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Nezha
Venka is one of Rin’s classmates and one of her two roommates. She’s a Sinegard native who was brought up and educated alongside Nezha and Kitay, and she’s gorgeous and comes from wealthy circumstances. At school, Venka makes sure everyone understands how connected she is to Nezha, who functions as the first-year class’s ringleader. She also helps him torment Rin by teasing Rin for her skin color and her provincial upbringing. It’s not until during the war that Rin and Venka finally come to an understanding. Venka was serving with the Militia at Golyn Niis, and she was only spared a brutal death because the Federation soldiers kept her alive to gang rape her. After suffering this abuse and witnessing truly traumatic things, Venka makes Rin swear to get revenge on the Federation.
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Venka Character Timeline in The Poppy War
The timeline below shows where the character Venka appears in The Poppy War. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...discovers that she’s one of only three girls in her year. Niang seems friendly, but Venka immediately insults Rin’s darker skin tone. The following morning, Rin’s class reports for their first...
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...answers in Yim’s class. He has a photographic memory and grew up with Nezha and Venka, but he explains that Nezha has stopped talking to him since they started at the...
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Chapter 4
...Niang still speaks to Rin in their dorm, and she encourages Rin to apologize. But Venka inserts herself in their conversation, insisting Rin was only admitted to Sinegard to make the...
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About a week later, Rin, Venka, and Niang have just fallen asleep when Raban knocks on their door and tells them...
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Chapter 5
...spends the day worrying that this is going to happen every month and wondering how Venka deals with it. Eventually, she asks Kureel, who tells her to track her cycle and...
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...of Federation forces and not as many Nikara, giving them advantages later in the war. Venka argues that this would lead to famine, dysentery, and years of problems. Irjah declares that...
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Chapter 7
...her classmates—all trained by Jun—fight the exact same way. She, along with Kitay, Nezha, and Venka, advance to elimination rounds the next day. Rin fights Venka first, and she gets the...
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Chapter 12
...their class survived; Nezha is undergoing a third surgery today. Soon, Nikan will evacuate Sinegard. Venka will go to Golyn Niis to serve with the Sixth; Kitay will be a junior...
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Chapter 21
...burning many—though there are always more. One day, Kitay lets Rin know that he found Venka, who likely only survived because the Federation was keeping her in sexual slavery. Rin visits...
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Rin runs from Venka’s room, unable to breathe. She doesn’t understand why, but she believes Altan will be able...
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