Four Ruined Realms

“Our loved ones hang in the balance. If it can’t be trust, let vengeance bind us.”

This is Sora’s attempt to rally her friends. She notes that the secrets between them in their previous mission destroyed all the trust between the team members. Instead, she suggests that they look outside the team for motivation, directing them to act out of vengeance instead.

“Without burning anger, all you’re left with is the embers of grief. In many ways, fury is better because at least it’s something to cling to. Sadness is a barren expanse.”

Mikail thinks this about Sora after Euyn’s confession that he hunted her father, showing his response to grief and loss. Sora, however, shows how different responses can be: She starts off being angry but then gives in to sorrow. The characters all view sadness in differing ways; Mikail sees it as a weakness, but Sora sees it as a useful part of life.

“General Vikal is as ruthless as they come. In some ways, women have to be in order to be respected, whether here or in Yusan. Especially Yusan. Mercy is seen as weakness when it’s doled out by a feminine hand.”

Here, Mikail considers how, in some ways, both realms oppress women, but Yusan is decidedly worse in its oppression. This develops the theme of Cultural Differences in Gender Roles. Mercy is associated with femininity, which is looked down on, more so in Yusan than Khitan, but Khitanese people are still highly critical of women.

“I swear on the stars that if Joon touches a hair on my father’s head, I will cut away everything he’s ever cared about.”

Mikail worries about his father, Ailor, foreshadowing how Ailor will die to save Tiyung later in the novel. However, he doesn’t discover that Ailor has been killed by the end of Four Ruined Realms. The consequences of Ailor’s death will be revealed in the next installment of Corland’s series. This passage develops Mikail’s character through his strong loyalty to his father and his instinctive reliance on violence to right wrongs.

“Deprivation clings to you while excess gives up the moment it stops.”

Tiyung thinks about the lasting effects of trauma on himself and Euyn. After being imprisoned, their relationship with food changes. They eat quickly and ravenously because they remember being deprived of food, and he reflects here on how negative experiences, or those around loss, have a longer-lasting effect than positive ones.

“You and the others are like family, but not a family I’ve ever known. The one I’ve always wanted, one that actually gives a shit about me. And I’m not going to lose you. I lost my home once. I won’t let it happen again.”

Aeri says this to Sora to explain why she won’t leave Sora behind. Despite their lies to each other, Aeri’s found family is kinder than her blood relations. Home, to her, is about the people she is with, not a location.

“All the Temples of Knowledge have elements of the four original realms—the white marble from Wei, the gilded domes of Khitan, the fountains of Yusan, and the wooden doors of Gaya.”

This quote develops the title of the novel by listing the realms and what symbolizes them. The temples are places where all the realms are respected equally, but the vast differences in the construction of each culture’s temple foreshadow the coming conflict between them.

“Then I will die for my god, protecting what I love […] There are far worse ways to go. But if I abandon that I love just to live, what kind of life is that?”

This is a quote from the priest Luhk that develops the theme of The Complex Morality of Killing. In this case, Luhk’s willingness is not to kill, however, but to die as a sacrifice. His actions foreshadow Euyn’s willingness, later in the novel, to do the same.

“Atonement is for the Ten Hells. Life is for living, for making mistakes and wringing the most out of good moments because the bad will always be there.”

In this passage, Aeri offers her opinion about how to balance one’s life in the face of death. She argues that death should not keep people from living their lives to the fullest. People will be judged by god in the end, and that is enough atonement.

“Stars, I’d really like it if we could stop running for our lives.”

Mikail thinks this while he, Euyn, and Sora run from the Marnan guards. It is an example of a curse in Corland’s fantasy world. The term “stars” replaces more graphic expletives, referencing celestial divinity rather than Christian divinity or English swear words. Mikail’s comment also highlights how the characters have been “running” from one person or another since the beginning of the first book in the series.

“Maybe mercy is a privilege of the powerful.”

This is Sora’s thought about miscalculating an antidote that put her friends in danger. While Mikail noted earlier that mercy is negatively associated with femininity, Sora focuses on how socioeconomic class affects mercy. She argues here that mercy is a privilege that cannot be afforded by all.

