39 pages • 1-hour read
Rogue Protocol
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
GrayCris
GrayCris is the all-powerful corporation that runs society in the Corporation Rim (though several other corporate entities also hold power, albeit considerably less than what GrayCris exerts). GrayCris is shadowy and omnipresent in the novel. Its broad control means that its impacts are felt no matter what a Corporation Rim resident does, but it never appears in the text via any character or through any specific policy. Rather, the threats and power of GrayCris remain amorphous—which adds tension to the text, as readers (and Murderbot itself) never know when or how GrayCris’s power will manifest.
Despite its distance from the main action of the text, GrayCris serves as an overarching antagonist, one that, the text suggests, might be too powerful to defeat. Rather than necessarily seeking to broadly overthrow GrayCris, therefore, Murderbot’s aim is to prove specific acts of villainy by the company, though it plans to leave the question of what to do with this information to Dr. Mensah. Murderbot’s orientation toward GrayCris directs its moral projects: Though it opposes the corporation and fights against it, it does not put itself into a “chosen one” role that is uniquely poised to undermine GrayCris’s hostile regime. Rather, the human-led corporation is framed as a human problem to solve; Murderbot, who was made and exploited by GrayCris, cannot morally be tasked with combatting this problem.
Combat Bots
Combat bots are the most serious threat that Murderbot and the human assessment crew face while on the terraforming facility off Milu. These bots are programmed to defend targets and can be left indefinitely; the Milu bots have been left by GrayCris to protect the facility and, Murderbot later learns, ensure that the facility is destroyed to hide GrayCris’s crimes. The bots are physically more capable than Murderbot, as they have more weaponry and greater defenses, but they have less intellectual capacity. They, therefore, function as a threat that creates narrative tension—while Murderbot’s is ultimately successful against them, it does not consider this victory guaranteed and, in fact, regularly worries that it will be defeated by the bots. Though readers may trust that Murderbot is unlikely to be killed due to its status as the series protagonist and narrator, its ability to be rebuilt after serious physical injury means that the question of being “killed” is less clear than it might be with a human protagonist.
Combat bots also draw a line, in the text, between sentient constructs like Murderbot and Miki and robots that are treated as non-sentient machines. Though combat bots have sufficient intelligence to attack with purpose, including strategizing how to best outsmart their opponents, this intelligence does not extend to a knowledge of self. Therefore, when Murderbot and Wilken “kill” different combat bots, this is treated as the disarming of a weapon rather than the death of a character, as Miki’s death is presented.
Communication Feeds
Murderbot’s ability to access different communication feeds, including video, audio, and text-based communication, helps it understand the scope of what is happening on the Milu terraforming facility. These communication feeds function frequently as a plot device; they reveal what is happening outside of Murderbot’s immediate view, something that helps readers and the protagonist understand the scope of the facility’s mystery as more and more clues are uncovered.
The communication feeds thus affect the novella’s presentation of point of view. While Murderbot remains the first-person narrator, it often relies on others’ cam feeds to share context with the reader, whom it often addresses directly. When things happen quickly in the narrative, Murderbot references reexamining different video feeds to reconstruct the specific events that transpired. This lets Wells emphasize the quick pace of the action without sacrificing clarity.
Moreover, the different communication feeds between characters allow relationships to develop, even when continuous peril makes time for conversation hard to find. Because Murderbot can communicate via comm feeds with Miki, however, the two constructs come to understand one another. Miki’s innocence in these messages contrasts with Murderbot’s acerbic commentary, which helps expand the novella’s presentation of how artificial intelligence units experience having a personality. The time Murderbot spends getting to know Miki through comms adds pathos to Miki’s ultimate death, as its loss affects Murderbot, Miki’s human friends, and the readers.
Unlock the meaning behind every key symbol & motif
See how recurring imagery, objects, and ideas shape the narrative.
- Explore how the author builds meaning through symbolism
- Understand what symbols & motifs represent in the text
- Connect recurring ideas to themes, characters, and events