Character Analysis
Uncle of the Year, He's Not
Despite being her uncle, Randa has exploited Katsa since the day her Grace was first discovered, forcing her to commit an execution at the age of ten and numerous other violent acts in the years that followed. But hey, that's what uncles are for right? Uh… no. Definitely not. But Randa obviously skipped that chapter of How to Love and Nurture Your Sister's Kid.
He refers to Katsa as his "lady killer" (12.12), treats her as though she is his possession (12.15), and insults her regularly with such choice gems as, "Your sword is the only bright thing about you" (3.32) and "I can see that when I give orders I shall have to compensate for your mental ineptitude" (3.35). And yet when Katsa considers him at dinner one night, she makes allowances for him, saying, "It wasn't that he was unjust, except perhaps to those who wronged him" (7.56).
Whoa… Come again? Not unjust? Randa?
Uh… we'd say turning an eight year old into a trained killer is pretty unjust. And we'd also say that ignoring child prostitution rings, random slayings carried out by soldiers, and people unfairly detained and incarcerated in favor of collecting fines from borderlords (3.38) is unjust as well. But for some reason, Katsa cuts him a bit of slack.
Perhaps it's because he's Raffin's dad, and she's known him all her life, and hey, you can't choose your family, right? But we think it might have more to do with two other things:
- his behavior, though detestable, pales in comparison to many of the other kings in the seven kingdoms; and
- people who've been abused sometimes have skewed views of their abusers. And make no mistake about it: Randa has abused Katsa.
Rationalizing Randa
He has manipulated her at every juncture, always saying and doing what he needs to in order to keep her under his control. One thing Cashore accomplishes through painting Randa's character as she does is to show us how easy it is for people to rationalize and minimize abuse, often because they think they deserve it, as Randa has made Katsa feel she does. On the archery range one night, Katsa sinks arrow after arrow into the practice dummies and then realizes "how she must look. She was savage […] No wonder Randa treated her so" (8.3-4).
And another purpose Randa serves in the novel is to give Katsa a tyrannical relationship to break free from so that we can watch her transform from a tentative youth to a strong woman who understands the power that comes from taking responsibility for—and control of—one's own choices.