The Priory of the Orange Tree

At the start of the novel, the regions of its world are mostly isolated from each other. Seiiki trades only with Mentendon and the Empire of the Twelve Lakes, and it decrees that any “outsider who arrived without permission would be put to death” (10). In Inys, Sabran declares that she has “disdain for the heretical practices of the Seiikinese” (39) and “desire(s) no parlance with the East” (39). Because dragons are holy in the East, the West regards Easterners as “wyrm-worshippers”; for the East, the Westerners are heretical because they disdain their gods. Thus, this is a world rife with prejudice.

The Inysh are particularly guilty of holding preconceived notions against other nations. The Inysh believe their religion of Six Virtues is superior to all faiths, and they follow it very closely. This is a satire of medieval Western Christendom, which considered other beliefs blasphemous and heathenistic. This is especially true of divergent opinions on the religions’ messianic founding figures—Jesus in Christianity and Galian in Virtudom. Sabran upbraids Ead for telling the story of Galian and Cleolind differently and “commands” her to retell it the “right way.” However, prejudice and close-mindedness are not limited to the Inysh. Ead herself constantly thinks of Galian as the deceiver, and Chassar refers to the Inysh court as “this court of blasphemers” (169)—a place where Ead should not remain. The new prioress, Mita, does not want to involve the Priory in Inysh affairs at all, leaving the Inysh and the Berethnets to deal with the threat of the High Westerns by themselves. Tané too displays a streak of prejudice when she becomes a Miduchi. When she encounters Niclays in a market she disdains him as an “outsider” and commands his hosts to watch him.

Thus, every major character in the novel displays bias towards other cultures and religions. Ironically, the faiths of Tané, Ead, and Sabran have one vital thing in common: their fear of the Nameless One. However, instead of uniting over this common cause, they remain skeptical of each other for much of the narrative, to their own disadvantage. The novel demonstrates that when one considers their beliefs absolute, they shut off their critical faculties. The Inysh overlook the gaps in their founding story, such as why every queen looks exactly like her mother. In the South, the sisters do not explore the secret mission on which Cleolind embarked after defeating the Nameless One. At the most extreme, characters’ prejudices shut down possible alliances. When it emerges that Yscalin has accepted Draconic rule, most countries assume this is voluntary. Later, Loth discovers Fýredel is ruling the country by force. When Truyde proposes that the dragons of the East are noble, most people, including Ead, dismiss her ideas as heretical.

However, cultural prejudice is not the only kind of close-mindedness in the novel; the characters also exhibit more personal kinds of bias. Niclays is extremely judgmental, dismissing Sulyard as unworthy of Truyde. Ead initially considers Sabran nothing but a spoiled princess, and Tané judges Onren for taking a break during the water trials. It is only when the characters begin to shed their prejudices and realize that their belief systems may not be absolutely true that they start to evolve. Ead begins to see that Sabran is not just an entitled princess but a woman trapped by responsibility and tradition. Sabran accepts that Virtudom may be based on a lie. Tané begins to soften and grow more open-minded.

The shedding of prejudice is not just desirable, but also necessary for survival, since the Nameless One can only be defeated with the sword Ascalon and the two celestial gems. While Kalyba, a woman from the West, forged Ascalon, Cleolind and Neporo (of the South and East, respectively) wielded the gems. The past shows the course for the future: The world must unite to defeat the common threat of the Nameless One. Thus, the text stresses the importance of working for the larger good rather than squabbling over partisan politics.