73 pages • 2-hour read
Empire of Silence
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, physical abuse, graphic violence, and death.
The Tension Between Fate and Choice
Hadrian wrestles with this philosophical issue throughout the entire series, both as a young man and as the retrospective narrator. Empire of Silence suggests that these two opposing forces interweave to control Hadrian’s path, but the author resists drawing definitive conclusions about which of the two holds more sway. Notably, the narrator-Hadrian often inserts asides reflecting on the power of fate and choice, even arguing that his name is a curse placed upon him at birth and opining that names either “defin[e] us that we might live up to them, or giv[e] us something to run away from” (2). Whenever he compares himself to a pawn in a chess game or a fish caught by a seagull, these metaphors underscore his fear that he has no control over his own life and that the heritage of the Marlowe family “is destiny” (95) itself and will always dictate his path in life.
The argument for the power of fate manifests at a number of different points in the novel, most notably toward the climax, when he stumbles upon the strange chamber in the ancient ruins and has a vision of the Cielcin spreading across the galaxy, an enormous ship piercing a star, and a voice stating, “This must be” (559). Without context, this vision is meaningless. However, the framing narrative has already foreshadowed the genocidal events that will lead to the Hadrian’s imprisonment in the future, and it is therefore clear that this vision refers to the moment Hadrian will destroy the sun over the planet Goddodin. Although the narrator-Hadrian does not acknowledge the issue of destiny explicitly, the vision nonetheless implies his view that his fate is inevitable. This scene suggests that even before Hadrian enters the war, he has always been destined to destroy Goddodin. The narrative makes a similar argument in Chapter 72, when Hadrian reflects on the “quirk of fate” (634) that makes him a Cielcin interrogator despite his efforts to escape the Chantry entirely.
Conversely, in other sections, the narrative demonstrates the impact of Hadrian’s more impulsive choices, which often lead him into dangerous situations and trap him in ways he does not anticipate. For instance, in his duel against Gilliam, he laments failing to find a way to end the dispute peacefully, but the fact remains that his choice to end Gilliam’s life has significant consequences. Likewise, on several occasions Hadrian’s impulsive decisions alter the course of his life in such a way that he often becomes his own worst enemy. For example, when he loses his temper and beats Crispin nearly to death, this action forces him to flee Delos, and when he later sneaks into the dungeons to see the Cielcin, he is caught by Balian’s men. Finally, when he hits Gilliam and incites the duel, he locks himself into an inexorable series of events that pushes him closer to a disastrous future. Ultimately, the novel remains ambivalent and refuses to decide which force has more control in Hadrian’s life, and this point continues to be a primary question throughout the series.
The Influence of Stories on Perception and History
Building from the motif of stories, this theme explores the role that certain stories play in shaping individual perceptions and broader histories, focusing on the idea that narratives can be crafted to influence, alter, or obscure people’s perceptions of objective truth. Although the novel primarily interrogates the Chantry’s use this strategy to advance the notion of human primacy throughout the universe, Hadrian’s use of stories is also implicitly emphasized, given that the entire story is told from the perspective of his older self. As the narrator, Hadrian explains and defends his actions in a clear attempt to influence the way he will be remembered. Every time the narrator-Hadrian interjects to philosophize about his choices or foreshadow future events, he draws further attention to the artifice and calculation inherent in the very act of storytelling. Because the narrator-Hadrian is so deeply invested in his own image, his narration is inherently unreliable. One example of this is when the narrator recounts the young Hadrian’s first meeting with a Cielcin and states that of “all the stories they have told” about this moment—including the versions Hadrian started himself—“no one has ever gotten this scene quite right” (348). This admission of his own failed accuracy highlights the unreliability of stories in general and of the narrator-Hadrian specifically.
