Pierce Brown examines vengeance as a guiding force through hot-headed Darrow, who alternately resists and indulges his vendettas. As Darrow embarks on his hero’s journey, Darrow tells Dancer he wants to kill Eo’s murderer, ArchGovernor Augustus. Dancer answers, “I said I would give you justice. Vengeance is an empty thing, Darrow” (65). Dancer knows that killing Augustus will not bring Eo back to life, nor will it create the more equitable social vision Eo described to her husband. Later, Dancer elaborates:

When your wife died, she didn’t just give you a vendetta. She gave you her dream. You’re its keeper. Its maker. So don’t be spitting anger and hate. You’re not fighting against them, […]. You’re fighting for Eo’s dream, for your family that is still alive, your people (102).

Before Darrow enters the vindictive world that Augustus helped build, Dancer urges the young man to commit himself to improving lives, rather than tearing down the man who wronged him. 

Other characters demonstrate the toxic effects of revenge upon the soul. In Dancer’s partner Harmony, Darrow sees a vengeful spirit, since “she lost someone. [...] She is like me—brimming with a rage that makes all else so inconsequential” (91).