S. continues to describe the ship amongst the ice and his feeling that even though every piece of the ship may be different, it is still the same ship.The ship’s reappearance is an example of the Theseus paradox, after which the novel is named. This paradox is the idea that if all the parts of an object is replaced, it is still the same object. In this case, even though the ship is shabby and made up of many different types of wood, it is essentially the same ship.

“It takes more than destruction to destroy a ship like this.”

The spirit of the ship stays with it, no matter the form. This connects to the idea that the cycle of rebirth and good versus evil never ends.  This is also a metaphor for Vévoda and S.’s mission. It would take more than killing the Detectives and Vévoda to end the evil his destruction created.

Jen says the ship also may be a metaphor for the S. since even though its members are always disappearing or Santorini-manned, they keep fighting. “Santorini-manned” refers to a washed-up man found on Mesa Pigadia beach in Santorini who had a torn page of a book in his pocket. The page was from VMS’s The Black Nineteen.

S. also learns that Sola boarded the ship on Obsidian Island to find him.