The Throne of Fire

“You’d think magic would make things easier. In fact, it usually made things more complicated. There were always a million reasons why this or that spell wouldn’t work in certain situations. Or there’d be other magic thwarting you—like the protective spells on this museum.”

These lines come from Carter’s thoughts during the museum break-in. Magic often comes with the idea that access to spells would make life easier, but in many fantasy books, the Kane Chronicles included, this is not the case. Using magic to enter the museum might be simple under certain circumstances, but with the protective spells on the museum and the complications with their own abilities, it becomes more of a hindrance here.

“My private balcony overlooked the East River. I had an enormous comfy bed, my own bathroom, and a walk-in closet with endless new outfits that magically appeared and cleaned themselves as needed. The chest of drawers featured a built-in refrigerator with my favorite Ribena drinks, imported from the UK, and chilled chocolates (well, a girl does have to treat herself). The sound system was absolutely bleeding edge, and the walls were magically soundproofed so I could play my music as loud as I wanted without worrying about my stick-in-the-mud brother next door.”

Sadie’s description of her room in Brooklyn speaks both to the nature of the magician headquarters and her own personality. Sadie appreciates the convenience the headquarters’ magic offers, but this passage comes as Sadie contemplates the complexities of being a magician and the threat of chaos. She struggles to fully appreciate the convenience because it represents the hardships she faces. Her thoughts symbolize the idea that benefits do not always make up for downsides.

“Right, right. Myth and science were both true—simply different versions of the same reality, blah, blah. I’d heard that lecture a hundred times, and I didn’t want to hear it again.”

Sadie thinks this after Bast describes the ancient Egyptian belief that the sun was reborn each morning. Sadie argues that the sun isn’t reborn and that it disappears due to the Earth’s rotation, and Bast gently reminds her that both explanations are true. Sadie’s thoughts here harken back to learning about science and magic existing side by side in Book 1. They also build upon Riordan’s story world and remind the reader how Riordan explains ancient deities and societies existing alongside modern-day beliefs. Magic and science are often pitted against each other, but Riordan allows them to coexist as different types of power.

“I gave the trainees a problem. They could solve it any way they wanted. As soon as they succeeded, they could go. I guess this wasn’t much like real school, where you have to stay until the end of the day even if you’re just doing busywork; but I’d never been to a real school. All those years homeschooling with my dad, I’d learned at my own pace. When I finished my assignments to my dad’s satisfaction, the school day was over. The system worked for me, and the trainees seemed to like it, too.”

Carter’s observations call to the difference in educational styles. Having never attended regular school, ending class when the lesson is learned makes more sense to him than being stuck in an educational setting even if nothing is being accomplished. This approach hints at the discontent that can arise with the traditional school day. It also speaks to the differences in learning styles: Carter allows students to solve a problem however they can, which is more accurate to real-life problem solving.

“I looked across the river to Manhattan. It was a great view. When Sadie and I had first arrived at Brooklyn House, Amos had told us that magicians tried to stay out of Manhattan. He said Manhattan had other problems—whatever that meant. And sometimes when I looked across the water, I could swear I was seeing things. Sadie laughed about it, but once I thought I saw a flying horse. Probably just the mansion’s magic barriers causing optical illusions, but still, it was weird.”

These lines from Carter’s thoughts show how Riordan’s various mythologies are interconnected. The Greek Gods have dominion over Manhattan, something Amos hinted at in The Red Pyramid. Here, Carter contemplates what that means in the form of an “Easter egg” for readers—those familiar with Riordan’s world know there are other gods in Manhattan and that the flying horse is a Pegasus. This also shows that magicians are just as good at rationalizing as mortals. Mortals struggle to see magic and make up non-magic reasons when they encounter it. Here, Carter does something similar—attributing what he sees to the headquarters’ magic playing tricks on him.

“Despicable creatures, vultures: without a doubt the most disgusting birds ever. I supposed they served their purpose, but did they have to be so greasy and ugly? Couldn’t we have cute fuzzy rabbits that cleaned up roadkill instead?”

Prior to this passage, Sadie has come face-to-face with Nekhbet, the vulture goddess. Even possessing Sadie’s grandmother, Nekhbet can’t—or doesn’t—hide her appearance, and Sadie’s thoughts call to humans’ shifting perceptions. Vultures are associated with eating dead creatures, something that people find gross, especially in the modern day when many city-dwellers are removed from nature. This concept reemerges with the introduction of Bes, the “dwarf” god, who is described as looking “frighteningly grotesque.” However, the fact that Bes and Nekhbet were worshiped as gods in ancient Egypt shows that they were perceived differently than they are today.

