Red Rising

The Institute’s war game teaches young Golds how their ancestors accomplished the Conquering and how their leaders maintain control of the Colors: through military strategy, speed, cunning, and brute force. ArchGovernor Augustus notes that students must surrender personal comfort and noble ideals to rule as the Peerless Scarred. As a Red, Darrow understands this lesson more readily than his peers. He tells Mustang,

There are no Golds here. I’m a Red. You’re a Red. We are all Reds till one of us gets enough power. Then we get rights. Then we make our own law. [...] That is the point of all this. To make you terrified of a world where you do not rule. Security and justice aren’t given. They are made by the strong (213).

Winning the game requires young Golds to trample on—even kill—one another, thus proving their right to lead the human race. In Darrow’s mission to become the ultimate Gold and win the game, he must mimic his oppressors by enslaving others as they enslaved him. He once believed what the Society repeated to its lowest caste: “Obedience is the highest virtue” (12). The Golds met disobedience—such as Darrow’s father’s protest—with severe consequences to reinforce their might and quell resistance. Training for the Institute shows Darrow that Golds themselves succeed not through obedience but manipulation, aggression, and oppression. His story bears out Plato’s words, which Darrow quotes during Tactus’s trial: “The measure of a man is what he does when he has power,” (301). 

Pierce Brown examines this statement through several different characters. An early oppressor in the book is the cruel Gray enforcer Ugly Dan. Mickey the Carver adds fantastical appendages to young Pinks’ bodies “for his own pleasure” (85). Titus uses his power for revenge; Augustus seeks to promote his son. Dancer utilizes power for a resistance against the Society, a resistance which he says will require bloodshed to succeed. 

Darrow begins the story as a powerful member of a powerless class and ends it as the ArchPrimus of a war against hundreds of young Golds. Gaining physical and social capital as a Gold inflates his ego and thirst to succeed, so his successes threaten to corrupt him almost as much as his failures do. Misusing power, he learns, bears serious consequences for others’ lives as well as the health of the soul. Eventually Darrow discovers power is a privilege he must steward with care. Moreover, he takes the burdens of leadership upon himself rather than trampling others to succeed. 

Darrow begins his story committed to making his wife Eo happy and whole. Eo urges him to expand his vision and lead a resistance against the Society. As Eo prepares to die, she reminds him, “‘Live for more,’ she mouths to me” (45). Holding onto her words, Darrow discovers that he was destined not only to be a Helldiver and husband; he is destined to be a hero. 

Eo’s dream cuts against the Society’s philosophy. This totalitarian government perpetuates systemic oppression against the Colors. Color designates appearance, occupation, and socioeconomic status, all of which are strictly enforced. Each Color has certain value to the Society, with Reds deemed the least valuable.

Speaking to the students at the Institute, ArchGovernor Nero au Augustus refers to democracy as “the Noble Lie—the idea that men are brothers and are created equal” (122). Even people within single Colors are not considered equal. The Passage, as Roque explains, exists to kill off a portion of the Gold population “Because they believe civilization weakens natural selection. They do nature’s work so that we do not become a soft race” (145). The Institute’s students exploit and maul each other to demonstrate their value to the Society and hone themselves into pitiless conquerors. 

Darrow’s transformation from Red to Gold—and, moreover, his extraordinary prowess at the Institute—proves that Color determines neither one’s worth nor the limitations of one’s gifts. Indeed, his Red identity is an asset: an idea that would shock Golds if they knew the truth. Darrow puts his quick, strong Helldiver hands to good use, and he has weathered harsh conditions that pampered Golds have never experienced.

Mustang, describing Tactus’s iron Gold heritage, states, “He is bound to his fate” (299). Darrow thinks, “Yet I’m a Red acting like a Gold. No man is bound to his fate” (299). Furthermore, he breaks free of his enslavement by setting his sights as high as he can, committing himself to shattering the Society’s bondage. Darrow’s transformation proves Eo was right: anyone can be a hero, and all people deserve an equal chance to thrive.