The Ropemaker Epilogue Summary

  • A woman leads a horse across a war-torn landscape (Epilogue.1). One farm remains—Woodbourne. Saranja has come home. She left six years ago, vowing to never come back, and became a house slave to a warlord in the Eastern Desert (Epilogue.2). She bore him two children, but he and their kids died when his brother's army attacked his keep. She escaped and continued on.
  • Saranja almost died crossing the desert when she left home, but she had supplies then and nothing now (Epilogue.3). She'd prefer death, but the desert seems to lead her through.
  • Most of the Valley is destroyed, so she has to check up on Woodbourne (Epilogue.4); when she returns, not much of the farm is left (Epilogue.5). No one is there, and she imagines her family is dead or hiding (Epilogue.6).
  • Saranja does her best to avoid weeping, which she feels she has no right to do given that she abandoned the farm (Epilogue.7). Something shiny is in the house's ashes; it's a golden feather and a blond hair (Epilogue.8). She remembers the silly story her mother told her about the Ropemaker, thinking this was a means for her mama to keep her stuck at the farm forever once Saranja said she thought she heard the cedars chatting.
  • She goes back to her horse, who somehow found her (Epilogue.9)—she remembers someone saying that she'll need a horse and feathers for a journey of some sort (Epilogue.10). Saranja asks aloud if the horse was waiting for her. All they need is a guy from Northbeck (Epilogue.11). She looks up the road, and there's a dark guy who introduces himself as Ribek Ortahlson (Epilogue.14). She says she's Saranja Urlasdaughter, then whispers, "Ramdatta!" (Epilogue.19). And then "her hands knew what to do" (Epilogue.20).