In the nineteenth chapter of The Broken Kingdoms, Oree discovers the reason that Sermyn and Dateh kidnapped her. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read The Broken Kingdoms.
Chapter Nineteen: “The Demon’s War” (charcoal and chalk on black paper)
This is incredible. Revelatory. Inspiring. A goddamn spectacle. Y’all, this is easily becoming the best fucking thing I’ve read period. I can’t even fathom how to convey this to you, but I’m going to try because THIS IS UNREAL.
I’m interested in why these narrative asides are present because at the very beginning of chapter nineteen, Oree says:
I will tell myself, then, that what happened next was a fortunate thing, though even now it feels anything but.
Which, given what I just read, worries me a bit because that means there’s still something else left to happen because THIS WAS INCREDIBLY FORTUNATE. It’s not surprising that Dateh returns because he was was the only plot thread left dangling here, but that doesn’t mean N.K. Jemisin doesn’t have about a billion things up her sleeve that she unleashes in a monstrous demonstration of her talent. Because y’all, I don’t mind being so open about my praise of her even though I know she checks these out. It takes so much skill to execute a climax like this. She hid the answer the whole time RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE. Oree could create anything she believed in, including whole worlds, so HOW DID I MISS THAT THIS WAS THE POINT? Because this is me we’re talking about. I am constantly wronger than I ever was. (Wow, TextEdit says “wronger” is a word.)
It’s fascinating to me, then, that Jemisin pulls the curtain back on Dateh’s purpose in the way she does here. Oree and Shiny are pulled into his Empty, encapsulated in a weird “bubble,” and what we witness as the reader is a sort of literal pulling back of the curtain. In this context, it’s the power that Dateh has gained by subsuming the hearts of gods that allows for this to happen. As Lil warned, it’s bad for mortals to consume gods. But now we find out why she said that: They cannot hold all those gods within their body.
Actually, we find out SO MUCH:
“You hid yourself within my Emptiness, didn’t you, Oree Shoth? Untrained, in terror, with nothing but instinct, you carved out a safer realm for yourself.” To my horror he held his hand out as if he actually expected me to take it. “It is why Serymn hoped to win you to our cause. I can create only this one realm, but you’ve already built dozens. You can help me build a world where mortals need never live in fear of their gods. Where you and I will be gods, in our right, as we should be.”
THERE’S JUST SO MUCH TO UNPACK HERE. I know why I didn’t figure this out. I had a sneaking suspicion that Serymn and Dateh hadn’t really thought about the ramifications of killing the Nightlord. We knew that all existence would collapse if the Three were truly killed. My problem was that I assumed they were fools and hadn’t thought of this. Clearly, they had, and threatening a person with the death of ALL LIFE EVER would have probably been fairly convincing for Oree. Still, note that this is about his desire to create a world where mortals “need never live in fear of their gods.” In one context, I get that; he’s a demon, and his existence is a kind of heresy. His very life is a risk in and of itself. At the same time, he wants to make himself a god because he deserves to be one? AND LOOK HOW HE TREATS OREE, WHO IS A MORTAL. Yeah, I’m sorry, I wouldn’t trust you for a goddamn second, Dateh. You’d just set up the same world all over again. Of course, it’s fun to look back on this segment and think of Dateh trying to beg for mercy from Itempas because he didn’t know Shiny was Itempas. THAT’S A FUN THING TO DO.
You know what’s not fun at all? DATEH.
Because what stood there, enormous and heaving, rocking on twenty legs and flailing with as many arms – and oh gods, oh gods, his FACE – was too hideous for me to take without some outlet for my horror.
OH, SO THAT’S WHY OREE COULD SENSE MULTIPLE ARMS OR HEADS ON DATEH BEFORE. OH. OH.
I could not take my eyes from the great gabbling thing Dateh had become. I wanted to deny what I had seen in Dateh’s face: Paitya’s gentle smile, Dump’s square teeth, Madding’s eyes. And many others. There was almost nothing left of Dateh himself – nothing but will and hate. How many godlings had he consumed? Enough to overwhelm his humanity and grant him unimaginable power.
!!!!!!!! WHAT ABOUT THIS IS AN OKAY THING TO DO TO ME????? NONE OF IT, THAT’S WHAT. (Spoilers for the first Hunger Games book: Guvf erzvaqrq zr bs gur ubeevoyr zhggf gung gur Tnzrznxref frag gb gur Pbeahpbcvn ng gur raq bs gur obbx.) I mean, look, Dateh was already a huge creep. I didn’t need this. I DID NOT NEED IT AT ALL. But this is about greed and gluttony and power, and it’s the perfect way to represent just what’s wrong about what Dateh’s done. It’s so wrong that for a brief moment, Oree’s very willpower manifests into a “bauble of silver light.” Can we just talk about that? Oree’s magic allows her to manifest AMBIGUOUS CONCEPTS AS PHYSICAL OBJECTS. Did you read that? That’s a thing that happened in this fucking book, and it’s not even close to the best thing here.
Oree makes a choice. (And I love that the language here is so specifically about how this is a choice, that it’s Oree’s free will that solved everything.) She makes a choice to manifest her will within Shiny AND LITERALLY WILL HIM BACK INTO THE VERSION OF ITEMPAS THAT SHE WISHED EXISTED. I CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS THOUGHT. (Oh god, LOOK AT THE CHAPTER TITLE.) Again, this takes me right back to my experience with God and how badly I wished God was what I wanted Him to be. Oree made this reality, if only for a few minutes. She wills Itempas back into existence, painting a picture of a loving, warm, benevolent god who righteously destroys what is evil and wrong. She takes possibility, and she makes it real. Jemisin evokes the beauty and awe through some of her most poetic prose yet, as well, and it’s just a pleasure to read. We understand what an intensely unique experience this is, and we appreciate its grandeur. I mean:
My god stood before me. No Maroneh had seen Him since the earliest days of the world.
And yet, Oree made it happen. She willed it so. In this moment of creation, though, is something that is just too goddamn beautiful: Itempas apologizes. He doesn’t need to, and I didn’t get the sense that Oree willed that to happen. No, I think what we see here when he speaks to the “essence” of the godlings is his developed, which, may I remind you, was possible because of Oree. Her conversations with Shiny shaped his growth as a character. Just… I CAN’T:
“I’m sorry,” He said, His beautiful eyes full of pain. (So familiar, that.) “I have been a poor father, but I will do better. I will become the father you deserve.”
Note that he makes it a personal mission. “I will,” he says. This is not Oree changing him; that’s Itempas himself, honoring his children by promising them something better than what they’ve gotten.
It’s sad, then, that Oree gets to glimpse the god she’s always wished was hers, and then she has to let Him go. She has to literally stop believing in the very God she’s desired her whole life. THAT IS SO HEART-CRUSHING. But she can’t sustain the magic forever. And so she returns Itempas back to his Shiny form, but not without A BILLION EMOTIONS:
But I asked through chattering teeth, “Are you my friend now?”
“Yes,” he replied. “As you are mine.”
I could not help smiling all the way into dreams.
NO, ONE OF MY FAVORITE LITERARY THEMES IS FRIENDSHIP THIS IS THE BEST ENDING EVER BUT ALSO THE WORST BECAUSE MY HEART. I can’t believe this book. STOP DOING THIS TO ME.
Please note that the original text and the videos contain uses of the words “stupid,” “mad,” and “demented.”
Part 1
Part 2
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