A Drop of Corruption

The marrow has no direct impact on the plot aside from the importance that the characters place upon it; this trope, which originates in television studies, is called a “MacGuffin.” Though Pyktis schemes to destroy the marrow, he fails, and though Din and Ana fight to learn about it, they ultimately do not use it to any effect in the text. Indeed, the movements and actions of the marrow would be entirely the same if Pyktis had never committed his crimes and Ana and Din had never come to Yarrowdale.

Symbolically, however, the marrow also indicates that titans and augmentations are incorporated into every aspect of life in Khanum. The Apoths in particular are obsessed with understanding the leviathans; the marrow, found only at the center of these leviathans’ massive corpses, parallels the mystery of the titans. These great creatures menace the people of Khanum but also give them meaning. They kill many, but, as Ghrelin notes, the augmentations developed from titans’ bodies have helped combat problems entirely external to the danger of the titans, such as maternal mortality, respiratory illness, and hunger.