Protagonists in Imaro and the Fifth Season

Imaro is the protagonist in the book Imaro. “You have no father, and your mother’s kin won’t even let you know who you are. You are not fit to be a llyassai” (Saunders, 143) Imaro is an outsider because his father is not a llyassai. To his friends, he is kind, but others regard him in disdain. He is bullied since he is considered an outcast. He does not express any kind of affection. Imaro emerges to become the mightiest man in Ilyassai. He has prodigious speed and strength. He is a mighty warrior. However, he is treated with scorn and derision. Imaro possesses courage, strength, intelligence, and swiftness. He long wanted to belong and loved. Lack of this love makes Imaro stubborn.

Essun is the heroin in the fifth season novel. Just like Imaro, she has suffered discrimination and bias. Did you know the first stone was written in stone so that it could not be changed? He was not one of them. But he knows that he is not, and will never be, one of them (Jemisin, 4). She is also known as Damaya, Syenite or Syen. She discovered that she was hated when she was still a child. She is an Oregene. The Oregene’s are hated and often killed. “From birth, an Oregene child can stop a shake; even without training, you are an Oregene (Jemisin,50). In this quote, Schaffa is explaining to Damaya the kind of power that she possesses. She chases her husband to revenge for the death of their son.

Essun also lives in an area where people rely mostly on stone lore just like where Imaro lives. The stone lore has the rules that are followed by the community on what they are supposed to do in any situation. The Oregenes possess magical powers. Unlike Imaro who is a male protagonist, Essun is female. They are both blacks. Essun is traumatized just like Imaro. Essun is traumatized for losing her children and Imaro is traumatized by the pain he has to go through in his mother’s homeland. Essun’s trauma pushes her to do many things; she becomes violent, distant, angry and even harmful at times. The same case happens to Imaro who has a feeling of revenge for the people of Ilyassai.

In search of her daughter, Essun has to go through a strange land with a companion who is irritating. Essun is not friendly, she is not gentle but this has to do with losing her children. Imaro also is not friendly because of the abuse he goes through given that he has no father. Damaya is on a search for acceptance. Oregenes are powerful and can blow volcanos and stop earthquakes. They also have the power to cause earthquakes. Because of these powers, the Oregene are hated by the people of Stillness. She is given away at a young age and this is similar to Imaro who is left by her mother when she is only five years old. She goes through training just like Imaro. The two protagonists are bullied but still determined to continue with their training.

The protagonists were captured, Syen was captured by the Guardians and Imaro is captured by the Turkhana. They go through hardship but persevere to the end. The Guardian left Syen thinking that she was dead. Imaro knew he would learn little from his captures, who exchanged a few words in the dialect of the root-tongue of the Tamburure (Saunders, 270). And as if the thought of guardians could summon them, Syen spies a few burgundy-uniformed figures (Jemisim, 65). The protagonists were courageous they went through the hands of the oppressors but still emerged victorious.

Works Cited

Saunders, Charles. Imaro, 2006

Jemisin, N.K. The fifth season, 2015