CHAPTER VII – Thu­via, Maid of Mars begins with Cartho­ris leav­ing behind a bewil­dered Jav, who is left to puz­zle over the Heli­u­mite’s unan­tic­i­pat­ed behav­ior. What Jav failed to real­ize was that his cryp­tic remarks had unin­ten­tion­al­ly armed Cartho­ris with the exact clues need­ed to act deci­sive­ly. Through frag­ments of dia­logue and inferred truths, Cartho­ris had under­stood the game being played in Lothar—where illu­sion was as dan­ger­ous as steel, and belief could shape real­i­ty.

Inside Tario’s strange and con­tra­dic­to­ry court, the lines between fan­ta­sy and sub­stance blur as Cartho­ris and Thu­via face a gaunt­let of phan­tom bow­men. His sword pass­es through their forms with­out resis­tance, con­firm­ing they are no more than con­jured specters born of thought. Tario, clear­ly enchant­ed by Thuvia’s pres­ence, attempts to assert dom­i­nance through cer­e­mo­ny, demand­ing they observe Lothar­i­an cus­tom by bow­ing in submission—an affront to the proud tra­di­tions of Heli­um and Ptarth. Cartho­ris, stand­ing tall, firm­ly refus­es. His words, though defi­ant, are dis­missed as mad­ness by a cul­ture that has ceased to val­ue the tan­gi­ble.

Jav, ever the loy­al but con­flict­ed ser­vant, fol­lows Tario’s orders while slow­ly reveal­ing the frag­ile foun­da­tion of Lothar­i­an soci­ety. Through his words, Cartho­ris learns of a world cling­ing to sur­vival not through phys­i­cal strength, but by sheer men­tal will. Food, armies, and servants—all are con­jured from the minds of the dwin­dling inhab­i­tants. Their city, though majes­tic in appear­ance, is hol­low and fad­ing, sus­tained only by belief. Cartho­ris sees that their illu­sions may offer con­ve­nience but can­not replace real­i­ty.

Con­cerned for Thuvia’s safe­ty, Cartho­ris ques­tions the fate of those deemed “realists”—individuals like him­self who reject the idea that thought can sus­tain life. Jav explains that such thinkers are con­sid­ered hereti­cal and are often sac­ri­ficed to Komal, a fear­some crea­ture wor­shipped as the embod­i­ment of mate­r­i­al exis­tence. Komal, it is said, devours those who can­not be men­tal­ly reshaped, act­ing as both pun­ish­ment and purifi­ca­tion. Cartho­ris hears this with ris­ing urgency, aware that Thuvia’s very life could be endan­gered if she too is seen as an out­sider.

As the con­ver­sa­tion deep­ens, Jav shows glimpses of doubt. Though loy­al to Tario, he can­not ignore the com­pelling force of Carthoris’s argu­ments, which ques­tion the sus­tain­abil­i­ty of a soci­ety that feeds on illu­sion. The Heliumite’s insis­tence that true nour­ish­ment must come from substance—not suggestion—challenges every­thing Jav has been taught. Their inter­ac­tion becomes less con­fronta­tion­al and more philo­soph­i­cal, sub­tly shift­ing the bal­ance of pow­er as Cartho­ris con­tin­ues to assert his beliefs with clar­i­ty and con­fi­dence.

Through­out, Cartho­ris remains ground­ed in his mission—to find and pro­tect Thu­via. His refusal to indulge in the com­forts of illu­so­ry food or rest under­scores his resolve. He rep­re­sents a cul­ture that val­ues action and hon­or, not pas­sive dream­ing. Even when faced with alien cus­toms and near-mag­i­cal pow­ers, he remains stead­fast in his con­vic­tion that real­i­ty, not imag­i­na­tion, holds true strength. His char­ac­ter becomes a sharp con­trast to the men­tal fragili­ty of Lothar’s lead­ers, who have sac­ri­ficed authen­tic­i­ty for con­ve­nience.

This chap­ter ele­gant­ly ques­tions the nature of real­i­ty, invit­ing read­ers to con­sid­er what is tru­ly vital for sur­vival. The Lothar­i­ans, though intel­lec­tu­al­ly pow­er­ful, appear stag­nant and brit­tle, while Carthoris’s phys­i­cal pres­ence and moral cer­tain­ty serve as a cat­a­lyst for dis­rup­tion. Thu­via, though absent from much of this chap­ter, remains at its heart, a sym­bol of what must be pre­served amid illu­sion and decay.

By the chapter’s end, the ide­o­log­i­cal divide between Cartho­ris and the Lothar­i­ans grows deep­er, set­ting the stage for future con­flict. As he makes his next move, guid­ed by instinct and the frag­ment­ed clues gleaned from Jav, the read­er sens­es the ten­sion build­ing between two worlds—one root­ed in fan­ta­sy, the oth­er in truth. In Carthoris’s hands lies the poten­tial to unrav­el or reshape Lothar’s fate, not through force of illu­sion, but through unwa­ver­ing resolve and a heart anchored in the real.