107 pages • 3 hours read
Suzanne CollinsGregor the Overlander
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 17-20 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
Gregor says he thought the spiders were their friends. Mareth says “We are on peaceful terms with the Spinners. We trade with them, we do not invade each other’s lands… but it would be an exaggeration to call them our friends” (180). Vikus apologizes to Gregor saying he thought he had done a lot to build bridges and create peace between humans and spiders. Gregor notices Vikus looks sad, so he tells him that the spiders were going to eat him until he mentioned Vikus’s name. On hearing this: “Vikus brightened a little. ‘Truly? Well that is something. Where there is life there is Hope’” (181).
Boots suddenly yells out that she needs a new diaper, and Gregor realizes they are down to two catch cloths. Solovet says they could not be in a better place as the spinners weave all their catch cloths. She calls up to a guard, and two dozen fresh diapers are spun down. Then, Solovet goes from person to person, inspecting their wounds and patching them up: “Luxa, Henry and Mareth paid close attention, as if she were teaching a class” (182). Boots cries out because she wants a bandage on Temp, whose antenna is hurt and bent. The roaches try to tell her that they can heal themselves, but she throws a tantrum. Gregor tries to calm her down, when Solovet says they need to leave at once, before the Spinners tell the rats their whereabouts. She says: “Only one resort. We must damage the web so fully and rapidly, they cannot repair it nor will it hold their weight” (186). She says someone must perform a move known as ‘The Coiler.’ Luxa volunteers as the most apt to do it, though it is very dangerous. Vikus says he wishes they had a horn because spinners are very sensitive to sound. Hearing this, Gregor uses Boots’s tantrum to their advantage; he eats a cookie in front of her and causes her to scream “MINE” at the top of her lungs.
Luxa rushes forth: “Now Gregor could see why the Coiler was such a big deal. Luxa was rising up along the web spinning and twisting at a dizzying rate. She held a sword out straight above her head. It was slicing the funnel to shreds” (188). The Underlanders fly on their bats to freedom, except for Gregor and Boots, who are the last ones to ascend. As they get to the top, Gregor sees “a jet of silk shot down, encircling Luxa’s sword arm and jerking her from her bat” (189). Queen Wevox extends her jaws toward Luxa’s neck.
Chapter 18 Summary
Gregor sees Luxa writhing in terror, seconds away from death. He searches frantically for a weapon and realizes all he has is the can of root beer. He shakes it up as much as he can and opens the can just as the Queen is about to pierce Luxa’s throat. The root beer shoots out, blinding the spider.
Luxa falls and her bat, Aurora, catches her. Solovet commands the bats into a formation known as The Blade Wheel: a tight flying circle where the humans extend their swords on all sides. Boots’s screaming causes many of the spiders to curl up and let them pass. They fly away and eventually land in a cavern far away from the spiders. They all fall onto the ground, exhausted, and Gregor makes a joke: “So, isn’t it time I had a sword” (192). This causes everyone to burst into laughter. They rest. While Solovet and Vikus make dinner, Gregor goes up to Luxa—he makes a joke about the spiders to try and make her feel better and then, to his surprise, she thanks him for saving her. He lets her try the root beer and says he owed her one since she saved him from the rats on the beach. Luxa apologizes for striking him earlier, and he apologizes for calling her home creepy.
At dinner, Gregor asks Vikus if they can still go on the quest without the Spinners. Vikus says the prophecy may somehow involve spinners later on, even if they did not initially agree to come. Then Solovet reveals that she, Vikus, and Mareth will fly home after they eat, leaving the rest of them to fulfill the quest on their own. There is a war in Regalia. The questers are horrified, and Gregor says they don’t even know where they’re going. Vikus doesn’t plan to leave them stranded in the Deadlands; he has arranged a guide for them. Vikus starts to explain when he’s interrupted by a new voice: “Well I prefer to think of myself as a legend l, but I suppose guide will do” (199). Gregor shoots his flashlight toward the voice and sees the rat from the river: the leader with the diagonal scar across his face.
Chapter 19 Summary
Vikus commands everyone to stay put as many spring up, swords in hand: “Henry ignores Vikus’s command and lunged at the rat. Without moving another muscle, the rat flicked its tail. It cracked like a whip, knocking the sword from Henry’s hand” (203). The rat says the hardest lesson for a soldier to learn is to obey orders he believes are wrong. Vikus asks the rat, Ripred, if he would join them for dinner. It’s clear the two are well acquainted. Boots asks if he’s a mouse, Ripred tells her to shoo. When she doesn’t, he bares his teeth and hisses. Boots runs away, and Gregor turns to the rat and commands him not to do that again. He then takes a good look at Ripred: “The intelligence, the deadliness, and most surprisingly, the pain. This rat was not like Fangor and Shed. He was much more complicated and much more dangerous” (205).
