52 pages • 1 hour read
Jasmine MasBlood of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #1)
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Damaging Effects of Patriarchal Social Standards
Content Warning: This section includes descriptions of death, trauma, and forced marriage.
Unlike the human world, the immortal Spartans of Mas’s world operate according to specific honor codes that affect characters differently, based on outdated and restrictive concepts of gender and social class. While all Spartans are aware of these rules, the Chthonics are specifically “rumored to live by an archaic set of rules centered around maintaining honor” (46), despite how regressive these rules are in terms of social equality. In the case of Augustus, true honor also encapsulates the notion of fairness. As he tells the initiates, he is “known for [his] honor” and “will not torture [them] just to torture [them]” (133). Instead, he insists that “[e]verything [they] will do in [their] classroom has a purpose” (133). However, although the rules of this honor code are never explicitly stated in the narrative, the context of the Spartan characters’ actions reveals that Spartan men are expected to dignify their respective Houses with honor that is measured by their intelligence and their performance of certain physical feats. This notion is enshrined in the slogan, “There are no stupid gods because there are no stupid Spartans” (107). Thus, the standards of Spartan society are maintained through the mechanism of the crucible, the ordeal purposefully created to kill young Spartan men who do not meet the expected standards of strength, resilience, and cunning. These three traits are the values most prized in Spartan men and are deemed the cultural cornerstone of their rite of passage into full citizenship and immortality. According to Spartan ideals, to achieve greatness within these values is to gain honor for oneself, one’s family, and one’s House—that is, if one is a man.
For women, however, the same is not true. The plot device of the crucible soon reveals that the concept of honor for Spartan women directly opposes that which is imposed upon Spartan men. This disparity is most notable in the treatment that Alexis receives when she returns from being kidnapped by Theros. Although her participation in the crucible was frowned upon—especially by Augustus—when she was merely considered to be an Olympian “mutt,” the discovery of her lineage and social position as an heiress of the House of Hades transforms her participation into a direct challenge to Sparta’s established social order. As Alexis explains, the Houses insisted on her marriage to Kharon and Augustus in order to “mitigate the scandal of a precious heiress taking part in the crucible (375). She further declares, “Everyone wanted to save my feminine ‘honor’ so I could remain ‘pure’” (375). Thus, although Alexis’s journey clearly proves that Spartan women have the physical and mental capacity to withstand the crucible, the process is believed to defile Spartan women of high status and tarnish the reputations of lower-class women. By contrast, the crucible is hailed as a source of dignity and honor for Spartan men of any social class. Mas therefore uses her world building to demonstrate the damaging effects of honor that is based on a patriarchal system that restricts women’s choices and self-expression.
The Illusion of Agency
In a narrative world hinging on strict mythical traditions and preordained futures, the exercise of agency is often an illusion, as even when certain individuals, like Alexis, are believed to be making decisions of their own free will, they are often constrained by hidden forces and circumstances that compel their obedience to an unwanted agenda. A prime example of this dynamic occurs when others misinterpret Alexis’s actions and motives, mischaracterizing them as being politically motivated to pursue her own ends. For example, despite the fact that her participation in the crucible is forced, Augustus and the media falsely depict her actions as the result of her choice to engage in a specific form of political expression. Also, just as Alexis is not allowed to opt out of the initiation massacre, she cannot refuse to participate in the crucible, either, because Patro and Achilles claim ownership of her. In fact, Patro explicitly and bodily threatens her into submission, stating, “Here’s exactly what's going to happen. […] You’re going to survive the crucible and make us generals […] [and after that] we don’t give a shit about you. Got it?” (82). Thus, it is clear from the outset that she has no choice but to participate in these rites of passage.
Though Alexis eventually realizes her own strength as a Chthonic Spartan and discovers her deadly powers, she spends most of the novel in a state of trauma. Because she does not dare to challenge Patro, Achilles, Augustus, and Kharon, complying with Patro and Achilles’s demands becomes inevitable. Although Augustus is aware that Patro and Achilles are attempting to use Alexis to gain the rank of general for themselves, he persists in the false belief that Alexis is participating in the crucible to further a politically progressive agenda. For most of the narrative, he expresses profound hatred and fury toward her because he believes that “[n]o woman, no matter how strong, should ever endure the crucible” (199), especially since this precedent might also force his sister, Helen, to participate in the crucible as well. Augustus finds few opportunities to mitigate his private anger or correct his misconceptions because he never once questions Alexis about her reason for participating in the crucible. He also fails to consider the possibility that Sparta’s social structures and cultural practices are compelling her compliance and forcing her into an undesired situation. Instead, Augustus willfully maintains his ignorance by assuming that Alexis’s actions are politically motivated. In essence, he assumes that she has full agency and fails to realize the simple fact that if Alexis wants to survive her circumstances, she must comply with the demands of the powerful beings who surround her.
Mythology as Political Propaganda
In the process of reimagining classical Greek mythology, Mas has also reinterpreted its narrative function, as the novel forges new origin myths that are designed to perpetuate the unique patterns of prejudice that fuel this world of myths and legends, heroes and monsters. In Mas’s second Prologue, “The Great War,” she describes the foundational myth of her version of Sparta, depicting its warring factions and outlining the history of violence that drives the modern-day interactions of the Olympians, Chthonics, and humans. This explanatory chapter reveals that the perpetuation of Sparta’s foundation myth poisons the one-on-one interactions between key characters, fostering the distorted assumption that Olympians are heroes and benefactors, while Chthonics are monsters and villains. As the narrative states, “If Olympians were the heroes whose technologies and advancements saved our civilization, then Chthonics were the new dark gods, revered for their heinous power” (47). These myths about the Olympians’ heroism and the Chthonics’ evil powers are further bolstered by media depictions of the Chthonics as bloodthirsty killers. In turn, this oversimplified depiction is used to rationalize their forced participation in the Assembly of Death and the Spartan Gladiator Competition.
These divisive myths therefore serve as propaganda that is designed to ostracize and dehumanize Chthonics and ensure popular support for Olympians. Although Kharon alleges that all Chthonics take pleasure in killing, Alexis’s own reactions refute this point, as she is perpetually horrified by the deaths of those around her and suffers even deeper trauma when she later realizes that she has unknowingly killed multiple people. Thus, it is clear that the origin myths depicted in the novel prevent many characters from objectively assessing their society’s assumptions, and they consequently fail to develop a more nuanced perspective. Mas outlines this inherent social bias in a conversation between Augustus and Alexis, in which Alexis qualifies the Chthonics’ actions in the history of Minotaurs:
[Augustus] switched to Latin and asked, ‘How long were the Spartans trapped?’
I coughed […] ‘They’re still there today—the House of Hades has blocked any rescue efforts.’
‘Why?’ […]
‘Because they’re Chthonic and they h-hate the House of Poseidon?’ (135).
Significantly, all of the initiates agree with Alexis’s oversimplified suggestion. Thus, although Alexis herself is later revealed to be Chthonic, she holds the same misconceptions about the Chthonic faction that most people in her society do. Raised in the human world, she still holds the uncritical belief that the Chthonics are senselessly cruel, and this misconception indicates how widespread and deeply entrenched the myths about Chthonics have become in all corners of the world—both mortal and immortal. Likewise, none of the initiates try to answer Augustus’s question differently, nor do they wonder whether their assumption is true. In this way, it becomes clear that the culture’s dominant myths have been twisted into a form of propaganda that fuels widespread social ire against all Chthonics.
