Children of Blood and Bone

Children of Blood and Bone

by

Tomi Adeyemi

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Children of Blood and Bone makes teaching easy.
Maji is the term for divîners whose powers have been activated, meaning that they can perform magic. There are many different kinds of Maji with unique powers.

Maji Quotes in Children of Blood and Bone

The Children of Blood and Bone quotes below are all either spoken by Maji or refer to Maji. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
).
Chapter One Quotes

Deep down, I know the truth. I knew it the moment I saw the maji of Ibadan in chains. The gods died with our magic.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), Mama Agba
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Sixty-Six Quotes

In that instant it hits me: Zulaikha’s death. Zélie’s screams. They don’t mean a thing to him. Because they’re maji, they’re nothing. He preaches duty before self, but his Orïsha doesn’t include them. It never has.

Related Characters: Inan (speaker), Zélie, King Saran
Page Number: 432
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Sixty-Eight Quotes

Binta’s voice rings loud. The sight of her blood fills my head. I can avenge her now. I can cut Father down. While the maji take out the guards, my sword can free Father of his head. Retribution for all his massacres, every poor soul he ever killed […].

Related Characters: Amari (speaker), Binta, King Saran
Page Number: 443
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Children of Blood and Bone LitChart as a printable PDF.
Children of Blood and Bone PDF

Maji Term Timeline in Children of Blood and Bone

The timeline below shows where the term Maji appears in Children of Blood and Bone. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter One
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
...tell a familiar story: in the past, the land of Orïsha was home to white-haired maji who could perform all kinds of magic from the gods. As some maji became corrupted,... (full context)
Chapter Three
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Duty to Family vs. Self Theme Icon
Faith and Tradition Theme Icon
...ashore in a village and activated the powers of some local divîners, turning them into maji. (full context)
Chapter Eight
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...Saran says that in the past, his own father tried to be fair to the maji, but they were too powerful. Saran believes magic is the root of all pain, destined... (full context)
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Faith and Tradition Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...magic users. But it wasn’t enough: Saran realized the only way to really control the maji was to sever their connection to the gods. So he ordered his men to destroy... (full context)
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Faith and Tradition Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...able to abolish magic. Saran responds that he thinks for magic to truly die, all maji have to die as well. (full context)
Chapter Nine
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Faith and Tradition Theme Icon
Mama Agba says some words in Yoruba, the language  the maji use to communicate with the gods. Since the Raid, everyone has been forced to speak... (full context)
Chapter Twelve
Faith and Tradition Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...shock of white in Inan’s dark hair. She realizes he must be a Connector, a maji with power over mind, spirit, and dreams. But, he doesn’t have any idea. Thinking of... (full context)
Chapter Eighteen
Faith and Tradition Theme Icon
...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. (full context)
Chapter Twenty-Six
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
...he had a vision, clearly using magic. Shaking, Kaea asks how long he’s been a maji. Clearly terrified, she accuses him of being a traitor. Inan pleads that he’s still him,... (full context)
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
Panicked, Inan tackles her. Kaea screams for help, saying that Inan is a maji. Without meaning to, Inan sends turquoise energy swirling around her head. He tries to release... (full context)
Chapter Thirty-Five
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Inan travels alone through the desert, missing Kaea. He sends a message home that maji killed Kaea. He can’t stop thinking of Kaea’s last word, “maggot.” He tries to push... (full context)
Chapter Forty-Four
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Zélie has another perspective: she says that lack of power has led to the maji’s oppression. Without power, the monarch is free to see and treat them like maggots. Inan... (full context)
Chapter Forty-Seven
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Duty to Family vs. Self Theme Icon
...is inflicting more than emotional harm. It’s made of majacite, a special metal that burns maji. (full context)
Chapter Fifty
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...runs out of the encampment’s gate, his hands ablaze. He is a Burner, like the maji who incinerated Saran’s first family. As Zélie drops the sunstone, the Burner catches it, and... (full context)
Chapter Fifty-Two
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Duty to Family vs. Self Theme Icon
...he’s been carrying with him since Sokoto. They talk about his new status as a maji and the fact that Saran would kill Inan if he knew. Amari asks how she... (full context)
Chapter Fifty-Six
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...Zélie doesn’t want to share the scroll. All Zélie can picture is destruction at the maji’s hands. She says they need to establish control first, or people will get hurt. (full context)
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...thinks they can convince King Saran to give up his fear and violence toward the maji. He thinks they can unify Orïsha. Zélie is hopeful for a moment—but then she thinks,... (full context)
Chapter Sixty-Three
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
...fight back, but now they are. Saran says that his own father fought for the maji’s rights, and they burned his family. (full context)
Chapter Sixty-Six
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
...collected: harming Zélie is all in a day’s work for him. Because she is a maji, her death doesn’t mean anything to him, just as the deaths of those in the... (full context)
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
...to put down any thoughts of rebellion. He says there is no other way, because maji are dangerous. (full context)
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Duty to Family vs. Self Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...Zélie is bloodied and almost lifeless, in chains. Inan wonders how Saran can think the maji are animals when he behaves this way himself. Inan unlocks her restraints and carries her... (full context)
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Faith and Tradition Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...makeshift explosives to use as a distraction. Using their various powers in concert, the various maji in the group fight their way through the guards who remain in the hall. Amari... (full context)
Faith and Tradition Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...if need be. She feels a righteous anger, thinking of Binta and all the other maji who have suffered and died because of this man. She prepares to strike, but Tzain’s... (full context)
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Duty to Family vs. Self Theme Icon
...now determined to stop magic, but he also must save Zélie. He realizes that the maji breaking in will head to Zélie’s cell to try to find her, and so he... (full context)
Chapter Seventy-Four
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Duty to Family vs. Self Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...young prince, he watched as the monarchy considered a proposal to integrate leaders of the maji clans into the nobility of the court. Saran’s father dreamed of such a government, one... (full context)
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Faith and Tradition Theme Icon
...group is able to push past them with relative ease. The soldiers are expecting a maji army. A fog clings to everything, helping to obscure the group’s movements; Zélie thinks it... (full context)
Chapter Eighty
Prejudice and Inequality Theme Icon
Cycles of Violence Theme Icon
...is not the path—she must fix things. She needs to restore magic, so that the maji can finally be treated with respect, so they can ward off violence with the threat... (full context)
Chapter Eighty-Four
Duty to Family vs. Self Theme Icon
Faith and Tradition Theme Icon
...to her ancestors as she does so. She feels the power of her ancestors, both maji and kosidán, flowing through her. She feels their energy pulsing through her. The sunstone shatters... (full context)