“‘As for Babi, he represents the darkest qualities of you primates: murderous rage, uncontrolled strength—’

‘We primates?’ I said. ‘Sorry, did you just call me a baboon?’”

This conversation between Sadie and Anubis comes while Nekhbet and Babi are chasing Sadie and her friends. Anubis compares humans to Babi, and Sadie takes offense. However, Anubis’s comparison is not wholly inaccurate. Despite advancements in technology and the ability for higher thinking, humans are primates, and we react on instinct when experiencing high emotions like fear and anger. Given her feelings for Anubis, Sadie doesn’t want him thinking of her that way, as it indicates his perception of humans as immature animals who are highly susceptible to emotion and reactionary instincts.

“Egyptians were smart. They honored people who were born unusual. Dwarves were considered extremely magical. So yeah, I’m the god of dwarves.”

Here, Bes explains his godly status to Sadie and her friends. One of the girls asks what Bes means by “dwarves,” referencing Snow White, to which Bes says he’s the god of all “dwarves.” In the early days of ancient Egypt, “dwarves” were considered celestial beings of power and given places of rank in the homes of the pharaohs and wealthy. Following this explanation, the girls wonder if there’s a more respectful term for shorter people, an idea Bes rejects because he is comfortable calling himself a “dwarf.” Bes and this conversation represent the idea that it is up to an individual to identify how they wish, and for those with whom they interact to respect their preferences.

“‘Russians,’ Bes said with a kind of grudging admiration. ‘Very superstitious people. They tend to see magic for what it is. We’ll have to be careful here.’”

Bes says this after he, Carter, and Sadie arrive in Russia and a group of teenagers see them as they are. Russian culture has a reputation for its superstitions, such as making a wish if you find yourself standing between two people with the same name and not shaking hands across a threshold. Riordan nods to this cultural ideology by having the teenagers be able to see and remember magic, rather than forgetting as mortals in England, Egypt, and the United States do outside of extreme circumstances.

“‘So maybe that‘s why the stone is glowing, Carter. What if this false door‘s not false?’

I looked at the stele more closely, but I didn‘t see any glow. I thought maybe Sadie was hallucinating from exhaustion or too much potion in her system.”

As Carter and Sadie search for the hidden entrance to Menshikov’s chambers, they notice a stele (grave marker) that depicts Anubis, and the glow Sadie sees means there are spells cast on the stele. Carter doesn’t see the glow, which suggests that magic affects different magicians in unique ways. This is an example of The Different Types of Power, seen through Carter and Sadie’s various differing abilities.

“‘My name is my identity,’ she said. ‘The sum of my experiences. As long as my name is remembered, I still exist, even if I die.’”

Jaz speaks these lines while Sadie’s ba visits her ren. Sadie is initially surprised that a ren is made up of shifting images from a person’s life, and Jaz explains that a ren is the secret name and the entire identity of a person. The connection speaks to the importance of cultural identity and what a person’s given name means. It also suggests that changing our given name doesn’t change a person’s heritage. This scene introduces the power of names, in line with the theme The Different Types of Power; the motif of names as identity reoccurs later in the book, through Carter, Ra, Bes, and Desjardins.

“I’d never thought about it before, but the ren was the same as one’s secret name. It was more than just a special word. The secret name is your darkest thoughts, your most embarrassing moments, your biggest dreams, your worst fears, all wrapped together. It’s the sum of your experiences, even those you’d never want to share. Your secret name makes you who you are.

That’s why a secret name has power. It’s also why you couldn’t simply hear someone repeat a secret name and know how to use it. You had to know that person and understand their life. The more you understood the person, the more power their name could yield.”

This passage of Sadie’s thoughts comes while she works to find Carter’s secret name and heal him of the poison from the serpent-dragon bite. After meeting with Jaz, Sadie understands that the secret name is the sum of everything that makes up a person, and the complexity of an identity is the reason secret names are difficult to learn. Secret names can also only be given by their owner or by the person closest to their owner, meaning that Carter had to willingly give Sadie his name for her to heal him. The fact that Sadie doesn’t already know his secret name suggests that the siblings are still not as closely bonded as they could be, despite all the progress they have made as family members.

