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44 pages 1 hour read

Rebecca Roanhorse

Black Sun

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

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Character Analysis

Serapio

Blinded as a child by his mother, Serapio fulfills is one of the main protagonists (and, at points, a potential antagonist to Naranpa). He is an important religious and cultural figure for the Carrion Crow clan. As part of the clan’s older religious practices, his role is as a prophet, as a vessel for the old crow god, and as the fulfiller of a prophecy about vengeance against the priesthood.

Serapio is the Odo Sedoh, the old crow god’s vessel, and this is a role he takes seriously. He has magical powers which include being able to use star pollen to see the world through the minds and eyes of crows and letting the power of the crow god channel through him. Throughout his life, various tutors and teachers have trained him in every aspect of the role. For much of the book, this role is Serapio’s central, only, and relentless purpose: it is only after he begins a romance with Xiala that he is able to see even the possibility of a life outside of or in addition to this role. But instead of pursuing a life with Xiala, he leaves her in a bathhouse on the day of the convergence to fulfill the prophecy and murder the Sun Priest. 

Xiala

Xiala is a bisexual ship captain with eyes in a “kaleidoscope of jewel colors,” (23) purple hair coiled to her waist, and brown skin. She is from the Teek cultural and racial background: the Teek are an isolated matriarchy in the vein of Amazon mythology.

Xiala is missing the top of the little finger on her left hand. Non-Teeks ascribe powers to the bones of Teek people used as good luck charms and relics. Even though others in this world think her bones are powerful, they’re afraid of her. She can use singing and the power of her magical song to speak to the ocean and ask favors of it.

The book begins with Xiala incarcerated for lesbian sex; she uses her quick wits, charm, and magic to outwit adversaries and survive. Unexpectedly, she falls for Serapio when he is a passenger on her ship. His single-minded focus on his role as the Odo Sedoh causes her a great deal of heartache.

Naranpa

Though Naranpa grew up in an economically disenfranchised neighborhood of the city of Tova called Coyote’s Maw, she rose through the ranks at the celestial tower: first as a servant, then as an acolyte, and finally as a priest. When the book begins, her role is at the very head of the priesthood as the Sun Priest.

In her role as the Sun Priest, Naranpa wants the priesthood to become more progressive and to minister to the people of Tova and the surrounding communities in a way that serves everyone, instead of simply the most well-off and powerful. Both her outlook and her political affiliations are ways that Roanhorse considers class and classism in her work. Importantly, the geography of the Maw includes cliffside dwellings which denizens learn to scale, so Naranpa can climb the outside of the celestial tower when she is trapped inside.

One of the book’s subplots focuses on the usurpation of Naranpa’s political and religious power by other members of the priesthood. This subterfuge begins subtly—by excluding her from important conversations, by making decisions without her—and escalates to a murder attempt. Important in the dynamics of the priesthood and the subplot is Iktan, who is the head of Naranpa’s security and one of her former lovers; Iktan uses the neopronouns xe/xir, which is another example of Roanhorse’s thematic exploration of LGBTQ+ identities. Additionally, Naranpa consults in the last third of the book with her biological brother, Denaochi, who experienced sexual abuse as a child and who has risen through the ranks of a major crime syndicate in Coyote’s Maw to work at its head.

Okoa

Okoa is the prince of the Carrion Crow clan. He has a close relationship with his giant crow, Benudah, and a much less close relationship with his sister. His mother’s death is one of the points of political intrigue in the text and part of the subplot of power clashes among the clans in the city of Tova. His mother was the matron of Carrion Crow—her body was found in the river after she apparently jumped off the terrace of her room. Okoa receives a letter from his mother after her death indicating she was murdered and didn’t die by suicide.

Compared to the other characters in the book, Okoa has much less agency—each major plot event which he is a part of happens to him, rather than because of him: his mother’s death, his meeting with Naranpa which is taken to be an assassination attempt, and his giant crow’s role in keeping Serapio alive after his murder spree.

Okoa also wavers between the believers in the old crow god who put their faith in the power of Serapio as the crow god returned, and others in the clan, including his sister, who want to fall in line with the celestial tower.

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