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Chapter Seventeen
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Children of Blood and Bone, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Prejudice and Inequality
Duty to Family vs. Self
Faith and Tradition
Cycles of Violence
Summary
Analysis
Zélie, Amari, and Tzain follow the man down a dark passageway. Zélie knows he is a sêntaro, a kind of high priest to the maji. He introduces himself as Olamilekan, or Lekan for short.
Even though magic is outlawed, Zélie’s knowledge of faith and tradition helps her forge a connection to this stranger and understand his powers and place within the larger maji community.
Active
Themes
Lekan leads Zélie, Amari, and Tzain to a vast central chamber decorated with beautiful murals of the gods. As he speaks, telling the stories of the Sky Mother and each of the children gods, the walls swirl with color and light. When he reaches Oya, Zélie’s patron god, he asks her to tell the story. Telling the story reminds her powerfully of her mother.
Again, Zélie feels a sense of kinship with Lekan and the temple because they invoke shared traditions—something Saran has tried to erase. Zélie learned those traditions from her mother, so she also feels a sense of connection to her lost family when she speaks about the gods.
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Themes
Lekan also explains that, every century, the scroll, the sunstone, and the bone dagger must be carried to a sacred temple for the binding ritual. King Saran found out about the ritual and slaughtered the sêntaros before carrying out the Raid, so that the connection to the gods and magic would be lost.
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Lekan says that the centennial solstice is approaching, and it will be a final chance to restore a connection to the gods. On this solstice, an island will appear. If the artifacts are taken there and the ancient incantation recited, magic will be restored for all divîners. But it’s only a month away.
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Themes
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The ritual must be performed by a woman. If Lekan performs a ceremony to connect Zélie to the Sky Mother, he says, she can be the one to carry out the ritual. Zélie is terrified. She feels like the gods must have made a mistake—there’s no way she’s strong enough to do the ritual. But she knows that without the ritual, the monarchy will continue seeing and treating her people as maggots forever.
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Themes
Lekan begins the ceremony to connect Zélie to the Sky Mother: he cuts Zélie’s hand with the bone dagger and submerges her in a bath. She feels a sensation of electricity in her veins and sees a vision of Oya spinning in red silk. She feels an overwhelming sense of magic and connection. After the ceremony, Zélie is almost too exhausted to stand. As she is about to sink into sleep, Lekan shouts that someone is coming—they have to flee.
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