The Gilded Ones

“Red is the color of sanctity. It’s the color pure girls will bleed when Elder Durkas tests them.”

Red appears in places of patriarchal power, such as temples, as well as signifying a woman is not a descendant of the Gilded Ones. If a woman’s blood is gold, the men will say her “impure” nature justifies violence against her. However, the gold blood turns out to be divine rather than impure, revealing purity to simply be a tool of patriarchal oppression.

“Infinite Wisdoms caution against talking to unmasked women, against even looking at them. They may be demons in disguise.”

The Infinite Wisdoms are texts created by men to hide the true nature of The Gilded Ones and justify the oppression of women. Deka, when seeing White Hands unmasked for the first time, finds her “monstrous” (38). There is a tiny bit of truth here; White Hands is in disguise, but she is a disguised daughter of the goddesses who will help Deka learn the truth.

“They enrich themselves by your suffering—parasites, quite literally draining the blood from you.”

White Hands begins Deka’s reeducation with explaining how the Elders are using her as a gold mine, debunking their status as holy religious figures. The men had to categorize the alaki as demonic in order to justify profiting off of their gold blood. This can be compared to golden idols that were demonized but also sold by the Catholic church.