The Poppy War

Content Warnings: This section of the guide quotes instances of self-harm, recreational drug use and drug addiction, racism, classism, colorism, physical abuse, mental abuse, explicit wartime violence, explicit sexual violence, sexual assault, human experimentation, suicide, and genocide.

“You start plying him with opium—just a little bit at first, though I doubt he’s never smoked before. Then you give him more and more every day. Do it at night right after he’s finished with you, so he always associates it with pleasure and power. Give him more and more until he is fully dependent on it, and on you. Let it destroy his body and mind. You’ll be more or less married to a breathing corpse, yes, but you will have his riches, his estates, and his power.”

This advice, given to Rin by Auntie Fang, introduces the theme of Addiction as a Tool of Control. She is advising Rin on how she would have been able to survive an arranged, strategic marriage. It demonstrates the actions those from marginalized identities, such as lower-class women, take to accrue power. While Rin is aghast, she later demonstrates a willingness to commit immoral actions to gain power.

“Rin, listen. Sinegard is a cruel city. The Academy will be worse. You will be studying with children of Warlords. Children who have been training in martial arts since before they could even walk. They’ll make you an outsider, because you’re not like them. That’s okay. Don’t let any of that discourage you. No matter what they say, you deserve to be here.”

Tutor Feyrik warns Rin about the classism and social striation of Sinegardian society. Though the Academy is supposedly structured on meritocracy, its admission structure favors those with privilege. Rin will be expected to compete equally with students who have had a lifetime of military training preparation.

“They had grown up hearing stories about the destruction of Speer, a tiny island that punctuated the ocean between the Nariin Sea and Omonod Bay like a teardrop, lying just beside Snake Province. It had been the Empire’s only remaining tributary state, conquered and annexed at the height of the Red Emperor’s reign. It held a fraught place in Nikan’s history, a glaring example of the massive failure of the disunited army under the Warlords’ regime.

Rin had always wondered whether the loss of Speer was purely an accident.”

In History class, Rin and her cohort learn about the Mugenese genocide of Speer, a Nikara tributary. Because of its famed warriors, Speer holds an infamous and exoticized place in the national mythos. Though Nikan officially claims they did not know Speer would be targeted by Mugen, Rin thinks they willingly sacrificed it. This quote, which follows a separate acknowledgment of patriotic propaganda in rural textbooks, suggests that national stories are not always factually accurate.