In Gleam, political strength depends on illusions that rulers manufacture and maintain. Kennedy shows how Midas, Slade, and Kaila build their authority through calculated deceit and through control over what others see or hear. Each leader relies on a different angle of manipulation, which turns Orea into a place where influence grows from the ability to shape a story. This is particularly relevant to Auren’s personal arc, as she’s focused on identifying and rejecting different forms of control in her life as part of her journey to reclaiming her agency. Doing so requires confronting deception within her intimate relationships and political dynamics, ensuring freedom and power in every facet of her life.

Midas offers the clearest example of deception as a means of asserting power. In his personal life, he warps or withholds the truth to manipulate his saddles, such as Mist and Auren. Mist stays gratefully within his control despite Auren’s warnings that being pregnant with his child endangers her. Meanwhile, he keeps the truth that he has imprisoned Digby until he wants to use it to control Auren. Publicly, he holds no magic and depends entirely on Auren’s golden touch to sustain his image as the “Golden King.” His rule stands on this lie, and his “entire claim to the throne depends on it” (51). Every public appearance reflects careful stagecraft. His deception reaches its height when he secretly kills Prince Niven and frames Slade. The act is meant to remove two rivals at once and strengthen his grip on the Fifth Kingdom. His later exposure as Barden East reveals how every layer of his identity grew out of fraud.

Slade uses deceit in a different way. His roles as “King Rot” and Commander Rip let him move through Orea without revealing everything at once. As Rip, he gathers information, leads his army, and avoids the scrutiny aimed at a monarch. He also later uses a body double, played by his brother Ryatt, to maintain this ruse of Rip and Slade as separate people. Slade tells Auren that people “see what they’re told to see, believe what they’re told to believe” (27), which captures how he navigates a world where honesty leaves him vulnerable. His lies arise from the pressure to shield his kingdom and counter Midas’s schemes, even though this façade causes distrust between him and Auren.

Kaila works through secrets rather than spectacle. Her voice-stealing magic lets her listen to private conversations and turn those stolen moments into leverage. She proves this power when she plays back Auren and Lu’s discussion and then uses that knowledge to push Auren out of Ranhold. Kaila underlines her strategy when she says, “Whispers are my greatest resource” (598). By storing what others hope to hide, she turns private fear into political advantage and shows the power of information. Her magic demonstrates how even others’ truths can be used as a tool of manipulation. This theme is implied to carry into the next book, as her revelation that Auren possesses the golden magic that causes a massacre is politically powerful and personally dangerous to Auren.