'She Who Became the Sun' is a book about a lot of things. It's about war, love, resilience, monks, princes, and soldiers. But its main theme is fate. Fate is woven into the very fibres of this story. The characters are all compelled by destiny to do the things they do, to be who they are. Everything and everyone is influenced by it. This is an analysis about our two main characters, their lovers, and their destiny. (Spoilers, of course)
Zhu is born a girl into a poor family who never wanted one. She was just one more mouth to feed with no real value. She has one brother named Zhu Chongba, the eighth boy in the family, a lucky number in China. It is said he is destined for greatness, while Zhu's future entails nothing. Complete darkness. But when Chongba and his father die, Zhu decides to reject her prophecy and become great herself.
Zhu is the first perspective on fate that we encounter. She is assigned a fate that is empty, she is destined to be nothing. Instead of accepting this, she becomes her brother, taking on his name and pretending to be a man. Zhu is determined to claim her brother's fate and does everything it takes to convince Heaven that she is its rightful owner. We see her drive to succeed from the very beginning, when she waited outside the monastery for three days in the pouring rain, just to be like Chongba. She must constantly think about what he would've done, what he would've thunk, how he would've behaved (trans allegory btw), even if it isn't the most convenient solution. An example of this happens on one of her first days in the monastery, when the monks had to carry buckets of water. Zhu's broke and she fell. A soon to be friend helped her and offered to have it repaired by someone. This is one of the first instances where we see 'Chongba' clash with Zhu. She could've easily fixed it herself, but that was women's work, which she couldn't do. We see her discarding a part of herself to prove that she is worthy of a future of greatness, which isn't exactly what she bargained for.
Yet after her fight with Ouyang, something changes. Zhu believed she was going to die, she believed that she was going to be nothing. She wakes up and finds herself *alive*. Heaven has smiled upon her once again. Even though she was becoming less and less like Chongba, she was becoming more successful. She realised *she* was going to be great, not him. She got this far not because she pretended to be her brother, but because she was herself, Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu takes on Chongba's identity because he is destined for greatness. But also, because he's a man. She pretends to be a man to empower herself, to get where she wants to be. This reiterates once again that Zhu takes charge of her destiny instead of succumbing to it.
Parker-Chan uses Zhu's name to show the reader how her perspective on fate changes. In the very beginning of the book, we aren't even told Zhu's original name. Zhu is hiding her past self from Heaven, but also from the reader. The original Zhu doesn't exist. There's only Chongba. But when she makes that shift again, realising she herself will achieve greatness, she gives herself yet another name, Yuanzhang, the Radiant King. Cementing herself as first of all, someone even better than the Prince of Radiance (a king outranks a prince) and second, someone who not only is *of* Radiance, she is radiance *itself*. A king is someone who rules by blood right, he is destined to rule. This is who Zhu wants to be perceived as.
Zhu is the embodiment of free will. She keeps defying the laws of Heaven, but somehow *she keeps on winning.*
Ouyang is the last remaining member of the Ouyang family. Changan, the Prince of Henan, killed his whole family, except him. He wanted so badly to be spared from this terrible fate that Changan accepted his wish, but instead he was made into a eunuch (castrated), and enslaved. That day, his fate had been set in stone. He was going to assure that Changan's bloodline ceased to exist. Yet there was one problem; the heir to the Henan throne was strikingly handsome.
Ouyang is our second perspective on fate. His destiny is to kill the entire royal family of Henan. He knows he will one day have to do it, but he has no rush. The main reason for this is Esen, our handsome heir. Over the years Ouyang was promoted from servant into one of Esen's generals. Ouyang grows to love Esen. His unyielding love for living gives him a bit of hope for the world. He is content to bask in the joy of being near Esen, even though he knows they will never be together.
When Zhu defeats Ouyang's army at the river, he knows it is time. Even though this is supposed to be revenge for his family, he doesn't feel thrilled. He is quite mad at Zhu, he hoped he could live in his ideal world of battle with Esen for a little longer. Ouyang doesn't question if revenge is worth killing the person he holds [[Dearest in all the world]]. He is a pawn in Heaven's game, and he has no option but to comply. He only kills Esen because he believes that it was his fate, the thing [[No man can ever refuse]].
The story of Esen and Ouyang is a tragic one. All the more when you realise they were never meant to be. All the more when that little sliver of hope you had for them fades away, when Ouyang murders Esen. The simple fact that they met each other already doomed them. Their families were enemies. Ouyang was Nanren, viewed as a barbarian by the Mongolians, Esen's people. They only met because Ouyang's entire family was killed, by Esen's father. He was turned into a slave, and Esen's servant. Esen was Ouyang's everything, but Ouyang was just a small part of Esen's life. ([[Ouyang as an object]])
Ouyang believes his fate is out of his hands. This is even embodied in his gender. Ouyang was born a man, but was castrated and forced to become a eunuch. In 14th century Chinese society, this turned him into a third gender, not quite a woman, but definitely not a man either. He is similar to Zhu in the sense that his gender is ambiguous. However, where he differs from Zhu, is that Ouyang didn't choose to be perceived this way, and it’s a big disadvantage to him. He hates being a eunuch, but in the end, he had no say in it.
Ouyang believes his destiny was written by a higher power. It is predestined, set in stone. he doesn't even consider if what he is about to do is right. If he even wants this. He just does it. Even if that means killing the person he loves.
Fate is truly everywhere in this book. On the one side you have Zhu, who finds out *she* controls her fate, not anyone else. On the other side you have Ouyang, who won't even think twice about what he *actually* wants, because he thinks that it's his fate.