97 pages • 3 hours read
Samantha ShannonThe Priory of the Orange Tree
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Book Club Questions
Part 1, Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Stories of Old”
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “East”
Tané wakes up on the seashore and sees a stranger appear on the scene. The man is later revealed to be a Westerner called Triam Sulyard. The stranger’s presence scares Tané, because Seiiki, the Eastern country in which she lives, forbids the entry of foreigners, believing they may carry the “red sickness” (an infectious disease). Tané is herself breaking rules by being on the water’s edge, as she is supposed to be cloistered before “Choosing Day” the following morning, when she will learn which occupation she will join. Tané’s desire is to become a “Miduchi”—a member of an elite force that rides the great water dragons. In the East, dragons are considered gods.
Disclosing the stranger’s presence to the city’s watchguards would mean Tané admitting to her own transgression, so she blindfolds Sulyard and takes him to her trusted friend Susa. Susa and Tané are both orphans. In Seiiki, most children train from childhood to join public offices, such as the army and the house of scholars.
Susa takes Sulyard to the island of Orisima, where he can hide at the home of surgeon Niclays Roos, a Westerner exiled on the island. Niclays reluctantly agrees to host Sulyard for a night in exchange for money for his research supplies. Sulyard is overjoyed to learn the identity of Niclays since they both worked in the court of Queen Sabran of the Western Kingdom of Inys (where the chief religion is “Virtudom”), but Niclays doesn’t like the intrusion.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “West”
The action shifts to Ascalon, capital of the Western Kingdom of Inys. Ead (whose real name is Eadaz Duryan) guards the bedchambers of a sleeping Queen Sabran Berethnet of Inys. Ead kills an assassin trying to enter Sabran’s bedchambers; there have been other such attempts on Sabran’s life in the past. Ead is a lady-in-waiting in Sabran’s household, yet she is different from the other maidens of the court. Ead is from the Southern region of Lasia. Her foster father, Ambassador Chassar, presented Ead to Sabran during a feast. At the feast, only Lord Arteloth (Loth) Beck danced with Ead, the new stranger at court. Since then, Ead has made her place in Sabran’s household, though many are still suspicious of her Southern origins. Loth, Sabran’s childhood friend, has recently disappeared, which Ead suspects may be because of his rumored closeness with the queen.
The morning after the attack on Sabran, Ead helps Lady Truyde, a young marchioness, to dress in preparation for Truyde’s father’s arrival at court. Ead finds Truyde irritable and uncooperative. After Truyde reluctantly agrees to let Ead dress her, she asks Ead about a missing squire, Triam Sulyard (the stranger from Chapter 1). Ead senses Truyde’s interest in Sulyard and wonders if Truyde is in love with the young man. Truyde warns Ead to stop questioning her or she will tell everyone that the commoner Ead has been spreading rumors about her, a noblewoman. Although unbothered by Truyde’s threats, Ead leaves since she wants to keep a low profile.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “East”
It is Choosing Day in Cape Hisan of Seiiki. Tané has lived and trained in the South House—one of the “Houses of Learning” of Hisan, separated from the city by a gate—since she was found orphaned at three years of age. Tané’s entire village, Ampiki, had perished in a forest fire. She survived only because she had wandered to the shore while chasing a white butterfly. On the way to the Grand Temple—site of Choosing-Day ceremonies—with her roommate Ishari, Tané catches sight of her archrival: Turosa, a young man who looks down on her parentage.
At the temple, Tané pays obeisance to the statue of the Great Kwiriki, the first dragon ever to take a human rider. Magnificent dragons land on the flagstones, two of them Lacustrine—that is, from a region called the Empire of the Twelve Lakes. Only 12 riders are to be chosen this year, an unusually low number, because pirates are poaching dragons and their eggs are no longer hatching. To Tané’s delight, she receives the blue robes of the “High Sea Guard,” the Seiikinese navy, from which the dragonriders will be chosen. Turosa too is assigned to the Sea Guard, while Ishari receives the red robes of the scholars, much to her disappointment.
The commotion of the dragons taking off wakes Niclays up. The presence of the dragons—feared creatures in the West—frightens him. The vilest dragon (or “wyrm”) of all is the “Nameless One,” whom a knight bound 1,000 years ago. However, contrary to what Niclays and other people from the West and South believe, all dragons are not evil. Eastern water dragons are noble creatures who help humankind, while fire-breathing dragons like the Nameless One are evil (for clarity, this guide will refer to Eastern dragons as water dragons or dragons and to fire-breathing dragons as wyrms).