“But a few of the gods like me stayed in the mortal world the entire time. Back in the ancient days, I was just, you know, a friendly guy. I scared away spirits. The commoners liked me. So when Egypt fell, the Romans adopted me as one of their gods. Then, in the Middle Ages, the Christians modeled gargoyles after me, to protect their cathedrals and whatnot. They made up legends about gnomes, dwarves, helpful leprechauns—all based on me.”

These lines of Bes’s dialogue come as part of a larger conversation between Bes and Carter about Bes’s past. Bes has just revealed that Menshikov’s grandfather captured him at one point, and Carter is confused because he believed all the gods were locked in the Duat centuries ago. Bes is one of the few who was never locked away because he was not seen as much of a threat, and his friendliness meant that Bes was passed along to the Romans when they traveled to Egypt. The way the Romans adjusted Bes’s purpose and appearance is a type of cultural appropriation—the act of taking elements from one culture and implementing them without giving credit or respect to their origins. Although Bes’s appropriation is an erasure of Egyptian culture, Bes is unbothered, raising questions about the line between natural cultural trade and appropriation.

“From the surface of the river rose the watery form of a woman in a blue dress. Most Egyptian gods grew weak in running water, but Nephthys was clearly an exception. She glowed with power. She wore a silver Egyptian crown on her long black hair. Her regal face reminded me of Isis, but this woman had a gentler smile and kinder eyes.”

Here, Carter has just woken Zia and rushed her to the river so the goddess Nephthys could leave Zia’s body. Up until now, most of the gods Carter and Sadie have met have been threatening, with few exceptions. The siblings have been told repeatedly to seek running water to stop gods from being able to chase them; this was seen when Sadie and Bes faced off against Nekhbet and Babi at Waterloo Bridge. Nephthys, however, thrives near water, and she seems to be kind, rather than calculating and tricky like Isis, Horus, and the other major gods. This sets her apart from the others and indicates that Zia, too, is different—and more powerful than she seems.

“I looked down at the portrait of the nearest mummy, her face a crude finger-painted image. I wondered if her grieving children had made it—one last gift for their mother. Despite the bad quality, I found it rather sweet. They had no money and no artistic skill, but they’d done their best to lovingly send her to the afterlife. Next time I saw Anubis, I would ask him about this. A woman like that deserved a chance at happiness in the next world, even if she couldn’t pay. We had quite enough snobbery in this world without exporting it to the hereafter.”

Here, Sadie and Walt make their way through the tomb to find the final piece of the Book of Ra. They pass many mummies, and it’s clear some hurriedly tried to get their loved ones accepted to the Egyptian afterlife. This scene illustrates The Many Forms of Family and the lengths to which people will go for their parents, siblings, and children. Sadie’s observations also speak to how money equates to importance or the idea of deserving better on Earth. Wealth and poverty are often illogically tied to morality and worthiness, which Sadie decries in her wish to prevent such a mindset from carrying over into the afterlife.

“I’d always thought of a year as an incredibly long time. I’d waited forever to turn thirteen. And each school term seemed like an eternity. But suddenly two years seemed much too short.”

Walt has just told Sadie he has at most two years to live, and this revelation puts Sadie’s life in perspective. At age 13, a year feels like a long time to Sadie because she’s experienced so few of them, but faced with the idea of not having many more, she suddenly realizes how young she is and how much time matters to her. This shows how individual perspective gives something meaning. Walt has always known he’d have little time, so two years feels like a gift. By contrast, Sadie can’t imagine living only two more years, and it doesn’t feel like enough time at all.

“‘Your sister is quite intelligent,’ Zia said. ‘She convinced me to reserve judgment on your plans until you woke up and we could talk. She’s quite persuasive.’

‘Thank you,’ Sadie said smugly.

I stared at them both, and a feeling of terror set in. ‘You’re getting along? You can’t get along! You and Sadie can’t stand each other.’”

This exchange comes after Carter rescues Zia and they’ve been reunited with Sadie, Walt, and Bes. In The Red Pyramid, Sadie and Zia didn’t get along, but over the course of The Throne of Fire, Sadie has come to see similarities between them. This enables her to connect with Zia in a way that Carter, made oblivious by his feelings for her, cannot. Carter’s alarm is a reminder that the Zia he knew before was a shabti, and that this Zia may be completely different. Additionally, he still has feelings for Zia, and his sister getting close to the girl he likes is unnerving, as it might be for any teenage boy.

“If you ever visit the pyramids, here’s a tip: the best place to see them is from far away, like the horizon. The closer you get, the more disappointed you’ll be.”

