Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mortal Engines, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Social Class
Sacrifice
Dangers of Technology
The Importance of History
Prejudice and First Impressions
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
The next afternoon, Valentine lands back in London. Katherine watches from her bedroom window. She feels grief because she used to want to see Valentine, but now she dreads it. She watches him talking and laughing with Crome. Finally, Valentine comes inside, eager to tell Katherine about his travels.
This is Katherine’s first time seeing Valentine since she learned the truth about him and MEDUSA, although she still hasn’t quite accepted that Valentine isn’t the kind father that he seems to be when he's around her.
Themes
Katherine isn’t happy to see Valentine again. She tells him she knows what he did to Hester. Furthermore, she says she knows about how Valentine murdered Pandora. Katherine hopes Valentine will prove her wrong, but he doesn’t. Instead, he tries to claim that he did it all for Katherine, so that Crome would allow her to grow up as a lady.
Valentine admits that after he and Pandora parted ways, she married a farmer, then at some point went back to America and found the computer-brain that could control MEDUSA. Valentine admits he killed Pandora for MEDUSA but says he had to in order to stop her from turning it over to the Anti-Traction League. He reveals that he was close with Pandora once and that it’s even possible Hester is her sister.
Valentine’s honesty with his daughter is striking. It suggests that, as much as Valentine tries to hide his dark side, he nevertheless believes that his actions are all justified—or so he tells himself. The reveal that Hester might be Valentine’s daughter makes Valentine’s attempted murder of Hester all the more chilling.
Themes
Valentine reveals that MEDUSA will blast a path through the Shield-Wall that evening. Katherine says they have to stop it. Valentine argues that would leave London vulnerable in the middle of the Hunting Ground, but Katherine intends to find some way to stop MEDUSA anyway.
This conversation reveals how Valentine has fully internalized the eat-or-be-eaten mentality that Crome preaches, but Katherine nevertheless remains selfless, willing to put the welfare of the people behind the Shield-Wall above even her own city’s safety.
Themes
Get the entire Mortal Engines LitChart as a printable PDF.
