Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Children of Virtue and Vengeance, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power and Systems of Oppression
Cycles of Violence
Tradition and History
Love vs. Duty
Summary
Analysis
Inan struggles to stay awake in the war room. Jokôye reports on her progress training killer tîtáns, but her words make Inan feel cold. He knows they’re headed for a bloodbath. Jokôye says that she’s getting closer to figure out where the Iyika are thanks to tîtán Seers. Inan rubs his bronze coin and dismisses the council. He almost falls asleep, but Ojore wakes him up. Ojore has been overseeing a project and Inan didn’t expect him back yet. Inan starts to assign him elsewhere, but Ojore says they have to talk about Zélie. Carefully, Inan says that she taught him to consider others’ perspectives and made him want to be a better king. Ojore seems distant. He says that in battle, Amari and Zélie need to die and leaves. Inan falls asleep and wakes in a field of blue lilies.
Inan’s reaction to what Jokôye says about her killer tîtáns shows again that he is, as Amari believes, interested in avoiding bloodshed at all costs and finding a peaceful solution instead—but given that no one trusts him and he’s only barely in control of his own council, it’s unlikely that Inan will ever be able to follow through with those desires. Ojore’s unwillingness to consider Inan’s perspective about Zélie is a product of his own history with maji, as for him, maji are nothing but dangerous, violent trouble.
Themes
