71 pages • 2 hours read
Ernest ClineReady Player One
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 22-27 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 23 Summary: “0023”
Wade notes, “Zork was one of the earliest and most famous text adventure games” (227). He admonishes himself for forgetting that the game begins in a neglected house and contains a trophy case, both of which are part of the clue for finding the Jade Key. He is worried about the Sixers getting to Frobozz first and uses a Ring of Teleportation to travel there. He enters the abandoned house where the game begins and notices food in the kitchen that was not part of the original game. He finds a whistle in a box of Cap’n Crunch which matches another part of the Jade Key riddle. Wade completes all the necessary actions and obtains the trophies, and he blows the whistle which turns into the Jade Key.
The Jade Key contains a clue to the Second Gate. As Wade investigates, the Sixer army arrives. Wade makes it to his ship, barely escaping before the Sixers can kill him. He takes his ship to a repair yard and sends Aech an apology for being “a colossally insensitive, self-centered asshole” (232). As with the Tomb on Ludus, Sixers and gunter clans enter a large-scale battle on Frobozz. While the battle rages, Wade is surprised to see Shoto’s score increase, indicating that he has also found the Jade Key. Shortly after, Daito’s name vanishes from the Scoreboard, indicating that he has been killed.
Chapter 24 Summary: “0024”
Fighting between the Sixers and gunters rages, and both groups begin to complete the Jade Key quest in large numbers. Wade goes to sleep, only to wake a few hours later to find that Sorrento has cleared the Second Gate, ahead of Wade and his High Five group, meaning that only the Sixers have found the clue to the Crystal Key. As more Sixers clear the Second Gate, the Scoreboard’s main page displays “nothing but IOI numbers” (238). Two days later, Sorrento obtains the Crystal Key. Wade is in disbelief and wonders how the Sixers could have gotten so far on their own.
Wade plans to commit suicide—both in the OASIS and in real life. Contemplating this, he receives a call from Shoto, who says he needs to give Wade something from Daito. Shoto says that Daito will not create a new avatar for the OASIS and that Shoto will explain further in person.
Chapter 25 Summary: “0025”
Shoto arrives at Wade’s stronghold in the OASIS. Shoto explains that the Sixers broke into Daito’s apartment then “pulled him out of his haptic chair, and threw him off his balcony” (242). Shoto shows Wade news reports claiming Daito’s death was a suicide. Opening up to Wade, Shoto tells him about his relationship with Daito; they were not brothers in the real world, just in the OASIS.
Shoto recounts the events leading up to Daito’s death. The two had followed the Sixers to Frobozz, and Shoto cleared Zork while Daito stood guard. Shoto shows Wade a video of Daito’s last stand. Daito used his artifact to become Ultraman and began destroying the Sixers. When the three Ultraman minutes are nearly up, Daito tells Shoto: “I think someone is here! Someone is inside–“ (246). Shoto collects Daito’s dropped items and escapes. He gives Wade the Ultraman artifact.
Shoto tells Wade that he is no longer interested in the egg, only in avenging Daito’s murder.
Chapter 26 Summary: “0026”
Several hours after Shoto leaves, Wade figures out where to find the Second Gate. He says the word “unicorn” to the silver foil that wrapped the Jade Key, and the foil folds into a unicorn which happens to be “one of the most iconic images from Blade Runner” (250), a 1982 film directed by Ridley Scott. Wade heads to a replica of a setting from the film, knowing it will contain copies of a machine integral to the movie’s plot which can distinguish whether a person is a human or not. Wade fights his way to the machine, then inserts the Jade Key, opening the Second Gate.
Wade is pulled into a bowling alley game room, then sucked into a game called Black Tiger. Halliday had played the game as a child when his parents fought. Having guessed long ago that Black Tiger was important for the Hunt, Wade is prepared. Wade becomes the game’s main character and must play through it in an immersive way, much like he did with WarGames in the First Gate. Wade finishes the game and is offered a selection of giant robots upon completion. Wade chooses Leopardon, which is added to his inventory. The game shows Wade a clue to the Crystal Key. He knows where he must go.
Chapter 27 Summary: “0027”
Wade returns to his ship and looks up information on the band Rush, whose cover for their album 2112 matches the clue he was given for the Crystal Key. Following the title track of the album, Wade heads to a planet called Syrinx and the city Megadon, and he enters the Temple of Syrinx. He finds a tunnel underneath a waterfall that leads to a guitar embedded in rock. He extracts the guitar, then plays “Discovery,” a song which “describes the hero’s discovery of the guitar in a room hidden behind a waterfall” (263). A message appears in the rock that seems to reference the Third Gate.
Wade goes back to the temple and places the guitar on the altar which then transforms into the Crystal Key. The Crystal Key has a letter “A” etched in it, indicating that the Third Gate is in Castle Anorak. Arriving at Cthonia, Wade finds the Sixers have “installed some type of magical shield over Castle Anorak” (265), and the entire Sixer army is inside. Wade forms a plan, and he tells Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto how to find the Second Gate and get the Crystal Key.
Chapters 23-27 Analysis
Like Wade’s aunt’s murder, Daito’s death shows the lengths that the Sixers are willing to take to gain control of the OASIS. They are a formidable force, clearing milestone after milestone and reaching the Third Gate before anyone else can even clear the Second Gate. As terrifying as the Sixers are, the gunters up to this point have not really believed that the Sixers could win the Hunt. Now that seems imminent. As Wade says, “This story was not going to have a happy ending. The bad guys were going to win” (238). The novel frames the struggle between the gunters and Sixers as a battle between good and evil, and it becomes clear that control of the virtual world of the OASIS is a resource worth killing for.
The gunters, particularly the High Five, have largely remained competitive and independent, but now the Sixer threat is driving them to collaborate, as shown by Shoto revealing details of his real life to Wade, sharing the story of Daito’s death, and giving Wade Daito’s Ultraman artifact. Wade, too, integrates himself with the group by sending information about the Second Gate and Crystal Key to Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto. He realizes that the only way to stop the Sixers is for the gunters to work together, increasing the chances that one of them will win. As much as Wade wants the prize for himself, having any gunter win the Hunt would be preferable to the Sixers destroying the world he loves so much.
