The Kane Chronicles Article: The Throne of Fire: Thoughts, Theories, and Hopes for Book 3

The Throne of Fire: Thoughts, Theories, and Hopes for Book 3

posted by athenartemis

First and foremost, if you have not completed reading the Throne of Fire, do not continue reading. There will be spoilers.

OK, this is my first article so . . . bear with me. The sole purpose of this article is to give those of us who've completed the Throne of Fire a place to share our thoughts on the book beyond a comment written in all capital letters, along the lines of "I FREAKING LOVED THE BOOK, ANUBIS IS SOOO HOT!!!!!!" (which are welcome, as I appreciate enthusiasm).

So I'll start us off.

Thoughts:
I thought the Throne of Fire was good, but I found the Red Pyramid to be better. Why? I don't know. I feel like maybe there was a different feel to the books, but I can't place what it is.
The only thing with the book that I didn't really like was the character change in Desjardins. He was the big bad guy (sort of) in the Red Pyramid, the guy who wanted to execute the Kanes, and then he became a distraught and rapidly-aging "tortured soul", who saves us all in the end. How did that happen? Is being Chief Lector that draining?
I was very interested by Sadie's boy dilemma. I'm really at odds with myself about the situation. The annoyed part of me is thinking about how this love triangle resembles Twilight (immortal, pale cute one, and kind one, who also is somewhat good looking*), and how Sadie is barely 13, and thus not old enough for the romance business. The happy, bubbly side (the one that had a 5 minute screaming fit after Anubis kissed Sadie) is thrilled by the dynamics, especially because the choice, unlike with Twilight, is not obvious. The happy side is winning the battle, and I'm for Anubis all the way. Walt's going to die anyway, and when Sadie dies, it won't be a problem because Anubis already spends a majority of his time with dead people.
Now the Zia (or Zebra, rather) thing is as I expected it. I find that her not remembering Carter is a good thing, because when they fall for each other, it'll be genuine.

Theories:
First of all, I'm certain Vlad the Inhaler is historical wordplay. Vlad the Impaler was a Transylvanian ruler who watched as he had his victims impaled. They were put on top of long, pointy rods, and with the help of gravity, were slowly and painfully killed. I think I heard a story in which he entertained himself with their deaths over a nice meal. Fun guy, right? Did I mention he inspired the character Dracula? Besides, he and Menshikov's ancestor both seem to have a cruel sense of humor.
Second, Zia apparently has an important fate. I have three theories for this. 1) Zia will die, and Carter will kill Apophis in devastated anger. 2) Zia will be the one to take out Apophis, or one of his powerful demons. 3) Zia will host a powerful and important god.
I think the gods Mut, Neith, Hathor, Shu, and Ma'at may be in the series. Neith because she's a warrior goddess similar to Athena, Hathor because she took care of Horus after a battle with Set, and Ma'at because a) They're fighting a battle against chaos and she's the goddess of truth and order and justice and b) she is revered as a major force in the books, so it would be climatic for the Kanes to meet her. Mut and Shu are just important enough to be known, so nothing special there.

Hopes for book 3:
I leave this entirely to you guys.

*Please note that I don't find them attractive myself, that's just what the characters think.

sonoboreas Thank you so much for making an AMAZING article and being the first to make this article, I've been waiting for someone to! First off thought I think the Dejardins situation can slightly be explained. The aging thing wasn't because of his new "job" but from the curse Vlad(I really don't feel like writing his last name) had put on him. I think the purpose was to distract Dejardins from Vlad's possession from Apophis. So mainly I blame Vlad, not being Chief Lector, to attributing to Dejardins rapid-aging. Also I have one theory concerning Walt(weasel). At the end of page 402(I know I'm a pretty big nerd for looking it up) it says "A host can live indefinitely, no matter what sickness he may have, no matter how injured he may be." So I started thinking of Walt...First off I thought maybe Ra would host him so he could rid of his old body and lose his senile mine for a new one. This, of course, would practically make him off limits to Sadie. Then I thought what if Walt hosted him...I know I know crazy thought.Well this pretty much sums up everything I have to say so thank you for giving me a place to vent it.

athenartemis Wow, I was two sentences in and I felt the need to say "thank you" ten times. Here goes: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! (I added an extra thank you.) Okay, about the whole Desjardins thing, I forgot the aging bit while writing the article, but what irked me is how his character changed from a "bad guy" to whatever. I like your Walt - Ra idea. Not just because the whole off limits thing would make Sadie and Anubis (I decided he's my favorite character) be together. I must have disregarded the whole quote when I was reading (and I'd check the page if my friend wasn't borrowing the book), because I have only a trace of a memory on it. But that seemingly small detail could be foreshadowing, so I think your idea is also plausible. Again, thank you.

sonoboreas Well thank you for all those the thank yous. And for Dejardins I also think that he was never a bad guy in that he was just following the rules of the House of Life and those rules made the Kanes look like bad guys. Also I think the reasons he continued to be allies with Vlad was because of the curse or maybe different spells that had been put on him. And so after finally realizing that Vlad was the real person he should be trying to stop, he took one last stand for the House and to help/protect the Kanes.

athenartemis Your welcome. (x10) I'll take your word for the Desjardins thing. It makes sense, so I guess his devotion to the house's rules were so strong that he seemed villainous rather than somewhat unreasonable. He's dead now, so I'm not gonna bother with him anymore. By the way, do you have any hopes for book 3? I can only guess what'll happen (and if you direct your attention to the top of the page, you can see my predictions), so I'm wondering what you think.

sonoboreas Ugh I've been asking myself whats going to happen in the next book but really I have no idea. Mainly I'm glad that I had something to calm my boredom till SoN comes out!

gry @athenartemis: so agree with you on the walt-ra thing. thank you for writing this article it was very well written, especially the part on the 5 minute screaming fit! thank you! it was very good reading!

athenartemis Thank you!

joebob5959 i think walt will host apophis because of what menkishov(there u go sonoboreas)about hosts living forever. that way he can also control apophis's powers and keep them at minimum. ptah also said walt wouldnt like the cure( who wants to host the eternal lord of chaos). and athenartemis, your first and second (especially ur first) zia theories were amazing.