50 pages • 1 hour read
Guy Gavriel KaySailing to Sarantium
Guy Gavriel KayFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Survivor’s Guilt and Moving Forward
From his first introduction, Crispin is depicted as deep within the throes of grief, depression, and survivor’s guilt. After the loss of his wife and daughters, he blames himself for their deaths and wishes he had joined them. This guilt is crippling to the point where his business partner accuses him of being too afraid to accept that he has survived to do anything with his second chance. Crispin even admits this to himself: “His life. He had a life. The hardest thing was to accept that, it sometimes seemed. To move out from the rooms where a woman and two children had died in ugly pain, stripped of all inherent dignity or grace; to allow brightness to touch him again, like this gift of the morning sun” (81). For all the political maneuvering, religious and philosophical debates, and near-death experiences, Crispin’s true struggle is with his own guilt and depression. It is only when he comes face-to-face with death that he finally realizes—and accepts—that he wants to live.
Repeatedly, various characters suffer but choose to continue to move forward. Examples of this include Kyros, the club-footed cook who accepts that he will never be a charioteer, animal trainer, or soldier, but acknowledges that “there was a life to be lived, nonetheless. A life in the world” (337). He explains that regardless of one’s losses or circumstances, people simply carry on because there is nothing else to do. This sentiment is echoed by Vargos: “When you can’t go back and you can’t stay still, you move forward, nothing to think about, get on with it” (192). Leontes also makes a similar point, stating that “a man moves on from his losses, eventually” (374). In the end, even Crispin agrees that one’s experiences and relationships are carried throughout life, and life does not stop: “You moved through time and things were left behind and yet stayed with you. The nature of how men lived” (430). At the end of the book, Crispin finally comes to terms with all of this and chooses to let go of his grief and stop distancing himself from the world—and people—around him.
Freedom and Destiny
Given the geopolitical landscape, few characters exhibit full freedom in their lives and choices. Vargos exerts what little power of choice he has to follow Crispin out of respect for his courage. Scortius is a wealthy and famous athlete, but even he finds himself to be a plaything for the upper class. Kasia experiences the least freedom to start with. As a slave, she has virtually no control over what she does or what happens to her. She exerts what little agency she has to ask for help to save her own life. This decision made without freedom results in a profound effect on the story and its characters. Kasia would argue that she had some say in being sold into slavery, but if the options are slavery or starvation, there is no freedom in that choice either. After being so thoroughly robbed of her agency, Kasia is unsure of how to adjust to a new world in which she is free again and finds herself asking, “Could one forget how to be free?” (258).
What little freedom exists within the confines of the story is challenged by the concept of destiny, which is painted in a fairly negative light throughout the book. It is most directly addressed when Kasia is accepting of her fate as a sacrifice to Ludan: “What man—what woman, even more than man—had ever been immune to destiny? Where could you run when your name was known to a god? […] She had been named. He knew her. There was no path in the world that would not lead her here” (160). While Kasia survives her encounter with Ludan, destiny is proven harder to escape in other instances. Linon is ultimately sacrificed to Ludan all over again. Later, each of the other souls within Zoticus’ birds, except the one he sent to his daughter, Shirin, is sacrificed to Ludan once more. Seven sacrifices experience the entrapment of fate in this way not only once, but twice. These plot points question whether freedom is real if destiny cannot be avoided.
The Importance of Relationships
Relationships between characters frequently bear large effects on the stories. Martinian’s close relationship with Crispin and his desire to force Crispin out of his grief serves as the initial catalyst of the story, enabling him to embark on his journey to Sarantium in the first place. Gisel’s relationship with Pharos results in her knowledge of the plots against her—and her decision to clandestinely offer marriage to the Emperor through Crispin. Martinian’s friendship with Crispin also leads to Crispin’s meeting with Zoticus and the following relationship with Linon. His relationship with Linon results in her decision to sacrifice herself to save him, saving the lives of Crispin, Vargos, and Kasia. The memory of Crispin’s daughter—and his relationship with her—moves Crispin to save Kasia in the first place. Crispin’s dangerous decision to save Kasia moves Vargos, gaining his loyalty which later proves vital to discovering the man behind the attempts on Crispin’s life. Crispin’s unexpected friendship with Carullus leads to his survival in Sarantium.
The relationship which has the most profound effects on the Sarantine Empire is between the Emperor Valerius II and his wife, Empress Alixana. The marriage, which is widely referenced in an admirable, even enviable light, has vast political ramifications. First, Valerius changed the laws to marry her. Second, it is her choice words which move Valerius to stay and fight for his throne during the Victory Riot. Without valuing her input, he would have fled and likely never regained his throne. Third, the ongoing trust between the two underlies many events in the palace beyond humorous bets. Their rock-solid foundation of mutual respect, commitment, and trust makes them indivisible, and their combined intelligence and political know-how are a force to be reckoned with. Fourth, the strength of their emotional bond determines that Emperor Valerius will reject Gisel’s offer of marriage.
This underlying theme is highlighted for a final time when Crispin concludes that the lesson of his journey is that his experiences and relationships are meant to be honored as part of the journey and carried with him forever, but he is not to let the past stop him from engaging with the world around him and developing new relationships.
The Long Shot and Sailing to Sarantium
In their attempts to cling to life, multiple characters internally acknowledge that they are embarking on a mission which is most likely doomed. Still, there is hope in the fact that failure—and often death, with it—is merely likely not certain. The characters repeatedly seize this thin shred of hope by choosing to take their chances, however slim, rather than surrendering to failure without effort. The first example is Gisel’s decision to send Crispin with a dangerous message: “This was almost certainly doomed to failure, but there was little she could do but try” (76). Crispin, Vargos, and Kasia decide to attempt to leave the Saraudian city on the Day of the Dead without falling prey to the villagers’ murderous religious inclinations, each acknowledging that it will likely end with their deaths. Kasia sums it up nicely: “Any way you looked at it, a chance was better than none at all” (151).
The concept of Sailing to Sarantium most closely relates to “swinging for the fences” or “go big or go home.” Essentially, the idiomatic phrase is taken to mean taking great risk in an endeavor, with the ability to either meet with unfathomable success or devastating failure. Various characters use the phrase as a description of taking one’s chance through a potential life change. As such, it is related to the concept of destiny. Crispin considers this idea as his destiny taking him down a high-stakes road: “He was going, it seemed. Sailing to Sarantium. Walking, actually, for it was too late in the year for a ship, but the old saying spoke of change, not a means of travel. His life was branching, taking him toward whatever might come on the road or at journey’s end” (81). Crispin’s journey of sailing to Sarantium is in finding inspiration for his work and learning to engage with the world again.
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