The Sunbearer Trials

Across the novel, Teo evolves from an unsure misfit to an empowered champion by confronting the prescribed norms and expectations of his society and learning to reject them as indicators of his worth. At the start of his arc, Teo demonstrates an internalized sense of his own inferiority handed down to him by a flawed socio-cultural infrastructure. When Sol chooses him as a competitor during the opening ceremony, his immediate reaction is: “This is some kind of mistake […] I’m just a Jade […] How am I supposed to compete with the Golds? I’m not a Hero” (60). As Teo’s arc progresses, he learns to push back against society’s prescribed limits on his worth and potential, challenging and surpassing them by becoming Sunbearer.

Thomas uses the motif of Teo’s wings as a tangible example of the power of self-acceptance. Teo’s discomfort with his wings underscores his gender dysphoria—an acute feeling of wrongness. Initially, Teo keeps his wings painfully bound beneath his shirt, a practice that reflects his gender dysphoria and his shame over their appearance. The wings are not the vibrant colors of a male quetzal but “grayish-brown with hints of green like the females’ plumage” (31), a constant, physical reminder of a body that feels misaligned with his identity. This act of binding also symbolizes an implicit devaluing of his Jade heritage, which he perceives as a marker of inferiority in a world that lionizes Golds. His friend Pico’s warning, “You know he’s sensitive about his wings!” (8), underscores this physical trait as a source of deep emotional vulnerability, embodying his feelings of otherness on multiple fronts. The physical pain of the binders is “nothing compared to the cloying dysphoria that choke[s] him whenever he [sees] his wings” (31). Diosa Quetzal’s gentle pleas for him to unbind them represent an external call for self-acceptance, one he consistently rejects because the pain of hiding feels safer than the vulnerability of being seen. 

The turning point in Teo’s journey occurs when he embraces his wings not as a flaw, but as a source of strength. During the first trial, he instinctively uses them to rescue Xio from Ocelo’s attack. Only when Teo embraces the power of his wings in an authentically selfless act to save Xio do they molt and reveal their “brilliant ultramarine, iridescent blue, and electric green feathers” (120), the proper colors of a male quetzal. This external change is a manifestation of his internal shift toward self-acceptance. His wings become what they were always meant to be only after he accepts them as a part of his identity. The transformation of his wings emphasizes that Teo’s power and identity are not separate but fully realized through integration and acceptance. His strength does not come from suppressing the parts of himself he dislikes, but from embracing his complete identity—Jade, demigod, and boy. The wings symbolize the novel’s core argument that true power is found not in conforming to societal norms or expectations, but in the radical act of self-acceptance.

Thomas roots the novel’s posture toward gender identity—particularly trans identity—in self-acceptance, communal celebration, and support. In Reino del Sol, there are trans characters at all levels of the social hierarchy, gender confirmation ceremonies are common, and the fluidity of gender identity is an accepted norm among both mortals and dioses. Thomas structures a plot in which Teo and Xio’s transness represents an important, and often vulnerable, part of their identities, but isn’t the primary source of their oppression. Thomas uses a matter-of-fact tone to explain that “when a semidiose discovered that their gender didn’t align with the one they were raised as, their gender confirmation ceremony was celebrated […] because it was such an important acknowledgement and celebration for the community” (219). By normalizing gender fluidity and trans identity within the world of the story, Thomas pushes back against the anti-trans bias inherent in many contemporary cultures and provides a model for a more expansive and inclusive set of social norms.