45 pages • 1 hour read
Megan Whalen TurnerThe Thief
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1996A 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
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
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BetaThemes
Loyalty Is a Relationship
Loyalty is defined as faithfulness that keeps someone from deserting or betraying another person or entity. In Chapter 4, Ambiades and Sophos argue about whether the old or new gods are the true ones, and Sophos says “a country with two sets of gods is like a country with two kings. No one knows which to be loyal to” (78). This is true of gods and kings but also of people, and through the relationships between the characters, as well as political and religious intrigue, The Thief explores what it means to be loyal on multiple levels.
Betrayal is the antithesis of loyalty. Though the betrayals present in the novel are not made clear until the very end, the actions and attitudes of Gen and Ambiades illustrate how people are loyal or disloyal to one another. Ambiades’s betrayal is the most obvious. From the beginning, he spies for a rival nation and puts the group in the path of peril, whether by slowing them down or directly navigating them into waiting soldiers. Ambiades’s loyalty is to himself first and to anyone who can improve his situation second. As a result, he does not inspire loyalty in those around him, which is why Pol feels no remorse when he throws Ambiades off a cliff at the end of the book. By contrast, Gen intends to betray the group by taking Hamiathes’s Gift for Eddis, and while he ultimately does steal the stone for his country, the relationships he has cultivated with Sophos and the magus make him unable to ditch them completely. Instead, he rescues them from Attolia and brings them to Eddis, which ultimately betters the relationship between Eddis and Sounis because Sophos is Sounis’s heir. Where Ambiades’s selfish attitude made him enemies, Gen’s selfless actions brings allies and unexpected positive consequences, showing how loyalty has effects that reach far beyond the betrayal of one person.
Keeping secrets undermines loyalty. All of the characters in the traveling party keep secrets from one another. Ambiades’s betrayal and Gen’s identity are major secrets that affect everything they do, but even smaller secrets can change how people view and respond to us. The magus divulges that they are searching for Hamiathes’s Gift a few days into the journey, and though Gen and Ambiades already know this, the timing of the magus’s reveal and the fact he chose to hide the truth indicate that the magus does not fully trust his companions, information Gen and Ambiades use in their deceptions. Similarly, Sophos keeps the truth of his identity secret until the final chapter, which causes the others in the group to view him as the weakest link, not realizing that he holds the greatest potential for power. Sophos’s secret makes the group trust him more because they believe there is nothing he can do with the information he learns. Together, Sophos and the magus illustrate how knowing the truth provides more information with which to choose whether we are loyal or not. In addition, the information hidden behind secrets can earn us loyalty we don’t deserve or keep us from inspiring the loyalty we want.
Loyalty has the power to endure, shown through the old and new gods. Hundreds of years ago, Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia were overtaken by invaders. While all three countries regained their freedom, Sounis and Attolia chose to adopt the invader’s gods while Eddis remained loyal to the old gods, and given that the old gods are real and have an influence on the world, the difference between Eddis and the other two kingdoms shows how loyalty breeds success. In Chapter 8, the magus reveals that no one has ever successfully retrieved Hamiathes’s Gift, but Gen later posits that the stone was retrieved once a generation to aid in Eddisian politics. This suggests that the magus’s information is incomplete and also that, since Eddis is still loyal to the old gods, the gods allow Eddisians to retrieve the stone whereas other cultures, who are no longer faithful, fail. Gen is steadfastly loyal both to the old gods and to the Eddisian versions of their stories throughout the novel, showing his unshakable loyalty and suggesting that this loyalty is what ultimately lets him find the chamber of the gods and the stone. This also mirrors Gen’s loyalty to Sophos and the magus, which allows all three to safely escape to Eddis and contrasts with Ambiades’s lack of loyalty, which leads to his failure. Gen’s personality and loyalty, both to people and gods, shows how remaining loyal to what one cares about helps in achieving one’s goals. Since Gen is loyal, others also feel loyal to him, meaning that he receives help when he needs it.
At first glance, loyalty is a one-way emotion, but when examined closely, it becomes clear that loyalty extends in two directions—the more loyal a person is, the more loyal others will be in return. Whether by keeping promises, telling the truth, or simply believing, one gain respect through loyalty, which allows people to achieve what they cannot on their own.
Beliefs Are Not Truth
The characters of The Thief are very opinionated about their beliefs. At various points, each asserts that their beliefs are true, and while their beliefs may be true to them, this does not mean they are true to everyone or even widely accepted truths. Through the two sets of gods, cultural differences, and ways in which the travelers view one another, the novel explores the difference between a truth and a belief.
Religion is based entirely in personal beliefs rather than fact. The three major countries of the novel’s world have very different religious beliefs and institutions, and while each is the truth for members of that country, their systems are not universal truths. Following the invasions of Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia, the three nations adopted different religious belief systems. Sounis and Attolia both took up the new gods, but where Sounis built a culture around these gods that included celebrations and temples, Attolia barely integrated the gods into its ethos. Though both nations worship the same pantheon, the ways they do so are very different, and neither system is more true or accurate than the other. By contrast, Eddis remained loyal to the old gods, and while this has benefitted them, this does not mean other nations would similarly benefit from believing in the old gods. Further, though the old gods are discovered to be real toward the end of the book, this does not make them the truth to everyone or even the only truth. The old gods being real does not make the new gods false. Both pantheons may be real, and each may be true to those who believe in them, showing how no single religious perspective is the one and only truth.
