Multiclassing Nerd

Complementing the villains' earthly, human weakness, the raka rebels' strength comes from two sources that are beyond the comprehension of the individual human. One, as is typical of the genre, is divine: the trickster god Kyprioth sponsors the rebellion in order to take back the Copper Isles from his siblings, who side with the colonizers. Aly is as close to Kyprioth as any mortal can be, yet he remains a source of mystery for her throughout the series. As a god, he is naturally beyond the comprehension of any mortal; and as a trickster, he deliberately keeps his motivations and true plans somewhat obscure. While Kyprioth's siblings are (like the regents) ignorant of the true extent rebellion until the final battle of the duology, Kyprioth frequently lends his supernatural support to the rebels. For instance, he does things like sending a prophet (in Aly) to the family of his chosen queen and giving the rebels the crows as allies. His actions serve to lend the rebellion a mythic quality and sense of divine justice that contrasts sharply with the all-too-human weakness of the regents.

The other, less conventional source of the rebels' power is centuries of preparation carried about by generations of raka living under luarin rule. Like Kyprioth's divine might, the collective power of the raka transcends that of the individual human. And as with Kyprioth, the raka's overwhelming material power is obscure not just by nature of its vastness, but by design: since the colonization of the Isles, the raka have learned to conceal themselves and their power--their magic, their military strength, their traditions--from luarin view. Now, as the revolution arrives, the leaders agree that no one person in the rebellion will know the true extent of it, emphasizing that the rebellion's victory will not stem from the heroism of the individual, but from the perseverance of the collective. Because the rebels access the perspective of the people, they understand the true reality of the Isles in a way that the regents refuse to--and that's why they win the war.

In a story that is entirely about the rebellion of an indigenous people against a racist colonist regime, Aly--a member of the colonizers' white-coded racial group, albeit a foreigner--seems like an odd choice for a protagonist. However, by virtue of being a luarin and an outsider, Aly has a unique relationship with the colonizing class that is worthy of greater focus. The chief weaknesses of the regents are their ignorance and their individualism, both of which Aly seeks to curb in herself. As a spy, Aly understands the value of information and abhors ignorance. In the first book, she snoops and uses the crows to find information. In the second book, she gains new methods of finding information, such as her spy network and the darkings. Aly is more well-informed about the rebellion than any other participant in it: so much so that Kyprioth casts a spell on her that prevents her from giving up information under torture or magic. However, that knowledge is ultimately imperfect, and potentially serves to mask Aly's true ignorance in the same way that the regents' ignorance is masked from them by their royal power. One moment when Aly realizes her ignorance is when she realizes that prospective queen Sarai has eloped, and she can do nothing to stop it. The Graveyard Hag physically prevents Aly from going off to search for Sarai at the critical moment, linking the revelation of Aly's ignorance and arrogance to the horror of powerlessness. However much information Aly gains, her knowledge remains incomplete. She cannot know everything about the gods, and she cannot know everything the rebellion needs to know. If she believed otherwise, then she would be making the same mistake as the regents. A key part of Aly's story is that she learns not to believe in her own myth or believe her power extends further than it actually does.

Aly's rejection of individualism parallels Pierce's rejection of the individualist hero in the context of the duology. Aly's realization of her own ignorance after Sarai's elopement is one example of her rejection of individualism: the realization pushes Aly to subdue her ego, and she in turn encourages Kyprioth to do the same. She then explains that while Sarai is gone, the rebellion survives, and has the potential to flourish under Dove's leadership. Where the regents fall back on their paranoia after every disaster and murder whomever they can deem responsible for their failures, Aly's discovery of her own weakness leads her to place greater faith in the rebellion that she serves and devote her individual strength more completely to the collective. In many ways, framing throughout the duology enforces the idea that Aly is not a lone hero, but a contributor to a movement far larger than herself. Significantly, Aly is a spy, rather than a warrior or a mage. As a result, her inherent physical and mental strength is less important than the connections she forges: rather than defeating her enemies in combat, she uses information to augment the power of her allies and disadvantage her enemies. In the prophecy fortelling the reestablishment of raka sovereignty, Aly is not the central figure, but again placed in a support role. As a luarin, Aly differentiates herself from the regents and their ilk by understanding that taking that supportive role is just and good, even if it means sacrificing her own myth as an individual--even if it means sacrificing the Tortallan identity that empowered and defined her for her entire life up until her arrival in the Isles, as she does temporarily at the end of the first book and permanently at the end of the second.