Daughter of No Worlds

An institution in use throughout the world of the novel, enslavement symbolizes domination and relates to the theme of The Desire for Power. The Lords of Threll assert their power by conquering other peoples, creating an underclass of enslaved captives to serve them and to function as visible reminders of wealth and status. Max admires the Mikov estate but recognizes the terrible price it cost in human suffering: “It was beautiful, yes, but in the ugliest of ways. I looked at all of that finery and I wondered how many tattered backs it took to build it” (432).

Part of enslavement is the erasing of identity: As Tisaanah notes, the enslaved people around her are almost anonymous. Tisaanah’s empowerment involves becoming not only known but also famous. As the Host for Reshaye, she is one of a tiny group of people capable of Wielding this enormous magical power. This is why it is not enough to simply kill her enslavers and free her fellow captives. Instead, part of her revenge is forcing her enslavers to remember who she is. When she is close to killing the man who first captured her, she demands that he first realize who is killing him: “He took everything from me. Killed my family members in their beds. Sold a child to a terrible fate. Me, and so many others. And he didn’t remember” (391). She is similarly insulted when Ahzeen fails to recognize her at his party: “Ahzeen Mikov, I knew, did not want to remember me, even if he could […] it did not help Ahzeen politically to punish some faceless, nameless slave. No—Ahzeen needed power” (444). Only when Ahzeen identifies Tisaanah as his father’s murderer does he decide to kill her in the same way his father failed to—both men’s viciousness brought out by the desire of a formerly enslaved person to seek freedom.