The Strength of the Few

In both The Will of the Many and The Strength of the Few, characters frequently refer to a moral line that they refuse to cross, though they often find themselves crossing this line when circumstances demand it. The moral line becomes a motif representing the struggle to maintain agency in the face of systemic power. Eidhin introduces the idea, arguing that each person must know their line, their moral limit, which they will not compromise or cross no matter the reward, pressure, or threat that is offered to do so. The metaphor of this line appears throughout The Strength of the Few with increasing importance. Vis returns to it repeatedly, as when he discusses his decision to cede his Will, his refusal to use Adoption to control Ahmose, and his discomfort with his mission to kill Ka.

Other characters also highlight, and ultimately complicate, this line, such as Eidhin’s father Blaine. He argues that knowing one’s line is a good lesson to learn but adds that this line becomes meaningless as a parent, who will cross any line for the sake of their children. The implication here is not so necessarily that the line disappears, but rather that it moves: Baine’s new line is that he will not allow his child to suffer or die. On the other hand, Relucia implies that crossing one’s moral line is sometimes a necessary sacrifice for the sake of survival or fighting a worse evil. Throughout the novel, this line symbolizes each character’s choices to resist, compromise, or become complicit in the structures of violence around them. The decision to step over that line or not, similar to the symbol of doorways, marks a vital and irrevocable shift or change in a character’s development or plot arc.