“Under my rule, this will be a land where even the poorest villagers are fed, housed, and clothed. A kingdom where everyone is protected, where everyone is accepted! The divisions of the past are over!” I extend my hands and lift my voice. “A new Orïsha is on the horizon!”
Amari harbors a sense of obligation towards righting her family’s wrongs against the people of Orïsha especially the Maji. Therefore, she intends to use every means at her disposal as the princess of Orïsha to unite all the tribes of the land. Though the resistance army and the maji in general are distrustful of her, they back her in securing the throne. In the quotation, Amari speaks to the crowd assuring her intentions before dueling with Ramaya to be the Connector. The several attempts at pursuing her noble cause usually end up disastrous including the duel. Consequently, she has to contend with the love-hate relationship with the maji people because they cannot fully trust a tîtán on their side. The statement is therefore one of the instances where Amari clarifies her pure intentions despite how far-fetched they may seem.
“The monarchy has magic now and they still hate us. It was never about magic at all!”
The novel picks from the previous events where the tîtáns are revealed to have magical powers due to their Maji ancestry. Following the Raid, every Diviner lost their magical abilities but their appearance still made them targets of oppression from the nobles. Therefore, since the nobles have regained their magic, the hatred should cease, but quite the contrary, it was never about the magic. The tîtáns can use magic without the help of spells hence are much more dangerous than before. The Maji have more reason to fear them, therefore, hasten to dethrone the current monarchy. Through Amari and Inan, it is evident that only certain members of the monarchy have a deep-ingrained hatred towards the Maji population.
“You have to look beyond the surface if you truly want to achieve the peace you seek.”
The dream to unite Orïsha is Amari’s primary goal, of which she finds support from the maji resistance army and also Zélie. Though the goal is clear, some variables make the mission complicated. It becomes difficult to ascertain the intent of the next person when their action contradicts yours. Amari encounters this dilemma when engaging with Zélie specifically after she refuses to teach her Yoruba because she is a tîtán. In the statement, Mama Agba informs her that the war between the monarchy and the Maji has lasted for centuries. Therefore the journey towards finding harmony between them is to understand the complexity of the matter at hand.
