Cloud Cuckoo Land

The closing chapters contain the falling action and resolutions of the plots. The final parts of Konstance, Anna, Omeir, and Seymour’s plots detail much of how their lives progress, whereas there is no Zeno plot in this section until the Epilogue, as he dies in the library bombing. Zeno’s plot is resolved through his death, as this frees him finally from his anxiety and allows him to become a hero. The resolutions of the main plotlines unite the stories by detailing how each character ensures the Cloud Cuckoo Land folios are saved for the future, which resolves their relationships to the folios.

These plot resolutions explain how the timelines are interrelated beyond their connection through Aethon’s story. Anna and Omeir’s resolution explains how the codex survives until 2019 when it is discovered in Zeno’s timeline. This resolution is symbolic of how old books can be “lost” for a time and found again later, which relates thematically to the discussions about translation and the value of preserving old books. Seymour’s publication and gifting of Zeno’s work explains how Konstance’s father had a copy of Cloud Cuckoo Land, which further illustrates the rippling effect of preserving books. In these resolutions, elements of legacy and fulfilling a purpose in life are explored, allowing for the conclusion that even the smallest acts to preserve old stories can lead to their proliferation across generations. These connections also act as a payoff for the complex storylines in this book, as they finally converge concretely in these final chapters.

Several important details are revealed by the end of the book. Their late appearance is an intentional choice that demystifies some of the earlier plot points. For example, Ilium is introduced in Chapter 22. Seymour’s work censoring the Atlas images and then adding the triggers to uncensor some of them demystifies much of Konstance’s plot in retrospect: Konstance is taught a rigid and controlled worldview that stems from Ilium’s role in constructing the Argos. The explanation of where the owl triggers come from within the Atlas works in the same way: Seymour learns to act based on honesty after struggling with this throughout his life. This further highlights the interconnected nature of life conveyed in this book. Furthermore, the revelation of these details at the end of the work acts as a dramatic choice and allows readers to reconsider the entire plot with this new knowledge.

The Cloud Cuckoo Land folios at the end of the book provide the most insight into Zeno’s translation process. Even though the text in the last folios is the least legible, Aethon’s storyline contains some of the clearest messages thus far, such as the value of nostos, a theme in Greek literature which entails an epic hero’s homecoming. The contrast between the deterioration of the text and the story illustrating clear morals symbolically represents one of Doerr’s main ideas about the preservation of old stories: Not all stories can be preserved, but the knowledge they contain can be revived without the full details of the plot. Aethon’s story is not resolved as cleanly as the main characters’ plots because it is not explained if Aethon is really a hero welcomed home by his friends or if he is a fool, ridiculed for coming back and rejecting immortality. In leaving Aethon’s story as both a fool’s and a hero’s journey at the end of the book, Doerr again emphasizes that the distinction between these two figures—fools and heroes—is not important. Aethon’s story culminates in representing duality.

The conclusion of this book also furthers the thematic interpretation of the word nostos introduced in Chapter 9. Rex’s enthusiasm for the term at its introduction appears at first to be linked to his status of prisoner of war because the prisoners long to be home. Its importance is developed, however, through the climax and resolution of this book, as the main characters find themselves and finally feel at home. Some of the characters return to their physical home changed, like Seymour and Omeir. These narratives engage with the hero’s journey archetype and illustrates that, like Aethon, to learn and return home a changed person can be a valuable experience. Other characters, like Anna and Konstance, create their own homes and are finally at peace with their lives, which illustrates a metaphorical interpretation of nostos. This is best encapsulated by Zeno’s section of the Epilogue, where he both physically and metaphorically returns home: He runs to the lake, returning to a setting repeated throughout his plot; and he feels a sense of purpose again, allowing him to return to himself via self-determination.