Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Six of Crows, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Greed
Friendship and Difference
Trauma, the Past, and Moving Forward
Identity, Values, and Growing Up
Summary
Analysis
The Dregs cheer as Kaz and Jesper come out of the Exchange. Kaz refuses to share what dirt he had on the Exchange guard, and he can tell that everyone is anxious after hearing about Bolliger’s betrayal. As he sends everyone off to drink and gamble, Jesper stops Kaz and insists Kaz should’ve let him know about Big Bolliger. But rather than say something nice and assure Jesper that he knows Jesper is loyal, Kaz just sends Jesper to gamble and drink on credit at the Crow Club. Jesper, Kaz knows, will be happy again after a few drinks—and he always manages to make everyone in the Dregs feel like they played a part in Kaz’s victory.
Kaz treats Jesper much the same way he treated Inej: coldly, not offering him any words of kindness or encouragement. Instead, he essentially buys Jesper’s love and continued loyalty with credit at the Crow Club. And further, letting Jesper do as he likes at the Crow Club is a good investment (it keeps the rest of the gang happy), so Kaz is likely still looking out for just himself when he extends Jesper the credit.
Themes
Kaz, meanwhile, walks down toward Fifth Harbor to make sure things are going well there. He can tell Inej is shadowing him—she can move so quietly—and he finally demands that she say what’s bothering her. When Inej says she’s upset that Kaz has apparently set Geels’s lover’s house on fire, Kaz reveals that he was bluffing: Geels’s lover is safe. He insists that “[w]hen everyone knows you’re a monster, you needn’t waste time doing every monstrous thing.” Then, he tells Inej to fire Rojakke, a dealer at the Crow Club who’s stealing money, leading Inej to observe that greed is Kaz’s god. After a bit more arguing, Inej disappears. Kaz paid off Inej’s indenture at the Menagerie two years ago, and she’s been a fantastic “investment.” But it bothers him that she’s so, so quiet.
Here, Kaz articulates how he uses his reputation as “Dirtyhands” to get his way: because everyone knows he’ll behave cruelly, he doesn’t strictly have to carry out every cruel thing that he threatens. This also keeps people guessing, which is convenient for Kaz. Inej, however, sees this as a really undesirable outlook on life, and she also takes issue with Kaz’s greed. This is why she notes that Kaz’s god is greed, suggesting that Kaz essentially worships himself and that his worship takes the form of anything that gets him what he wants.
Themes
Suddenly, a hulking shape appears in front of Kaz. Kaz can’t fight the man off—and then, another figure seems to step through a wall, like a ghost. Kaz is certain Jordie is back for vengeance, but then the figure stabs a needle into his neck. He wakes sometime later tied to a chair in a lavishly furnished study, with stadwatch guards at the door. An impeccably dressed mercher stands up from the desk, and based on his elaborate ruby pin, Kaz knows who this is: Van Eck. Van Eck tries to clean up the dirty and violent Barrel by securing men work with merchers. But Kaz argues that when one in five ships Van Eck sends out to sea sinks, he doesn’t actually have the moral high ground.
For the first time in the narrative, Kaz looks vulnerable as the figure incapacitates him. It’s not yet clear who Jordie is or why he wants vengeance (this is something the novel will return to later). It becomes clear that Kaz isn’t totally immoral when he comes to in Van Eck’s office and begins verbally sparring with the mercher: he recognizes that wealthy merchers like Van Eck are, perhaps, crueler to those below them than even Dirtyhands is: after all, Dirtyhands only kills those who double-cross him, while Van Eck seems responsible for dozens of regular deaths.
Themes
Kaz asks, “what business,” which is how all meetings begin in Ketterdam. Van Eck says the Merchant Council has a proposition for Kaz. He goes through Kaz’s history—first arrested at age 10, runs betting books, the youngest floor boss at the Crow Club, adept at blackmail, murder, and obtaining information. Kaz finishes picking his own chains, and he leaps to put a knife to Van Eck’s throat. When Kaz refuses to stand down, Van Eck calls for someone named Mikka—and Mikka walks through the wall. Van Eck explains that this is possible thanks to jurda parem, and Mikka is drugged, not Kaz. The Merchant Council got a sample of jurda parem, which is similar to normal jurda, from the scientist Bo Yul-Bayur.
Kaz’s reputation very clearly precedes him, and everything Van Eck lists contributes to readers’ understanding of Kaz as a shrewd and cruel businessman. However, Kaz also can’t control his shock at seeing the Grisha Mikka walk through the wall, which is a feat that Grisha cannot normally do. Finally, readers get some backstory on jurda parem—and what its significance is to the story.
