The First Tree: Symbol of Lost Fertility and Violence in Children of Memory
What Is the First Tree?
The First Tree stands in the heart of Landfall, the human colony on Imir. It is a withered, dead tree, originally planted by the first colonists as a living monument to their arrival. Over generations, the tree has become a landmark: the site of the annual Remembrance ceremony and, later, the location of public executions. In the narrative, the First Tree physically represents the colony’s failed terraforming—a hopeful seedling that could not thrive on the barren world—and the violence that fear and scarcity breed.
Where the First Tree Appears
The First Tree recurs in several key scenes across Children of Memory:
- Remembrance (Chapter 5, 2.1 Liff): During the winter festival, Liff scans the crowd from near the First Tree. The tree is part of the town square, associated with solemn words about the Founders. Liff’s dream that night begins “from the First Tree to her home,” showing the tree as a fixed point in her mental map of an empty, dying Landfall.
- Mob Justice (Chapter 15, 4.4 Miranda): A mob drags Miranda, Portia, Fabian, and Paul to the dead First Tree, accusing them of being “Seccers.” The tree is chosen as the site for their lynching.
- Execution (Chapter 16, 4.5 Liff): The four outsiders are hanged from the First Tree. Paul’s body deforms grotesquely as he tries to escape the noose. The execution exposes the Council’s cynical use of fear.
- Preparation (Chapter 37, 10.1 Miranda): Miranda sees a platform being built under the dead First Tree, warning of the coming violence. She is captured shortly after.
- Simulation’s End (Chapter 43, 10.7 Miranda): After many simulated iterations, the First Tree is reduced to a stump, having been cut for firewood. Miranda touches her neck, remembering the noose, and feels relief that the tree is gone.
The tree also appears in Liff’s fragmented memories (Chapter 38, 10.2) and in the final contact scene (Chapter 54, 12.9) where Liff reaches into the darkness—the larger consciousness that contains the simulation.
How the First Tree’s Meaning Changes
Initially, the First Tree is a symbol of hope and survival. It was planted by the first colonists, including Captain Heorest Holt, as a living anchor in a strange world. During Remembrance, the tree stands at the centre of a ceremony that celebrates reaching Imir and the promise of a new home. The words spoken there include pledges not to abandon their heritage: “Hold to the memory of our pledge, that there are things we shall not abandon.”
As the colony’s terraforming fails—no food grows, the engineered forest dies—the tree withers along with the rest of Imir’s ecosystem. It becomes a monument to failed ambition and ecological collapse. Liff’s half-finished forest and the dead First Tree mirror each other: both were planted with hope, both are dying.
With the rise of scarcity, fear turns the tree into a place of punishment. The Council uses it to execute scapegoats—“Seccers” and outsiders—hoping to unite the starving populace against a common enemy. The tree’s dead branches, once symbols of growth, now hold nooses. This transformation is the most brutal; the tree becomes a gallows, representing the colony’s choice of violence over cooperation.
In the simulation’s deeper layers, the tree is cut down for fuel, revealing that even the symbolic heart of Landfall is consumed by desperation. By the time Miranda and Kern discuss the simulation, the tree is just a stump—a scar on the town square, evidence of a cycle that has run its course many times.
Character Connections
- Liff: The First Tree dominates Liff’s dreams of an empty Landfall. In her recurring nightmare, she runs from the tree to her home and finds all buildings deserted. The tree is the starting point of her solitude. As the last child of Imir, she becomes the final human inhabitant of the colony, and the tree marks the centre of her ghost town. Later, when she contacts the larger consciousness, the tree is still the central landmark.
- Miranda: Miranda is hanged from the First Tree multiple times during the simulation. When she is finally extracted, she sees the tree reduced to a stump and “feeling at her neck, she couldn’t be entirely unhappy about that.” The tree represents the violence she endured and the simulation’s relentless cycle.
- Heorest Holt: As the first colonist, Holt planted the tree. Though he dies before the main events, his ghostly appearances to Liff suggest a connection between the colony’s founder and its central symbol. Holt’s warning to “look outward” contrasts with the inward violence the tree later hosts.
- Avrana Kern: Kern observes the simulation from outside. She notes that the tree becomes a stump in later iterations, summarizing the colony’s decay. Kern does not directly interact with the tree but understands it as a signpost of the simulation’s health.
Theme Connections
- Simulation vs. Reality: The First Tree exists inside a machine-run simulation of Imir. Its physical state—dead, then stump—changes with each loop, reflecting the simulation’s imperfect running. Miranda’s experience of being hanged there is literally false but emotionally real.
- Memory and Identity: Liff remembers multiple timelines, each with different versions of the tree. Her identity as “the last child” is tied to the tree’s decay. The tree is a memory anchor in a world that resets.
- Ecological Collapse and Terraforming Failure: The tree is a direct symbol of the failed terraforming. It was brought from Earth or grown from engineered seed; its death mirrors the colony’s inability to sustain life. The surrounding forest also dies, and landslides scar the hills.
- Moral Obligation to Simulated Beings: The Skipper crew debates whether to intervene in the simulation. The tree as a site of execution raises the question: should they stop the violence against simulated people like Liff? Miranda initially argues for non-interference to preserve culture, but later helps extract Liff.
- Consciousness and Personhood: The larger consciousness that contains the simulation is described as a “wolf” or a “thing that remembers.” Liff’s final contact happens near the tree’s darkness. The tree becomes a boundary between the simulated world and the alien mind hosting it.
4 Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does the Council choose the First Tree as the site for executions rather than another location in Landfall?
The First Tree is the most visible and traditional landmark in the town square, used for Remembrance ceremonies. By hanging the outsiders there, the Council invokes the authority of the Founders and the colony’s history, turning a symbol of hope into one of fear. The dead branches are practical for holding nooses, but the site’s ceremonial weight makes the execution a public spectacle that reinforces the Council’s control.
2. How does Liff’s dream of the empty Landfall use the First Tree to convey her loneliness?
In her recurring dream (Chapter 5, 2.1 Liff), she runs from the First Tree to her home and then to other locations, finding every door open and no one inside. The tree is the starting point of her frantic search, a fixed point in a deserted town. The horror of the dream is not that everyone is dead but that she is the last person alive. The tree, once a gathering place, now stands alone with her.
3. In what way does the First Tree’s eventual reduction to a stump reflect the simulation’s repeated failures?
By Chapter 43, Miranda notes that the First Tree is “just a stump.” Over thirty-seven simulated iterations, the colony’s desperation escalates until the tree is cut for firewood. This shows that each cycle ends in total resource depletion; even the symbolic heart of the town is consumed. The stump represents the endpoint of a narrative that can only repeat its own collapse.
4. What does Miranda’s reaction to seeing the stump reveal about her character development?
Miranda feels her neck instinctively, recalling the noose, and is “not entirely unhappy” that the tree is gone. This dual response—physical memory of trauma and relief—shows that she has internalized the simulation’s violence. Her evolved nature as a composite being allows her to hold multiple contradictory experiences, but the stump confirms that the cycle of harm has ended for that version of Landfall.