Carter thinks this as he and Sadie make their way to the Great Pyramid to enter the Duat and find Ra. Having been to the pyramids many times with his dad, Carter has seen them from many angles, and this shows his expert opinion on the matter. He goes on to explain that there are tourists, pop-up vendors, and other signs of commercialism closer to the pyramids that detract from their majesty. Seeing them from the horizon keeps all of that out of view and allows the pyramids to be appreciated for their beauty and historical significance, not their modern-day tourist value.

“‘Sleep has different stages,’ Carter said. ‘Like, the first few hours, the brain is almost in a coma—a really deep sleep with hardly any dreams. Maybe that’s why this part of the river is so dark and formless. Then later in the night, the brain goes through R.E.M.—rapid eye movement. That’s when dreams happen. The cycles get more rapid and more vivid. Maybe the Houses of the Night follow a pattern like that.’”

As Carter and Sadie travel through the Duat, they note that the early houses are uneventful. Knowing that science and magic carry equal weight as explanations for how the world works, Carter applies the Twelve Houses of the night to the cycles of sleep. The early hours of the sleep cycle are, as Carter says, smooth with low levels of activity in the brain. During R.E.M., the brain has more activity and is closer to an awake state, and this cycle matches Carter and Sadie’s journey down the river. The later houses have more challenges and activity, much like the later cycles of sleep.

“Sometimes they disappear, but I don’t know if they simply get lost wandering the halls, or find a new room to hide in, or truly fade to nothing. The sad truth is it amounts to the same thing. Their names have been forgotten by the world above. Once your name is no longer spoken, what good is life?”

Tawaret offers this explanation for the gods in the assisted living facility in the Fourth House. This is another nod to the power of names, part of the theme The Different Types of Power. Tawaret explains that gods come to the Fourth House when they are being forgotten. Gods lose themselves when their names fade because there is no one left to recall them. Tawaret’s explanation speaks to the natural passing of time. Millions of people have been forgotten since humans started keeping records, and only a few that do something to make them stand out are preserved in history. Tawaret’s explanation also shows why Bes ends up in the Fourth House after he loses his name to Khonsu. Like the other gods, he’s been forgotten, but rather than being forgotten by others, he’s been forced to forget himself. This suggests he might find a way back to himself, as there are still people who remember him.

“But as irritating as Horus was, he had a point. Sadie had talked about hope—about believing that we could make Ma’at out of Chaos, even if it seemed impossible. Maybe that was all we could do: keep on trying, keep on believing we could salvage something from the disaster.”

Carter thinks this after the kids realize they’ve spent so much time seeking Ra in the Fourth House that they’ve lost their chance to enter the Eighth House. These lines call directly to the book’s theme of The Different Types of Power. Order and chaos are two sides of the same coin, as Carter notes here. One may be changed into the other, and that hope is what keeps the kids moving even though they believe they’ve failed. Carter’s thoughts symbolize the idea that it’s never too late. Even if it seems like there is no path forward, one may be found through determination and perseverance.

“Chaos is impatient. It’s random. And above all it’s selfish. It tears down everything just for the sake of change, feeding on itself in constant hunger. But Chaos can also be appealing. It tempts you to believe that nothing matters except what you want.”

Just before the final battle, Menshikov offers Carter and Sadie positions of power in a world of chaos, as well as the cure to Walt’s curse. The kids know taking Menshikov’s offer will end the world, but they are tempted. Chaos is seen as a force of darkness for most of the book, but here, Carter explains how chaos may be used for good. Chaos allows people to take what they want and use it how they please, even when that runs counter to what is best for all. There is strength in chaos, but it comes with a steep price. This scene shows The Difficulty of Making Choices, as Carter and Sadie must reject an offer that would benefit them and their loved ones in favor of the good of everyone.

“I wanted them to stay longer. I wanted to talk with them a bit more. But my experience with Khonsu had taught me not to be greedy about time. It was best to appreciate what you had and not yearn for more.”

Sadie thinks this as Zia and Amos prepare to leave for the magician headquarters in Egypt. Sadie doesn’t want them to go yet because she feels there is so much they haven’t discussed, but after losing Bes to Khonsu’s game, she has a better understanding of time. She realizes that stalling Amos taking up power in Cairo could have dire consequences for magicians and the battle against chaos. She hopes they will have another chance to talk, but she knows now that nothing is certain. So she appreciates this little time while waiting for another opportunity and trying not to be too hopeful in her expectations.