The Iron Trial

Call’s journey from an angry, isolated boy to a curious, powerful apprentice mage highlights the importance of friendship and belonging. As the novel progresses, Call learns that his survival and happiness are dependent on friendship and acceptance. Moreover, through magic, Call experiences a sense of belonging in his own body, further binding him to his magical community.

Call is initially characterized as a solitary loner. This early characterization illustrates the extent of his evolution when he attends the Magisterium and discovers mastery of his studies as well as the power of companionship. Initially, at regular school, Call repels people with his “perpetual scowl” and “suspicious gray eyes” (13). His unfriendliness serves a protective role, as his disability causes him to be a target for bullies. Call feels himself to be different, and therefore he shuns the company of others.

At the Magisterium, respect and social acceptance come from magical mastery rather than from physical prowess. This contrasts with Call’s last school, which was ruled by athletic jocks who excluded Call because of his disability. In the magical world, however, Call’s disability enables him to access his latent magical powers. For example, Call isn’t able to run from the wyverns, so he is forced to use magic to defeat them. He uses magic to pin the creature with stalactites, showing ingenuity, quick thinking, and control of magic. Though Call previously felt that he never fit in, he realizes that he has found his place at the Magisterium as his weakness becomes a strength.

Magic also allows Call to move past the physical limitations of his disability through the skill of flight, which allows him to move unencumbered and experience an embodied sense of belonging. After he levitates for the first time, “[d]reams of the day that he [can] fly through the halls of the Magisterium far faster than he could ever have run [explode] through his head” (245). Magic also allows him to enjoy some pain-free moments, something he doesn’t experience while standing or walking: “For those moments that he’d hung in the air, his leg hadn’t hurt, not even a little” (245). The physical freedom that Call experiences establishes the Magisterium—and the world of magic more generally—as a place where Call feels acceptance and belonging.

Call’s relationship with his fellow apprentices underscores the challenges and rewards of building friendships, particularly in an unfamiliar setting. Initially, Call instinctively pushes Tamara and Aaron away, but his growing self-confidence allows him to connect with them. A narrative turning point takes place when Tamara and Aaron come to Call’s defense at the Refectory. Call’s independence is increasingly characterized as a mask for his loneliness when he gratefully reflects that “[i]n his whole twelve years, [he can’t] remember anyone but his dad ever defending him” (181). Tamara and Aaron’s actions give Call “a little warm glow inside” (181), illustrating that Call is emotionally moved by his new friends. As the novel progresses, Call starts confiding in Tamara and Aaron more. Call’s growing connection to Tamara and Aaron after they stand up to Jasper on his behalf is characterized by their shared smiles: “Sometimes now, [Call, Tamara, and Aaron] all looked at one another and smiled the secret smiles of actual friendship” (187). The description of Call’s “warm glow” and the trio’s “secret smiles” portrays friendship as a safe, private world. As Call and his friends face increasing challenges in the magical world, their friendship serves as a haven from which they draw both joy and strength.