Better Terrible Truths From Six Of Crows By Leigh Bardugo

The quotation I have chosen, “Better terrible truths than kind lies” is from Six of Crows, a fantasy novel by Leigh Bardugo. It comes from a flashback, shown from Inej’s perspective, of her time in the menagerie. The menagerie is a pleasure house on the West Stave of Ketterdam, run by Heleen Van Houden, known to Inej as Tante Heleen. She was captured by slavers and sold to Heleen in an auction, and was kept there as an indentured worker. In the scene shown, Kaz is explaining to Inej that Per Haskell, leader of the Dregs, wants to buy her indenture and have her work for the Dregs under a contract. She is naturally suspicious of this offer, and asks Kaz if this is a trick, like the contract from the Menagerie was. Kaz replies by saying “If it were a trick, I’d promise you safety. I’d offer you happiness. I don’t know if that exists in the Barrel, but you’ll find none of it with me”, which comforts Inej, who reasons that terrible truths are better than kind lies.

Kaz will frequently lie if he feels it serves his purposes. However, he does not directly lie to Inej throughout the novel. Inej is very similar, lying if she needs to, but she does not do this to Kaz. This also shows us some of Inej’s outlook on life, and how that was impacted by her time at the Menagerie. Because the truth was kept from her, she would now prefer to know what is going on in any given situation. Finally, this outlook also plays into her role as the Wraith, the gatherer and keeper of secrets. She makes it her mission to know everything about everyone, so she cannot be manipulated as she was