The Sea of Trolls

Jack’s adventure depicts compassion as the true measure of heroism. Farmer’s narrative argues that brawn is overrated from the moment the Bard passes over physically stronger candidates to make Jack his apprentice because the boy is aware of the world around him. The author emphasizes that Jack’s empathy for all living creatures is what makes him remarkable and powerful. In the novel’s magic system, bards’ ability to draw strength from the life force is fundamentally rooted in compassion: “[Jack] understood that if he killed the spider without need, he would lose his power and his music would go from him” (390). An essential moment for the theme and Jack’s coming-of-age story occurs when his brush with the Bard’s life force in Chapter 3 makes his empathy rapidly increase: “Everything, from the plight of a chick fallen from its nest to the terrible beauty of the hawk swooping down to kill it, will shake your very soul” (32). The mentor’s words foreshadow that the compassion Jack develops for the berserkers who abduct him, a quality that helps him make allies of his erstwhile enemies, will be the key to his success.