54 pages • 1-hour read
Dragonkeeper
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Chapters 20-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of child abuse, death, graphic violence, death by suicide, and animal cruelty.
Chapter 20 Summary: “The Garden of Secluded Harmony”
Ping eats a large breakfast alone and brings the leftovers to Danzi, who eats only a single piece of meat, although Hua stuffs himself. The emperor finds her soon after, and with Danzi on a lead behind him, he asks her to join him in the Garden of Secluded Harmony because his mother had wanted him to walk through this area. He also reveals that his mother is back in the capitol, mourning his father. Servants bring them warm coats and strong shoes, and they go for a walk through the beautiful, winding paths of the garden. The emperor asks Ping to call him by his name—Liu Che—and Ping reluctantly agrees. Liu Che brings her to a pavilion surrounded by blooming magnolias and gives her some of the blossoms, admitting that, like her, he had nobody to play with as a child. This confession startles Ping. He then gives her the seal of the Imperial Dragon Keeper—both as a gift, and because it is hers by law.
As they walk, Liu Che says that he hates wearing black, the official Imperial color. Ping reminds him that, as emperor, he can change the official color. At her suggestion, he decides to make the new color yellow. He then announces that he will turn the forest around the lodge into an imperial park for wildlife to enjoy, including Danzi; he says that Ping can live at the lodge and care for Danzi. An advisor brings them back to the main lodge to greet the scientists and alchemists, and Ping freezes before entering the building, sensing that someone she knows waits within. To her relief, it is only Wang Cao, but they pretend not to know one another.
Feeling guilty that Danzi didn’t enjoy the walk, Ping returns to the stables with him. She fantasizes about a comfortable life in the palace and is keenly aware that if she leaves with Danzi, the emperor will hate her. Danzi reminds her that they must leave as soon as possible, and she agrees, insisting that she already has a plan to escape that night through the forest.
Ping returns to Liu Che for dinner. He shows her the progress the alchemists have made (mostly asking him to eat cinnabar while they work on other potions). He then says that Wang Cao and the others want to experiment with dragon scales and blood. Wang Cao is visibly shocked to learn that Ping is the Imperial Dragon Keeper.
Over the course of the dinner, Ping inexplicably grows sleepy. However, she is determined to escape, so she changes into her normal clothes and goes to the stable, where she finds Wang Cao talking to Danzi. The herbalist is holding the dragon stone, which makes her nervous. She takes back the stone, then asks Danzi to give Wang Cao some scales and a note for Liu Che. To her surprise, Danzi complies, even giving Ping a scale for her own use. As Ping takes it and goes to say goodbye to Wang Cao, she collapses, drugged. Wang Cao smiles at her.
Ping wakes the next day to find that Wang Cao, Danzi, and the stone are gone. She screams in betrayal, and Hua cannot comfort her. The guards and Liu Che find her and try to comfort her, but she just cries into the emperor’s shoulder.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Halfway to Heaven”
The emperor’s physician tends to Ping as she and Liu Che discuss Wang Cao’s betrayal and the dragon’s disappearance. Eventually, they leave her alone to recover, and Ping is heartbroken to realize that Danzi left her willingly and that he believed Wang Cao would be a better Dragon Keeper. Ping feels as if she has betrayed Danzi by enjoying the comforts of imperial life.
Ping spends three days in a depressive haze, scaring the maids with Hua and refusing to engage in anything, despite Liu Che’s best efforts. Liu Che finally tells her that he is leaving for the mountain. He invites her and Hua to come, believing that beauty will cheer her up. They leave in a large group with many caravans and supplies, and Ping rides in a caravan with some of the ministers. She is further depressed by the contrast between the emperor’s way of traveling and Danzi’s, but when they reach the mountain, the prospect of climbing it excites her.
That morning, they camp at the base of the mountain so Liu Che can climb it during the night and reach the top at dawn. He gives Ping permission to climb as far as the South Gate, although only he is allowed to stand at the summit. He promises to help her find Danzi after he has settled the issue of his reign. This does not comfort Ping because she wants Danzi to remain free, but she dwells on how much she misses the dragon’s presence.
Ping walks beside Liu Che as they climb the mountain, passing through the Journey’s Beginning Gate, the Cypress Tunnel, and the Halfway to Heaven gate. There are thousands of steps, and Ping and the emperor quickly grow weary. When they cross Cloud Bridge, a narrow path illuminated by small white stones, Ping stops in the middle of the bridge, feeling trapped and knowing that she could easily fall to her death. She realizes that she wants to live, and she feels strength swelling from within and uses her second sight to follow the path in the darkness.
