“Brothers fighting brothers. Brothers killing brothers. I tried to imagine Bao hurting anyone, even a sparrow, and could not.”

This passage is a simplified example of the Nature Versus Nurture present in the novel. While Terren, Maro, and their other siblings—like other royals past—are raised understanding that they must be against each other if they want a chance at the throne, siblings in the village are not like this. Wei cannot fathom her brother hurting anyone or anything else, let alone her, but this boils down to the differences in how they were raised.

“You may think the women here are your friends, but we are all competing […] For power […] Those who are starved are most desperate. And even the Ancestors know that women have long been starved for power.”

Minma’s warning in this passage is meant for Wei, to warn her about the other concubines. However, it also foreshadows the corruption arc Wei herself will walk as she gets her first tastes of power. Of all the concubines, Wei has suffered and starved the most—which, according to this passage, could make her the most dangerous and desperate of all.

“For the first time, the constant ache in my belly vanished, like a shadow scared away by the sun […] I wanted to stay here forever. I would want it even if I had to fight the women in the palace and dodge Terren’s knives. Even if I had to be planted, over and over again, until I grew them a son. So long as I was never hungry again, I thought, they could do to me anything they pleased.”

This passage adds tension to the narrative and toward a potential corruption arc for Wei over The Use and Misuse of Power. Though she has come to the palace with a mission—to receive blessings for the survival of her village and her family—her desperation to “never [be] hungry again” foreshadows the moral compromises she will soon have to make to retain the power she has gained.

“As much as I despised Ciyi, he was not wrong. My purpose was to help my brother and others waiting for me back home. I could not keep standing here feeling sorry for myself, not while the famine was still ravaging Lu’an’s rice paddies and starving its people. I had to use my new position to save them. Each moment I delayed was a chance that another sister, like Larkspur, could die.”

This passage exemplifies the theme of The Use and Misuse of Power. While many around Wei seek to use power to their own advantage, she has selfless motives. She wants to spread the benefits of power as far and wide as possible.

“As much as Ciyi and I argued, our lessons were the one respite I had against the tiger and the serpents, against the spider spinning her web. They were the only times when I did not feel helpless. With every character I copied, hot summer wind drying the ink, I felt in control. The words on the page were mine. Nobody could take them away. Even if they burned these papers, I could simply write more.”

Literacy as Liberation is exemplified in this passage. As Wei learns to read and write, she finds a safe space away from the dangers of court. Even when she is threatened from all sides, she finds comfort in the fact that she’s learning something that can protect her, regarding her newfound literacy skills in terms of “control.” She also uses figurative language in alluding to her rivals, calling them “the tiger and the serpents” and “the spider spinning her web.” These comparisons speak to the danger and cunning of the people at court.

“‘I told you it was a mistake not to punish Jin Veris. Because you did not, the other concubines have grown bold. Because you did not, your enemies have learned they can hurt you without consequence. And now look, they try even baser tactics in an attempt to kill you. You have only yourself to blame. You and nobody else…’ He went on and on. If I had punished Jin Veris, I would have never known about the rumors in the first place. But Ciyi could not know that.”

The theme The Use and Misuse of Power is strengthened in this passage. Wei’s mercy to Jin Veris, sparing her punishment and potential execution for attempting to poison her, eventually works in her favor, saving Wei’s life later. This exemplifies how showing benevolence from a position of power can sometimes lead to unexpected benefits.

“There was awe in their voices, mixed with envy, with fear. I was ashamed at how thrilled I felt. For the first time, instead of cowering from my monster, I was walking at its side. For the first time, when it opened its foul, bloodthirsty jaws, it would not be to bite me but someone else. Let them be afraid, a wicked part of me thought. Let them tremble at those raised knives. Let them realize that even girls from the cities are not invincible.”

This passage showcases the subtle corruption arc that Wei faces. When she entered the palace, she refused to punish Jin Veris for attempting to poison her, claiming that she would never become cruel like everyone else. However, here she is already changing her approach and wielding her power to do exactly what everyone expects her to do as the future empress. She personifies her desire for power as a “monster” with “foul, bloodthirsty jaws,” revealing her awareness of how violent and frightening unchecked power can be.

