Scars and tattoos act as an opposing symbol to the anonymizing masks and uniforms. Greyson notes Shadera’s scars at several points, recognizing them as marks of a life that brought endless violence; Shadera, in turn, uses Greyson’s scars as an emblem of her dawning realization that she was incorrect in assuming that his life was idyllic just because he grew up in the privileged Heart district. Additionally, revealing these scars serves as a way for the two to resist the totalitarian regime of New Found Haven without explicitly transgressing any of its many severe laws. When Shadera wears a revealing wedding gown that highlights the many cuts and bruises that Maximus and the Veyra recently inflicted upon her, she resists Maximus’s desire to cover up the violence of his regime with a picture-perfect veneer. By exposing the violence beneath the wealth, splendor, and privilege of the Heart, she rejects Maximus’s assertion that the elites of New Found Haven have status because of their merit. Instead, she reveals that even the privileged citizens of the Heart are forced to choose a side—they are either subject to the violence of New Found Haven’s government or they are complicit in it.

Tattoos also hold personal meaning in the novel. Greyson initially hides his Executioner’s tattoo, a large skull, because he fears that its size will reveal his motivation for getting it: that he feels he deserves pain in retribution for the violence he commits at his father’s behest. When Shadera wears a mask that resembles the tattoo (though she has never seen it) it suggests to the reader that the two are well-suited for one another, despite their many differences. Brooker’s small tattoo, when held against Greyson’s motivations, also offers an element of foreshadowing. Greyson’s tattoo is so large because he considers the significance of New Found Haven’s violence. Brooker’s, by contrast, is small, because he is only willing to inflict pain, not bear it himself—something that foreshadows his treachery.