56 pages • 1 hour read
Victoria AveyardGlass Sword
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016A 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 11-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary
The group picks their way through the forest until they reach the village that’s home to Nix Marsten, the first newblood on the list. While Farley and Shade search for Nix, Cal, Mare, and Kilorn wait in the forest so they aren’t spotted and reported. Mare doesn’t like staying behind, but she understands the necessity. Every person who sees them could start a rumor that brings Maven’s forces down on the town. Farley and Shade can move unseen, and “without the lightning girl to hide, no one will have to die” (152).
Sometime later, Farley and Shade arrive with Nix in tow. Mare starts to explain about the newblood powers, but Nix takes one look at Cal and attacks, his skin hardening so it’s impenetrable like stone. Cal’s fire and Mare’s lightning are useless against Nix’s hardened flesh, and Shade teleports him away from Cal—the only way to stop his attack. Nix’s daughters died in the war as part of a tactical offense maneuver developed by Cal. He doesn’t want to work with the prince, but learning there are more newbloods who need protecting and that Maven will kill him, Nix joins the group, pointing to Cal and saying, “[J]ust keep that one far away from me” (161).
Chapter 12 Summary
On their way back to the airship, the group fills Nix in on the Scarlet Guard and the truth behind the lies Silvers feed the Reds. Nix badgers Cal about killing the king, and Cal reveals the entire truth—that the queen forced him to do it and then twisted the story to make Cal the enemy. The truth lessens some of Nix’s animosity toward Cal, and Cal shrugs off an apology with his determination to see the queen and Maven dead. Mare also wants to be the one to kill them, to which Cal says, “When the time comes [...], we’ll flip a coin” (165).
Next, the group flies to Harbor Bay, a larger city where two newbloods are located. Farley insists Mare and Cal come along this time, as their powers will make things easier. Cal argues, not wanting to be a danger or jeopardize the mission, but Mare agrees. When Cal tells her to be ready to kill anyone who recognizes her, Mare says she is, silently noting, “I’m very good at lying” (175).
Chapter 13 Summary
Nix and Kilorn stay on the ship while the others head toward the city. On the way, they meet up with a group of Mariners, a Scarlet Guard subgroup loyal to Farley. The Mariners act friendly, but Mare can tell they’re suspicious of her and Cal. Mare is equally suspicious and starts asking needling questions to draw out the Mariners’ secrets, revealing that they’ve turned on Farley. There’s an astronomical price on Mare’s head, meaning she’s being hunted “by Silvers and by [her] own” (189). When the Mariners attack, Mare collapses the tunnel, and Shade gets her to safety as Cal, Farley, and the one surviving Mariner lurch away from the collapse.
Chapter 14 Summary
As the tunnels collapse around them, Mare and the others follow the surviving Mariner to an access door, and Cal melts the hinges off of the door. The Mariner explains his boss has people ready to capture them and takes them through a part of the city run by a different gang. Mare steals a few shawls for her and Cal to cover their faces right before they pass a board with their pictures and the words “WANTED BY THE CROWN, for TERRORISM, TREASON, and MURDER” (195). Scrawled over and around the images are words proclaiming Mare lives and is the Red Queen.
As they draw closer to the guard post, a member of the rival gang takes down the Mariner and Shade. Mare lunges to help, but Cal pulls her back. They can’t save Shade without giving themselves away, and much as it pains Mare, she follows Cal and Farley away. They wander through the town, passing a square where Reds have been hanged and left for the birds. From there, they find their way to the palace, a magnificent construction of impenetrable diamond glass and metal. For a moment, Mare wishes she could see the inside, and then scoffs at her own desire because “if I ever step inside a palace again, it will be in chains” (205).
Chapter 15 Summary
Cal leads Mare and Farley on a twisting route to the Security Center, where they can find records for the local newbloods. Mare and Farley form a plan to get inside, which Cal is against because it involves killing Silvers. Mare argues that Red lives are just as important, and Cal goes silent. No matter how fair he thinks he is, prejudice has crept into his thinking, and “his blood is silver and his heart is Silver. And he will never value another above his own” (213). Mare argues that Maven has and will kill to get what he wants, and Cal drops his objections.
By now, Mare is sure Maven knows Nix has disappeared from his village, which means there’s no point in hiding anymore. She and Cal reveal themselves to the Silvers guarding the Security Center, dispatching them quickly and letting themselves inside. When they reach the records room, Cal puts up a wall of fire to hold off anyone while Farley and Mare use the computer to print out information for all the newbloods. As they finish, footsteps thunder in the hall, and Cal burns an exit down through the floor until they reach a window low enough to jump from. They land on a bridge and vault to another building, clambering through a window and following a hidden passage to the only exit, where an ambush waits.
