#but I feel like people really don't appreciate the sheer horror of The Tongue Thing in itself.

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

Had Silna's father already cut his tongue out by the time she was born? By the time he met her mother? Was he ever able to speak to his daughter, even once?

And is the shaman's role always hereditary like this? It's certainly implied to be in the show. Did he know from the moment of her birth that he would be forcing this sacrifice onto her one day? Had he grown up his whole life under that terrifying shadow as well? Did he watch her mother patiently teach Silna her first words, knowing it all the while? How old was Silna, when she was told that it was her duty and obligation to cut out her own tongue?

We talk about the parallels between Silna and other characters like Crozier who have a burden of responsibility thrust upon them that they do not want and cannot handle. But all the British men did, in some way, choose the life that led them here (yes, even the marines, in that they chose to join the military). Silna is the only one who was born into the role she is forced to play, with no way out. The tragedy of the men's fates is that they doom themselves with their own choices, but the horror of Silna's is that she has no choice.