“We don’t deserve love any more than we deserve air. It’s just something we need.”

Sora says this to Royo when he feels like he is too damaged by killing to deserve love. It foreshadows how, at the end of the novel, Aeri needs Royo’s love, but he feels like she doesn’t deserve it. Royo is less forgiving than Sora.

“This world is brimming with unkindness. It takes a brave hand to carve out a small piece of happiness and to stand ready to defend it.”

This quote further develops Sora’s thoughts about love. She wants to preserve Royo and Aeri’s love because the world is cruel, but she also notes that holding onto love, especially in the face of war and violence, is an act of bravery.

“The woman Euyn and King Joon say is vicious, dangerous. Will she be as they say, or will she be the soft mother I caught a glimpse of? A woman misunderstood in a place like Yusan but accepted here? Is she heartless or merely who the world forced her to be.”

Sora thinks this after seeing Queen Quilimar with her son, developing the theme of the cultural differences in gender roles between Yusan and Khitan. Oppression of women changes how they behave, which can be compared to other forms of trauma, such as the trauma of imprisonment that Tiyung is currently undergoing. However, when Quilimar is introduced, she is revealed to be multifaceted and complicated, not the simple stereotype of a woman that the characters have heard about.

“I’ve been ready to die since I was a child, but I’d rather greet Lord Yama trying to fight my way out.”

This quote develops Mikail’s opinions about death and killing. He references a deity of death in Corland’s fantasy world, developing her fictional religion. This can be compared to Aeri’s earlier assertion that she will wait to be judged by god for her killing, while Mikail's more characteristically confrontational quote highlights his lack of acceptance.

“You believe in your weak inferior female brain that you are right.”

Euyn says this to Quilimar as a way to goad her into gambling the Golden Ring. He weaponizes negative female stereotypes, developing the theme of cultural differences in gender roles. Quilimar is susceptible to this insult because she grew up in the more oppressive realm of Yusan.

“Maybe good people matter more than the gods.”

Tiyung thinks this when he is rescued from prison by Zahara. While Corland’s novel includes gods and religion, she focuses on developing the human, and animal, characters through their actions most of the time. With this focus, she returns responsibility and accountability to the human characters.

“It’s the four of us against the might of the four original realms.”

Aeri thinks this when she and her friends escape the palace and see forces from all the realms preparing for war. This connects to the title of the novel; war will ruin the realms. However, it doesn’t necessarily ruin the people of the realms.

“No one I love is safe so long as these rulers have power. I didn’t see it before because I didn’t want to. But I can’t unsee it now—the only way for the four of us to have a place in this world is to change it.”

Aeri knows that she and her friends have to take power from corrupt rulers to ensure the safety of their loved ones. She refers to her purposeful ignorance about the reality of the conflict, and with characteristic determination, she decides to confront and change it rather than escape.

“We are all warped by rage, by revenge, by the past.”

Sora thinks this after witnessing how Euyn’s death traumatizes Mikail. All the characters have been traumatized but are attempting to transform their trauma into the righteous defeat of the people who have harmed them and others. After Euyn’s death, Mikail becomes inured to killing, developing the theme of the complex morality of killing through his willingness to murder to stop a larger conflict.

“Maybe that’s what it takes—a woman willing to risk death itself to even the score. And I am that woman.”

This thought of Sora’s develops her character, showing her to be deeply loyal and committed to her loved ones, even to the point of death. She is willing to die to save her sister, which is ironic because her sister is already dead at this point. Mikail has hidden that information from Sora because even learning that Daysum was sold to a brothel was enough to incapacitate Sora.

“Mikail said some people in Wei are not male or female and instead go by xe.”

This quote pushes the novel’s interrogation of gender beyond the discrimination against women. The realm of Wei has space for people who are nonbinary, which challenges a hierarchy based on biological sex. The pronouns used by these people reflect how many Asian languages do not use pronouns at all.

“Our gods don’t give without taking.”

This quote is about the cost of magic. Using relics, which are infused with divine magic, harms humans and will eventually kill them if they use the relics too often. However, it also refers to the metaphorical cost of wielding great power.