60 pages • 2 hours read
Ann LeckieAncillary Justice
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 21-23Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary
Security escorts Breq and Seivarden into a palace audience room where two versions of Anaander Mianaai await them. Seivarden prostrates herself before the Lord of the Radch, following Radchaai etiquette, but Breq remains standing. Seivarden is bewildered when one of the Mianaais addresses Breq as “Justice of Toren.” Breq, meanwhile, observes that the presence of two versions of Anaander Mianaai means “[n]either trusted the other to hold this interview unsupervised, unobstructed” (331).
Seivarden still refuses to believe that Breq is a surviving segment of Justice of Toren, arguing that “no medic would give One Esk a body with a voice like Breq’s. Not unless she wanted to seriously annoy the Esk lieutenants” (332). This suggests again that the body known as Breq is the new segment added in Chapter 12. The Anaander Mianaai on the left orders Seivarden to leave, but Seivarden says that she will not separate from Breq, even when Breq urges her to leave.
Breq confronts the two Anaander Mianaais with their division against each other, adding that one of them destroyed Justice of Toren. At this point, Breq realizes that one of them has turned on a jamming device, breaking the connection between the two of them just as the connection between One Esk’s segments was broken in Ors. Breq pulls out the Garseddai gun and aims at the Anaander Mianaai on the right. To her surprise, the right-hand Mianaai sings a Valskaayan song, then orders Breq to shoot the Mianaai on the left. Breq obeys the order. The surviving Mianaai explains to Breq that she is the one who first visited Justice of Toren at Valskaay, and she asked the ship to teach her “the song least likely to be sung by anyone else” (336), which she then used as a secret access code to control the ship.
Anaander Mianaai calls Breq “the last remaining fragment of a grief-crazed AI, which has just managed to trigger a civil war” (337). She predicts how now that the secret of her division against herself is out, the conflict will inevitably expand. Gunfire breaks out as the Lord of Radch flees her palace in an attempt to reach the station docks. Even though the surviving Mianaai is the one who initiated reforms, she is nevertheless willing to destroy the palace station and everyone in it to keep the conflict from spreading further. She intends to take a shuttle to Mercy of Kalr, which this version of Mianaai controls, though Captain Vel supports the other. Daos Ceit, who reveals that Inspector Supervisor Skaaiat is manually locking down the docks, blocks Mianaai’s way. Daos Ceit says Skaaiat told her that the situation was “just like that night in Ors, and the tyrant had to be doing it” (344). Daos Ceit makes it clear that she has hated and feared Anaander Mianaai, “the tyrant,” since that night. Breq reveals her true identity to Daos Ceit by reminding her of their last meeting in Ors. Breq and Seivarden then proceed to the docks.
Chapter 22 Summary
As they continue to the docks, Breq and Seivarden find Skaaiat arguing with Captain Vel, who is trying to reach her ship. Breq assures Skaaiat that Daos Ceit is all right and aims her gun at Captain Vel. At that moment, a pair of Anaander Mianaais, fighting with each other, appear from the elevator. Breq shoots both, shocking everyone around her. Breq tells Skaaiat that they must not allow Anaander Mianaai to reach Mercy of Kalr: Mianaai intends to breach the ship’s heat shield, as she once did on Justice of Toren, and destroy the station and everyone on it.
Further versions of Anaander Mianaai appear, accompanied by station security officers, who insist the Lord of the Radch must reach Mercy of Kalr to go for help. Skaaiat repeats that the docks are closed, but Captain Vel says she will do what is necessary to obey her lord’s orders. Breq guesses that the version of Anaander Mianaai who has subverted Captain Vel has told the captain that the Presger have secretly infiltrated the empire and are behind the reforms.
Breq reaches the docks and the shuttle to Mercy of Kalr. She shoots the shuttle captain in the leg and flies off alone, leaving Seivarden on the dock. During the brief flight, Breq establishes communications with the ship Mercy of Kalr who, like Justice of Toren years before, knows something strange is happening and is struggling to recall missing memories. Mercy of Kalr alerts Breq that there are several people clinging to the hull of the shuttle as well as a small “sail-pod” unequipped for space travel flying alongside. The people on the hull are more bodies of Anaander Mianaai. Breq attempts to kill them before they enter the shuttle but finally must destroy the shuttle using the Garseddai gun. The shuttle’s destruction will prevent Mianaai from reaching Mercy of Kalr at the cost of Breq’s own life.
