Humanity

The discussion on what makes someone human is a fundamental theme of the novel. At first, the shadowless could be seen as losing their humanity, and characters like the Red King support that. However, Max’s journey with Ursula and crew shows another perspective, as they built a community despite their fading memories.

The Red King is a key example of something that is, by all accounts, inhuman. While Ory recognizes him as Paul, the Red King’s misremembering has turned him into more of a legend. Ory says, “[He] had heard their soldiers tell one another legends that the Red King was unkillable, that he’d forgotten he wasn’t immortal, so he was… He had forgotten his name, that he had written poetry, that he was not the size of a rhinoceros” (294). However, while the Red King has lost much of his humanity, Ory...