Themes
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Van Eck offers to give Kaz a pistol if Kaz will sit down, and Kaz promptly turns the pistol on Van Eck. Van Eck explains that they fed jurda parem to Grisha indentures from each order. The Healer and Fabrikator belonged to Councilman Hoede, and Mikka is Van Eck’s own Tidemaker. Jurda parem, Van Eck says, changes a Grisha’s perspective, allowing them to do things like change their own bodies from solid to liquid to gas. It’s lethal to non-Grisha—and observing Mikka’s sickly look, Kaz thinks it’s not healthy for Grisha, either. Van Eck then hands Kaz a huge lump of gold that the Fabrikator made. He explains the jurda parem is behind the Shu paying off their debts to the Kerch with a bunch of gold and the Zemeni ambassador’s assassination.
As Van Eck describes the experiments on Mikka and Councilman Hoede’s Grisha (who are, presumably, Anya and Yuri from the first chapter), note how flippant he is about how jurda parem affects the Grisha. He notes his ownership over Mikka, for one, and it’s Kaz, rather than Van Eck, who observes that jurda parem clearly doesn’t do good things for Grisha long term, even if they can do miraculous things in the short term.
Themes
Van Eck says it could be devastating if jurda parem becomes widespread: vaults and fortresses won’t be safe, and the economy will collapse if Grisha can make gold from anything. So, Van Eck would like Kaz to “save” Bo Yul-Bayur, who is currently awaiting trial at the Ice Court in Fjerda. At this, Kaz bursts out laughing and insists that “canal rats” like him also value their lives. He only takes Van Eck seriously when Van Eck offers 20 million kruge—Kaz is greedy. This mission would require a very specialized team, but would it be any different from stealing valuables from a safe? And the money would be enough for Kaz to finally pay his “debt to Jordie,” to say nothing of boosting Kaz’s reputation and allowing him to start his own gang.
While Van Eck lays out several reasonable reasons why jurda parem can’t get out—the collapsing global market, widespread theft—note that Kaz only cares about “sav[ing]” Bo Yul-Bayur because of the money he’ll earn. However, this passage also reveals that Kaz isn’t just greedy because he dreams of money. Rather, he does have other motivation for money: avenging whatever happened to Jordie, whose identity is still a mystery at this point.
Themes
Kaz asks why Van Eck has come to him and the Dregs, and Van Eck explains that Kaz doesn’t get caught—and he implies that Kaz is the one who recently stole his prize DeKappel oil painting out of an extremely secure gallery. Before accepting the deal, Kaz asks what happened to the Healer who took jurda parem. Van Eck asks Kaz to accompany him, leading him through the house—which belongs to Councilman Hoede—and outside. Kaz heard there was a firepox outbreak here last week. But at the boathouse, which stinks of human waste, Kaz sees guards standing and staring blankly. Van Eck says the Healer took control of all the guards moments after taking the parem, and then she told them to wait. They’re still waiting. She told Hoede to cut off his thumb, and he happily did so. He’s in the countryside, looking much like the guards here.
It's an interesting detail that Van Eck conducts this conversation with Kaz at Councilman Hoede’s house rather than his own, though it’s possible he simply wants to show Kaz what happened after Anya took jurda parem (she’s the Healer they discuss here).
Themes
Kaz suspects Hoede deserved his fate—Grisha came here as indentures after the Ravkan war ended. They didn’t realize they were basically entering slavery. Van Eck explains that the Healer tried to leave in a small boat, but she died trying to return to Ketterdam for another dose. Jurda parem is extremely addictive and, Van Eck says, “debilitating.” Kaz says he’ll do the job for 30 million kruge, and Van Eck agrees grudgingly. They shake on it, and Van Eck asks why Kaz always wears gloves. Kaz says that Van Eck should pick any of the rumors (that he has claws, is scarred, or can kill with a single touch), as “they’re all true enough.”
Again, as Kaz notes that Hoede likely got his comeuppance, the novel suggests that Kaz does have a sense of right and wrong; his job in the gang may simply necessitate leaning on violence and cruelty more often than not. Kaz’s response to the question about his gloves suggests that there’s certainly more to the story than Kaz lets on, and there’s likely more to that story than the rumors about Kaz suggest. It seems more likely that the gloves show readers—and try to hide—Kaz’s weakness, whatever that might be.
Themes
