Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses death by suicide and capital punishment.

Moments after he is imprisoned, the still-drugged Red-turned-Gold Darrow is placed onto a ship. Adrius au Augustus (also known as the Jackal) taunts Darrow. He tells Darrow that he is alone now, like the Jackal has always been, and that this is how Darrow’s story would always end—not with his rage or screams but his silence. However, Darrow thinks to himself that there is still hope in his friends. The oppressed peoples across the worlds still fight against their chains.

Months later, Darrow is trapped in a dark space, too small for him to move. He feels that this continual isolation is the worst possible fate. Without any form of human connection, he has no reason to live. Darrow has also lost faith in the Red religion.

Darrow knows that he was meant to be sent to Octavia au Lune, the Sovereign of the Society, the harsh government, to be dissected. Somehow, the Jackal persuaded her to let him keep Darrow. If Darrow says, “I am broken” (7), the Jackal promises that he can have his freedom, but it would come at the cost of his family, whom the Jackal claims to have kidnapped.