The False Prince

Survival, and not religion or law, informs the moral code by which Sage lives. As an impoverished orphan, Sage needs his cunning and wits in order to survive. Survival and nothing else orients the direction of Sage’s life—until, of course, he comes to Farthenwood: “‘Everything for me was just staying alive for another week.’ The irony [strikes] me as funny. ‘Now I just have to live out the next two weeks’” (76). Staying alive is still Sage’s goal, but instead of dealing with threats like hunger and poverty, he faces Tobias and Roden, who could harm him for a chance at the throne, and Conner, who might kill Sage for knowing his secrets.

Many of the characters are trapped by their circumstances. Often family plays a role in this. Both Imogen and Errol, two of Conner’s servants, are at Farthenwood indefinitely, serving sentences to pay off family debts (44). Sage, Tobias, and Roden are all orphans, a situation that limits the options available to them and their ability to truly choose what they do. As Tobias puts it: “‘I never made any choices […] After my parents died, I was told to live with my grandmother, so I did. When she died, I was told to go the orphanage, so I did. Then I was told to come here, so I did’” (117). Royalty are bound by their family situations, too. When Amarinda still thinks Sage is a servant, she says to him, “‘I’m a servant too, you know. Perhaps with finer clothes and servants of my own, but few choices about my life belong to me. We’re not so different, you and I’” (194). Amarinda does not have choice in who she marries and how her life progresses. In that way, she is no different from a servant or orphan.

As Conner states, “‘Is there anyone who bows to the throne and does not wish he was the one who sat on it?’” (34). The conniving prime regent Veldergrath is an obvious example of power’s ability to corrupt. Veldergrath is well-known among the regents for being power hungry. He has been plotting the king’s demise so that he may seize the throne.

However, even innocent orphan boys can fall prey to the temptation of absolute power, as we see with Tobias and Roden. Tobias and Roden have had a terrible lives; instead of becoming more compassionate because of all they have suffered, they become vicious and mean once power and opportunity are dangled before them. Over the course of the two weeks at Farthenwood, Tobias grows increasingly hostile and greedy; this culminates in him stabbing Sage. Roden, who in earlier chapters seemed innocuous and friendly, is blinded by his desire to become Prince Jaron, teaming up with the violent Cregan to attack Sage and take back the throne. The closer one comes to the throne, the angrier one is when that power is taken away.