Chapter 44

Chapter 44 — "Rise"

TL;DR: The Institute year ends; ArchGovernor Nero au Augustus arrives to claim Mustang's victorious cohort and is offered, instead, to take Darrow as a Lancer of House Augustus — and Darrow accepts, because the Sons of Ares need him at the heart of the empire, not the head of a forest army.

Summary: The Institute year closes in ceremony. The Drafting Masters, the Society's great Houses, and the press of Mars all descend on the Institute to claim the survivors. ArchGovernor Nero au Augustus — Mustang's father, the Jackal's father — arrives in person. He is furious with both his children: Mustang for siding with an Andromedus, the Jackal for losing. He is, however, a politician above a parent: he wants the year's victor under his thumb. The deal is offered: Darrow au Andromedus, victor of the year, will take a position as a Lancer (a sworn sword-arm) of House Augustus, on Augustus's personal staff, in the seat of Society power on Luna. It is the deal the Sons of Ares planned for and Darrow — eyes on Eo, on Lykos, on the rest of the trilogy — accepts. Mustang's relationship with him is left explicit but ungoverned: she will be near him in the new life. Cassius and the surviving Mars-and-Bellona watch from the periphery. Sevro, swearing privately to Darrow that he will follow him into the Augustus court, asks only that the wolves of Mars come too. The chapter — and the novel — ends with Darrow standing on a balcony in the Institute's high marble, not as a Helldiver, not as a House Mars boy, not even as the Reaper of Andromedus, but as an instrument of a much longer war, risen into the heart of the system he intends to burn down. The title is the title of the saga: Red Rising.

Key scenes:

• The Institute closing ceremony: a parade of cohorts in Houseless or House cloth, the Drafting Masters and great-House heads in the high benches.
• ArchGovernor Nero au Augustus arriving in glittering imperial procession.
• The private negotiation in a high marble chamber: Augustus, Mustang, Darrow.
• Cassius watching from the periphery; Sevro at Darrow's side, quietly grinning.
• The closing image: Darrow on a high marble balcony, gold eyes on the Martian horizon, the saga's title-image.

Characters present: Darrow, Mustang, Sevro, Roque, ArchGovernor Nero au Augustus (introduced at end), Cassius (peripheral), the Drafting Masters and great-House heads (collectively).

Locations / settings:

• The Institute's closing-ceremony amphitheater and high marble chambers.
• A high marble balcony at the end — view over the Martian wildlands and, beyond, the spires of the city.

Visual motifs: ArchGovernor Augustus in imperial Gold-bronze procession; Mustang in her father's presence, refusing to bend; Cassius silent in a side gallery; Darrow on a balcony overlooking Mars at dusk — gold-eyed, not smiling, the Reaper's quiet — the wolf-and-spear of his old House nowhere on his cloak; the ascent the novel's title named.

Emotional tone: triumph as transition, reverent quiet, the final chord that opens onto Book Two.

Confidence: high — the closing chapter is universally cited.