Gathering Blue

Central to understanding the character of Matt is recognizing the importance of his dog, Branch. As a resident of “the Fen,” Matt is a member of the lowest rung of village society and lives in an especially brutal area known for its unhealthy living conditions, negligent and abusive mothers, and absent fathers. Matt, however, is a joy to be around, a good friend to Kira, and a natural nurturer, as illustrated by the story of how he acquired his dog, Branch. The dog was run over by a donkey cart and left to die. Given that in this society the same would be done to a person who was severely injured, it is remarkable that Matt chooses, instead, to carry the dog to safety and nurse it back to health. Like Kira’s mother, Matt refuses to abandon the disabled, and his ethic of care is in stark contrast to the society around him.

This ethic of care is what makes him such a good friend to Kira, not only in his decision to rescue her things from her home before it is burned down, or his willingness to help her build a new home, or his insistence on helping her move when it turns out she will have her home provided by the Council, but also in his decision to make a long, dangerous, and uncertain journey to find the plant she can use to make the color blue. That blue is the color “of peace” (209) illustrates how instrumental Matt—and his ability to nurture and bring joy to others—is to creating a truly peaceful society, one that does not base its order on fear and control. 

Vandara is Kira’s most obvious enemy in the book. Her attempt to have Kira driven out of the community and left to die in the field is the catalyst that propels Kira into the role of restoring and finishing the Singer’s robe. She is described as courageous and malevolent—both descriptions stemming from the story of how she got the “ragged scar” (17) that stretches from her chin to her shoulder, supposedly as the result of trying “to steal an infant creature from its mother’s den” (17). The story mirrors her attempt to have Kira driven out of her own mother’s “den” when she sues for control of Kira’s land. 

Though Vandara’s role in the story diminishes considerably after the hearing that leads to Kira being appointed Threader, she continues to lurk at the corners, showing up every so often to snarl at Kira. When Christopher returns, he tells Kira the real story of Vandara’s scar—that she was injured by a fall onto a sharp rock after her child slipped and grabbed her, pulling her down. This revelation lends even more credence to the rumor that Vandara poisoned her own child, either in retaliation or out of fear that the child would endanger her again.

Vandara’s character is symbolic of the brutality of village society and the kind of people it engenders. Vandara is an extreme example of the kind of logic that demands a mother. This logic seems rooted in an erasure or rejection of the maternal drive to nurture that has subsequently been encoded in the customs of Kira’s society.

Jamison is Kira’s defender at her hearing and her advisor and supervisor thereafter. He seems, on the surface, to be on Kira’s side, but turns out to be a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Jamison attempted to murder Kira’s father before she was born and very likely had a hand in killing her mother and her mentor, Annabella. Though Jamison plays an important role in the story, his character is not well developed beyond our understanding, gained through Christopher’s story at the end of the book, that he is motivated by a jealous lust for power that Kira has glimpsed only fleetingly. Like Vandara, Jamison is symbolic of the brutality of village society, as well as of the Council and its secret maneuvers to consolidate its own power.

Thomas is like Kira—a young person singled out for his talent and unique ability to contribute to society. While Kira is exceptionally gifted at threading, Thomas is exceptionally gifted at woodcarving. He is also an orphan and has been under the care of the Council considerably longer than Kira and thus serves as her guide and, eventually, co-conspirator in the care of Jo. Thomas is also instrumental in fostering Kira’s developing sense of herself as an “artist,” since he introduces the word to her and their conversations about what it means to be an artist allow Kira to start seeing herself in a different way.—as someone with the power to create (worlds), rather than as a vessel (for the threads to speak through), or a thankful servant to the Council (who protected her from the beasts). Thomas, then, is like the key that he carved as a child to escape his room and open the doors of the Council Edifice—he opens doors for Kira, allowing her to see inside many rooms that were previously closed to her.

As an old woman who lives far outside of the village in a cottage in the woods, Annabella is a literal outsider. When she tells Kira that there are no beasts in the forest, she reveals herself to be a figurative outsider as well—someone who does not fall in line with the rules of the society, and pays for it dearly. That she dies almost immediately after Kira tells Jamison what Annabella said about the beasts indicates that her value to the Council of Guardians lay in her unique knowledge of how to make dyes. Once she has transferred that knowledge to Kira, her usefulness is considerably diminished and she becomes expendable. But because she cannot be forced out of the village—she already chooses to live outside of it—and because her knowledge of the beasts now outweighs her knowledge of the dyes, she has to be killed.

As a character, Jo is symbolic of the future. She is the reason Kira decides that she must stay and fight rather than leave with her father. Jo also becomes like a daughter to Kira, who, we are told several times, is unlikely to marry and have children of her own. As a child from the Fen, she also keeps Kira symbolically connected to Matt, who leaves with her father at the end of the book.