Sayana Tirzah: Priestess of Sass
A character profile on one of my new favorite side characters: Sayana Tirzah.
Good morning, threes of fans! December is just screaming by, isn't it? I hope you are all more prepared for your personal Christmas shenanigans than I am... I can almost guarantee that you are, even if you don't celebrate Christmas.
As I thought about moving on with my series on side characters, I wanted to tackle The Confidante trope, but that required me to talk more about Sayana Tirzah. So before I delve too deeply into what makes a good confidante, I thought I'd share what makes Tirzah tick.
Character Profile: Sayana Tirzah
The Basics
Tirzah showed up in Unquickened as the sayana assigned to run the rebuilt sayada in Torlach. When we meet Tirzah, she's directing workers and sayas to get the sayada ready to function again. Igraine describes Tirzah as having the demeanor of a warrior--"one born to the sword"--and she suspects early on that Tirzah is something of a reformer.
She has no idea how right she is.
Tirzah comes from a large, wealthy family on the eastern edge of the Esparan empire. Her father, a governor of a distant territory, had children by several women. While the Esparan empire does not permit plural marriage, there's no prohibition on concubinage, and he supported several mistresses and their children.
Tirzah was the daughter of one of these women. While she never wanted for material goods as a child, she was still not seen as equal to her father's legal heirs. She did benefit from good tutors, though, and she had brothers who taught her to take care of herself and protect her own honor. When Igraine thinks that Tirzah long ago learned to rebuff the attentions of men, she's quite right; Tirzah had to do so with words and with pointy objects.
There weren't many ways for Tirzah to get out of her situation in Espara. As an illegitimate child, she couldn't look forward to marrying someone highborn. The best she could hope was a step down in status to marry a merchant or military man or to become a concubine to some other high-status noble. Not wanting either of those situations, Tirzah opted for joining the kirok. She ran away at sixteen and made her way to Aliom, where she became a saya and then used her innate curiosity and quick wit to rise to become a high-ranking woman in the Order of Sai Atena.
When Tirzah was presented with the chance to re-open the sayada in Torlach, she jumped into it with eager enthusiasm. It was her great ambition to 1) get as far from Espara as possible, and 2) run a sayada in a place where she could rise to influence the government. She saw Torlach as the perfect opportunity.
Unfortunately, the enemy had other ideas, and Tirzah has found herself homeless. However, those who count Tirzah out just because of difficult circumstances don't know who they're dealing with.
Defining Quotes
Tirzah was introduced in Unquickened, so she had no lines in the first two books.
"I notice they are all men." -- Unquickened, Chapter 12, in response to Igraine's comment about church leaders who think women should only please their husbands and bear children.
"This is why we came—to shelter and feed those who need help. I just did not think it would be so soon.” -- Unquickened, Chapter 23
"The Order of Sai Atena refuses no woman who requests asylum from a man who would shackle her." -- Unquickened, Chapter 23
How It Started
I introduced Tirzah because there were hints of the church sending people back to Torlach at the end of Bloodbonded. I knew I needed someone to represent the sayas, and I thought it would be interesting to bring in a fresh vision--someone different than the sayana who helped Mairead escape at the beginning of Ravenmarked.
Tirzah was interesting, because she didn't really leap onto the page like so many secondary characters do. She started as something of a placeholder and gradually became a bigger character. Whereas Brody Reid barged onstage with a handful of dice and a bottle of booze, Tirzah insinuated herself into the conversation by waiting for the perfect openings. I decided she might have some interesting perspectives to share in the last two books, so I kept her around.
Although Tirzah interacted mostly with Igraine in Unquickened, she becomes part of the support staff for the growing army around Connor's estate in Soultainted. When Torlach fell, Tirzah led some sayas and others who were in the sayada to safety and then made her way north to join the resistance there.
And that's where Tirzah becomes Minerva's Confidante.
A Heart for Women
Tirzah and Minerva are both ethnically Esparan, but that's where their similarities end. Where Minerva is an overthinker, Tirzah is a decider. Where Minerva feels profoundly uncomfortable with the challenges presented to kirok teaching by the existence of tribal magic, Tirzah can live within that ambiguity without sacrificing her convictions. And while Minerva is a healer, Tirzah understands human anatomy only enough to know how to find vulnerable places between ribs if she needs to defend those in her care.
But when Tirzah meets Minerva for the first time and Minerva shares the truth of her tribal connections, that's where Tirzah shines. Rather than reject Minerva as the other sayas did, Tirzah takes hold of Minerva's tattooed palm and asks questions about it. She reassures Minerva that she isn't put off by Minerva's magical ties, and she reminds Minerva that they have bigger threats to deal with than a few competing beliefs.
I think Tirzah's heart ultimately lies in creating space where women of all stripes can support and nurture each other. I suspect she witnessed a lot of competition between her own mother and other women in her father's house, and she is profoundly resistant to being put in a box of proper female behavior or roles. She would never want that for any other woman. Ironically, functioning just properly enough in her role as sayana gives her a certain amount of cover for raising other women up.
But the real core of Tirzah's character isn't even her heart for women--it's her sass.
Priestess of Sass
With Igraine sent away to lick her wounds and deal with children and all the other things I heaped on her, I sort of lost my sassy character, and I needed someone to fill in.
Enter Tirzah.
Tirzah didn't have enough screen time in Unquickened to really come into her own as a sassy character, but there were hints of it. She will have more opportunity in Soultainted. She has the same egalitarian notions Igraine has, and she's entirely uninterested in what men want or expect from her. Tirzah knows how to walk that fine line between subservient obedience and outright rebellion, and she will do it with comments that leave others wondering exactly why their pride is so very wounded.
How It's Going
Tirzah's character is still under development, but considering that she's a significant foil to Minerva, she is mainly responding to Minerva's overwrought angst, reluctance to speak, and general introversion.
But as these last two books move on, I think Tirzah will become somewhat significant in the final wrap up. She's not a pivotal character, but she's an important side character--someone who contributes to the overall forward motion of the series. And as she does so, she'll serve as a sounding board and confidante to Minerva.
Next week, more about The Confidante as a side character... Have a great week, everyone!