The Power Dynamic Between Guardians and Orogenes

In N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, there is a distinct power dynamic between the orogenes and the guardians who are assigned to them. Orogeny, unless exploited under the close supervision of a guardian, is considered a deplorable practice in the Stillness. The Fulcrum was designed to counteract the negative consequences that result from practicing orogeny by training orogenes to control their powers, only to harness them when asked by the Guardian order. When orogenes use these powers outside of the permitted circumstances, the Guardians punish them with pain, and in more extreme cases, death. The orogenes are therefore powerless to the rules and regulations of the Fulcrum, or they run the risk of execution.

It is on her way to Yumenes that the protagonist, Damaya, first falls victim to the power dynamic between her and her assigned guardian—Schaffa. After Damaya yells at Schaffa for trying to control her, Schaffa threatens to “break every bone in [her] hand, every bone in [her] body, if [he] deem[s] it necessary to make the world safe from [her]” (99). He claims that an orogene like Damaya can never fully learn to control herself, that “it isn’t [her] nature” (95), which is why he feels the need to control her himself. The Guardian order was formed to regulate the Fulcrum, and even though Schaffa is just following his Guardian duties, he takes this degree of power over Damaya to an even higher level by also making her fear him, as he states “[she] should” (102). By instilling fear in Damaya, Schaffa can establish some form of control over her, allowing him to not only protect himself from her abilities, but the entire world.

Furthermore, if an orogene in training becomes too difficult to handle, the Guardians put the orogene’s powers to use elsewhere, in order to maintain tight control over the Fulcrum. This is first seen when Syen and Alabaster visit the node station and instead of finding the alive orogene that Syen expects to be there, in its place is a lobotomized body. In this instance, Syen begins to realize just how powerless she is, that “if the Fulcrum can do this, or the Guardians or the Yumenescene Leadership…then there’s no point in dress up what people like Syenite and Alabaster really are” (143).

Later, when Syen and Alabaster feel their conversations are being listened to while on an assigned mission, Syen questions: “To whom do the Guardians answer” (255)? She wonders if its possible that the Guardians could be listening in on them and who could give them the power to even do so. Eventually, an unwelcome Guardian by the name of Edki shows up in Allia, and Alabaster warns Syen to not “let him touch [her] with his bare skin,” (256) as Guardians can turn an orogene’s orogeny inward. This ability to use an orogene’s own powers against itself is yet just another example of the Guardian’s unrivaled power over the orogenes.