This theme takes on a broader focus when Hadrian argues, “We are all stories” and claims that such life-narratives are “forces that shap[e] the mind” (576). Specifically, adventure stories influence Hadrian’s perspective on the universe, humanity, and the role he wishes to play in the world. His younger self is enamored of past heroes real and fictional, as their conduct and exploits inspire his own behavior and influence his goals. He even uses such references to explain his plans to others, and even his friends mock him for embracing a collection of literary clichés. With this self-conscious approach to its own status as a story, the novel demonstrates that stories wield inestimable power over the formation of people’s dreams and goals and can thus have both positive and negative effects on the course of real-world events.
Ultimately, the primary focus of the novel is on the manipulative methods of storytelling that the members of the Chantry use to justify their actions, control entire populations, and alter society’s perceptions of the Chantry’s relevance to history. This insidious dynamic is best represented by the false narrative of humanity’s primacy in space: a prime example of Chantry propaganda that is used to enforce the dangerous entity’s cruel dominion over Sollan society. By enforcing a narrative that claims humanity was the first to develop space travel and spread across the galaxy, the Chantry seeks to justify the brutality of the humans’ colonialist endeavors across worlds. Thus, they control this version of history to rationalize imperial violence and protect their own power.
The Violence of Imperialism and Religion
This theme examines the violence inherent in the wedding of imperialism to religion, and the novel makes it clear that this dynamic often gives rise to a twisted mix of colonialism, propaganda, surveillance, and outright terror tactics. The narrative argues that religion—in this case, the entity of the Chantry—is a vital tool that an empire weaponizes in order to control populations, defend its authority, and justify its actions. One method of this control is the strategic act of storytelling. Because the Chantry’s entire faith and the justification of the empire are both built upon the false belief that humans were the first species to spread across the stars, this particular religion demands the continued spread of humanity to as many planets as possible. More importantly, the Chantry has an existential interest in the propagation of this lie and must defend their claim at all costs or else risk losing their authority—and, by extension, the authority of the entire empire.
The Chantry also fosters xenophobia by casting all nonhumans as either animals or monsters. They integrate some xenobite species into imperial society by enslaving them, and such beings are falsely viewed as primitive or childlike, requiring paternalistic protection. Others, like the Umandh, are enslaved outright and treated not as sentient species but as domesticated animals. The Chantry also casts the Cielcin in the role of demons, marking them as monstrous so as to justify their wholesale slaughter. These attitudes are strategically transmitted via the Chantry’s stories about Cielcin atrocities. As Ligeia indicates in Chapter 53, the Sollan Empire views the Cielcin as demons that “must be wiped from the face of [the] galaxy” and utterly “purged” (448). She also quotes a somewhat altered line from the King James Version of the Christian Bible, “Thou shalt not suffer demons to live” (Exodus 22:18). Because the words “demons” has replaced the word “witches” in a quote that originates from a real-world religious text, the author clearly intends the Chantry to symbolize the very worst of dogmatic organizations that arise in tandem with imperial social structures bent on domination and the dissemination of cultural propaganda.
Although there are meany references to the Cielcin as “demons,” the novel flips this accusation on its head by suggesting that the humans are the true monsters of the narrative. The argument can be made that the humans are the ones who have spread across the universe like a plague, conquering or destroying all other cultures in a fervor of self-righteousness and xenophobia. Thus, the humans ironically do not acknowledge their own monstrosity, projecting their own malicious actions onto their enemies. Although the Cielcin are also violent, events such as Makisomn’s pitiful execution portray them as victims of the Chantry Inquisition’s cruelty and violence. This dynamic is best represented in the final section of the novel, when Hadrian witnesses the corruption and sadism of the Chantry and the Legion forces. Even so, the Chantry’s virulent attitudes manage to infect Hadrian himself, pulling him into the Inquisition despite his efforts to resist it. Unlike The Tension Between Fate and Choice, the novel’s condemnation of the blending of imperialism and religion is unequivocal; the author clearly argues that imperialism is a violent and destructive force built on fear and hatred, and in this context, religion is rendered a mere weapon in the empire’s service.
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