Chapter 23 Summary
Sometime later, Breq awakens, choking on a tentacled mass. She is in a hospital, recovering from the process of growing a new pair of lungs to replace those destroyed in the shuttle explosion. The medic tells Seivarden, who is waiting by Breq’s bed, that the patient can have tea in a few minutes. Breq realizes that Seivarden, who was in the sail-pod, saved her life. Breq remained in a coma for around a week, while fighting ravaged the palace station. Wounded soldiers and citizens fill the hospital.
Breq has her first taste of tea, as Seivarden holds the bowl for her to drink, and wonders why people have gone to such lengths to revive an ancillary. Seivarden tells Breq that although the more moderate version of Anaander Mianaai is now in control, the conflict continues. Skaaiat, who is in the hospital to visit a wounded and unconscious Daos Ceit, visits Breq and tells her that, of the two of them, she served Lieutenant Awn more faithfully. Breq rejects this, explaining that it was she who shot and killed Lieutenant Awn. Breq, still weak, leaves her bed and insists on seeing Mianaai.
Seivarden helps Breq to reach a palace audience room, where Breq falls asleep. When she awakens, Breq finds Mianaai, in the body of a small child, addressing her. The child Mianaai confirms Breq’s interpretation of events leading to the outbreak of civil war. Breq insists that she no longer serves any version of Anaander Mianaai, and that it does not matter which version is in charge. The child Mianaai disputes this, asking, “[D]o you think it made no difference to Lieutenant Awn, which of me was on board that day?” (375).
The child Mianaai says she needs Breq to serve as her conscience, a conscience that is “armed and independent” (375). Mianaai says that she has decided to make Breq captain of Mercy of Kalr, as Captain Vel is in custody. Breq protests that she cannot be a captain, as she is not a citizen or even human. Mianaai replies, “You are if I say you are” (378). Breq grudgingly accepts her new position as captain, taking on Seivarden as her second in command. To her annoyance, she discovers that Mianaai has given her citizen ship by making her a member of Anaander’s own house. Breq/Justice of Toren/One Esk Nineteen is now Citizen Breq Mianaai.
Chapters 21-23 Analysis
In the final chapters, Breq achieves her goal of shooting Anaander Mianaai after forcing the Lord of the Radch to confront the truth about her hidden war against parts of herself. In consequence, the hidden conflict between the various aspects of Anaander Mianaai erupts into an open civil war. The willingness of even the more reform-minded Mianaai to destroy Omaugh Palace station confirms Breq’s belief that all versions of Mianaai will use any means necessary to maintain their power. Yet, at the end of the novel, Breq chooses to accept her new role as captain of Mercy of Kalr and the “armed and independent” conscience of the Lord of the Radch. Breq, noting that the last person who tried to serve as Anaander Mianaai’s conscience was the rebellious soldier at Ime, whom Mianaai killed, is understandably ambivalent about her new role.
Breq accepts in part because her new position will allow her to help Lieutenant Awn’s sister (who previously rejected Skaaiat’s offers of support). Breq also hopes that her individual actions may make a difference in some way. However, part of her still sees herself as simply following orders. Breq reveals her culpability for Lieutenant Awn’s death to Skaaiat, who refuses to blame her. At the end of the book, Mianaai presents Breq with the memorial pin for Lieutenant Awn, saying Skaaiat wanted Breq to have it, a symbolic gesture of forgiveness and shared guilt.
Seivarden saves Breq’s life, as Breq once saved her, proving her stability and devotion to Breq. As Seivarden supports her in the hospital, Breq thinks, “Solid Seivarden” (371). In a complete reversal of their earlier roles, it is now Seivarden who endures and explains the moodiness of the weakened Breq. In helping Breq drink tea in the hospital, the first Breq has ever tasted, Seivarden also provides the first sign that Breq is a citizen, now implicitly acknowledged as human. As established in previous chapters, ancillaries, as non-humans, are only allowed water. The bowl of tea embodies the contradictions of Breq’s new identity as Citizen Breq Mianaai. No longer regarded as a piece of equipment, Breq’s new status makes her part of the social order she has served for so long.
