A quite horrible theory surrounding Gen's mom

[knowva.livejournal.com]

One thing everyone loves about the Queen's Thief series is that no matter how many times you reread, there's always something new you realize. Sometimes, the it's bits of dialogue given new meaning with context. Sometimes, bits of the plot that fit together just so. Often, the realization is extremely painful and honestly makes you want to cry. This is one of those. Now someone may have talked about this before, and if that's the case, I apologize for bringing it up again. Otherwise, here we go.

This theory is about Gen's mother. We aren't told much about her, though she is referenced several times throughout the books. In The Thief, Gen tells Sophos that his mother died climbing back into a window after dancing on the palace roof. In The King of Attolia, Gen mentions to Irene that his mother was the one to teach him the Eddisian square dances, which he danced on the palace roof with her. Now,  and this is where it gets bad, whoever found Gen's mom's body could have easily known that she had fallen from the roof. They could even have guessed that she had been going in or out of a window if they found her body under one. But Gen knows not only that she was specifically going in, but that she had just been dancing on the roof. He could only know this if someone had actually been with his mother at the time of her death, and as I think we can agree that the Minister of War would not have been up on the roof, dancing about, the person who saw her fall was in all likelihood Gen himself. So. Gen saw his mother die. That's all. That's it. That's the theory.

P.S. So Gen also says in KoA that the thief and any partner the thief chooses will be safe, however at the time his mother died, neither she nor Gen was actually the thief, it was Gen's grandfather. So the rule doesn't apply. 

Comments

[laserpe.livejournal.com]

I haven't read anything under the cut yet, could you just tell me real quick if this has anything to do with RotT or does this only concern books already out?
I want to go in blind regarding the new book!
Thanks in advance!

[knowva.livejournal.com]

It’s just about the published books, no RotT spoilers. Sorry for the confusion!

[laserpe.livejournal.com]

Thanks for clearing it up! Now that i've read it, I keep trying to find reasons why it can't be true, because its sad. The main one being that it sounds very traumatizing, and Gen doesn't come across that way in TT? Idk, I think its not until the horryfying events in QoA that he really learns how risky the whole thief thing can be - I mean he technically always knew that he had a risky job, I just think deep down he kind of assumed that the really horrible permanent things can't happen to him, example: see how he "throws sounis' threats out of his head" in the initial chapters of TT. And I think witnessing the death of a parent would dampen that kind of attitude somewhat.
Maybe he just assumed she had been dancing because thats what she habitually did there at a certain time, say, every wendesday afternoon? He didn't specify that she had been dancing with a partner.

[knowva.livejournal.com]

While it’s true that gen doesn’t appear to be traumatized in The Thief, he has proved time and time again to be an extremely untransparent character. Also, it still doesn’t explain why gen would know she had been entering the window specifically.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it really does sound as if someone was either out there with her or watching her climb back into the window. I hope you're wrong and that he didn't witness his mom's death but it sure could have happened.

*sob*

One thing I wondered after rereading TT--why do you suppose his grandfather was training him to be the next thief and not his daughter/Gen's mom? I wonder if it was just a given that the position went to a male, or if she didn't want to be the thief. OR, if the minister of war, her husband didn't want her to be the thief. Well, it seems certain that the MoW didn't want any family members to be the thief.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I'm just over here thinking about the scene in KoA where Gen and Irene dance. ("I will keep her safe.") :')

[laserpe.livejournal.com]

About your latter point - in TT, Sophos asks Gen, "didn't they call your mother the Queens thief?" and Gen answers, no, she was nicknamed Queen of thieves because of her abilities and the reason she never inherited the title was because she died before her father - no word about her gender. So I presume the title was passed down from parent to child, not father to son. His grandfather trained him, the reason being probably that ... well his mother was already dead. But maybe she DID teach him some things when she was still alive.
On a less horrific note, we learn that the name Eugenides is the title at the same time, i think it even says somewhere that his grandfathers name was Eugenides too ... and if the title is passed down cognatically, I deduce that his mothers name was probably Eugenia. :)

[laserpe.livejournal.com]

How dare you make so much sense.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Huh, that name makes sense! Plus, I think you're right that Gen's mother would have been the next thief if she hadn't died before her father did. I'm rereading QoA now, and it says, "When his mother had died, Eugenides hadn't waited to tell his father his intentions to be the next Thief of Eddis." That really makes it sound like now that his mother couldn't be the next thief, as planned, he was claiming it. And since his grandfather had already begun to train him, it sounds reasonable.

[whataliethatwas.livejournal.com]

Gen has multiple siblings who weren't thieves, so maybe there was an uncle/aunt of Gen's who was expected to inherit the title/responsibility rather than his mom. Or his mom was trained but his grandfather held the title for long enough that it never needed to be her calling and she chose the MoW and being 'queen thief'. The fact that she taught Eugenides things like square dances on the roof and would steal/dedicate people's jewelry makes it sound like she had some thief training at the very least.

It does make me wonder, though. If 'we are all named after Eugenides', were there ever female thieves and what did that mean for their names? Would she have been Eugenia/Eugeniddia or something?

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

My first reaction was, this is not okay! My second reaction was, you're probably right... ): How tragic!

[ccwtaylor.livejournal.com]

I dunno. It could have been just an inference that since her body was on the ground under the window, and she was known to dance on roofs, that that's where she was....I don't want to have Gen have more trauma in his life! (But I do like the tie in to the dancing with Irene....)

[puppeteergirl.livejournal.com]

I don't mean to totally discount this theory, however, mentioning that he danced with his mother on the roof does not necessarily mean it was on the same day. She could have been going in a window and someone inside saw her fall. Maybe she was re-entering her own living quarters and her husband saw her lose grip or miss the windowsill and fall. I think its open to interpretation.

I certainly think that the plan was for Gen's mother to be the next thief, and then to pass it on to Gen. I'm guessing Gen's mother had been training since she was quite young, and so when she married Gen's father he (MoW) likely knew of her intentions. Possibly Gen's mother/grandfather had indicated to Gen that he would someday take up the role but it was understood that Gen's father wanted him to be a soldier and so the plan was kept a secret until Gen's mother died. I can see Gen's father pressing the soldier issue after her death, and Gen being forced/driven to the shouting match where the cat was out of the bag.