Powerless

Throughout the narrative, characters use the phrase “Thank the Plague!” as a common expression. The Plague refers to the mysterious disease that killed a large portion of the population of Ilya decades ago and led many of the survivors to develop supernatural abilities. As a result, many Ilyans now express their joy or relief by thanking the Plague, which indirectly enabled them to become more powerful.

However, at the beginning of the book, Paedyn explains that she has never used the phrase: “The idea of thanking the Plague that killed thousands of Ilyans makes me lose my appetite for even sticky buns. Thanking the thing that caused so much pain and death and discrimination” (6). She refuses to forget the devastating effects of the disease and reframe the Plague as a beneficial event, as the king’s propaganda suggests.

Consequently, the symbolism of the Plague is used to highlight the difference between the king and Paedyn. On the one hand, the king’s authoritarian power can only be maintained through genocide, while Paedyn’s refusal to thank the Plague underlines her free will and her sense of justice. Significantly, she utters the phrase only once in the story, when she pretends to agree with the king out of self-preservation: “I’ve never said the filthy phrase, and I swore I never would. And yet, here I am, opening my mouth to let the words fall out” (319). Even saying it makes her upset, showing how people in an unfair power dynamic are sometimes forced to do things that hurt them.