Cultural views and opinions show that there is no right or wrong way to view other people. In Chapter 5, Gen and the magus argue about Eddis’s culture, as well as how the country’s name is pronounced. The magus asserts that the people of Eddis say it wrong while the civilized world says it right, to which Gen counters “It’s their country, [...] They ought to know the right name for it” (84). Similar to religion, culture is seen through the lens of one’s personal experiences, and one often views oneself differently than others do. As a high-ranking, educated member of Sounis’s nobility, the magus views himself and his kingdom as civilized and advanced. He sees Eddis as behind the times, and he believes the nation to be antiquated and backward because they believe in the old gods and, thus, are not as forward-thinking as he is. By contrast, Gen, an Eddisian, views Sounis and the magus as unfaithful and fickle. To Gen, Sounis’s advancements make the country loud and congested, and he far prefers his ancient traditions to Sounis’s new ideas. Similarly, the magus’s arrogance is off-putting because he refuses to entertain the possibility that other people are equal to those of Sounis. Each man holds his own opinions, and while those opinions are their personal truths, this does not mean that either is right. There is more to Eddis than ancient beliefs, and Sounis is not a nation of arrogance. Neither nation is better or worse than the other, despite what Gen and the magus think, and the existence of different beliefs about a single place shows how opinions are not truth. Gen and the magus may feel a certain way about each other and their countries, but those feelings cannot be proven.
Beliefs may change as understanding changes. This concept is shown by the changes in how the travelers view one another. At the beginning of the book, none of them trust one another. The magus and his apprentices look down on Gen because they see him only as a thief, and Gen dislikes the others because he believes them to be pompous and entitled. As the story progresses and the group gets to know one another, their opinions change. Ambiades becomes surer of Gen’s inferiority because his own fear of being inferior keeps him from acknowledging Gen’s worthiness. By contrast, the magus and Sophos see Gen as a valuable teammate, and Gen sees past their arrogance and finds people who are trying to do the best for their country. Whether for better or worse, these changes show how beliefs may be altered as new information is gained. Thus, what we believe to be true changes, meaning that truths based in beliefs are only as strong as our emotions in the moment. When the magus, apprentices, and Pol are captured in Chapter 11 and Gen fights off the Attolian soldiers, the magus’s beliefs about Gen change because he doesn’t know what to believe, showing how beliefs may be easily disproved.
Beliefs may change quickly and drastically, and we may suddenly find that what was true, no longer is. Beliefs are true until we don’t believe them anymore or we find facts that disprove what we thought was true. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, and beliefs are a personal choice.
How We Use One Another
The characters of The Thief use one another to achieve goals and get what they want. Shifting power dynamics make them tools for others at different points, and it is easier for us to think of someone as a tool when we view them as lesser. Through Gen’s relationship to the magus, different groups, and the role of soldiers, the novel explores how people become tools.
Relationships allow people to use one another. Throughout the novel, Gen’s relationship with the magus exemplifies how characters use people to get what they want. In Chapter 4, when the magus tells Gen he’s just a tool to retrieve the stone, he posits the question, “[I]f a sword is well made, does the credit go to the blacksmith or to his hammer?” (73). By this, the magus means that a creator, not what they create, is given credit when a creation performs a function it was made to perform. The magus created the plan to retrieve Hamiathes’s Gift, which, to him, is the most important part of the mission. It doesn’t matter if someone else actually finds and gets the gift—the magus believes he deserves the credit because he is the craftsman while Gen is just a tool he uses to accomplish a task. However, as Gen and the magus get to know one another, the magus can no longer think of Gen as simply a tool. Though Gen is brash and irritating, he endears himself to the magus, showing that people become tools when we don’t care about them.
Differences allow others to be seen as tools. Similar to Gen and the magus, the people of the three countries in the story view the other countries as lesser than themselves, which allows each to view people as tools. To Sounis, Eddis is a backward nation full of people who are behind the times, and the greatest use Sounis has for Eddis is as an ally against Attolia—a threat. Sounis’s king has no desire to wed Eddis’s queen, but he knows doing so will give him access to trade roads and a way to attack Attolia should it become necessary. To Sounis, Eddis is a tool in the struggle against a rival power. At the end of the book, Gen reveals he is an Eddisian thief, and it becomes clear that Eddis has used both Sounis and Attolia to regain Hamiathes’s Gift. Though a smaller and less powerful nation than either Sounis or Attolia, Eddis makes up for this with enough cunning to use Sounis’s strength against them. Where Gen was a tool for the magus, the entire country of Sounis is revealed as a tool for Eddis, showing that power is a perception and that those with power can make a tool out of anyone less powerful than them.
The Attolian soldiers represent the way in which members of the military, or the military itself, can be used as a tool. Returning to the magus’s question from Chapter 4, soldiers wield weapons (tools), but soldiers themselves are tools to their country the same way weapons are tools for them. When the Attolian soldiers chase Gen’s group, Gen stays behind to give the magus and others a chance to escape, which leaves Gen at the mercy of the Attolians. In an attempt to save his friends’ lives and escape the soldiers, Gen must view the soldiers as tools because this is the only way for him to justify combat. As tools of the Attolian crown, the soldiers become something to be destroyed because they are being used against Gen. Gen despises killing and doesn’t want to hurt the soldiers, but cornered and out of options, he realizes that the soldiers think of him as lesser and that he must do the same. Gen’s relationship with the soldiers shows how people become tools when it is necessary.
Whether intended or not, people sometimes use others as a means to an end. This doesn’t mean that people think of others as only tools, but rather that people sometimes view their own goals as more important than those of others and, as such, people have the right to do whatever is necessary to see those goals met.