“So you see now, Lady Yin, power is such a wicked thing. Razing everything in its path, consuming all, leaving none untouched. Not even the kindest of souls among us are spared, once they have had so much as a taste.”

The “power corrupts” theme often explored in fiction is mentioned here but Tao hints that her novel will explore a similar theme with more complexity. While everyone, like Hesin, assumes Terren has become corrupted by power, as the story goes on, Wei learns that he was corrupted by a failed system and cruel mistreatment from adults, revealing Nature Versus Nurture.

“I will see you soon, I thought. At the end of all this. When I had first begun learning to read, it had been to write a Blessing to send home. Now it was to kill someone who needed killing. But either way, the result was the same. The bride price I would receive would pay for Bao’s schooling, and I would marry a city boy. Nobody in Lu’an would be hungry again.”

This quote highlights Wei’s shifting motivation, showing how her original goal (helping her family) evolves into something darker (killing Terren). In this passage, she rationalizes this more extreme goal, suggesting that she is beginning to justify morally questionable actions based on larger outcomes.

“Master Ganji’s voice had become iron, nonnegotiable. ‘You are not some lowly peasant. You are heir to the dynasty! For you, the word blood does not mean family but country. Your veins are Tensha’s flowing rivers, your beating heart its capital, your flesh its mountains and fertile valleys.’”

This passage uses metaphor to equate Maro’s body with the nation, reinforcing the idea that rulers must prioritize the state over personal relationships. Master Ganji represents rigid, unyielding ideology of duty that shapes Maro’s worldview, transforming him from a loyal and loving brother into a hardened rival for the throne, reflecting the impact of Nature Versus Nurture at court.

“He had to keep working, because Tensha was waiting. For him, blood did not mean family but country. And bringing his mother with him wasn’t an option either. He could only imagine the shameful whispers that would come out of doing so. Eleven years old already, heir to the nation, and he still needs his mama by his side.”

The repetition of Ganji’s earlier words, “blood did not mean family but country,” reinforces how deeply Maro has internalized the ideology imposed on him. This passage critiques the way systems of power in this society strips individuals—especially royal children—of emotional needs in favor of maintaining public image and fulfilling the expectations of duty.

“I could not die, because if I did, who would stop Terren from taking the Crown? There were people counting on me now. The servants in the Cypress Pavilion, who were afraid but could not leave. Silian, who believed in me. Other people in Tensha who didn’t even know my name. And my family […] Now I was going to save them from a wicked emperor as well.”

Wei’s sense of responsibility has expanded beyond her family to include the entire nation. The shift from her original goal of “save my town from the famine” to “save everyone from a wicked emperor” reflects her evolving identity from the rice farmer from Lu’an to a potential empress.

“Our father has done so much for this country, even in his sickness. The Shouyuan Emperor and Prince Han have lost their lives in these very mountains, in the campaign that won us the Fallen Sun Pass. You were born second, so you never learned the meaning of duty. You never learned that there is no glory without sacrifice. There is no greatness without suffering.”

“No glory without sacrifice” is didactic and an aphorism that reinforces the ideology of suffering as something that is necessary for greatness. This reflects a broader cultural belief within the novel that legitimizes violence and hardship as the building blocks of leadership. Maro’s words here also reflect Nature Versus Nurture, as he is rejecting his bond with Terren in favor of doing what he regards as his duty.

“I found Terren sitting cross-legged on a bridge, overlooking a pond. He was wearing his usual gray robe, sashed with azalea red. An open scroll was in his hand, and on it was a half-written poem that he seemed to have abandoned in favor of watching the carp in the water.”

This passage illustrates that despite his current brutality, Terren still has a soft spot for the carp. Through sparing them in the later blizzard, Wei is able to gain some of his trust and emotionally connect with him, which aids in her creation of the heart-spirit poem. The carp form a key symbol in the text.

