Chapter 19: The First Faun – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

In the mythic era before mortal Chapman, the first faun lives in a state of simultaneity: every moment of his existence happens at once. He is a woodland being who shepherds flocks, tends vines, and entertains the gods. At a wedding for his nephew and his niece (who is also a nymph), the faun becomes intoxicated and assaults his niece. She flees, trips over his hoof, and falls into a pit of vipers, dying from multiple bites. The groom—a man gifted with a divine singing voice—leads the wedding guests in killing the faun, a death that occurs repeatedly within the myth’s endless loop. However, one time a glitch occurs: three witches (the Fates or Furies) appear. They cut the faun from the story, removing his deed and his simultaneous existence, and cast him into linear time. He lives out the rest of his days aging, his memories decaying, and dies alone—questioning why the witches did not intervene earlier to prevent the tragedy.

Key Events

The first faun exists in mythic simultaneity, experiencing all moments of his life at once.
At his nephew and niece’s wedding, the faun, overcome by desire, grabs his niece and tears her gown.
The niece screams, flees, trips over the faun’s hoof, and falls into a pit of vipers; the snakes bite her fatally.
The groom (the nephew) and the wedding host kill the faun repeatedly within the mythic loop.
One time the loop breaks: three witches arrive, cut the faun’s misdeed from the story, and sever him from simultaneity.
The faun is cast into linear time, given free will but too late to change his past.
He ages, his memories become unreliable, and he dies alone, still questioning the witches’ timing.

Character Development

The First Faun: Once a being with no agency, living every moment at once, he is transformed by the witches into a linear being with free will. This newfound freedom comes after his crime, leaving him to grapple with guilt and the decay of memory. His final thoughts reveal a profound sense of injustice: why was choice only given after the tragedy?
The Niece (Nymph): Though she has no dialogue, her role as victim is central. The faun recalls that even in childhood she feared him; she dances with her feet on his hooves as a child but is always aware of the future horror.
The Nephew (Groom): A divinely gifted singer who becomes a grieving widower. His voice, already beautiful, becomes “terrible beyond belief” after the loss.
The Three Witches: Ambiguous figures, sometimes the Fates, sometimes the Furies. They enact a crude form of justice—removing the faun from the story—but do so after the crime is complete, raising the question of whether their intervention was truly just.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Mythic Simultaneity: The chapter’s core structural device. The faun’s existence is a continuous “now” where past, present, and future collapse. This motif illustrates the deterministic nature of myth: characters cannot escape their roles until the story breaks.
Free Will vs. Fate: The witches grant the faun free will, but too late for him to exercise it for good. The narrative questions whether agency has value if it arrives after the point of no return.
Memory and Guilt: In linear time, the faun’s memories grow unreliable, infected by doubt and despair. He cannot trust his own recollection of innocence or complicity, mirroring how trauma distorts memory.
The Pit of Vipers: A symbolic consequence placed by the gods for a single moment. The vipers act not out of malice but instinct, reflecting a universe where tragedy is built into the architecture of the story.
The Faun as Scapegoat: The gods orchestrate the faun’s desires and then blame him for acting on them. His punishment (being cut from myth) is both a release and a condemnation.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter provides the origin myth for a key figure in Appleseed—the first faun—whose story echoes into the later narrative of Chapman and other characters. It establishes the novel’s interest in the tension between predestination and choice, the nature of guilt, and the possibility of escaping a cyclical story. The faun’s lament about the witches’ timing prefigures later questions about whether change can ever come soon enough to prevent harm. By grounding these themes in mythic language, Bell creates a timeless framework for the novel’s exploration of humanity’s relationship with nature, desire, and consequence.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does the faun believe the gods are at fault for his actions at the wedding?
The faun claims that in the mythic world, his desires were written by the gods: “what a faun wanted was what the gods wanted him to want.” He sees himself as a puppet forced to repeat a script—the gods made him lust for his niece, then punished him for acting on that lust. The witches’ decision to remove him from the story only after the tragedy reinforces his sense that he was set up to fail.
What is the significance of the faun being given free will “too late”?
The witches give the faun choice and control only after cutting him from the myth, long after his crime has been committed. This timing suggests that free will without the opportunity to use it for good is hollow. The faun’s dying question—“Why hadn’t they interceded hours earlier?”—highlights the novel’s concern with whether redemption or change can ever come after irreversible harm.
How does the motif of mythic simultaneity affect the reader’s understanding of the faun’s guilt?
Because the faun experiences all moments of his life at once, he is always both innocent (playing with his niece as a child) and guilty (assaulting her at the wedding). Simultaneity blurs responsibility: he cannot separate his past love from his future crime. This challenges the reader to consider whether a being with no linear agency can be held morally accountable for actions he was “always” performing.