An Ember in the Ashes

In Chapter 8, the Augurs tell Elias “you cannot escape your destiny” (65). The Augurs say this to convince Elias not to desert, but their message applies to more than Elias. The ideas of choice and destiny appear throughout the book and are linked to how our paths are both chosen for us and chosen by us. Through Elias’s debate to stay or desert, the blacksmith’s decision to help the Scholars, and the little choice the Augurs claim to have in the trials, An Ember in the Ashes explores how the choice isn’t always ours to make.

Elias’s choice to desert or not shows how every choice has consequences and, ultimately, how the choice may be made for us. Elias spends much of the early part of the book debating whether to stay among the empire or desert and seek his freedom elsewhere. Prior to being selected as an aspirant, the choice seems obvious, but following his discussion with the Augurs about how he will find freedom if he stays, swearing to undergo the trials feels like the better choice, even though it seems like he’s giving up what he wants.

To stay alive, Elias does terrible things during the trials, and those actions make him feel as if he can never find freedom. Those decisions also make him feel as if his hand is often forced and that he has no real choice at all. At the end of the book, Elias sets himself free of his responsibility to the empire, something he likely wouldn’t have done if he deserted. Though it didn’t seem like it when he was given the choice, choosing to stay did let him find his freedom, and thanks to the relationship he forms with Laia, it let him survive to help others find freedom too.

Elias’s choices show how outcomes are not clear at the time we make a choice. The blacksmith’s choice seems much less complicated than Elias’s, but decisions are also not always what they seem. The blacksmith has chosen never to make another blade for the empire because he is sickened by what his indestructible swords have let the Martials do to the Scholars. Instead, he supplies weapons to the tribes, who help outfit the resistance, believing this choice will keep people from suffering or dying needlessly. However, Mazen’s control over the resistance suggests this will not be the case. Mazen’s bitter anger at the empire is shared by many of his followers, and they would all likely not hesitate to use Martial-made weapons against Masks and other soldiers. By choosing to provide the resistance with weapons, the blacksmith may only be switching which angry, violent group he provides with tools. His choice seems simple, but even the simplest choices can have unseen, far-reaching consequences.

While Elias and the blacksmith make their own choices with the information provided to them, the Augurs claim they have little control over the details of the trials. The Augurs have many powers, one of which is the ability to see all possible futures and how the past and present influence them. Given this, it may be difficult to believe that they cannot interfere in the details of the trials, but as seen with the blacksmith, choices are not always simple. The Augurs may be controlled by a higher force that makes this decision for them, or they may have no say at all. Regardless, the trials end with their desired outcome—Marcus as emperor, Helene as his second, and Elias free of the empire. The Augurs represent how we are not powerless just because a decision isn’t ours to make. Though the Augurs can’t decide what the trials will contain, they can make other choices that influence the outcome.

We don’t always have the power to make the choice we’d like, but that doesn’t mean we can’t bring about a favorable outcome. Elias, the blacksmith, and the Augurs show how choices may have unexpected consequences and how the power to decide comes in different types. We don’t make choices without input from external sources, so even when we are the one to make a decision, the choice isn’t fully ours—it belongs to all the elements that went into making the best choice with the information we have.