The Strength of the Few

Siamun is the version of Vis that exists in Obiteum following the conclusion of The Will of the Many, and he is thus one of the novel’s three protagonists. After Vis runs the Labyrinth and survives his experience in the gate, he wakes in Obiteum and meets Caeror, Ulciscor’s brother. In Obiteum, he acquires the Will ability called Adoption, which allows him to control Will imbued into any person or object, regardless of who did the imbuing. Unlike his versions in both Res and Luceum, he does not lose his arm. He befriends Caeror while living in the secret community of Qabr, where he trains to master his new ability. He is tasked with infiltrating the city of Duat to kill Ka, a godlike figure whom Caeror believes is behind the Concurrence, the enemy of all three worlds.

When he leaves Qabr and sneaks into Duat, he takes the name Siamun and befriends the iunctus Ahmose. He also reluctantly works with the assassin Netiqret, who helps him get closer to Ka’s pyramid. Siamun knows the most about the Concurrence and initially plays the most active role in preparing to fight the enemy, Ka. Like Catenicus, he struggles with the limits of his morality as he knowingly trains to kill Ka despite his wish to find a better way to win.

Deaglan is the version of Vis that exists in Luceum and thus one of the novel’s three protagonists. Like Catenicus in Res, this version also loses his arm in the process of replication. Soon after awaking in Luceum, he is captured by warriors led by the draoi, or druids. He lives for several months with a farming family, where he feels happy and at peace for the first time in many years. This peaceful existence is short-lived, and he is eventually forced to join a group of warriors in service to King Ronan. Though he befriends his new warband, he now knows what a peaceful life feels like and wishes to return to it.

Unlike either Catenicus or Siamun, Deaglan is unaware of what transpired after the Labyrinth and believes he is still in his original world, albeit geographically distanced from the Republic. He also remains unaware of the Concurrence or his Synchronism for most of the novel, only learning the truth when his father, as a iunctus, informs him. In a parallel to Catenicus’ Will-imbued metallic arm, Deaglan also acquires a new arm, torn from the silver statue in Fornax. Deaglan confronts the conflict between a desire for safety and home, and the necessity to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of others, thus contributing to the theme of The Moral Ambiguity of Sacrifice.

Relucia is Ulciscor’s wife and secretly an important member of the resistance group the Anguis. She first recruited Vis through blackmail in The Will of the Many. She is now under orders to give control of Catenicus over to her associate Ostius. Her father placed her in a Sapper as a girl, leaving there for three years to pay off debts. She does not think her father is evil for this action, instead blaming the system that encourages such behavior. Relucia’s moral stance is a crucial component of the theme of The Tension Between Choice and Circumstance, as she argues that even violence and murder can be justified by the need to resist the Hierarchy’s oppressive systems.

Aequa was one of Vis’s classmates at the Academy. They witnessed the horrors of the naumachia together, a shared experience that creates a bond between them. Though Aequa was initially suspicious of Vis, she eventually became one of his closest friends. She was a member of Vis’s team during the Iudicium and feels responsible for not saving Callidus during the Anguis’ attack. Aequa is genuinely bemused when she is given the rank of Quintus over Catenicus, but she promises to use her higher rank to help him. She is intelligent, loyal, and resourceful. Along with Eidhin, she becomes Catenicus’s closest confidante and represents The Necessity of Trust and Friendship, however, her death near the end of the novel complicates this theme and adds another layer to Catenicus’s sense of guilt and moral compromise.

Eidhin is from a Cymrian tribe, a region conquered by the Republic, an outsider status that forms the foundation of his friendship with Vis. In The Will of the Many, he attended the Academy under threat to the remaining members of his tribe, as part of a deal his father made with the Republic. He later reveals that Veridius offered to free him from this deal if he betrayed Catenicus during the Iudicium and won. He therefore refused to join his team to avoid temptation. He believes that a man must have a line he will not cross or compromise, no matter what. This concept of a moral line becomes a motif that contributes to the theme of The Tension Between Choice and Circumstance. Every version of Vis uses Eidhin’s concept of the moral line as a guide to his own morality. Along with Aequa, Eidhin is Catenicus’s closest confidante, representing The Necessity of Trust and Friendship.

Ostius is a mysterious character who is allied with the Anguis, but has his own goals and motives. He can shift between Res and Luceum. He is also the nephew of the Military Princeps, sent to Solivagus years before anyone else understood its importance. He manipulates events so that Catenicus, and his alupi Diago, kill the Military senators present at the Basilica during the Festival of Pletuna. He seems to find humor and joy in the violence around him. His exact goals remain unclear, though he claims that his plan is to draw out Ka and kill him.

Caeror, Ulciscor’s younger brother, is dead in Res, killed by iunctii when he reached the end of the Labyrinth on Solivagus. However, his copy now lives in Obiteum, where he befriends and mentors Siamun. He teaches Siamun how to survive in Obiteum and how to control his new Will abilities, acquired by Synchronism. He is relentlessly optimistic and cheerful even in the face of great tragedy and horror, a quality that Siamun admires. He is also a patient and empathetic teacher. He exemplifies the need to sacrifice for the greater good, as he sacrifices himself to ensure Siamun’s escape from Qabr.

Ahmose is a iunctus in the city of Duat. Siamun rescues him from being turned into a Gleaner, after which he joins Siamun on his mission to reach Ka. Ahmose is naturally cautious, made more so when he learns that his beliefs about Ka’s godhood and the promise of an afterlife are lies. Though he is grateful for Siamun’s rescue, he also resents him for destroying his comfortable ignorance. He also fears that Siamun will, or already has, used his Adoption ability to control him without his knowledge. Despite his flaws, Siamun views Ahmose as a genuine friend, once again demonstrating the value of trust and friendship. Ahmose is caught during the Festival of the Return, and dies by suicide, jumping into the deadly Infernis River to avoid becoming Ka’s pawn.

Netiqret is an assassin in Duat, hired by the wealthy to kill people to make them iunctii. She helps Siamun enter the Temple for her own purposes: She wants him to connect with the city’s Nomarch to alter its identification system, to protect herself and her iunctus companion, Kiya. Kiya is Netiqret’s daughter, who was made part of the Nomarch system. Twenty years ago, Netiqret rescued Kiya from the Nomarch, aided by an unknown person, and has been trying to restore Kiya’s mind ever since. She is “aloof, unflappable and focused” (354). Though she works around the system for her daughter’s sake, she remains complicit in the systems of cruelty and oppression in Duat. However, she ultimately contributes to the theme of Sacrifice by sacrificing her futile hope to save Kiya in favor or helping Siamun enter Ka’s pyramid.

Lir is a druid, or draoi, of the Grove who is part of King Ronan’s court. Lir takes Deaglan to meet King Ronan and subtly manipulates him into swearing fealty to Ronan, after which Deaglan is sent to Loch Treanala. Lir also first notes Deaglan’s use of Will, called nasceann in Luceum, and hopes to use him in the coming war between Ronan and Fiachra. Lir is pragmatic but refuses to compromise his beliefs to appease his enemies. He is killed by Gallchobhar, Fiachra’s champion.

When Deaglan is sent to Loch Treanala to train as a warrior, he befriends his fellow students: Tara, Conor, Miach, Seana, and Fearghus. Unlike the political machinations at the Academy on Solivagus, this group is welcoming and supportive. Tara, the best fighter, is King Ronan’s daughter, who has lost her right to succession after being scarred in an attack. Upon completion of training, she is made the leader of a new warband. This group contributes to the theme of The Necessity of Trust and Friendship and represents the concept of home for Deaglan.