72 pages • 2-hour read
King Sorrow
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide features discussion of death and death by suicide.
Faith in Human Goodness
Hill argues that moral goodness is a requisite for defeating evil. In Parts 4 and 5, Gwen reviews the manuscript of a book Arthur intended to publish on dragonslaying. Alongside tips on how to defeat entities like King Sorrow, the book is a guide on nobility, pointing out that even in morally compromised times, anyone has the capacity to harness their internal goodness.
Central to this is belief in one’s moral worth, which arises from the support of loved ones. Only when characters feel that they have redeemed their past misdeeds can they defeat King Sorrow—something that they cannot accept without external confirmation. Moreover, the novel makes it clear that it is ultimately a mutual commitment to positive outcomes that makes characters into good people. As Arthur concludes just before he draws the Sword of Strange Hangings, “I wish I was half as good as my friends believe I am […] It might be enough that I know in my heart what I want to do with this blade. That’s how it judges, you know? Not what you’ve done before, but what you choose to do now” (648-49). Arthur’s remorse about his complicity in King Sorrow’s collateral damage is balanced by his understanding that his friends see him “as good.” Gwen similarly doubts her nobility because she has given people up to King Sorrow. However, in Part 5, Tana expresses her faith in Gwen, based on the care Gwen has extended to her and Jett. Her affirmation empowers Gwen to battle King Sorrow, just as the judgment of the Sword of Strange Hangings enables Arthur to eventually come back as a sword himself.
Donna’s character arc underscores the novel’s conclusion that humans are basically good. Donna imagines a world without criminals, but her initial approach seeks not justice but vengeance. She chooses to kill Francine Trout without evidence of her guilt in Cady Lewis’ murder, a choice that causes the deaths of many others, like Wendy Arthur. In Part 5, Van’s spirit awakens Donna to the idea that she has become just as morally bankrupt as the people she despises. His admonition is an expression of faith: He believes Donna can be better. Thus buttressed, Donna turns against Colin, helps Gwen in the last stand against King Sorrow, admits her faults, and declares her loyalty to “the people who will live if we cut King Sorrow down” (829). This redeems her character.
At the very end of the novel, Robin extends faith in human goodness beyond Gwen’s friend group. Robin’s advice to let others handle the threat of new dragons is an expression of hope, lifting the burden of responsibility from Gwen’s shoulders and affirming that many other people can be just as good as her.
The Ethics of Killing
The arrangement with King Sorrow poses the compelling moral question of whether murder can ever be justified. Hill drives this question by juxtaposing the characters’ fictional targets, like Horation Matthews and Norman Barclay, against the real-life perpetrators of tragic mass-casualty events, like Osama Bin Laden and Timothy McVeigh. It is tempting to conclude that if Arthur and his friends could kill these bad actors before they have the chance to hurt others, they would radically improve the world in the name of justice.
Hill challenges this premise by subverting expectations and showing that the friend group’s preventive justice system is thus flawed in two ways. First, even when the protagonists succeed in killing their targets, they fail to prevent other tragedies from happening. For instance, in the novel, Horation is secretly funding McVeigh; Horation’s death does not prevent McVeigh’s 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Second, the temptation of having power over the lives of others is too great. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Colin admits his failure to name Osama Bin Laden as a sacrifice despite being aware of this malefactor. In response, Colin contributes to the US invasion of Iraq, benefiting from the devastation in the Middle East and committing to using the sacrifices to advance his personal interests. The power of King Sorrow corrupts deeply, as shown when Colin murders Arthur and names Gwen as a sacrifice to maintain access to the supernatural monster. Hill thus suggests that any system to preemptively root out bad actors is susceptible to corruption and bias, and will cause needless violence that undermines the objectives of justice.
The novel’s only positive ethical depiction of killing occurs in the intentional ending of a person’s life as a form of mercy. Gwen uses dragon tears as a tool for assisted suicide, helping those who choose to die to end illness-related pain. Gwen may be ending other people’s lives, but she is also doing so to minimize their suffering. This complicates and deepens the nuances surrounding the moral question of death.
The Challenge of Absolving Guilt
Erin Oakes accepts her incarceration as the necessary consequence of her unintentional role in the death of a security guard. When she pursues her vocation at the prison following her release, Erin argues that her incarceration led her to a way to do good in the world to atone for her past. However, when Erin fails to save Wendy Arthur in the destruction of Black Cricket, Erin reconsiders, wondering if she could ever absolve her guilt via good deeds. Her doubt exemplifies the novel’s exploration of whether it is possible to make up for the consequences of one’s actions.
The novel often presents cause and effect as morally unpredictable, complicating questions of responsibility and fault. As the narrative opens, Jayne’s extortion of Arthur traps him in an impossible situation. His fear for his mother’s safety makes him agree to commit crimes on Jayne’s behalf, as he steals valuable books. In an attempt to absolve Arthur’s guilt at breaking the integrity of his office as a librarian, Arthur’s friends decide to help him shoulder the responsibility. While their efforts are successful in freeing Arthur from Jayne, they also unintentionally lead to the arrangement with King Sorrow. None of the group members fully realizes that the agreement with this otherworldly monster is lifelong, turning the collateral damage they cause over the next 30 years into another unintended consequence of their good intentions.
The group initially takes responsibility for this consequence by trying to use King Sorrow’s curse to benefit the world. However, Arthur and Gwen only feel all the guiltier when they reckon with the collateral damage of their sacrifices, driving an ideological wedge between them and Colin. They decide their only possible course of action is to kill King Sorrow and end the deal forever. Although Arthur dies in the process, Gwen learns to live with her guilt with her friends’ support. In the lead-up to their final confrontation with King Sorrow, they share all the things that they feel guilty about, allowing Gwen to normalize her shame. This absolves her enough to face King Sorrow and make up for her past wrongs.
In contrast, Colin has little interest in internalizing or atoning for his guilt. Instead, he increasingly numbs himself to the idea of responsibility, using King Sorrow as a tool for personal gain. The absence of a moral conscience becomes Colin’s fatal flaw. He dies after summoning Elwood Hondo to kill Gwen and her allies, only to become Hondo’s victim himself.
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