The Chessmen of Mars · Chapter
XI: The Choice of Tara explained
Tara of Helium is taken into Manator, where she witnesses the silent, ritualistic watchers on balconies and learns of the city's slave trade from Gathol.
What happens
Tara of Helium is taken into Manator, where she witnesses the silent, ritualistic watchers on balconies and learns of the city's slave trade from Gathol. She is brought before O-Tar, the jeddak, who offers to honor her, but she scornfully refuses, comparing him to a swine. O-Tar sentences her to be played for in the next Jetan game, and Ghek is sent to the pits. Tara is then taken to the Towers of Jetan, where she meets A-Kor, who shows her kindness. She reflects on her missing comrade Turan the panthan, realizing she values him for more than his sword.
Themes in this chapter
Courage and Resilience
Tara of Helium displays defiance and courage in the face of O-Tar's threats, refusing to be intimidated despite her captivity.
Justice and Tyranny
O-Tar's arbitrary sentencing of Tara and Ghek without trial exemplifies the tyranny of Manator's rule, contrasted with Tara's cry for justice.
Characters to notice
- Tara of Helium
Captured and brought to Manator, she defiantly refuses O-Tar's advances and is sentenced to be a prize in the Jetan game.
- Gahan of Gathol
Mentioned as the jed of Gathol, whose people are enslaved by Manatorians; Tara recalls meeting him at her father's palace.
- Ghek
Captured alongside Tara, he is sentenced to the pits until the next games.
- O-Tar
Jeddak of Manator, he offers to honor Tara but is rebuked; he orders her imprisonment and the Jetan game for her.
- U-Dor
Leads the prisoners into the city and carries out O-Tar's orders; he expresses a desire to win Tara for himself.
- A-Kor
Dwar of the Towers of Jetan, he shows concern for Tara's well-being and restrains a smile at her sharp tongue.
Key passages
“It is to Gathol, nearest country, that the Manatorians look for slaves most often. They go in great numbers at intervals of three or seven years and haunt the roads that lead to Gathol, and thus they capture whole caravans leaving none to bear warning to Gathol of their fate.”
The Manatorians regularly raid the roads to Gathol every three or seven years, capturing entire caravans so that no one can warn Gathol.
A slave girl explains the systematic slave trade from Gathol to Manator.
“The will of A-Kor is without power in The Towers of Jetan, or elsewhere, for A-Kor lies now in the pits of O-Tar, and E-Med is dwar of the Towers.”
A-Kor's authority is gone because he has been imprisoned by O-Tar, and E-Med now commands the Towers of Jetan.
E-Med announces A-Kor's fall from power to the slave girl.
“I please thee, do I? Then know, swine, that thou pleaseth me not—that the daughter of John Carter is not for such as thou!”
Tara scorns O-Tar, calling him a swine and declaring that she, as John Carter's daughter, will never accept him.
Tara's defiant rejection of O-Tar's proposal.
“Take her away, and at the next games let the prisoners and the common warriors play at Jetan for her.”
O-Tar orders that Tara be taken away and made the prize in a Jetan game between prisoners and common warriors.
O-Tar's sentence condemning Tara to be a game prize.