The Stone Sky

Almost all of the primary characters in the novel can be divided into one of two camps: those who think the world is so broken that the only rational thing to do is destroy it, and those who maintain hope in the face of suffering and want to rebuild the world. Nassun, Steel, and Schaffa fall into the former camp, while Hoa, Ykka, and eventually Essun fall into the latter. While the novel does not villainize anyone for wanting to end things—even Steel presents rational arguments, despite being manipulative and uncaring—the main reason the latter camp maintains hope is their connection to family and community.

Essun does not start The Stone Sky believing that there is hope for the future of the world. The core of her journey and growth throughout the novel is learning to open herself up to others and stop focusing solely on her short-term survival. Her experiences living as an orogene in a world that is hostile to her existence have made her mistrust and self-isolation necessary. The challenge she faces is not only unlearning these instinctual behaviors but learning to believe things can be different. Luckily, Ykka and Castrima provide a model for Essun to follow, and she gradually deepens her connection to the people around her and realizes that simply surviving is not enough. This becomes especially important when Essun realizes that her relationship with Nassun will never be repaired. Because she has the support—and purpose—provided by Castrima and Hoa, she is able to push through the grief of losing her daughter.

Nassun begins the novel feeling at home in Found Moon but is quickly forced to leave. The bonds she has formed with the other children are strong enough that she convinces Schaffa not to kill them, but losing them is another source of pain and loss for her. After this, the only connection that Nassun has is Schaffa. However, Nassun is deeply wounded by everything she has experienced, and while Schaffa cares for her deeply, he is more focused on helping her achieve what she wants rather than providing guidance. This leaves room for Steel to step in and manipulate her by catering to her fury at the world. Unlike Essun, Nassun does not have anyone to show her a different way forward, so she leans into what she knows: violence, hatred, and destruction.

Ultimately, the difference between hope and despair comes down to the connections characters have formed. Whereas Steel has become so lonely, disconnected, and angry that he wants to destroy the world so that he can die, Hoa has formed a deep connection with Essun. Likewise, because Nassun is largely denied opportunities to form bonds, or has them taken from her, she slips into despair. Essun, on the other hand, eventually embraces the idea that the world should be fixed because she sees a modicum of potential and hope in Castrima and the connections she has formed there. When Nassun sees the love her mother has for her, and her willingness to sacrifice everything to protect her, she regains enough hope to decide against destroying the world. Family and community prove to be more powerful than despair and isolation—powerful enough to save not only individual lives but also the whole world.

The societies of The Broken Earth Trilogy both past and present are built on foundations of oppression and exploitation that are designed to preserve power for those in control. This is primarily achieved through social conditioning that causes the oppressed to accept their subordinate position, which in turn is achieved by limiting their choices and freedom. The result is that almost all of the characters in The Stone Sky experience a lack of autonomy, even those like the Guardians and the conductors who enforce and benefit from this system. However, the novel also explores how the oppressed find ways to reclaim autonomy, either through small acts of resistance that grant them a modicum of control or much larger acts that attempt to change the world.

The tuners provide the most salient example. They are genetically engineered to serve a specific purpose and then conditioned—both before and after decanting—to accept their status as tools. For most of the novel, they are completely unaware that they have no agency. It is not until they meet Kelenli, who shows them the world outside of their compound and teaches them the history of the Niess, that they start to question the order of things. For example, after seeing Conductor Gallat’s finely decorated mansion, Houwha realizes that the room he lives in is actually a prison cell. His anger only increases when he learns the tragic fate of the Niess. After that, he stops being the pliant, subservient tool he was before. He forces one of the conductors to take him outside, not because he wants to escape, or even see anything outside, but simply because he wants to invert the balance of power. It is a small, inconsequential act, but it gives Houwha a taste of autonomy that inspires him to lead the other tuners to take down the system that oppresses them from the inside.

Nassun, who comes to a very similar conclusion to the tuners—that some worlds are so broken they just need to be destroyed—feels this way because of the lack of autonomy in her life. Choice has been taken away from her since birth because she is an orogene in a society that hates their very existence. It ruined her relationship with her mother, forced her out of every home she had, and denied her the opportunity to form meaningful relationships. Early in the novel, she explains that she “really just wanted to live somewhere nice […] somewhere with [Schaffa]” (87). Denied the opportunity to live a normal life, it is not surprising that when finally offered a chance to act for herself, she decides to end the world. In one single act, she would not only take control of her life but in her view, end the continued suffering of everyone else like her. Her oppression has been so complete that the only act of autonomy that means anything to her is destruction.

Importantly, it is not just those at the bottom of this power structure that lose autonomy. Conductor Gallat, who occupies a position of power in Syl Anagist and benefits from the exploitation and abuse of the Niess, the tuners, and all the other peoples it conquered, expresses frustration at being limited by Syl Anagist’s hatred for the Niess. Kelenli continues to defy his wishes because what she wants is freedom and personhood—two things she will never be granted in Syl Anagist. Gallat feels he has done everything he can to help Kelenli, whom he loves, and cannot understand why she will not accept that as enough. Yet, complaining about the situation to Houwha is as far as he is willing to go because doing more would jeopardize his own power.

Through Schaffa, the novel provides a model of what the disaffected in positions of power should do. Schaffa is another character who has had little choice throughout his life, despite his immense power relative to everyone else—both physically and as part of the power structures that dominate the Stillness. He did not choose to be a Guardian and based on his feverish dreams in the Obelisk Gate, the process of being turned into one was painful and traumatic. Nonetheless, he has spent most of his very long life benefiting from and perpetuating the system that ensures people like Nassun have no agency and live in fear. However, what sets him apart from Gallat is that he makes the choice not to participate anymore. This comes at a great personal cost. He loses some of his physical power and experiences crippling pain from his corestone. But it also allows him to love Nassun on his own terms and create a genuine, meaningful relationship with her that allows him to atone for the harm he did to her mother. The significance of Schaffa’s choice is underscored by Hoa at the end of the novel when he explains to Nassun that the way things were was never the only option, but the result of choices—and that different choices are always possible.