The Sunbearer Trials

“The Golds grabbed the brightest stars, containing the greatest responsibilities. The Jades searched among the smaller stars for the ones most precious to them. The Obsidians snatched their stars from the dust and hid them deep in the earth, where the broiling heat and the pressure of their greed turned their gifts black and brittle.”

The novel’s creation myth establishes the foundational social order of Reino del Sol through the metaphor of stars as symbols of divine power. The author frames the Golds’ dominance as a natural outcome of seizing “the brightest stars,” while the Jades’ lesser status is attributed to their choice of “smaller stars.” This myth serves as an ideological justification for the rigid class system, pointing to The Injustice of Inherited Social Hierarchies by presenting the power imbalance as an innate, unchangeable fact rather than a societal construct.

“You are not a Hero, Teo.”

Huemac’s words, spoken just after Teo saves a woman from a fire, emphasize that, in Reino del Sol, heroism is defined by one’s race and social status rather than their actions. This framing reinforces the institutional barriers Teo faces as a Jade—a central conflict in the novel.

“But it is the semidiose who becomes the sacrifice who has the greatest honor of all.”

Diosa Luna, the high priestess of Sol, uses rhetorical framing to present the death of the lowest-ranking semidiose as a noble achievement. Her words exemplify the societal propaganda surrounding the Trials, highlighting the novel’s thematic engagement with The Glorification of Heroism Versus the Reality of Sacrifice. The author juxtaposes the concept of ‘greatest honor’ with the brutal reality of death, critiquing a system that demands the ritualistic killing of its youth for its own preservation.