The Grandest Game

“Her stride was long. Maybe it was graceful. Maybe she was, still.”

The rhythmic anaphora and parallelism of the second and third sentences mimic Lyra’s purposeful—and possibly graceful—stride. The diction “still” conveys how much of her old self remains, regardless of whether she realizes it.

“As the glass walls of the shower steamed up around him, Rohan brought the tip of his blade to the glass. […] Lightly, he skimmed the knife through the steam, drawing six symbols in the moisture on the surface of the glass.”

The disturbing imagery of Rohan using a knife to sketch out chess pieces representing his fellow contestants helps characterize him. In a situation that might ordinarily seem vulnerable—being naked in the shower—Rohan still has a knife with him. While others might focus on the pleasant sensations of showering, Rohan is scheming and planning. His drawing demonstrates that he sees other human beings as objects to use and sees himself as the only one really playing the game. This makes it clear that the other players should be cautious about trusting him, thematically supporting The Risks and Rewards of Trust.

“Lyra knew better than most: Tragedy couldn’t just be wiped away. Loss left marks. The deeper the scar, the longer it lasted.”

The aphorisms “[l]oss left marks” and “[t]he deeper the scar, the longer it lasted” express truths that Lyra feels deeply because of her trauma over her father’s death by suicide. More generally, it sums up something that’s true for many characters in The Grandest Game, most of whom harbor