In the Mande social order the epic depicts, blacksmiths, griots, and nobles inherit their roles and knowledge by birth, and the griot's authority to speak the ancestral record is itself a transmitted hereditary office. Who may do a thing, and who may tell of it, is fixed by lineage rather than chosen.
Knowledge of ancestors, genealogy, and deeds survives not in writing but in the trained memory and performance of the griot, who both preserves the record and reshapes it in the act of reciting to a present audience. The custodian is also the medium, so preservation and performance are inseparable.
Political dominance in the epic is read as flowing from command of hidden forces: sorcery, secret knowledge, and spiritual power determine who rules, so battles are won by nyama (occult energy) and counter-magic as much as by arms. Victory is interpreted as evidence of superior mystical force rather than mere strength.