And Gregor has never felt himself to be much of a warrior, after all.īefore Gregor knows whats happening, he and Boots are back in Regalia, preparing for another quest deep into Rat territory. Its like an arms race whoever hits their target first, wins all.

But they also believe that if they kill Gregors baby sister, Boots, it will break Gregors spirit and he wont be able to stop them. For the prophecy of Bane predicts that only Gregor the Overland warrior can destroy the great white hope of the rats and their bid to wipe out all humans in the Underland. Why? Well, the rats have learned of a prophecy by the visionary founder of the Underland city of Regalia, Bartholomew of Sandwich. Unfortunately, those somebodies are giant rats, and the something that they do is to attempt to kidnap and murder Gregors baby sister Boots. Even with the help of a kindly, and suspiciously knowledgeable, lady from the apartment upstairs, you look at this family and think: Gee, somebody should do something about this. And with two beloved younger sisters to think about, Gregor is the one who goes hungry most often. Mom can scarcely earn enough money to pay the bills and put food on the table. Grandma still thinks she is on the old farm in Virginia where she grew up. This is not the sort of ever after you expect after Gregors heroics in rescuing his long-lost father from giant rats and bringing him home. It is so different, in fact, that I am inclined to think of Underland as more of an Oz for the 21st century.Ĭonsider this: Like Dorothy of Kansas, Gregor of New York is part of a loving family circle that suffers from horrendous poverty. To be sure, what Gregor finds at the bottom of a manhole in Central Park is jarringly different from the topsy-turvyland Alice found at the bottom of her English rabbit hole. Somewhere or other, Suzanne Collins claimed that she conceived the Underland Chronicles as a modern, urban answer to Alice in Wonderland.

Gregor and the prophecy of bane