“If I was, they were tears of anger. All those blades hanging in the House like teeth, but not one could be spared for a village that needed it. All those pear trees growing all over the palace, so many that their fruit lay rotting on the ground for the sparrows, but not one could be sent to children who had never tasted pears in their life.”

The imagery of abundance within the palace contrasted with starvation in the villages creates strong juxtaposition, highlighting systemic inequality throughout the empire and The Use and Misuse of Power. Wei is disgusted by the excess enjoyed around her without regard for the people suffering beyond the palace gates.

“Rice Wife. Was that what they saw in me? It was not a title I would have chosen for myself. […] But rice was also who I was, before the Azalea House. […]That I was in a position of power, even if I had a hard time believing it. They told me that there were those in Tensha looking to me, the same way that I had once looked to the Azalea House. I had to stop thinking like a villager. I had to start thinking like an empress.”

The contrast between Wei’s past as a villager and her present power as empress illustrates her character arc. This passage also uses an epiphany as a literary device. This is the moment she accepts her role as a leader and begins thinking beyond personal perspective toward systemic change.

“It was important, I now viscerally understood, for one to believe. That far away, in the capital, behind impenetrable palace walls, where there lived magic and unimaginable power, there was at least one person who cared about them, who thought of them. When I named the Rice Wife, I had only told those villagers what I wished someone had once told me.”

This quote emphasizes the importance of hope and shows how belief in leadership can sustain people even through hardship. Wei believes that perception can be just as powerful as action and her role is not just to act the part, but to represent real hope for those who feel unseen.

“He never managed to articulate what it was he didn’t know, but I knew his meaning. I don’t know how much suffering is normal. How much was ordinary, expected, the price we paid to live. How much was created by us, needless.”

This passage illustrates Wei’s earlier theory that Terren was taught a world of hardship and pain and knows no other reality. His claims of feeling lost and his question of “how much” suffering or violence is “normal” exemplifies his distorted understanding of how life is supposed to be, reflecting the role of Nature Versus Nurture in his character and behavior.

“That quiet, extraordinary child, who had suffered so much for so long—he had never once thought to save himself. Even as they forced the childmaking duties upon him, even as they punished him with vicious beatings and threw him into the flames of war, he had only been thinking of protecting his brother—his family—his burning star.”

This passage highlights the selflessness that Terren showed even after his abuse and points out that he became “irredeemable” the moment Maro turned against him. Prior to that, all Terren ever thought of was how to spare his brother from harm.

“He resisted me, but not as much as I thought he would. The moment it left his hands completely, he began to shake and cry even harder. It was like he did not know who he was, if not someone who held a blade.”

The blade has been Terren’s identity for so long he doesn’t know who he is or what to do without it. His ability to separate from it now shows his ability to change in the future, even if he is never given the chance in the end.

“It could be the greatest nation in the world, the most magnificent empire there ever existed. But if it could not keep its own children safe and fed, was it really something worth fighting to save?”

This rhetorical question Wei asks criticizes the empire she calls home. She values the nation based on how it treats its most vulnerable, rather than by its military might or the quantity of land it amasses. This passage also invokes The Use and Misuse of Power by questioning what power should ultimately be used for.

“I remembered Maro leaning his cheek on the windowsill, dreaming of leading the nation with integrity, with pride. How hard he had worked for Tensha. How he had bled for it. And Terren, too—the war, the suffering, all those broken years in Tieza. None of it had mattered.”

After learning from Hesin that the emperor had always wanted to make Terren his heir, but kept this secret because he wanted his sons in competition with each other, Wei thinks of how that unnecessary cruelty ruined their lives. Maro pushed himself to his breaking point and ruined his relationship with Terren over a competition he never even truly had a chance in.

“Maybe we would win against them. Maybe we would lose. Maybe the whole empire would be burned to the ground, and new green things would grow in its ashes.”

Wei is unconcerned with whether the dynasty will die or survive because the only thing that truly matters is that the country is in the hands of rulers who care about the people. If the dynasty were to fall, she knows that with the reforms they’d bring in their rebuilding, it would be forged into something better and more prosperous.