The Stone Sky

Throughout the first two novels in the series, Essun’s primary focus is always on her own short-term survival. She does not think long-term, and she does not often consider others when making decisions, because throughout her life she has learned that others cannot be trusted. However, after using the Obelisk Gate, Essun’s right arm turns to stone, and she can no longer use orogeny without more of her body petrifying. This makes her helpless for almost the first time in her life. She cannot defend herself the way she normally would, and she even needs to be carried on a makeshift stretcher at first. This makes her much more reliant on the people around her and forces her to shift the way she thinks and reacts to the world. Since any act of instinctive orogeny could be her last, she must learn to plan, to think long-term, and to accept the help and care of those around her.

The two times when she does use orogeny—defending herself against Maxixe, and using the Obelisk Gate to stop Nassun and save the world—are for selfless reasons. She does not attack Maxixe, instead stopping his attack on her because she has taken Ykka’s message to heart and wants him to join the comm. Later, when she battles Nassun for control of the Obelisk Gate, she gives up, not because she cannot win, but because she refuses to watch another one of her children die. Nassun is so surprised by the fact that her mother wants to save the world despite everything she has been through that it inspires enough doubt to change her mind. Nassun’s reaction highlights how much Essun has changed since she last saw her, and in this way, her gradual transformation to stone symbolizes the way she has grown and changed throughout the novels. It represents her learning to accept that others care about her and that she cares about them; that she can think beyond surviving the next day, and about more than her own survival; and ultimately, that she can put the needs of others before her own.