Red Rising

Darrow remembers his father’s death on their home planet, Mars. Darrow’s father was tried in public and killed by hanging.

Darrow operates a clawDrill inside a mine. He reacts to the stench from inside his protective frysuit and watches for treacherous pitvipers. Darrow, quick and effective, is a Helldiver, while his coworkers operate smaller drills as they all mine for helium-3. Darrow remembers his lovely wife Eo, whom he has known since childhood. 

From Darrow’s comm device he hears his Uncle Narol and Old Barlow warn him not to continue drilling, as a gas pocket lies beneath the drill. Darrow dismisses them and feels annoyed at the delay. Darrow’s brother Kieran cautions him as well. Darrow wants to win the Society’s reward for mining, the Laurel, and defeat the ever-victorious Gamma clan. 

Darrow feels resentful that he and the rest of the Lambda clan remain downtrodden, unable to ascend the social order. His wife Eo is going hungry and begging for food. Darrow dismounts and approaches the dangerous edge of the drill. He maneuvers between them to scan the gas pocket and smells his suit burning. 

Darrow’s scanner finishes its reading. He cuts off the foot of his suit, caught in the drill, with his slingBlade. The hot drill sears his hand. He returns to his seat and continues his work, since the gas pocket is not dangerous. 

Darrow and his coworkers, along with Gamma miners, take the gravLift out of the mine as Darrow reflects on his successful workday. Darrow rescues a younger Gamma miner from floating off the lift. 

While leaving the lift, a Gray guard named Ugly Dan trades barbs with Darrow about his exploit in the cavern. On the horizonTram, Darrow realizes he has mined more helium-3 than Loran, the Gamma Helldiver. Darrow considers how he and Eo will use the Laurel if he wins.

Darrow takes an air shower and separates from his crew. He remembers how his father danced a forbidden dance before he was hanged. Darrow walks to his township and climbs to his home, which is made from the rock of the surrounding cavern. On a holoCan screen, leader Octavia au Lune celebrates the efforts of the Red people and promises they will live on Mars’s surface one day. 

Eo playfully guards Darrow from a surprise she has hidden in their bedroom. She spots the wound on his hand and treats it with medicine and bandages. They bicker as they prepare to attend the Laureltide. 

An HC shows footage of a Sons of Ares terrorist bombing a mine. Darrow spots his Uncle Narol playing the zither and reflects on how he taught young Darrow to dance. He anticipates winning the Laurel and greets his family at the celebration. Crowds of people have gathered to drink and dance. Darrow sits with Eo, her sister Dio, and Dio’s husband Loran.

Darrow spots the gallows nearby and remembers how his father was killed for participating in a peaceful protest against the Society. Darrow’s mother-in-law compliments his impressive work that day, and Darrow insults his drunk Uncle Narol. The two briefly exchange blows.

Darrow grows more excited about winning the Laurel and notices that Eo acts nervous. Gray guards and Timony cu Podginus, the MineMagistrate, assemble to announce the Laurel. Magistrate Podginus deducts supplies from the Mu and Chi clans; they under-performed due to a fatal mining accident. Magistrate Podginus gives the Laurel to the Gamma clan.

Darrow thinks it is inevitable that Gamma would win the Laurel again, thereby reinforcing the class structure. He and his family members are enraged. Eo invites him to dance. Afterward, she leads him to the Webbery for the surprise she promised. The two crawl through a secret ventilation duct and emerge into a forest. 

Darrow and Eo marvel at the grass, animals, sky, and trees, none of which they have ever experienced during life underground. Eo explains that the Reds are slaves, deprived of the Laurel and restricted from forests like this. Darrow resists the label of slave and repeats what others have told him: “There’s a nobility to obedience…” (32). 

Eo says Darrow’s father was too afraid to fight for freedom. She charges Darrow to use his strength and bravery to fight for their people’s right to this land. Darrow laments that he lost his father to a futile cause. Eo dreams of freedom for her children and believes Darrow could accomplish that dream. Darrow feels hurt that she values this dream above him. 

The couple watches the sun rise and returns to the duct. He hears an unfriendly voice as he climbs back into the Webbery. 

Darrow encounters Ugly Dan and three Gray guards. Darrow, despite Ugly Dan’s taunts, refuses to fight back since he risks death. After three days in prison, a guard lets Darrow embrace his wife as they are led to the gallows in the Common for a public flogging. 

Guards force Darrow into his frysuit. Magistrate Podginus orates about the necessity of law. Darrow spots two Golden men sitting high above the Common. One of the men is ArchGovernor of Mars, Nero au Augustus.

Darrow is taken out of his frysuit and led to the gallows. He receives 48 painful lashes. Guards lead Eo to the gallows for her lashes. Darrow screams to the ArchGovernor that he will take the rest in her place. The Magistrate commands that Darrow be gagged.

Eo sings a forbidden song. The ArchGovernor uses his gravBoots to fly closer and allows Eo to continue: “My love, my love / Remember the cries / When winter died for spring skies […]” (42). He challenges the silent spectators to join her. The ArchGovernor commands that she be hanged. 

Podginus asks to whom Eo would like to speak her final words. She calls for her sister Dio. Eo whispers words to Dio and yells “Break the chains!” (45) before she falls through the trapdoor. Darrow pulls her feet, and Eo dies. The crowd sounds the Fading Dirge in her honor. 

Darrow’s family members comfort him as he wishes for death. He escapes his home and sneaks toward the gallows. On the HC he sees footage of Eo’s death spliced into Octavia au Lune’s standard message. Uncle Narol stops Darrow and warns him not to die like his father and wife. Darrow insists, and Narol walks with him to the Common. Narol bids Darrow a fond goodbye. 

Darrow cuts down Eo’s body from the gallows and takes her through the forbidden ventilation duct to the forest where they escaped for the night. He buries her and cries. 

Darrow and his family members fear his inevitable arrest the following morning. Ugly Dan comes to take him, and Darrow is sentenced to be hanged. On the gallows he asks Dio what Eo told her. Dio hesitates and answers, “She said she loved you” (50). Darrow remains unconvinced. 

Darrow feels nervous before he falls. Uncle Narol holds his feet down.