When they reach the final gate, only some young goatherds, a shaman, the goats, and the emperor are allowed to continue. Ping is baffled to note that the counselors seem to treat the frightened goatherds kindly by giving them a drink that calms them. After the emperor and his odd retinue ascend, Ping waits for the sound of the goats being sacrificed but hears nothing. Finally, she finally sees the lone emperor ascending the mountain in the distance. Tian Fen, the grand counselor, reveals that the shaman sacrificed the goatherds before killing himself, as only the emperor can set foot on the high mountain. Ping is horrified but stays quiet. The emperor descends and confirms that heaven has approved his reign (and his yellow robes). His attendants rush to give him food and water. As Ping goes to fetch water from a stream, she doubles over, her qi making her painfully aware that the dragon stone and the dragon hunter are both nearby.
Chapter 22 Summary: “Blood on Tai Shan”
As Ping concentrates on the songs from the stone and Danzi, she suddenly hears Danzi making his alarmed and upset noises all at once. She rushes down the mountain and sees Danzi, Wang Cao, and Diao on a neighboring mountaintop, with Wang Cao and Danzi trying to protect the dragon stone. Ping screams as Diao prepares to shoot Danzi in the heart. Her scream draws their attention and makes Diao miss his target and shoot Wang Cao instead.
Ping struggles across the rocks between the two mountaintops and finally reaches Danzi’s mountain as Diao shoots a crossbow bolt into the dragon’s leg, pinning him to a tree. She tackles Diao and uses qi to knock away his crossbow and fend off slashes from his dagger. He kicks her in the stomach and nearly sends her toppling off a small cliff, but as he goes to kick her hands out and make her fall, Hua runs up and bites his face, giving Ping time to climb back up and reach the dragon stone. Diao hits Hua with his club, sending him flying, but as the dragon hunter approaches Ping, she uses qi to shove him off the mountainside to his death.
Ping runs to tend to Danzi and Hua. The rat is still alive, but barely. She looks over at the mountain and sees Liu Che and the others watching her. Danzi tells her to return to the emperor, but she refuses, insisting that she must help him reach the ocean. Although Danzi cannot walk, he can fly; his wing is fully healed. Ping pockets the seal from the emperor, believing that to be the Imperial Dragon Keeper is still her role. She turns to the dying Wang Cao, who apologizes for his cowardice. Danzi blames himself for putting Wang Cao in a position that was not his to claim. As the guards confront Ping, she knocks them aside with qi and climbs onto Danzi’s back, securing herself and the stone. She sees that the emperor is visibly angry and is sad to have made an enemy of him.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Ocean”
As they fly, Danzi reassures Ping that Hua is still alive. He explains that Diao ambushed them when they reached the forest; he apologizes for not trusting her and for listening to Wang Cao, who was jealous that he was not the Dragon Keeper. Ping falls asleep, and when she wakes up, the stone has torn through the basket and changed color again, and Danzi is struggling to keep himself in the air. The clouds part and reveal the ocean, and the sight of it shocks Ping. Danzi tries to find a place on the shore to land, but they descend through a storm, and the wind buffets the stone out of Ping’s grip.
When they land, Ping runs to the stone, which is seeping warm water. Danzi joins her. Ping pulls the contents of the stone onto her lap; it seems to her like a limp, sticky vegetable, but she quickly realizes it is alive. Danzi takes the baby dragon and licks it clean. Ping is shocked and horrified that she didn’t know the true nature of the stone, but Danzi reassures her that it hatched at the right time. The baby is a male dragon; Danzi tells Ping what to feed it. As Ping tends to Hua, Danzi warns that the rat might not survive. Ping anxiously makes camp, reassuring herself that the new baby dragon will not grow up in captivity.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Perhaps There is No End”
Ping finds a fisherman’s former home and makes food. Danzi feeds the baby on his own blood. The next morning, Ping scolds Danzi for lying to her about the magical properties of the ocean’s water, but he tells her that she wouldn’t have understood then. Danzi tells her that he must fly with Hua to the Isle of the Blest, as otherwise they both will die. Ping must stay behind and be the mother and protector of the baby dragon. As Danzi prepares to leave, Ping bids Hua goodbye, and Danzi gives Ping all the possessions he had hidden in his scales, including the Dragon Keeper’s mirror. He tells her that she is the last and the best Dragon Keeper, just as the baby is the last dragon. Before he leaves, Danzi names his son Long Kai Duan, meaning “beginning.” Danzi takes off before Ping can say anything else. She prays that he can reach the Isle in time, then turns to Kai, telling him that they must find a goat so that he will have milk to drink.
