The beginnings of all three books in the Legacy of Orïsha series by Tomi Adeyemi share a common structure. They open with Zélie leaving a boat to fight. This is a repeat pattern, but each book has its own twist on the conceit. Noticing it gave me a lot to chew on.
See and Annotate The Details For Yourself
The Beginning of Book 1: The Boat, The Fight
📍 Illorin’s Coast
Zélie leaves Baba & her family’s fishing boat at home on a day when she is supposed to keep an eye on him. Zélie sneaks away, while he sleeps, to attend an important training session with Mama Agba. Unfortunately, Baba wakes up and gets into a life-and-death situation when he takes the boat out fishing alone. Revisit Chapter 2, page 22 in Children of Blood and Bone when Tzain calls her out on this.
The Beginning of Book 2: The Boat, The Fight
📍Warre’s Coast
Zélie leaves Röen’s commandeered warship for Amari’s rally. When that goes south, she flees and joins the Iyika resistance at lle ljosin (the sanctuary). Revisit Chapters 1-5 of Children of Virtue and Vengeance.
The Beginning of Book 3: The Boat, The Fight
📍[Redacted] Coast
Zélie leaves the Skulls’ ship to…[Sorry, I have redact this to keep it spoiler free.] Read Part 1 of Children of Anguish and Anarchy!
Thematic Observations About This Pattern
As I finish reading Children of Anguish and Anarchy, this pattern of Zélie leaving boats at the beginning feels tied into the series-wide motif of drowning. In the first two books, a lot of key moments happen underwater1, and lot of key characters nearly drown2. The fact that Zélie starts out each book leaving a ship she doesn’t want to be on to fight feels metaphorical and predictive of her journey. She will not let herself be adrift or lost at sea. She needs her feet firmly on land, connected to her home soil and her Orïsha.
SPOILER WARNING: FOOTNOTES CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 1 AND 2
- Key Underwater Moments: In Children of Blood and Bone, Zélie uses blood magic for the first time underwater. Zélie builds a waterfall and swimming pool in Inan’s dreamscape that she could stay in forever. In Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Röen gives Zélie a life-affirming ocean diving experience. ↩︎
- Near Drowning: In Children of Blood and Bone, Tzain almost drowns as a kid, Baba almost drowns at sea, and Zélie almost drowns after the gladiator style battle in the Ibeji arena. In Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Zélie and Röen almost drown when a tunnel collapses under Ibidan’s lake. ↩︎
Annotate With Sara 