Luxa tells Vikus humans do not travel with rats. Solovet says the Prophecy of Gray demands it. There is great commotion, and finally, Gregor asks Ripred what’s in this for him. Ripred says he plans to take over King Gorger’s throne. Gregor suddenly angry, insists he speak to Vikus alone; Vikus has been planning to use Ripred for about two years, but it was all dependent on Gregor’s arrival. He encourages Gregor not to judge Ripred by other rats: “he has wisdom unique in any creature” (211). Ripred would see peace restored, but King Gorger wants all humans dead. Vikus says if Ripred were not trustworthy, he would not trust his granddaughter to his care. Gregor balks, and it is suddenly obvious that Vikus is Luxa’s grandfather.
Gregor agrees to go, and the members of the party slowly agree one by one, though Luxa and Henry turn their backs on Vikus. Vikus says he hopes one day they can forgive him, but they refuse to respond. Vikus mounts his bat and says, “Fly you high Gregor the Overlander” (214). Though still very upset, Gregor thinks about all the time he’s been without his father and all the things he wishes he could say to him. “He didn’t have room inside him for any more unspoken words […] ‘Fly you high Vikus!’ He yelled. ‘Fly you high!’” (214). Gregor sees tears streaming down Vikus’s cheeks, and a moment later, the fliers are out of sight.
Chapter 20 Summary
They all rest after Vikus leaves, feeling profoundly abandoned: “Gregor felt like all the grown ups had gone home and left the kids with a rat for a babysitter” (215). Luxa refuses to lie down as a precaution, but Gregor is sure that Ripred could kill all eight of them if he wanted to. Once he accepts that fact, he feels better—realizing his only choice is to trust Ripred.
When they wake up, it’s time to eat. Gregor asks for help making food. Henry laughs, saying he and Luxa do not serve food because they are royalty. Gregor doesn’t bat an eye and says: “Yeah, well I’m a warrior and Boots is a princess. And you two are going to get pretty hungry if you’re waiting for me to serve you.” Ripred laughs and says: “Tell him, boy. Tell him your country fought a war so you wouldn’t have to answer to kings and queens” (217). This reminder of the real world above ground shocks Gregor, and he learns that Ripred has spent a good amount of time in the Overland and that he can read.
Luxa abandons her pride, and Gregor shows her how to make sandwiches. Gregor gives one to Ripred, at last embodying the role of leader and seeing all members of their party as equals. Temp and Tick both give Boots their food. After they eat, Ripred takes the questers to a tunnel so narrow the bats must ride on the roaches' backs or else they will not fit. The tunnel is vile: “It was awful. Cramped and airless, with some foul liquid that smelled like rotten eggs, dripping from the ceiling” (223).
After many hours of walking, everyone is soaked and miserable. Ripred says they must conceal their scent. It dawns on Gregor that all of that was just to disguise their scents from the other rats. The questers start to eat again when the bats hear spiders approaching. Ripred commands Luxa and Henry into attack formation, and they wait for an army of spinners, but it never comes. A large orange spider and a small brown one burst into the chamber, the brown spider near death. It uses its last breath to say that the rats have attacked the spiders, and they’ve come to join the quest. The brown spider falls down dead.
Chapters 17-20 Analysis
At the end of this section, the reader must consider morality from a lot of different perspectives as well as privilege. The spiders have a very different code of ethics than the other creatures who reside in the Underland. Like the others, their primary goal is one of survival, but they are not moved by sentiment like the roaches. They, however, decide to join the quest after the rats betray them, which recalls Gregor's earlier observation—the rats would be strong allies if you could trust them. So, the idea of moral fiber being of value and being able to fully trust your ally comes into play.
It is important to note that Vikus places his trust in Ripred. So, even the rats are equals now. This also shows Vikus as unconventional—he doesn’t play by societal rules, instead, he does what he believes is right. He sees beyond the fact that Ripred is technically a rat to who Ripred is as an individual. In this section, Gregor also learns that rats can read, their frustration is that they cannot write. Instead of creating art, their biology predisposes them for destruction. This echoes back to what Vikus said earlier—rats know how to destroy but not how to create. This concept sets up a certain sociological destiny for their species, but Ripred is an individual who doesn’t let his biology determine who he is on a fundamental level. He has an edge, but he follows his own moral compass and makes his own path. He doesn’t blindly follow King Gorger, as the other rats do.
In that vein, it’s important to address the feudal system as it exists across the Underland. Gregor refuses to serve Luxa and Henry food without them helping. Throughout Gregor the Overlander is this idea of everyone being equal. Not just different species being equal to each other but even those of the human race. Collins says a lot, having Luxa put aside her pride to work side by side with Gregor making sandwiches as equals. It is also important to note that Ripred brings up the notion of America: “Tell him, boy. Tell him your country fought a war so you wouldn’t have to answer to kings and queens” (217). This puts The Underland Chronicles in direct conversation with the idea of feudalism and creates a moment where those of royal descent are equal to those who are not.
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