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “West”
A delegation from the Free State of Mentendon, the neighbor of Inys, visits Sabran’s court. Inysh queens are mirror images of each other, with Sabran the “portrait of her mother, and her mother before that” (35). Each queen of Inys gives birth to one daughter who will rule after her. The people of Inys believe that as long as the bloodline continues, the Nameless One will not wake from his sleep. However, at 28, Sabran has yet to marry and bear a daughter. Lord Oscarde, Duke of Zeedeur and Truyde’s father, tells Sabran that a wyvern—another name for wyrm—attacked his party on their way from Mentendon to Inys. Wyvern attacks are on the rise throughout the West. Zeedeur also presents the marriage suit of High Prince Aubrecht the Second of Mentendon, which Sabran promises to consider. Sabran has declined each marriage proposal she has ever received, leading Ead to believe the Queen is merely humoring Oscarde. Zeedeur gifts Sabran a “dancing pearl” of the East—a special gem. Lady Roslain Crest accepts the gift on Sabran’s behalf, but Sabran makes it known that though she has kept the Eastern pearl, she will never subscribe to the heretical, wyrm-worshipping practices of the East.
Ead and the other ladies-in-waiting discuss the day’s events. Lady Margret Beck, sister of Loth Beck, is Ead’s closest friend at court. She tells Ead she hasn’t heard from her brother. The ladies also discuss the fact that Aubrecht was once engaged to Donmata Marosa, the princess of Yscalin, a country that has recently pledged itself to the Nameless One. Later, Ead searches Truyde’s room and finds a letter from Sulyard and a book from the East, which is forbidden in Inys.
The action shifts South. Loth is dining at an inn on the road to Yscalin with his friend, Lord Kitston (Kit) Glade. Lord Seyton Combe, a member of the royal council, abruptly ordained Loth and Kit Inysh ambassadors to the blighted country of Yscalin one night and had them ferried away for “queen and country” (48). The two young men have no idea why they are being sent to Yscalin, but Inysh law forbids squires from questioning the order. Kit assures Loth the banishment happened without the knowledge of Sabran, Loth’s friend.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary: “East”
Susa tells Tané that soldiers have been searching Orisima for the outsider but haven’t found him. The women assume Sulyard has escaped. Tané, who feels fortunate to have a friend like Susa, assures Susa that she will always keep her safe.
In Orisima, Niclays tries to distract himself with work. He is from Mentendon, a Western country (ruled by Aubrecht II, who has proposed to Sabran) considered the seat of knowledge. Along with being a surgeon, Niclays also practices alchemy, the ancient science of the transformation of elements. In Inys, Niclays convinced Sabran he could produce an immortality elixir. This would enable Sabran to be queen forever without needing to marry and have a child. However, after he failed to brew the elixir, Sabran exiled him to Orisima. Niclays wants to make the elixir to “buy his way back to the West” (57), hoping to sell it to other rulers. The missing ingredient in the elixir could be something to do with dragons, which enjoy extremely long lives.
Sulyard does try to leave Orisima but turns back after spotting guards. Sulyard reveals to Niclays that he is in the East to meet the “Warlord” (the highest official) of Seiiki and seek an alliance between East and West. Unlike most people in the West, Sulyard believes that not all dragons are evil: He feels that the dragons of the East are good and the only beings who can save the West from the imminent rise of the Nameless One. His beloved, who is at the Inysh court, shares his views. He and the young lady have married each other in secret. Niclays discovers that this woman is Truyde, the granddaughter of his deceased lover, Jannart. Niclays loves Truyde like his own grandchild. Appalled at the couple’s rashness, Niclays urges Sulyard to abandon his quest and return to Inys.
Part 1, Chapters 1-5 Analysis
The novel comprises six parts, each covering a significant movement in the text. Part 1 is titled “Stories of Old,” which is fitting because it covers the history and age-old beliefs of the novel’s different peoples. The opening chapters immediately immerse the reader in the novel’s world, letting the reader figure out the intricacies of the text’s world themselves. Thus, the world of the novel is packed from the get-go with terminology that includes names, place-names, rituals, and customs. The names are simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar; “Niclays,” for example, resembles “Nicholas.” This sort of twist on the expected reflects the novel’s origins as a feminist spin on a traditional legend (“Saint George and the Dragon”). The novel’s world contains familiar fantasy tropes such as knights and dragons, but with key distinctions; The name “Inys” itself is close to English, and the motifs of the gallant knight and the captured dragon reminiscent of European (especially British and French) folklore and mythology. Similarly, though the elaborate court rituals Shannon describes harken to historical fiction (and history), the preponderance of female rulers and officials marks this as a unique universe.
