The Tainted Cup

The titans, or leviathans, serve a largely symbolic role in the novel—they are representative of uncontrollable natural phenomena and as an image around which the Empire unites its disparate peoples.

Though the sea wall breach and later the approach of the titan that plugs this breach in the sea wall are technically events in the text, they hold little bearing on the rest of the plot. None of the novel’s central characters is majorly harmed in either titan event, and the drama of such incidents is quickly passed over so that attention can return to the main mystery. Even the relationship between the dappleglass bloom and the sea wall breach is ultimately proven to be a red herring; the Engineers were poisoned accidentally, and the affected officers were only on the wall due to Fayazi’s self-interest, rather than, as is initially suspected, a plot to breach the walls.

When the titans do emerge in the narrative, they are presented as mysterious, unknowable figures. Fayazi explains to Din, “Nor does anyone know where the leviathans truly come from, or why they come ashore” (365). Answering either of these questions is secondary to the pressing need to survive leviathan approaches, which threaten to quash entire cities.