Guide Mentor

Character Role Analysis

Po

Often we expect a guide/mentor character to be significantly older than our protagonist, so it might feel a little weird to think of Po in this role because he's only nineteen or twenty to Katsa's eighteen years. Still, he's the one who encourages her to recognize how powerful she is, and he also helps her to think about her emotions and find the truth of who she is.

It's Po who first suggests to her, "Your Grace is more than fighting" (20.23). And when she tells him that his Grace is just as weird as hers is, Po says, "I don't think your Grace is strange. But I think it's not what you think it is" (21.55). These nudges guide Katsa to ask questions about her Grace and ultimately realize the truth, which in this case, really does set her free.