#Darrow and Lysander

[thegorydamnreaper]

Darrow vs Lysander - symbolism and favored weapons

Okay this I a bit of analysis that has been turning around in my brain since I finished Light Bringer. There will be major spoilers for all of the books, so read on at your own discretion.

And of course if anyone has points to add please do! This is by no means exhaustive, just a compilation of my main thoughts on the whole thing!

Darrow basically grew up with a weapon in his hand, since he started mining at age thirteen. It becomes part of his identity, an extension of himself. It’s also a symbol of his people, as all Red miners are given one. So as a Red, he already closely identifies with the slingBlade as a weapon, as a cultural symbol, and as a means of protection.

“I wonder what Eo wants of me. Does she want me to take my slingBlade and start a rebellion? I would die. My family would die. She would die, and nothing would make me risk her. She knows that.”

(RR Ch 4)

“This is your slingBlade, son. It will scrape the earth’s veins for you. It will kill pitvipers. Keep it sharp and if you get stuck in the drills, it will save your life for the price of a limb.” So said my uncle.”

(RR part III intro)

Lysander, on the other hand, is trained by his grandmother from childhood to use his mind as his weapon. He is capable of using a razor after spending a decade with Cassius, but his mind was his first weapon. It’s also a callback to the Jackal losing his hand and being mostly unaffected - because all Golds are taught that their mind is their first and greatest weapon.

“He sighs. “I told you. I am something different than you. A hand is a peasant’s tool. A Gold’s tool is his mind. Were you of better breeding, you may have realized this sacrifice means so very little to me”

(RR Ch 41)

“Skipping supper. No wonder you’re a little twig,” Cassius says, pinching my arm. “I daresay you don’t even weigh a hundred ten kilos, my goodman.”

“It’s usable weight,” I protest. “In any matter, I was reading.” He looks at me blankly. “You have your priorities. I have mine, muscly creature. So piss off.”

(IG Ch 8/ Lysander 1)

“My memory is a formidable thing. In many ways it is my grandmother’s great legacy, her teachings preserved in me.”

(IG Ch 8/ Lysander 1)

But the mind isn’t a symbol on its own, there’s no cultural gravitas to it. So to him physical weapons are tools that are an extension of his intellect. In that world view, a gun is the most practical choice of tool. Firearms are the great equalizer - you can be smaller, weaker, less trained than your opponent and there’s still a VERY good chance that you will win any fight.

This leads into another similar understanding that he and Darrow share: their rise must be meteoric. Darrow accomplishes this the hard way, through pain and training and failures. He builds himself as a symbol because he knows that’s the only way to start the chain reaction of bringing Gold down. He is a symbol, and so are his tools. The slingBlade becomes a symbols of liberation when once (as just a razor) it was a tool of the enemy.

Lysander? He cuts corners, because the tools don’t matter only the endgame does. He’s not trying to build something new, or inspire his followers to fight for something they never thought possible. He is fighting to reestablish the status quo as swiftly as he can. He doesn’t need to fight from the ground up to become a symbol - as a Lune, he already is a living breathing symbol of Gold, and that’s enough.

“Dancer would want me to accept the offer. It would guarantee my survival. Guarantee my meteoric rise. I would be inside the halls of the ArchGovernor’s mansion. I would be near the man who killed Eo. Oh, I want to accept. But then I would have to let the Proctors beat me. I’d have to let this little whorefart win and let his father smile and feel pride. I’d have to watch that smug smile spread across his bloodydamn face. Slag that. They’ll feel pain.”

(RR Ch 41)

“He sneers at the gun. “No honor.”

“No time.”

I shoot Alexandar in the head”

(DA Ch 81)

He studies those who came before him, flipping their symbols and methods against them instead of doing anything new. He quotes poems like Roque, uses Darrow’s Morningstar as his flagship, claims to be honorable like Cassius - but it’s hollow because these aren’t his achievements. He doesn’t subvert the paradigm like Darrow does constantly, he just borrows and steals to get his way.

Darrow sees himself as the sword of his people, but he’s more than that because he put in the work to be more. He questions if he’s a good man, but the we see the weight his decisions have on him. But because he built himself up, he has a community that loves him, friends and family that are truly loyal and will check his worst impulses. He is the symbol, but he’s anchored by those he represent. It’s real and has meaning because of all the sacrifices he has had to make.

Lysander can’t even unite the Golds because he is built upon lies. His parents and their deaths, a lie. His grandmother’s teachings, all lies and propaganda. The Golden lies of the Society he so desperately wants to restore. He is built upon lies and hollow promises, of course he collapses into Gold dogma at the first sign of pressure. He has no idea what he’s doing, but he’s sacrificing everything and everyone to prop up this dying system, because that’s where he feels safe. He has no symbols to look up to, no culture to give him strength and community. Anything that could have grounded him is gone (often because of his own actions). Pytha and Cassius were his only family left and he rejected them and their teachings. More than ever before there’s nothing holding him back. He has his mind and it is telling him the only way to be safe is to double down and become the worst of Gold.

[kavinskhhy]

Darrow and Lysander by iparwing

[sad-endings-suck]

Darrow in Lysander’s chapters:

Darrow in his own chapters:

[violetqueenofwands]

Lysander fans: Lysander is the main character now because he’s trying to rebuild what Darrow broke!

Me: You mean the CHAINS?!?!

[tinasshelf]

half-finished Red Rising art (darrow and lysander)

can u tell I have a certain composition i like using (dont answer that) (i like drawing people standing in spacey voids with crecent shaped weapons)

[rangersbecket]

manifesting 🙌

[insignificant457]

Light Bringer summarized using only Reductress headlines

Darrow:

Cassius:

Sevro:

Virginia:

Victra:

Lysander:

Lyria, ditching the figment:

Volga, among the Volk:

Everyone in chapter 48:

Darrow, trying to reach a peace with the Lysander and the rim:

[thatbostonbooknerd]

"Diomedes is talking. I can't hear what he says. He's enraged. I've never heard him so angry."

Diomedes to Lysander:

[artemisandhersilverbow]

JFC that's a bar

[vices-aand-virtues]

Red Rising Characters + Reductress headlines

Darrow

Sevro

Virginia

Victra

Cassius

Lysander

Lyria

Ragnar

Adrius

Pax Augustus

Red Rising Characters + Reductress headlines (1/?)

[miroana]

Lysander, softly, holding a gun to Darrow’s head: Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all, Reaper, and he comes for you now. So, as a final courtesy, I ask: who is your favorite poet?

Darrow, utterly unimpressed: Sevro Barca

Lysander: Seriously?

Darrow: *raises an eyebrow*

Lysander, sighing: Fine. If your heart beats like a drum—

[worldwithinworld]

(Morning Star)

...

(Light Bringer)

Cassius was betrayed and used one more time, but in the end, he defined himself, not as the Betrayer or betrayed, but as a man of honor.

[dumpinggroundfornonsense]

I just finished Lightbringer.

[mithriel-of-mithlond]

Switching from Darrow's to Lysander's POV is wild. We go from 'Atalantia and the whole Ash legions must be destroyed they are our mortal enemy threatening the Republic' to 'omg hi guys I missed you so much, Ajax remember when we were kids...'

[peach-au-barca]

Gotta be real with you, Dog. I don't care for Lysander's pov. Not one bit.

[constant-book-hangover]

Me half way through lightbringer:

Maybe I have judged lysander too harshly. Maybe he isn’t garbage. I will stop my hate and give him a chance.

Me at the end of lightbringer: