Bone

Spirituality is the underlying force that drives Bone. Beliefs that are initially presented as remote superstitions are slowly revealed to be basic laws of nature. They are also the basis for a significant portion of the Valley’s culture and practices and the catalyst for several main characters’ core arcs.

Fone is introduced as a nonbeliever and ends up as a spiritual figure. He is an outsider to Valley culture and is therefore unfamiliar with its religion. For the majority of the story, he remains polite and incredulous when regarding “the local belief system” (690). Even after foiling Briar’s ritual, he tends to rationalize his experiences with the Dreaming with scientific explanations: “Everybody just stay calm. This is just a hallucination! We’re probably breathing some underground gas or something” (865). By Part 9, however, not only is he convinced of the Dreaming’s existence and importance, but he also aids Thorn on what is essentially a spiritual mission and is rewarded with something akin to canonization: Taneal represents him in a carved prayer stone.

Briar and Phoney both employ pathos and quasi-religious language to motivate their audiences. While Phoney encourages the townsfolk to return to “the path of righteousness” by following him (567, 582, 591), Briar engages her army in a worshipful call-and-response—“So sayeth the Lord of the Locusts!” (538-39)—extoling her master’s will.