Chapters 20-24 Analysis
The actions of Liu Che in this section are designed to reflect the historical realities of the young emperor’s reign and set the stage for his appearances in other installments of the Dragonkeeper series. Liu Che’s decision to change the imperial color from black to yellow symbolizes his commitment to effecting many social and cultural reforms despite the traditional worldview of his elders and advisors. The bright, fresh color also symbolizes the potential that the young emperor has, particularly since he adopts the yellow robes at the suggestion of Ping, a peasant. His willingness to incorporate her ideas shows his lack of bias and his openness to other perspectives, regardless of people’s gender or station. Additionally, the specific change from black to yellow represents the kindling of life and new growth in defiance of stagnant tradition, indicating the impact that both Liu Che and Ping will have on the future. Historically, although Liu Che was the one to start this trend, yellow is still considered an imperial and powerful color within Chinese culture even in modern times, and it has been reserved for emperors in dynasties long after Liu Che’s long reign.
However, not all of the emperor’s actions are enlightened, as the grim events in the novel’s climax soon show. Despite the multilayered symbolism of his new robes, the young emperor’s commitment to reform does not yet extend so far as to fully embrace the necessity of Combating Systemic Exploitation and Cruelty. Just as he sees no issue with holding Danzi in captivity, he also condones the deaths of the goats, the goatherders, and the shaman on the holy mountainside—simply because tradition dictates that only the emperor may ascend to the mountain’s summit. This ominous development reveals a darker perspective on the reality of the emperor’s rule, as well as his impact on the world.
For now, Liu Che’s attempts at reform remain superficial at best, and he only impacts tradition in petty ways that do not improve the lives of commoners. Liu Che doesn’t flinch at the prospect of executing the goatherds to secure Heaven’s blessing, and his perspective on the world is still selfish and limited, despite the fact that his commitment to progress is greater than that of his forebears. Ping is cognizant of the cruelty of the goatherds’ fate because she is the only person present who has been as helpless as they are. She therefore holds a unique perspective on the flaws of the imperial world. The exploitative nature of the emperor is also apparent in the fact that as soon as Ping betrays his confidence and stops being his personal “Dragon Keeper,” she becomes expendable.
By this point in Ping’s journey, her appreciation for Friendship and the Meaning of Loyalty has fully developed, and she must now learn the hard lesson that upholding one’s highest loyalties often makes it necessary to betray the friendship of others. Because she willingly gives up the emperor’s favor for the sake of her beloved dragon, she demonstrates the newfound ability of discernment and makes her own bold choices in a morally ambiguous world. Her staunch loyalty to Danzi also makes Wang Cao’s treachery even more apparent by contrast. Because he drugs Ping to keep her from following him and Danzi, he clearly knows that the strength of her commitment to the dragon would compel her to fight to stay by Danzi’s side. Thus, on some level, Wang Cao knows that his own actions are misguided.
However, the novel also implies that even Wang Cao’s treachery is nuanced and is not necessarily born of sinister intent. He betrays Ping because he loves Danzi and wants to redeem himself for his past failure to help the dragon escape captivity. This sequence of events therefore shows that people are always deeply affected by their pasts and often act irrationally because of unresolved trauma. Far from being simplistically “evil,” they are merely human, with all the virtues and flaws that such a state entails. Wang Cao’s actions are harmful to Ping and to himself, but he is nonetheless motivated by love.
The importance of freedom is further emphasized by the novel’s conclusion, in which Danzi commands Ping to protect his son, Kai, and make sure that he remains a “free” dragon. Notably, the meaning of freedom changes throughout the novel. At the beginning, the enslaved Ping sees freedom as an impossibility: something that she can only experience in brief moments of rebellion. However, by the end of the story, Ping is seemingly shackled to another form of duty and is fully committed to her roles as the Dragon Keeper and as Kai’s only guardian. However, these duties are not a form of enslavement; instead, they demonstrate Ping’s acceptance of The Complexities of Responsibility and Coming of Age.
As Ping learns, the freedom of a chosen duty is quite different from the life of an abused and enslaved young girl. Ping loves Kai and Danzi despite the challenges that her loyalty brings, and she chooses to remain the Dragon Keeper regardless of her uncertain future. In this, she recognizes that true freedom is not the ability to do anything at all, for ultimate power like the emperor’s often leads to corruption. Instead, she realizes that freedom is the ability to pursue chosen duties with love, guidance, and grace. By becoming the Dragon Keeper, Ping embraces a new responsibility that allows her to become the best version of herself.
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