Louis XIV assumed control over France in 1661, declaring himself the absolute monarch and representative of God. He cultivated the image of the "Sun King" and centralized power around himself. While an effective ruler, he spent lavishly on projects like expanding Versailles, depleting national resources. In Blood Red Road, the King in the Dustlands has modeled himself after Louis XIV, centralizing power and creating an empire through his army and use of the drug "chaal" to control slaves. He captures the character Lugh, whose midwinter birth and name are references to the Celtic god Lugh and ritual human sacrifice, to maintain his rule as the Sun King and assert his divine right to power.

1. Blood Red Road
Sisterhood

2. 85-199:What’s going on in these pages?
1. Where is Saba heading in these pages? Who joins
her?
2. Who are the Pinches? What happens with them?
3. Who is the cage master?
4. Which contest of strength replaces the contest of
Beauty In Blood Red Road?

3. What is the connection between all these things
and people?
Why was Lugh captured? What’s with the midwinter
birth significance?
What’s with the King and Louis XIV?
Where do the names Lugh, Epona and Maev come
from?

4. Let’s start with the King. Louis XIV. Description page
114

5. LOUIS XIV ASSUMES CONTROL OF FRANCE
In 1661, Louis XIV broke with tradition and astonished his court
by declaring that he would rule without a chief minister. He
viewed himself as the direct representative of God, endowed
with a divine right to wield the absolute power of the monarchy.
To illustrate his status, he chose the sun as his emblem and
cultivated the image of an omniscient and infallible “Roi-Soleil”
(“Sun King”) around whom the entire realm orbited. While some
historians question the attribution, Louis is often remembered
for the bold and infamous statement “L’État, c’est moi” (“I am
the State”).

6. A hard-working and meticulous ruler who oversaw his programs
down to the last detail, Louis XIV nevertheless appreciated art,
literature, music, theater and sports. To accommodate his
retinue of newly devoted nobles (and, perhaps, to distance
himself from the population of Paris), Louis built several lavish
châteaux that depleted the nation’s coffers while drawing
accusations of extravagance. Most famously, he transformed a
royal hunting lodge in Versailles, a village 25 miles southwest of
the capital, into one of the largest palaces in the world, officially
moving his court and government there in 1682.

7. The King in the Dustlands has done the
same thing. He has chosen the identity
of Louis XIV.
Later in the book we find that he has carefully
grabbed all the land and everything of value. He
was a smart and greedy ruler, who created an
empire by using his own army, The Ton Ton and
creating slaves through the use of chaal, a drug that
keeps people drugged and compliant. He is smart
and also mad, with power and with the need to live
forever. So why capture Lugh?

8. The Celtic Influence in the novel
The plot line that involves the killing and
need to save Lugh comes from author Moira
Young’s drawing of characters and events
from the Celtic traditions. Druids were the
scholars, the elite the healers and the
spiritual leaders of the Celtic peoples. How
do we know she has drawn from the Celtic
tradition? We know by the names and events
she used in her book. So here’s part of the
connection.

9. Significance of Midwinter birth
The December solstice is the Winter Solstice
http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/opinionated-celtic-faqs/human-sacrifice/
Although winter is the season of dormancy, darkness
and cold, the December Solstice marks the "turning
of the Sun" and the days slowly get longer.
Celebrations of the lighter days to come and
nature’s continuing cycle have been common
throughout cultures and history with feasts,
festivals and holidays around the December
Solstice.

10. Human sacrifice was apparently a normal part of the Celtic
rituals , especially of kings in hard times.
It was traditional to offer gifts of imitation fruit (a symbol of
fertility), dolls (symbolic of the custom of human sacrifice), and
candles (reminiscent of the bonfires traditionally associated with
pagan solstice celebrations). A mock king was chosen, usually from
a group of slaves or criminals, and although he was permitted to
behave in an unrestrained manner for seven days of the festival, he
was usually killed at the end. The Saturnalia eventually
degenerated into a week-long spree of debauchery and crime –
giving rise to the modern use of the tern saturnalia, meaning a
period of unrestrained license and revelry.

11. What’s Lugh got to do with it?
There are three clear connections that I can see.
1. Lugh’s description and name: See page 3. and next slide.
2. Lugh’s birthdate and the connection to ritualistic
sacrifice.
3. Louis XIV’s need to rule forever. His choosing a substitute
in his image keeps the patriarchy line clear.
4. Question to you. Did Young pull it off? Does the
connection work?

12. Lugh: Celtic Sun
God
Celtic (Welsh, Irish) God, also known
as Lleu, Llew and Lugh the Many
Skilled. His animals are the raven and
the lynx. He symbolizes healing,
reincarnation, prophecy, and revenge.
Also a Sun God as well; hence the
Pagan Sabbath Lughnasadh, his
namesake. Son of Cian, a Tuatha de
Danaan.

13. Other Celtic References
Epona
Celtic (Britania and Gaul)
Goddess of horsebreeding,
healing spring, prosperity and
mountains. Called Divine Horse
and the Great Mare, the
Goddess of horses was
acknowledged and worshipped
by Roman soldiers.

14. Maeve
Celtic Goddess of Earth, fertility
and war. Also known as Queen
Maeve and known as Mebd. She
was a great conqueror and
enjoyed enslaving the men of the
Armies she defeated as spoils of
war to pleasure her at will. A
VERY lustful woman. Also known
as the "Drunk Woman". The mere
sight of Maeve or Medb blinds
enemies, and she runs faster
than the fastest horse.

15. Sisterhood in Blood Red Road
name all the sisterhoods in Blood Red Road.
I count at least 4.

16. Sisterhood characteristics from our class
discussion
Sense of protection
Feeling-based
Emotional
Nurturing
Less organized
Fluid
Infighting
More timid without the group
Equalizing power
Priority in pronouns shows men
dominate/ only one man
changes the
pronoun
Less powerful
Personal
Close-knit
Unified
Blending of cultures and
ideologies

17.  Each of you take out a sheet of paper and answer the
following question: What does the work (Blood Red
Road) imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a
mode of resisting patriarchy and/or about the ways
in which women’s situations in the world--economic,
social or psychological—might be improved? Quote or
use examples from the book.

18. Homework
Read Blood Red Road, pages 199-345.
Quiz next class.