic... (full context)

Gan hesitates and then convinces her to send Qui instead, since Gan wants to stay and help T’Gatoi. T’Gatoi warns Gan that he should... (full context)

A car arrives at the house carrying Qui, a Terran doctor, and T’Khotgif Teh. Gan explains what has happened and that there were... (full context)

Qui asks Gan what he saw and can smell the vomit in the air. He tells... (full context)

Qui follows Gan, pressing him for details of what happened and what he saw. Gan will... (full context)

Qui keeps following Gan and suddenly tells Gan that he has seen worse than Lomas’s birthing.... (full context)

Gan is shocked, but believes him. He understands that that is when Qui started trying to run away, before realizing that there is nowhere to run to; the... (full context)

Qui and Gan argue about whether or not the Tlic view the Terrans as mere host... (full context)

Qui continues to follow Gan and harass him until Gan attacks him, realizing after the fact... (full context)

...it all, and realizes that he is using Xuan Hoa as a shield just like Qui uses him. Gan decides that he cannot become like Qui and subject his sister to... (full context)

...he very nearly did. Gan realizes that suicide is the only true “running away” that Qui has been searching for. (full context)

Qui Character Analysis

Qui Quotes in Bloodchild

Bloodchild Quotes

Qui Character Timeline in Bloodchild