The opening chapters also introduce the three key protagonists of the novel: Ead, Sabran, and Tané. From the start, Shannon frames all three of them as complex characters with secrets to hide. Tané’s ambition leads her to hide Sulyard, Ead keeps her identity a secret, and Sabran buries her true feelings under a queenly, artificial demeanor. Another multifaceted character is Niclays Roos, the alchemist who prioritizes his self-preservation above everything else. The human, complex nature of all these characters suggests they will have dynamic character arcs through the novel, growing and evolving as the narrative progresses.
Shannon peppers the novel with unique terms and expressions suited especially to its setting, such as “wyverling” (12). Characters reference the Nameless One much as someone might the Devil in the real world. Similarly, instead of God, the people of Inys swear by “Saint” (6)—a reference to Saint Galian, the knight who defeated the Nameless One. In Seiiki, people refer to the Great Kwiriki, the first dragon to take a human rider. Many of the expressions and names are from archaic English and other languages. For instance, “wyvern” is an old word for a two-legged, winged dragon.
This section introduces some of the text’s key themes and motifs, such as love and friendships, hierarchies, differences in perspective, and cultural isolation. When Tané wants to hide Sulyard, she instinctively turns to her friend Susa, knowing she can depend on her. Tané notes that in hiding Sulyard, “Susa had risked everything for a dream that was not hers” (55). Similarly, Truyde and Sulyard’s love for each other is a guiding force in their lives. However, love and friendship in the novel’s world frequently conflict with one of that world’s defining features: hierarchies and customs. These are extremely important in the world of the novel, especially in Sabran’s court and household. In the West, and Inys in particular, the queen is considered a living saint. Ead notes that Sabran uses the “jarring” pronoun “our” in public, speaking “both for herself, and her ancestor, the Saint” (36). When the Mentish delegation visits Sabran, they compliment her excessively, indicating the power of her office. Broader Inysh religion and culture is rife with offices and titles such as the “Duchess of Justice,” perhaps satirizing the sprawling titles and subtitles of British royalty. The various hierarchies ensure the ladies are always fighting for the queen’s attention; Sabran’s ladies-in-waiting, for example, occupy a lower rung than the “Ladies of the Bedchamber.” Further, the complicated hierarchies often conflict with one another, leading to feuds. As Sabran’s lady-in-waiting, Ead has the authority to correct “maidens”—young noblewomen at the court, such as Truyde. However, as an Inys noblewoman Truyde outranks Ead, a Southerner of common origin. The claustrophobic world of rank, ritual, and courtesy turns people against each other and stifles their individuality—a fact Ead’s viewpoint as an outsider illuminates.
Court intrigue and politics thus emerge as themes. Ead notes that the House of Berethnet, “like most royal houses, had seen its fair share of premature deaths” (17), most of them assassinations. The novel’s treatment of such intrigue encompasses not only domestic but also international politics, with Shannon loosely basing the various regions on real-world counterparts: Inys is vaguely reminiscent of England, its neighbor Mentendon is analogous to the Netherlands, and Seiiki may resemble Japan. Much like the Netherlands and Japan were trading partners in the 17th century, Seiiki allows trade with Mentendon.
Customs and rules are important in Seiiki too, with Tané fearing for her career when she violates one rule. Ironically, in hiding a foreigner, she risks her life to save her career by breaking “The Great Edict.” Passed centuries ago, this law explicitly states that hiding a foreigner is punishable by death. Tané’s actions suggest that such excessive control leads to dishonesty and more crimes. Thus, both the West and East are bound by their peculiar flaws; that these flaws lead to characters feeling trapped shows that both West and East have much to learn from each other. This is where the theme of differences of perspective comes in. While the West regards all dragons as terrible, this is clearly not the case. The descriptions of the Eastern dragons, as well as the East’s reverence for dragons, show that the Western worldview is limited. These descriptions stress the dragons’ beauty, with Tané’s future dragon partner having scales that are “[c]louded green, like milk jade, [and] her mane the golden brown of riverweed” (27).
Closely related to this theme of different perspectives is the theme of cultural isolation, which the first chapter establishes. Like Japan in the 17th through 19th centuries, Seiiki is closed to all nations except Mentendon and the Empire of the Twelve Lakes (from which the Lacustrine dragons come). The reason for the isolation is ostensibly protection from the red sickness, but it is noted that “even after the plague abated, the separation had endured” (10). In the West, Ead is discriminated against for being a Southerner, even though she has converted to the Inysh religion publicly. Ead herself is also shown to be closed to other cultures, however; for example, she asserts that Sabran “scorns the East, as all of us should […] They are wyrm-worshippers” (41).
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By Samantha Shannon
