Motivations and Human Nature in The Reckoners by Brandon Sanderson
The Reckoners is a young-adult-level look at how motivations and views of human nature affect our choices and ultimately our society.
This is not a review. See why. This article contains spoilers.
Context
When David was a child, a red star appeared in the sky. Its sudden appearance resulted in all kinds of people gaining superpowers in an event that, along with the star, became known as Calamity. The United States government gave up on trying to control these powerful beings, dubbed “Epics,” and the country quickly descended into gang warfare. The most powerful Epics took control of large swathes of land and subjugated lesser Epics to help them maintain their power, usually by either acting as enforcers or by offering some useful service, such as generating electrical power or creating the perfect weather for crops. Though initially, many people were convinced that heroes would emerge from among the Epics, this belief grew less and less popular as more and more Epics exhibited a complete disregard for human life, killing with no repercussions from the ruling Epics who believed themselves above ordinary humans.
In what was once Chicago, a nearly invincible Epic able to turn anything into steel who styles himself “Steelheart” has ruled the city since the early days of Calamity. In one battle to stake his claim, he killed David’s father—and David has wanted revenge ever since. So he painstakingly gathered as much intelligence about Epics as he can, seeking to understand their powers and their weaknesses. Eventually, he leverages this information to join the Reckoners, the only group consistently standing up to the Epics by stealthily assassinating them one by one. David convinces the Reckoners to help him bring down Steelheart. After that mission, David begins to learn more and more about the ways of the Epics, grappling with questions such as how they got their powers, if their powers can change, how their powers affect them, how their weaknesses work, and if it’s possible for an Epic to be morally good. His quest for answers leads him through two more Epic-ruled cities and several unexpected relationships until he eventually understands what started it all.
Key Ideas (Overall evaluation: Positive)
Fear is debilitating, but it can be conquered
Acting on a desire to destroy will only get you so far
A negative view of human nature pollutes your life and relationships
Fear is debilitating, but it can be conquered
In many cases, the only way one can seriously harm or kill an Epic is by exploiting his or her weakness. David’s first significant discovery in his quest to understand Epics is that their weaknesses are based on fear. For instance, one Epic escaped a burning building as a child; fire renders her powers (including immortality) useless. This aspect of the magic system is a pretty straightforward metaphor for the way that fear can cause us to sabotage our own efforts to build a flourishing life. When we are driven by fear, we are more likely to act in ways that do not align with our values or principles, and thus to lose what we care about most. But in the series, as in real life, facing one’s fear reduces the psychological burden associated with it and frees one up to focus on the important things in life.
Acting on a desire to destroy will only get you so far
In the first book, Steelheart, David is primarily driven by his desire to avenge his father and prevent the Epic from committing more murders. He plans to do this by killing Steelheart and if necessary the Epics who work for him, all of whom also have blood on their hands. Initially this goal is enough to keep David motivated to devote his life to understanding and fighting Epics and protecting non-Epics, and the leader of the Reckoners encourages his bloodlust, telling him, “I don’t care why you fight, so long as you do fight. Maybe your anger will burn you away, but better to burn yourself away than to shrivel up beneath Steelheart’s thumb” (Steelheart, 181).
But eventually, especially after taking on Steelheart, David begins to ask more questions, and to form relationships that challenge his initial assumptions. At some point, he reevaluates the Reckoners’ approach to Epics, wondering if it’s possible to rehabilitate them rather than simply killing them. This reappraisal is key to David’s success and fulfillment in his life. Had he continued on the killing rampage, little would have changed. Though the Reckoners give some people hope, they can only do so much by killing one Epic at a time, and David and his team would likely have died sooner or later if they had continued this approach. But David learns that a desire to destroy, even with a good cause, isn’t a sustainable motivation. Though it takes longer, it’s more satisfying to look for the root cause of the problem and correct it if possible, thus completely changing the situation rather than just mitigating the harm it causes. In doing so, he’s able to solve a lot of inner conflict and stop judging the Epics as though they’re all fundamentally the same.
*Major spoilers below; the next section deals with material near the end of the final book in the trilogy*
A negative view of human nature pollutes your life and relationships
In the second book, David begins to suspect that Calamity, the source of Epic powers, is itself an Epic. At the end of the third book, he succeeds in actually speaking to Calamity. What he learns is that Calamity’s task was only to distribute the powers and then leave Earth—but he didn’t. He waited around, observed the results of his action, and occasionally interfered. But this disobeying of orders (the source of these orders is never clear) has a serious consequence: Calamity’s fears and view of humans as powerlusting cruel individuals leads to the use of Epic powers making that so. Further, David learns that it’s not as simple as an Epic’s fear becoming his or her weakness; Calamity’s fears are also projected into their minds, and their own fears are magnified.
All of this results from Calamity believing that humans are bound to misuse their powers—but he doesn’t realize the self-fulfilling nature of this belief. The use of their powers makes them crueler because the powers are imbued with the belief that humans are cruel. Through a glimpse at another world in which Calamity obeyed orders, we learn that some Epics were indeed corrupted by their new power, but others used their abilities to try to keep the cruel ones in check, so that rather than anarchy there are only isolated instances of powergrabs by evil Epics which are combated by superhero Epics. In other words, if one didn’t finish the series, it would be easy to conclude that Sanderson’s view is that power corrupts, but what he is actually depicting is the more accurate view that power amplifies existing character traits, good or bad—unless another force intervenes. Further, the effect of Calamity’s interference illustrates the way that people tend to act as they are expected to act. It is possible and sometimes even useful to resist such expectations, but it takes a great effort of will and sometimes support from someone else.
Spoiler-free content resumes below
The Vibe
The trilogy is told from David’s perspective; he grows up in unusual circumstances and is not exactly cool. His primary quirk is that he is always trying to use similes or analogies—but he’s very bad at doing so and comes up with groan-worthy attempts that he often tries to explain to his bewildered listeners. Such humor is not for me, but others may find it amusing. That element aside, the trilogy mostly feels like a gritty superhero comic book or action movie; it contains some good values, but it’s not too deep or surprising until the very end.
Conclusion
The Reckoners is a young-adult-level look at how motivations and views of human nature affect our choices and ultimately our society. It starts out like a simple underdog story in which the oppressed take on the oppressor, but it gets more nuanced and interesting as it goes, with a surprising but fitting ending.
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