Before they are captured, Shade appears and teleports them out. The group heads toward the home of one newblood, only to find the boy hanging, dead, from a statue in one of the public squares. Watching him swing, Mare cries for “the boy I was not fast enough to save” (230).
Chapters 11-15 Analysis
Much of the book focuses on Mare’s group finding and recruiting newbloods. The interaction with Nix is shown in detail, setting a framework for future unseen recruitments. Living in a Red village, Nix believes what the queen and Maven have told the country, and the lies bolster his hatred toward Cal. Nix represents how Cal’s life has changed. Not long ago, Cal was hated for the color of his blood and his rank, but now, he is also a fugitive despised for crimes he didn’t commit. Nix would likely have attacked Cal even without Maven’s lies because Nix’s past understanding of Cal’s military involvement means he blames Cal for his daughters’ deaths. Cal’s explanation of what happened with Maven in Chapter 12 shows how the truth turns a person from a faceless thing to hate into a flesh-and-blood human being. Knowing the truth of how Cal killed the king softens Nix’s anger. Nix still blames Cal for past atrocities, but for this situation, Nix sees Silvers as people, subject to the same emotions and trials as Reds. Nix’s reconsideration of Cal illuminates The Line Between an Enemy and an Ally, which shifts based on having more information and meeting face-to-face.
These chapters continue to explore how powers may be a help or hindrance depending on the situation. During the fight with Nix, Mare and Cal find their powers useless against Nix’s hardened skin, and only Shade can stop Nix’s attack by moving him away from Cal. Mare and Cal stay out of Nix’s village because their faces and powers could identify them, and anyone who sees them is a threat both to them and to the village. Mare and Cal’s powers are a liability there, as well as in Harbor Bay, where they are identified by their powers. In the larger city, though, their powers become both a help and a potential danger. While their powers ultimately identify them, they also allow the group to escape—Cal and Mare destroying obstacles in their path and Shade teleporting them out of the ambush. The dead boy at the end of Chapter 15 represents how powers are not infallible. The boy may not have discovered his power, but even if he did, it was not enough to save him from death.
The Mariners are both an obstacle and a key to the story world. Harbor Bay is a port city, and as a result, it is home to smugglers and gangs, some of which are in league with the Scarlet Guard. They are likely partly responsible for the shipments Mare saw from different countries in Chapter 8. The Mariners also show how quickly a group may change its allegiance, again foregrounding the theme of The Line Between an Enemy and an Ally. With a high price on Mare’s head, the Mariners are willing to betray the Scarlet Guard to collect, and they likely figure they have a better chance of finding Mare because she’s with the Guard. The line about Mare being hunted by Silvers and her own symbolizes how people are all the same, especially when faced with a potential reward. The Silvers already had a reason to hunt Mare, but the Reds, particularly those affiliated with the Guard, should be protecting her. Instead, they become just as much of a threat as Silvers.
The bulletin board in Chapter 14 shows more of the world’s culture and power dynamics. The wanted poster is the largest and boldest announcement on the board, symbolizing the power of the Silvers and the crown. Its capitalized letters reinforce the severity of Mare’s supposed crimes and make everything else on the board seem small by comparison. The scrawled messages show the cracks in the crown’s power. While it may be the most powerful thing in the land, the Reds and rebels find ways to circumvent the crown’s power, much like the messages woven around the bigger, bolder letters. The rebel messages also show that not everyone believes Maven’s lies, and they support Mare and the freedom and equality her lightning ability stands for.
Mare briefly steps back into Silver life in Chapter 15. At the end of Chapter 14, she is impressed by the palace and wishes to see the inside, immediately dismissing the desire because she believes she could never do so of her own free will. This line is more foreshadowing for her capture at the end of the book, but it also symbolizes how people can separate beauty from its darkness. Silvers have oppressed Reds in many ways, including forcing them to build extravagant structures, so for Mare, the palace should be only a symbol of power imbalance. Instead, she appreciates the beauty, even though it was made on the backs of the oppressed. Chapter 15 shows Mare and Cal destroying said beauty as they race to escape the Silver soldiers. The computer is new to Mare and Farley, suggesting it is not widely used. It also shows how advanced Silvers are and their advantages against Reds.
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