I think something interesting about ADOFN is the fact that the book as a whole is about people staying in toxic systems and the reasons they do. This makes sense because it is a prequel, and you can’t have people rebel too much before TPOTOT in order for the timeline to make sense.
Like for instance, Glorian stays with Virtudom because she knows no other way and the only people who tried to introduce ways outside Virtudom to her were very untrustworthy. She feels terrible for subjecting her daughter to the same fate, but because she genuinely believes her line will keep back the Nameless One, she can’t do anything about it.
The Priory characters have this too. Tunuva is somewhat aware that the Priory is very flawed and partially responsible for the grief she experiences. But her sense of duty when it comes to keeping people safe from wyrms and her love for Esbar keep her rooted there and somewhat content. Siyu, on the other hand, is not content at all, but eventually chooses to stay with the Priory despite how terribly they treated her because she went through the trauma of seeing Anyso’s family killed by wyrms and wants to protect other people from that. She also likely wants to keep her daughter in a place where she’ll be protected, even if she does feel like it’s a cage.
Even Wulf cannot stay in the Priory because as a man, it has no role he would be content with within a matriarchal system, despite his love for Tunuva. He goes back to Virtudom, a system he knows is false, not only because of this, but also so that he can be closer to his daughter and the boy he loves.
Dumai arguably is the one who rebels against the system till the end, and she is rewarded with her demise (?) and existing in an ambiguous state (at least until Wild Winter comes out). Nikeya does change the system, but really she creates a new status quo that lasts until the present timeline.
I find it interesting because a lot of TPOTOT is about rebelling against systems for the purpose of achieving a greater goal, and many of its characters are descended from ADOFN characters who stayed in systems because of their duty.
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